DISCLAIMER – I do not own Stargate: Atlantis. It is the intellectual property of MGM/UA and associates. I am writing this story for fun and I am not making any money from it.

Dr. Itzhak Perlman is my original character.

RATING – Story rated K+

ARCHIVE – You have my permission to archive this story if you wish. All I ask is that you let me know where it is being archived. Thanks!

A/N – Yay! I am so happy with the responses this story has been getting! You guys are making me do the happy dance, here, seriously. For those of you who pointed out that it couldn't possibly be that easy for Rodney to exit The Game, let me just say a solution that sounds too good to be true usually is. There's plenty more of this story to come. Enjoy!

I have no beta. If you spot any mistakes, I made them.

All Fun And Games

6. Doom With A View

John would've been only too glad to get out of the room if it hadn't been for the fact that his best friend was unable to vacate the premises along with him. John Sheppard operated by the rule that no one ever got left behind. The only way he was going to exit this room would be in company with Itzhak and Rodney, no matter what.

"We can't leave Rodney alone," John said.

The doctor looked scared. Admittedly, John didn't know the man as well as he knew some of the other Atlantis expedition members, but he was pretty sure 'scared' wasn't on the top ten list of Itzhak's usual emotions. Itzhak Perlman had a reputation for being reliably level-headed in a crisis. This situation was definitely problematic, but it hadn't nearly reached the level of crisis, yet. The sight of the notoriously unshakeable Dr. Perlman visibly shaking was, in John's opinion, a very bad sign.

"There's something in here," Itzhak said.

"Which is exactly why we can't leave," said John. "There's no way I'm leaving Rodney alone in here with…whatever it is."

Itzhak looked as if he wanted to protest, but to his credit, he didn't try to argue. He folded his arms across his body in a self-protecting gesture, and said, "Do you think it's getting colder?"

"Maybe, a little, now that you mention it," John said. "What do you think is causing it?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe it's not really getting colder. Maybe we only think it is."

"What do you mean?"

"We thought we heard a Stargate kawhoosh, and we thought we heard a Wraith dart," John said. 'Maybe we're imagining we're cold."

"I'm not imagining it," Itzhak said as he rubbed his forearms briskly. 'I am cold. Very cold. The temperature's dropping rapidly in here, Colonel."

John frowned. The ambient temperature in the room was somewhat cooler than John considered comfortable, but it certainly wasn't dropping rapidly. "Do you want my jacket?" he asked Itzhak.

"We can't stay here."

"We're not leaving," John said, as he began to shrug out of his jacket. "When Carson gets here, then you can go, all right? For now, you need to stay here, in case something happens."

"Colonel, there's nothing I can do for Dr. McKay. I told you that already."

"I know, you said there's nothing you can do until we get him free from the device, but you also said it was important to keep monitoring his vital signs. Remember?"

Itzhak nodded. "I remember."

"Good. Here, put my jacket on. Do you have one of those silver blankets in your medical kit?"

"An emergency blanket? Yes."

"I'm going to get it for you," John said, even as he moved toward the spot where Itzhak had left his bag of medical supplies. He poked around in the doctor's black carry-all and found the thin, silvery blanket in one of the larger outside pockets. He carried it back to his colleague, unfolding it on the way.

"Thanks," Itzhak said, as John draped the blanket awkwardly around his shoulders.

"Don't mention it," John said. "Other than being cold, do you feel okay?"

"I think so. It's just…" Itzhak's voice trailed off and John saw the doctor's eyes widen in what the colonel could only describe as panic. With the hand that wasn't keeping the emergency blanket in place, Itzhak pointed toward the door. "Colonel…behind you…"

"What?"

"Wraith," the doctor whispered.

"What!"

John whirled around to discover what new horror might be awaiting him. He hadn't heard the door open, but he was beginning to think that didn't really matter in this room. He was fully expecting to come face-to-face with a Wraith, and wished frantically that he'd brought a weapon other than his sidearm. He pulled the weapon from its holster on his thigh.

He was aiming at nothing.

The spot where the doctor had been pointing was completely devoid of Wraith or any other dangerous aliens. In fact, the room still appeared completely unchanged to John's senses. The air was marginally cooler, perhaps, but John didn't see, hear or smell anything out of the ordinary.

John returned his weapon to its place and faced Itzhak again. The doctor was trembling, whether from fear or from perceived cold, John couldn't be sure. He reached out and touched Itzhak's arm.

"Doc?"

"Did you see it?"

"I didn't see anything, Doc," John said. "There's nothing there. I think it was a hallucination, just like before."

"It didn't look like a hallucination."

"Some hallucinations can look pretty damn real," John said. "Trust me, there are no Wraith in this room. No darts. No active Stargates."

"Are you sure you didn't see anything?"

"Positive," John said.

"This doesn't make sense. We both heard the Stargate and the dart," Itzhak said. "Why didn't you see the Wraith?"

"Maybe for the same reason I'm not cold and you are."

"Oh," Itzhak said ineloquently. He sat down on the floor and pulled the blanket more closely around himself. "I knew today wasn't going to be one of my better days. You ever have one of those mornings when you wake up feeling like it'd be a bad idea to get out of bed? I'm having one today. Really."

Ironic, John thought. He'd actually awakened this morning in a confident mood, ready to take on anything. Of course, his definition of 'anything' hadn't exactly included hallucinating, or letting his best friend get trapped in some kind of killer machine. Now that he was thinking about it, John decided this wasn't turning out to be one of his better days, either.

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

This time around, Rodney was ready for the Wraith dart.

It was a well-honed sense of vengeance that made him want to destroy it. Intellectually, he understood it wasn't a real dart, and there was no real Wraith inside it. He also realized that if he let the dart destroy him, he'd be that much closer to washing out of the second level of The Game. The urge to shoot down the dart, however, was overpowering because, after all, it had 'killed' him during his first attempt at getting through this level.

Rodney unleashed a drone at the small Wraith ship. He observed with a wicked satisfaction as the drone found its mark and the dart exploded in a spectacular fashion.

Rodney's little passengers clapped and cheered. The girl – Rodney had come to the conclusion that she was a version of Radek's real-world adopted daughter Shadow – magically produced a power bar from thin air and held it out toward Rodney. He guessed it was a congratulatory offering. That was something like the real Shadow would do. Even though he knew it wasn't real, Rodney accepted the power bar, unwrapped it and began to eat it.

It tasted real.

It was peanut butter flavoured.

This is weird, Rodney thought. How can I be tasting this if it's just a figment of my imagination? He was sufficiently distracted by the idea of being able to imagine the taste of a peanut butter flavoured power bar that he temporarily forgot he was supposed to be looking for a way to fail his second attempt at the maze.

He wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. This was, perhaps, the first time in his life that he'd ever set out purposely to fail at something. He wondered what John Sheppard would have to say about that. No doubt the colonel would have more than one smart-ass comment. He'd probably have a few ideas about how to get out of this level of The Game, too. Rodney tried to decide what John might do, if he were in this situation.

Maybe he'd just go kamikaze and fly the 'jumper straight into the nearest wall.

Rodney glanced sideways at the two little kids who were sitting together in the co-pilot's seat. He might've considered crashing the 'jumper into a wall if it weren't for them. Even though he was perfectly aware that they were game constructs and not actual people, he couldn't bring himself to crash the 'jumper on purpose with them in it. He'd just have to wait for some other obstacle in the maze to take care of the problem.

He consulted the heads-up display to check his progress through the maze. At the next set of intersecting tunnels, he'd need to turn left, and then keep going straight until he came to a T-shaped intersection. He'd have to turn right, there. He wondered if they'd meet any other obstacles before they reached that point.

To fill the silence that had descended in the 'jumper, Rodney decided to try getting some more information about The Game.

"So," he began conversationally. "After this level, how many more are there?"

He was surprised when it wasn't mini-Radek who answered his question. Mini-Shadow smiled angelically at him and held up one delicate hand with four fingers extended. Rodney stared at her. He knew his jaw must be slack with shock.

Mini-Radek gave him a quizzical look. "Rodney, what's the matter?"

"She can hear me?" Rodney blurted, gesturing at mini-Shadow.

"Of course," mini-Radek said. "Why shouldn't she be able to?"

"Well…uh…she's deaf," Rodney stammered. "In real life, she can't hear or speak."

"The person she represents is deaf outside The Game. Inside, we are how you create us," mini-Radek said. "Your image of her is capable of hearing and speaking."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh," mini-Shadow said.

"We appear as you create us," mini-Radek affirmed.

"Does that mean I can recreate you, too?" Rodney asked.

"In what way?"

"Can I make you into adults?"

"No."

Well, it was worth a shot. "Okay, so there are six levels altogether. Does every player get the same puzzles and mazes to solve?"

"Only the first two levels are the same. Every player must solve the number puzzle and pass through the maze," mini-Radek said. "After that, every player's game is different."

"How?"

"You should concentrate on flying."

The admonition startled Rodney into attentiveness. He glanced at the HUD and realized that he'd kept flying straight when he should have turned left. Now, they were soaring straight into a dead end, headed directly for a wall.

"Crap!" Rodney exclaimed, as he involuntarily tensed in anticipation of the impact. In a panic, he mentally commanded the 'jumper stop, stop, STOP!

The ship slowed to a halt less than a metre from the wall.

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

When the doors parted to admit Radek Zelenka into the room, John felt like cheering. The Czech engineer looked dishevelled and more frazzled than usual, but still, John was more than glad to see him. Radek was carrying his laptop computer and a large box which John assumed contained tools and diagnostic equipment. The engineer had, evidently, arrived fully prepared. That was comforting to John. With any luck, Radek would quickly determine how to shut off the machine and get Rodney out.

At the moment, John was less worried about Rodney than he was about Itzhak. The Israeli doctor hadn't moved from the spot where he'd first sat down. John had coaxed and cajoled and ordered him to get up and move around, hoping that a bit of activity would warm him up, but Itzhak had refused to do anything. John guessed he was still seeing things and hearing things, because he looked utterly terrified. At one point, he'd covered his head and yelled frantically at John that there'd been an explosion. Coincidentally, John had also heard a loud noise, but his own hallucination didn't seem to be nearly as vivid as Itzhak's had been.

Radek's gaze travelled around the room. Worry creased his features when he saw Rodney and the machine that held him captive, but it was the sight of Itzhak Perlman on the floor, huddled in the silvery emergency blanket that pulled a small gasp from him.

"Colonel Sheppard, what happened?" Radek asked. "I thought it was only Rodney who needed help."

"Well, that's how it started," said John, from where he was kneeling next to Itzhak on the floor. "We've been…uh…hearing things."

"What sort of things?"

"War," said Itzhak, in a thin voice that didn't sound a thing like his normal tone. "I hear war."

"Radek, where's Carson?" John said.

Radek frowned. "He was right behind me."

"Then, he should be here."

"Yes," Radek agreed. He set down his tool box and went back to the door. When he tried to open it, nothing happened. He glanced over his shoulder at John. "Colonel?"

John got up and hurried over to join the engineer. He passed his own hand in front of the door sensor, but his results weren't any better than Radek's. The door was not going to open. John groaned in disgust.

"Great, just great," he said. "Just when I thought this day couldn't possibly get any worse."

TBC
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