"The future?" Lorne blinked, "Time travelers?" he had just joined Sheppard in the cell.

"Not exactly," Sheppard sighed, "they're trying to get information out of us. If they were really from the future, wouldn't they already know?"

"Maybe they're making sure they got their facts straight?" Lorne suggested.

"Yeah," Sheppard gave him a sidelong look, "they really strike me as a group of altruistic historians." He rubbed his head, "I mean, call me crazy, but I get the feeling that there's something else going on here."

"I have to agree with you, Sir," Lorne shifted uncomfortably in his boots.

Sheppard tilted his head to look up at the Major from his position on the floor, "What did they do to you?"

"I...um...all due respect, Sir, I'd rather not discuss it," Lorne turned red.

"Relax, Major." Sheppard half-smiled, "Pull up a floor and have a seat. I imagine Ronon will be here soon, blowing stuff up, and he and Rodney and Teyla will have us out of here in no time."

Lorne sat, but failed to relax or look reassured.

Sheppard couldn't blame him, nor could he shake the feeling that somehow everything was backwards.


"You got involved," the Science General admonished. He stood in the center of the council chambers, surrounded by the other members of the tired-looking council.

Judith looked down at her feet, "I wished to understand their rituals regarding physical contact between genders." She blinked at Randall, "It did not progress...all the way!"

"Still, we cannot permit this interference," Randall chided, "you know the laws. You know why it is forbidden. You have contaminated the experiment."

"Yes," Judith frowned.

"Then you know what must be done," Randall raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," Judith nodded. She slowly strode out of the room.

"Now," Randall clasped his hands together, "to more important matters."


"You know what's funny?" Sheppard mused, "We've been sitting here for almost an hour, and still no Ronon, Teyla, Rodney, or explosions."

Lorne glanced over at Sheppard, slight confusion showing in his face, "Um, right. Funny."

"Well," Sheppard babbled, "not funny like a joke is funny. Just funny like it's strange is all."

Lorne nodded, but still looked like he wasn't entirely certain what Sheppard wanted him to do with this information.

"I'm just saying," Sheppard continued nonchalantly, "that if either of us should happen to think of a plan B, it might not be a bad idea to, say, mention it."

"I'll keep you apprised, Sir," Lorne sighed. He couldn't help thinking of the mysterious painting in his dream. He wondered if somewhere there was a painting now of himself now sitting in the cell with Sheppard. How he would love to shatter that one, too!

Sheppard wasn't thinking about paintings. He was thinking about everything he could think about, all at once. He was lining up his thoughts, and going through them one by one, taking each one apart and putting them each back together meticulously. Every plan, every scheme, every detail of every escape route...but they all had one major flaw. They all required someone on the outside. And as painful as it was to admit, that was just something that couldn't currently be counted on.

Both men were jolted from their thoughts by someone entering the room.

Judith.

"I'm sorry it has to end this way," she stepped all the way in, and they could see that she held one of the alien weapons, "but I made a big mistake back there, and I am not going to be the one to pay for it."

With an innocently sweet smile, she leveled the gun at the cell, motioned to the guards to drop the force field and open the door, and she fired.


"How do you even know where we're going?" Rodney whined as he was dragged along by Ronon.

"Fine." Ronon gestured to a junction in the corridor and demanded, "Which way?"

"I don't know, either, wise guy, that's my point!" Rodney cried, "we could be rushing in circles!"

"Looks a lot like Atlantis to me," Ronon sniffed.

"Well that's just because it..." Rodney stopped, his argument fizzling suddenly, "...hey...it does. Hey, we should head to the prison! If this place really is laid out like our Atlantis, that's where they'd be holding our guys!"

Ronon didn't even gratify that remark with a response, partly because he'd just come to a locked door.

"Wait!" Rodney rushed to the door, "before you try bashing it open or anything, let me try..." he reached for the controls.

But the door slid open all on its own.

"Huh?" Rodney blinked.

Ronon whirled into action as another man stepped through the door, but the man simply put up his hand and watched Ronon with a mildly amused look on his face. Ronon collided with a pulse beam emitted from a device that the man held. Rodney was fascinated by the device for a nanosecond before self-preservation kicked in. Yelping, he leapt behind a potted plant next to the door.

The man watched Rodney's reaction with the same bemused look, but made no move to attack the scientist. He simply nodded and smiled, "Greetings. I am Science General Randall."

"R...odney McKay..." Rodney stuttered.

"I know who you are, Doctor McKay," Randall spoke maddeningly slowly, " our historical documents tell us about many of your contributions to science."

"Really?" Rodney started to come out of the plant, but saw Ronon groaning on the floor again and thought better of it, "so...you are from the future. Hah! I knew it! So tell me, did you use a method utilizing the expanding of a bubble of..."

"There is another time to discuss such matters." Randall stated, "much time, in fact. As it happens, you will be spending a great deal of time with us from now on, Doctor McKay."

"How...how much time?" Rodney glanced at Ronon and shook nervously.

Randall's skin seemed to flare green in the pale lighting, "you and your friends can never leave our ship."