Chapter Thirteen

Rodney fiddled with the control crystals in his hands, then made a decision. He gestured toward the computer console. "You've got this data search under control, Ronon. I need to check the integrity of these crystals."

Ronon shot him an apprehensive gaze. "Uh, you sure about that?"

"You mean, am I sure about leaving you alone with the computer?" Rodney asked, then waved his hand impatiently as he turned away. "Yes, of course, I'm sure. I wouldn't have made the statement if I wasn't sure. Besides, the way this database is screwed up, there's not much harm you can do to it... and I need to have those files sorted before I can hit the next section. You can handle it."

Ronon tapped his fingers on the side of the console for a moment and Rodney caught the nervous movement. "So, you don't want to do it if you can't shoot it, pummel it, or in kill it? Come on, Ronon, there's more to you than that. You can do this."

Ronon swallowed and nodded after a moment, then he began typing on the keyboard. Rodney smiled to himself at what he'd gotten the big guy to do... if only he had a camera to capture the moment. Ronon on a computer. Stranger things could happen, but Rodney was pretty sure he didn't want any part of them. Besides, Ronon was capable of doing the work and it might give him a better impression of what Rodney did on a regular basis.

Rodney sat down with a lot of effort and started going through a box of crystals, finding most of them useless. He glanced over to where Sheppard was resting. They had tried to get the suit to morph again without success. Apparently, John was correct when he said the suit was dead. It wasn't responding to even the most basic commands. Teyla was quite relieved when they'd stopped attempting to get the suit to work again.

It was disappointing they couldn't make use of the suit's more impressive systems, but it was a hell of a lot better than having Sheppard battle against the suit for hours on end. The man looked exhausted and Rodney wondered how he was able to keep moving. Then he remembered this was Sheppard. He had stores of stamina that would even make the Energizer bunny jealous.

Sheppard was beside Teyla and Ashina on pallets. Ashina slept ninety-nine percent of the time and the five percent she was awake was not unpleasant, though Rodney worried about the reason behind her need for so much sleep. He hoped it wasn't anything serious. The kid was kind of growing on him.

Rodney's stomach rumbled and he decided it was time to retrieve the power bar he'd tucked away earlier, but when he went to get it, he found Damisk's personal recorder was also in the same pocket.

"Oh, crap," Rodney whispered, then in a louder tone, he said, "I forgot all about this thing."

"What's that?" Ronon asked as he stopped working and looked down at Rodney.

"Damisk's personal recorder. Maybe there's something there that we can use as long as it doesn't fry my fingers again. I swear every one of them are blistered."

Very carefully, Rodney accessed the recorder's entries. When nothing painful happened, he decided there must have been some type of glitch that made it spark and burn his fingers the last time he held it. Still, it didn't hurt to be cautious. Holding the device carefully, he started reading.

After several minutes, Rodney stopped short. He'd hit the mother lode of information about the suit. There were data files filled with the suit's schematics and other related information, then as he continued to skim the various topics, Rodney's mouth went dry and he fumbled to take a sip from his water bottle.

When he started to read again, he put his bottle of water on the box beside him, only to realize after the fact that he'd missed the box completely. The bottle was now lying on its side on the floor. He didn't bother to pick it up again or even right it. What he was reading was far too disturbing to bother with anything else.

Ronon bent down to retrieve the bottle, but Rodney was barely aware of his movements. "Crap, Ronon, Sheppard is so screwed," he whispered as his gaze darted up from the recorder.

Ronon studied him with apprehension. "What's going on?"

Rodney swallowed hard. "Damisk was terrified that the suit's artificial intelligence had become too dominant, but he couldn't find anything that had a chance of controlling it until he started working with electromagnetic fields."

Rodney stared at the recorder and realized the suit was so much more of a threat than they ever could have imagined. He looked up when his arm was shaken roughly and saw Ronon kneeling in front of him. "Talk to me, McKay."

Rodney opened and closed his mouth several times, but no words came out. When they finally came, they came very quickly. "This is bad, Ronon. Really, really bad."

Ronon met his troubled gaze. "Shouldn't we tell the others about it?"

Rodney shook his head before he realized he was doing it. "No, no, not yet. Let me read a little more. I need to track down specific information first, answers to questions I know John will ask."

Ronon didn't move away, opting instead to stay at Rodney's side. Soon, Rodney lost all awareness of what was going on around him. As he continued to scan through the menu and its categories, he found more files, disturbing files, files involving a kill switch and a magnetic field generator that could be used as a weapon against the suit.

Rodney stood quickly, but then nearly fell. It was only because Ronon was there and ready for him that he was able to help catch him before he went down. "Geez, Ronon," he said as Ronon let go of him. "I think this suit may have killed Damisk's assistant and probably Damisk himself."

Ronon ground his teeth together, glancing over at Sheppard and Teyla. Ronon gave Rodney his crutch. "Now, we tell them?"

Rodney nodded, dread causing his stomach to cramp. His hunger was now a distant memory. He turned in Sheppard's direction, knowing he probably looked wide-eyed and crazed, but he raised his voice anyway. "John, Teyla was right! You can't use the suit! Don't even think about using it for a single thing!"

He started hobbling toward Sheppard with Ronon beside him. John combed the fingers of one hand through his spiky hair as he waited for Rodney to approach him. "I don't get it," John said, his face scrunched up in confusion. "You were practically begging me to try it an hour ago."

Rodney nodded his head, wondering how he could have ever been so naive, so freaking naive and stupid, extraordinarily stupid. "Yeah, well, that was before I read that the suit uses the host as its power source and that's just to start off with."

John straightened. Apprehension echoed in his tone as he asked, "And when you say the host, you mean me?"

Nodding, Rodney said, "This suit is bad news, and I mean bad in the worst possible way. The only way the suit can survive is by tapping into the host's neural system and uses the host's body heat to add to its fuel batteries, but it's a huge drain on the host."

Rodney sighed. "By utilizing the host's body for power and integrating the AI into the host's neural pathways, the system was designed to give the host a direct interface to the use of the suit's different abilities, but as Damisk soon discovered, the reverse happened. The AI became far too dominant and it dictated what the host was allowed to do or not do – like I said, this is bad in the worst possible way."

"Crap," John muttered.

McKay nodded as he walked down the aisle with Ronon still tagging alongside of him. "That explains a lot about why the suit's power unit was so compact and why it was designed to be used only for an hour or two at a time."

Sheppard rubbed at an eyebrow with the back of one knuckle. Rodney came to a stop about four meters away from Sheppard, and even that felt too close. "You've been in that suit far longer than that. It's a wonder you're still able to breathe, let alone move."

"But the AI has been unresponsive for hours now. What changed for it not to be so dominant?" Teyla asked quietly.

Ronon pursed his lips together. "Maybe it wore Sheppard down to a point where it couldn't draw any more energy from him?"

Rodney nodded. "Maybe, but that's not the worst of it. Damisk had major problems with the AI and I think it may have led to his demise and that of his assistant."

Sheppard gestured to Ronon and Ronon gave him a hand up. He moved slowly as he digested Rodney's information. Teyla put down Ashina, who was still asleep, and got to her feet, too, with Ronon's assistance.

Before Rodney could say any more, Woolsey's voice came over the radio, surprising all of them. "Colonel Sheppard?"

John met Teyla's gaze with a raised eyebrow, then he looked at the others. "Yes, sir? I didn't realize you were coming to the planet."

"I just arrived, Colonel. I know things have been rough for you, so I wanted to offer my personal assurance that every possible resource is being utilized to reach you and the others in a timely fashion."

There was dread in John's expression as he said, "Thanks. It's nice of you to come and all, but unfortunately, we have a new wrinkle in our situation."

"Another one?" Woolsey asked cautiously.

"Hard to believe, sir, but yes. It appears this suit poises more of a threat than first thought."

Rodney spoke. "We cannot, under any terms, let Sheppard and that suit reach the surface until we can study it in greater detail and under more secure conditions. But I think I may have found a way to incapacitate the suit."

"Really? Now we're talking," Sheppard said, stepping closer. "That's the Rodney McKay I chose to be on my team."

"Yes, and once again I'm saving your sorry ass."

"Well, the Daedalus is still due to arrive in twelve hours and the teams with Major Lorne and Dr. Zelenka are making good headway, so you will have assistance sooner or later. At least, the rain has stopped and Dr. Zelenka estimates at least another four hours before they break through as long as things remain stable with the small explosive charges they've been successfully employing. The only thing slowing them down is ensuring the stability of the initial entryway in the ventilation system. It could prove troublesome."

Teyla spoke up. "Mr. Woolsey, Colonel Sheppard has injuries that must be dealt with, along with the rest of us. He requires medical attention. If he is not allowed to leave – "

"And we will provide it as soon as possible, Teyla, but I believe Dr. McKay is quite right to recommend extreme caution in this situation. Until we have a better understanding of the artificial intelligence behind this suit, we are going to have to quarantine it, especially from those with the ATA gene. We can have the medical staff come to where Colonel Sheppard is to treat his injuries for the time being."

Sheppard nodded in agreement as Woolsey continued, "We'll keep you up – "

A loud burst of static had all of them reaching to pull the radio headset from their ears.

When Rodney put the headset back to his ear, the radio was silent. Catching Rodney's troubled glance, Teyla tried her radio as she glanced toward the ceiling. "Mr. Woolsey?"

The silence continued. Rodney tapped the radio in his tac vest. "Woolsey, are you still transmitting?"

Teyla and Ronon looked toward Rodney for answers. Rodney knew he was frowning, even scowling. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew what was going on, but he prayed he was wrong.

Teyla said, "It appears we have lost radio contact with the surface."

Rodney pulled his scanner from a pocket and the readings confirmed his suspicions. "Crap!" Rodney said.

He rolled his eyes as he shoved the scanner back into his pocket and stomped his cane in frustration. "It's because that damn suit is jamming our radio signals!"

"The suit?" Teyla asked, turning toward Sheppard.

John glanced nervously at the others. Teyla started to step towards him, but John put up a hand to stop her. He blinked a few times, his gaze darting around. "There's... there's something going on with the suit, but it's not in control."

"Yet," McKay added with apprehension.

Ronon's voice was the calmest of the three when he asked, "McKay, can you override the jamming signal?"

Rodney nodded, but waved a hand in the air. "Of course, I can, but we have other more pressing concerns at the moment!"

Rodney paused as he heard a strangled noise coming from Sheppard's direction. When he looked over, he cursed under his breath. John was standing perfectly still, his arms at his sides, as if posing for a picture, except for the fact his expression was scrunched up and reddened from exertion.

Finally, John rasped, "Stun me!"

Deep down, Rodney knew exactly what John was thinking, especially when he heard the desperation in John's tone. Damn it, the suit was attempting to take control of him again. Oh, they were so truly screwed.

When Rodney glanced over at Ronon, he saw Ronon had come to the same conclusion because he had pulled his weapon. If John was unconscious, the suit couldn't attack them. The suit rippled and it covered Sheppard's mouth to keep him from shouting out orders again.

And John was obviously struggling to keep from raising a hand toward Rodney, but it was a losing battle. Rodney wondered what was going on, why Sheppard would fight so hard to prevent that from happening, then he gasped when he saw the configuration of a drilling laser appear on Sheppard's wrist.

Rodney was just starting to move to better cover when Ronon pushed him to the side behind some equipment, then flung himself in the opposite direction to land behind a portable generator.

A moment later, Ronon was up with his blaster, firing at Sheppard. He scored a direct hit against Sheppard, but all it did was make the force field around Sheppard glow brightly. Sheppard's reaction was immediate. He dropped to one knee, as if the shot and its corresponding force field drained him momentarily, though it wasn't enough to knock him out.

John stood and staggered forward a step, obviously fighting to keep himself from moving, then a laser beam cut into the shelving behind Rodney's head. What was it about lasers and this damned facility?

The shot had missed him by a wide margin, but it was enough to make Rodney duck down again and exclaim, "Ah, hell!"

Ronon shouted, "The suit must have been playing us all along."

Another laser beam hit the shelving behind Ronon, missing him by several feet, but that fact offered them little comfort. "Ya think?" Rodney exclaimed.

When Rodney peeked out again, he saw John fighting to turn away from them, but he was losing ground. "The suit wants him to take us out before we can do anything to stop it," Rodney replied in a poorly controlled panic, his overactive imagination playing out a deadly scenario in which the suit did all of them in.

Ronon nodded with a scowl, then he ducked down behind the counter he was using for cover. "Damn!" He hesitated for a moment, then switched the setting on his weapon.

Rodney put out a hand in Ronon's direction. "Ronon, be careful – all the suit's power comes from John."

Ronon cursed under his breath. "Right. I'll keep it on stun," he said grimly as he shifted the setting back to where it had been.

Rodney swallowed hard when he saw that Sheppard was moving toward them again. "Oh, God, he's coming," he hissed, curling himself behind his protective cover.

Ronon hesitated for a moment, but the laser shots were getting closer. "I'll push him back a little," he said softly and leaned out to fire again. The shot staggered Sheppard, driving him down to his knee again and caused the suit's force field to flash white so brightly, it nearly blinded Rodney.

When Rodney could see again, he yelped and shrank back against the wall, because Sheppard had turned back toward him. Somehow, the suit didn't seem to drain John of as much energy this time – not to say John wasn't having a hard time, because he was. He was gasping for air, as if the shot had expended all the oxygen around him – and he was losing control of his movements bit by bit, because the suit's shots were getting closer.

"This is so not good," Rodney whispered as he looked around him, trying to find better protection against an hostile alien artificial intelligence hot on the trail to kill him, but there was nothing much nearby.

"John?" Rodney heard Teyla call out from behind Sheppard.

Both Ronon and Rodney peeked out and saw Teyla as she knelt behind a large piece of machinery with Ashina in her arms. "John, fight this as you did earlier! Steel your resources and focus!"

Sheppard stood still for a long moment, and Rodney found himself holding his breath, then he couldn't breathe at all, because John ignored Teyla and took another step closer to them, the laser unit on his wrist glowing with a menacing red cast to it, as if preparing to take another shot in their direction.

Rodney scooted as far as he could behind his protective cover.

Ronon shifted his position and said, "It's coming after you, McKay. You said you knew of a way to shut it down. It's going to take out the threats in order of most importance. You, me, then Teyla and the girl."

"I said I knew of a possible way to stop it."

"Whatever. You're a threat."

Rodney squeezed his eyes shut again to keep from being blinded again as Ronon fired his weapon again. With them still shut, he said, "If you tax the suit too much, Ronon, you might kill John, but – but we've got to do something."

"My shots don't seem to have the same effect on Sheppard as it did the first time," Ronon said, his gun went silent for a moment, then the laser began to hit around them again and again, getting alarmingly closer to their location each time.

Sheppard's face was deep red from exertion and his movements were sluggish as if he were about to collapse. The cover over his mouth retreated to give John better access to breathe and John used the opportunity the moment he had it. He shouted, "Head shot!"

Rodney's eyes flew open and he turned to gape at Ronon. Surely Ronon wouldn't do it – surely he wouldn't kill Sheppard just to stop the suit. Without looking in Rodney's direction, Ronon shifted the setting.

The lines in Ronon's troubled expression deepened as he held his weapon poised to shoot, but then he let it drop down and he shook his head. "Not yet," he whispered as he shifted the setting on his blaster back to stun and Rodney wasn't sure if he was talking to Rodney or himself.

Regardless, Rodney breathed a quick sigh of relief. He glanced down and found Damisk's recorder was still in his hand. Suddenly, Rodney's thoughts were filled with the data he'd rapidly skimmed over from the recorder. He remembered the devices he'd found in Damisk's pocket and pulled them out. Now, he had a better idea of how and what they would be used for.

Cursing under his breath, Rodney kept one device in his sweaty hand and put the other one safely away, then paused, his movements frozen in hesitation. His next look at Sheppard showed the suit had covered his mouth again.

Teyla called to Sheppard again. "John, fight this!"

Ronon raised his head a little and added, "You can beat it! You did it before and you can do it again!"

Rodney was surprised when John turned away from him and back in Teyla's direction, then his alarm grew when John took a step in Teyla's direction. The suit was apparently changing its tactics. "Wait, I thought I was the greatest threat... what's the suit doing now?"

Ronon shook his head and shouted, "Teyla, move it! He's coming after you!"

A piece of equipment behind Teyla's position shattered. Ronon began firing again, but his shots barely staggered Sheppard now. It seemed the suit was getting better at distributing energy to the force field. It was probably that damned adaptability module Damisk had lamented about in his notes.

Rodney poked his head out to see how Teyla and the girl were faring.

From the side, Rodney heard Ronon say, "Stay here, McKay."

Ronon turned and bolted down a different aisle of shelving. Rodney glanced at Sheppard and the suit, then back at Ronon. "Ronon!" he said in a loud whisper. "Hey, you big lug! The suit is just baiting you to draw you away from me," Rodney spat at Ronon's departing back. "Who's gonna protect me while you play Sir Galahad? I thought I was the biggest threat!"

Ronon made his way toward Teyla without glancing back at Rodney, dodging in and out behind equipment and shelving. "You'll be okay," Ronon shouted back. "I'll be back once they are situated."

Rodney looked up and cringed as a laser beam nearly caught Ronon, but at least Ronon had reached Teyla and Ashina. With his help, they moved to a better position.

The suit turned toward Rodney again and began firing. Now, the laser shots were only aimed at him. At least, there was some comfort in that. If he was to die, at least it would be saving Teyla and the child. He grunted, remembering when he'd told Carson and Ford to tell Jeannie he'd died saving children instead of succumbing to a nanite infection – now it might happen for real. Well, damn it, he wasn't ready to die yet, he thought indignantly.

"What should I do? Should I move?" Rodney shouted at Ronon.

"Yeah, to your left, down that center aisle," Ronon shouted back. "That should give you plenty of cover until the suit reaches you."

The suit. Ronon didn't mention Sheppard. Somewhere along the way, Sheppard's name stopped being used as the one attacking them. The danger was the suit. It was their one and only foe, and it would be the suit they'd have to incapacitate. It helped Rodney's conscience when he considered things in terms of attacking the suit and not John himself.

Ronon fired off a couple more shots, but they missed, no doubt that was Ronon's intent. Rodney was sure if Ronon had meant for them to connect, they would have. The bottom line was it was pointless for Ronon to hit John on the kill setting of his weapon, unless they really meant to kill him.

Rodney grabbed his crutch. He meant to move away as quickly as he could, but his gaze darted toward Sheppard. Rodney could see the extent of the tremendous strain on John. Even with John's herculean brand of determination and stamina, he couldn't keep fighting that damned suit much longer.

Rodney's eyes widened when the suit's laser was aimed directly at him. He'd taken too long to watch what was happening, instead of moving while he had the chance. He started limping to his left down the center aisle as Ronon had instructed, but Rodney knew he could never move fast enough to get out of the suit's range.

Then, out of nowhere, Ronon came running toward the suit and tackled it. He rolled with Sheppard until they hit a huge cooling system for the type of mechanisms that harnessed the incredible power of the Ancient's ZPM units.

Both Sheppard and Ronon grunted with the impact. They went limp for a moment, then Ronon popped up. He straddled Sheppard's chest and tried to strike John squarely on the jaw, but the suit's force field just flared with a very mild white flash. It didn't matter, Sheppard seemed to be unconscious, his head lolling to one side.

Teyla came out slowly, carrying Ashina, as did Rodney. Ronon wiped the back of his hand across his lower lip. It had been cut in the attack and was bleeding; the blood smeared a red path across his chin.

Ronon looked up at Rodney. "He's unconscious. Get me something to tie him up."

"Oh, thank God," Rodney said with relief, then he looked around. "Whatever we use, it's got to be strong enough to keep the suit restrained. There was some heavy grade cable I saw back this way that might work. I mean if it was meant to hoist some of the huge equipment around here without snapping, it should be able to restrain one little suit."

Ronon rocked back on his heels, then started to stand when John's eyes opened and he began a warning, "Ronon, get back – "

Ronon had no time to react. The suit's legs kicked upward and as an example of the suit's extra-enhanced strength, the movement flipped Ronon head over heels to strike the cooling system behind them, then the suit stood. Teyla gasped and backed away, as did Rodney.

The suit turned and raised its arm to take aim at Ronon, who was shaking off his collision with the equipment. When he opened his eyes, Ronon started to scramble away from under the suit's deadly aim, but there was nowhere for him to go. The suit was standing right over him. If it fired at that range, it would surely be a killing shot.

"Hey!" Rodney shouted with more courage than he felt. "Get away from him! I thought you were after me!"

When the suit turned toward Rodney, Rodney noticed how the rage radiating from Sheppard's gaze was a terribly frightening thing, but there was also fear in Sheppard's eyes – a terrible fear for the others. John looked like he was fighting the suit so hard, he was going to implode from the effort.

Rodney wanted to say something to comfort John, but nothing came to mind – nothing except the fact he now had the suit's attention and there was little he could do to protect himself.

Rodney was surprised when Ronon's leg swept out in a sudden surge of strength, catching the suit unprepared, and caused the suit to lose its balance. It crashed backward onto the floor. John groaned with the impact of hitting the floor.

By the time John was forced to stand again, Ronon had managed to put some distance between them, but it wasn't enough. Rodney cowered when he heard Teyla's nine-mil fire, but Teyla's bullet simply bounced off the suit in a bright flash of white.

John groaned in response to the shot and again went to his knees. He was on the edge of collapse, but it seemed to Rodney that John understood that Teyla was trying to give Ronon a distraction, so he could escape. Good plan, except it didn't provide enough time for anyone – anyone in their condition – to get away. Now, there was the distinct risk of the suit deciding to go after Teyla again.

Rodney shook his head, knowing they'd used up everything in their bag of tricks.

He ran a hand through his hair. He had to stop this madness. Nothing else was working. It was up to him. Damn it, it was up to him. Why was it always up to him anyway!

Rodney shook the device still in his hand, then held it up to his eyes, feeling sick at what he was about to do, but he had no other choice. It was either Teyla or Ronon, maybe even Rodney and Ashina, too, if he didn't act quickly.

"Forgive me," Rodney whispered as he activated the kill switch.

oOoOoOoOo

Chapter 13