AN: I was going to have this be the chapter when we find out who is behind all this, but I decided to add a little more drama to the story, first. Hope you don't get too impatient with me! Anyway, you can just blame Sheppard - it's what I do! LOL

Next chapter, we'll find out. I promise! :)

Much love to those who have reviewed so far! I love you all, and I'm glad you're enjoying this story enough to keep following it! Kisses and hugs!

Chapter 10

Sheppard's team slipped down the strange hallway, their bare feet silent as they moved. Coming to a t-junction, Sheppard held up his hand and they fell in line behind him, their backs pressed against the cool wall. They had managed to find a room filled with clothing – sadly, not their own but those of the beings that had abducted them – and had quickly put on the four linen robes that came close enough to fitting their frames. These people must have been somewhat shorter even than Teyla, as her tunic barely reached her knees. Ronon's was worse; it just reached the middle of his thighs, but he made no complaint, intent instead on getting out of there.

Wherever there was.

"You have a plan?" Rodney asked Sheppard in a harsh whisper. He was still upset over having to leave without a sample of the blue liquid. He'd argued that there were various possible applications for it, both technological and medical, but Sheppard had refused to take any and instead dragged him from the room.

"I'm workin' on it," Sheppard whispered back.

"Yeah, well, could you hurry it up? I'm freezing to death here."

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "Hey, we're all in the same boat, Rodney. Now shut up so I can think."

The physicist wisely kept quiet as the colonel peered around the corner. The hallway beyond was empty, but Sheppard knew that was too much of a coincidence. The chances were that their disappearance had already been discovered, and they were being watched right now. Still, their need to find a way to contact Atlantis took precedence, so he decided it was worth the risk.

"Rodney, any ideas where they would have put our weapons?" he asked.

"What do I look like, Google Maps?" Rodney hissed. When Sheppard glared at him, he finally quietly added, "No clue, at least until I can find a computer or, you know, a directory of some kind."

"Why don't we just find one of em and ask?" Ronon rumbled from behind.

Sheppard shook his head. "Wherever we are, we're completely outnumbered, and we have no weapons. If one of them spots us, they're sure to raise the alarm."

"Well if we stay here any longer, we're definitely going to get caught," Rodney warned them. "We're totally out in the open."

"Dr. McKay is right," Teyla put in, though she shot the scientist a dark look. "We should find someplace else to hide until we have a plan for escape."

Sheppard slowly nodded. "All right. Let's get to an empty room, hopefully one with a computer so Rodney can figure out where the hell we are."

"Why is it always my job to get us out of every ridiculously hopeless situation?" McKay grumbled.

"Because you're the genius, Rodney. Now, let's go."

"Fine, but if this doesn't work, it wasn't my fault."

With the colonel in the lead, they hurried down the hall to the right, trying every door. Each one was locked, except for the one at the very end of the corridor. After a quick check to make sure it was unoccupied, Sheppard herded his team inside and turned to inspect the lock beside the door.

"It looks a lot like the control panels on Atlantis," he remarked to Rodney, who nodded faintly.

"Except for the fact that there's four crystals instead of three, anyway."

"Can you lock it?"

McKay paused before answering. "I should, yes. Might take a few minutes, though."

"Okay. Do it."

"Even if I do, how long do you think it'll be before they start searching this whole place, looking for us?"

Sheppard shrugged. "I'm sure it won't be long, but this will at least buy us a little while to figure out how to get back home."

"A little while? Okay, so we get to live, what? Five minutes longer?"

The colonel's patience was beginning to run thin. Grabbing Rodney by the front of his tunic, he steered the shorter man toward the control panel. "If that's what helps you get this done, then yes!"

"Uh, Sheppard?" Ronon called from further inside the room. "Look."

Curious, Sheppard let go of Rodney's shirt and turned around. The room, while empty of whatever beings had taken them, was lined with more of the same kind of tanks that had held their unconscious bodies. From what he could see, each of these tanks were likewise filled with people, suspended in the same blue liquid with IV's inserted into their arms.

"Crap," Sheppard muttered.

"There must be dozens of people here," Teyla softly remarked.

Knowing where her thoughts were going, Sheppard shook his head. "We can't, Teyla. We don't even know where we are. Besides, we don't have any more clothes. Certainly not enough for all of them."

Her stubborn streak burst forth then, and she turned pleading eyes on him. "But what will happen to them if we leave them, John? They could be killed."

"And so could we, if we don't get out of here," Rodney argued back, still fiddling with the door controls. A thought came to him then, and he shot Sheppard a horrified look. "What if we're on a ship?"

"We're not," Sheppard shot back confidently.

"How do you know?"

"I just do." Frowning, he asked, "Are you done with that thing yet?"

"So, what do we do?" Ronon asked Sheppard.

Sheppard opened his mouth to reply, but for some reason that even he couldn't fathom, he looked at Teyla. She was staring at him with those big brown eyes, silently begging him, and he heaved a sigh before replying, "Wake 'em up. Maybe one of them will know where we are, or at least what we're up against."

Teyla and Ronon found more of the arm-length gloves and began moving systematically between the rows of tanks, helping each person inside to awaken. When they were done, Sheppard took a head count and found that there were now fifty-four people in the room, fifty of them standing there in hardly any clothing, shivering against the cold air. Thirty-two men and eighteen women, their eyes all wide with terror, their hair dripping puddles of the blue goo onto the floor.

"I'm sure you're all pretty scared right now," Sheppard began, his eyes roving over each person, checking them for other injuries, identifying marks, anything helpful at all. "My name's John Sheppard, and these people are Rodney McKay, Ronon and Teyla."

From someplace near the back of the crowd, a man's voice said, "You are not the ones who took us from our homes."

"No," Sheppard assured him. "We were taken, too. And like you, we only want to get back to our home. Do any of you know where this place is?"

Fifty heads shook sadly as murmurs of frustration echoed through the room.

"Okay. Does anyone know who the people are who took us? Do you remember anything from when you were taken?"

"That is a good question, John," Teyla said then. "Do you recall being captured?"

"I've been trying, but I can't be sure what's real and what was a dream. How about you?"

She frowned. "I am also confused between my dreams and memories, and reality." Looking to Ronon, she asked, "Do you remember anything?"

As he shook his head, one of the women in the group shyly stepped forward. "I think I remember something."

"What's your name?" Sheppard asked.

"Jana."

He gave her his best reassuring smile. "Okay, Jana. Go ahead and tell us."

Jana's eyes darted nervously around the room as she spoke, as if she feared that whoever had done this would burst in any moment. "I was in my home, just about to go to sleep. My husband, Gavon, was tucking our sons into their beds. There was a strange sound, like a shrill cry, and I turned to the window just as a bright light shone into the room. Everything went black, and then you woke me up here."

Sheppard's eyes cut over to his team, who bore matching looks of horror, and then moved back to Jana's face. Pasting the same smile on his face, he said, "That's very helpful. Thank you, Jana."

Before he could turn away, she grasped his sleeve, her fingers clutching the fabric tightly. "You are going to take us home, aren't you?"

Damn, Sheppard cursed mentally. Jana's eyes were just as heart-wrenching as Teyla's; one look into their depths and he found himself agreeing to anything.

You know you couldn't have left them here, anyway, John, Elizabeth's voice told him. You never leave anyone behind.

"Of course," he heard himself reply aloud, though he wasn't sure just who he was answering. "Just...wait here for a minute, okay?"

Jana nodded, smiling brilliantly. "Thank you so much!"

As he walked away to consult with his team, Sheppard found himself hoping that despite the huge odds against them, he would be able to keep his word.

Don't worry, Elizabeth assured him, you will.

TBC...