DISCLAIMER – Stargate: Atlantis is the intellectual property of MGM/UA and associates. This story is a work of fan fiction, created solely for the purpose of personal entertainment. I am making no profit from this story and no copyright infringement is intended.

Dr. Itzhak Perlman is my original character.

RATING – This story is rated T

ARCHIVE – You have my permission to archive this story if you wish. Please tell me where you're putting it. That's all I ask. Thanks!

A/N – Thank you all once again for the fabulous response you've been giving this story! Each chapter seems to gain a few new readers, and now thirty people have added this story to their alerts! -glee!- Seriously, you guys have no idea how happy you're making me, here!

Well, here's Chapter Nine for you. I'm sure some of you have already predicted the events of this chapter, but trust me, there's more adventure awaiting our heroes in this story. This is a shorter chapter. I hope you all will enjoy reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it for you! Have fun!

I have no beta. All mistakes are mine.

All Fun And Games

9. Two Can Play At This Game

What are we supposed to do now? It was a valid question.

At one time or another, each man in the room had probably been in worse situations than the one they were currently in. John himself had been caught between a rock and a hard place more times than he cared to count, but it seemed that almost every time he got into trouble, he could figure a way to get out again. More often than not, he could fight his way out. Barring that, he'd wait until somebody else fought their way in to rescue him. The problem this time, John realized, was that this was not a dilemma that called for fighting.

John let his gaze travel around the room and observed his four friends. Rodney, of course, hadn't moved. He was still in the clutches of the device.

Radek had inched his way into the corner and hunkered down behind the machine. Carson had tried to persuade him to come out of there, but Radek, evidently, was no longer capable of listening to reason. Carson's gentle coaxing had been met by a litany of Czech, the same incomprehensible phrase repeated over and over, until Carson had eventually given up and Radek's voice dissolved into ragged noises that weren't quite sobs.

Carson was beyond anxious. John could see the lines of worry etched across his friend's face. He imagined Carson was hoping this whole thing was just a nightmare and that he'd wake up soon and everything would be okay. If that was the case, John could sympathize. He was kind of hoping it was all a dream, too, even though he knew full well that it wasn't.

John decided Itzhak was the luckiest one of their group, despite the fact that he was unconscious. The Israeli doctor lay where Carson and John had settled him, completely oblivious to anything that might be going on around him. He looked peaceful, which was more than could be said for anybody else.

What are we supposed to do now?

The question echoed in John's head as he watched Itzhak sleep. Of the five of them in the room, John and Carson were the only ones really capable of doing anything at the moment. John didn't know why whatever had affected Radek and Itzhak hadn't affected him and Carson as well, but he wasn't about to question it, now. He needed to think of a way to take advantage of his ability to act while he still had it.

He and Rodney had both tried to deactivate the device mentally, and had been unsuccessful at it. Radek had tried to deactivate it manually, which had resulted in nothing more than Radek injuring his fingers. In John's opinion, it didn't seem logical that the machine couldn't be turned off. There had to be some way to disable the thing. Maybe there was something they were overlooking. John let his attention roam around the room again, and his gaze settled on the second device.

That was it.

All their experiments so far had been on the first machine, the one that held Rodney captive. Radek had said the devices were connected, and that activating one of them might have activated both. Maybe the way to shut both devices off was to deactivate the second one.

John got up and dusted himself off. He went to the far corner of the room where the second device glowed and hummed softly. John was aware of Carson watching him as he placed both his palms on the grey surface of the device. He could feel the power in the machine. He closed his eyes and concentrated on shutting it down.

Nothing happened.

Maybe he had to be in contact with it the same way Rodney was in contact with the first device. John wasn't keen on the idea of being shocked into unconsciousness by the thing, but he was beginning to get the feeling this was the only course of action remaining to him. Rodney had been conscious up to the point where both his hands and his face had made contact with the machine. If John could stay awake long enough to think the device into hibernation, maybe everything would be okay.

John slid his hand down the smooth side of the machine until his palm rested on one of the projections.

From behind him, Carson's tense voice said, "Colonel, what are you doing?"

"Conducting an experiment," John said.

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

"An experiment!" Carson exclaimed, horrified. He was on his feet in a second, and at the colonel's side in less than five. "You aren't considering letting that thing get hold of you, are you?"

John turned away from the mechanical monstrosity to face Carson directly. "Actually, Doc, that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"You don't know what it'll do to you," Carson said. "The bloody thing could kill you."

"It didn't kill Rodney," said John.

"That's not the point," Carson said. "It didn't kill him, but it did render him unconscious, didn't it? And we've no idea what it might be doing to his mind. His body might be perfectly fine, but there's no telling what sort of damage—"

John shushed him with an upraised hand. "Carson," he said. "We haven't got a whole lot of choices, here. You realize that, don't you? Nothing we've done so far has worked. I've got to try this."

"I just want you to know I think it's a bad idea."

"Okay," John said. "I hear where you're coming from. I didn't say it was a good idea, anyway. It just happens to be one of the only options left."

"What happens if you get stuck in the machine?" Carson said.

'I'm not even going to think about that."

"Someone's got to think about it."

John grinned at him, but Carson could tell the soldier's levity was forced. "Hey, where's that famous optimism, Doc? Everything'll work out fine. It always does, right?"

"There really are no other options, are there?"

"Oh, I can think of one or two more, but they involve ordnance and cutting torches."

"Right," Carson said. His stomach knotted at the mention of weapons and potentially dangerous tools. "I suppose you'd better try your idea first, then."

Carson was certain this would turn out to be the latest on John Sheppard's list of ill-advised plans. Sometimes Carson wondered if the colonel actually thought of the consequences before diving headlong into the unknown. Probably he didn't, otherwise he wouldn't be so quick to face untold dangers to rescue his friends. It seemed that John simply chose the straightest path between where he was and where he wanted to be, and followed it regardless of any potential harm he might cause himself along the way. Carson couldn't decide whether this made John a hero or a daredevil. He allowed himself a wry inward smile. Perhaps the intrepid soldier was a little of both.

He watched as John stepped in front of the machine. The colonel sized up the device with a critical eye before reaching out and placing his hands on the two side projections. He leaned toward the device, and the three contacts extruded from it.

"Well," John said. "Here goes nothing."

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

This is weird, John said to himself as he felt the device's contact points touch his forehead and the sides of his face. He'd psyched himself up to receive a powerful jolt of energy from the device. Instead, all he experienced was the slight prickling sensation he normally felt when he activated some piece of Ancient technology. His palms and face tingled pleasantly, and he found that he was oddly relaxed.

He was aware of Carson hovering nearby, and from the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Radek peeking out from behind the first device. John caught Carson's worried frown, and tried to smile at him, to reassure him. Everything was fine. There was nothing to worry about.

John was starting to feel sleepy. Part of his brain registered the fact that the drowsiness had to be induced, but the greater part of him didn't really care. He felt as if his entire body was floating, drifting in a warm sea. The edges of his vision began to grow dim, but he didn't really mind. His eyelids were heavy. He gladly gave in to the urge to lower them.

Time stretched like warm taffy while John dozed. He might have been asleep for a minute or a year. He had the oddest notion that if he'd imagined himself sleeping for a year it would become an irrefutable fact. If he envisioned himself resting only for a minute, that would likewise be true.

He pictured himself waking, and opened his eyes.

John found himself lying on his back in a perfectly white room. When he sat up and looked around, he realized the room was actually a completely enclosed box. There were no windows and there was no way to exit. That could be a problem, John reasoned, and so he promptly imagined a door.

John stood and headed for his door, but before he reached it, somebody opened it from the other side. John stared. The person who had stepped over the threshold was an Air Force officer in full dress uniform. The officer was none other than Brigadier-General Jack O'Neill.

From somewhere far above his head, John heard an echoing, androgynous voice.

«John Sheppard.» the voice said, « Welcome to The Game.»

TBC
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