"We've sure been lucky in finding caves on this planet," Rodney mused, grunting when his injured foot tapped the ground as Ronon lowered him to the floor.

"Yeah," Sheppard muttered, "lucky."

"Gate'll be under guard now," Ronon said. "We won't get another chance to slip through it."

"No," Sheppard agreed shortly. He looked at Rodney. "Check the life-signs detector. I don't want to be caught with our pants down."

There were blips everywhere. "Doesn't look promising for an escape," Rodney told him wearily, "but I think we're safe for the moment."

The radio clicked, startling them. "Colonel Sheppard," said a familiar voice.

There were frowns all around as Sheppard said, "Kolya?"

A low chuckle conveyed little genuine amusement. "I thought you would want to know that Teyla's injury is rather serious."

"Well, then we should get her to a doctor as soon as possible," Sheppard said evenly. "Just leave her at the gate, and we'll take it from there."

"I wouldn't dream of moving her in this condition."

"Speaking of injuries," Rodney said suddenly, "you, uh, seem to have made a remarkable recovery, yourself." One hand stole up to the back of his head, feeling the stiffened hair briefly.

"I think you'll find me to be amazingly resilient, Dr. McKay. I'll always come back. How is your foot?"

"What do you want, Kolya?" demanded Sheppard.

"My demands haven't changed since you shot me, Sheppard. I want your team. All of it. Any less than all four is of no use to me, so you can count on me to keep Teyla alive until you surrender… and to kill her if you do not."

Covering his microphone, Rodney muttered, "I really hate this guy."

Sheppard said, "I need some time to think about it, Kolya."

"You have five minutes." With that, Kolya was gone.

"You notice that no one ever thinks to mention how long a minute is on whatever planet we happen to be on?" Rodney asked. "I mean, a 'minute' here could be twenty-three of our seconds. How can we be sure we won't miss the deadline? It's a complete lack of attention to logistics."

"Shut up, Rodney. Ronon, go scout the area. See if you can tell where they're holding Teyla, anything you can find out."

As Ronon left, Sheppard knelt beside Rodney, who was worrying his shattered boot. "How's it feel? Here, let me help you."

Gently, Sheppard removed the boot, careful to avoid causing additional pain. Even so, Rodney gasped and whimpered as the boot came off. Closing his eyes, he asked, "How bad is it?"

"Looks mostly superficial," Sheppard said, "far as I can tell. The skin's been pretty badly burned, but nothing's actually been, um… blown off, or anything."

"Oh, GOD! I so didn't need to be reminded that that could have happened!"

"Well, at least we're not dealing with a permanently crippling injury," Sheppard said, smiling.

Rodney frowned suspiciously. "All right, that's it, knock it off. I'm pretty sure I'm getting whiplash from these attitude changes."

"What are you talking about? Look, we have to come up with a plan here. There's no way we can surrender to Kolya."

"No, really? You think a cold-blooded killer who can regenerate his own exploded brain is maybe bad news?"

"Yeah, what's up with that, anyway? I know he was dead. How the hell is he alive now?"

"Short of using a Goa'uld sarcophagus, I have no idea." But he was already frowning. "Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Shut up, I'm thinking."

As the silence stretched, Sheppard repeated with a little less patience: "Unless what, Rodney?"

"It's just a theory, of course, but what if he's cloned himself?"

Blinking, Sheppard stared. "He could do that?"

"Well, I don't know, but I do know that the Ancient database in Atlantis refers to some technology that can be used to clone living things. We haven't found such a device in the city – not yet, anyway – but there's no reason not to think that there isn't one somewhere in this galaxy."

"That anomalous energy reading you detected…"

"Very likely the cloning process, yes, if there is in fact cloning taking place here."

"Okay, so Kolya and his entourage, searching for the means to mount a counter-coup on the Genii homeworld, happen to stumble onto this cloning gadget, and by an amazing coincidence, we show up. Doesn't really add up."

"I don't pretend to have all the answers yet, Colonel. I just provided you with a feasible – and let's face it, most likely correct – theory to support the facts we do know. The real question is – how does it help us?"

"Knowledge is power, McKay."

"And breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So what? Teyla's still a prisoner of a sadistic nutcase, and we're almost out of time, assuming he meant our normal minutes."

Ronon slipped into the cave, looking just a bit smug. "Think I know where they've got Teyla. Took out a few of Kolya's men while I was out."

Rodney raised his eyebrows. "How many?"

"Eighteen, maybe twenty."

"We need to have a talk about words and their meanings. We'll start with 'few.'"

The radio crackled. "Time's up Sheppard. What is your answer?"

"Hang on, Kolya. We're dealing with an emergency at the moment." Sheppard was stalling until he could get Ronon's intel.

"What sort of emergency?" Kolya demanded.

"It's… McKay. He's… throwing up."

"Oh, there's an excellent dodge," Rodney hissed. "Be sure to toss in that the dog ate our homework, and Ronon just washed his hair and can't do a thing with it."

"Shut up, Rodney!"

"Colonel Sheppard! I need your answer now!"

His mike covered, Sheppard looked at Ronon. "Is there a shot at winning this?"

"I think so. Not a huge one, but we've seen worse."

Nodding, Sheppard said, "All right, Kolya, you win. We'll surrender."