Chapter Five

"Sheppard?" Sheppard heard Rodney's hesitant voice call to him from his half dream, half-conscious state. He tried to take a breath of air, but the pain made it difficult. McKay continued in a lower voice, "Damn it, I'm not any good at this. Wake up already."

John opened his eyes and blinked a few times as his eyes tried to focus. Finally, he said, "McKay?"

"Finally! Yeah, it's me."

Sheppard started to shift to a more comfortable position, but stopped by McKay's hand on his chest. "Just sit still, will you? You get into trouble when you try to move around too much."

"Trouble?" Nothing made much sense to him, but at least he knew Rodney's presence wasn't a nightmare taking a left turn on him.

Rodney pulled his hand away and sighed. Though his voice echoed with biting sarcasm, there was also an undertone of deep concern. "Hello? Remember your leg?"

Sheppard blinked a few more times. McKay cleared his throat impatiently. "I was beginning to think you were going to sleep through your rescue."

"Rescue?" John asked, almost mumbling. His mouth was incredibly dry and he stopped to swallow.

"Do you have to repeat everything I say?" McKay paused as he shook his head. "Never mind. Help will be here soon."

Sheppard looked around, realizing he was still trapped in the rubble, but there was more open space around his head and arms. He could even see Zalea working at the control panel a short distance away with Masan lying beside her. Masan was in what used to be McKay's backpack that was now serving as a papoose/carrier.

John swallowed again and asked, "What's Zalea doing?"

McKay chewed on his lower lip for a moment before glancing over at her. "She noticed some strange readings and wanted to check it out. She was sitting right here until a few minutes ago. I just stopped to take a break." Rodney wiped at the sweat on his dirty forehead.

"Is Masan okay? I mean, he wasn't hurt when everything came down on us, right?"

McKay smiled. "No, it looks like he's fine. Like any other baby I've ever seen, he knows how to howl like a banshee when he's hungry."

"A little like someone else I know . . . " John murmured and he forced open eyelids that were trying to drift shut. He licked his dry lips. "Are Zelenka and the others making any progress?"

"According to Radek, they should be breaking through any minute."

Sheppard frowned as he opened his eyes. "Already?"

McKay looked down at him sharply. "Yeah, it's been six hours. They're nearly here."

"Six hours? I've been out that long?"

"Well, you have been in and out of it, mostly out."

Sheppard realized Rodney was wiping his hands on one of the blanket remnants, looking a little sick. It took another moment for him to notice it was blood that McKay was rubbing from his hands. McKay never handled blood well.

Sheppard raised his head for a closer look. "Are you hurt?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

"No, this is yours."

When Sheppard stared at him in confusion, McKay said, "You're bleeding from somewhere. I was able to stick my hand in through a small opening near your feet. Carson wanted to see if I could feel a pulse in your legs, which I did. That's the good news. The bad news is there was a lot of blood and no way to see what's causing it or how to stop it until we get that rubble free."

Sheppard nodded, not knowing what to say in reply. McKay opened a bottle of water and poured some of it on his hands, then used the blanket again, this time removing more than he did on his first try. When he was done, he took a long swig from the bottle.

Sheppard reached out with a shaky hand. "Let me have a drink of that."

Rodney stared back at him, looking a bit stricken. He lowered the bottle and shook his head slightly. "Uh, no, sorry. Beckett said you shouldn't have anything by mouth until he checked you out."

Sheppard nodded in understanding, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He swallowed again, but it was harder this time. He closed his eyes and started to fade away again without realizing it. McKay leaned forward, shaking Sheppard's arm gently. "Sheppard, stay with me. You have to focus," he said.

"Well, it's kind of hard to stay focused when I'm cold, thirsty, and hurting," he said, hearing the tremor in his voice. At least, he wasn't shaking as badly as earlier, but he was still cold and sweaty.

McKay bent closer. "You're mumbling. Speak more clearly if you want me to understand anything you say."

Sheppard glared at him and asked, "Why didn't you finish digging me out?"

"Because I'm not Hercules and can't budge that last section over your legs. If you wanted someone to rescue you singlehandedly, you should have made sure you had Ronon with you." McKay made a self-depreciating sigh. "The stuff is too heavy for me to move, even with Zalea helping. I tried to rig a block and pulley, but with the limited supplies we have and the condition of the room, I couldn't get it to work – "

McKay stopped speaking as his expression grew distant. "Yeah, Carson, I read you. Sheppard's awake again."

Rodney stared down at him, eyeing him closely. "Well, for a start, he's making a little more sense this time. Not that it's a big improvement."

Sheppard grunted. "Thanks."

McKay ignored him as he listened to Beckett. "He's thirsty. Can't he have a little water?"

Rodney rolled his eyes at Beckett's reply. "For which, I'm sure he'll be eternally grateful."

McKay removed the cap from his bottle of water and leaned over, supporting Sheppard's head as Sheppard took a slow drink. "Just a sip," Rodney cautioned.

It seemed like he barely got anything to drink by the time Rodney pulled the bottle away, then McKay slammed the water bottle down and pursed his lips together, looking like he was about to explode.

"I feel like a damned translator! Beckett wants to know – " McKay stopped, peering into Sheppard's ear, and then he reached into his pocket. "Here, I'll let him ask you himself."

He glanced at Sheppard as he moved closer. "We cleaned you up while you were out and there doesn't appear to be any more blood in your ear. Try this and see how you do."

He handed Sheppard his radio headset. Sheppard slipped it on. Even that small motion seemed to wear him out. "I'm here, Carson," he said with as much strength as he could.

Beckett's Scottish brogue was stronger than usual, reflecting his emotions as he asked, "Colonel, how are you doing?"

"Hanging in there. I'm a little tired of this, though." There was no masking the weakness in his voice.

"I'm sure you are. Now, I already know about your leg and concussion, so tell me are there any other injuries?"

"Isn't that enough?" Sheppard said with a grunt.

"For most people, but this is you we're talking about, son. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Sheppard took a quick breath as he closed his eyes, trying to separate the collective areas of pain in his body into something more specific. Finally, he sighed. "I don't know. I hurt all over, but there's nothing else that stands out like the leg."

"Well, hold tight. As soon as we get in there, we'll get right to work."

"And exactly what is taking you people so damn long?" McKay released a much put upon sigh as he whined, but then maybe he deserved to, looking as exhausted as he did.

Before Carson could answer, Zalea cried out, startling both Sheppard and McKay. "Doctor McKay, there's something wrong here!"

Just then, a claxon sounded a teeth-jarring alarm. Both McKay and Sheppard stiffened. Zalea looked at the control panel with her hands hovering over it. "Hurry!"

"What have you done?" McKay asked, scrambling to his feet.

"It's the overload you spoke of before the quake. The quake must have set things in motion hours ago, only we didn't know it until now."

"Damn it!" McKay cursed as she stepped aside, making room for him at the laptop. McKay's fingers flew over the keyboard so fast Sheppard wondered if the computer could keep up with him. "No, no, no, this can't be happening now when we're so close to being rescued. Son of a bitch!"

Sheppard lifted his head and called out hoarsely, "What's going on?"

McKay's face was scrunched up into a frown. "A major explosion if we can't stop it! And I do mean major. It will take out this entire facility – or what's left of it – along with us." McKay looked to the master control panel and his laptop again. "Can't we catch even one blasted break!"

He tapped his headset. "Radek, we've got a new problem. Or an old problem that just reared its angry head again."

There was a high pitched whine from the other side of a far wall that ceased almost immediately. Zelenka answered, "What is it, Rodney?"

McKay started pacing. "The problem I was looking at before we ran into trouble this morning. The quake has caused a system overload, building up to a catastrophic overload. If we can't reverse things on our end, this whole place is going to blow."

"What can we do to help?"

"Get your butt in here ASAP. I'll need the instrumentation I requested before the quake hit. We're on a countdown now, every moment counts."

"Understood. We should break through to you in the next two minutes."

"I hope we have two minutes."

As Sheppard watched McKay, he caught Zalea's worried glance. She clutched Masan close to her, rocking him gently. The baby had started crying with the alarm and he was getting louder with each blast of noise.

"McKay, can't you shut that damned alarm off?" Sheppard asked angrily.

Rodney hit a relay switch on a different panel and the alarm stopped, then he returned to the master panel. "That won't change the urgency of our situation," he said.

"Yeah, but it will give us a chance to think without going crazy or deaf."

Now, the only sound was Masan's crying and Zalea quickly calmed him down. Radek's voice came back over the headset. "I need to have everyone standing away from the east wall. We are setting a charge to break through faster."

"A charge? Do you want to bring the ceiling down on us?" McKay's voice was incredulous.

"It should be a contained blast. It's either that or we wait until we can drill our way through . . . "

McKay gestured for Zalea to move over by Sheppard while he continued to work, saying, "Go ahead, but do it quick. We don't have all day, you know."

Sheppard noticed McKay hadn't moved away. Obviously, he thought he was at a safe distance away from the blast. Sheppard hoped he was right.

Zalea knelt beside John. She was trying not to be obvious, but Sheppard could tell by her position and demeanor that she meant to protect him from the blast with her body.

He touched her arm. "Zalea, just watch out for Masan. I'll be fine."

Before he could say any more, Zelenka said, "Five seconds to detonation."

Sheppard closed his eyes. It was too late to argue. In the end, argument was pointless. The controlled blast was nothing compared to the dramatic collapse of the ceiling they'd witnessed earlier. After widening the tunnel entrance, Zelenka and Lorne entered. They were covered from head to foot in dirt, along with the rest of the men who followed them out. Zelenka stopped a few feet from the entrance and tapped his radio.

"Okay, Dr. Beckett, it's clear for you and your people to enter. Just be careful in the tunnel. It gets a little tight in places."

"On my way," Beckett said.

Zelenka turned to McKay just as Lorne handed Rodney an armful of equipment. McKay sighed with relief. "Ah, good. Just what I need. Come along, Radek, we must work quickly."

Zalea looked down at Sheppard and squeezed his hand. "We are going to be okay."

Sheppard nodded, strangely out of breath. Before he had a chance to reply, Beckett approached them, kneeling at his side. "Colonel, I see you've managed to get yourself in another bind."

"Not by choice. I trust you people to get me out of this," he replied, looking to Lorne who was now at his side.

"You'll be home before you know it, sir," Lorne said.

The major smiled with determination, but his attention was quickly shifted to the rubble and how to move it. Sheppard's gaze went to Zalea and Masan standing near by. "Lorne, Get Dr. Modek and the baby out of here."

Lorne looked over in her direction and nodded. "Yes, sir."

He stood. "Sgt. Murphy, take Johnson with you and escort Dr. Modek to the surface."

Zalea shook her head. "I want to stay until Sheppard is free."

Lorne put his hands on his hips. "Ma'am, your husband is on pins and needles up top. I believe he's anxious to see his newborn son. And there is a medical team waiting for the two of you."

Sheppard looked up at her. "Go."

She looked like torn between choices and her chin quivered as if she was about to cry. Finally, she nodded, and bent down to kiss John on the cheek, whispering, "I'll see you again very soon."

"Sure," he said. It was getting very hard to concentrate.

By this time, Lorne and his men had surveyed the rubble. Lorne knelt beside Sheppard and said, "It'll just be a minute, sir."

"The sooner the better," he murmured.

Sheppard looked over McKay and Zelenka when McKay's voice rose. "Damn it, this should be responding by now!" He turned to Beckett. "You better get him out of here in hurry."

Zelenka's voice was very calm in comparison. "Not if we can just stabilize the root program. That should keep it from going criticaland make it return to normal."

McKay paused. "Well, in theory, but that plan would take too long and time isn't something we have in abundance . . . "

He started snapping his fingers. "What did you just say? Return everything to normal? That's so easy! Why didn't I see it before? What if we just disconnect all of the relays overseeing the power distribution and cause it to reboot. While it is rebooting, we go in and correct the power distribution to include all four power generators, thus solving our problems."

"Disconnect them? What? Are you daft? That alone could trigger the – " Zelenka stopped to think, blinking several times.

McKay beamed from ear to ear even as he started moving. "You know that's the way to do it."

"It's a hell of an assumption."

"We both know I'm right and we're wasting time talking about it!"

Zelenka nodded, then shook his head, cursing in Czech. He looked to McKay as he moved into position. "It will take both of us working very fast to stabilize the system after disconnecting the other relays -- and before it reaches critical overload – that is, if this crazy idea works at all."

Sheppard put a hand on Lorne's arm before he moved away. "Lorne, you need to evacuate this area immediately. Get everyone out now, including yourself."

Lorne looked taken aback, "But, sir, we have to dig you out first– "

Sheppard's voice was hoarse as he said, "Forget about me, Major. Get these people out here now. That's an order."

Lorne met Beckett's gaze as the physician knelt beside Sheppard. John wiped at the sweat dripping in his eyes from his brow, preparing to shout the order if he had to. Beckett took a deep breath and interceded, "These people here are all volunteers. They know there's danger involved, and they opted to stay."

"No," Sheppard said, shaking his head.

With a sigh, Beckett continued, "Colonel, you are badly injured and in no shape to command. Let Major Lorne do what he needs to do since he's now in charge of this rescue operation."

Sheppard raised his head from the floor, knowing the effort it would take out of him, but he was adamant. "Damn it, Carson! I won't have anyone risk their lives for me. Now get out of here! All of you!"

All of Sheppard's energy was spent on that action. He started to drop back to the floor, but Carson managed to put a hand under Sheppard's head before it hit the hard surface.

"Give it a rest, son. Arguing with a Scot is invariably pointless. Allow someone else to risk their lives for you for once. Now, let me have a little look at what you've done to yourself while these gentlemen clear away the rest of that rubble."

He waved for Lorne and his men to get to work as he started taking Sheppard's vitals. Sheppard swallowed and closed his eyes. He was so damn tired. When the ground below him started shaking, his eyes flew open. Not again. Not now when there were so many others there to die with him.

Debris started falling right over Sheppard and Beckett. Beckett bent over Sheppard, keeping most of the dust and debris from hitting him in the face. Sheppard groaned with the ground's movement as they jarred the already sensitive wound. He ground his teeth together just to keep quiet.

He heard shouts from the others, recognizing Lorne's voice, then McKay's, but not the words, then he heard Beckett calling to him. He cracked his eyelids open and tried to focus as Beckett whispered, "Come on, Colonel. Stay with me."

Beckett motioned to Lorne. "We need to get him out of here now. Do whatever you need to as fast as you can."

Sheppard was barely conscious as he heard the others working so much faster than McKay had done alone. They started to move the block lying at an angle across Sheppard's legs, when blinding white bolts of pain shot through his body. Sheppard screamed. By the time the scream ended, he had passed out.

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