Have I mentioned lately how fantastic you all are? I wouldn't be posting this fast if it weren't for you guys! I've been typing madly all week to get to this point. Whee!

NEVER STOP MOVING
By TIPPER

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CHAPTER TWENTY: RIDING THE WIND

Ronon was laughing, standing just behind John while Rodney sat in the co-pilot's chair and Teyla stood behind the scientist, holding on to the back of his seat. She was smiling, also amused by John forcing Metra and the other Kaveer to duck as they took off.

"Glad you liked that," John said, smiling wryly.

"I almost wish you had hit some of 'em," Ronon replied, grinning now.

"Yeah, well," Sheppard banked them gently to the right to avoid a mesa, "it wasn't entirely of my doing."

Ronon's laugh faded, and Teyla looked over at the colonel. For the first time, she noticed the beads of sweat on his face.

"Colonel," she said, "are you all right?"

"Let's just say," John took a breath, "that I'm glad flying the Jumper is mostly a mental exercise and not a physical one." He looked down at his left hand as he spoke, which was wrapped tightly around the scanner. It was trembling slightly. He was keeping the scanner about level with the right hand control, meaning he was standing bent over the pilot's side of the console—he really wasn't well enough to be standing for this long, Teyla thought, especially not in such an awkward position. A tiny shift in his left hand, and the Jumper banked back to the left. "Still," he continued, "I think I'm getting the hang of this now. Definitely easier than that hovercraft was—gotta love power steering." He tried a small smile, but Teyla wasn't buying it.

"Shield strength is down," McKay said then, his voice sounding about as strong as tissue paper, "because of all the shots they fired at us. It's down to eighteen percent from the twenty-five that Teyla boosted it to. Of course," he glanced at John, "if we had left a little sooner, like instead of you, say, standing there and taunting them the whole time the back hatch was closing, we might not have lost as much power."

John quirked a smile at the grumpy tone, banking the ship around a thin, finger-like monolith (he was staying as low to the ground as possible). "What are you trying to say, McKay?"

"Did you really have to stand there and smile that whole time while they shot at us?"

John's smiled deepened as he glanced askance at Rodney, saying with total certainty, "Yes."

Rodney rolled his eyes and returned them to the console. "Idiot."

The Jumper shuddered suddenly, and everyone looked up, as if they could see the source. Rodney frowned and tapped a few things onto the console, then grimaced and reached over to the touch pad controlling the inertial dampeners. He proceeded to dial them down to low. Immediately, they could feel the increased pressure inside the ship.

"What did you do that for?" John asked, frowning.

"You have to go slower. Inertial dampener strength is fluctuating."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, just go slower." McKay rubbed at his head, "Speaking of problems, we need to tell them about that other problem. Won't take long to reach the Gate."

John grimaced.

"What problem?" Teyla asked.

"We can't retract the left drive pod," John said.

"What?" Teyla looked confused, and glanced back at the still open control panels. Her eyes caught site of the darkened crystal stuck in on the left side. "Did you not replace the crystal?"

"It's not the crystal," Rodney replied, still rubbing his head. "The panel is not connecting to the mechanism."

"But," Teyla was honestly confused now, "I checked the mechanism—it appeared intact. I thought it was just the power not reaching the—"

"Yes, well, you were wrong," Rodney snapped, not looking at her, keeping his eyes focused on the console. "The control link has been severed."

She came around the chair so she could see more of his face, and saw the blush on his cheeks even under the windburn. Her chest tightened as she understood what he wasn't telling her.

"Was it my fault?" she asked softly.

Rodney glanced at her for only a second, then looked down at the console again, which gave Teyla the answer despite his next words. "No," he said. "It doesn't matter. The problem is, the only way to retract it," he licked his lips and looked over at John, "is the manual lever on the outside of the craft."

Teyla's eyes widened. She felt Ronon shift closer to her side, peering over her shoulder to see Rodney.

"What're you saying?" he asked, staring hard at McKay. "You sayin'…we have to climb outside of the ship?"

"That's what he means," John answered. The colonel glanced at them. "Teyla, do you know where the lever mechanism is?"

Teyla was still trying to mentally figure out how this could have happened, and jumped a little at the sound of her name. "What?"

"You know where the lever is to retract the pod?"

"Oh," Teyla gave a hesitant nod. "Yes, but—"

"I'm going to get us high—out of range of their guns—and hover," John said, as if he hadn't heard her 'but'. "You—with Ronon to anchor you—are going to have to climb out onto the hull and…hang on. Rodney says the shield should protect you from the worst of the wind, but you'll still feel it, and the changing pressure when we dive down. It also won't stop you from falling, if you fall. I'll try to go as slow as the Jumper'll let me, but it's acting..." He looked down at the console, "It's not so easy to control right now. Just, when I tell you over the radio to hit the lever, you need to retract the pod then jump off before we go through the wormhole—then follow on foot."

"How do I anchor her?" Ronon asked. Teyla glanced at him, amazed that the Satedan wasn't even questioning the insanity of the idea of working on the ship while in mid-air.

"We don't have a space suit in back," John replied, "but we have a couple of those transportable magnetic grips that are supposed to be used in anti-gravity situations. They look like palm-sized Frisbees with handles on them. You attach one of 'em to the top of the Jumper, then stay up there while Teyla climbs down the side. Teyla can then use the other one on the side."

"Frisbees?" Ronon repeated.

"They're small metal discs," Rodney clarified, "with plastic handle-grips on the back. There's a button on the handle that turns the magnet on and off."

Ronon nodded, getting the idea. "Where are they?"

"Should be where we normally store the suit," Rodney said, turning a little in his seat to look at the rear. Ronon nodded and went into the back. Teyla stayed where she was, still not sure she could do this. Her uncertainty must have shown on her face, because Rodney was frowning at her now.

Then, oddly, he gave her a soft smile.

"You can do this," he assured quietly.

He said it exactly the same way Teyla had said the same to him so many times, most recently in the engine room of that broken hovercraft. Oddly, it made her more confident—and she gave him a nod.

"Now," Rodney said, looking again to the back where Ronon was pulling down rope as well from the overhead bins, "here's the way this will work. We'll only partially open the hatch, then Ronon can climb up and onto the top of the Jumper—"

"It'd be easier to climb onto the side then up," Ronon noted, looking back at him. "There's that pretty wide space between the ship and engines when fully open, that platform thing, and then those grooves on the hull would work nice as a ladder."

"No," McKay said, a touch angrily. "Don't even think about getting anywhere near the back or inside of the engine pods. They are incredibly hot—bone melting hot. You climb out the side, you'll lose body parts. Only safe way to approach them is from the top and the front—no heat gets vented that way. The lever is near the front of the pod just for that reason."

Ronon's eyebrows arched at that. "Good to know."

"Right. Now," Rodney expelled a heavy breath, "once you're both up top," he pointed up at the ceiling, "Teyla climbs down the side and into the front of the open drive pod, to the platform. There's a tiny gap, about twelve inches wide before the actual engine starts. You should be able to...sort of," he waggled the fingers on his left hand, "perch on it. But, Teyla, you know the pod will retract incredibly fast once you pull the lever." He gave her a pained look. "You'll have to get up out of it really, really quickly, or it'll crush you."

Teyla let out a heavy breath, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Instead of answering, she turned to watch Ronon as he tied the rope around his waist, the Satedan creating a rather impressive looking knot that might have been a slipknot. Pursing her lips, she lowered her gaze, then returned her attention to the front...and saw that Rodney had taken advantage of her distraction to shut his eyes tightly and lower his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with the fingers of his left hand. His right hand was lying listless in his lap. Had it moved at all?

Teyla frowned, and glanced at John. The colonel's jaw was tightly held, his eyes focused only on the desert they were flying over and around. There were dark spots on his left shoulder and upper back showing through the jacket, and he was sweating enough to stain the top of the jacket's collar.

That's it, she thought, her eyes narrowing in determination. Enough dithering.

"All right," she said suddenly, turning and striding back to Ronon. "We'll take care of it." She glanced back at Rodney when Ronon handed her one end of the rope. "Will the shield prevent us from jumping off the ship?"

"No," Rodney said, lifting his head up, blinking quickly as if just waking up. "The shield is smart. When the shield detects something on the inside trying to get out—such as the two of you jumping off the hull—it will instantly shut down for as long as it takes to let that thing out. It's a bit like the old Red Baron—the propeller looked like it was one solid circle when it was in the air," he twirled his index finger on his left hand in a circle as he spoke, "but they could shoot bullets from a machine gun through it."

"That was because of timing with the gaps between the propeller blades," John noted absently, "not because the propeller stopped working every time the gun was fired."

"It was just an analogy!" Rodney huffed.

"Not a very good one. Besides, it's not one they can understand."

"Oh, so, what, you're the only one who can come up with analogies?"

"Apparently. At least my analogies make sense."

"It was a perfectly good—"

"Rodney? Colonel?" Teyla called, finishing tying the knots on the rope around her waist. The other end was attached to Ronon and, beyond him, to one of the two magnetic grips he'd found. It was currently hanging loosely from his waist. He handed her the other and she tied it to the tail end of the rope so that it was attached to her waist. "We're ready."

"You're wearing a radio, right?" John asked, glancing back at her. "Because you won't be able to hear…" he trailed off when he saw her tapping the earpiece she had obviously already put on. Ronon had lifted his dreads to show he had his on still.

"Good," John said, turning his attention back to the front. The Gate finally came into view as he circled them around one last mesa. There were several dozen Kaveeran soldiers on the ground around it, all with guns and rocket launchers pointed at the Jumper. He sighed a little. "Shield should protect you from their weapons as well," he said. He lifted the ship higher…and then set them to hover about a mile away from the Gate—well out of range.

"So long as it holds," Rodney muttered quietly to himself. He turned and hit a few pads on the console in front of him, then turned and watched as the back hatch opened about halfway. Like a monkey, Ronon climbed up, then turned and pulled himself up onto the roof.

They heard some banging overhead as he obviously shifted forward, then it stopped. For a brief second, Teyla had the horrible image of Ronon plummeting off the side of the ship, having slipped, and they would never have even seen it happen. Only the rope dangling down and connected to her waist told her he was still up there. She gripped her hands into fists…then felt the tug on the rope at her waist.

Time to save the day.

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Despite being told the shield would protect them from the worst of the wind and air pressure, it was not a solid barrier. The shield had to be porous to let air circulate inside, something Teyla immediately felt when the chill of the high altitude hit her bare arms. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself up onto the metal, grooved roof, refusing to let a little cold bother her. Ronon was lying on his stomach up near the front, and was twisted around so that he could see her. His right hand appeared to be gripping one of magnets, which he had attached to the roof, and the other was pulling on the rope attached to her.

She got to her feet, trying not to look down at the world hundreds of feet below, and gingerly made her way towards him, her feet sliding along inside the long grooves on the roof.

"I've got you," Ronon promised as she reached his side, Teyla kneeling down so she could hear him better. He was staring up at her, his eyes fearless. "I won't let you fall."

She nodded, knowing that he would do everything in his power to keep that promise.

"Thank you," she said, meaning it sincerely.

As carefully as she could, she turned and moved over to the left side of the Jumper's roof. With her heart in her throat, she peered over the edge, forcing her eyes to only look at the drive pod about ten feet below to avoid getting vertigo. She then shifted forward on the roof so that she was about level with the front of it, and knelt down.

A soft puff of wind caught her in the face, and she froze, waiting for it to die down again before she moved. Taking in a deep breath, she pivoted around, so that she was facing Ronon and her back was to the sky, and with the mental image of a ladder in her head, stuck out her right foot.

It met nothing but air.

Bringing it in closer in, her toes searched until she caught the edge of the first groove on the side of the Jumper.

Without taking her eyes off of Ronon, who steadily gave her slack on the rope, she put her weight on her foot…and started to lower herself down.

She then did the same with the left foot.

It got easier after that. The regular sized distances between the grooves became known to her feet, and, luckily, the grooves were deep enough to give her a good grip. She shook a little when she dropped low enough that she couldn't see Ronon anymore, but she didn't stop.

Just like climbing down a steep rock, she told herself, or a vertical ladder.

You are not, she added, clinging to the side of a spaceship in mid-air.

Ancestors help me.

Pulling in another breath, she finally reached the front of the drive pod. When it was open like this, a portion of the hull was extended out like a cupped hand, and the main engine extended up out of it. There was a small space, about a foot long, between the front where the hull extended out, and the engine itself. Rather than climbing down onto the platform, as Rodney had suggested, she stepped out so that she ended up straddling the space—one foot on the side of the ship, one foot on the outer edge of the expanded hull. It was the only way she could think of to give her the means to jump out quickly enough. But...could she reach?

Carefully, she crouched down as low as she could, imagining herself bending like a spider. The mechanism to retract the pod was located about six inches above and in front of the pod—a simple lever hidden behind a small door that Doctor Zelenka had once described to her as being like a petrol cap cover on a car. Someday, she was going to understand what they were all talking about when they said things like that.

With her right hand, she attached the magnetic grip to the hull not far from the lever's hiding place, and felt marginally better when it held. Her knuckles quickly turned white from holding onto it too tightly. With her left hand, she reached forward and opened the small door, revealing the lever. Her hand hovered over it for a second—then retreated. She had the reach—she could do this.

Ignoring the shake from adrenaline that caused her left hand to tremble, she reached up and tapped the radio in her ear.

"Okay," she said. "I am here. Just tell me when."

"Right," John replied, sounding calm and determined over the radio. "Hang on."

"Hanging on," she replied.

And the Jumper moved.

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The wind was painful. Teyla found herself trying to get closer to the hull, both arms pressing towards the metal and ducking her head down. If this was what it was like when there was a shield…she prayed that it didn't fail.

Blinking, she watched as the ground below her got closer and closer, until they could only have been about twenty feet above the ground. It flew past in a blur of red and orange. John was obviously trying to do as little maneuvering as possible, but when the gunfire started—he started to swing them a little.

Her hold on the magnetic grip tightened so much, her fingers began to hurt. Her feet pressed tighter into the metal grooves she had found, suddenly fearful of losing either one or the other and then falling backwards…right into the engine.

All it would take was one little slip…

She gritted her teeth and forced her head up a little, trying to see the Stargate.

She screamed suddenly as light exploded just inches away, and a blast of hot air lashed her arms and face.

Rocket launcher, she realized. It had hit the shield and exploded just next to her! The shield could not take many of those. What had Rodney said—eighteen percent? It had to be less than that now.

The gunfire got louder, and she felt the Jumper slow down and start to swing more from side to side. More missiles shot past the hull, barely missing them. Still, they were finally going slow enough that she could lift her head fully.

And she saw bolts of red light shooting into the Kaveeran soldiers. Ronon! He must be firing on the Kaveer from above. Apparently, he took Rodney's obscure story about the Red Baron to heart.

For a brief second, she considered trying to help—she had her 9MM strapped to her thigh—but then another blast of wind caused her to teeter a little and she decided that holding on was really all she could manage right now.

Her eyes were attracted to the Stargate then, as she recognized that the chevrons were lighting up around the ring. She pressed tighter to the hull and bit her bottom lip, watching as the wormhole formed…

Relief flooded through her when no shield appeared.

She could only imagine the grin on Rodney's face at that one!

Smiling a little, she leaned out a little more because there were only a couple hundred yards away now…

The soldiers continued to fire, getting more desperate the closer they got. She saw another rocket launcher fire, the arc aiming straight for the Jumper...no, she realized, for Ronon. She watched it disappear from view up high, and, with a blast of light, obviously hit the shield over Ronon's position, erupting in a muffled explosion.

And then, like dam had broken, she was hit full in the face with the force of the wind. She shrieked, her voice lost as the wind roared around her. One of her feet slipped, but she managed to hang on, pulling the shaking foot back in place before it touched the exposed coils.

Gunfire pelted the side of the Jumper, and she ducked, amazed that she hadn't been hit. Looking to her left, she gasped a little at how close she was to the soldiers. The Kaveer could not possibly miss hitting—

A streak of yellow shot forward from the Jumper, aiming directly for the line of soldiers closest to Teyla. Not as foolish as before, the Kaveer saw the drone and ran for their lives. The drone—the only one in John's arsenal—exploded against the ground just inches from the line of running men and women, blasting at least ten soldiers who weren't quick enough into the air.

And that's when she realized she could hear John yelling over the radio, "NOW! TELYA, NOW!"

With a mental shake, she reached forward and grabbed the lever. The wind was fiercer now, and she was being buffeted from all sides—it was if John couldn't slow the ship down any more. Her fingers wrapped around the cold metal...and she pulled.

With a groan of metal and a hiss, the engine died instantly, folding down into the extended hull and the pod retracted. Letting go the magnetic grip, she leapt upwards to flatten herself against the upper part of the Jumper, pulling up with her arms and tucking her feet as high as she could as the pod disappeared into the side with an audible click. Looking forward then, her eyes widened at the sight of the wormhole only yards away.

Fear lit through her like a flame, and she let go...and fell backwards. She could only hope Ronon was jumping as well.

She hit the ground with painful, bone-jarring force—she had been unable to prepare for the fall. It felt like she had loosened ever tooth in her mouth as momentum rolled her across the harsh, hard crust like tumbleweed, and she felt the stickiness of blood on her arms where the rough ground cut at her, and the pull of the rope at her waist.

Finally, she stopped, and, shaking violently, she tried to push herself up, to get herself to the Gate. All she could manage to do was lift her head.

And smile as the Jumper disappeared into the event horizon.

They made it.

And then something hit her hard in the back, and the whole world went black.

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The Jumper skidded to a halt in the Gateroom; John and Rodney were flung harshly forward without inertial dampeners to cushion the hard stop.

Gasping in pain, John collapsed to his knees, and peered through the broken windshield at the beautiful steps rising before him—thank God.

"John!" Elizabeth's voice called out through the Jumper's communications array, "What…?"

"Don't raise the shield!" he yelled, feeling the ship starting to lift up. "Teyla and Ronon are right behind us!"

"What? But—"

"They're on foot!" he explained. "Raise the shield as soon as they're through. And have medical teams in both locations!" The Jumper began to turn around automatically, sweeping them up towards the control room so that they could see Elizabeth's worried face where she leaned over a balcony. Her eyes obviously widened at sight of the broken windshield, then at the two bedraggled men visible behind it.

Something exploded against the back hatch, and, though John couldn't see it—he guessed it was one of the Kaveer's weapons that caused it, again, probably the rocket launcher.

The Jumper finally turned all the way around, and he could see the Gate…just as a very bloody Ronon staggered through with Teyla in his arms.

"Shield!" the Satedan yelled, falling to his knees and gripping his burden tightly to his chest. "And I need a medical team! She's been shot!"

"Raise the shield!" Elizabeth ordered, probably already running down the steps to the Gateroom floor. "Medical teams to the Gateroom and the Jumper Bay. Now!"

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John closed his eyes and lowered his head against the half broken console as Carson's brogue filled the radio, demanding more information. Elizabeth answered that Teyla had been shot, Ronon was covered in blood, that John looked ill and Rodney was unconscious.

He wanted to help explain as the Jumper continued its gentle rise, to say that Rodney'd cracked his skull and that he'd burned his arm and shoulder…but he was so tired.

The scanner dropped from his limp left hand, clattering on the metal floor. Tilting his head sideways on the console, he looked to his right, and blinked tiredly at Rodney. The scientist was leaning back in the co-pilot's seat, his head turned away from John, so that all he could see was the back of Rodney's head and the sharp curve of his jaw. Rodney had been awake going through the wormhole, but John could tell he wasn't now. Rodney's arms were loose, dangling limply from his sides, fingers still. He looked asleep.

No. He looked dead.

Frowning, John somehow managed to get to his feet.

"Rodney?" he called, staggering the two steps to his friend's chair. "McKay?"

He turned the chair towards him—Rodney showed no reaction. His eyes were closed, his face a deathly white, even his lips were pale. Frowning again, John reached out to touch McKay's neck with shaking fingers.

And felt nothing.

Fear exploded through him as he felt the Jumper finally set down, meaning it had landed up in the Bay. He turned and hit the control to lower the back hatch and screamed out the one name he most needed right now.

"Carson!"

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TBC...

Since I now have a habit of doing this, Ill tell you, I wrote this story for this scene. To have someone working on the outside of the Jumper while it's in the air. It was inspired from an old photograph which I'll post on my website when this is done. The photo, an old black and white, shows an engineer standing on a wing, working on an engine of an old propeller plane while it's still very much in the air. It's odd where you get your inspiration from, eh?

Just two chapters left!