Dr. Grodin entered the infirmary looking for Carson. The CMO had paged him down to the infirmary. Peter was hoping for good news. Elizabeth had collapsed almost an hour ago and since then everything seemed to have turned upside down. Dr. McKay had gone missing and nobody seemed to be able to find him, not even Atlantis' computer. The rumours were that there'd been another suicide. Peter could use some good news. He headed towards Carson who was standing with Lieutenant Ford.
"Dr. Beckett?"
"Ah, Dr. Grodin. I'll be by later, Lieutenant. Let's go to my office." Carson led to way.
Once the two men had taken seats, Carson began.
"The good news is that Elizabeth should be fine. But to tell the truth, I'm very concerned that things got this far without anyone noticing. Elizabeth couldn't have gotten more than a few hours of sleep over days. Eventually, that kind of thing catches up with a body. Add to that a diet of coffee and the kind of stress Elizabeth has had this past week, she's been pushing herself too hard."
Peter could feel with that. After only an hour of being in charge of the City, he was already starting to feel tense.
"She is also running a low grade fever. Probably caught some bug. But to by sure, we are running tests."
Peter paled. Please, no, not another outbreak in the City.
Carson read him easily. "It's not contagious; the City would have picked up on it.
Peter got up from his chair. "I have to get back to the control room. We are still searching for Dr. McKay, so far no luck.
"I hope you find him." Carson was worried for his friend. Rodney was an intense man and Carson feared that recent events had left him deeply upset
oOo
Rodney slowly packed up his equipment and shouldered his pack. He was done here. He knew what he needed to know. He made his way towards the door leading to the staircase down the Tower.
By now, Elizabeth would have team looking for him all over Atlantis. He'd catch hell for pulling a stunt like this. Elizabeth would probably chew him out and then ship him off to the infirmary, Rodney thought grimly. He just hoped that she would listen to him. All he needed was a chance to talk to her, to tell her what he knew. It had to be enough to convince her to investigate further. Rodney had already started to device possible methods of finding out how the City's failsafe system worked. All he needed was a few hours of time. After that, he'd go back to the infirmary. Those few hours would be enough to find John if he'd been right and the City really did have a failsafe that prevented people from plunging to their deaths or it would enough to prove that he had been wrong. In that case John was really dead and there was nothing he or anyone could do.
Rodney reached the foot of the Tower still lost in thought. On autopilot he stepped into the transporter and ordered it to level 38, the level where the science labs were located. He followed his usual path to his lab, his mind already on the task ahead when someone bumped into him.
"Can't you..." Rodney started but was interrupted.
"McKay!" Kavanaugh didn't regard him with the usual mix of disdain and arrogance but with utter surprise.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
It was the first time that Kavanaugh had Rodney stumped for words. Rodney was about to escape down the corridor when Kavanaugh grabbed him by the arm.
oOo
"I'm fine. Can't you just leave me alone?" Rodney protested as Carson was about to draw blood.
"It's for your own safety, Rodney. You might have been exposed to something during your last mission."
Rodney sneered. He didn't have time for this.
"I haven't been exposed to anything and you know it. Now, I need to talk to Elizabeth. It's urgent." Rodney said; ready to hop down from the exam table. Every minute that he was wasting with Carson was could count for John. What if her was confused, like the last time Rodney had seen him? Unable to make contact with them? They need to figure this out as soon as possible.
Carson seemed to realise his patient's intentions and put a hand on Rodney's shoulder.
"Elizabeth collapsed about an hour ago. But we think she is going to be all right. Now, give me your arm." Carson demanded.
Rodney reluctantly did as asked.
"I need to talk to however is in charge. Bates? Grodin?" Rodney went on.
"You need to relax. You went through a lot in the last few days. I think you should talk to Kate again later today. After you have rested." Carson said in a reassuring tone.
"You don't understand, Carson. I can't rest. I think I have figured out what happened to John." Rodney insisted.
"Rodney." Carson sat down next to Rodney. "None of us can really understand what the major did. If there were any sighs, we missed them all. This is not your fault. Sheppard must have seen no other way out. And for some reason he chose not to come to us." Carson set out to continued, but then thought better of it.
Rodney picked up on it.
"And what? You were going to say something else."
"It's just a theory right now. You and Sheppard were the only ones with the Ancient gene one the pirates planet. Within days of coming back, you both start showing suicidal behaviour. There might be a biological agent involved. But, it might just be coincidence. There is no way of predicting how people react to traumatic events."
Rodney didn't point out that he didn't think that he was in fact suicidal. Right now, he didn't care what Carson thought, as long as he listened to him.
"Carson, please listen to me just for one minute. I didn't run away from the infirmary to try and kill myself. I needed to test a theory. I went up to the North Tower."
Carson visible paled.
Rodney could tell what he was thinking.
"No, not to do that. John fell from there, right? I took one of these Ancient lamps and tossed it into the ocean. But I lost its energy signature before it hit the water. It's proof that there has to be some sort of safety net. I don't know what happens; I couldn't find the energy signature of the lamp anywhere. I need to run more tests to find out. John isn't dead. I think he went wherever the lamp went." Rodney's tone bordered on pleading.
Carson looked at Rodney. He wanted his friend to be right, if there was a chance that John was still alive, that the City had somehow saved him...
But he was also worried about Rodney's extreme shift in mood. He had gone from suicidal depression to manic excitement in an awfully short time. He was afraid that Rodney was going to crash, hard.
"All right. You are out, for now. But I want you to talk to Kate as soon as possible."
"I'll gladly talk to her once this is over." Rodney agreed and hopping of the exam table.
oOo
"We could repeat McKay's earlier experiment with a stronger energy source and use the central computer to track it. It should give us more accurate results." Dr Jamison proposed.
Drs. Kavanaugh, Jamison and McKay were assembled in the lab, working feverously on a way to figure out the safety net of Atlantis.
"The problem wasn't the energy source or the scanner." Kavanaugh said.
McKay's head started to ache. Since he was no longer the chief of the science division, his authority with Kavanaugh had plummeted to an all new low.
"This is not going to work." Rodney declared. "We have to get there with a team."
"You are not saying that we jump?" Kavanaugh laughed. "You really are suicidal!"
"No, we pretend that we are falling. With a Jumper. Take it into a tail spin and wait for Atlantis to catch us."
"Good luck finding a pilot that's crazy enough to do that. Shame Sheppard isn't around anymore." Kavanaugh commented.
Rodney glowered at him then got back to the issue at hand. "Let's hope that we can get the Jumper dropping fast enough for the net to activate. The shield should help a bit if we do crash into the ocean."
Rodney started scribbling on his notepad, calculating the force of the impact should there be a crash into the ocean.
oOo
The clatter of instruments and the chatter of voices woke Elizabeth. She opened her eyes and the ceiling of the infirmary came into view. Everything seemed to swim and a wave of dizziness assaulted her. Elizabeth quickly shut her eyes again. Her sense of equilibrium balanced out and she took inventory of her body. Her head ached duly and a deep fatigue permeated her entire body, but she seemed uninjured.
Elizabeth was about to drift off again when she heard footsteps approach her. She risked another glance. This time, everything held steady as Carson approached.
"Dr. Weir, good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"
"Tired. My head aches." Elizabeth replied honestly. "What happened? I feel asleep in my office."
"Not exactly. Grodin found you passed out." Carson's tone grew more serious. "You have been running yourself into the ground. You aren't sleeping, hardly eating. The human body wasn't made for this."
"Carson, I can't afford to rest, none of us can. It's only a matter of time until the Wraith get to Atlantis and after we lost Major Sheppard and Dr. Zelenka, it hasn't exactly gotten easier." Elizabeth explained firmly, pushing herself up.
"Everyone else is finding the time to get at least six hours of rest at night. You are of no use to the City if you can hardly keep yourself on your feet. Why are you doing this to yourself?" Carson asked, hoping that Elizabeth would open up to him.
"I don't have any choice. We have to do everything to keep the Wraith away from Earth." Elizabeth shrugged off Carson question. "When can I get back to work?"
"You were running a temperature yesterday. We'll see how you are doing today. You need more rest. Do you think you are up to eating something?"
Elizabeth swallowed down the nausea. "I think so."
"I'll have a tray sent down for you. Should I tell Kate to come by later today?" Carson knew that Elizabeth had been seeing the psychologist in the past.
"This is not something Kate can help with." Elizabeth replied.
Carson nodded. He would call Kate anyways. Maybe she could get Elizabeth to talk about what was really bothering her.
Carson finished his exam of Elizabeth, ordered some food from the cafeteria and then made his way to the medical lab.
oOo
Markham looked apprehensive and Carson looked positively green as their Jumper hovered in position over Atlantis. Only Rodney seemed to take no note of the tension in the air. He was still typing furiously on his laptop.
"One more minute, Sergeant." He mumbled between the clicking of keys.
Markham didn't look any more confident at the prospect of McKay hammering out that details of their plan while they were already in the air.
"What exactly are you doing?" Carson asked, shooting an anxious look over at Rodney.
"Working on the timing for Plan B." Rodney replied. "I have no idea when the net is going to catch us, so if the sergeant pulls us up to soon, we might miss it. I'm working out the perfect timing allowing us the longest fall without crashing into the ocean. It's not humanly possible to time it this exact, so I'm going to program the autopilot." Rodney walked over to the controls and started moving his hands above them. Less than two minutes later, he stepped away with a look of satisfaction on his face.
"All done. Let's go. The dampeners will balance out the gravity we'd experience in the fall. You won't notice anything." He said mostly for Carson's benefit.
"All right. Go!" Markham announced.
There was a slight tug and a few moments later and everything went white.
oOo
Someone was touching him. Rodney opened his eyes and was looking at Carson leaning over him.
"Carson?"
"Ah, you're awake." Carson stated.
"I hadn' t thought." There was a pause until Rodney realised. "It worked!" He pulled out his scanner.
In the front, Markham was slowly coming around. Carson went to make sure the pilot was all right while.
"This can't be!" Rodney exclaimed. "There is just nothing!"
"What do you mean nothing?" Markham asked. Nothing was not good.
"No energy signatures, no life signs, nothing." Rodney was frantically punching buttons.
"We're stuck in a vacuum?" Carson asked horrified.
Rodney frowned. "No, of course not. Who said anything about that?"
"You..."
"The atmosphere is about 17 oxygen out there. Nothing toxic. It should be safe. Temperature is friendly, 21degrees. Celsius that is."
"What else?" Markham asked, clutching his P90.
"That's what I have been saying all the time. There is just nothing. No life signs, no energy readings, no magnetic fields, no radiation."
"That's goods though." Carson said.
"But not natural. Remember Earth, that tiny blue planet?"
"Rodney!" Carson admonished.
"There is nothing out there.
"Will you stop it?" Carson's week had been entirely too long. He had been thrown around by a Wraith, had believed on of his friends lost for good, had a patient die, failed to be able to help another patient and now he was stuck in a Jumper and Rodney had gone crazy.#
Markham turned out the be the voice of reason.
"Well, then let's take a look at 'nothing'."
It was pitch black outside, but as soon as Carson stepped out, the light flickered on. Now illuminated was a spacious hall that was reminiscent of the control room, just without the Gate. Rodney headed straight for the cluster of computer consoles at one end of the room while Markham checked out the entire room. As the life sign detector had already indicated, they were alone. There was no sign of John.
Rodney leaned over the dark consoles. Not a speck of dust had gathered on the surface in ten thousand years. It was simply amazing. He concentrated, trying to activate the console, but it remained still and lifeless.
He pulled out his scanner again. Now he could detect a faint energy reading, too faint to be a ZPM, probably some sort of power module that kept the lights powered.
A few minutes later, Rodney joined Caron and Markham by the Jumper.
"It's not working. All dead. The scanner is no use, there is something messing with it. I should pick up readings all over the place. This could be some shelter with independent power and shielding." Rodney theorized.
"You're saying that we aren't on Atlantis anymore?" Markham asked.
"Yes. It's clearly Ancient as you see, but it's not exactly like Atlantis. I took a look at the consoles, and it's slightly different technology, as far as I can tell. The power source might be depleted, but I can't tell. This is nothing that I can work out in the short term." Rodney admitted.
"I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this, but we are trapped here." Carson pointed out, sounding anything but happy.
"There has to be a way out." Rodney claimed. "We are here to find John. He has to be somewhere. We can figure out how to get out of here later."
Markham insisted that they not split up, so they all followed one of the corridor that led away from the hall they had found themselves in. As they followed along the corridor, they found the compound to be very similar to Atlantis. After a section containing what looked like crew quarters, they passed through storage areas. After three hours, they took a break. All they corridors had looked the same. The compound seemed to stretch for miles underground.
When they resumed their trek, it was early morning Atlantis time. After miles of monotone walls, the hallway suddenly broadened and opened the view to a room with glass walls.
They stood and stared. It looked like a mixture between an infirmary and a medical lab. At the centre was control console, equipment, machinery and a few beds were set up around it. Rodney was the first to see the figure on the bed on the far corner.
"John!"
Carson and Markham didn't known what was going on.
"He is in there." Rodney ran and slammed his hand against the door release mechanism. Nothing budged.
"Damn. No." He tried again, but nothing. He pried the panel loose and starting rearranging crystals at top speed.
Ten minutes later, Rodney gave up. There was simply no power. He sank down against the wall. He'd come so close.
oOo
They had tried to kick the glass door in, they'd even tried to shoot their way through them, but aside from Markham breaking a toe and Carson almost being hit by a ricochet, they accomplished nothing. They stood outside and Sheppard was inside.
"He's definitely alive." Rodney stated. "The life sign detector is picking him up."
"But how'd he get in there?" Markham said, leaning on his good foot.
"I have no idea." Rodney had to admit. "How bad do you think Sheppard is, Carson?"
"There is really no way of telling. But he was in no immediate danger the last time I had a chance to examine him. But there could still be complications from his head injury."
Rodney thought of the fear and confusion and the violent delusions John had been trapped in after waking up in the infirmary. He was going to need all the help he could get.
"I'm going back to the control centre." Rodney said. "If there is a chance of getting the systems back online, it will be from there."
"I'll come with you." Markham said.
"You'll do nothing of the sort." Carson intervened. "You're going to stay off that foot. It's a three hour march back to that control centre. I'll go with Rodney."
"Really, you should stay Carson. Sheppard will need you as soon as I get this place powered up."
"I just hope we are really alone down here." Carson muttered.
oOo
Rodney crouched down in front of the opened panel. One look at it told him that there was something seriously wrong and that this had not been caused by an accident.
A number of crystals had been removed clean. There was no way the system could be powered up even if there was a ZPM with sufficient power.
Rodney's gaze fell on the Puddle Jumper. There might be a way to get the system to power up. The crystals themselves would be of no use, but the power array, he might be able to use it to bridge the missing crystals. That was if he didn't overload the whole thing.
But he would have one shot only. The array was going to fry and with it, the Jumper would become a useless piece of junk.
Rodney tapped his radio. "Carson, Markham. I might have found a way to get this place powered up, but you are not going to like it."
TBC