The lights were dim in the infirmary which suited Teyla's mood. It felt brooding and somber, like waiting for thunder after a flash of lightning. John lay on the bed nearby, still and pale and sweating out the puzzle's poison. Ronon was asleep in a chair next to the bed - his hand cocked against his hip as if, even in sleep, he could defend John from the horrors of recovery.
She was angry, but there was no one to direct her anger towards except a 10,000 year old dead buffoon.
Rodney shuffled into the room, wrung his hands for a moment while he looked at John, then sagged into the chair next to her.
"We blew the place up," he stated after a comfortable silence.
"Good."
"Yes. Maximianus has hosted his last murder mystery party."
"His… what?" Teyla twisted to throw Rodney a questioning look.
"It's a party game back on Earth. You invite friends over and someone pretends to get killed and then the rest have to solve the murder using clues the host provides."
"This….is considered fun?"
"I wouldn't really know. No one ever invited me to one. But it was all the rage when I was in Antarctica."
"Ah."
More long moments of silence passed. John labored to stay alive under his blankets. Rodney began to snore softly, but Teyla couldn't share his relaxation. She grew angrier the longer she sat.
"So this Ancient considered torture and actual murder fun? Like your Earth parties?" she spat at last to the room, startling Rodney awake.
"Hmm? Oh. Apparently so. Except I suspect that to another Ancient - his buddy Caelinus for example - it wouldn't have been as close a call as it was for John."
"As it is. John still struggles to breathe." She clenched her fists, then forced herself to relax. Anger would not bring healing to anyone, not even herself.
"Agreed. But, what I meant was, those Ancient dudes would have known the rules and would have prepared for the 'fun' by bringing tools, antidotes, weapons, and so on in anticipation. Like we might put on protective padding and clothing for sparring or fencing. The puzzle-maker would not create anything that would have actually killed his friend. "
"The hologram referred to servants and masters. I did not think the Ancients behaved like spoiled royalty."
"That surprised me, too. I guess all towns have their idiots. We know some of them considered humans of this galaxy inferior. These two, at least, thought of themselves as lords more than they thought of themselves as Ancients, I guess. I hope they didn't ascend, or, come back to Earth."
John chose that moment to suffer a minor seizure and conversation faltered as electronic monitors wailed and dedicated medical staff descended. Teyla found her knee thumping and her fists clenched when, finally, the seizure passed, the nurses left, and John continued his struggle, alone.
Not, alone, she decided and pulled her chair very close. John was still pale, perhaps even more so. Though deeply unconscious, his brow was furrowed as if in pain. His chest rose and fell around breaths as if each were a labor. She reached for his hand that was resting on top of the covers and gripped it firmly.
Ronon - awakened by the commotion - also pulled his chair closer on the other side and thumped John's shoulder. Rodney hitched himself onto the mattress by John's feet, not quite touching his friend, but lending presence and weight to the bedding.
"We wouldn't have survived without him," Rodney said at last. Teyla was surprised by the roughness in her teammate's voice and tore her attention away from John to find Rodney wringing his hands again. "The attacks required each member of the party to contribute in some way. If he had just… passed out or...given up, we would have all failed the puzzle."
"And we are here for him, now." Teyla reached her other hand towards Rodney who raised an eyebrow. Teyla added a glare and he awkwardly squeezed the very tips of her fingers. She then turned her affectionate gaze towards Ronon who thumped John's shoulder again.
"Got your back, Sheppard," he said.
"We are here, John," Teyla murmured. "You do not fight alone, but fight you must. We will be here if you need us."
They remained close through the long hours of the night. John sweat and convulsed, then, exhausted from the battle, he slept. When dawn broke over Atlantis, and John opened his eyes for the first time in hours, his friends were sprawled in sleep nearby.
John didn't remember much. He remembered being in pain. He remembered being in danger, and he remembered that his team had kept him alive in the maze. This last brought a stab of guilt as he gingerly sipped the broth that Keller had brought him. Even the bland liquid rumbled his stomach as his system continued to purge the last of poison and, apparently, any food he consumed. When he was afraid he'd lose what little he'd swallowed, he pushed the bowl to the side and took several deep breaths.
When Rodney lumbered into the infirmary a few minutes later, John was still feeling a bit green.
"Sheppard! Good to finally see you awake."
Rodney could be so annoying when he was being comforting. He plopped himself at the foot of John's bed and stared.
"Good to finally BE awake. What do you want, Rodney?"
"Want? Me? Nothing. I thought you might want to know how I saved your bacon in that maze, now that your bacon is, you know, finally awake."
John could have been ticked, but he was curious. So, he waved Rodney on and settled in for the lecture. A half hour later, he sat shaking his head.
"So, some rich Ancient dudes thought it was fun to create death traps for each other and hope their friend came out alive?"
"Something like that, yes."
"So, what was the final solution? I don't remember anything after passing out in the maze."
Rodney's face went so somber that John raised an eyebrow. "I'm not surprised you don't remember. You were in incredible pain."
John squirmed. "Really. Tell me the solution. In case I get invited to another Murder Mystery party by this Maxi… Maxi Anus somebody."
Rodney chortled. "I called it a Murder Mystery, too. And it's Maximianus. The solution was pretty brilliant, if you ask me."
"I just did. But, I'll reserve judgement on brilliance until you tell me the solution."
"It was a brilliant solution."
"So you say."
"So your skinny butt lying there, still breathing, says."
"Fair enough."
"The answer was in the combination of clues. All taken together they were: glass, elasticity (though that was a stretch using Hooke's law), time, energy, amplitude, and matter - specifically the phases of matter. When you kept banging your head against the wall, and distracting me by the way, it hit me: the wall was the "matter" and we had to apply the other clues to change its phase. When we beat on it - applied energy in other words - it vibrated. Vibrations in patterns that, in the right timing and sufficient amplitude, created enough molecular disruption to break the wall. Just like the proverbial opera singer breaks a wine glass with her voice."
"So it...melted?"
"Like an ice cube in hell. The kicker was that it required the combined energy of all four of us."
John raised an eyebrow and Rodney managed to look sheepish and grateful at the same time. "Yes. Even you. You may not remember, but I was watching you. You somehow managed to bang your stupid thick head against that damn wall in time to Ronon's chant. We wouldn't have collapsed it without you. Thank you." The last was spoken with quiet formality.
John squirmed again. "I didn't…"
"Exactly. You could have passed out and left us in the lurch. You didn't. It may have only been a thump every four beats, but it was a thump that mattered. It was the 'yop' that saved the Whos. That saved...me. So, I repeat: Thank you."
Rodney nodded, his expression daring John to make light. "You're welcome," John whispered, feeling wholly unworthy. Rodney grinned, then wagged a finger.
"Of course, I figured out all the clues and how to apply them, so you should also thank me."
"Thank you," John obliged and somehow felt much better.
"You're welcome," Rodney bowed with a haughty wave of his hand. "Now, I have to get back to work. Later, Sheppard. Come see me when you're done lying around."
And he was gone.
John sank into his pillows, reassured by Rodney's visit. He would have to make it a point to thank Teyla and Ronon, too. They had all been essential to surviving that Max dude's puzzle. That was hardly unusual, if a little bit more on the nose than usual.
They were a team. Even underprepared and ignorant of the rules, they had survived because they were a team. Max had considered this idea novel from the way Rodney told it.
John just considered it...obvious.
