Chapter 10: Travellers in time.

John sat up slowly and blinked a few times before opening his eyes. For a moment he was disoriented and thought he was on Atlantis – which was impossible because Atlantis sounded completely different. It took him a few minutes to realise that he was actually on Arastica and Teyla and Carson were staring at him. Carson didn't seem happy, and Teyla seemed worried, but that wasn't what he needed right now, so he ignored their worried looks and asked the question that he needed to ask.

"Has anyone heard from Torren yet and if not, why don't you stop staring at me and contact him to find out what's going on?"

"Yes, we spoke to him five minutes ago and he should be contacting you with instructions shortly, but what I want to know is what happened to your head Colonel?"

He just glared at Carson and gave him his standard response, "I'm fine Carson and right now I have a job to do, so please don't go into mother hen mode?"

A look of compassion crossed the Doctor's face, and he was ready for an argument. But much to his relief, it didn't come.

"At least let me give you something for the pain?"

"If you've got some Tylenol that will be great thanks doc? And before you argue I don't need anything stronger as I have work to do! "He stated a little too forcefully.

"Don't get upset lad, I only want what's best for you?"

He looked at his doctor and friend and he didn't miss the hurt on his face, "sorry doc, I just have a lot to do."

"I know lad, so why don't you let me have a look at your head and take some Tylenol and then I will let you get back to work – I promise?"

Sighing he sat up and let Carson take a look at the back of his head. The minute Carson started to poke and prod at it, a pain shot through his head, and he winced. But the doctor didn't say anything he just started to tut – like he always did when he was worried.

"How is it looking Doc?"

"It doesn't look too bad. It's stopped bleeding, so just take some Tylenol and then we can wait for Torren to contact us."

He took the pills that Carson offered and had a drink of water from the bottle that Teyla gave him, when he was finished, he sat back in the chair to wait for Torren to contact him. There were so many thoughts going through his head right now and he wished that Torren would just hurry up, so that they could get on with the mission and get home, hopefully to a normal life.

A few minutes later his com activated, "Torren to Dad come in please?"

"Go ahead Torren."

"I need you to connect with Arastica so that you can open the anomaly. We will meet you down at the jumper bay after the anomaly is open. It should close down automatically after we have gone through."

"Okay send the coordinates and I will connect as soon as I have them, Sheppard, out?"

Once the connection had been broken, he turned to Carson and Teyla and smiled, "I need you both to go to the jumper bay, because as soon as I've finished here, we'll be heading back in time?"

"John, we will not leave you. When you are finished, we will go to the jumper together."

He looked at Teyla and thought about arguing with her, but then decided against it when he saw a look of determination cross her face. In the end, he just nodded his head and leaned back in the chair.

Instantly he felt the comforting embrace of Arastica. It still felt off and it certainly wasn't Atlantis, but the plan was to stop the wraith from infecting her systems. He looked forward to connecting with Arastica again once she was free of the virus – as he had in the future and as good as that was Arastica would never be Atlantis – his city.

He found himself on the balcony overlooking the ocean again, with Elizabeth walking towards him, "It is good to see you again John Sheppard."

"Hello Arastica, has Torren sent you the coordinates for the anomaly as yet?

"Yes, he has, I can now open the anomaly if you need me to."

"I think Torren has programmed to coordinates for the anomaly to open a few days before the one that comes from the future, so the plan is for us to land on the planet and wait for the hive ship to come through. We will then try and kill the wraith queen before she has a chance to infect you."

The image of Elizabeth smiled and nodded at him, he really missed Elizabeth at times like this. Once she had disappeared he closed his eyes and concentrated until he could see the image of the anomaly forming out in space. It only took a few minutes to form and when he was sure it was stable, he disconnected from the city and felt himself falling into the darkness once more…

oOo

Teyla sat beside John and watched as he was connected with Arastica, his brow was furrowed, and she could see the lines of concentration on his face. She longed for this mission to be over so that she could get on with her life and share it with the man she loved. A few weeks ago, she was still with Kanaan, but now she was contemplating life with John. She wondered what point in time they would go back to once the mission was over. Would they go back to a time before their trip to the future – she hoped not? She would be happy to go back to a time before this mission started though because she had a feeling that by the time it was over, she would be glad to forget it. Could Torren and Dave control where she ended up – could she choose? The real question was would they have any choice over the matter? Were there certain universal laws that controlled that kind of thing? Growing up she'd always believed that time was linear, but as she began to learn more about the ancients and then got caught in the anomaly she soon found out that time was anything but.

A moan from the control chair caught her attention, she looked down just in time to see John open his eyes and sit up. She was beside him in a second and Carson quickly followed.

She grabbed his hand to try and ground him as he was always a little confused after connecting with Atlantis or Arastica, "John are you alright?"

For a moment he looked a bit disoriented and then he spoke slowly," yeah, I'm alright. Perhaps we should head to the jumper bay."

He let go of her hand, stood up and swayed, so she grabbed his arm to try and steady him and Carson steadied him on his other side and together they walked towards the jumper bay. Along the way, John seemed to gain some strength which was probably a good thing as they still had a lot of work to do once they arrived in the past.

A couple of minutes later when they walked into the jumper, Teyla expected that John would head up to the front and insist on flying the jumper. Instead, he lay down in the back on one of the benches, looking exhausted. She also knew that he'd hit his head at some point, so she wondered whether that had anything to do with his weariness.

"John are you alright?"

"Yeah, for some reason connecting with Arastica tends to wear me out a little bit, so I think I'll have a sleep until I'm needed again." He paused and looked up into her eyes before continuing, "Don't worry about me Teyla, I'll be fine."

Holding his hand, she watched his eyelids drooping and before too long he fell asleep. Once he was sleeping soundly, she turned to look at Carson.

"Do you think that he will sleep for long? Because I think that he will need to be awake when we arrive in the past."

"Don't worry lass, it will probably do him some good to have a rest and we'll wake him up if we have to."

She nodded her head and went to sit up the front of the jumper, leaving Carson to keep an eye on John. Torren sat in the pilot seat and Dave sat next to him with Rodney and Ronon sitting behind, she soon realised that there was nowhere for her to sit, so she turned and was about to head to the back when Dave stood up and offered her his seat.

"Thank you, Dave," she said sitting down next to Torren and looking out the window. It didn't take her long to realise that they hadn't left the jumper bay as yet and she wondered what was holding them up.

"Is everyone ready, as the anomaly has already formed and is waiting for us?" Torren asked as he fired up the jumper.

A feeling of frustration came over her and she spoke a little too forcefully, "yes let us get this mission over with so that I can go home and see my son!"

"Hey I'm right here," Torren quipped.

He almost looked hurt even though he was trying to make a joke out of things.

"I am sorry Torren, but I miss my baby boy."

"Don't worry Mom, I'm just kidding."

Before the conversation had a chance to continue Rodney interrupted, "yes, yes as wonderful as thing conversation is, can we please go and get this mission over and done with?" He stopped to take a breath before he continued his rant," I have so much work to do and although Radek is almost as smart as me, I still can't trust him not to blow my lab up."

She turned to look at Rodney and spoke soothingly to try and placate him, "do not worry Doctor McKay, I am sure we will be on our way soon."

A chuckle came from the back of the jumper, and she wasn't surprised to see Ronon standing by the door.

Smiling she turned towards the front of the jumper again and was happy to see that they were in space and approaching the anomaly. She wondered whether it would be the same as it was the first time, she went through it – except for the pressure behind her eyes and the pain it caused of course.

She got her answer a few minutes later when the jumper crossed the event horizon and entered the anomaly.

The colours that surrounded her were as intense as they were the first time, she went through it. Looking around at the bright colours she realised that it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. When they travelled through a stargate the colours were dull in comparison to the swirling reds and oranges that she was seeing now. Although she seemed to remember that she told herself the same thing the last time she went through the anomaly. The other question she'd asked last time was, was it man-made or naturally occurring? She now knew that the ancients had designed it and now she wished that they hadn't because their stupid experiment had caused no end of problems for a lot of people.

Within minutes they exited the anomaly and this time they weren't about to crash land on Sheppard's planet. The view was remarkable, and she could make out the lights of Arastica. She knew that they had travelled in time, but it was hard to believe that it was ten thousand years – well at least she hoped that they had landed at the right time.

"I'm going to circle around so that we can watch and make sure that the anomaly has closed," Torren announced," and then in twenty-four hours the anomaly should open and the hive ship should come through."

Teyla watched as the ship circled around and within a minute the anomaly had closed, now they had to make sure that the hive ship didn't infect Arastica with the virus and then they could get back home again and she couldn't wait.

oOo

Sheppard's planet was as wonderful as he remembered it. The day was sunny and warm, and the primary sun was high in the sky as John walked along the well-worn path by the river. He had no idea how he'd ended up on the planet again, so he decided to head towards the cabin where he'd stayed in the future – perhaps he would find answers there. Arriving at the area where the cabin was supposed to be he was surprised to find that the cabin wasn't there, and neither were the extensive gardens that Sheppard and the other Teyla had established in the years that they had lived on the planet.

Perplexed by the situation, he turned and started to walk towards the field where Sheppard and Teyla's crashed jumper was and as he got closer to the spot where it should have been, he was surprised to find that there was no sign of it. But everything seemed different somehow, newer fresher the grass that was once dry and yellow seemed much lusher and greener.

In the distance, he spied Arastica and for some reason, it wasn't shielded, so he started to walk towards the once-great city. As he approached the magnificent city, he was surprised to see that it looked new and whole again and there appeared to be people inhabiting her. Jumpers flew into the docking bay that he had found when he was in the future. The only question was – was he dreaming?

Suddenly the sky overhead became dark, so he went with his instinct and looked up. The first thing he saw was an anomaly being formed and the next thing he saw was a hive ship coming through and he was fairly sure it was the one that he had sent through the anomaly when he was in the future – although he couldn't be sure….

John awoke with a start and fell off the narrow bench that he'd been sleeping on. Groaning he looked around the jumper and realised that he was all alone. The lights were still on, but the others appeared to have abandoned him. Feeling disoriented he lay still for a few minutes and wondered what was going on. Had the Hive ship already crashed on Sheppard's planet? His dream had been so real, so it was a distinct possibility and if so, how long had he been asleep? He assumed that they had landed on Sheppard's planet unless the other occupants of the jumper had been abducted by aliens – which was entirely possible because anything could happen in the Pegasus galaxy? There were questions that he needed answers to so he decided that he should find the others and find out what was going on.

After a few attempts, he managed to struggle to his feet – although he felt a bit dizzy initially. He placed his hand on the wall of the jumper and steadied himself before walking out the open back hatch of the jumper, a clear indication that they had landed – he had no idea how he'd missed that before.

He knew that they had landed beside the river downstream from the waterfall because he could hear the water cascading off the thirty-foot cliff and the pounding it made as it hit the water below – if it wasn't so dark, he was sure that he'd be able to see it from where he was standing. Obviously, the moons hadn't come up as yet, but he suspected that the suns had gone down a long time ago given the darkness of the sky and the slight chill in the air.

When his eyes had finally adjusted to his surroundings, he saw the others sitting around a campfire in the middle of a large clearing and if he remembered correctly this was exactly where Sheppard's cabin had been in the future. They were all sitting on logs and Ronon appeared to be cooking some kind of meat. What surprised him the most though was that Todd was sitting with them.

He walked up and sat next to Teyla and Beckett, then turned to Carson before he spoke, "how long have I been asleep doc?"

"You've been asleep for about six hours?"

This time he looked at Torren as he spoke, "So there's no sign of the hive ship or another anomaly then?"

"No Dad, if our calculations are correct that shouldn't happen for another eighteen hours or so."

Finally, he turned to Todd, "I thought you were going to keep an eye on yourself, in the future – well not the future, future, the future that's my time. Am I making any sense?"

"Not really John Sheppard," Todd replied, "but I assure you that the other me will be incapacitated for a few days – at least."

"Alright, then what's for dinner?"

"I went hunting this afternoon," Ronon explained," and I found some deer-like animals grazing, so I shot one of them."

"And then he proceeded to skin it in front of me, so I'm not sure that I want to ever eat again."

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to McKay there's plenty of MRE's in the jumper," Ronon growled.

"Do not worry Dr McKay?" Teyla soothed, "I am sure that it is delicious. Dave spent many years hunting the wildlife on this planet and I have sampled it and I assure you that it is more than edible."

John looked at Rodney and thought about telling him otherwise, but right now he was just too tired to tease his friend, "It sure is."

Five minutes later Teyla was handing out platefuls of meat and when he was sure that they all had one, he started to tell them what Arastica had shown him before he'd left Atlantis.

"Guys, I need to tell you what Arastica has shown me about events that are about to take place," taking a deep breath he proceeded to tell him what he had seen, "When the hive ship comes through the anomaly the sky is going to go dark because of the sheer size of it. But that's not the worst of it, the ancients are going to start firing drones at it. When it crashes on the planet it is going to go up in flames and the sky is going to become even darker as it fills with thick smoke and ash. There will be wraith dying and feeding on each other as they try and make their way to Arastica. I have no idea what happened to the queen while all of this was going on, but I assume that the queen made it to Arastica and planted the virus in the city's systems. Then she went back to her hive to hibernate awaiting rescue, while the wraith overrun Arastica, right before the Ancients went back to Atlantis and then Earth."

"So, I guess that I have to kill my queen in this time as well?" Todd hissed, "believe it or not it will be my pleasure. Perhaps when we get back to your present John Sheppard, I will kill the queen there as well."

John looked over and looked at Ronon and to say that he was confused was an understatement, "you alright buddy?"

"Wait a minute if you killed the queen in the future how could she still be here in the past?"

"Don't worry Conan, time is not linear, and two versions of the same person can exist at any point in the timeline and a person can die in the past before they are even born as long as their timeline is continuous, so it doesn't matter at what point in the timeline anything happens," Rodney explained – well he tried to explain.

Well, if he wasn't confused before, her certainly is now. Even I'm confused, John thought as he looked over at his big friend.

"Okay…" Ronon muttered, and he definitely looked confused.

Before Rodney could go into a rant again, John decided that it was probably time for him to head to bed, he had no idea what the time was, but he was beginning to feel tired again. "Anyway, I think I'll head to bed and see you in the morning."

They had all brought sleeping bags with them and were going to sleep in the jumper or around the campfire. John had decided that he would go into the jumper for now and come out later when some of the others decided that they would go to bed. Or if no one else wanted to sleep in the jumper he was happy to stay there. Although he suspected that Rodney wouldn't want to sleep in the open air.

Carson stood up next to him," I think I'll hit the sack as well, it's been a long day and I suspect that tomorrow is going to be an even longer one."

"I will come in a minute John," Teyla told him with one of her gorgeous smiles.

He looked around at the others and they appeared to be in deep conversation – other than Ronon who appeared to be staring into the woods. It looked as if they would probably talk all night, so he smiled at Teyla and headed back to the jumper.

He was just about to get his sleeping bag out of the back hatch and lay it on the floor when Carson spoke to him, "how's the headache Colonel?" And don't lie to me because I can see the pain lines around your eyes."

Sighing he decided to tell the doctor the truth, "The head's not too bad, but for some reason, I feel wiped."

"Have you had any Tylenol since you woke up?"

"No, I haven't"

"Well, I suggest that you take some now, have a good night's sleep and hopefully you'll feel better in the morning."

"You won't get any argument from me doc."

After taking the pills that Carson offered him, he took a long drink of water before laying his sleeping bag out on the floor. Carson lay his sleeping bag on one of the benches and within a few minutes, they were both snuggled up and ready for bed.

"Goodnight, Carson."

"Goodnight, John."

Five minutes later when he was on the edge of sleep a loud annoying voice brought him back to full awareness.

"Why does Sheppard have to go and sleep in the jumper, I want to sleep in the jumper. If he sleeps inside there won't be any room for me in there."

He thought he heard Teyla reply, but her voice was so soft that he couldn't hear what she was saying.

Sighing he got out of his sleeping bag and went out to confront Rodney, "McKay if you want to sleep in the jumper go right ahead!" He turned to the others before continuing, "but if I'm going to sleep out here, can everyone please be quiet, because I have a headache and I'm tired."

"Don't worry Sheppard I was just going to settle down as well," Ronon told him.

Teyla turned to look at them all and he was relieved when she spoke in a calm soothing manner, "yes John, I feel that it would probably be a good idea if we all go to sleep as I know that tomorrow is going to be a very busy day."

Once Rodney had gone inside, he lay his sleeping bag out by the fire, and he was happy when Teyla lay hers next to his. The others very quickly did the same – much to his relief.

When he was finally settled in his sleeping bag, he lay looking at the fire for a long time. Although he didn't know what would happen the next day, he had a fair idea thanks to Arastica, and he didn't know whether to be glad about that or not. The one thing he did know though, was that tomorrow was going to be an incredibly stressful day.

TBC…

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