The phony Ford led Sheppard through the gate, and it closed behind them. "Oh great." Sheppard thought. "There goes my chance of escape." He had considered running back through the gate back to Atlantis, but Ford had a gun pointed at him, so it didn't seem like such a good idea. "Ford, what the hell are you doing? And why did you bring me along?"

"I'm going to the Herkhem's planet. I knew I would not be able to get here without someone whose life was at stake, and you were the first person I ran into alone. You people are very uptight with your gate travel."

Sheppard was confused. "You people? You are one of us, you're in the military, you should know by now how we handle gate travel!"

The imposter grinned. "I am not Ford." Sheppard scowled and muttered a curse word under his breath. "He is in a cave out in the forest. My people are at war with the Herkhem, and I have come to destroy them now."

"But they never mentioned any war to us." Sheppard objected.

"They were probably suspicious of you. They are so paranoid." the imposter said. It directed Sheppard to a tree very far away from the gate, after aforty minute walk, and pulled more rope out of its pocket. One end was tied tightly around Sheppard's neck. It transformed into a taller creature Sheppard did not recognize and tied the other end high in the tree, leaving little slack between the two ends, so Sheppard could not move much more than a foot in any direction. It then turned into an imitation of Ford and tied Sheppard's legs together with the remaining rope.

"Wait one minute!" Sheppard demanded. "These people are armed to the teeth. How do you expect to wipe them out with a couple of guns?"

The imposter lauged, Ford's usually cheerful laugh. "I have hidden weapons. Also, my ability to look like anything I want is a good advantage." Lauging to himself, the phony Ford left towards the gate and out of Sheppard's view. The rope around his neck was too tight for him to slip out, so he knew that the only way to escape would be to get his hands untied. He could not get a rock off the ground because he was tied to a high branch, close enough to the trunk to that the branch could not be broken, but far enough so that Sheppard could not reach the trunk. Sheppard also had to keep his balance with his legs tied so he would not fall over and choke. "Damn!" he thought. "This, thing, knows what it's doing!"

At Atlantis, Weir called for another meeting with McKay and Teyla. Once they were in her office, she shut the door. "I just spoke with Dr. Beckett. His patient is going to be okay." A sigh of relief was heard from Teyla. "I'm really not completely sure what to do. If we go, Ford threatened to kill Sheppard along with whoever came through. Also, there probably would be problems with the Herkem. If we don't go, we will have no idea what's going on with Sheppard. For all we know, he could somehow escape Ford and try to come back here, but I just ordered that no one comes here."

After a long pause, Teyla spoke up. "There is no inconspicuous way of getting to the planet. If we do go, we better hope that Ford is not near the gate. Is that a chance you are willing to take?"

Weir shook her head. "No, but I don't see any other option. What if Ford does someting to the Herkhem? They will blame us, and they may attack us. We have to stop that. Teyla, lead a seven person team. You go to the planet in thirty minutes." Teyla nodded and left. Weir turned to McKay."Do youreally think the Herkhem are responsible for this?"

"I don't see anyone else that could be responsible."

Weir agreed. "Even though we suspect them, we can't point any fingers in case it isn't them. Do you think they're going to kill Sheppard?"

McKay shook his head. "He's a valuable prisoner. But the Herkhem didn't seem all that rational. I mean, we needed a small shiny object to convince these people that we were their friends."

"You're right. I'll have Teyla's team fully armed."