Chapter 4

Elizabeth woke slowly, emerging from confused dreams of the previous day. John grabbing her throat, hurling her away. The manic gleam in his eyes. As she slowly sat up, she realised she was still wearing her clothes from the day before. She looked around the room, eyes widening at the damage she'd done. Looking at her clock, she realised she only had ten minutes before her first briefing of the day. She hurriedly showered and changed clothes, before leaving the chaos of her room behind. Walking towards the control room, she bumped into Zelenka and Rodney, in the middle of what they would probably describe as a "heated debate" and what everyone else would call a flaming row.

"No! I am telling you, we did all the scans we could, even the puddle jumper's sensors couldn't lock it down!"

"Yes, and I am telling you Rodney, this is because the field is too expansive! The energy you detected was very weak but could be found over the entire forest! There is something there!"

"Even so, we couldn't find anything with the jumper, so it doesn't really matter does it!"

"Gentlemen!" Both men fell silent as they saw Elizabeth. "Rodney, what are you doing out of the infirmary?"

"Oh, Carson said I was fine and should get back to work." She tilted her head to one side slightly

"Really?"

"Actually, Dr Beckett said that Rodney was making a fuss about nothing and that he was too busy dealing with Colonel Sheppard to cope with such a cry-baby."

"John's awake?"

Rodney shook his head sadly

"No, Teyla really hit him with the stunner and Carson is keeping him sedated."

Elizabeth nodded, feeling a brief glimmer of hope vanish.

"Right. So what are you two bickering about?"

Rodney glared at Zelenka.

"This genius is convinced that the energy field we detected in the forest is linked to Sheppard's...abduction."

"And you don't agree?"

"No, I just don't see how that helps as the jumper's sensors couldn't isolate the signature. It just spread out over the forest, a few points where it got a bit stronger, but there was nothing around to generate it."

"Then how do you explain it?" Zelenka butted in, as they started to squabble again.

"Okay, stop. Radek, even if you're right, the jumpers can't detect anything."

The scientist nodded rapidly

"Yes, yes, I know. But the Deadalus has Asgard sensors. They are one of the few things that are more advanced than what the Ancients used. Also, if the ship stays in orbit it might be able to, to map out the energy field's radius."

Elizabeth nodded slowly, and tapped her radio.

"Colonel Caldwell? How long will it take to unpack the last of the new supplies from Earth?"

"About two hours, why?"

"Zelenka thinks that the Asgard sensors might be able to locate the source of the energy field on M89-K4X."

"Understood, we'll leave as soon as the supplies are unloaded."

"Good, I'll see you there."

"Doctor?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Yes Colonel? Do you really think I'm going to sit by and wait for you to report in? I'm coming with you." She tapped the radio again, ending the conversation.

"Alright, Rodney you're coming with us, I just have a few things to take care of." As she walked away, Zelenka and Rodney exchanged glances.

"She really is worried, isn't she?" remarked the Czech

"Yeah. I think she only just realised how important John is to her."

SGA-SGA-SGA

The Daedalus shot out of hyperspace into orbit around a planet. Looking out of the window, Elizabeth saw the huge forest sprawled across the Southern continent.

"Alright Dr Mckay, let's see if this trip was worth it." Caldwell said in his typically businesslike tone. Rodney moved over to one of the computer consoles.

"Okay, scanning the forest and...woah." Elizabeth moved next to him.

"Woah?"

"Yeah. The sensors have mapped the edges of the energy field. No wonder the hand scanners couldn't localise the field, it covers the whole forest. That's bigger than Atlantis!"

"That's nice Rodney, can you find a source?"

"Yeah I think so, just give me a second. It seems to be deliberately designed to deflect sensors like a less advanced version of the puddle jumper's cloaking field, but the Asgard sensors are much more advanced than anything this galaxy has to offer so... there!" On the screen, the shield melted away.

"What is that?" Breathed Caldwell, standing behind them both.

"It looks like a cave network, but it's massive. That one cavern must be the size of Time Square! Hold on, I'm detecting life-signs. There're humans down there!"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, looks like a couple of thousand of them."

Elizabeth nodded.

"Colonel, I'm going down there. Ah!" She raised a hand as he started to protest. "I'll take Lorne and a security team with me, and you can maintain a constant lock on me. If we run into trouble, beam us out."

"Alright."

5 minutes later, Elizabeth, Lorne, Mckay and twenty soldiers stood waiting to be beamed down. Caldwell's voice came over the radio.

"Good luck Doctor, at the first sign of trouble we will beam you out."

Elizabeth closed her eyes, and when she opened them again she was no longer on the Deadalus. She and the others stood in a large cavern. All around her humans wearing silver and gold clothing stared in horror. The soldiers swiftly spread out in a defensive circle, but she noticed that none of the people had any weapons, and they all seemed terrified. She stepped forward.

"My name is Elizabeth Weir. We do not mean you any harm."

"Then why are you here, Doctor?" She turned, and saw a distinguished looking old man. Next to him stood a younger woman with long black hair, wearing silver clothes.

"Doctor? I never said I was a Doctor." The man smiled arrogantly.

"Yes well, we know a lot about you. A lot about you, and about Doctor Mckay, and about Atlantis."

"What?" She took an unconscious step forward, and the troops shifted, some of them aiming at the man.

"I ask again. Why are you here?"

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed

"We are here because you kidnapped two of my men and held them for hours. I want to know why."

"I am sorry, but we cannot help you. We are not permitted to interact with outsiders. You will leave immediately."

"Really? I don't think so." Her hand rose to her earpiece. "Colonel Caldwell? Prepare to beam a Mark 8 nuke into the cavern."

"Doctor?"

"I'll explain later, just do it."

"Very well, the missile is ready to be beamed down."

The mans face turned from arrogance to fear, and he stepped back. At this, the younger women stepped forward.

"Please, do not. We are a peaceful people, we only wanted to know about your kind."

"Lessa, this is forbidden!" The man snapped.

"They have a right to know what happened, Athar." The man subsided, and Elizabeth nodded sharply at the woman, who continued.

"You must understand, my people have lived in these caves for generations. Free from the threat of the Wraith, we have developed far beyond the normal level of technology for this galaxy. However, our isolation does have its drawbacks. So when travellers come to our planet we... borrow them for a short time." Suddenly Rodney stepped forward.

"You! You brought us down here, attached us to some machine!" Lessa nodded solemnly.

"We have a device which places people in a dream-like state. They relive past experiences, and in doing so we gain information about the galaxy. The process is accelerated so that we gain years of knowledge in a few short hours. Normally we would then return the subjects, and they would leave thinking that they fell asleep or passed out. Before we remove them from the machine we suppress their memories of being brought here. You must understand, we only want to learn, not to cause harm."

"Well evidently something went wrong! Colonel Sheppard has gone mad because of what you did to him!" Rodney stared at her, shocked by the bitterness in her voice. Lessa shook her head sadly.

"No, he is not mad. With both Dr Mckay and Colonel Sheppard we had difficulty removing them from the device. After great difficulty, we were able to remove Dr Mckay, and we transported him to the forest near to your search parties, but Colonel Sheppard proved more difficult to remove. We think it has to do with an unusual gene, which gave their subconscious minds control over our device."

"The ATA gene!" Rodney gasped. Seeing Lessa's blank face, he continued "It allows us to use technology built by the Ancestors. I assume you know who they were?"

"Of course, in fact we integrated some of their technology with the device to make it work! That explains it!"

"And as Colonel Sheppard has a more natural command of the gene, he was harder to remove. Very clever." Rodney smiled, then stopped when Elizabeth glared at him.

"So what actually happened to Colonel Sheppard?"

"Having studied recordings of Colonel Sheppard's memories, I believe that his mind rebelled against the control of the device. Instead of merely reliving memories, the Colonel actually started to create a new reality in his mind, a possible future. Unfortunately, it seems that the future he created was not a happy one."

"Which means?" Elizabeth bit the words off.

"For around 6 months (his timeframe of course) the reality he created seemed fine. Then the Wraith came. Atlantis was destroyed, and the expedition members killed. The machine disconnected when he 'died'. We then returned him to you."

Elizabeth pushed past the soldiers still standing in a defensive circle. She walked towards Lessa until she was only a few inches away.

"You put Colonel Sheppard into a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from until he was dead?"

"Please, we tried to remove his memories, but we failed! We thought it would be best for him to return to his own people, your technology is far more advanced than ours!"

"I should order them to beam the nuke down, but I won't if you come back to Atlantis with us. You will work with our doctors and scientists to cure Colonel Sheppard, and you will be returned here. Agreed?"

Lessa swallowed, her eyes betraying her fear.

"Agreed."

TBC...

That was a really irritating chapter to write for many many reasons, thanks go to Erised for being kind enough to beta it!