Thank you for all your words of encouragement! Rest assured, Rodney still has a long way to go before his day's over…
Chapter 7 – The Lull
Rodney started breathing on his own before Carson's team got him to the infirmary. They quickly replaced the mask on his face with a normal oxygen one.
Carson checked Rodney's chest as they wheeled him down the corridor with Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon keeping their distance behind.
"Breathing is normal, no obvious external signs of trauma," he announced as he looked along Rodney's body.
As they reached the infirmary, Sheppard was shocked to see how busy it was. It looked like Carson had called in all the medical staff on Atlantis and even the off duty medical personnel were calmly checking on the many people who were being treated.
Sheppard stood in the doorway and looked around at the injured. It seemed as though half of the science team was in there. There were people being bandaged; most likely from the electrified doors. One man had his arm in a cast, which was being carefully strapped up by a nurse. Others were lying down with oxygen masks on their unconscious faces; probably victims of the gas attacks.
Sheppard shook his head in disbelief and then focused on Rodney as Carson's team worked. He smiled when he saw Rodney had his eyes open, but they were darting around the room in terror. The mask over his nose and mouth fogged up as he puffed out a lungful of air.
Carson spoke gently to the frightened man, "It's alright, we've got you, laddie. You're in the infirmary. Gave us quite a scare back there. We're going to run some scans to find out what those doors did to you."
Carson frowned when he saw Rodney's bandaged hand as he lifted it up and pushed the mask off his face, "The lab! The power drain in the…" he trailed off as his chest hitched and he began hyperventilating.
Carson quickly put the mask over Rodney's nose and mouth again, "Take deep and slow breaths."
Sheppard tapped his radio, "Sheppard to Zelenka. Meet us outside the infirmary."
Rodney closed his eyes and tried to relax. His breathing evened out a little.
"Aye, that's good. Let's get you on the scanner."
The medical team transferred Rodney over and the lights moved along him sending all the data to a screen as Carson watched the readout.
Beckett focused his attention on the readings from Rodney's chest and abdomen first. He raised his eyebrows in disbelief as he spoke, "No fractures and no sign of serious internal bleeding."
Rodney sank down slightly in relief as he turned his head to the side and looked at the screen Carson was studying.
"However, there is some bruising on your torso and you probably have some bruised ribs. Thank God we were there so quickly with the oxygen as it looks like the mild hypoxia is already diminishing."
Rodney took in a particularly deep breath to let out a sigh in relief, but his ribs protested making him shudder and wince.
Carson turned to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Easy there, laddie. Those ribs are going to be very sore for a while."
Rodney grimaced and pushed the mask off again, "Sheppard…" he said, just before Carson patted his arms away and put the mask on again. Rodney frowned in annoyance as his next words were muffled.
Sheppard was still listening and watching. He went over to Rodney as the medical team lifted him back onto the gurney. There were no spare beds in the infirmary.
"I'm here buddy."
Rodney pushed the mask to one side again, "Gave Zelenka a note. You need to get to the lab before it's too late."
"Don't worry, he's coming down now. We'll figure out who or what did this."
Carson narrowed his eyes between the two men, "Rodney, why are your hands bandaged? There are no records of any of my staff seeing you recently."
Sheppard looked at him sheepishly, "Um…well…"
But Rodney cut across him, "I did it this morning. You know how it's been. There was no time to come down."
Carson frowned at him, "You need to learn to take better care of yourself, Rodney. The Colonel here was able to find time to be properly treated and so should you."
Sheppard looked terribly guilty when he caught Rodney's eye from behind Carson's back. He mouthed, "I owe you one," at the berated scientist.
Rodney continued to protest, "But the malfunctions! We're losing control of the city!"
"Rodney, I know how important the city is to you. But your health is important to me. If it takes an almost deadly trauma to get you here…" he trailed off as Rodney turned away with his mouth turned down in sadness.
Carson turned to Sheppard and spoke kindly, "Please can you leave, Colonel? I need to examine him in private."
Sheppard placed a hand on Rodney's shoulder and was slightly put out when he got no reaction. Rodney put the oxygen mask back over his face this time and did not look at Sheppard when he walked away.
Carson drew a curtain around the corner of the infirmary as Sheppard approached Teyla and Ronon.
"Teyla, I want you to stay here while we speak with Zelenka and see whether he has any more info on the lab Rodney mentioned."
Teyla gave him a questioning look, but did not speak.
Sheppard saw it though, "We don't know what we're dealing with yet. But it's too much of a coincidence that Rodney found something and was then nearly killed just a couple of minutes later."
Teyla said, "You mean if it is a person, they may try to finish what they started?"
"Precisely. Keep an eye on him and call us if you see anything suspicious."
Teyla nodded and walked into the infirmary. She leant on a wall away from all the activity and watched the people in the room, paying particular attention to the curtain in the corner.
Sheppard and Ronon walked up the corridor and were soon joined by Zelenka, who still had his toolkit from a few minutes ago. He had also retrieved Rodney's laptop.
They stopped in the middle of the corridor.
Zelenka spoke first, "How's Rodney?"
Sheppard replied, "He's conscious. Carson's still checking him."
Zelenka sighed in relief, "Good thing you were there to lessen the pressure from the doors."
Ronon nodded.
Sheppard leaned towards the Czech scientist and spoke quietly, "Do you know anything about an Ancient lab Rodney found?"
Zelenka replied, matching his volume, "I don't know yet. He gave me a piece of paper before he…" his voice trailed off as he stuck a hand in his pocket.
Drawing the note out, Zelenka studied the writing. There was the letter 'S' followed by a few numbers and a barely legible 'power drain to lab' written underneath.
"It shows co-ordinates. 'S' indicates the South Pier and the numbers show the exact tower, floor and room we need."
"Can you take us there?" Ronon asked.
"Sure, follow me."
They started to walk along the corridor again towards the nearest transporter.
Dr Weir stood in the Control Room looking over the balcony at the Stargate. A worried frown creased her forehead as she thought about the current situation. She had heard what happened to McKay and knew that Carson was treating him in the infirmary.
She had also just had a talk with Dr Perkins, who was heading up the damage control teams throughout the city. The malfunctions had stopped temporarily, but barely concealed panic was now rife amongst the inhabitants of Atlantis. Not so much in the military personnel, but many of the civilians were showing the first signs of fraying around the edges. People were scared to go into rooms in case the doors closed and the environmental controls went wrong and gassed them.
So many of the scientists had been injured; some, including Rodney, had nearly died at the hands of the malfunctions. Nearly all of them had been gassed, burned or bruised in some way or another; many to such an extent that they could no longer work or assist in helping other people.
The infirmary was already filled to maximum capacity and unless the source of the problem could be located soon, Carson would be overrun and there could be fatalities.
Dr Weir rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes for a moment.
Dr Perkins had been doing an excellent job and she had asked him to train some marines to help the dwindling number of able-bodied scientists.
She straightened up and headed over to stand behind a technician. She had already made an announcement to everyone on Atlantis a few hours earlier to let them all know what was happening. But the news of Rodney's near fatal encounter with the doors had spread like wildfire and she could no longer ignore the looks of barefaced terror she saw in some of the staff when they walked past her.
"Put me on Citywide please."
The technician leaned over and a chime sounded as he pressed the control. He looked up at Dr Weir in expectation as she pinched her features together and steeled herself.
"This is Dr Weir." She paused for a moment and glanced down, unsure what to say next. She knew she had to show strength and courage in all adversity. That was her job. She would always have to remain that way, even as the city fell apart around them, no matter how worried and afraid she felt herself.
She looked back up with an intense expression, "As you know we are still experiencing malfunctions across the city. Rest assured that everyone is doing their best. I cannot express enough gratitude for the job that the scientists and marines assisting them are doing to minimize disruption. Also know that we will not stop until we have found the source of this problem and know that Atlantis is once again safe."
She gave a reassuring look around the Control Room at all the people who were working there and looking at her. "All that I can say is please can everyone continue to support the teams in their endeavours to end the malfunctions and immediately call us if you see anything out of the ordinary. Thank you."
She nodded at the technician, who reached over and deactivated the speaker.
Dr Weir sighed and gave a small smile to the people who were still watching her. She then walked over to her office, sat down and looked at the damage reports and status updates so far from that day.
Sheppard, Zelenka and Ronon walked down the corridor towards the lab Zelenka was guiding them to.
Lights came on as they walked, responding to Sheppard's Ancient gene.
He reached up and tapped his radio, "Sheppard to Dr Weir."
"Go ahead, John."
"We heard your announcement. We're following a lead that we believe was what put Rodney in the infirmary."
"Okay. Let's hope for everyone's sake you find something."
"We're currently working with Zelenka to trace the source."
"Okay, that's good. Keep me apprised."
Sheppard reached up to deactivate his headset, but she continued, "Oh and Colonel, about using your people to help the scientists. I'm sorry…it was my idea."
Sheppard smiled as he replied, "That's fine. Use as many of them as you need."
"Thank you and good luck."
Zelenka stopped in the corridor next to a closed door as Sheppard finished speaking. "This is it."
Ronon and Sheppard indicated for Zelenka to move away from the door as they stood on either side. They both drew their guns up ready.
Ronon nodded across at Sheppard and he swiped his hand over the door control.
They quickly went inside and the lights activated. They covered all the corners training their weapons around the lab.
"That's odd," Sheppard said, lowering his gun, as he walked around the edge of the empty and featureless room. "Ronon, could you go out and wait out in the corridor and ask Zelenka to come in and check this out."
Ronon did as he asked and soon Zelenka was standing next to Sheppard looking confused. He put his tool kit on the ground and flipped open Rodney's laptop.
"I do not understand," he said scratching his head as he looked around and waited for the computer to boot up. "How can there be a power drain to this lab? There is nothing in here. No equipment or devices." He shook his head and sat on the floor, putting the laptop down to study the contents.
Ronon stood on the opposite side of the corridor to the door, so that he could still see inside, but not get trapped or shocked if the door closed. "Found anything?" He asked.
Sheppard had holstered his gun and was crouching down in the centre of the room trying to see if there was anything in the walls, floor or ceiling that could explain why this lab had been marked out by Rodney and why he had nearly been killed for the knowledge.
"There's nothing. Radek?"
Zelenka sighed dejectedly, "I can't find anything of any use on this computer. I've studied the recorded power distribution for the time when Rodney saw the drain, but it just shows as normal."
"If that's the case then we're still no closer to figuring out what's going on here."
Sheppard's eyes widened suddenly, "Unless it's a person doing this and not just random malfunctions caused by a virus. Rodney found them out and came to tell us so that we would go with him."
Zelenka stopped typing on the laptop and looked up from his position on the floor, "Of course. They had to stop Rodney from telling you so that they could hide the evidence and get away before you caught them."
Sheppard grinned, "Which is why the malfunctions have now stopped."
Zelenka closed the laptop, grabbed the toolkit and stood up. "We need more information. Life sign data, video feeds, Ancient database may tell us what this lab is."
They walked out of the room and headed back to the transporter with Ronon.
Dr Newall staggered into another lab he had been inexorably drawn to by the metal imbedded in his hand.
He had not realised just how tired and hungry he was. The device had taken a lot out of him; but it had also given so much back. He now had a purpose and the power to control the lives of everyone on Atlantis. He could hurt and kill people as he chose.
He now found that being apart from the machine was agony. He felt small, weak and alone without the reassuring presence of Atlantis flowing through him like it had become a part of his own mind.
He sealed the door behind him and sat down heavily on the floor against one of the walls; closing his eyes as he tilted his head back.
He was unsure how long he sat there. He was shaken from his reverie by his radio chirping in his ear. He did not even remember that he still had it.
"Perkins to Newall?"
He opened his eyes in surprise and anger. Seething hatred ran through him right to the very ends of his fingers and toes. It was a rage so intense it made his hands shake. Steeling himself to make his voice as neutral as possible he replied, "Go ahead."
"Oh, thank God. I've been calling you for a few minutes. Where are you? I haven't seen you for hours. We really need your help."
Newall's fury clouded mind ran round in circles and he frowned as he spoke, but still kept all hints of emotion from his voice, "I got pretty badly burnt and beaten up earlier. My arm and leg really hurt. I can't move. I'm sorry."
"Uh…okay. Well, I hope you feel better soon. See you later."
Perkins sounded dejected but the truthful concern in his voice only caused Newall to feel even more hatred towards the man.
He stood up on shaky legs and shivered. He wandered slowly towards the centre of the room and the pillar lifted from the floor in front of him. He needed to rest, but first he had to make sure he would be safe.
Placing his right hand on the pillar, he immediately felt invigorated as the thrill of control and power ran through him once more.
He concentrated as he successfully carried out his tasks.
He sealed the room he was in and placed many layers of shielding around it. He then proceeded to block access to as many critical systems as he could; life sign detectors, power distribution, doors, environmental controls and several others. He double-checked that the Chair Room was still deactivated and sealed that with shields too, just in case.
With all the blocks he put on, it would be many hours before anyone could break through. With Rodney now out of the picture, it would take even longer.
Newall went over his work and grinned. He then stepped away from the pillar and allowed himself to collapse onto the ground as tiredness overwhelmed him.
TBC
A/N – That Newall bloke gets more evil with every chapter…