Author's Note: Soooo, thanks again to all the people who have reviewed! Sorry I'm still not getting the chance to reply, but I chose a very bad time to post - as in exam time, when all my assignments are due... sigh...

But even though I don't show it, know that I still love you all!

Um, here, have some answers!

Chapter 10

Sheppard growled menacingly at the room as he finally sat down, his entire body exhausted. He had searched the cell a dozen times over, running his hands over every inch of the smooth white surface, and still, he couldn't find anything. No door, no lock, no anything. It was just a white box, and apparently that... thing that looked like him had the only way in or out.

He growled, and banged his head back against the wall in frustration. He had quickly given up on the whole defeated attitude. He didn't know who he was, what he did, didn't know what was happening, or where he belonged. But his shame at the way he had hung his head after his image had disappeared made him sure he knew he wouldn't be giving up that easily.

He had no idea how much time had passed since then. It felt like forever in this tiny room. Good thing he wasn't claustrophobic. There, another thing he knew about himself.

He frowned, thinking about that. What did he know about himself? He knew he was stubborn and obviously not afraid of being trapped in a small box. He knew he was going to fight this. He was determined. He guessed that helped.

He knew that somewhere, out there, he had a home. He knew it. He didn't know its name, or what it looked like, or where it was. But it was out there.

And that was it. He didn't want to trust anything from before. Whatever it had been, it had been created by that thing that claimed to be him. He didn't want to believe he had lived in New York. Hell, he barely believed there was a New York. He didn't think he was a cop. And he didn't think he could really shoot his brother in the head.

If he had a brother.

Growling, he sprung to his feet. This line of thought was not doing him any good. He didn't want to think about that... hallucination. All he wanted to think about was getting out of here.

And there was only one thing that knew how to do that.

"Hey!" he shouted, not really sure what to call it. "Me, or whatever the hell you are!"

There was no answer and he moved to the centre of the room, looking up because it seemed like the right place to do it. "Hey, I know you're listening to me! I know you're out there! Answer me, dammit!"

Still nothing, and he gave a growl of frustration, spinning slowly, as if that would help. "Come down here and speak to me! I know you want to!"

Silence. "Hey!" he screamed, getting angry. "Get your ass down here right not! This is still my head!" He paused, and still, nothing. "I want to talk to you!"

"Get down here and -!"

The conference room was tense.

The only one who didn't notice was McKay. He was too busy rifling through Vaiko's notes, despite the fact that he couldn't understand the alien scientist's language. It had been why McKay had called this meeting – he needed to know.

Watching him, Teyla didn't know whether to be relieved or petrified. Finally, finally, they had Rodney back, at least, more than physically. And he was working on the problem, throwing himself completely and utterly into saving John.

And that was why she was terrified. Because if McKay failed, the colonel wouldn't be the only one they would lose.

Across the room, Ronon gave a small growl. Teyla didn't bother looking up – Ronon probably wasn't even aware he had done it. Again. But he was pacing, and working off steam, and that inevitably led to angry, frustrated growls from the big Satedan.

What it was doing was making Vaiko turn whiter and whiter. The small man was already sitting up still and dead straight in his seat, twitching every now and then, nervously aware that he was surrounded by Atlantians – angry Atlantians. He knew they wanted answers, and Teyla could tell he didn't know how they would go about getting those answers.

Vaiko jumped when the doors to the conference room suddenly started closing, as Woolsey and Jennifer silently joined them. The doctor looked exhausted, and defeated, but she sat up strong as she took her chair.

Woolsey, on the other hand, leaned heavily on his elbows, stuck a piercing glare on Vaiko, and skipped the small talk. "Start from the beginning."

The scientist licked his lips as Ronon sat down nearby, sparing a frightened glance for the taller man. "I have been a scientist for the Masarians for two years."

The Masarians. Teyla nodded. She hadn't heard of them but at least they had put a name to the faces waiting down in the cells, watched by half a dozen angry soldiers. She hoped the Masarians were scared.

"They recruited me, and almost immediately I began working on the Ancient device attached to..." He cleared his throat, took a deep breath and skipped the words he had been about to say."It took me eighteen months to even figure out what it was. The research I had was in the Ancestral language, and I had only basic knowledge of that."

At his words, Rodney looked up, a disgusted look on his face as he shoved the papers away. "So why the hell am I reading your notes?" he demanded.

"Because the Masarians would not let me keep those notes even over a night," Vaiko told him, his voice growing in pitch. "They are a nervous, paranoid people."

"And you were working for them because..." Ronon asked, his tone suggesting the scientist be wary.

"Because if the Masarians recruit you, you have little choice," Vaiko explained quietly. "Now, as I was saying, six months ago, I finally found out what the machine did."

"And what was that?" Woolsey asked.

"It creates a type of hallucination, in the mind of the..." he paused, searching for the right word.

"Prisoner?" Ronon supplied caustically. "Guinea pig? Victim?"

"In the mind of the prisoner," Vaiko used. "From what I could tell, an outside person could use the machine to suggest a scenario in which the prisoner would supply all answers by thinking them out in his hallucination."

"And how would the interrogator get the answers?" Teyla asked, entering the conversation for the first time.

"By a second interface," the scientist answered. "One that allowed the questioner to see the scenario playing out in the prisoner's mind. From what the Ancestral notes said, I gathered that it was supposed to be a painless form of interrogation, and also more efficient."

Rodney shook his head, face screwed up in the expression that suggested he was thinking hard. "Sounds far too like the Replicator form of interrogation for my liking," he muttered, looking around the table. "And that is definitely not painless."

"But this one may be," Keller told him. "From what I can tell, Colonel Sheppard isn't in any pain, and has not been for some time."

Teyla could tell the minute McKay bit back the retort that Sheppard wasn't feeling anything right now. Woolsey interrupted the tension that followed.

"So, six months ago," he prodded. "What happened?"

"I began to study the device itself. I had a much clearer picture of how I thought I could get it to operate now that I actually knew what it was." He sighed, dropped his head. "And then a week ago, Balnar, the commander of the Masarian base, he stormed into my laboratory demanding that I use the machine on a prisoner of his."

"Sheppard," Ronon figured. Vaiko nodded.

"So... what were they doing to him for the week before that?" McKay asked, going white. But the other scientist shook his head.

"That, I do not know." He suddenly shuddered. "Nor do I have the wish to. I wish I had never been in that room."

"You agreed to use this machine on Colonel Sheppard," Teyla stated coldly. "Yet at the base, you suggested that you had not used this machine on someone before."

Vaiko flinched. "I wouldn't say agreed," he told them. "I tried to get Balnar to reconsider, but he wouldn't listen. He said he didn't have the time to enjoy breaking him. He... he forced me to do it."

"What exactly happened?" McKay demanded, knowing they were getting to the bits he needed to know. Well, he needed to know more, more that he could get from Vaiko later. "I'm guessing it didn't work properly, or Sheppard wouldn't be a veg-." He paused, flinched. "Wouldn't be the way he is right now."

"No... no, I believe... I told Balnar that it hadn't worked in any of my simulations!" The scientist was a little desperate now. "But he said computers could only tell so much. And he made me do it anyway. I had no... I had no idea it was..."

There was a long pause, and finally Ronon stood back up, leaning over the smaller man. "You had no idea it was what?"

"Broken," Vaiko whispered, looking down at his shaking hands. "It was broken. I think. I don't... I don't really know what happened. Something that hadn't come up in any of the millions of simulations I ran. The system... took control, I believe. One of Balnar's top questioners was linked with your colonel when it was switched on, and he... his brain was fried. Not immediately. He fell unconscious though. And then he slowly began dying. It was... horrible." The man shuddered. "And your colonel... he also went unconscious, and he never woke up..."

Suddenly he paused, and then cocked his head. "No, I do not believe that to be true. He did wake up. Or tried to. I think... I believe he was aware, at times, that he was trapped in the hallucination."

"Wait, the hallucination still worked?" McKay demanded, sitting up straighter, frowning.

Vaiko nodded. "Yes. I mean, I cannot be sure, but I believe it did."

"He woke up on the way home, too," Teyla interrupted. "He opened his eyes, but he did not seem to be aware of what was happening."

"What does this mean?" Woolsey demanded, looking to Keller for an explanation. The doctor just shrugged helplessly though, so the expedition leader turned to McKay.

Rodney didn't seem to notice. He was just frowning heavily, staring at Vaiko's incomprehensible notes.

"The machine," he finally said, turning to the alien scientist. "Before you broke it. What exactly was it supposed to do?"

"I didn't -."

"Just answer the question!"

Vaiko snapped his mouth shut at McKay's shout, and paled slightly. "As I have already explained. It was supposed to allow the interrogation of a prisoner without either harming him, or letting him know what was happening. According to some notes, from when the Ancestors used it, the machine created a world within the mind of the prisoner, in which the questioner could suggest scenarios that would ultimately lead to the prisoner giving up the answers."

"So it is like the Replicators. Maybe a forerunner... Doesn't matter." McKay shook his head. "Obviously the prisoner had some sort of control. I mean, past the suggestions, his mind had to create the scenarios in order to answer the question."

There was a pause, a heavy silence. "I suppose," Vaiko agreed slowly. "But our questioner did not get a chance to suggest scenarios. He was killed."

"I know."

"What are you getting at, doctor?" Woolsey asked, leaning in.

Rodney shook his head again. "I don't know. Well, I mean, I do, but there's no evidence – it's pure conjecture."

"What is?" Ronon growled, quickly becoming impatient.

"I don't think it was the machine. I think Sheppard was the one took control. I think that with the machine broken, or whatever it was, Sheppard took control."

"But he's obviously trapped within the hallucination. Or was," Vaiko reminded him.

"I didn't say it worked well! This is Sheppard after all," McKay snapped. "But it's an Ancient device. It was broken. John has the Ancient gene. What if he used his gene to create some kind of... security protocol? So he couldn't answer questions about Atlantis?"

Woolsey and Keller both took a quick breath, leaning back in their seats. If McKay hadn't been so worried, he would have found it funny.

Ronon was shaking his head. "But he's safe now," he stated. "He's back in Atlantis."

"But he doesn't know that," McKay reminded him. "His brain function has stopped." He paused, frowned, and then added softly, "Or that's what it looks like."

Vaiko looked confused. "But your colonel... I saw him, when I attached him to the machine. He was unconscious most of the time, and when he wasn't, he was beyond lucid. How could he have done what you claim?"

McKay didn't answer, still deep in thought, so Teyla shrugged and answered the question for all of them. "Colonel Sheppard has withstood Replicator probing and Wraith queens before. And that fog, our first year here. He was the first to realise that reality was not real."

"It wasn't fog," McKay reminded her absently. "Jennifer, when did Sheppard's brain function actually stop?" He looked up, face pale. "Sometime during surgery? Or when you attached him to the machines that would keep him alive." Suddenly he frowned. "For that matter, was he really only in there for three hours? I was in there for... for nine, and I was only with those..."

"I can't be sure, but I'd say... some time between...," the doctor interrupted before McKay could finish his sentence. She was frowning as well. "And Sheppard didn't need nine hours of surgery."

"Because you were thinking he was already dead? Or close to it?" Woolsey clarified. Keller shook her head.

"No, because he had no injuries that warranted it. There was a fair amount of internal bleeding, but no big bleeds. No broken bones. A bullet wound on his shoulder that needed a little work. It was weird, actually. I mean there are signs of recent healing, and beyond all that, just a lot of bruising and cuts."

"It kept him alive..." McKay realised slowly. "It knew that the Masarians couldn't keep him alive, so it did... It really is like the Replicators... Sort of..." He shook his head.

And then he stood up, so fast that the chair spun out from underneath him and slammed into the wall. But by then McKay was already out of the conference room, running as if bullets were hounding his steps.

Teyla and Ronon didn't wait for confirmation. They shared a look and ran too, hard on McKay's trail. Within seconds the other three were after them as well, leaving the control room stunned as they watched their leaders running as if their lives depended on it.

McKay barely even realised he was being followed. He thought he might be, but he didn't think about that. He just sprinted as fast as he could to the infirmary.

He made his way there in record time. Well, record for him, he thought, as he skidded to a panting halt beside Sheppard's bed, eyes following the wires, the machines, the cords attached to the plug in the Ancient socket that was keeping Sheppard alive. And then he looked down at his friend, heart pounding, though out of more than breathlessness. He was shaking, nervous, hopeful he was about to do the right thing, and that he wasn't about to kill his friend. Somewhere in the background he could hear the nurses asking him if he was okay. He didn't answer, just leaned down over John, and took a deep breath.

"John... I'm really sorry. And if this doesn't work... well, knowing you, you'd just thank me anyway. But God I hope it does."

And then, taking another deep breath, he leaned over and pulled the plug.

"Get down here and -!"

Tightness gripped his chest, and Sheppard fell to his knees, struggling to breath. He panicked, hand clutching his chest as something slammed all the air from his lungs. He felt the blood drain from his face, his toes and fingers tingled. He drew a ragged breath, held himself off the floor with one arm. And as his vision blurred, wavered, and as he looked up at the hazy white wall, he wondered what the hell was going on.

"Doctor McKay, what the hell are you doing?"

The nurses seemed too stunned to move. Marie was white, looking at him like she didn't recognise him.

The beeping was loud in his ears, fast and warning, and he felt his heart beating in time to it. His breaths came hard and fast as he grabbed a scalpel off the nearest tray.

"Stay back," he warned anxiously, even as the infirmary doors crashed open again to reveal Teyla and Ronon. He turned to face them, hating the way their faces fell.

"Rodney, what have you done?" Teyla demanded in a stunned whisper as they both walked forward slowly.

"Stay back!" he warned again, flinching as Ronon pulled his gun out, his entire stance unsure as he levelled it at McKay's knees.

For a third time the infirmary doors slammed open and Woolsey, Keller and the scientist ran in, nearly running into Ronon and Teyla.

Keller looked like she was going to throw up all over her nice sanitised infirmary as she walked forward, mouth wide.

"Rodney... what are you doing?"

"Helping him," he promised, bringing the scalpel up higher. "Please, just..."

"Helping him?" Woolsey demanded. "You shut off his life support!"

Sheppard struggled to breathe. It was like the air was slowly being sucked out of this little room. But he could still tell when his image turned up, and he looked up at his own face, glaring.

"What the hell are you doing?"

It squatted beside him, and through the blurred vision, Sheppard suddenly realised the hallucination was look anxiously down at him. He managed a chuckle, even through the lack of air.

"This isn't you."

"No, it isn't!" it snapped. "What the hell are they doing? I searched your mind, and this possibility did not come up! Your mind told me they would do anything to keep you alive."

"Depends on how I'm alive," he told it, without thinking. Then he grinned. "You're not in control. Not completely."

"Like he'd want to be kept alive like this!" Rodney snapped back. "This is not Sheppard. Either way, this is helping him!"

"Rodney..." Teyla began, trailing off as the scientist looked at her with wide eyes.

"Teyla... Ronon... trust me."

Woolsey growled, and reached up to touch his radio. "Security team to the -."

"No," Ronon interrupted, moving forward and turning, aiming his gun at Woolsey. "Stop, now."

Sheppard knew there was a way out now. He knew that the thing wasn't in control. He could do this.

He staggered to his feet, and his twin stood up with a start, jaw dropping. "What are you doing?"

"Getting out of here."

"No, you're not," his double replied hoarsely. "You're stuck in here."

"No, I'm not," John told him, wincing with the pain in his chest. God, it was agony. But he couldn't think about that, not now. Now was his chance. "I'm leaving. This isn't real. And you can't stop me from leaving."

And he stumbled forward, pushing past the hallucination, or whatever it was, as easily as pushing past the air around it. And he put his hand out to hit the wall, just knowing there would be a door there.

His hand hit the white wall, and the wall shook. He smiled triumphantly, and reached out subconsciously for the handle.

His palm touched cold metal, and he twisted, opening the door.

"Ronon!" Woolsey snapped. But the Satedan just backed up to stand next to Rodney. The scientist watched him warily, just in case this was a trick, but he didn't really think that it was. And then Teyla joined them, and the infirmary fell into quiet, the two sides facing off.

The only noise was the beeps of Sheppard's body shutting down, and Rodney twitched with every one, licking his lips as he turned back to his friend, hopeful that he hadn't just killed him.

And slowly the beeps died down, slowing, losing pace. And then they stopped, all together.

And McKay waited, holding his breath.

And he waited.

Sheppard looked out past the white wall, ignoring the deadly squeeze on his chest, walking, or staggering, he wasn't sure, because he looked out into the lake he knew from the other world. And he trusted that. Because it sang to him.

And he prepared to take a step.

"No!" the other him shouted. John didn't even look at it. "No, you will not escape! I promised that! I promised you! You are not getting out!"

And John's head exploded in light and agony, and he stumbled to his knees, falling through the doorway into darkness. The agony in his head increased, and he felt his world shattering as his mind did.

And he felt the hallucination push him out of the door, and he was falling.

A door slammed shut behind him, and he hit the ground, giving a wince as he rolled over. The agony in his head began to subside, and he blinked open wet eyes, flinching against the low light swinging above him. And then he frowned as familiarity washed over him.

A door opened with a loud squeal, and John rolled so he could see what was happening, feeling to sore and weak to do any more.

Three big men walked into his cell, the leader grinning sadistically. Sheppard's heart skipped a beat. He recognised that scar. He knew these men. He knew them all too well.

"No," he whispered. "No!"

"Oh yes, Sheppard," the leader spat. "Time for round two."

And McKay waited.

"No," he whispered as the silence continued. "Please. God, John."

He was going to be sick. Everyone had dropped their weapons now, and had turned to face the lifeless bed. Lifeless because of him.

"Oh, God!" He dropped his head to the bed

A beep.

McKay barely heard it at first. He was sure it was in his head. But he looked up anyway, up at Sheppard, up at that pale face.

A beep.

Keller gasped, running forward, shoving Ronon and Teyla out of the way, as a third beep sounded out from the machines. The doctor leaned over to study her patient, looking at the machines with a trained gaze. A fourth beep joined the others, and then a fifth. A sixth, coming faster and faster. More joined them, and McKay backed away as nurses swarmed the bed. But he didn't care. He could breathe again. Because John was breathing again. Not on his own, but something was beeping. It had worked. He hadn't killed the colonel.

Everyone who wasn't watching John was staring at him. Vaiko was looking at him like he had sprouted wings. Ronon and Teyla were just grinning at him.

Finally the beeps evened out, and Keller backed out of the mess of nurses and doctors. Sighting McKay, standing with Teyla and Ronon, she walked over, nodding.

"I don't know what you did, Rodney..."

"The program in the machine. It's designed to keep him alive."

"How did you know that?" Woolsey asked, joining them.

"I didn't," Rodney admitted with a heavy sigh. He felt like he was going to collapse from the release of all that anxiety. "I just... um, guessed. An educated guess!"

"Whatever it was, it worked," Jennifer told him. "He's back..." She trailed off then, frowned, looked back at the Colonel. "But he's still in trouble. He's back, but he's not out. Not by a long shot." She looked back at them and sighed with exhaustion. "He's back, but I still don't know how to help him."

... Didn't think I'd end it that easily, did you?