A/N: I know the chapters have been kind of short. Hopefully from this one on, most will be longer. And my continued thanks for all the reviews :)

oOo

Chapter 5: Being a genius is its own reward

Rodney awoke at dawn. He blinked up at the leaves overhead, momentarily disoriented. Oh yes. He grimaced, remembering where they were. Stuck on M6P-696 because something or someone unknown had stolen the Stargate (possibly), exacerbated by the fact that someone had been stupid enough to get heatstroke. Heatstroke! Of all the things… His eyes shifted guiltily to the right, where Sheppard still slept. From how tense he had seemed yesterday, and how little conversation they had had while they were waiting for evening, he could guess that the Colonel was pretty pissed at him. And who could blame him? Only a moron would get so overheated that he nearly died. And, Rodney realized guiltily, he had caused his team a lot of worry yesterday, as well as possibly slowing them down to the point where they had lost the Stargate.

Well, if anyone could fix this, he could. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He was relieved to note that he felt fine today. The lethargy and weakness of his illness seemed to have left him. Thank God. He crawled out of their shelter, trying to be quiet enough not to wake Sheppard and Teyla. Ronon was already up, probably keeping watch.

The Satedan turned at the sound of Rodney struggling out of the lean-to. "Hey," he greeted softly. "How you feeling, McKay?"

Rodney grimaced. Every time they asked him that, it just reminded him how stupid he's been, and how much worry he had caused. "Fine," he snapped, more harshly than he had intended. "Anything ugly try to eat us last night?"

Ronon grinned at this. "Nah. I don't think there's much on this planet in the way of predators."

Rodney looked around. "I wonder why?" he mused aloud. "Don't most jungles have…I dunno, lions and tigers and bears?"

"Oh my," said a voice behind him, making him jump. Sheppard came out to stand behind him, Teyla at his heels. "Mornin'," he greeted.

McKay gave him a slight smile, which faltered immediately when Sheppard didn't return it. "Morning," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Sheppard waved that off. "We need to get going anyway, before…uh," he faltered, looking away. Rodney knew what he was going to say anyway. Before it gets too hot. He was grateful that Sheppard hadn't finished the thought.

"How are you—" Teyla started, eying Rodney.

"Fine, fine," he cut her off. He went to gather up his vest and equipment. "Let's check out the gate, shall we?" he called over his shoulder.

Someone grabbed his pack out of his hand, and he turned in surprise to regard Sheppard. "What are you doing?"

Sheppard looked away, almost appearing guilty. "I…uh…I can carry that."

McKay snorted, annoyed, and pulled his pack free of the other man's grasp. Great. Now they thought he was some sort of fragile flower that would shatter in the heat. Couldn't even carry his own equipment. "The Hell you will," he said angrily. "I've got it."

"Look, McKay, don't be stupid. You were nearly at death's door yesterday. You shouldn't to anything too taxing—"

"I said, I've got it!" Rodney snapped, putting on his pack and stalking away. He stopped a few paces later and turned to face Ronon and Teyla, studiously ignoring Sheppard. "You coming, or not?"

Ronon wordlessly gathered up the few scattered possessions they had shed the night before and glanced at Sheppard. Teyla took a step in Rodney's direction, then glanced uncertainly at Sheppard as well. Fine. "Colonel, with your permission?" Rodney said snidely, sweeping his arm in front of him.

Sheppard gave him an annoyed look, but complied, brushing past Rodney to take the lead down the now very obvious path back to the Stargate…or where it should have been.

The next half hour passed in awkward silence. Rodney walked close behind Sheppard, annoyed that the Colonel seemed to be going to slowly and kept casting backwards glances at him. He could swear that behind them, Teyla and Ronon kept exchanging looks, but he could never catch them at it. He plodded along grimly, sure that if they ever did get back to Atlantis, he was going to be grounded, maybe permanently.

It wasn't fair. They had suffered worse when off-world, hadn't they? They had been kidnapped, threatened, chased, shot at, nearly blown up…but now everyone was acting like a little sunstroke was the end of the world. It annoyed him, and just magnified his guilt. He wished they would just forget it had ever happened. He was fine, and he didn't appreciate their concern. It made him feel weaker than he was.

Finally, they reached the circle. Sheppard stopped just inside the clearing, forcing Rodney to peer over his shoulder to see anything. Even though he had been expecting it, he still sucked in a sharp breath at seeing the circle still here, but the gate—their only means of returning home—just…gone. "Oh, no," he breathed softly.

Sheppard turned to face him, looking him in the eyes for the first time in hours. He looked a little shaken too, which made Rodney feel a little bit better. "Yeah," he agreed softly. "Not something you see every day, is it?"

Rodney shook his head, pulling his scanner out of his pack. He ran the instrument over the area, taking in readings. Hmm. This was interesting. Very interesting.

"What've you got?" Sheppard asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.

Rodney took a step away, trying to get the Colonel out of his personal space. "I'm getting an energy reading directly below us," he said, still staring at the screen. "Same place as that one spike I got here yesterday, but not nearly as strong…" his voice trailed off as a huge spike flashed across the screen. "Whoa!"

"What?" Sheppard asked, hand going unconsciously to the P-90 clipped to his chest.

Rodney shot him a look. "Nothing that would benefit from shooting at it, Colonel. I just got another energy spike, bigger than yesterday. From…" he trailed off, walking forward. "From right underneath me."

Sheppard took several steps forward, then stopped. "You sure it's safe to be standing on top of it, McKay?"

Rodney took a few steps backwards, swallowing nervously. That was a good point. But the energy was already fading beneath him. He noticed then that he had been standing in the exact middle of the circle, where the Stargate had stood. "Hmm…" he mused, pushing more buttons.

Sheppard shifted from foot to foot, watching him. Rodney noticed his hand was still on the P-90. "What 'hmm?'" he finally asked, obviously unable to contain himself any longer.

Rodney glanced up at him in annoyance. Really. Some of us are trying to work here, he thought with annoyance, and that goes much faster without distractions. He almost told the Colonel that, but caught himself. Don't annoy the man with a twitchy finger and a big gun. Instead he sighed and explained, "The energy spike was exactly under where the Stargate was, and it was approximately the amount of energy that is used when a gate activates."

His eyes widened in sudden realization. He stared at Sheppard, who wore an identical expression. "You mean…" Sheppard breathed.

Rodney nodded, excited. "I think so!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Does someone want to fill in those less fortunate?" Ronon grumbled.

Rodney turned to him, seeing identical expressions of confusion and annoyance on Ronon and Teyla's faces. He opened his mouth to explain when Sheppard beat him to it. "The Stargate's underneath us," the pilot told them.

"We think it might be," Rodney corrected. "The energy signature implies that something as powerful as a Stargate activated underneath us."

Ronon looked at the sky, then at the ground. "So no alien spaceships carried it off?" he asked, still looking confused.

Rodney snorted. "Hardly as likely." He started scratching at the gravel with his boot. "Colonel…?"

Sheppard was already on his way over. He knelt and began digging. After a moment, Ronon bent to help. Rodney watched as they dug down through the gravel, fingers twitching impatiently. He was aware that he should be helping, but was also aware of what the gravel would do to his fingers. After all, he had really delicate skin, and he needed his fingers for typing.

Sheppard looked up at him, arm down in the hole almost up to his elbow. "McKay," he asked, sounding exasperated and a little winded, "exactly how far down is this?"

Rodney shook his head, looking back at the scanner as if it could help them. "No idea. There seems to be some sort of shielding…ah…over a meter down. This is no good. Stop digging."

Sheppard and Ronon stopped. The Colonel sat up, scowling. "So why did we just ruin our nails in this little exercise in futility?"

Rodney waved a hand dismissively. "I don't recall asking you to do any such thing." Well, I would have, but you beat me to it.

"What we need are shovels," Sheppard said, grimacing.

"I could try blasting through it," Ronon suggested, pulling his weapon.

Rodney took a step backwards, licking his lips nervously. "And pepper us with bits of flying rock? No thanks."

"I do not believe it would be a good idea," Teyla agreed, smiling at Ronon to soften the blow. Rodney shot her an appreciative look, surprised at the support. Moments his eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him. This had better not be because she felt sorry for him!

"Anyway," he said briskly, turning back to his scanner (not that it showed him anything new, but at least it saved him having to make eye contact), "there's too much gravel to dig or shoot through."

"Which is why we need a shovel," Sheppard reiterated, using his faux patient voice that showed he was anything but.

"Great, Colonel. Why don't we just pop down to the local Home Depot and get one, then?" Rodney snapped before he could stop himself.

Sheppard curled a lip in annoyance. "So what are you suggesting then, Oh Wise One?"

"Well," Rodney gestured at the scanner, "The energy signature from yesterday…you know, the one that moves…is still here. We could go after it again."

"Oh, because that worked so well yesterday," Sheppard sneered.

"Well, at least we know it's probably underground, now!" Rodney snapped. "I still don't know why it seems to be moving, but it may lead us to an entrance."

"Or on a wild goose chase!"

"Rodney?" Teyla asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Yes, but what choice do we have? We can't dig down through a meter of gravel just on the off-chance we can get through whatever is blocking my scanner down below us!"

"Rodney," Teyla tried again.

He finally turned to her. "What," he asked, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice. It wasn't her he was mad at.

"Why is the gate now below us?" It was on the surface yesterday, and from what I understand, when we stepped through you got an…increase in energy readings, and a few hours later, it had…somehow sunk into the ground? Is that correct?"

Rodney nodded, gears turning. "Yeah," he agreed distractedly.

"But…why? And how?" She persisted.

"You know, she has a point," Sheppard said. "Whomever did this is probably still down there."

"If it was a whom," Rodney said, rubbing his fingers excitedly as a new thought occurred to him. When Sheppard cleared his throat a moment later he realized he had forgotten to actually tell them what he was thinking. "Oh, ah, right. What if it's an automatic system? It could have been initialized by the activation of the gate. Or it may have responded to our ATA genes."

Sheppard nodded slowly. "That's possible. I guess we'll know more once we get down there."

"I'm going to try to shoot a hole," Ronon said stubbornly.

"Through a meter of rocks? That won't work," Rodney told him impatiently.

"Guess I'll go whittle us a shovel, then," Sheppard said, raising an eyebrow.

"We do all have knives," Teyla mused slowly.

"So you're all going to go whittle shovels. And then what?" Rodney demanded. "What do you expect to find under the rocks, anyway?"

"Well, probably the trapdoor the gate went down through," Sheppard said sarcastically. "I mean, there DOES have to be a door, right?"

"Yes, yes," Rodney said, poking more buttons on his scanner. He had just seen another energy surge. "Looks like the gate was activated again."

"Probably our people trying to find us," Sheppard commented, then widened his eyes. "Rodney! If they're coming through from Atlantis, what will they be finding down there?"

"How the hell should I know?" Rodney snapped, trying to hide his worry at the thought. "I already told you, there's shielding. All I can detect is energy, and it's fairly sketchy."

"Very helpful. Thank you." Sheppard turned away and tapped his radio. "This is Sheppard, if anyone can hear me, please respond."

Rodney opened his mouth to reply, when he realized Sheppard wasn't talking to his own team. Right. He was trying to reach anyone who might be below him. "No good," he said.

Sheppard turned to him. "And you know this how?"

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Shielding, Colonel. Radio signals wouldn't be able to penetrate."

"Great, just great," Sheppard muttered.

"If the gate lowering into the ground was activated by the gene," Teyla said, coming to stand next to Rodney, "Then might it not work to use the gene to make it rise again?"

Rodney looked her, then at Sheppard, who quirked an eyebrow in response. "It's…possible," he admitted. "Colonel, I believe this is more your department." As much as he hated to admit it, Sheppard did have more control over Ancient technology.

They all watched (Ronon still with his weapon out) as Sheppard closed his eyes and concentrated on bringing back the gate. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes with a sigh. "Not gonna happen," he pointed out unnecessarily.

"It was a good idea," Rodney said to Teyla, who smiled at him in return. He smiled in response. It felt good, he realized, to make her smile. It lit up her whole face. And she was nice, really nice. She had taken care of him yesterday, after all, even though he wasn't the best patient. Although it still made him squirm inside to know that she had seen him naked. Still, it was unavoidable, and it wasn't like he had anything to be ashamed of…

"McKay," Sheppard demanded, and Rodney realized he was repeating himself.

"Yes, present," Rodney said, shifting his attention outward.

"Thanks for your attention," Sheppard said, smirking. "How're those energy readings?"

Rodney looked back at the scanner, fiddling with it, trying to amplify the weak signal. "Well…there's still an energy signature right below us, and along the path we were following yesterday…" his voice trailed off. "Colonel, get me a life-signs detector." He snapped in the direction of his pack.

"What am I, your personal servant?" Sheppard griped, but he did as he was told. Rodney set it and the scanner down and began to take things apart. "Er, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to use the power supply from the detector to amplify the power of my scanner," he said distractedly. "Maybe I can get a better…ah-hah! I'm a genius, no doubt about it!" he crowed as the energy patterns settled down.

"What do you see?" Sheppard asked, leaning over his shoulder and into his personal space.

"Well, I see why the energy signature seemed to be moving yesterday," Rodney said. "It was the shielding. There are continuous energy patterns below us…hang on…" he held up the scanner for Sheppard to see. "There, see?"

Sheppard blinked. "A map."

Rodney looked at the pattern of energy readings. It did look—and function—like a map, come to think of it. "Tunnels," he clarified. "Ancient tunnels, with all the lights on, no doubt."

"Was this the case yesterday?" Teyla asked, coming over to see.

"Possibly. Probably. Yes." Rodney decided. "We just couldn't tell yesterday, because it was too faint."

"D'you think that they activated when we came though too?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney nodded. "It's a good bet."

"How far do they go?" Ronon asked. He had also come to hang over Rodney's shoulder.

Rodney squirmed, uncomfortable at all his teammates' proximity. "Kilometers. Remember how far we went yesterday?" he asked, trying not to think about it himself. He had been really miserable yesterday. Why hadn't he said something sooner? Told someone that things weren't right? "That was about halfway along this tunnel," he said, pointing, dragging his brain back to the matter at hand.

"What's that?" Sheppard asked, pointing to a brighter place on the map.

"No idea. A larger power source, obviously. Control room, maybe?"

"Door?" Ronon asked.

Rodney gave him a look. "Probably not a door. Wouldn't need extra power for a door."

"So the door will be at the end of one of the tunnels, huh?" Sheppard asked, tapping the screen.

Rodney batted his hand away. "Most likely. As there are several tunnels, though, we have no way of knowing which, if any."

"So we need a shovel," Sheppard concluded, crossing his arms. Rodney gave up. "Fine, fine. Go whittle yourself a shovel, Colonel. But there's really no way of knowing if we can get the trapdoor open even if you get all the gravel off of it."

Sheppard smirked. "Won't know until we try, will we? Ronon?" he turned to the Satedan. "Want to make some shovels?"

Ronon smiled, probably at the prospect of whacking the limbs off of trees. "Sure." The two headed off towards the dense growth around their clearing.

Rodney watched them go. He thought about helping, but they wouldn't be expecting him to, and he really didn't feel like it anyway. He sat down, feeling light-headed.

"Are you alright?" Teyla asked, sitting next to him.

He glanced at her in annoyance, then sighed. "I'm fine. I just haven't eaten yet today."

Teyla nodded in understanding. "I believe none of us have."

Rodney started poking through his pockets until he found a power bar. He opened the wrapper and tore it in half, offering one piece to Teyla.

She looked at it, then him. "You need it more than I," she protested.

Rodney snorted. "Teyla, you said yourself that you haven't eaten either. We have enough to go around, as long as we're careful."

She took, nodding her thanks and smiling at him again. He smiled back. They ate in companionable silence.

When he was done eating, Rodney cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. He had something he had to say to her, and for some reason, it was sticking. "Um, Teyla…"

She looked at him. "Rodney?"

"I just wanted to say…thanks," he said softly, looking down.

"For what?" she asked.

"For yesterday."

She patted his arm. "You are welcome, Rodney. You had us all quite worried."

Rodney made a face. "I'm…sorry about that. It was really stupid of me."

"I do not understand much about this heatstroke," Teyla said with a small frown, "but I do not think it was your fault."

"Of course it—" he broke off. This wasn't going to help. Feeling tired, he just nodded. "Now let's see if the Eagle Scouts over there can actually dig us a door, shall we?" he said, gesturing to where Ronon and Sheppard were enthusiastically hacking things off of a tree.

Teyla smiled. "They do seem to enjoy it." She frowned. "What is an eagle scout?"

Rodney thought about answering her, but she didn't really seem to need a response. So instead he just sat with her and watched their companions destroy the local flora.