Elizabeth Weir sat at her desk, looking at the computer screen before her. It had been strangely quiet on Atlantis over the last few days. Most of her senior staff were away on one mission or another. She even found that she was missing Rodney's constant babbling.

She was about to go to check with Dr Zelenka on his progress with the latest ancient device they had found. However, just as she stood up, a transmission was put through to her. It was Colonel Caldwell.

"Dr Weir," he said by way of acknowledgement. "I wanted to check if you had heard anything from Colonel Sheppard and his team?"

Elizabeth's heart immediately missed a beat.

"No, Colonel," she replied. "I assumed that you would be in contact with them."

"Yes, Dr Weir, I had assumed the same. But unfortunately, we've heard nothing from them since they left the ship."

"Did you arrange regular contact times?" she asked.

Colonel Caldwell's eyebrows rose sharply. He bit back the flippant reply that immediately sprang to his lips, and settled for a clipped response.

"Of course!"

Elizabeth sighed. Just what trouble had John and his team got into this time?

"The problem is," Caldwell continued. "We don't really know where they are. Ria insisted that the location was kept secret. She said her people are adamant that their whereabouts remained hidden."

"Can you give us your current coordinates?" she asked. "I will asked Dr Zelenka to determine what planets are habitable within a reasonable distance of your location. I will get back to you as soon as we have more information for you."

"Thank you, Dr Weir," Caldwell replied. "I've already got Hermoid looking into that too, and we are also scanning for any life signs within our sensor range."

"Thank you, Colonel," she replied. "Keep me informed of any progress."

OoOoO

Rodney paced up and down, almost driving John to distraction. He only halted his pacing to vent his frustration on one of the backpacks they had brought with them. Thankfully, I didn't contain anything breakable, so the only thing that could be damaged when Rodney kicked it, was his foot.

"Are you just going to sit there, doing nothing, while they turn Carson's brain to mush?" he said, turning on John. "We've got to do something!" His voice reflected the desperation he was feeling.

"Well," John retorted. "If you can come up with any bright ideas, I'm open to suggestions. But since we can't even get out of here, our options are severely limited."

"How long will it be before Colonel Caldwell raises the alarm?" Teyla asked.

"Well," John said, looking at his watch. "We've missed two checked in times. So by now he should've told Elizabeth."

"But they won't know where look for us," Ronon pointed out bluntly.

"I just wish I was back on Atlantis," Rodney said, his voice now full of exasperation.

John met Ronon's eyes, and the large man raised his eyebrows, ironically.

"So do we," John muttered under his breath.

"Zelenka, Carson and I were working out the range of Ria's abilities," Rodney continued, completely oblivious to the exchange between John and Ronon. "If I were there, I might be able to work out a search radius to look for us."

"Could not Dr Zelenka do that?" Teyla asked.

"Yes, yes," Rodney replied. "But it'll take him for ever, by which time, we could all be turned to mush."

OoOoO

Carson and Ria had been left alone in the laboratory. There was a guard on the door, so any semblance of freedom was a false one. However, Carson found he was beginning to relax slightly, for the first time since this mission had blown up in their faces.

"Is it safe to talk?" he asked Ria.

"Yes," she replied. "I set a barrier round the room, so no one can hear what we say or think."

"Look, lass," Carson said, unable to stop himself from whispering, despite her reassurances. "I don't really know what we can accomplish by this. I cannae just go ahead and turn you into super-humans. It's just no' right!"

"You need to buy me time, Carson," Ria said. "I need to find out what they've done to my brother, only then can I help you."

"Look, love," Carson said gently. "You might have to consider that he could be involved in all of this. They may just be using you, lass," he continued.

Ria spun round to face him. He saw in her, again, the same person who has stood by and let Patra hurt him.

"And what if he is?" she demanded. "He's still my brother!"

Carson shook his head. Just when he thought he was beginning to understand Ria, she changed again. By nature, he trusted people. He always tried to see the best in them. However, his time in the Pegasus Galaxy had tempered that trust. Too often he found his trust was betrayed, and the best he saw in people was not enough to outweigh the bad side to their character.

He turned to look at Ria, confusion settling in his mind. He wanted to trust her, he almost needed to, but the hurt she had already caused him, was still fresh in his mind. He wished that the others were here, but he was on his own, and any decision he made had to be made alone.

Ria had remained silent as he thought. He looked at her, meeting her eyes with a steady gaze. And suddenly, his decision was clear. He now knew what he had to do.