Chapter 13: Where the hell was he?

It wasn't a smooth journey down ... jutting rocks delivered damage as an unpleasant precursor to a landing that was hard and painful.

Groaning, Sheppard found himself on his back looking up at a hole in the ceiling above him, momentarily confused. The dull daylight looked brighter from his position in the darkness and only a few specks of ice made it all the way down, fluttering to rest lightly on his goggles before melting away.

"Oww," John shifted carefully, checking for damage. The sharp agony that was his right side didn't bode well ... unable to resist pressing a gloved hand to his ribs he winced, his breath catching harshly. He'd probably cracked a rib or two at the least ... there was no point in wondering about all the other possible internal damage that might have been done since there was nothing he could do to fix it right then.

Bracing himself Sheppard slowly got to his feet, swaying weakly as he registered the beginnings of a headache. He vaguely recalled hitting his head on the ground when he landed ... meaning he could probably add a concussion to his list of woes.

So far his self rescue wasn't going well ... squinting into the darkness surrounding him, John frowned. Speaking of rescue, where the hell was he? Fumbling through his pockets he finally located the torch Vulture had given him. Turning it on Sheppard shone it slowly around.

"What the?" he frowned again.

Straightening as much as he could, he hobbled forward, scanning the area. He was in what looked like a tunnel of some sort. One end was collapsed which explained the hole he'd fallen through. In front of him though the way seemed clear and stretched out for what looked like some distance. The most confusing thing of all though was the tunnel itself. If he wasn't mistaken it was Ancient although he couldn't see how that was possible. Either he'd covered a much greater distance than he'd realised or the Ancient outpost was a lot bigger than they'd previously believed.

There was only one thing to do ... follow the tunnel and see where it led. At least he was out of the elements and whatever he'd done to himself seemed manageable - for the moment.

Shining the torch forward, John set off into the darkness.

oOo

Time crawled as Lorne let himself be the human conduit for Atlantis to search for Colonel Sheppard. He hadn't gotten used to the pain of having his brain stretched to do something he was pretty sure it hadn't been designed for. In fact, as the seconds passed Evan became convinced he was only a step away from losing it completely – hair tearing, beating his head against the wall losing it. He'd closed his eyes to concentrate which was just as well because his eyeballs felt like they'd explode out of their sockets otherwise. Everything throbbed insistently ... 'stop', 'stop', 'stop' in time with his heart which was beating much faster than usual. He felt hot too ... he couldn't raise a hand to check but Lorne was pretty sure beads of sweat were collecting on his forehead.

At the back of his mind with what little spare brain capacity he had, the Major wondered briefly why Atlantis needed him at all. From what he understood she was the embodiment of all the various systems that made up the city. Why couldn't she just use the amplifier by herself and then display the results on a screen somewhere?

"Because we came into being through our connection to our human creators," the chorus shimmered gently as Atlantis refocussed on him. "The very nature of our conscious existence depended on them ... without their presence we would be nothing more than shadow. We needed them to function - to perceive, to understand - just as much as they needed us."

"Wait," Evan frowned, trying to get his thoughts collected enough to form actual sentences he could direct at the city. "Wouldn't that mean you were ... dormant the whole time the city was on the bottom of the ocean?"

"Yes." Sadness, despair, hopelessness. The notes twanged discordantly, making Lorne wince. "The day of John's arrival was like a jolt of pure energy, a light that guided us back into being."

"Wow," Lorne returned in surprise. "No wonder you're so driven to get Colonel Sheppard back."

"You are in pain," abruptly Atlantis changed the subject, her notes shifting into maternal concern.

"I'm fine," Evan insisted, although the fact that Atlantis could see inside his head made that lie a waste of mental effort.

"You are not," the chorus was just as insistent. "We will tone back our use of the amplifier to a more manageable level."

"NO!" Lorne's whole body clenched violently as he protested that move before the city could make it. Calming himself he continued in a more reasonable tone. "Okay, yes, giving you open access to the amplifier and the Stargate at the same time hurts like a son of a b - ... a lot. But the gate won't be open for much longer and you need to find the Colonel before it closes."

"Evan," the chorus began.

"No protests," he broke in. "They won't let us dial Earth again. Too much of a drain on the ZPM. They'll send their own teams out to search for him which will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. You either find John in the next few minutes or we're out of it."

"Very well," the multiple tones of the city came back reluctant after a few moments of silence. "However, you must be aware of the risks ... there is a slight chance that pushing you this hard for too long could result in permanent damage."

"Ah ...," Evan didn't know what to think at first. "How big a chance?"

"Minimal, but it is there," Atlantis replied. "And the longer we proceed the more likely it becomes."

"Okay ... well you should hurry it up then," Lorne immediately braced himself for the renewed pressure on his mind. He felt the city sigh in every cell of his body before she returned her attention to reaching out across the void between galaxies.

oOo

Even though the tunnel was cut off from the brutality of the outside conditions the temperature was still well below zero and Sheppard was feeling it all the way down to his bones.

His aching, bruised and battered bones.

It was tough going, his shuffling, stumbling gait getting the job done but without his usual grace and economy of movement. After a few minutes of that he'd resorted to using the wall for support, one hand resting lightly against it as he moved forward. The amount of weight he applied to the wall was a barometer for how he was doing ... the longer he went on the heavier he leaned, telling himself it was because he was conserving his strength, not because he couldn't walk without support.

If he were honest though he'd have to admit that everything hurt ... something John was entirely too familiar with. But still, he counted himself lucky to be moving at all after that fall. The trouble was, he had nothing else to focus on apart from his own sorry condition ... the incongruity of an Ancient tunnel under the ice had lost its appeal the longer his journey went on and Sheppard had already constructed the plan in his head assuming the tunnel ended somewhere favourable for him.

Make contact with the good guys ... use whatever means were available to go back and take out the bad guys. And then blow that facility off the planet. Simple.

Sheppard was paying attention but he'd fallen into a kind of zombie like state, focussed more on his feet and the wall supporting him than he was on what lay ahead. That's why he was almost upon the dead end when he realised. Stopping abruptly a step away he shone the torch light from the ground all the way up to the ceiling in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he ground out, slapping a gloved hand to the obstructing wall in frustration. "This is just ...," he trailed off with a growl, turning away and taking a figurative as well as literal step back.

"This can't be it," he muttered, turning back and taking another look. Slowly he examined the wall closely, running gloved hands over the smooth surface looking for a hidden means of opening it. More than once he pushed his body too far, stretching beyond the point his current injuries could sustain and then cursing himself painfully before quickly getting on with it again.

Ten minutes later Sheppard slumped against the side of the tunnel, sliding down to sit on the floor weakly. As far as he could tell there was no way to get through – not from his side anyway. He was cold, in pain and stuck in a tunnel under the ice miles away from any means of help.

"I am so screwed," he muttered, sans Rodney McKay. "Okay guys," he said loudly. "This would be the point where you sweep in with the impressive rescue." He waited. "Any time now."

Silence ... not unexpected. Laughing at himself, John rested his head back against the wall. He'd break for a while and then head back the way he'd come. One way or another he was getting to the Ancient outpost, even if he had to crawl all the way there.

oOo

"Major?" Rodney's voice barely penetrated the haze that was Evan's current existence. "Lorne?" Rodney persisted.

"What?!" Evan demanded without opening his eyes.

"I ah ... are you okay?" Rodney asked uncertainly.

"I don't think now is the time to be asking me that," Lorne returned, subtlely reminding the other man that they had an audience at the other end of the wormhole, not to mention up in the control room.

"I cut the comm," Rodney retorted irritably.

"Right," Evan squinted one eye open to glance at his companion.

"So are you?" Rodney persisted. "Okay, that is ... because you look like hell."

"Don't give it to me gently McKay," Lorne shot back. Sighing he closed his eyes again, even the relatively muted light in the chair room too much for his head to take. "You know how it goes Rodney ... hurts like hell but it's not gonna kill me ... I hope."

"Is she making progress?" Rodney asked.

"I have no idea," Evan admitted. "I'm just keeping the two systems talking to each other. How much time do we have?"

"Nineteen minutes, give or take a few seconds," the scientist returned, voice heavy with worry.

"Still time," Evan said positively.

"They're not gonna let us dial in again," Rodney pointed out what Lorne already knew.

"She knows," Lorne replied. "The real question is ...," he broke off abruptly, attention diverted.

"John?" Atlantis called out again, her notes so mournful and pleading that Evan began to feel like an unwelcome intruder in a conversation he shouldn't be a party to. "John ... please help us to help you. HEAR US! John?"

It was beyond freaky to Lorne, the sudden tingling he got, kind of like how Ancient tech felt just before you activated it, but not quite. He didn't need the city's cry of joy to know Colonel Sheppard had finally been detected.

"We sense him!" Atlantis announced, notes almost giddily dancing up and down the scales.

"Where is he?" Lorne demanded.

"John ... where are you?" Atlantis asked urgently. From Lorne's point of view there was more of that strange externally sourced and yet internal tingling – maybe John could have tapped into that and heard the other side of the conversation but Evan didn't even want to try. His head felt too close to splitting and he knew it wasn't over yet, despite Atlantis now having contact with his CO. Evan had to hold out for as long as possible – until the gate shut down – get Sheppard's team as close as possible to his location while they still had access to Atlantis for help.

"What?" Rodney frowned when Evan just stopped talking. "Major." Nothing. "LORNE?" Rodney moved closer, hesitant to disturb the other man but really wanting to shake him back to alertness.

Evan's eyes snapped open abruptly, the blue looking too vivid surrounded by bloodshot whites. "Antarctica," he said. "Sheppard is in Antarctica – near the Ancient outpost." Vision refocussing, Lorne pinned Rodney with an intent look. "You need to hurry. He's in some kind of tunnel cut off from the outpost. He wouldn't admit it but Atlantis thinks he's injured."

"Right," Rodney ran to the doorway, stopping with a hand to the doorframe as he looked back to Lorne. "You'll uh ...," he waved a hand vaguely at the control chair.

"I'll keep the link going as long as the Gate's open," Lorne promised. "You get Ronon and Teyla and get yourselves to Earth. Hurry it up McKay."

"Right," Rodney said again, turning and running from the room.

Evan slumped back in the chair, closing his eyes and gathering his remaining reserves. Once this was over he was going straight to bed and sleeping for a week ... maybe more.

oOo

It took a while before Sheppard realised what he was sensing. Maybe because he's stopped and was no longer devoting all his mental focus to getting somewhere. Or maybe because he was finally close enough for it to make a difference. Either way, he'd been resting, back against the tunnel wall for a few minutes before the tingling on the edges of his perception finally penetrated his conscious thoughts.

Somewhere close by there was Ancient tech ... the Outpost. He was close ... frustratingly close!

He'd never tried to access the Ancient systems so remotely, especially without any kind of physical connection to a control panel or data pad, but it wouldn't hurt to try. And he'd had recent practice with something similar when he'd overloaded the cube device. Granted, that had been on a much smaller scale but the same principles should apply. Maybe he could switch on something that would get him noticed or at least have someone looking for the cause.

Focussing his thoughts, more difficult than it should have been because of the distractions of pain and cold, John reached out, looking for anything useful. What he found surprised the hell out of him.

"Atlantis?!" His eyes shot open, vision turned inwards so that he was hardly aware of his surroundings.

"John!" the joyous tones of the city had never been more welcome to him.

"How?" That one word expressed a world of confusion and disbelief.

"We cannot stop to explain it now," Atlantis dismissed kindly. "Time is short if we are to remain connected to assist in your rescue." There was a pause before she spoke again. "John - where are you?"

"Antarctica," John put aside his questions, focussing on how best to describe his location. "I discovered a tunnel under the ice – it's close to the Ancient outpost but I can't get through – there's a wall on my side blocking the way."

"Understood," the chorus was purposeful and more reassuring than John wanted to admit. "We have relayed the information through to Doctor McKay. He and the rest of your team are on their way ... stay with us John. Once they arrive there we may be able to assist in getting them closer to your location."

"I'm not going anywhere," Sheppard returned wearily.

"You are well?" Atlantis queried, clearly concerned.

"I got banged around a little getting down here, that's all," John dismissed casually.

"That is truly all?" John almost smiled at the notes of suspicion colouring the city's voice. She knew him too well.

"It's pretty cold down here," he admitted. "Saps the strength. Don't worry – I'll be okay until Rodney and the others get here."

"Very well," Atlantis agreed. "We will urge them to proceed with all speed."

"You do that," Sheppard replied. "I'll just ... wait here."

Authors Note:

Another chapter - and so soon (grins). Yay me! LOL. The really good news is that I've written the whole story now - yes it does have an ending! I still have to edit as I post but there shouldn't be any more long delays. Thanks for reading.