Sheppard sat up, the chair righting itself with him.
Judith clapped her hands, "How can we ever thank you for eliminating such a terrible threat?"
Stepping down from the chair, John approached her, "You can start by telling me who those 'attackers' were!"
"I don't know what you…" Judith started.
"Don't give me that. That was not a Wraith hive ship. There is no way I could have taken it out with one drone." Sheppard stood staring confrontationally at Judith, "I want a straight answer for once. I get the feeling I've been lied to ever since I got here."
"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, let me assure you…" she tried again, stopping when she saw what he'd pulled from the robe he wore. He held it up.
"I went for a little walk today," he looked at the object, "I found a very interesting stash of weapons. Now, I'm not entirely sure how this works since I've never seen one before, but it sort of looks like a gun with a lot of neat little buttons on it. I might start pushing buttons if I don't start getting answers."
Judith gulped, her eyes round as she stared up at John, "Maybe I should get the Science General…"
"Good idea," Sheppard glared, "but first, tell me this. Where. Am. I?"
"Where are we?" Teyla asked, rubbing her arm where it had slammed into the console.
"We're not dead?" Rodney coughed, glancing around in delight, "Oh!"
Lorne shook his head, "that wasn't a weapon. I think it was some kind of transport beam."
"We're in the cloud ship aren't we?" Rodney's face fell and he groaned, "oh, this is not good."
"Perhaps this is the same ship that took Colonel Sheppard," Teyla suggested.
"Yes, and did who knows what to him!" Rodney agreed, moaning.
"Sheppard's alive," Ronon stated.
"Maybe," Rodney quaked, "but I think he would have found a way to contact us by now unless he was incapacitated."
"Sheppard's alive." Ronon insisted.
"Fine," Rodney coughed, "I hope you're right."
Lorne frowned, "so, if we've been captured by aliens, where are they?"
"That is a good question," Teyla squinted into the gases outside of the jumper.
"Maybe it's not a ship," Rodney suggested, "maybe it's a life form that just ingested us."
"A space creature that ate a whole ship?" Lorne shook his head, "that sounds like science fiction to me."
Rodney blinked, "We're flying around another galaxy in a ten thousand year old telepathic alien spacecraft. I don't think we can safely rule anything out."
At that moment, Lorne vanished.
"See?" Rodney pointed, as if that explained everything.
Teyla and Ronon were both on their feet. Rodney busied himself with readouts.
"Where did he go?" Ronon demanded.
"Too much interference," Rodney snapped, "I can't see anything on the sensors. Nothing at all! We're blind."
Sheppard sighed as he sat on the floor.
"Yep, that really went well. Good plan, John," he glanced at the cell walls.
But who would have thought that a sweet little scientist with big blue eyes from a peaceful, coexisting society would be packing a heavy stun weapon?
Sheppard smiled wryly at the stone-faced guard standing at the door. Well, at least I can be reasonably certain now that there is something sinister going on here.
"You are correct, Ssssssheppard," hissed a voice to his right, raising the hairs on Sheppard's neck. He turned his head and leapt back, landing against the wall.
"Aaack!" he exclaimed, impacting the force field and reacting to his unexpected green cellmate.
The Wraith smiled without happiness, "all is not as it appears. Tread carefully." He melted away.
"Uh…" Sheppard stared at the empty cell. Great, now my mind is conjuring Wraith to give me advice? You'd think I could come up with something more pleasant to hallucinate about. He rubbed the back of his head.
"Colonel?"
Sheppard turned his head again, this time seeing Teyla standing outside of the cell.
"Teyla?"
"You must find a way to escape," Teyla told him, "we need your help."
"I'm open to suggestions, here," Sheppard gestured to the cell walls.
"We are in great danger," Teyla said, dreamlike, "though we may not be aware of it yet."
Sheppard frowned, "What do you mean?"
Teyla dropped into a defensive crouch and vanished.
"Teyla!" Sheppard yelled, causing the guard to jump and then glare at him.
Sheppard blinked at the nearly empty cell and wished it was one person emptier.
