Out of time

by SuperMom1

John is stranded 50,000 years in the future and he has no idea whether he will ever find a way home, but he will do everything in his power to find a way. Along the way he meets some new friends and comes across some old enemies and despite the fact that he's in the future, whump ensues for John.

14. Chapter 14: Trapped

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed an commented so far. I hope you're still enjoying it.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical healthcare professional and although I have tried to research medical terms, I may not be one hundred percent accurate.

Chapter 14: Trapped.

Carson awoke trying to remember what had happened to him, he felt as if there was a jackhammer pounding in his skull and every muscle in his body ached, slowly he opened his eyes and was shocked to see that he was trapped within a cave and there was dust and debris falling from the ceiling.

He heard a moan from beside of him and slowly looked around him to find that Tuart was waking up and he was still lying on top of John's body. He slowly managed to drag himself across to Tuart, not bothering to try and get to his feet, since he hadn't had a chance to assess his own injuries.

It didn't take him long to realise that Tuart was in a bad way and if they didn't get him out of here soon, he would probably die. He gently rolled him off of John and tried to assess John's injuries, he was still unconscious and other than his broken arm and the gunshot wound to his leg, he now had a large bump and gash on his forehead, Carson was about to look for any new injuries on John when Tuart moaned again.

"Are you alright Tuart," he asked holding his hand?

"No, …I …don't… think… so, my… head…is… pounding, … I… can't… see… and …I …can… barely… breathe."

Carson looked down at him with despair, he really wanted to help him, but if he couldn't get him to a hospital soon, he probably wouldn't make it. The best he could do was talk to him and make him comfortable. He continued to hold his hand and talk to him softly, all the while keeping his eye on John.

"Carson…John…needs…to…get…home…" Tuart stammered, and Carson could see that he was in immense pain.

"I will make sure that he does."

"Tell…him…I'm…sorry…for…not…trusting…him?"

"Aye lad I will."

"Make…sure…you…look…after… Shalite and…my…son?" Tuart asked and Carson could see his eyes drooping and his breathing slowing down.

"I promise I will, but for now close your eyes and go to sleep. "Carson suggested still holding his hand.

Carson watched as his eyes slowly closed and he felt tears brimming in his eyes. He had come to appreciate Tuart over the last couple of days and the last thing he wanted was to watch him die, but he didn't want him to die alone either, so he sat with him and spoke softly to him. Slowly his breathing became shallower and eventually it stopped. Dropping Tuart's hand and making sure that his eyes were closed he crawled over to John.

He rubbed him on the sternum to try and get a reaction out of him and he was relieved when John moaned softly, but he didn't wake. He felt along his ribs and thought that he felt two cracked ribs, but from what he could tell there was nothing broken. He pressed his fingers around the abdomen and was relieved that everything felt normal, so it appeared that there was no internal bleeding. But he also knew that could change in an instant.

Now that he was sure that John was alright for the moment, he sat down with his back to the cave wall and tried to assess his own injuries. He moved his arms and was relieved to find that there seemed to be no broken bones there. Moving his legs, he found that they moved easily. The only problem he seemed to have a splitting headache.

Next, he looked around at his surroundings and he found that they were trapped in a space about two metres squared, there were rocks all around them and the roof still looked unstable. He suspected that if he tried to dig them out that it would come down on top of them and injure them further, so now all he could do was wait and hope for rescue.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John was sitting on his favourite balcony overlooking the ocean and he couldn't be happier. Teyla was sitting next him and they were sharing a dinner together, which was something that they hadn't done for quite a while. A Toddler of about thirteen months was playing on the floor in front of them and in his opinion, all was right with the universe.

He snuggled up to Teyla and put his arm around her, as he looked out at the ocean he saw that the sun was beginning to set; it was incredibly beautiful. The sky was a pale pink and became a deep crimson near the horizon, the bright orange ball of fire bobbed on the horizon, before finally disappearing and plunging the world into an eerie grey light which would be replaced by darkness in a short amount of time. Despite the greyness of dusk, the city around him was alive with sights and sounds, and at that moment he felt happy to be alive and sitting with the two people he loved the most. It had been a difficult journey for Teyla and him over the last year, but here they were sitting together with their son….

John suddenly returned to awareness and he wondered what had happened to him this time. If he was in the infirmary, why did his bed feel like it had rocks in it? He lay there with his eyes closed and tried to figure out what was going on, but all that did was make his head hurt. His entire body hurt like hell, it felt like someone had shot him in the leg and it felt as if someone was stabbing him through his arm. He also suspected given the pain in his ribs that he'd somehow managed to crack a few.

He heard soothing voice in the distance, and he thought that he recognised it, but he couldn't quite remember where he had heard it before. He was beginning to worry about what was going on; maybe I should open his eyes and find out.

When he finally managed the feat, he wished he hadn't because a fine layer of dust fell into his eyes.

"Aw crap," he muttered, slamming his eyes shut again.

The soft lilting voice he'd been hearing pervaded his senses again and this time he understood what it was saying, "Are you alright laddie?"

He knew in an instant who it was, he'd know that voice anywhere, "Carson, what happened?" He whispered.

"Do you remember anything Colonel?"

John thought hard to see if anything came to mind and it wasn't long before it all came flooding back to him, "Michael experimented on me with an Iratus bug and then one of his goons, broke my arm and shot me, but I don't remember anything after that." He opened his eyes again and blinked his eyes to get the dust out of them, "where the hell are we Doc, and is the rest of my team alright?" He asked feeling incredibly disoriented.

He didn't miss the sigh that escaped Carson's lips and looking at him it didn't take him too long to realise that he was hiding something, "what are you hiding Doc?"

"I don't know if you remember but we are 50,000 years in the future and we have been caught in a cave-in, while trying to blow Michael and his experiments up."

John closed his eyes again, thinking of the dream he'd just been having, was that an actual memory or was it his imagination? He thought about it for a moment and decided that he didn't really want to know.

"Carson?"

"Aye lad, how can I help?"

"I don't feel numb any longer and every part of my body is screaming, so you wouldn't have any pain killers, would you?"

"I'm sorry lad, but I can't help you, so why don't you just go back to sleep for a while."

John nodded and immediately regretted it when his head started to pound. Closing his eyes, he hoped that he would dream of Teyla and the little boy again, because right now that seemed to be all that he had left of her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shalite awoke to a knocking on her door and for a moment she thought that she was still on the Phoenix. As she became more aware, she realised that she wasn't on the Phoenix any longer, she was in the presidential palace on New Sateda.

She was relieved to find that she'd gone to sleep in her clothes, so it was easy enough to get up and answer the door. It took about a minute for her to get to the door and when she did, she was surprised to find the President standing outside.

She plastered a smile on her face and hoped it looked sincere, "what can I do for you Julian?"

"I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me, as I would like to hear more about your friends and Atlantis?"

Shalite sighed, there was so much that she wanted to ask him as well. These people seemed to have a very different version of history than the Coalition of planets or the Louisan council and she wanted to know more, but she knew that it would take a lot longer than one conversation to discover everything that she wanted to know. And more to the point, why had the Coalition and Louisan council been lying to her and its citizens.

"I would love to Julian, just give me a few minutes to freshen up and I'll be right out."

"The soldier at the end of the hall will escort you to the presidential dining room when you are ready."

"Thank you, Julian," she said with true sincerity.

Once she had closed the door she went to the bathroom and washed her face and brushed her hair, she had nothing else with her to wear, so she just wore the jeans and top that she'd been wearing when she'd arrived. Hopefully at some point in the near future she could find a change of clothes, because she was really beginning to feel grotty.

Ten minutes later she walked into the presidential dining room and was surprised to find that there was a young man and a young woman sitting at the table as well as the President.

Julian wasted no time in introducing her, "Ah Shalite, I'm glad that you were able to join us. These are my two chief archaeological advisors, Dr Beth Jones and her husband Lach."

Shalite shook both of their hands before sitting down and asking politely, "Why are they here?"

"They are eager to hear more about Atlantis. Although we have sent teams to explore the city over the years, they have never had the opportunity to go." Julian explained.

Shalite sat down and looked at the young couple, "what would you like to know?"

"Is it true that you've managed to move it?" Beth asked with her green eyes wide.

Beth appeared to be in her mid-twenties, she had long dark hair and green eyes and she seemed to be a good ten cm shorter than she did.

Shalite sighed, she didn't quite know whether she trusted these people or not, but then if the Coalition had altered their history books like she was beginning to suspect, perhaps she might be able to learn the truth from these people.

"Yes, we have managed to move it to a planet with a large ocean."

She felt Lach's bright blue eyes boring into her as he spoke, "where did you manage to find someone with the ancient gene, since it was my understanding that the Coalition didn't want it moved and one of the reasons was that they couldn't find anyone with the gene."

Lach had blue eyes, blonde hair, with dark skin and was about as tall as she was. He seemed to be a similar age to his wife.

Sighing again, she decided that perhaps she should tell them the truth and see what their reaction would be, "well when we were exploring Atlantis we found a man named John Sheppard in stasis and he was a gene carrier from 50,000 years ago. He was brought to this time period due to a solar flare interacting with the stargate as he was passing through the event horizon. A hologram who had been created by a Dr Rodney McKay, who was a friend of John's, was in the holographic emitters and he managed to put John is stasis where he was supposed to be for another 6 or 700 years, until a similar phenomenon would occur to send him back to his own time. The only problem is that we brought him out of stasis to early, because the planet will become uninhabitable in the next 50 years."

Beth looked at her and she felt that she was being scrutinised, "and does this John Sheppard intend to go home again? If so where is he now?"

"We think that Michael has captured John, wanting to kill him to prevent him going back in time to attempt to kill him and change this time-line." Shalite explained.

Julian chose to join the conversation at that moment, "of course if this John Sheppard goes back in time it will create and alternate reality, so in theory this time-line will continue to exist for us."

Shalite tried to stifle a yawn, she was beginning to become very weary, but then she was 33 weeks pregnant, so it was expected that she would be slowing down, "yes well I understand that, but unfortunately I think that the Louisan council, still want to arrest him for conspiracy to change the time line. Personally, I think he should be given the opportunity to go home."

"I agree with you Shalite and we may know the location of some ancient time ships, but I am unsure if they will be able to travel back that far in time." Julian reassured her.

Before the conversation could progress any further their meal was brought in and placed on the table. They sat in silence as they ate their meal, which gave Shalite a chance to contemplate what to ask these people next. She was certainly interested on their view of the history of the Pegasus galaxy and she hoped that she would get a chance to ask them some questions before she fell asleep.

Julian was the first to speak once the meal was over, "you do know that we have offered to move Atlantis many times over the centuries, but the Coalition of planets always voted against it. And seeing we didn't want to start a war, we conceded to their decision."

Shalite was a little shocked by this revelation, it seemed as if that was another thing the Coalition was keeping from them, "do you know where there are gene carriers then?"

"Yes, we come in contact with the humans from a planet called earth from time to time and they have many gene carriers." Lach explained.

Shalite's eyes were wide with surprise as she asked the next question, "really, you have been to earth?"

"Well not personally, but we have had contact with the planet for thousands of years." Julian answered with a smile.

"Has the Coalition contacted earth in recent times?" Shalite asked, her voice turning serious.

"I don't think so. Apparently, there was an argument over trade negotiations, with some of the people of the Pegasus Galaxy. And although the government of earth have tried to patch things up on numerous occasions, the Coalition wants nothing to do with them." Beth explained and Shalite could see the frustration in her eyes.

Shalite turned to Julian, "I think that I would like to study your history books and see what they have to say about the history of the Pegasus galaxy. I think that they would be very different to the ones I have seen and when Rodney and Joe get back I would like to give you a tour of Atlantis as well, because I feel that it should belong to all the people of the galaxy, not just the Coalition of planets."

Julian grabbed her hand, "thank you Shalite, I would love to see it and as for the history books, I'm sure that Lach and Beth would be happy to show you our library. Of course, you may find other planets with a slightly different view, but I believe that a lot of them are similar."

Shalite stifled another yawn, "I have one last thing to ask, before I head off to bed?"

"And what would that be?" Julian asked curiously.

"When we get John back, would it be possible for him to visit earth?"

Julian nodded, as a thoughtful look came across his face. "I am sure that can be arranged, we're not in contact with them very often, but we are on good terms with the government there."

"Thank you, Julian, I am positive that he would like to see what earth is like in this time period, "she turned to Lach and Beth before standing to her feet, "it has been lovely to meet you both, but for some reason I am feeling very tired and feel the need to go back to sleep."

"There is an officer outside of the door, who will escort you to your quarters and thank you for joining us for dinner tonight Shalite, it has been most enlightening."

"You're most welcome Julian. Goodnight I will see you all in the morning."

Shalite nodded at Beth and Lach and turned around and headed out of the door and within five minutes she was in her bed and fast asleep.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was another beautiful day in the Pegasus galaxy. John had brought Teyla to the mainland for a picnic lunch. They had left their son on New Athos with Halling and Jinto, so for the moment their time was their own. John lay back on the grass looking at the brilliant blue sky and the bright yellow sun. It wasn't long before he felt Teyla cuddling up to him and he couldn't be happier. He had wanted to be with Teyla for such a long time and he couldn't believe that she actually wanted to be with him, and they had a son.

"This is about as close to perfect as I could imagine Teyla. Being here with you and knowing that we have all day together and perhaps all night, depending whether our son stays on New Athos or comes home."

"Yes, this is lovely, but you cannot stay here John." Teyla stated with a worried look in her eyes.

His heart sank, didn't Teyla want to be with him, "why not Teyla, don't you love me anymore?"

"You can't stay here John, because this is a dream and Carson wants you to try and stay conscious, so you must wake up."

John watched, feeling totally devastated as Teyla faded away, he so wanted it to be real and he couldn't work out why it wasn't, he opened his mouth and screamed, "Teyla, don't leave me please come back?!" ….

He awoke with a start and found that the roof was caving in and landing on his already injured leg, his head was pounding, and his ribs were screaming. The pain was so intense that he opened his mouth and screamed until he was hoarse.

The debris stopped falling relatively quickly, so he looked around the cave trying to work out if anyone was in there with him. It didn't take too long to realise that there were two bodies and he couldn't work out if they were dead or alive. Looking to his left he saw that Carson was there and he was just beginning to sit up and shake of the dust and dirt that had fallen on him. "Carson… are… you… alright?" John whispered afraid that he would start to cough if he spoke any louder.

"Aye lad, I'm quite sure I didn't sustain any new injuries. What about you John?"

"Something…big hit…my injured…leg," he panted through the pain.

"Let me have a look," Carson suggested, coming up alongside of him.

John looked to his right at the other body and shuddered, "Carson… who… is …that?"

Carson sighed and John could see the tears brimming in his eyes, "That is Tuart Smith, and he saved your life, by throwing himself on top of you when we were caught in this cave-in."

"Really…why?" John whispered, as his pain was becoming worse.

"He told me that he had misjudged you and that he wanted you to get home, so that you can kill Michael, and this never happens. He also told me that we needed to look after Shalite."

"Alternate…timelines Doc."

"Aye lad I know. Now let me get these rocks off of your leg and take another look at it?"

John lay as still as possible, while Carson pulled several medium sized rocks off his leg. He yelped with pain when Carson removed the largest one and had to take several deep breaths to try and ease the pain.

"I'm sorry John, but there's nothing I can do for the pain right now and looking at your leg I'd have to say that unfortunately it has been damaged further."

"Great…I…can't…go ...home…in this…condition…you know."

"I know, but hopefully they have some kind of device that can heal your injuries quickly, so that when we get out of here, we can concentrate on getting you back to the past."

"Hopefully…Rodney…will…be…here…soon… with reinforcements." John panted.

Carson looked at him and rolled his eyes, "Rodney, the hologram?"

"Yeah…" John said, his eyes drooping.

"John, lad, try to stay awake, you have a concussion."

"Sorry…doc…must…sleep." John told him as he let the ever-encroaching darkness come and take him once more.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rodney stood on the bridge as they approached the planet that they had left John on, he had no idea what had happened to John in the time that they had been gone, but he really hoped that he had kept himself hidden and as for Michael, the plan was to kill him on sight and destroy his work by whatever means necessary.

"Do you remember where the caves are," Rohan asked interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah it's about a mile from the stargate in a northerly direction."

"Alright we'll land near the stargate and head in that direction. We will take a small strike force with us and you will join us along with Dr Jarvis. We will need you to operate that life signs detector that you've got in your hand and we may need a medical doctor if someone is hurt." Rohan told him and he could see that Rohan was really going into military mode.

Rodney nodded his head as Rohan walked away and then he turned his head back to the view screen, looking at the Stargate and the trees which surrounded it. He stood for a few minutes longer observing the planet and from what he could see most of the planet was covered in trees, Just like the forest moon of Endor. I wonder if there's any short furry creatures down there.

He had almost forgotten the original reason they had gone to the planet, since so much had happened since he and John had set out with a sense of adventure the day before, but now he knew that finding the ZPM lab was of secondary importance to finding John.

Ten minutes later he was transported down to the planet along with Rohan, Dr Jarvis, and a group of soldiers. The ship would remain in orbit, and if necessary, they would be able to fire on the cave system from orbit.

"Okay Dr McKay, why don't you lead the way and don't let yourself be seen. When you get close please stop." Rohan said coming up alongside of him.

"Believe it or not I never intended on getting caught," he said facetiously.

He received a glare from Rohan which would have rivalled one of Ronan's, "alright, let's get going then?"

Rodney walked along in silence, trying to remember the path that he and John had walked down to get to the caves. Eventually he came to the spot where he and John had originally found the cave and he wasn't happy by what he saw; there had obviously been a cave-in at the entrance.

Rodney turned and looked at Rohan with his 'we are screwed face', "This is where Sheppard and I sat looking at the cave entrance the other day, but there appears to have been some kind of cave-in."

"John has a communicator in his arm, could we try and contact him?" Joe suggested.

Rohan shook his head, "If Michael has him, then Michael will know that we're out here. I suggest we approach the entrance and see if we can detect any life signs in the cave with your LSD."

Rodney nodded and they wasted no time, climbing down the cliff they were on and approaching the entrance. Rodney checked the LSD and was relieved that there were two human life signs.

"Is there anyone in there?" He called loudly and it wasn't long before some of the others called out as well.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Carson watched as his friend lost consciousness again and he wasn't happy. John's breathing seemed to be getting shallower and he was afraid that very soon he would have to sit and watch his friend die. He had already had to watch two good men die in the last few days and he certainly didn't want to sit and watch John Sheppard die 50,000 years out of his time, he deserved much better than this. He deserved to get home and see his friends and family again, he should have the chance to live out his life and grow old with the people he loved, not on some rock with a clone of Carson Beckett sitting with him.

Whatever happened he would sit with John and talk to him and hold his hand just like he had for Roget and Tuart, he deserved no less.

Just as he was sitting down to take his friend's hand, he heard voices outside the cave, and he was convinced that one of them was Rodney McKay.

"We're in here!" he shouted as loud as he could.

A voice came from the other side of the entrance, "Carson is that you?"

"Aye Rodney it is, can you hurry up and get us out of here, Colonel Sheppard is badly injured, and he needs to be in a hospital straight away.

"How is it possible Carson, the last thing I remember was that you were in stasis on Atlantis?" Rodney replied.

"It's a long story Rodney and I will tell you later, for now can you get us out of here?"

Another voice spoke and it was one he didn't recognise, "we'll get you out of there as soon as possible, just hang on."

He looked down at his unconscious friend and held his hand, "hang on a little longer John, we'll have you out of here very soon."

Carson continued to hold John's hand, since there was nothing left to do but wait.

TBC…