SO NEAR, SO FAR.

Eleven minutes had elapsed since Rodney stepped off Sauna World, and the gate room was now fully lit and operational. Overhead in the jumper bay a rescue team was busily being readied with Major Lorne in charge of operations. Meanwhile Rodney had identified the closest stargate to '141 and was pulling up information to estimate travel time. Sheppard was not going to last long. If the shock didn't kill him, the weather would. That's if he didn't pass out first. Rodney tried not to think about one of those big jungle cats helping itself to a colonel kebab. He glanced up from his work for a second. Carson Beckett and Elizabeth Weir were silently staring at the live MALP feed on the computer screen beside him. Both of them looked thoroughly horrified, but Weir especially seemed to be having trouble believing her eyes. Further away, Ronon was pacing back and forth in front of the gate. Teyla was standing to one side, speaking softly, but true to form, Ronon was not dealing with the whole being helpless thing. Some inanimate object was going to get punched, kicked or launched into orbit very soon.

Come to think of it, Rodney couldn't see his backpack down there anymore. No doubt he'd be searching for it somewhere on the other side of the room later. If the life signs detector in there was damaged, Ronan would be hearing all about it. However, in the interests of self preservation, Rodney would just make sure he was at the opposite end of the city when he said it.

Elizabeth was talking, Rodney realised. She looked a second or two away from losing her dinner.

"Why would anyone put something like that in front of a gate?"

Rodney contemplated pretending that he still wasn't listening. On the scale of stupid questions, it ranked top ten. Data was beginning to fill the screen in front of him, so he answered as he studied it. "We found ruins and other evidence of simple technology. Meaning whoever used to live there installed a very primitive version of a gate shield."

It also explained the fluctuating power signal that had registered when Rodney first exited the gate on '141. He couldn't explain it then, but now realized it was the shield trying to deploy. Fortunately it had failed to activate. Unfortunately it found enough juice at exactly the wrong time for Sheppard.

Beckett shook his head in disgust. "It's the most barbaric thing I've ever seen!"

Great. The master of stating the glaringly obvious was on the job. Rodney stared at Beckett, but declined to pass comment. Instead he left Weir and the witch doctor to do whatever they thought they had to do, while he went back to the actual work of saving the day. But he did keep an ear on the conversation as it continued beside him.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Elizabeth. Can you hear me?"

Sheppard was slower to respond this time. "Yeah, I can Elizabeth."

"We're going to help you, John. But as you know, the Daedalus is currently on Earth, so it may take a little more time than we'd like to get a jumper to you."

"Figured that out already," Sheppard said. "Step on the gas, okay? I'm feeling a little weird here."

Only John Sheppard would say something like that, Rodney thought. Skewered on an alien defence system, leg snapped above the knee, and the temperature climbing past forty degrees Celsius. Sheppard was probably saving feeling really weird for when the wildlife attacked.

"John, its Carson here. I can see the spike has passed through your leg close to the knee. Rodney tells me you think your femur is broken and you've administered ten milligrams of morphine. How is the pain? You may need to inject another ten."

"Negative, Doc. I'm trying not to pass out. Leg's definitely broken. I tried to pull myself off the damned thing when it first happened. It's through the bone."

"Okay, avoid moving as much as possible to minimize the pain and bleeding. Do you have any water left? You need to keep hydrated."

"Drank the last of it about twenty minutes ago."

"That's okay, son. We'll be with you as soon as is humanly possible." Beckett tapped his earpiece to disconnect and turned to look at McKay. "Rodney, its imperative we get to Colonel Sheppard within the hour. The nature of his injury coupled with the weather conditions could prove fatal in very short order."

"Yes, Carson, I understand the urgency of the situation, thank you very much. There's a space gate above a neighboring planet …" Rodney waited for the final information to load. His stomach sank. "Eleven hours, best time," he quietly informed.

Beckett's head dropped.

Elizabeth put a hand on Rodney's shoulder. "There must be something else we can do." She pointed down at the activated gate. "He's just there, a few seconds away."

A couple of seconds, a couple of thousand light years. Rodney leaned across to look at the live screen and tapped his radio. Sheppard was in much the same position as before, only his pack was open and some of the contents were strewn in front of the gate.

"Sheppard. We'll have to close down this wormhole to send a jumper through. Good news is, there's a gate close by, relatively speaking. Bad news is … it's going to take a little while."

Sheppard didn't lift his head to speak. "Define a little while, Rodney." He sounded even more breathless.

"We'll be there three, maybe four hours after sun set."

There was a good few seconds of silence before Sheppard responded.

"Understood."