Chapter 19 – Last, Best Hope

Ronon lay Rodney down on the floor in the rear compartment of the Jumper. Sheppard placed Newall in the co-pilot's chair and grabbed some rope to secure him to the seat.

He quickly activated the systems as he settled in the pilot's chair.

Rodney's very survival hung in the balance and his last hope was for all speed back to Atlantis. The sooner they got back, the better chance Dr Beckett would have to save his life.

Teyla put a hand on Rodney's forehead as Ronon tucked blankets around him. She frowned, "He has a temperature. Yet he is shivering as though cold."

Ronon was also looking grimly down at Rodney, "Blood loss and fever. He's tough though. He'll be alright."

Teyla shared a glance with Ronon who suddenly fixed a defiant glare in his eyes. They were both going to do everything they could to keep Rodney alive.

Sheppard flew the Jumper up more clumsily than he had landed it and broke several large branches as he flew it through the canopy and vertically back to the space gate. He flicked his eyes over to Newall next to him every few seconds to make sure he was still unconscious.

As the craft flew out of the upper atmosphere and into space he called out to the others, "We're approaching the space gate. I'm dialling it up."

He hammered the symbols for Atlantis on the DHD, but nothing happened when he pressed the engage button. He had to swerve the craft away from the gate they had been fast approaching when the wormhole did not form.

"What the hell?!" He cried as he looped the Jumper around for another pass.

He pressed the symbols again more slowly, but still the gate did not activate. He spun around in his seat, "Teyla, can you come in here?"

She had just checked the bandages on McKay's abdomen and let Ronon take over as she approached the cockpit.

"It's not activating," Sheppard said trying not to let his panic break through in his voice, "Can you dial the address for Atlantis just to double check?"

She frowned and did as he asked. The gate still remained inactive and she covered her mouth with her hand as she looked across at Sheppard where the fear was now showing on both of their faces without any efforts by either party to hide it.

The Jumper floated in space next to the inert gate where time was fast running out for two of its occupants.

Teams were putting out small fires which were raging around the Control Room on Atlantis and the air was thick with smoke which made the torchlight visible as the beams shone around the room.

Zelenka stood in the remains of the room with Dr Weir. She was looking around at the wreckage and frowning. She turned to Zelenka who was trying to hurry up the team moving debris out of the way from the control panels.

"The drone was targeted very precisely to hit the Control Room. Is the gate still operational?" She asked.

Zelenka almost pushed his colleagues out of the way to get to the DHD. He crouched down and moved aside a piece of twisted metal covering the access panel. He shone his torch inside and sighed.

The interior of the device was scorched beyond recognition. He put his hand inside and pulled out the control crystal. It was broken and black. He held it up in front of his face and shone the light through it.

"It is completely broken. We cannot dial out and no one will be able to get back either."

Weir widened her eyes, "We have a team out there Radek. What if they're in trouble?"

Zelenka sighed and stood up, "I could fix it if we had a Puddle Jumper to work with and salvage components. As it is I am not even sure we have all the spare parts needed on the base."

"Do your best to cobble something together. The Daedalus will take hours to reach them and if anyone has been injured…"

"I know. I am going to the lab to get the parts I need."

He got up and climbed over the shards of metal, glass and smashed computers on the floor.

Teyla held one of Rodney's hands in her own. They had rebandaged them after carefully removing the blood soaked cloth which had been stuck to his skin. She could feel him shaking and rested the back of her hand on his forehead.

She exchanged a concerned look with Sheppard and Ronon over the top of the injured man as they sat on the floor opposite her.

Ronon had put an oxygen mask over Rodney's face but his breathing was shallow and laboured. More blood kept dribbling from his mouth.

Sheppard lifted the mask and wiped Rodney's face clean again. He then checked the bandages under the blanket. They were soaked through and Rodney's skin was terribly pale underneath the livid purple and black bruises marring his chest and abdomen.

Sheppard was surprised Rodney had gone on as long as he had done with such injuries from the infernal door and Perkins' attack.

They had already been waiting for a couple of hours. Sheppard got up every five minutes and tested the gate again. There was no luck so far. He wanted to know what had happened on Atlantis, but Newall was slumped back in his chair and in no condition to answer any questions. Sheppard made sure he was still alive every time he went back into the cockpit and gave him another sip of water if he was able.

He wished that Rodney was awake and could help them figure out what was going on. Sheppard missed the sarcastic comments which he knew the scientist would have flung his way if he could have asked the man whether the Jumper DHD was working properly.

Sheppard knew that of course the DHD was fine, but would have liked his friend to test it anyway. With a ZPM at their disposal he could have goaded Rodney about increasing the engine output to make them fly all the way back to Atlantis.

Maybe Rodney could have rigged up the ZPM to the engines somehow which would have allowed them to fly to another planet in the system. They could find out whether there were any more gates in the system in case the one in orbit above P3X-778 had gone wrong. With only one engine working he did not dare to try without Rodney's blessing. There was a high risk that the engine could conk out completely and leave them drifting without any power and in a worse situation than they currently were.

Sheppard could almost imagine the poison spreading throughout Rodney's system as he watched the man's body trembling from infection. He tried not to think about how long it would be before they could be rescued, if there was any hope at all.

The gate not working meant that something had happened on Atlantis. He prayed they had been able to contact the Daedalus in time to send them.

The best case was therefore that help was on the way. The worst outcome would be that the help would come far too late to save Rodney.

Even if the Daedalus had been contacted as soon as Sheppard had left Atlantis with his team he figured it would take them hours to get there. He lay a hand on Rodney's chest and felt the shallow shuddering breaths under his fingers. He was reassured by the motion but fearful that it could stop at any moment.

He was unsure whether the injured man would be able to survive for hours if that was how long it took for them to be rescued. He was not even sure if Rodney had enough strength left to survive the next minute.

Sheppard gently patted Rodney's chest and leaned over close to his friend's ear, "Hold on."

Teyla smiled sadly at him when he looked up feeling slightly embarrassed.

She held the bandaged hand more tightly and gave it a squeeze; "Rescue is on the way soon. Stay with us Rodney."

Floating on the edge of unconsciousness, Rodney felt like he was a block of ice. He grimly wondered how he had become trapped in a freezer.

Fleeting memories passed through his mind; heat and falling leaves, followed by pain, darkness and cold.

He could hear voices telling him, "Hold on!"

Hold on to what? He thought tiredly. His entire being was numb with cold and he could not gather any strength to make himself rise from the glacial depths to become fully aware. Based on the little that he was able to feel with his dim awareness, he had no such desire anyway.

The cold he felt combined with the recent disjointed thoughts playing out in his mind and made him think of harsh winters and leaves falling like tears from the sky. The memory of watching the brightly coloured leaves as they slowly drifted down was always painfully beautiful and sad to him. Trees always seemed dead in the winter.

There they go again, the voices at the periphery of his awareness, "Rescue is on the way soon! Stay with us Rodney!"

Stay where? More old memories passed through his wintry mind; the feeling of snow beneath his feet and the crunch of icy leaves as he trod them into the ground.

He could feel a weight settled on his chest, which made it hard to breathe. He had no wish to die, but it was difficult to keep on drawing breath when the air was so cold. He felt a crushing chill clutching at his heart as it weakly fluttered in his ribcage and he fought against it wearily for as long as he could.

Every moment felt like forever in the cold void between awareness and the dark.

Rodney felt so hollow and drained. Just before he allowed himself to be claimed by the cold he heard the voices again, "The Daedalus is here! Told you you'd be alright McKay!"

The Daedalus? Rodney's last thought was of flying in the sky like a bird with large wax glued feathery wings unfurled to make him soar. He was powerless to resist the encroaching darkness on his mind and allowed himself to be carried away once more.

TBC