DISCLAIMER – I don't own Stargate: Atlantis. It is the intellectual property of MGM/UA and associates. I am making no money from this, and no copyright infringement is intended. This is a work of fan fiction only.

Dr. Itzhak Perlman is my original character.

RATING – This story is rated K+

ARCHIVE – Feel free to archive this story, only please tell me where you're putting it. Thanks!

A/N – Wow…I'm really sorry it has taken so long for me to continue this story! I've been working on my other one, which is nearly finished now, so I should have a bit more time to devote to this one. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and leaving me such fab comments. Thank you also for waiting patiently for this story to be continued. Enjoy!

I have no beta. All mistakes are mine.

All Fun And Games

4. Twists And Turns

After having examined Rodney to the best of his ability, Itzhak had concluded that although the physicist was unconscious, he was in no other physical danger for the moment. John had been relieved to hear that, glad to know the machine wasn't doing anything fatal to Rodney's body. He was still worried about what the thing might be doing to his friend's mind, though. Itzhak had frowned when John asked him about that, and had said he didn't know. There was really no way of determining that until they could free Rodney from the device and get him to the Infirmary. John knew Itzhak was frustrated at not being able to do more for his patient. John was frustrated, too.

John watched Itzhak prowl around the room. Apparently the good doctor was not only bothered by his lack of ability to help, but was also just as intolerant of waiting as John himself. Itzhak picked up various objects from the tables, examined them briefly, and returned them to their places, all the while muttering to himself in a language John couldn't comprehend.

In spite of the circumstances, John grinned. He'd heard more languages since his arrival in Atlantis than he'd heard in the entirety of his life before coming to the Pegasus galaxy. He was getting pretty good at interpreting what people meant, even if he didn't always understand the words they were saying. Sometimes, the simple fact that somebody had reverted to his first language told a lot about their emotional state. The unflappable Itzhak Perlman spoke practically flawless English, with only the slightest trace of an accent to make it interesting. John had never heard him use a language other than English before, and if he was doing so now, John guessed that along with being frustrated, he must also be very perplexed.

Itzhak scooped up yet another object from the table and studied it, while John observed him from a distance. The doctor turned the thing over and over in his hands, rambling quietly as he did so. John had the whimsical thought that Itzhak was addressing the object more than he was talking to himself. After several seconds, he carried the small, grey cube-shaped object across the room and showed it to John.

"Colonel, do you know what this is?" Itzhak asked.

"Uh…Doc, I don't mean to sound like your babysitter or anything, but if you don't know what it's for and you don't know what you're doing, you probably shouldn't touch it."

"A rule that you and Dr. McKay follow assiduously, right?"

"Rodney usually knows what he's doing."

"Ah…I see," Itzhak said. He grinned. "Usually."

"This isn't funny, you know."

"I'm not laughing," said Itzhak. He ran his fingers over the palm-sized object he held. "Doesn't this remind you of Rubik's Cube?"

"Ancient Rubik's Cube? Look, maybe you should put it down before it starts glowing."

"I don't think it's going to glow. I haven't got the ATA gene."

The doctor began fiddling with the toy, carefully twisting the moveable parts. John decided it did kind of resemble Rubik's Cube, except that instead of being different colours, the smaller squares that made up the larger puzzle were printed with various Ancient symbols. Maybe it was harmless. It looked innocuous enough, but then, so did the machine that had captured Rodney.

John went back to the machine in question, which was still holding his friend in its metallic clutches. He was beginning to wonder if the device really was a game or a toy. What sort of people invented a game that rendered the user unconscious by zapping them with energy? Games weren't supposed to do that.

Weapons did that.

Suddenly, John was struck by the horrible thought that perhaps the place they were in wasn't an Ancient toy store after all. Maybe it was some kind of war room or weapons-testing laboratory. Maybe the purpose of the model Atlantis and the tiny realistic 'jumpers was for battle simulation. Maybe the device that had seized Rodney was some sort of elaborate trap

Intending to share this new theory with Itzhak, John turned, only to discover the Israeli doctor still playing with the cube.

"Uh…Doc?" John began.

'I think I've got this side figured out."

"I really don't think you should be playing with that thing."

"Why not?"

"Because," John said. "It might be a weapon."

"A weapon?" Itzhak peered at him with mingled curiosity and concern. "It doesn't look like a weapon."

"Neither does the thing that got Rodney, but it grabbed him by the head and knocked him out, didn't it?"

"I see your point, but how could this be—"

A weird noise from the vicinity of the door made both men jump. Itzhak dropped the cube as if it were white-hot. When John's eyes met the doctor's, he could see his own trepidation reflected there.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As mini-Radek had predicted, the first level of the game was no trouble at all. In Rodney's view, it was actually a ridiculously simple puzzle. He'd been required to unscramble a series of tiles with Ancient numbers on them so they formed a logical sequence. Rodney had played number games like that when he'd been in the early grades of elementary school. He could do them in his sleep by now.

For his part, mini-Radek did not seem the least bit surprised at how quickly Rodney had solved the puzzle. Rodney got the feeling that no one really failed to pass the first level of The Game, and that the number puzzle was really meant to lull players into a false sense of security. The subsequent levels had to be progressively harder; otherwise, there would be no challenge to The Game at all. There wouldn't be any point in playing it.

The completed number puzzle vanished when mini-Radek waved his hand over it. He grinned at Rodney, which made Rodney instantly suspicious.

"So, what happens now?" Rodney asked.

"Now," mini-Radek said. "You may leave this room or you may begin the next level immediately. The choice is up to you."

The thought of passing through the door and entering the playground on the other side didn't appeal to Rodney in the slightest. He said, "What's the next level?"

"The next level is maze," mini-Radek told him. "Do you want to begin now?"

"Can you answer some questions first?"

"Of course."

"Do I have the option of quitting The Game if I want to?"

"Yes."

"Perfect. Now we're getting somewhere. How do I do that?"

"To leave The Game, you must consciously think about leaving it."

"Okay, there might be a bit of a problem with that," Rodney said. "I've already tried to think the machine off, but I couldn't do it."

Mini-Radek frowned. "That is very odd."

"Is there a way to shut the device off? You know, from out there in the real world."

"No one has ever deactivated the device with player inside," mini-Radek said.

"So, you're saying it's not possible?"

"I am saying I'm not sure about whether it is possible or not. No one has ever turned the device off with player inside."

"All right," Rodney said. "If it is possible, you'll figure it out."

"I only have your knowledge and what is stored in the memory of The Game. I do not exist outside your game, Rodney."

"No, no, no, no…the real you!" Rodney blurted. "Obviously, I'm talking about Radek, because you're not really Radek, are you? I mean, you're just a figment of my imagination and you're all of what…seven years old? God, I can't believe I'm talking to a hallucination…again. This is crazy! It's just—"

"Rodney?"

"What?"

"Would you like to begin the next level?"

Rodney flung his hands outward in a gesture of exasperation. What he really would have liked was to be able to get out of there, but since he hadn't had much success in doing that so far, he figured he ought to play along for a while. Given his options, finding his way through a maze seemed far less daunting than facing whatever challenge lay beyond the door in the playground full of rowdy children. Besides, mini-Radek seemed a lot more sensible and straightforward than mini-Elizabeth. Maybe if Rodney kept asking questions, he'd eventually discover a way to free himself.

"Why not?" he said to mini-Radek. "Let's begin the next level."

Just as he'd done before, mini-Radek waved his hand through empty air and caused it to shimmer. This time, instead of a puzzle appearing, another door formed. The door wasn't white like the first one, but more closely resembled the ones in Atlantis. Mini-Radek lifted the silent toddler from where she sat, and carried her toward the new doorway. The tiny 'jumper continued to sail along beside the girl.

"Follow us," mini-Radek said.

Rodney followed.

The door led into a second room. This one was grey and equally as featureless as the place they'd just left. Rodney was unimpressed to discover mini-Elizabeth was waiting for them inside the grey room. He couldn't say why, but the seven-year-old version of Elizabeth Weir creeped him out. He had a hard time believing he was creating this image of her. Only in his nightmares would he conjure up an environment where he was the only adult. This was worse than being on that planet with all the kids. At least he could walk through the Stargate to get away from the planet.

"Hello, Rodney," mini-Elizabeth said. "Welcome to the second level. You will have three chances to complete the maze."

"What happens if I don't complete the maze after three tries?" Rodney asked.

"The Game ends," mini-Elizabeth said.

"The Game ends and I can get out?"

"The Game ends," she repeated.

Just great, Rodney muttered to himself. He thought he might as well face the fact that he was never going to get a straight answer out of mini-Elizabeth. The real Elizabeth wouldn't avoid answering his questions, and Rodney would have pointed that out to the girl if he believed it would have done any good.

"Okay, fine," Rodney said. "Where's the maze?"

"Here," mini-Radek said, as the room began to dissolve around them. He gestured at the little ship that hovered beside the toddler's head. "Take the 'jumper."

Rodney reached to pluck the toy 'jumper from the air. Mini-Elizabeth took a step toward him, her own hand upraised. "No," she said. "Fly it with your mind."

Rodney concentrated on the 'jumper, and miraculously, it soared away from the little girl and toward him instead. He found it was just as hard to fly the toy 'jumper as it was to fly a real one, and he had to focus a lot of mental energy on it.

While Rodney practiced flying the toy 'jumper, the room was reforming itself into a life-sized three dimensional maze. Rodney wondered if he was supposed to walk through the maze while keeping the little ship in the air. He was about to ask when a bright flash of light flared in the room, temporarily obscuring his vision. The light was accompanied by a rushing sound, like the kawhoosh of an opening Stargate.

When Rodney's eyesight cleared, he looked around. Mini-Elizabeth had disappeared somewhere, and so had the toy spacecraft. Rodney saw that he was now sitting in the pilot's seat of a very realistic, full-sized 'jumper. Perched in the co-pilot's seat was mini-Radek. The little girl was sitting on mini-Radek's lap, happily eating what looked suspiciously like a power bar.

Rodney briefly considered trying to imagine a power bar for himself, before he concluded there would be no point. A virtual power bar would do nothing for his very real hypoglycaemia. He glanced at mini-Radek.

"So, now what?" he said.

"Bring up the HUD. See what the maze looks like," mini-Radek told him. "The object is to begin here and fly through the maze until you reach the exit."

Well, this was more of a challenge than the number puzzle, but it still didn't seem overly complex. Rodney mentally called the 'jumper's heads-up display into existence and studied the picture of the maze that appeared.

It's just a maze, he said to himself. How hard could it be?

TBC
--------------------