Space Pirates

Chapter 8

Teyla carefully listened for any sound coming from the lake. Having grown up without the luxury of watches, her internal clock was highly developed. She knew that Aiden needed to come up for air any second now. But no sound came from the lake. All she could hear was the soft wind brushing through the grass at the shore. Without her sight, she only had the sound to guide here. If she jumped into the water, she would not be able to see if Aiden was injured or in some other kind of trouble. But if she remained at the shore and did nothing then she gave up every chance of helping her friend and team mate. Even if blind, there was only a minute chance that she could help Aiden, she had to try. They needed him; both she and John needed Aiden to survive on this alien world. They needed him if there was any hope of them returning to Atlantis. With that same conviction that accompanied all her actions, Teyla unlaced her boots, left them at the shore and waded into the lake. The depth of the water rapidly increasing, she dove under quickly knowing that she was doing the right thing, only hoping that she was in time.

Even underwater, sound served as her guide. She could her something, down and to her right, she followed it. Orientation was harder than she had thought, but she had determination on her side. Something brushed by her arm. It was only a brief sensation, but caught her full attention. She immediately changed her direction and tried to follow the unseen object, grasping in the literal dark. Finally, she felt something solid under her fingers. It was time. Soon she would not to get back to the surface for air. She felt the fabric between her fingers and used both hands to grab it. Getting a better grip, she realized that it was indeed an arm. Overjoyed that she had localized her missing friend, she tried to pull him upwards, but found the task next to impossible. His weight was dragging both of them down into the deadly depths of the lake. She could either let him go and rush to the surface and get the much needed oxygen or hold on to him and probably condemn them both to drown. She had to get Aiden to help her, alone she would never be able to drag his weight to the surface. She tugged on his arm, but got no reaction. Already feeling a burning need for air in her lungs, Teyla tried for a final time before giving in to the realization that she could not save her friend. She grabbed Aiden's arm and tried as hard as she could to swim towards where she thought was the surface. As she pushed upwards, she hit something solid. The ship, she realized. She had made some progress. Suddenly, she heard some muffled noise behind her. The limp arm in her grip came to life, struggling against her. She instinctively let go, her own need for oxygen taking over. She couldn't wait any longer. Teyla came to the surface panting for air. For the first few second, her entire focus was taken up by taking in the life-giving air. Once her breathing had settled a bit, she could focus on her environment enough to her something else breaking the surface of the water, taking in air in rapid gasps. She allowed herself a smile, knowing that Aiden was still alive.

"I'm finished with my calculations now. I couldn't pinpoint the exact location the signal was sent from, but I have narrowed it down to less than a square mile." Dr. Zelenka reported to Dr. Weir over the communications system.

"Excellent work doctor. That means that we can send a team to the planet. Please meet us in the conference room in ten minutes." There was no telling what was awaiting them on the planet, so they had to be prepared for everything. A full military team was in order. She would not long have to search for volunteers for this mission. Bates and his men who had been part of the original rescue mission already had made it clear that they were more than ready to man a second rescue mission.

Less than half an hour later a rescue mission wait Bates' team and as an addition, Dr Beckett and Dr Kang, another medic, left Atlantis.

With his now freed arm John reached for Rodney's file. The movement sent a sharp pain through his recently injured side, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as he would have expected, leading him to wonder, how long exactly he had been out. In this weird nightmare, there was no telling how long Beckett had kept him drugged. Days could have passed during which his injury would have healed. John opened Rodney's file, trying to settle into a somewhat comfortable position on the flat bed with his ankle's still bound securely to the bed.

The next hour revealed horrors that he would never have thought possible. Even though he kept reminding himself that it was all just a nightmare, he still couldn't help but be horrified and disgusted in disbelief. This wasn't the Rodney he knew. The man described in the medical file sure was he genius, but one that had long lost touch with reality. First incidence of mental illness in his late teens: the Rodney McKay described in the medical file had started to withdraw from society, had refused to talk to anyone, had hid for days in his room. Even though, he was convinced that Rodney was as sane as he was, John had to concede that Rodney did have a tendency to hide from certain situations and he might not have the most developed social skills. Maybe twenty years ago, among being misunderstood by teachers and parents, Rodney had seen no other way to cope with the world, John reasoned, trying to explain to himself what he was reading. But what followed could not be explained away that simply. In the years following, Rodney had apparently started to experience increasingly severe. and violent hallucinations. The file spoke of multiple hospitalizations, forced drug regimens, but apparently Rodney had always refused to see that he was ill. John's read was interrupted when Beckett reappeared at his bedside.

"Do you see now? He has been a nutcase all along. If he hadn't been this bloody brilliant none of us would have had to put up with him. If Elizabeth hadn't forced him to at least accept regular haldol injections he wouldn't have lasted nearly as long as he did." Beckett said, snatching the file from John. "Reading time is over. You have a visitor. Dr. Weir is here to see you. Word is she has plans for you. I told her that you need some more time to heal, but I doubt she she'll change her mind based on what I say." Carson tilted his head. A moment later Dr. Weir strode through the doors and headed straight towards John's bed.

"Please leave us." With a nod she dismissed the doctor.

Without a word, she sat down on the edge of John's bed. She gave a bright smile.

"John. I'm glad to hear from Dr. Beckett that you are well on your road to recovery. There is much to do. I have plans for us." She ran a hand through his hair and her smile brightened even more.When John didn't reply, she moved down to undo the restraints on his ankles.

"You shouldn't be all tied up like this. It can't be very comfortable. We'll find a more comfortable place for you." Elizabeth rested her hand on his thigh and smiled a creepy smile at him.

Teyla rested her hand on John's chest, feeling the reassuring regular motion beneath her hand. Although unwell, their leader was still alive. Aiden sat a few meter away, still coughing. He was sure he had some water in his lungs and he had some trouble breathing. From where he had scrapped the ship's broken front window, he had some fairly deep, bleeding gashes in his side, but he wasn't going to bother Teyla with his worries. She had enough on her mind as it was. She was probably already worried about him. She had already asked him several times, whether he was alright since they had come back from the lake. It had been a close call. Aiden knew that the reality of it would take time to sink in. He had seen similar situations in battle. At first there was only the giddiness at having survived. For the moment they were still in the middle of a crisis. At least he had succeeded in turning on the transmitter; Hopefully Atlantis caught their signal and sent out a team to investigate.

"Thank you Teyla, you saved my life down there." Aiden recalled that he hadn't even thanked her for what she had done, even though the act had been extraordinaire given the conditions.

"You are welcome. It was the only thing I could do. Where you successful in turning on the transmitter?"

"Yes, there is no way of telling whether it's going to work, but it's on now. All we can do is hope. I'm going to look for something edible for us. I saw some fruit earlier. We might try them. Not that we have anything else to eat." Aiden suggested. Not that he felt up to walking around and foraging for food, he just wanted to lie down. The cuts hurt like hell even though he had fashioned a bandage with what used to be his shirt. It was not like Teyla or Sheppard could see it. But he continued coughing and wheezing and although Teyla had not brought it up, she was bound to have noticed. Aiden simply needed some time to think, but he didn't want to leave Teyla and Sheppard alone.

"I won't be gone long. It's still day, but the sun is already setting. I won't be gone longer than an hour, the fruit were growing not very far from here."

"For the water, I think it is safe to risk drinking from the lake, when we crashed, I swallowed quite some water and I have no felt ill since." Teyla said.

"I agree. The water seems to be safe enough to drink. Still we drink away from where the ship crashed. Too bad we haven't go anything to collect the water in."

"As long as we stay close to the lake it will not be a problem. We should stay here in case Atlantis sends help. They will not know where to search if we leave to location of the transmitter."

"You're right. I'll be back as soon as I can." Aiden got up from his sitting position, suppressing a moan. His side hurt, but now was not the time to complain. His injuries were not life-threatening, that much he knew even with his very limited medical training. Unless he got a nasty lung infection from the water, he was going to be fine. The cuts in his side were going to be painful and would probably get infected but they were not fatal. There was no use in Teyla worrying over him. He was more worried about her. He had hoped that her loss of sight was only temporary, but the blindness was lasting awfully long. And although he had regained some hope regarding John's condition, he was saw mostly bleak scenarios in his CO's future.

Teyla was having her own worries. She had well sensed that Aiden was not as well as he had let her to believe. She had heard his wheezing breath and the stifled coughs, but she had chosen not to talk to him about it. They had also not talked about what had happened out in the lake. About why Aiden had been there, nearly drowning. Both Aiden and Teyla where worn out, physically and mentally reaching their limits. They just reacted to the situation in different ways. Aiden was tossed into the position of the leader in a no-win situation that deteriorated constantly. He was starting to crumble under the pressure to bring his team home. To him, he had failed his team and his CO. Teyla had brought more acceptance to their desperate situation. She too would do everything to save them, but if it came to it, she was the most ready of them to accept that there was no way out. Her upbringing in a society that lived under the constant threat of the Wraith had taught her acceptance of the inevitable.

The sun was sinking faster than Aiden had anticipated. They had to be close to the equator of the planet. Aiden slowly walked through the underbrush, trying to remember where he had seen the bushes with the purple leaves and equally purple, plum like fruit. He had no way of knowing whether they were edible but they had to give it a try. There was still enough light filtering through the foliage above to see where he was going, but the colours were already starting to mesh together to a dark grey. Finally, he reached the point where the bushes he had spotted in the morning grew. He picked four firm, but still somewhat soft fruits and was just about to turn back and return to their camp by the lake when he heard a high whirring buzzing overhead in the sky. He looked up, but his view was blocked. He didn't need to see to know what had just flown overhead. This had been the buzzing of a Wraith Dart. Dropping the fruit he had picked, he turned and ran as fast as he could.

"So how come you are all glowy?" Rodney asked.

"It's all part of the whole ATA deal." Glowy-John replied flippantly.

"You mean, it's because part of you is Ancient. Carson has a theory that you have more of the Ancient genes that have just not been discovered yet. The Ancient did ascend, they didn't die. At least I don't think so. It's all a bit confusing right now. But if John is not dead, then how can you be ascended? Are you John's Ancient part of sorts?"

"That's how you could put it. John is more Ancient than you think. But don't tell him I said so." glowy-John gave him a smirk that reminded Rodney very much of the real John. If this was a hallucination, it was a really good one. Suddenly, the glowy figure flickered. Rodney blinked, thinking he had imagined it. But there it was again, John was really flickering.

"What is going on?" he asked, starting to panic.

"Uhm, I'm not sure. I'm going to be back as soon as I can." Glowy-John started to fade, the room started to darken again. "Stay strong Rodney, they are going to be here soon. I just need to take care of John for now, he is in a bit of trouble right now. But I'll be back. You just hang on. Don't go to sleep!"

Teyla had heard the threatening buzzing in the sky and had known what was coming, She knew that she couldn't do anything from where she was. The Wraith would find them, wherever they were on the surface. All she could do was wait and listen. She felt it before she heard it. It was the familiar cold rush that wrapped itself like an ice blanket over her, she could sense that the Wraith were coming. They had probably landed somewhere further away and were now encroaching on her position.

TBC