Sheppard walked back towards the Jumper he had arrived in. He had just radioed Atlantis for Beckett and, like he promised, was about to move the Jumper closer to the village. Anything to keep him out of the way of a pregnant woman in labour. Ronon had followed him out, obviously thinking the same thing. And was now waiting for him at the park site. He nodded in greeting.
"Teyla's asking the villagers to clear some space in front of the tent, shouldn't take long."
"Okay. C'mon, let's get this thing started up." John replied, opening the rear door and walking in. Ronon followed him in and sat in the co-pilot's seat. John touched the control panel, expecting the ship to respond to his touch. Nothing happened.
"Hmm. That's weird." He said.
"What?" Ronon asked.
"It's not working." He replied, pointing at the panels in front of him. "Nothing's working. Not even the lights." He realised that the Jumper hadn't automatically illuminated as he entered the ship like it normally did, responding to his ATA gene. "Everything's dead. It was fine when I flew it earlier."
"Try the other ship." Ronon suggested.
"Good idea," the Colonel remarked. The men exited the ship and entered the one parked next to it.
"That's better." John said as the lights sprung on at his presence. "Hey girl." He said to the ship, grinning proudly. Ronon rolled his eyes. They both sat down the way they had in the previous Puddle Jumper and John again touched the panel in front of him. The ship hummed to life, purring at his touch. It took off smoothly, gliding upwards for a few moments, before lurching sharply and tilting sideways.
"What the hell…?" John said, grabbing the side of his chair for support. "Hang on!" He yelled to Ronon, who had been thrown against the panel in front of him. John frantically pressed a few controls and the ship righted itself, but plummeted vertically towards the ground. It hit terra firma with a huge crunch, throwing dirt into the air.
Teyla, who had heard the Jumper take off from outside the tent, stared up at the dust cloud in horror, dropped what she had been carrying and started running in its direction.
Sheppard groaned and wearily lifted his head off the panel in front of him. He could feel liquid dripping down his forehead which he took to be blood, probably caused when he smacked his head off the dashboard. He rubbed his neck, unsure whether his pain had been caused by the crash or his Teyla-inflicted bruises from that morning. He glanced at Ronon who was slumped on the floor. He obviously hadn't hung on when he'd told him to. He looked as though he was unconscious, which was unusual as it normally took a lot of effort to knock out the guy. At that moment John saw Teyla run past the front of the ship, and opened the door to let her in. She dashed up the ramp and up to him, giving him a worried look.
"Are you alright, Colonel?" She asked, frowning at the blood that was slowly trickling down his forehead.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. But I think he's unconscious." He nodded his head at Ronon. Teyla knelt beside him and checked his pulse.
"He is breathing." She stated. He stirred and opened his eyes. He groaned, and Teyla helped him sit up.
"What happened?" He asked wearily.
"You must've whacked your head. You were out cold for a minute." Sheppard replied. He bent to help his friend stand with help from Teyla. They let him go and he wobbled and collapsed into the co-pilot's chair.
"My head's spinning." He said, uncharacteristically admitting he felt unwell.
"Me too. It'll pass. I'm gonna radio Atlantis and see what the hell's up with the Jumpers, and I suppose I'd better go see Beckett and tell him what happened."
"Not until I've cleaned your cut." Teyla said sternly.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad." He said screwing up his face in protest. Teyla said nothing, fetched a medical kit and fished out a dressing. She forced him to sit down and tilted his head back. She dabbed at the cut with an antiseptic wipe, making John wince, and gently placed the dressing over the cut, lightly brushing her fingers against his cheek as she finished.
"Now you may leave." She said, giving him a warm smile. "I will stay with Ronon." John nodded and exited the Jumper, patting Ronon on the arm as he left.
"Atlantis, this is Sheppard." He spoke into his radio as he walked.
"Back so soon, John?" came Elizabeth's voice. "I've radioed the med team, they're on standby for Eryn."
"Oh, good." John said in his most sarcastic voice, before he changed to 'hacked off' mode. "Get McKay on the line." There was a pause.
"What is it Colonel?" Rodney sighed.
"What the hell did you and Zelenka do to the Jumpers?" He asked.
"Whaddya mean?" Rodney replied indignantly.
"Well, one wouldn't work at all and the other barely stayed in the air for ten seconds before it crashed."
"You crashed it?" Rodney said, not sounding at all sympathetic.
"Yes Rodney. It was completely my fault. I decided to fly it straight at the ground for kicks. I'm fine, by the way." John replied through gritted teeth.
"Well, might I remind you that Zelenka and I tried to warn you not to take them out before we'd finished testing them, but you decided to ignore that advice and take them out anyway. I'm amazed you didn't take a nosedive into the ocean and die or something.
"Thanks for that, McKay. Way to make a guy feel better."
"John? What happened?" Elizabeth sounded concerned, stopping Rodney from any more sarcastic retorts.
"The first one wouldn't respond to anything so me and Ronon went to the other one. It took off okay and then just flipped and hit the ground. Ronon was knocked out." He didn't mention his cut, Elizabeth always overreacted when he got injured.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah I'm good, but there's no way I'm flying that thing again until I know it's fixed." He said. He knew he had to get back to Atlantis but he wasn't going to endanger the lives of three of his friends, plus a woman and her newborn child in the process.
"I agree." She replied. "We'll try and find out what's wrong but until then I don't want you taking off in either Jumper."
"Understood." John said. "I'm off to tell Beckett what happened. Sheppard out."