Chapter 10 – The Pendulum

"So, what's the big plan then Sheppard?" Rodney asked as he rubbed his hands together in the cool air of new planet they had found themselves on after stepping through the gate.

The sky was completely veiled by dark clouds, which threatened rain and cast the entire scene in a dull grey hue.

"I was hoping you could tell me."

Rodney scowled and folded his arms over his chest. "How exactly am I supposed to know more than you do? You're alright, you've had a week to read the database while I wasn't able to do anything at all for what felt like months. Perhaps you expect me to use my amazing powers of psychic deduction to magic up a route for us?"

Ronon chuckled, "Sure McKay, go ahead."

Rodney rolled his eyes and started to look even angrier than he was already.

Radek was standing on the other side of the DHD, where Teyla, Ronon and Jennifer were waiting for Rodney to show them the way.

Radek said, "There was nothing in database; only this address. The others you saw while you were not with us; did they tell you anything?" He raised his eyebrows, "You did ask?"

"Oh, I asked alright, but there's only one person there capable of speech and he's not exactly chatty."

John sighed, "Nothing then?"

Rodney dropped his arms down by his sides and frowned, "No."

"What about the device?" Radek asked, "Can you feel anything different here, perhaps a pull towards something?"

Rodney narrowed his eyes and reached up to touch the band around his neck. He sighed and looked around at the scattered and leafless trees nearby. "No. All that I can feel is a piece of metal threatening to drag me out of phase again at any moment."

A cool breeze rustled the bare branches of the trees. The gate was in the centre of a large rocky field. Tufts of grass grew here and there and the field was in a gentle slope going down into a valley. In the distance, smoke could be seen rising from a fire in the village closest to the gate.

Teyla's face was sad and she asked, "Maybe we should go back? Shut down the device interfaced with the ZPM until we have found the reason why this planet was in Janus' database?"

John shook his head, "No, I'm not giving up yet. We should walk around a bit. Maybe being so close to the gate is blocking something. We could question the villagers again and see what they say this time."

Ronon nodded, "Sounds good."

As they walked down the slope, Rodney did begin to feel something different. It was like a sense of empowerment emanating from the metal bound to him, but he could not localize the origin of it.

After they had only gone a few hundred metres he stopped abruptly and closed his eyes.

Jennifer went over to him and asked, "What is it?"

"I'm not sure. It feels like I'm about to be pulled out of phase again, but for some reason I can stop it from taking me away."

John glanced around and his eyes settled on the village a short distance away, "We're on the clock here guys. Only three and half hours left!"

Rodney's eyes snapped open and he grimaced, "I know! I don't know what this thing's doing to me." He curled his fingers under the metal ring as if trying to pull it off, but as before it just served to make his neck red and sore.

They continued to walk and soon reached the outer edge of the village. There were brick houses lining the cobbled streets. Only a few of the locals were out and about as the team proceeded down the street. Several of them gave Rodney fearful looks when they caught sight of the band around his neck.

"Ever get the feeling that people don't like you very much?" Rodney asked as another villager fled up a side alley without a word as they approached him.

Ronon had his eyes open widely and he scanned around the team as they approached the central square of the village. He glanced up at the windows of the houses and down every alley and side road as they passed. His hand hovered ever ready by his blaster.

Teyla was doing the same and had her lips set in a thin and worried line. She slowed slightly and let Sheppard catch up with her. She spoke under her breath to him, "Colonel, something is wrong. These villagers denied knowledge of the metal bands the last time we came. Do you not think that their behaviour is now unusual as they advised us they did not know of the devices?"

"It is a little strange," John replied, equalling Teyla's volume. "But we didn't speak with everyone. I thought they seemed a little off hand and perhaps a little too quick to deny knowledge. I just assumed it was a culture thing, rather than an attempt to hide anything."

Rodney's eyes were wide and fearful as he watched the reactions of yet another villager. He turned to John and said, "I don't like this very much. Do you think they want us to leave?"

Radek walked alongside McKay and said, "Probably, it is now clear that they know something. I wonder what it is?"

The team soon reached the square. The buildings were more lavish and a much larger structure dominated the centre of the village. It looked like a town hall or some kind of church.

They continued to move towards the centre of the square where there was a market and many people who had not seem them approaching.

A group of five men suddenly stepped out in front of the Lanteans and the leader at the front held up his hand to halt them. The team stopped and Rodney moved into the centre of them and behind Ronon so that they could not see him.

It was already too late though as the leader of the group pointed to Ronon and said, "The one whom you hide and protect. He has the mark of time and must leave this place at once or die."

Rodney grimaced and shrunk down even lower towards the ground in an effort to look smaller as he remained behind Ronon.

John asked the leader, "Kill him? That's not very nice. I thought we were developing a really good relationship last time we were here, but there was never any talk of violence."

The leader narrowed his eyes and the other four men behind him flexed their muscles menacingly. He said vehemently, "We have paintings and carvings warning us against the people who can control time. Knowledge has been passed down to us over many centuries that it is a dangerous power to have and must be destroyed at all costs."

"By destroy, you mean kill?" John asked incredulously. The leader nodded.

Radek piped up in a small voice, "We are looking for a way to remove the device from our companion, which will also take away the power he has. Do you know of any facilities or locations which seem out of place on this planet?"

The leader leered menacingly down at the diminutive scientist and said nastily, "Oh, we know a way to remove the device."

Rodney had not seen the leader's expression and stepped out from behind Ronon with an eager and smiling face. He asked, "Really?" but his face quickly fell and his hands went up to his neck protectively, "Oh, like that…"

The leader started to advance, but John blocked his path and held up his hands. "May I ask how you know about the device? It was created over ten thousand years ago. Somehow, I don't think your lovely little community has endured for that long and been able to pass on their knowledge this efficiently."

The leader of the group narrowed his eyes but did not say anything. It was obvious they were still hiding something.

Teyla could see the situation was still deteriorating as the men began to advance once more. She said calmingly, "If we were to leave this village, would you let us go? We believe there may be a way to help our friend without resorting to violence."

The leader turned his head briefly to his men and then uttered, "No." He then pointed his finger at Rodney and shouted, "Get him!"

Before any of them could raise their weapons, the men ran at them. The leader punched Sheppard in the face and he staggered backwards, before raising his arms up and hitting back.

Ronon quickly drew his blaster and stunned one of them before he was tackled.

Rodney was stumbling backwards away from the fight with Radek and Jennifer. The group of attackers were fighting one on one with Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla, while the remaining man approached the three civilians.

McKay drew his gun and pointed it at the man as he manoeuvred himself in front of Jennifer and Radek. He called out in a high pitched and wobbly voice, "Don't come any closer!"

The man laughed a little at Rodney's fearful expression and stance and reached behind his back. Before Rodney could shoot him, he quickly brought his arm forwards and flung a knife at McKay.

Rodney closed his eyes and squeezed the trigger of his gun in hope that the bullet would find the man before he felt the knife sink into him. A loud bang echoed from his sidearm as he pulled the trigger all the way back.

When Rodney did not feel any pain, he narrowly cracked his eyes open. He frowned in confusion at the strange scene in front of him. He had inadvertently frozen time again as his unconscious forced control over the device to save his life.

He holstered the gun and walked towards the man who had thrown the blade. His face was set in a look of savage triumph as he blindsided McKay. The scene had descended into silence and Rodney's rapid and shaky breaths echoed loudly around in the stillness. His heart pounded as adrenaline coursed through his bloodstream.

Rodney walked up and eyed the knife hovering halfway spun around in mid air as it had been frozen in its act. He looked along the angle it was flying and saw that if it were to carry on it would hit Jennifer when time unfroze again.

He quickly stepped into the path of the blade again to protect her if time suddenly decided to carry on going. He needed to move it somehow.

Rodney walked over to the knife in the air and reached up his trembling fingers and took hold of the hilt. He tried to grab it, but it was stuck there. "Oh, come on! Give me something here!" He grunted in exertion, but it would not move.

He remembered the way he had been able to deflect John's knife in the corridor in his distant memory and how he had shoved him forwards even with just a light touch while time was stopped.

Rodney hoped that his tugging had been enough to set the blade on a course away from Jennifer and Radek. He turned his focus to John, Teyla and Ronon as they stood as bizarre and heroic statues while they blocked and punched the other attackers.

He walked over to them and studied each pair. Ronon looked like he had just got a hit in and the man he had struck was staggering backwards. Rodney pressed his hands against the man's chest and shoved. He then walked around him and pressed his foot against the back of one of the man's legs to help him on his way. He hoped it would be enough to make him fall down when time moved on.

Teyla had already defeated her attacker and was standing in a fighting stance over him as he lay on the ground. Rodney ignored them and went over to John.

Sheppard had his arms up to block a punch that was approaching him. Rodney stood in between them and considered pushing Sheppard out of the way as well as the man behind him. He reached up and gently put his hands on Sheppard's shoulders briefly, hoping it would be enough to move him out of the way.

Rodney was just about to turn around and work on the man behind, who was the leader of the group, when time suddenly decided to start going again. The sounds abruptly came back again and the fist which had been aiming for Sheppard was driven into Rodney's back.

A short distance away Jennifer and Radek peered in confusion at the man in front of them who had just collapsed after being shot. The knife had altered course and was harmlessly imbedded in the ground a short distance from them.

Ronon was frowning in confusion as the man in front of him seemed to have been hit by an invisible force and fell down.

Rodney cried out as the fist bruised him and he staggered forwards into John. Sheppard was still standing and tried to get McKay out of the way before the man got another chance to punch him.

He was not fast enough though, as the man lifted both of his hands up and clasped them together. He quickly brought them down and struck Rodney a brutal blow in between his shoulder blades.

McKay's teeth rattled under the force of the impact when he felt the fists thumping hard into his upper back. He fell over and rolled away under inertia. His vision clouded over as he could not catch his breath. The last image that reached his eyes was one of John hitting out at the leader in fury and taking him down. Rodney then slowly closed his eyes and abandoned himself to the darkness.

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Rodney awoke with a start and coughed a little as a pain spread out across his lower back and through the top of his spine. It radiated down into his shoulders as he curled up on his side.

He soon noticed the silence and opened his eyes to look around the scene blearily. "Oh, good timing," he laughed a little at the pun, before he coughed again and winced.

The sense of control flowing through him had intensified sharply since he had first felt it. He had no idea how long he had been lying there, but it seemed that time had stopped soon after he had been knocked out.

The silence was suddenly broken by the scarily familiar sound of shuffling footsteps.

Rodney tensed up and screwed up his face in pain as it awoke the bruising across his back. He mumbled, "Internal bleeding, not so good."

He carefully rolled over onto all fours and slowly stood up. He shook a little as the muscles across his back stretched out and tensed to hold him upright. He turned his head stiffly to try and find out who was now haunting him in the timeless place. Surely Solian and Rorkan could not have followed him through the gate?

"Unless they froze time at the moment the gate was active and decided to join me," he thought.

His eyes widened and he grabbed the hilt of his knife and drew it forwards; ready to meet whoever was coming.

The approaching sound suddenly stopped and Rodney's glare intensified in concentration as he waited for it to start again so that he could localise it. He stood like that for a few minutes and his palms became sweaty and his hands trembled under the prolonged stress to his system of the adrenaline with no outlet.

The sound did not start again. The next thing Rodney knew something heavy and unyielding cracked him in the side of his ribcage and he cried out as he fell down.

Rodney's knife flew out of his hand and when it got a short distance away, it stopped in its movements as it was forced back into normal time.

When he landed, all the breath that remained in him was forced out in a whoosh and he found that he could not draw any more air into his lungs. He rolled over onto his back and furrowed his brow as his uncooperative diaphragm refused to work no matter how hard he fought and struggled.

He did not have enough strength to move out of the way when he saw Rorkan standing over him with a look of brutality etched into his malevolent features. He was wielding the spike he ever carried like a baseball bat and Rodney knew it had been him who had hit him a moment ago.

He gazed down lazily at Rodney on the ground in front of him and changed the position of the spike in his hands. McKay felt like all his ribs on one side had been shattered and his vision of the world around was beginning to darken as he still could not breathe. He writhed a little involuntarily as he curled upwards and tried to kickstart his breathing.

His chest suddenly hitched as he finally managed to draw in a laboured breath of life giving oxygen. His vision ramped back up to normal at exactly the same time as Rorkan raised the spike above his head and rapidly brought it down through the air towards Rodney.

McKay closed his eyes and turned his face to the side just before he was stabbed with the spike. He gasped as the tip punched through his tac vest and embedded in him just below his sternum. He held his breath as pain spread throughout his belly and up into his chest from the point of the spike.

Rodney grimaced and wondered why Rorkan had stopped. He reached across himself and took hold of the spike where it was stabbing him in an effort to stop it from shifting and causing more damage and pain.

Rodney opened his confused, watering eyes and looked up at Rorkan who was crouched down by his side and grasping the spike in a tight grip as he buried it in McKay.

He was frozen in time and his face was brilliant white as it had been when Solian had created the second layer of frozen time in the corridor in Rodney's distant history.

Rodney was feeling light-headed from holding his breath for too long and his throat had started to ache. He closed his eyes as he exhaled and inhaled slowly. He winced when his tight grip on the weapon did not prevent it from moving in him. He felt dampness against his hands as blood welled up around the spike and soaked through his tac vest.

He furrowed his brow and grunted, "Oh, great, brilliant, what an excellent plan, McKay! Stop time after being stabbed. You know; really draw it out… make it last…"

He tried to move the point of the sharp weapon out of himself by reaching up and pressing his hand against Rorkan's wrists, but he was as solidly frozen as everyone else. He bunched his hands into fists and gritted his teeth when the spike sunk a little further into him due to his movement.

He lay as still as he could and drew in shallow breaths as he contemplated his options. He soon realised that he only had two and neither were what he would have liked. Either unfreeze time and end it relatively quickly or wait forever in agony. Rodney thought he would bleed to death before it came to forever, so he half ruled out the second option. That only left the first one.

He had pushed Rorkan away, but would it have been enough to stop the downward motion of the spike and draw it out of him when time unfroze?

He desperately needed a third option and fast as he could feel tremors spreading out across his body under the strain of the constant pain and shock over the blood loss from the wound. Any kind of movement through shaking would be devastating to him and he willed himself to stop. He soon found that he could not go against his body's natural reaction to the spike and started to shiver.

"Oh, ow!" He uttered through quivering lips as his pain level increased exponentially from the shifting.

Rodney closed his eyes, but that only left the agony in the darkness as there was no longer anything in sight to distract him. He could not roll away from the source of his pain as it would be more than likely that the spike would get caught up in his tac vest at the same time as slicing him completely open. He did not like to think of how long it would take him to bleed to death from such an injury, but he reasoned that his time left would be measured in seconds rather than minutes.

He tightly screwed up his face and gasped under his breath, "I need a third option…"

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TBC