Chapter 27 – Even Worse
Rodney McKay switched the last combination of buttons on the keyboard of his palmtop, and then he got up from beside the equipment.
"Now the program needs a minute to insert the virus into their system, plus an hour to carry out the self-destruction order and to destroy the super-hive," he explained to John.
"Okay, so... can we leave now?" Sheppard asked hopefully.
"Of course not," Rodney shook his head. "We need to guard this room until the virus finishes, otherwise some Wraith technician could overwrite my program and stop it."
"You mean that we have to wait here until either the Wraiths find us or we explode with the hive?"
"I guess so," Rodney made a wry face. "Haven't I told you many times that this mission was suicidal? You should've believed me; I'm always right about everything!"
"Okay, so this is our last hour left... Is there anything you'd like to confess me before dying?" John asked with a faint smile. "Maybe something about us..."
"No, not really," Rodney interrupted hastily. "I think we should simply talk about... er... astrophysics."
John was about to give a shrewd reply, but suddenly a sharp, piercing whistle became audible. It started to get louder and louder, echoing through the corridors.
"For heaven's sake, that's the alarm system!" Rodney shouted in panic. "They've found us."
John gulped. "We can't keep this room for an hour against plenty of Wraith soldiers," he said silently. "At best, we can stand up against them for a few minutes..."
"We have no other choice, we need to leave this place before they find us here," Rodney said with a grimace. "If they don't know which room and which computer we used to set up our trap, they'll need some time to figure it out. Come on, we have to go to another room."
"And leave the palmtop and the virus unguarded?" Sheppard protested.
"It's our last chance," Rodney shrugged. "Maybe they are stupid enough not to search for our equipment here. I know, I know, it's not very probable, Claire must have already informed them somehow about our plan. Still, I can't see anything else we can try."
They sneaked out of the room, and started to run towards another one, but as soon as they could reach it, armed Wraith soldiers appeared around the corner of the corridor. McKay and Sheppard both had evil forebodings, when they saw that the group of Wraith warriors was followed by Michael and Claire. The Wraiths surrounded them in a second, with their weapons pointing right at the two humans. Though Rodney and John tried to shoot at the enemies, they had to see that it did not really matter; they could not kill any of them. They had to hand over their weapons to Michael, who was smiling with disgusting triumph.
"I'm sure this is the perfect time for me to say that I told you so." Rodney patted John's shoulder.
"Told me what?" John's voice was sour.
"That we shouldn't have ever tried to follow a Wraith's plan and come here," he explained. "We should've let her die in the desert..."
"You've never told me this," Sheppard answered grumpily. "You only said that it was too risky to come here."
"Well, okay, but I said exactly these words in my thoughts," Rodney amended.
"So, am I a mind-reader or what?" John replied resentfully.
"I'm so sorry for interrupting your sweet quarrel," Michael broke their dispute off with an abominable sneer, "but I do think that we have much more important things to discuss. For example, where did you hide your palmtop? It's high time that we switched your pathetic virus program off."
Sheppard and McKay both stared at Claire with hatred and anger, realizing that she must have betrayed all the details of the plan. Her face remained calm, she did not even blink.
"How could this terrible monster escape from Atlantis?" Rodney asked, shocked, still looking at Claire.
"No idea," John admitted bitterly. "We should've never helped her; you are right about it, Rodney. We should've let her die..."
"Guess it's too late for regrets," Claire cut in with scorn.
"I'll escort them to a cell," Michael said, turning to her, gesturing towards the two captives. "Meanwhile, you go and switch off the idiotic virus program you wrote for these wretched humans."
Claire obediently turned away, and started to walk from room to room, searching for Rodney's palmtop. Michael signed for the warriors, and they forced McKay and Sheppard to follow the half-Wraith across the shady passages. When they reached an empty cell, Michael opened up the entrance, and pushed the humans into the small room.
"You'll need to wait only a while," he said with a gruesome glance. "I'm checking on the deletion of your virus program, and when I'm back, I'll choose for you a long and horrifying way to die."
He locked the cell, and started to leave with light, contented steps.
"I can't believe that Claire could be this heartless," Rodney lamented, sitting down onto the floor next to John. "Poor Carson, he trusted her so much. I feel sorry for him that she let him down so ignominiously."
Michael turned back from the corner. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"What are you talking about?" he asked McKay.
"It's none of your business," Rodney answered, surprised at the question.
Michael's expression was still cagey. "You mean that she and the doctor had any kind of a relationship?" he inquired.
McKay did not give any response. He did not like the evil gleam in the half-Wraith's eyes. Michael whipped around, and left the two humans there, sitting in their cell. Rodney ducked his head, feeling immense discomfort.
"Did I say something I shouldn't have?" he asked John. Sheppard just shook his head with incomprehension. They both sat in silence for a while.
"I think it's the perfect time for me to say..." Rodney begun, but John interrupted him.
"Please, not again! I know that you told me so..."
"No, no... I meant something else this time..." McKay replied with awkward shyness in his voice. "I... I just meant that... you were right about something... We should talk about us, before we die."
John did not notice the intonation of Rodney's words, so he protested against the sad content of the sentence.
"It's still possible that we can escape somehow. We might turn the tables on them," he answered.
"No, it's absolutely impossible."
"Don't give up. Ronon is still out there, maybe he can figure out something."
"Oh, sure," McKay replied with irony. "He can defeat the whole Wraith legion and explode this damned hive on his own!"
John saw that he perfectly ruined their previous topic, and now Rodney's possible confession turned into a useless argument. He despondently hung his head.
Michael stepped into the supplementary control room, slowly beating a tattoo on the doorframe with his bony fingers. Claire was sitting at a consol, typing on McKay's palmtop. The half-Wraith kept his eyes on her for a long minute, and then he asked her, "Why have you never shown me your memories about the doctor?"
"What doctor?" she asked detachedly.
"Doctor Beckett, one of the healers of Atlantis. You've never let me see your thoughts about him."
"I don't know whom you are talking about," she replied while she stopped editing the program, and she turned to Michael with a questioning look on her face. "I guess I don't show my thoughts about him because I don't know this doctor, and I have no thoughts about him at all."
"It's very strange," Michael gave his response, weighing every word he uttered. "I often met him when I was held at the infirmary of the Atlantisian city. How can it be that you never met him while you were heavily injured?"
"My wounds healed on their own, no one nursed me," she answered quickly.
"You were so seriously injured, I sensed it," the half-Wraith said with disbelief. "I'm sure you couldn't recover without medical help."
"Well, maybe he gave me some medicine or what, but while I was unconscious I could not see him, could I?" she retorted sarcastically. "I can't remember meeting a man called Doctor Beckett, that's all I can say."
"When I was talking to him through the communication system of our hive, I saw it on his face that he knew you better than what you are telling me now. When I told him about you, it affected him as much as the fact that his friends were about to die..."
"How could you see it on the face of a primitive human?" she shook her head. "Probably, he was just upset about his friends. It had nothing to do with me, I'm sure of that."
Michael rested his eyes on her; it was obvious from the way he looked at her that he did not trust her reply at all.
"I saw it," he seethed, "And I know what I saw!"
"Keep on cooking up stupid theories then, if it pleases you," she shrugged. She turned away from him calmly, and went on with the edition of the virus program.
"Stop hiding your thoughts from me," Michael demanded with rising anger. "I'm certain of that you know Doctor Beckett. Rodney McKay mentioned something about you and him!"
"That's your problem, if you can't make a distinction between useful information and stupid human lies." She was focusing on what she was typing at the keyboard.
"If I find out that you were untrue about this, I'll kill you," he answered viciously.
"For all I care!" She tossed her head back arrogantly. "You can't do a single thing to me that would affect me. So shut up and let me work, you freak."
Michael snarled. "You will be very sorry, if you try to mess with me."
She laughed outright. The half-Wraith wondered if he should kill her.
She finished editing the program. "I'm done," she said to him with a haughty smile on her face. "I made the virus program harmless. It's still lingering on in our systems, but it can never cause any damage. And now it's time for me to reap my reward." She got up from the computer. "I'm going to kill some of your captives, I guess I deserved it."
"Alright, you can kill Weir and the colonel, and I'll take the scientist and Sheppard," Michael nodded. "Have fun. Find them a terrible way to die."