Well – I'm an equal-opportunities whumper – so I thought I'd spread some pain around. Enjoy!

OoOoO

Carson didn't get much sleep that night. His ribs felt as if someone was attacking them with a chisel, and he felt permanently nauseous. Rodney was stretched out on the ledge, his broken leg supported by the backpack. He was snoring gently. Strangely, Carson didn't mind the noise. It was almost comforting; a sign that he was not alone in this dark wilderness.

Two moons rose in the night sky, twin disks of light. In the now calm water, their reflections gave a serene beauty to the night. Carson sighed. There was something almost romantic about the sight before him. Well, it would be if there wasn't Rodney's snoring in the background. The lack of a female companion, and the fact that he was in agony from his ribs, both didn't help with the romantic feeling, but for just a moment, Carson closed his eyes and let his imagination take him to a much nicer place.

"Carson," Rodney's voice woke him from his sleep. "You were just about to fall off the ledge and into the water."

Carson started awake. He must have drifted off to sleep, when his day-dreaming of romance had taken over.

"Sorry, Rodney," he said. "How's your leg feeling today?"

"It feels like it's broken, and has been dragged up a cliff face and slept on a narrow ledge," Rodney said, with considerable vehemence. "I was thinking," he continued.

"Heaven help us," Carson muttered. Rodney chose to ignore him.

"We're not going to be rescued, are we?" Rodney asked. "So, as usual, we have to help ourselves. You never can rely on those military types to come up with the answers. They're fine is someone is pointing a gun at you, but their useless at basic problem solving. Well, anyway," Rodney continued, without seeming to take a breath. "We need to rescue ourselves. If we rig up some sort of pulley system, I think you could pull me up to the top of the cliff. We can then make our way to the Stargate, and go home."

"What if the Stargate isn't working?" Carson asked.

"What makes you think it isn't?" Rodney said. "We've used it twice to get here without any problems."

"It's just I was thinking last night," Carson responded. "I can't think of any other reason why they haven't come back for us yet."

"It could be a problem at Atlantis' end," Rodney said.

"I know," Carson answered. "But I was trying not to think about that."

"Well, anyway," Rodney continued with his plan . "You need to climb up there and get some sort of pulley built."

Carson groaned inwardly. He wasn't sure if he could climb up the cliff with the state of his ribs, and even if he did, the thought of pulling Rodney up was enough to make him feel faint. And it wasn't manly hunger that was causing it. That did, however, make him realise how hungry he actually was.

"We'll need to eat something too," Carson added. "There is no way we'll manage to get to the 'Gate in the state that we're in."

"Well, what do you suggest," Rodney asked. "Do you have your magic voodoo wand with you to create food out of thin air?"

"I was thinking of a more old-fashioned method," Carson responded, trying to ignore the sarcasm. "The beast that attacked me must feed on something. With teeth like that, it's no herbivore."

"Yes," Rodney admitted. "That is a logical assumption to make, but then this planet doesn't seem to follow logic."

"What do you mean?" Carson asked.

"We arrived here, no life signs, nothing, zip. We were here for 20 hours before we called you, and we didn't see any animals at all, certainly not ferocious goats. We checked the water tables, seas, oceans and all that before we came here. There just shouldn't have been water flooding the valley. Nothing makes sense."

"How does that helps us?" Carson asked.

"It doesn't," Rodney replied. "But just remember, things here might not be logical."

"Well, we still need to eat," Carson replied. "And we might just find some animals we can catch up on the cliff."

"And did you learn to kill, skin and cook animals in your croft back in Bonnie Scotland?" Rodney asked.

"Rodney," Carson said, slowly and emphatically. "I've lived most of my life in Edinburgh. Edinburgh, in case you didn't know, is a city. A big city. It was a city before anyone other than the indigenous people knew Canada existed. It is a city full of culture, and history. But not of crofts."

"Sorry I spoke," Rodney said, but Carson noticed the hurt in his eyes, that belied his sarcastic words.

"Look, Rodney," he said, touching his friend's arm. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. There was no need for me to do that. It's just I'm cold, and tired, and hungry. To tell you the truth, I learned to kill and skin animals on my uncle's farm. My Mum came from a farming family just north of Aberdeen."

Rodney nodded in reply.

"Well," Carson said. "I'd better get up there and find something to make a pulley."

"There's some rope here," Rodney said, drawing some heavy duty rope out of his back pack.

"You carry rope like that with you?" Carson asked, a note of incredulity in his voice. "It must weigh a ton."

"Some of us are stronger than we look," Rodney said, giving Carson a superior look.

"Aye," Carson replied, as he started to climb up the cliff. "So that will be Ronon's back pack then?"

Rodney spluttered in reply.

OoOoO

John entered the Jumper Bay to find Ronon, Teyla and Lorne already there. He nodded to them. Lorne had asked to join the mission. The rest of his team were still out of action after their recent run-in with the machine gun. And, if the truth be told, he felt slightly guilty about Drs Beckett and McKay being stranded on the planet. If his team hadn't needed Sheppard to come to their assistance, the chances were that Rodney and Carson would be on Atlantis, probably driving each other mad in the Infirmary.

"Okay, kids," Sheppard said. "Let's go play."

Ronon and Teyla exchanged an amused look. When John was in this sort of mood, just about anything could happen. Certainly, McKay would be in for a lot of teasing before the day was out, if past experience was anything to go by. When John was in this sort of mood, his favourite occupation was McKay-baiting.

Sheppard took the pilot's seat with Lorne beside him. Teyla and Ronon sat at the back.

"We're ready to go," John confirmed to the Operations Center.

"Be safe," Elizabeth's voice responded. "And bring them home safely."

"Yes, ma'am," John said with a mischievous grin.

The trip through the Stargate always seemed faster in the Puddle Jumper. John always meant to ask McKay if that was actually the case. But he decided he probably wouldn't understand the answer anyway, so there wasn't really much point in asking.

The planet on which they emerged was very beautiful. There was a tranquil expanse of blue sky, and a green terrain below.

"This looks like a nice place to explore," John said to the others.

"I think the scientist beat us to it," Lorne replied.

"Yeah," John responded. "But they might have missed some of the interesting bits."

"Like guns, and bombs?" Ronon asked from the back.

"Exactly," John replied.

Teyla shook her head. She was used to the banter by now, but sometimes she still thought these men acted more like children than adults.

They didn't linger on this planet but set course for the nearby planet on which Carson and Rodney were trapped. The flight was uneventful, so John spent the time plotting his revenge on Rodney. He wasn't sure what he was revenging, but there was always something or other, some slight, or put-down, that he needed to avenge. A smile played on his lips as they flew closer to the planet.

Lorne got up from the co-pilot's seat and went through the back part of the Jumper. He and Ronon were checking exactly where they had left Rodney and Carson. Teyla was checking through the supplies they had brought with them, just to make sure they had everything they might need.

"Okay," John said from the pilot's seat. "We're just about to enter the atmosphere. Everyone make sure you are securely strapped in. I expect Carson has enough on his hands dealing with Rodney. We don't want any more patients for him."

The approach was very smooth, as John manoeuvred the Jumper into the right orbit to get as close as possible to where the two doctors were. Then suddenly, without warning, the Jumper was momentarily brought to a standstill.

"What the . . ." John said, as suddenly the Jumper was thrown back through space in the direction it had come. It was as if the Jumper had flown into a giant net and had been boomeranged back through space.

"What will Rodney say about this?" was John's last thought as the pure black of unconsciousness claimed him.