A/N: SORRY! Arugh, I am so disgusted with myself for leaving you all hanging, sadly my muses left me when the ability to upload documents to the site did (for those of you authors, I'm sure you remember the trauma). So here is the next installment, I hope it continues to make things clearer. Thanks again to all my reviewers, you're the best!

IOIOIO

"All right team, let's get to work," Sheppard had ordered as soon as Rodney exited the room.

Teyla and Ronan took a seat beside Dr. Weir as Sheppard paced slightly.

"What do we know? What do we need to do? And how do we do it?" he asked, questioning himself as much as his teammates.

Teyla was the first to volunteer. "I believe I should contact the mainland and tell them of our situation. While I am there I can also ask our elders if they have ever heard of a similar condition."

"I'll go with her," Ronan volunteered.

Sheppard fought back a groan. The man was like a puppy; his devotion to Teyla was admirable, but annoying when it got under your feet.

"No Ronan, Colonel Sheppard needs you here with him. I will be fine," Teyla reassured the larger man, glancing at John as she did so. He confirmed her assessment with a nod.

"That's right big guy, we have work to do. So Teyla, keep in radio contact and be back as soon as you can. Get Peterson to fly you over, he'll keep you safe," he advised as he walked Teyla to the door. Nodding, she took a last look at Dr. Weir before setting off briskly down the hallway.

Sheppard quickly returned his attention to the city. "Alright, the mainland's covered. Now it's our turn. We need to search for possible points of alien entry to the city- it's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack," he concluded grimly.

Ronan began unsheathing several knives as he replied. "I'll take the levels we haven't cleared yet. I move faster alone, and it's less risky."

Sheppard didn't like that idea. Not one bit. But he knew it had to be done. "Okay. But I want you to check in every five minutes and take a shield device, just to be safe."

Ronan shrugged. "Sure."

"Great," Sheppard stated as he motioned for Ronan to follow him out the door. Moving towards the labs, he outlined his own plan of attack.

"SGA 3, 4, 6, and 10 will take the lower levels. I'll send 11,13, 14, and 19 to the middle levels. The top will be teams 20 through 25. I'll stay in the control room and see what I can do with the ancient technology. We should plan on meeting back in the infirmary when the sweep is over. That good for you?" he asked as they entered Miko's lab.

Ronan nodded and said simply "If there's and alien, we'll find it," as he helped Sheppard dig through the closet for a shield device. Finding one, John slapped it on Ronan.

"Good thing we modified these so you don't need the gene," Sheppard grinned as Ronan tried to shot himself experimentally.

"Works," was Ronan's grunted response. With that, he marched out of the lab and off to the transporter without a backward glance. Smiling, Sheppard set off at a jog toward the control room.

IOIOIO

Rodney stared at the wall in front of him morosely. An entire hour of searching through the labs had failed to turn up any more devices. A waste of my invaluable time, Rodney snapped to himself as he tapped his earpiece and stormed towards the transporters.

"Zelenka?" he said as he entered the transporter, shoving aside several unlucky scientists as he did so.

"Yes Rodney?" Zelenka sighed back. This wasn't sounding good he thought, preparing himself for the onslaught.

"There are no more devices," came the irate voice from the radio. "Tell me that you and Carson, at least, managed to do something productive in the hour I've been away."

Grimacing, Zelenka paused before passing him off to Carson. "Rodney," Carson began

Oh this is so not good Rodney thought as he registered the change in speakers.

"The good news is that we think we'll be through screening personnel very quickly, Zelenka modified the device so that it can scan a person in under twenty seconds. That means we'll have about 3 people done in a minute, and-"

"A grand total of 180 people in an hour, yes, that's very good to hear Carson. It will only take three hours to screen the entire city, excellent. Have you done anything else? It didn't take you an hour to do that did it?" he bristled, stepping out of the transporter. Deciding this was no time for modesty, he began jogging to the infirmary.

"Honestly Rodney, no need to snap, we're all worried as well you know. To answer you yes, we also managed to come up with some theories concerning Elizabeth's condition," Carson responded, whirling around when Rodney's voice passed by his shoulder.

"Well, don't just stand there, what are they?" demanded Rodney as he went over to peer at the briefing notes Zelenka held out to him in shock.

The man must 'ave run clear from the transporter to here to make it in that time! By god he's really worried about the lass, Beckett marveled. Zelenka exchanged a look with the Doctor as they watched the man in front of them pour over the notes.

Zelenka took a seat next to McKay as he began to talk over the theories they had come up with. Carson watched for a moment before contacting the control room and patching himself into the city's intercoms.

"Hello, this is Doctor Beckett. If the inhabitants of the first two levels would please make their way to the infirmary now, we will begin testing. The entire city will be done within the next three hours, so jest sit tight and try te relax, We have the situation under control and will update you shortly when we have results. Thank you."

Beckett ended the call with a positive note, rather pleased at his first public announcement. Leaving the scientists debating in his office, he made his way out to the area where they would be scanning the expedition members.

IOIOIO

Rodney had finally stopped arguing with Beckett by the time Carson returned from the testing room. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he all but fell into his desk chair.

"Well?" came Rodney's brisk inquiry from the table.

Sighing, Beckett said simply "We've scanned all the members of the expedition who are currently on base. Although we had a few people reporting strange behavior, everyone scanned clean. As of this point in time, I have every reason to believe that Atlantis is free from any other alien entities."

Zelenka nodded. "Are we the only two people you haven't scanned yet?"

Beckett nodded. "Yes, we got Teyla when she came back from the mainland, and the colonel and Ronan a few minutes ago. Colonel Sheppard said to tell you he'd be here shortly. "

"Good good," Rodney said absentmindedly. "Then he can be here when Dr. Heightmeyer arrives."

Carson's perplexed face prompted Radek to jump in and explain.

"We think- based on the medical readouts from the machine and our own equipment- that the entity may be controlling Elizabeth's mind, like some type of virtual reality. In doing so, it may blend Elizabeth's brainwaves in with it's own so that there appears to be only one signature."

"Then why-"

"Do we need Dr. Heightmeyer? In case whatever's inside of her wakes up and wants to chat," Rodney replied, successfully anticipating the rest of Beckett's query.

Satisfied, the Doctors waited in silence for the rest of the team of arrive. Radek's face bore faint traces of worry, but a little excitement at having a new problem to solve. Beckett shielded his concern, only allowing the fear he felt to show when he stared into his coffee. Rodney was letting his nervousness show by pacing around the room with the briefing file, his hands whizzing around his head as he talked to himself in a quiet mumble,

Carson was just pouring himself another cup of coffee when Dr. Heighmeyer entered with Ronan by her side. John and Teyla appeared a moment later, taking a quick look at Elizabeth before walking over towards the assembled group.

"Well, who wants to share first?" Sheppard said, quickly breaking the silence that had threatened to overtake them.

"The mainland has been alerted to our situation and is secure," Teyla stated as she took a seat on an empty infirmary bed. "No one has shown any unusual behavior, and I was the first person they have seen from Atlantis in two weeks. They are willing to be tested, but I don't think it will be necessary," she said as she looked at Doctor Beckett.

"Teyla's right Colonel. Everyone here scanned clean, so I would say we needn't bother testing the Athosians, Elizabeth hasn't been over to the mainland in months, te likelihood of one o' them being a carrier is very small," the Scotsman said.

Sheppard nodded. "I agree. For now, isolation should keep them safe. Did the elders have any further information Teyla?"

"When I asked the elders if they had heard of anything like this, they said the closets thing was my own possession by the wraith. I am sorry we could not have been of more help," she finished, bowing her head slightly,

"Not your fault. Next briefing," he shot over to Rodney, who jumped slightly from where he had been gazing at his laptop.

"Er- right. I guess I might as well explain our theory: we think Elizabeth's subconscious an conscious mind is being manipulated by this entity. In controlling Elizabeth's mind, the entity could cause her brain waves to appear as it's own- or vice versa, explaining why there was only one brain wave on the scanner. I admit it has to be a highly evolved life form to be able to fool the Ancients, but it has happened before," he pointed out.

"What we need to do now is to find a way to communicate with the entity- even if it refuses to negotiate, any information we collect will be better than what we have now," Radek finished.

There was a heavy silence as the group pondered what to do. Just as Sheppard was about to say they should split up again, Teyla crossed over to Dr. Weir. Intrigued, John followed her. Teyla studied the readouts from the various devices Elizabeth was hooked up to, finally turning to look at the Colonel.

"Colonel- I am not completely certain, but I believe I have a way to contact the entity."

Thanks again for staying with me! The good news is, I'm now on vacation for a bit and should be able to update much more often. I hope to finish the story by next Friday!