THE NIGHT OF THE TIME TRAVEL PORTAL

By Andamogirl

CHAPTER SIX

Later

Richard Woolsey's office

Jim West and John Sheppard took a chair each, and both looked at Richard Woolsey sitting behind his desk.

The bald man placed his hand on a pile of files and said, "I wanted to see you Mr. West, because we have – by we, I mean the people of the 21st century – we have then, a big problem. Mr. West you know things about Atlantis and about this time period that could do irreparable damage to the future if they were known in your time. Colonel Sheppard here has complete trust in you. He's sure you won't say anything to anyone – but people talk under certain circumstances, when drunk, or very sick and raving or under torture for example… We can't take that risk, you understand."

His hand slowly moving on the butt of his gun Jim nodded and said, "I understand, yes. Are you going to kill Artie and me to definitely avoid that risk? Because I won't let you do that." His green eyes darkened as a result of the threat.

Richard opened his eyes wide in surprise. "What? No, I'm not going to execute you. We're not barbarians! No, we possess an Ancient device found on P4M-999 that will erase your encounter with Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay and your stay here from your memory. It's totally painless, I assure you. I'm really sorry, but it's the only way we can be sure your partner and you won't say anything – and I received strict orders from the President in person."

Jim looked at John. "We won't remember anything – not even Rodney and you. That's too bad, but I'm okay with it. I understand what's at stake."

Woolsey was relieved. "Thank you for your comprehension Mr. West – I hope that your partner will be okay with that too."

Standing up Jim nodded. "He'll be terribly disappointed of course, as I am, but he will understand, don't worry. I'm will tell him."

Imitating West, Sheppard headed towards the door. He suddenly swung round and asked Richard, "So I can show anything I want to Jim?"

Richard nodded. "As long as you are prudent, yes."

Sheppard grinned. "Prudent is my middle name. See you later Richard. Come with me Jim, let's eat something, I'm famished. Then you'll have some fun with Ronon."

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Later in the recovery level (ward)

Holding a cup of coffee, John moved towards his best friend, lying on his bed. He noticed that Carson had removed the endotracheal tube from the other man's throat and that Rodney had regained some colour. He looked around him – no one in sight.

Opening his eyes, Artemus looked at the Colonel. "Hi John." A bit disoriented, he asked. "Where's Jim? He's not with you?"

Sheppard shook his head. "No, he's 'having fun' with Ronon. He's going to train with him today: it includes running, workout, boxing, hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, destroying targets at the shooting range… He's a man of action and needed to unwind and to be kept busy until tonight – when he'll come back here – a bit tired and bruised I'm afraid."

Gordon smirked. "I see. Then you're not authorized to be here. If Dr. Beckett or a nurse find you here, you're going to have some * big * trouble."

Sheppard nodded. "I know, but I wanted to be with Rodney for a moment before going back to my office and doing some tedious paperwork, reading reports, writing reports, etc." Rodney's eyes slowly opened. He leaned towards the other man, ruffling his hair. "Hey!"

The scientist let out something inaudible, like a croak. John immediately put his cup of coffee on the rolling cart parked next to the bed and hurried to pour a cup of water from the pitcher on it. He held it up to his best friend's lips carefully, helping him take small sips. "Easy, slowly, buddy." He smiled seeing Rodney's expressive blue eyes say "thank you" and he smiled, "You're welcome." He put the water aside and said, "You're going to be okay, Rodney." He felt tears well up and struggled to stay composed. USAF colonels don't cry. "I thought I was going to lose you."

Rodney nodded. "I thought I was… dead," he breathed. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and re-opened them. "Artemus… ?"

Sheppard gently cupped McKay's face and turned it to the right. "Artemus is right here Rodney, and he's going to be okay too. You're both out of danger."

Rodney smiled weakly. "Hey!" he said to Artie. "You okay?"

Smiling Artie nodded. "I'm okay." Looking up at John he added, "You should leave now John, before you're caught."

Sheppard nodded and took his cup of coffee. "See you later, buddy" and he left with the silence and stealth of a cat.

Rodney reached out and met Artie's hand half way. "That was close that time," he said. "I'm happy that you're not dead Artemus."

The older man smiled. "And I'm happy that you're not dead too."

They both closed their eyes and drifted to sleep.

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Much later in the Ward

Dr. Beckett smiled happily, watching Jim West and John Sheppard enter the infirmary side by side. His two patients were making rapid progress on the way to recovery – that's why he had transferred them from the Operating Level to the ward. And to facilitate it more; he had allowed Jim and John to bring one thing each day to their team mates to keep them busy.

Limping, his face bruised, a dressing stuck across his forehead, West moved painfully towards his partner's bed and said, "Hi Artie!" He was literally radiating excitement and pleasure.

Gordon blinked. "What the hell happened to you?"

Jim shook his head, still amazed by what he had done, still grinning like a child in a toy store allowed to play with everything. "I spent one of the most fabulous days of my life, buddy. That was great! Everything was great! The hand-to-hand combat training, the martial arts, and especially those two hours I spent at the shooting range. They have all kind of weapons here, like the HKMP5 or the Franchi SPAS 12, you should see that!"

Frowning Artie made a face. "Yes, I'd like that – but when some are having fun, others are stuck in a bed doing nothing else but sleep."

Giggling, Jim pulled out a P-90 and its manual from his back. He placed them on Artie's lap. "I brought something to keep you occupied on your bed of pain, Artie. The P-90 is the automatic firearm they use here. It looks familiar perhaps? The magazine is empty. There's no danger. I brought you the user manual." He took a step back and chuckled when he saw Artemus eyes lit with a devouring curiosity as he manipulated the P-90, observing it from all angles. "Of course, it's more elaborate than your project, but you're on the right way with your automatic rifle, buddy."

Artie beamed. "Thank you!"

Lying on the next bed Rodney just rolled his eyes. "Americans! Those things are not toys, you know?" He then looked at John standing on his bedside. "What did you bring me?"

Smiling, John pulled out a laptop from his back. "I thought that you would want to work on your different projects and follow what's happening in your department, read your emails, etc. I would have brought you a cup of coffee but Carson forbad it."

Rodney took his personal laptop reverently. "Thank you." He opened it and activated it. He entered the password and the screen lit up.

Jim looked at Artie and said, "Artemus, I've something to tell you: to avoid the risk that we reveal involuntarily what we know about this city and the future, before we go back to our time, they will use a device that is going to erase our memory from the time we met John and Rodney."

Artie blinked in surprise. "What?"

Rodney glared angrily at John. "What? The device found on P4M-999?"

WWW

The next day, Wednesday, Jim brought Artie a laptop and they watched a series of great western movies. John's DVD selection was: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; The Wild Bunch; Unforgiven; A Fistful of Dollars; Dances with Wolves; High Noon, and Once Upon a Time in the West.

The same day, John brought Rodney a series of devices a repair team had found in a remote section of Atlantis and he played light switch all day long.

On Thursday, Rodney explained to Artemus and James how to navigate on the internet. Then, the two 19th century men Googled all day long, focusing on modern history: 20th and 21st century.

Also on Thursday, John brought Rodney the external hard drive containing all his research (started 2 years ago) on the ZPM's power generator and left. He joined Ronon and Teyla in the training room: watching Rodney engrossed in work was no fun.

On Friday Jim and Artie spent the day watching YouTube, exploring its very large diversity, and reading Wikipedia randomly.

Still busy with his research Rodney ignored John, but drank ecstatically the pot of fresh coffee he had brought him. John spent the day doing paperwork.

On Saturday, Jim introduced Dr. Neevis, head of the Chemistry department to his partner and left them alone. He met Ronon in the training room.

And on Saturday, Rodney paused in his ZPM work, and worked on his wormhole drive project – almost ready to be tested on the newly built USS Agamemnon. John brought his friend a tray covered with pastries which Rodney wolfed down in two minutes. John then left to supervise the training of a batch of new recruits.

On Sunday, Artemus and Rodney, sitting in wheelchairs, were authorized to leave the infirmary for a couple of hours only. Stopping in front of a transporter room Rodney explained. "It's a transporter room. When a person enters the cabin…" and they all did. "A control panel on the back wall opens and displays a map of Atlantis…" and it happened. The scientist continued, "The dots on the map represent other transporters. By pressing a dot, the occupants of the transporter room are transported to the relevant location; we can even choose which floor to transport to, by making a selection on the left side of the screen." He put in finger on one of the dots and they dematerialized.

Once in the jumper bay the two agents looked at each other in total amazement. Blinking, Artemus let out, "Spaceships?"

Seeing their reaction, Rodney smiled. "Yes, the jumpers are small spaceships. We discovered several of them in the various hangars of Atlantis. John is going to take a jumper and take us into orbit. But before, we want to show you the Control Tower." They left the hangar and headed towards the transporter room.

Jim and Artie were amazed again when they discovered the stargate. Rodney gestured around him, and still in his role of guide said, "Here we're in the city's control room. It is the main control centre of Atlantis. Everything essential is here: the control room, the conference room, and Woolsey's office, but the most important is the control room. From these consoles the city's main systems can be controlled, such as the cloak, the shield, the long range sensors, and all other major systems apart from weapons – they are controlled from the Chair, in the Chair room. We're actually cloaked, it means invisible from the rest of the world – you see, the stargate program is top secret."

They headed towards the control tower balcony where the view of the inner city and surrounding landscape was breath-taking. Eyes open wide; agape, jaws dropped, the two agents were left speechless.

WWW

Later

Once in orbit around Earth, Jim and Artie, their hearts beating wildly with excitement in their chests, stared for a long moment, speechless at how the beautiful planet was. Overwhelmed, they cried.

Then, after that long moment of pure ecstasy, the ever practical James West said, "It's too bad that we won't remember anything – after we go back to our time, you included."

The ever emotional Artemus Gordon nodded. "I know that's necessary, but I think that's terribly cruel." He turned his back to the others. "That's too much… I'm sorry."

Jim pulled Artie against his chest in a comforting embrace he tightened when his best friend started to sob openly against his shirt. "It's okay, buddy, I'm here."

Sitting in the pilot seat Sheppard nodded, feeling ill at ease. "I know, I'm sorry."

Rodney sighed, feeling bad. "I'm sorry too. But I'm afraid, there's no other way. John, take us back to Atlantis, it's almost time to go back to the infirmary."

WWW

Back in the infirmary

Carson glared at John and Rodney. "What the hell happened?" He pointed at Artemus lying in his bed, sulking behind his laptop.

Jim, sitting on a chair beside him, was reading the San Francisco Herald, his face closed. The two team mates exchanged a guilty look. "We're going to erase their memory from the day they met us, Carson, to avoid the risk they talk about Atlantis and about the future," Rodney said. "Everything. And I feel really bad about it."

Sheppard nodded. "And they're not happy."

Beckett nodded. "I understand – is it really necessary? I mean, they're secret agents, they keep secrets all the time. They could keep this whole thing secret too."

John nodded too. "I said the same thing to Woolsey, Carson, but he told me that people talk under certain circumstances, when drunk, or very sick and raving, or under torture for example… the orders come from the President directly. Our hands are tied."

Rodney sighed. "I'd like them to keep those wonderful memories… They learnt, watched and saw so many absolutely wondrous things for men of their time…while protecting the future. But it's impossible. What is at stake is too big. We can't take that risk."

John nodded. "Are you sure it's going to work?"

The scientist shrugged. "Probably, he said. "Zelenka was in charge of its study and it has been tested once, with success. But it was tested once only."

Tbc.