Chapter 11: In enemy hands

It must have been about ten minutes and no-one had entered the cave and he was really beginning to feel hungry, now would have been a good time to have a power bar of two in his pocket, but one thing he knew for sure was that he was sick and tired of kneeling in the shadows. Sighing he stood up and was about to enter the cave, when someone entered the cave, and it was someone that he thought he would never see again….

Once he'd made sure that there was no-one else in the cave, he crossed the distance to his friend, "Carson," he whispered.

"John, it is good to see you again, but you can't be here, Michael wants to kill you," Carson whispered the worry evident in his voice.

"Now there's a surprise," John muttered. "I can't understand how you're here Carson, the last thing I knew was that you were in stasis back on Atlantis."

Carson looked at him with a look that John could only describe as apprehension, "well Michael took me out of stasis, when the members of the Atlantis expedition returned to earth and he has been cloning me ever since. But the thing I don't understand is how you ended up here."

"It's a long story, but I'll give you the short version, I walked through the stargate and found myself on Atlantis 50,000 years in the future. Apparently, a solar flare interacted with the wormhole and caused me to time travel. I came across and old man McKay hologram who told me I needed to stay in stasis for another 6 or 700 years until a solar flare could send me back in time, but that didn't happen, so now I'm stuck here."

"Well perhaps that's a story for another time, because if Michael gets his hands on you, he'll probably kill you." Carson told him.

"What the hell is Michael up too Carson?"

"Well I think that he feels the need to become powerful again, so he's wanting to perfect his hybrids, but he doesn't seem to be having much success, his first attempts have been failures, the ones from cells and humans alike."

John didn't say anything for a moment and paused to look around the cave he was in. He hadn't taken the time to check out his surroundings since he'd see Carson. He felt a little disappointed when he realised that there wasn't a ZPM lab in the cave, but what he did see filled him with horror, because in the corner there was a hideous looking body.

Feeling a little repulsed, he found himself walking over to the body and he couldn't seem to stop himself, obviously this was one of Michaels failed experiments and he had to know who this person was.

He found himself looking down at the body and he was horrified by what he saw, "Roget," he said as he looked up at Carson with a look of despair in his eyes.

"Aye lad, did you know him?"

"I only met him once and he was trying to get me arrested for conspiracy to change the timeline, but no-body deserves to die like this." John told him, as he looked back the grotesque form on the floor.

"So, I guess that you've met Tuart as well then?"

"He's here?" John asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Michael hasn't done anything to him as yet, but I think he's after Tuart's unborn child."

That was the last thing John needed to hear and right now he felt the need to heed Carson's advice and get out of there, there was absolutely no way he was going to let Michael get his hands on Shalite and her child.

"I've got to go now Carson, are you coming with me?"

"Yes, I'm definitely coming with you, but shouldn't we try to save as many of these humans as we can first?"

"Sorry Carson, I really need to go right now, we can come back for the others as soon as I can bring back reinforcements."

Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, an unearthly voice pervaded the darkness and it sent shivers down his spine."

"Leaving so soon, Colonel Sheppard."

Before he had a chance to register what was going on, he felt a stunner blast hit him in the chest and within seconds he fell to the floor and the darkness claimed him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Michael stood and watched as Carson placed the body of his failed experiment in the corner of the cave. Tuart had already been rounded up, by one of his clone hybrids and put back in his cell, but Carson had begged to be allowed to place the body in this cave. Carson had claimed that he would like to give the man called Roget a decent burial, so for the moment he would let Carson think that it was going to happen.

For all the thousands of years that he had lived he'd never understood human sentimentality. From his observations of the human species, all compassion did was cause pain and anguish, and that was something that he definitely didn't want to experience.

When the humans of Atlantis had tried to turn him into human, he experienced feelings of anguish and betrayal for a short time. But thinking back now he knew without a doubt how weak that had made him, but not any longer, now he was strong and very soon he would be all-powerful again.

He was about to enter and tell Carson to get back to work when he heard a voice and it was a voice that he had been longing to hear. Colonel Sheppard was here and now he could destroy him.

He watched with intrigue at the melodrama playing out in front of him; these humans were so pathetic and they lived such short lives, so why the need for expressions of affection towards one another.

Watching as Sheppard walked across to the body on the floor, he wasn't surprised that Sheppard would show compassion for a man he hardly knew.

It was at that point he knew what he would do with Sheppard, he would still kill him, but he would use him for a little experimentation first.

Stepping out of the shadows, he held his stunner up and spoke "Leaving so soon, Colonel Sheppard?" He said and then he pulled the trigger.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rodney had spent part of the night making repairs to the ancient data base, and he was happy to find that it was relatively intact and only a few repairs were needed. Once the repairs had been made he spent a good proportion of the rest of the evening researching gate addresses, hoping to find some clue as to, if New Sateda had a working gate and if it did what was the address.

He had asked Shalite and Joe if they knew if New Sateda had a working gate and they had informed him that they had never travelled there. Apparently, some of their colleagues had, but they had never mentioned to them if it had a working gate or not. Rodney found this kind of work frustrating, since the data base was so old and obviously hadn't been updated since the expedition from earth had been on Atlantis 50,000 years ago.

Sighing he closed his eyes. Despite the fact that the galaxy was ruled over by a coalition council, the planets certainly seemed disjointed and half the time he was sure that no-one knew what anyone else was doing.

It was getting late, or perhaps it was really early, he didn't really know. The one thing he knew for sure was that despite the fact that he was a hologram, he was famished and really needed to eat, so it was about time that he went looking for the others maybe they would be awake and getting some food.

His thoughts were interrupted a few minutes later when Shalite entered the room with a plate of food, "Rodney can't we just fly a jumper to New Sateda. Atlantis is cloaked, so no-one would be able to find it?"

"Have you bothered to try and contact the coalition council to see if they can help us out?" Rodney asked, feeling frustrated.

"Yes, I have, but they don't have a gate address for them. It is their understanding that the gate has been buried for thousands of years."

"What about Michael, have you even told them about him?"

Rodney watched as she looked down at her feet and he sensed that they didn't believe her. "Well?"

"They don't believe you Rodney. They still don't trust John, so they are reluctant to believe anything he says."

"You've got to be kidding me," Rodney stated before letting out the breath he'd been holding, "so I guess we're on our own after all?"

"It would appear so." Shalite replied.

"I think I'll have something to eat and then I'll work for another couple of hours and if I haven't found anything by then, I will have a sleep and then we can use the jumper to travel to New Sateda. It will probably take several hours, so we'd need to pack plenty of food for you and Joe to eat."

"That sounds like a lovely idea, thankyou Rodney." Shalite replied with a smile.

"Let me eat some of those sandwiches then and then I will get back to work?"

"I guess I'll go and make some more for myself them." She said sarcastically.

"You do that Shalite and I'll get back to work."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Carson watched as Michael dragged John away, he really wanted to say something, but he found that he couldn't open his mouth. He desperately wanted to follow, but found that he couldn't move either.

It really frustrated him, because he had no idea what Michael's plans were for John, but he suspected that it would probably end in John's death and that definitely wouldn't be good for the timeline. Michael should have been killed 50,000 years ago, because no-one should be able to wield as much power as he had back then and no-one should be given a second chance to be all-powerful again.

Eventually he was able to move, so he slowly walked through the narrow tunnels looking for Tuart or John, but unfortunately, he came across Michael first.

Carson glared at Michael, "what have you done with John Sheppard?"

"That is none of your concern right now, as I need you to get back to your work." Michael told him with a malicious tone in his voice.

Carson was not impressed, "I will continue my work, but I will not do anything to hurt John or anyone else!" He told him forcefully.

"You will do as I ask you or you will die!" Michael hissed.

He stood up tall, not wanting Michael to know that he was afraid, "well, so be it."

Carson watched Michael, wondering what was going to happen next, he really hoped that Michael wasn't ready to kill him right now.

"Go and get Tuart out of his cell and take him to your lab. He can help you with your work, as I will need you both to keep an eye on the new batch of hybrids when they come out of stasis. So, in an hours' time I will need you both to head back to my ship."

Carson watched him leave wondering what he should do next. Perhaps he should go and find Tuart, because between the two of them maybe they could find a way to rescue John and any other humans left alive, kill Michael, and find a way out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John awoke in a cold dark cave and he had no idea what had happened this time. He had pins and needles in his hands and feet and for some reason he was missing his t-shirt, shoes and boots. It didn't take him long to realise that he was laying on a metal table and his arms and legs were strapped to it.

Crap, he thought, what the hell has happened this time.

Try as he might, his addled brain couldn't come up with an explanation as to what had happened to him. He suspected that he had been stunned, but by who and for what reason he had no idea.

He tried to pull on the restraints that where strapping him to the table, but there was no give in them. Perhaps this is why I have pins and needles he thought closing his eyes. His head felt incredibly fuzzy, so he suspected that he'd been drugged, so perhaps he would close his eyes and go to sleep. Then when he awoke he would try and find a way to escape.

It wasn't long before his eyelids were drooping and a few minutes later he was unconscious again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rodney awoke slowly and he wondered why there was something hard sticking to his face. Opening his eyes, it didn't take him too long to realise that he had fallen asleep in his lab and for some reason his keyboard was sticking to his face. Looking around his lab it didn't take him long to realise that he was alone.

He tried to remember back to what he was doing the night before when he fell asleep and it didn't take him long to realise that he hadn't found what he was looking for, so basically the only way they were going to be able to contact the Satedans was to travel to their planet using a puddle jumper.

While he was perusing the ancient data base, he did find one useful piece of information though, apparently the original McKay had developed a hyperdrive for a puddle jumper and he wondered whether it was still installed, but that idea had been quickly squashed, because they probably wouldn't have enough power to make that happen. They needed a ZedPM and what little power they had left in the current one, was powering the city.

By his calculations it should take around seven hours to reach New Sateda and he was afraid that was not going to be soon enough for John. Perhaps he and Joe could go back to the planet and try and find John, but then what would they do about Michael and the hybrids? He knew that their only hope of finding someone with enough firepower to help them was to go and find the Satedans and ask for their help.

He really had no idea what time it was, but for some strange reason the original McKay didn't keep a clock in his lab, so maybe he should head to the gate-room and find the others.

Sighing he stood to his feet and for some reason his holographic body felt stiff and sore. Joe had been in contact with his friend who was an expert in holo-engineering and between then they had found a way to tweak his program to make him more human, but on mornings like this, he wished they hadn't bothered.

It took him around ten minutes to reach the gate-room and his stiff body felt every step. Maybe he'd get Joe and his friend Rory, to reverse some of the changes they had made to his program.

Walking into the gate-room he was happy to see that Shalite and Joe were sitting down at the table and eating some of the meat that they had found on the mainland the day before.

"Good morning Dr McKay, how are you this morning?" Shalite greeted him with a smile.

"I'm alright, I think. I know I slept for a while, but I have no idea how long it was and for some reason I feel really stiff this morning." He told her and then he looked at Joe and started to complain, "do you think that you could reverse some of the changes you made to my program, because I don't like to feel this stiff?"

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "You said you wanted to feel more human and unfortunately a man your age would feel stiff if he sat in a chair at a desk all-night."

"Would you like some pain medication, Dr McKay?" Shalite asked in a soothing tone.

"No, it's alright I think I'll live, but I am starved so is there any of that meat left for me?"

Shalite smiled at him, "Yes, we have even kept it warm for you."

It wasn't long before he was sitting at the table and stuffing his face full of meat and this time it tasted good. Joe had given him taste buds the day before; with a little help from his friend Rory.

Rodney looked up from his food long enough to realise that Joe was staring at him and there was obviously something on his mind, "What," he asked?

"Did you find a gate address for Sateda?"

Rodney sighed. "No, I didn't, but if we leave right after breakfast if should take us around seven hours to get there and then hopefully they will have technology to help us get back here in record time."

"Well I guess I'd better pack some food then," Shalite suggested standing to her feet.

"Well I just need to go back to my lab and check a few things and then I should be ready to go," Rodney explained in between mouthfuls of food.

"Did you ever find out what the erroneous energy readings were when we were flying through space." Joe asked and Rodney wasn't really surprised that he would be interested in knowing.

"Part of one of the conduit's that provides power to the star-drive was cracked, it was too small for us to see in the beginning, but as the journey went on the crack became worse, so therefore less power was getting through. I have fixed the problem now, so if we ever have to move Atlantis again, there shouldn't be a problem." Rodney explained and he was happy that Joe seemed to understand what he was saying.

"Of course, if John goes back home, we may not have a pilot to be able to move it again. Unless you are willing to fly the city Dr McKay?" Shalite surmised.

Rodney looked away from her, not really knowing the answer to her question, "yes well, I don't know what will happen in the future, but right now I think we should prepare to go to New Sateda and I hope that they will give us a warm welcome."

"I am still a member of the archaeological society, so maybe that will hold some weight?" Shalite suggested.

"We can always hope," Rodney muttered standing up, "now if you excuse me I have a few more things to do in my lab, so I will meet you in the jumper bay in half an hour's time."

"I will prepare some food and water for the Journey," Shalite volunteered.

"I will help you Shalite," Joe offered.

Rodney just nodded at them both and left for his lab, he was really beginning to worry about John by this time; he was positive if John could have come back by now he would have, which meant that he was almost certainly in trouble, so their only course of action was to find reinforcements and quickly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Carson approached Tuart's cell and was surprised to find that he was pacing in an erratic manner. Unlocking the door, he went inside hoping that Michael hadn't done anything to him, because although Michael had said that he wasn't going to harm Tuart, he really couldn't trust him to keep his word.

"Are you alright Tuart?"

Carson watched for Tuart's reaction and he wasn't surprised when he jumped, obviously he was feeling a little jittery.

"No, not really, my wife and my unborn child are in danger, my best friend was turned into a monster and has just died and the only person who can possibly put it right is in the hands of the evil psychopath that is intent on taking over the galaxy once again!" Tuart ranted and Carson could sense the anger in his voice.

Carson scratched his head, "I Have a bit of a plan, but I don't know if it's a stupid idea or not?"

"Well let's hear it then?"

"Well I know where there's explosives and I figure that if we lay charges in strategic positions around the caves, we might be able to take out Michael and his ship. I actually have no idea why Michael would be keeping them, but it may be to our advantage." Carson said and the more he thought about it the more he thought that it was a really stupid idea.

"And have you figured out a way to detonate them remotely, because if we can, we may actually stand a chance of getting out of here alive." Tuart suggested rubbing his chin and Carson could see that he was giving it a great deal of thought.

"Like I said it's probably a stupid idea, but it's the best I can come up with for now So how about we head to Michael's ship, where we are supposed to wait for the new batch of hybrids to come out of stasis and then we can think about it."

"Sounds like a plan Carson and while we're about it we really need to locate Sheppard as well."

"Aye lad we do and the sooner the better."

Carson left the cell and he was relieved when Tuart followed, he knew that Michael wanted them on his ship as soon as possible, but he was sure that it wouldn't matter if they did a little exploring first.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shalite was the last one to arrive at the jumper bay, because she needed to make sure that everything was arranged for the long flight; she was a pregnant woman after all and her needs at the moment were quite demanding.

"Are you ready now Shalite?" Rodney asked rolling his eyes.

"Yes, Dr McKay we can proceed at your convenience." She answered with sarcasm in her voice.

"Alright then let's get going," Rodney suggested, and it was obvious to Shalite that he totally missed the sarcasm in her voice.

Shalite sat down behind Joe and managed to look around him, so that she could look out of the window. She was totally amazed when the jumper went through the star-gate and they emerged in space, she had never flown in a jumper before and she felt like a kid experiencing something for the first time. She smiled and thought back to all of the things that she had experienced in the last few days and she had to admit that she hadn't had so much excitement since she was a kid. The only trouble was that now things had gone wrong and she knew that if they didn't hurry, people close to her may die; that is if someone hadn't died already. Thinking back to the dream she'd had the day before, she felt a strange sense of foreboding that things were going to get worse before they got better.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When John awoke again he was still strapped to a metal table, his legs and arms were still feeling numb and he sensed that he'd been stunned again, for what purpose he had no idea. When he looked up he saw Michael and some of his hybrids standing over him.

"Ah you're awake, Colonel Sheppard. I'll just need to wait for the numbness to fade to begin my experiment." Michael told him with an evil smirk.

He didn't like the sound of that, any experiment of Michael's usually meant pain and anguish for the unlucky test subject.

"Are you going to tell me what it is, or is it a big surprise?" John asked, with as much sarcasm as he could muster, given the circumstances he now found himself in.

"Of course, it's a surprise. You'll never believe what I've planned for you." Michael told him and John could hear a vengeful tone in his voice.

Michael stood silent for a while and John began to feel afraid. That wasn't something that happened to him very often, but anything could happen to him at the hands of Michael and he knew that it wasn't going to be pleasant for him

"Blindfold and gag him." Michael ordered one of his hybrids

"What the hell!" Sheppard shouted and started to struggle against his bindings. His hands were already raw, but that didn't stop him from struggling, as his fear and panic continued to rise. By the time the hybrids managed to blindfold and gag him he was in a full-blown panic. His hands and ankles were cut and bleeding from the leather straps that tied them.

At that moment he heard it, a chirping, chattering sound that filled him with terror and it was a sound that he'd hoped to never hear again. He froze as the sound came closer and then with an almighty shriek something latched on to his throat.

TBC…

Sorry a bit of an evil cliff-hanger.