A/N: (nightpheonix runs in) Hi all! (she ducks as fans of this story all throw rotten tomatoes) Hey, I- ow! Stop-ow! Okay, I'm soooo sorry for the long wait; it was a combination of a few busy weeks and my muse going on strike. Can you all ever possibly forgive me? (Fans of the story glare and lower tomatoes, but vow to throw them if the chapter isn't good)

A/N 2: Thanx to Jennifer Ruest for giving me the idea for this chapter! I'll probably only go a few chapters with it, but it offers a nice plot digression, don't you think? Thanks also to peachkins whose review got me off my lazy ss to finally update this story! Translations for the Czech are at the bottom of the page.
6/8/05- sorry for the inaccuricies, they're fixed now!

Chapter 10: Meanwhile…

"So tell me again what happened," Dr. Weir said wearily, sitting back in her chair with her hand covering her eyes.

Kavanaugh scowled. "I already told you. Three times," he irritably replied.

"Dr. Zelenka wasn't here those other times, and I think he needs to hear this. Please humor me, Doctor." It was no secret to Weir that Kavanaugh disliked her more than anyone else on the base, and Zelenka was probably a close third, right after McKay.

Another scowl. "Fine. Last night I-"

"What time last night?" Zelenka interjected from where he was standing behind her desk.

"I don't know. Six-thirty, maybe. May I continue?" Radek nodded and motioned with his hand for Kavanaugh to go on. "I was working in my lab and-"

Another interruption, this time by Elizabeth. "What were you working on?"

"What does that have anything to do with it?" Kavanaugh asked exasperatedly.

"If whatever you were working on caused this, then we need to know so we can figure out how to reverse the effects," Zelenka defended.

"We're just covering all the bases," added Weir. Christ, we sound like a bunch of TV cops questioning a suspect, she thought.

"I was writing a report on a new Ancient device I found! Now let me finish and please stop interrupting me!" Kavanugh glared around the room, as if daring Radek or Weir to say anything. When silence persisted, he continued, "Thank you. I must have fallen asleep or something because the next thing I knew the lab was empty. I walked out into the hall to see in anyone was out there. No one was. I checked the usual places for people to be: the mess hall, control room, a few other labs. They were all completely empty."

"So what then?" Zelenka asked.

Kavanaugh fixed him with the nastiest glower he could manage. "Well, what do you think I would do? I was the only person in the entire city!"

Zelenka appeared to ponder this for a second, then shuddered involuntarily and decided it was best to not think about what Kavanaugh would do with no one else around.

Kavanaugh did not notice, and pressed on. "Obviously, I tried to figure out what had happened to everyone. I looked in the jumper bay, checked the gate power logs, and-"

Elizabeth queried, "How long did that take?" When Kavanaugh began to bluster, she cut him off, saying, "You need to be very specific, Doctor. Understand we need to know the exact sequence of events to see if there is any connection between your story and their disappearance."

He started to come up with a snarky comeback, when he realized that she was right. Dammit, I hate when that happens! Sulkily, he answered, "Probably around 11:30. Nothing showed up in my investigations. It was like no one was ever there. Even the supplies we brought were gone. About half an hour later- that's at midnight-" Kavanaugh added, as if just waiting for someone to interrupt him. "-that…that…" He snapped his fingers to recall the name. "…the Russian astrophysicist-"

"Markova?" Radek offered.

"Yeah, him. He showed up, and had no idea what was going on. Within the next 20 minutes, the rest of the Atlantis crew showed up, and no one even seemed to know anything was wrong. Happy?"

Elizabeth turned around and looked at Zelenka. He nodded, and she turned back around. "Yes, that's fine, Doctor."

"May I go now?" Kavanaugh hissed.

Elizabeth sighed. "Very well then. Go." She motioned toward the door and Kavanaugh eagerly strode out. Radek glared venomously at the retreating Kavanaugh. As soon as the door to her office slid shut, he muttered under his breath, "Malý pitomec."

Elizabeth had no idea what this meant, but she was sure she agreed with whatever it was. Kavanaugh was, simply put, an egotistical bastard. Rumors were flying that he was happy about Sheppard and McKay being missing. And she didn't doubt them.

"So what do you make of it?" Weir asked, turning to Zelenka.

Behind his circular glasses, Zelenka's eyes were clouded. He wore a frown on his face.

"I do not know how this would be possible. It makes no sense that everyone disappears and then reappears, except Rodney and the major."

"You don't think he's lying, do you? Does he know something about where they are that he's not telling us?"

"No, definitely not. I would not put it past Dr. Kavanaugh, but he is not creative enough to come up with something this elaborate."

Elizabeth smiled inwardly. The good Dr. Zelenka was never shy about expressing his feelings on Kavanaugh. Especially if he could express them to Kavanaugh's face in Czech.

The situation was almost overly-ironic. Rodney and the major were easily two of the most valuable people in Atlantis, if not the most, and they both mysteriously went missing at the exact same time. That made her suspect a plot of some sort because neither of them would have gone this long without some contact. But she couldn't fathom who on her team would do such a thing, never mind who would actually be able to capture either of them successfully. Both John and McKay had been in hostage situations before, and they both could either find a way out or some way to inform her of where they were.

Just then, Sergeant Bates entered Weir's office. He wore a grave expression. He gave her a curt nod, saying, "Ma'am."

"Yes, sergeant?"

Bates was having a field day, hovering around the city interviewing everyone as to when the last time was that they had seen McKay and Sheppard. He had interrogated the entire base thoroughly, along with the Athosians on the mainland. He also was heading an investigation on the mainland to see if the two missing persons were there.

"Neither the Athosians nor the preliminary search parties found anything on the mainland," he reported morosely.

Elizabeth sighed deeply and Zelenka slumped a little. The mainland had been their last lead, their last option, the last hope they had of finding Sheppard and McKay. Now it would be near impossible to do anything, short of exploring thousands of planets inch by inch.

"The last time anyone saw either of them was around was around 0000 hours last night," the sergeant continued. Radek and Weir exchanged glances. It couldn't have been a coincidence that Kavanaugh's story ended at midnight. But what did it mean?

"Permission to return to the mainland with more teams, ma'am," Bates asked.

"Granted," Elizabeth said. Bates strode out, leaving her and Zelenka musing in silence.

"12:00. Too much of a coincidence," Radek though aloud.

"I agree, but what's the connection?"

He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Can anyone verify Kavanaugh's story? Did the same thing happen to anyone else?"

Elizabeth sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time today. "We asked Markova, who said that suddenly everyone disappeared and the only person around for about 15 minutes was Kavanaugh. Some people also had this happen to them. But from what I'm hearing, it sounded like most people arrived at the same time, with a few before and a few after. A couple other people said they also noticed missing technology throughout the night, but no one was really working at the time. The funny thing is, no one noticed Kavanaugh was missing. Apparently, everyone thought he had locked himself into a lab for some peace."

Radek looked embarrassed and fidgeted a little. "Well, he does that very often. And he isn't exactly well-liked among the scientists. Either no one noticed or no one cared."

This comment made Weir a little peeved. How could anyone not notice someone mysteriously vanishing into thin air? However, a part of her sympathized with the scientists. Truthfully, she probably wouldn't have cared too much if she had found out Kavanaugh had gone missing either. She knew that was a terrible thing, but…oh, hell, she hated him almost as much as he hated her! But the truth of the matter was Kavanaugh wasn't missing now. Rodney and John were. She looked at her watch. It was almost 0830 now, and the two had been missing for almost 9 hours.

Nine hours. And the city was already in chaos.

So how was it? (prepares to duck at the first sight of tomatoes)

Translation:

malý pitomec- little idiot