Chapter II - Lost

Rodney's eyes fluttered open. It was dark. The only thing keeping him from thinking he'd gone blind was the flickering of a small fire to the left of him. Sitting up, he unbuckled himself and tried to stand, but fell down onto the floor immediately. His left knee ached and he could feel a thick thumping against his head. How he hated headaches. Reaching up slowly, he felt his tempe just to touch something warm and sticky. Great, he was bleeding. He must have hit his head against his own knee. Typical. He got hold of the dialing controls and pulled himself forward so that he could crawl closer to the other chair. John was slumped into himself, still breathing, thank God, but obviously unconscious again.

"Oh great, that's just awesome", Rodney's eyes had found the place of the fire. The Flight Control Panels were burning. He crawled up in front of John but pulled back his left hand with a hiss as an unbearable pain soared through it. Holding it up he inspected it in the faint light of the fire and sighed. "Brilliant, my day couldn't get any better."

Smashed pieces of the control Christals were shattered all over the Jumper, and one piece, yes, had found its way right into Rodney's very own genius hand.

"What's going on?", a slurred voice came from up beside him. He turned his head to see the light reflecting from John's eyes and smiled faintly.

"We crashed. We crashed and now we're screwed", Rodney said. He closed his eyes and reached for the Christal with his right hand. Taking a deep breath, he pulled it out. A loud scream filled the night as he fell back onto the floor, shaking all over. The screaming wouldn't stop, and he realized, that it was him that made those awful sounds. Reaching up with his healthy hand, he pushed his fist into his mouth and calmed himself down. That one had been in deeper than he'd thought.

"Here", he heard the ripping sound of fabric and then two gentle hands wrapped something around his bleeding hand. Looking up, he saw John smiling down at him faintly, before the military man slumped right over, landing beside him. His right sleeve had been ripped in half.

"Thanks", Rodney said quietly. They were lying there for a while in silence, but it wasn't quiet. The storm outside was louder than the starting of a Space Shuttle and the Jumper was still shaking periodically.

"So", John said eventually, confused looking hazel-greens searching for blues. "Where are we?"

"P3X-836. And we're screwed."

John chuckled at that. "You're a very funny man Mister..."

"John?", Rodney's eyes filled with concern. "What's your name?"

"John."

"Your full name."

The American looked past him into the darkness, face screwed up in concentration. His lower lip thrembled and then he hit his fist against the side of his seat angrily.

"It's there, it's... I can't reach it."

"What's my name? What's your rank?", but the Scientist already knew that he wouldn't receive an answer to those questions, either. "I'm Rodney McKay. Your friend. You're Ltd. Colonel John Sheppard, the leading Military Officer of Atlantis."

The eyes found his own and he whimpered. John looked so different, even though he was the same. He looked empty. Vulnerable. Somehow… innocent?

"It'll come back to you. It always does."

"Always...? It's happened before?"

Rodney could almost see the questioning look on the American's face, but the darkness didn't allow him to see more than a silhouette and the occasional flickering in his eyes.

"Not to you it hasn't", he shrugged and flinched almost immediately as the pain soared through his hand again. He shuddered and only now noticed how freezing it had really gotten. All Systems must have shut down when they'd crashed. His eyes wandered across the little cabin and settled onto a big pile of arms and legs. McAllister and Morris lay in one corner, huddled together. He frowned at their still and silent figures. "Hey, everything alright?"

John followed his gaze and got up on hands and knees, slowly making his way towards them.

"Careful, don't make the same mistake I did", Rodney whispered. He coughed and immediately corrected himself. "Well, it wasn't a mistake as much as an accident, it could have happened to anyone-"

"Rodney", John's voice said, almost back to its original familiarity. Or maybe it was just the reaction any John Sheppard would have given him. "He... she..."

"Jennie McAllister and Sgt. Andrew Morris", he said quickly, before the Colonel could get all worked up again.

"They're dead."

Rodney fell silent. He hadn't really thought of that yet. If he was alright, he'd assumed the others to be fine, too. Usually he was the one to get hurt in a situation like this. He couldn't remember anyone else ever having an arrow stuck in their Gluteus Maximus.

"They're..."

"Dead, yeah", John repeated, crawling back to kneel beside Rodney. "That adds to the discomfort."

The Scientist gently felt the ground around himself before pushing himself up on his healthy hand and review the situation. His eyes had finally adjusted themselves to the darkness. Behind the lifeless forms of their two companions he saw that the bulkhead doors were closed.

"We need to get to the back of the Jumper, the Medical kit should be there, and maybe I can try and re-rout some of the power so that we'll be able to stay warm in here until Woolsey sends a rescue team."

"Woolsey?", John's blank voice came from beside him. He sighed slightly, making his way towards the buttons beside the doors.

"He's the guy in charge."

"Of Atlantis", the Colonel said slowly.

"Hm."

Looking down upon the two figures the Scientist frowned. "We need to remove them. The Controls in here are completely out of juice, we'll have to try and open the bulkhead doors by force. Or well, you will, I'm kind of handicapped", he held up his left hand and John understood. He grabbed Ltd. Morris and quickly moved him to the side, doing the same with McAllister a moment after. He returned holding a long piece of metal that looked very much like the side of Rodney's seat.

"How did you?"

"Found it", John shrugged and forced the metal into the door, then hurled his body against it with full strength. The Jumper shook slightly, but eventually the doors gave in.

"Oh great, and I thought it couldn't get any worse", Rodney said, slowly moving through the back compartment towards the rear hatch – or at least where it was supposed to be – his knee aching bitterly with every step he took. They'd lost the hatch and half of their inventory during the crash and the icy cold winds blew straight into their faces.

"We could have been dead, too", John reached up and started rummaging through what was left. He smirked when his hands got hold of a couple of C4's and a P90. "Something tells me I should keep those close."

Joining him again, the Canadian frowned.

"You seem horribly fine with all this", he said drearily, "apart from the obvious, of course."

Though as bad as his head was thumping, his knee was aching and his hand… – he didn't even want to go into details there – he was glad that he'd at least kept his sanity and intelligence. Sheppard's memory loss wasn't of the kind he'd had, of course, but still, he didn't ever want to go down that pathway again.

TBC