PART FOUR
"Where is he?" Rodney demanded as he wove his way back into the infirmary. Most of the staff from Operations had cleared out. He himself had time to be examined, get caffeinated, order Radek to do a quick interrogation of the Ancient database for anything connected to the symbol they'd found on the cave, and beat his own personal best for fastest shower. So, it made no sense that Sheppard, who had announced loudly and to anyone who would listen that they needed to go back to PX2-548, was still off-radio. That could only mean one thing – they were keeping him in the infirmary, which meant something was wrong, which meant –
"Slow down, Rodney." Carson caught his arm, effectively interrupting his escalating worry and his headlong rush. "I take it you're here for the same reason as Ronon." He gestured toward the big guy leaning against the far wall. "Jennifer still has Colonel Sheppard under the scanner. Seems he got some foreign matter in his eyes from the explosion, and –"
"Yes, yes, we were there," Rodney cut in, including Ronon as he approached. He didn't need a re-hash, he needed facts. Besides, it didn't take a genius to discern that black-and-red-shot eyes equaled not good – never mind nanite-induced hallucinations. But the man had insisted that he could see and that everything was fine. He was never believing him again.
"Like I told Teyla and Ronon earlier," Carson was saying, "we managed to get most of the – for lack of a better word – ash out, but a nearly transparent film has been resistant to normal eye wash procedures. But, as it doesn't seem to be affecting his vision, we're not overly worried. The deeper scans are just a precaution. Feel better?"
Rodney slumped in relief, but responded, "No! We have other problems."
"What sort of problems?" Ronon demanded gruffly.
"Aside from the obvious fact that someone has been repeatedly dialing our gate for the past hour? They've upped the ante – they're sending through signals, trying to duplicate our IDCs."
"Can they do that?" Carson wanted to know.
"We've changed all the codes. And thankfully, no teams are off world at the moment. But, yeah – maybe? And we are going to need to actually go back out there at some point."
"Can't we just move the city again?" Carson asked.
"Yes, but that's a bit drastic. Besides, that would burn through an incredible amount of power. Plus we'd have to find a world, and notify all of our allies and clear it through the Homeworld Security, Stargate Command, the IOA, and that's just for starters." Rodney counted off on his fingers the number of impediments to that plan. "We'd also have to –"
"Thank you, Rodney. I get the point."
"The only viable plan is to go back there. The sooner the better."
"First the Colonel, now you. Why don't you talk to Mr. Woolsey, he's the one who has to approve the mission?"
"Actually, that was next… on my agenda," Rodney said, suddenly self-conscious. It was probably telling that he'd gone to check up on Sheppard first. But, then, Ronon was there, too. "Speaking of which," he added aloud, "where's Teyla?"
"Went to see Torren," Ronon answered.
"And I have work to do. Excuse me." Carson headed off randomly.
Rodney watched him go, and then met Ronon's expectant gaze. He looked like he was itching for something to do. Rodney concurred; he'd done enough waiting around. He gave the infirmary a quick once-over to see who was watching then said to Ronon, "Come on. We may as well take the mountain to Mohammed."
"What?" Ronon asked, his confusion obvious. But that didn't stop him from following along as they set off toward the central section of the medical offices.
Rodney didn't bother to explain, just stormed into the scanner lab. Sheppard was moving toward a sitting position. "We need to go back there, and I mean now," Rodney blurted before Jennifer finished shutting down the machine.
John looked up at him. "That's what I've been saying all along." The black-and-blood-shot wasn't so bad in the dimmer light.
"That's not going to happen." Jennifer looked at both of them like they were crazy. She pointed at John. "You're staying on base, under observation, until whatever's going on with your eyes completely clears up."
As John stood and moved away from the scanner, Rodney noticed that the whites of his eyes were shaded an odd gray. "You sure you can see?" he asked, before realizing how bad his timing was in asking.
"Better than 20/20," John ground out with a 'thanks Rodney' look. "What did you find?"
"Even the Ancients didn't know who these guys were."
"Huh?"
"There's not a terrible lot in the database. But it is amazing what you can find when you know what to ask for. I did an image recognition scan on that symbol from the cave and it revealed an Easter egg in the Ancient database."
"Did you say you found an Easter egg in the Ancient database?" The voice was Caldwell's.
Rodney turned to see Woolsey and Caldwell enter behind them. Neither looked as if they knew the pop culture meaning of the reference.
"Well, actually, Radek did. Usually, an Easter egg is referred to as hidden programming on a DVD movie, or operating system or game, but in this case it probably wasn't so much hidden as not linked yet."
"What type of information was included in this Easter egg?" That from Woolsey.
"Well, for one, they weren't friends with the Ancients. In fact, they were fairly new players to the galaxy, or at least the Ancients had only recently stumbled on them while they were at war with the Wraith. The Ancients didn't even have a chance to come up with a name for them. There's only a number designation.
"Turns out those bats are thought to be the Earth equivalent of a UAV or a MALP. The Ancients never actually made recorded contact with the beings that sent them so there is no visual record of what they look like. The Ancients suspected malevolent intent, but, as you can imagine, had their hands too full elsewhere to follow up. So, they did the next best thing. They began a campaign of removing gates from worlds where there was evidence of the Zoan. Looks like they missed one.
"PX2-548 is only about 5 hours away via hyperspace. If we want the use of our gate back, my recommendation is to take a page out of the Ancients' play book and go back there to remove the gate."
"Aye, Colonel. It's about time you put in an appearance." Carson looked up from the screen of his laptop as John Sheppard sauntered into the Daedalus infirmary.
"Sorry, doc. We were going over some last minute details. Rodney was up in arms about some signal he's picking up on his new program."
"Is he now?" Carson chuckled and focused on the other man's eyes, intending a visual observation. He was happy to see that the redness had faded dramatically, but the gray tinge was still quite noticeable. Previous scans had suggested it was ever so slowly being absorbed by the Colonel's body. He didn't expect it to truly be gone for another few days.
"This wouldn't happen to be the MRM something or other?" He gestured that John should make himself comfortable on the edge of the nearest examination table.
"The same," John confirmed, doing as he was told.
Carson fished a penlight out of his pocket and prepared to do an initial assessment. Ophthalmology wasn't his specially, but he'd done a bit of research while on board the Daedalus and the scanners back on Atlantis had given him a bit of a head start.
John shied away from the bright light. "Is that really necessary? I'd think half-blinding me right before a mission is more harmful than not."
"This is absolutely necessary, Colonel," Carson informed him. "I need to ensure that not only your eyes but other reactions are within normal parameters. Don't forget that one of the conditions for your being allowed to go on this mission is that I'm along to monitor your vision."
"I feel fine," John insisted. "I've had every test you and Dr. Keller could think of and a couple I'm pretty sure you made up. Can't we give it a rest?"
"Oh very funny. Look to your left." Carson stood back to observe the motion and to check for any signs of additional irritation or swelling. "I should have probably been in the meeting you just had, come to think of it, to make sure the mission plan falls within medical guidelines. Now look to the right."
John rolled his eyes before looking to the right. "All we're doing is taking a couple engineers and a team of marines armed with modified ARGs down to the planet – just in case we have any resistance in the form of our bat friends. Other than that, it's just a matter of shutting down a gate and moving it."
"ARGs?" Carson frowned over the word. He'd heard it before but he was drawing a blank now.
"Anti Replicator Guns, remember those? Rodney's modified them to send a focused EMP. Range sucks, but he thinks they'll work."
"Ah. Well, I hope you brought an extra one, because I'll be with you." Carson stepped back and signaled that he was done.
John slid off the exam table. "Fine, Doc. But you'd better hurry and get whatever gear you'll need because we should be heading down to the planet any minute now. We'll brief you on what you need to know on the way down."
Rodney frowned and punched a new command into his tablet to see if a different filter would make any difference. That doesn't make any sense. He tried a different command. Something was still off with the readings.
"What is it, Rodney?" Sheppard called from the seat ahead of him.
Rodney looked up from his place behind the pilot's seat of the cloaked jumper and noted that they were on course for the gate. The gate was active, the blue of the puddle glowing against the darkness of the surrounding greenery. He could just make out the shape of three oily looking bat creatures. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. He wasn't entirely sure why Sheppard had dragged him from his readings.
"What's what?" he asked grumpily.
"What doesn't make any sense?" John replied, using his annoyed voice.
"Oh – it's that signal I picked up earlier." He realized he must have said the thought out loud. "There's something about it. I feel like I'm missing something." He hated admitting that, but there it was.
"Missing something like what?" John wanted to know.
"If I knew that I'd know what I was missing. Look, it probably doesn't matter. Once we get the gate out of there and the auxiliary DHD shut down it'll be a moot point."
"All right." Sheppard seemed to accept his assessment as he brought the jumper to a hover off to the side of the eerie-looking alien MALP wannabes. "Not picking up any life signs. Anything else we should be worried about?"
Rodney did a double check of his instruments. "Nothing aside from the usual."
"Okay, here we go." John tapped at his ear-piece. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard. Do you read?"
"Sheppard, this is Atlantis. We read you loud and clear." Amelia answered the call, which confirmed that this world was still gate-spamming Atlantis.
"How far are we into the 38 minute cycle?" Rodney cut in, working out calculations.
"About ten minutes," Amelia responded. "But we've noticed something new in the signals we're receiving. Along with the attempted cloning of IDC signals, they've begun to send transmissions that appear to be playbacks of Ancient communications."
"Really?" Rodney shared a look with Sheppard. "That's weird. How can you tell they're playbacks? And what are they saying?"
"Dr. Zelenka was able to determine where they'd been pieced together. And Dr. Reines translated them – they're basically random assortments of words."
"Perhaps they are trying to communicate with us?" Teyla spoke up. "Their language and behavior may be very different from ours."
"Or maybe they're trying to trap us," Ronon put in. For the moment, Rodney was siding with Ronon. Friendly overtures didn't usually include hallucinations, brain aneurism and death.
"Another unsolved mystery." Sheppard gave his opinion. "We're going to take out the hostiles on this end and get the gate shut down. Sheppard out."
Rodney only half listened as Sheppard rallied the troops after setting the jumper down. He took the time to gather his computer equipment, slip the ARG over a shoulder, and then waited for the all clear – all the while trying to work out the bizarre signal in the back of his mind. Once the bat-MALPs had been eliminated, he strode out toward the DHD.
Marines were being directed to specified areas. He wasn't sure what Sheppard had Ronon and Teyla doing. He focused solely on getting his part of the mission taken care of. He bent beneath the lip of the DHD and went to work. The panel came off easily enough, and everything looked perfectly normal.
"What are you doing?" Carson's voice sounded from above Rodney's shoulder, nearly causing him to knock his head on the underside of the control device.
"Carson! Don't do that! Don't you have some thing, or better yet, some place, better to be?"
"I'm here to keep an eye on Colonel Sheppard, as you well know."
"So go keep an eye on him. He's over there!"
"Lovely." Carson gave him a look, and stalked off in Teyla's direction.
Rodney sighed. For a brief moment he felt bad, but he was really working against the clock here. The team was counting on him.
He turned back to the DHD and looked more closely at the components nestled into the space. And then he saw it. One of the auxiliary control crystals was definitely rigged. Although he couldn't say for sure how the modification worked, realizing it was there answered a few questions with regard to how the gate had been dialed without a person to do the dialing. He yanked the crystal from its mooring and stood up from beneath the device.
"Sheppard!" He waved the component. "Found it." He caught the readings on his tablet. "And not a moment too soon. We have incoming. A lot of incoming."
John nodded in Rodney's direction, then, "Okay, everyone. Time for phase two. Carson, I need you here beside me. Everyone else, get to your positions. Major Lorne, group B is all yours." McKay moved closer to Sheppard and Carson along with Teyla and Ronon. They formed a loose semi-circle before Sheppard tapped his radio.
"Daedalus, five to beam to the cave entrance. Stand-by on Major Lorne's command to beam down the engineers."
John had to refocus for the dimmer surroundings as they re-materialized a dozen yards away from the cave entrance. Late afternoon meant that even less light reached this section of the forest.
"This place is a mite creepy," Carson murmured from his side.
John ignored the comment. "Life signs?" He shot the question toward Rodney as he took a few moments to acclimate to the area, taking in the stillness that seemed to permeate.
"No. Just us. " Rodney's response came quickly.
"Bat sign?"
"Same signal as before, but no movement. Maybe they sent everything they had for the gate. We did just disable it."
"Yeah. Or maybe wherever those things come from, they have to recharge?" John tossed the idea out. "There probably isn't an unlimited supply."
"Why have we found no indication of the beings who manufactured those creatures?" Teyla asked over her shoulder as she covered her own bit of geography. "The responses that we have seen thus far indicate some manner of intelligence."
"Maybe they're gone," Ronon suggested. "Or this is some kind of trap that they come and check every now and then."
John really didn't like the sound of that. "Let's get this done," he said and moved in closer to the cave entrance. It was even darker in the more densely forested section. He looked toward the Zoan symbol, then blinked and looked again. The previously stylized "Z" look of the thing had transformed into something much more. Colorful glowing lines of various lengths interspersed with other small shapes shown behind the "Z" and extended a few inches below the character.
"Whoa." He stopped. "Teyla - what do you make of this?" He looked over at his Pegasus Galaxy teammates. "Does it look like any language you've seen before?"
Teyla looked at him oddly, but moved in closer to the symbol. She took it in for several moments. "It is the sign of the Zoan, as we saw on our previous visit."
John frowned at her. "But there are things there that weren't there before." He pointed at the symbol, tracing above the area he was referring to. "Like the glowing lines, here and here, and the squigglies right there. It looks like it could be some kind of written language."
Teyla looked from him to the cave to Ronon and back to him. She seemed at a loss for several moments. "I do not see what you describe, John."
John looked at the rest of the gathered team. "Do any of you see what I'm talking about here?" He wasn't crazy. He saw what he saw.
"All I see is a weird looking Zed." Rodney spoke up as if settling the matter. But the nods he received from Ronon and Carson confirmed it.
"Perhaps it has something to do with the film over your eyes," Carson suggested. "Normal human vision covers a limited range of the visual light spectrum. Perhaps the remnants of the nanite ash are allowing you to see beyond that range or in another way entirely."
"Right now, that isn't exactly reassuring, Carson," John replied.
"But wait – maybe this can help us," Rodney butted in. "What if there were things the Ancients missed because, like us, they couldn't see what was literally right in front of them?"
"I don't see how this helps us," Ronon said. "There's no one here, and we don't read the language."
"Let's just get this over with," John interrupted the argument. "Carson, in the middle. Rodney and I will take point." He clicked on the light of his P-90 and led the way without waiting for any opinions to the contrary or for Carson to decide he needed to do a field eye exam.
The darkness closed in around them immediately, obscuring everything but the circle of light created by their movement into the earthy-smelling environ.
"What do you see?" Rodney's whispered question rang loud in the darkness.
"It's dark," John shot back, giving Rodney a look that he probably couldn't even see, and didn't have a chance to respond to. The light of the P-90 revealed a solid rock wall and two other narrower passages, which veered off at right angles.
"This way." Rodney gestured to the right-most passage. The cave walls were smoother here, and reflected the light around the space. The passage was about ten feet wide and easily as high. The farther they moved along Rodney's specified route, the more regular the tunnel's proportions became.
Quiet reigned as they continued deeper into the cave. The change was slight, but the passage was moving them on a decline that was taking them farther under ground.
After several minutes John saw a faint glow ahead. He glanced cautiously between his teammates for any indication that he wasn't the only one seeing it. No one else was reacting. "I'm guessing no one else can see the glow about twenty feet ahead." He drew the team to a stop.
"What does it look like?" Rodney asked.
"I can't really tell. We're too far away. It's not very big. It's up pretty high on the wall, though." They continued on until he could make out the symbols more clearly. Although he was more convinced it was a written language, he still had no idea what it said. "Definitely more of that same kind of thing as outside," he confirmed out loud for his team.
"This is weird," Ronon murmured.
"You're telling me?" John shot back as he continued beyond the symbols. Rodney, following a few steps behind him, came to an abrupt stop.
"Uh oh."
"What is it?" John asked. That hadn't sounded like a panicked, hell-bats are coming sort of uh oh, but it couldn't be a sign of anything good.
"Hold on a minute." Rodney took a step backward and then came forward again.
"Huh." His brows went up as he pointed a finger in the general direction of the symbols that only John could see. "I don't know what that says, but I know what it means."
"How's that?" Carson spoke up from where he stood across from Rodney.
"We lose radio contact and transporter lock beyond this point," Rodney announced. "There is something different here. Maybe the composition of the walls have changed, or we're within the influence of a dampening field of some kind. Whatever it is, this is the drop away point."
"All right. I'll contact Caldwell and let him know what's going on. I'd like to get an update on how the gate extraction is going anyway." John stepped back across the line.
He watched Rodney ignore him as he made the contact with the orbiting vessel. On the opposite side of the markings, he showed no sign of hearing Caldwell's side of the conversation. He was intent on something on his computer.
"How are they doing?" Rodney looked up distractedly as John stepped back into the radio-free side of the tunnel.
"Still duking it out with our bat friends. Caldwell says that the ARGs are showing signs of losing their effectiveness."
"Losing their effectiveness, like how?" Rodney demanded, his mind already switching gears.
"Like in we need to hurry up and find those control systems," John re-directed him. Then, "Ronon, Teyla, stay here. Caldwell's going to send down a couple of people to stand guard in case they need to get hold of us quickly. Once they get here, explain the way back out and then follow us." They both nodded their agreement and John, Rodney and Carson continued at a faster pace.
"We should be pretty close," Rodney said as they reached another branching passage. "This way." He directed to the left.
"Good. The sooner the better." John dropped a Chem Light as they made the turn to show Ronon and Teyla the way to go.
"I've been thinking about that energy reading from before – you know, when the Daedalus first arrived in this star system." Rodney spoke as they walked.
"Yeah, and after in the jumper, and half the time we've been on this world." John let him know that he'd been paying attention.
"Okay, so I may have been a little preoccupied. But, I think I may have figured it out – at least partly."
"Really?" John threw him a half grin. He wasn't surprised. As much as Rodney complained about being Answer Guy, he liked having the answers. His big brain seemed to be wired to work at the problem until he found some kind of solution.
"I think there might be a base in orbit. Nothing large, but it's the only thing that makes any sense. It would explain the signal location changes we saw when we first arrived. It was probably poling other points on the surface. And it would certainly explain the strange signals we picked up when we arrived."
"But wouldn't the Asgard sensors have picked up anything like that?" John was more curious now, too.
"Maybe not. Different perspective, remember?"
"So, how do we find this station, and what does it do?"
"My COMMsniffer's already caught a whiff. I uploaded a beta version to the Daedalus mainframe. It's been working the problem since we've been here. Maybe we combine that with your eyes…" Rodney sounded hopeful.
"We don't know how much longer the Colonel's eyes are gonna do whatever they're doing. That film will likely wear off in the next 36 – 48 hours. The effects may go away sooner," Carson said.
"It just needs to last long enough for us to figure out what it is," Rodney argued.
"Rodney…."
John tuned them out as he focused on something ahead of them. He couldn't put his finger on what had changed. "Stop!" he ordered. "There's something different here." He studied the machined look of the corridor ahead and realized that the space in front of the wall to the left seemed to be vibrating in place. The wall looked like tiny granules of sand that were being displaced by a deep bass noise, but there was no sound at all.
"What is it?" Rodney asked. "The readings are much stronger here."
John took that as a sign that they weren't seeing the motion. He moved closer to it and stopped in front of the space.
"There's just a wall, but there's definitely a stronger reading from that direction," Rodney said.
John reached out toward the vibrating wall and tried not think about all of the bad ways this could go - they had a mission to accomplish. The engineers wouldn't be able to get down to the planet to uninstall the gate until they took out those bats. And the best way to do that was from the source. So . . .
His hand went right through – no pain or anything - he took a step forward, ignoring the warning cries from the two men behind him. He stepped backward after a second and found himself back in the corridor. "It's this way." He grinned at the pair, and broke another couple of Chem Lights, dropping them in front of the wall.
"Couldn't you have waited for me to check it out?" Rodney demanded. Carson looked none too happy, either.
"There was no time," John assured them. "Either of you got a Sharpie?"
"Yeah," Rodney replied, still looking disgruntled as he searched his pockets.
John wrote a quick note and placed it under the lights. "Come on. I think this is the place."
They stepped through together. By the surprised looks, John was pretty sure they were seeing what he was seeing. The new space reminded him of a circle within a circle. The inner circle was recessed into the outer circle. The outer circle sloped downward at a steep angle leading to the inner section, which also had a ceiling that was significantly lower. John figured it was about 8 feet high.
The outer circle was perhaps five feet wide, but its ceiling was much higher than the inner section. Recessed lights shone dimly high up within the walls ringing the outer area
"This is different," Rodney said. "I wonder what this room is used for."
"It's bloody creepy if you ask me," Carson piped up.
John couldn't disagree – there was definitely an eerie feel to the place. He took a moment to mark the doorway leading out with another Chem Light. "I think there may be something over there." He gestured toward a section farther along the outer circle where a wide area of grayish material connected the two circles at the ceiling.
They moved to stand beneath a vibrating square, which was just above John's head. He pulled out the Sharpie and drew a square directly on the stone outlining the three foot by three foot space. He then reached a hand up into the area, and found that, like before, it went right through.
"What do you bet that's the control area?" he asked.
"How are we supposed to get in there?" Rodney complained. "There are no ladders or anything."
John was already working on that problem. "Give me a boost. I'll check it out."
"Are you sure there isn't someone up there?" Carson didn't seem to like the idea at all.
"There are no life signs. And this place has been abandoned except for those bats every time we came. It's more likely this place was left on automatic and is just plain deserted. We have to move forward if we're going to finish what we came here to do."
"All right." Carson stooped and helped John climb up into the new section. John felt for the corner of the floor and hoisted himself up into the space.
"Wow!" he said as he got his first look at the new room. "Rodney, you're going to love it up here." He looked up and around at the controls and flashing devices up along the high walls and at something that looked like a console, except it was set pretty high up. "It's kind of tight up here though. Only one of us can probably fit comfortably at a time."
"So, you get out, so I can get in," Rodney said, sounding anxious to get started.
"Okay – give me a sec." John tried to outline as much as he could of the glowing text on what looked like command buttons. He hoped that would help Rodney to figure this thing out.
Minutes later, they'd switched places, and John was ready for an update. "Rodney? Anything?"
"I'm working on it!" Rodney yelled down at him. "Alien technology, remember?" Then, "Oooh, that's interesting." The area around the control room became transparent and John could see McKay standing above them in the control space. Rodney waved.
"That's pretty cool. Now, can you shut down the bats and fix whatever's blocking communication?"
Rodney gave him a dirty look. "I'm working on it."
"You really are a genius, Rodney," Carson called up to him.
"Do you really have to stoke his ego like that?" John murmured.
"Doesn't hurt too much every now and then," Carson replied with a grin.
"Speak for yourself," John shot back.
"I can hear you, you know," Rodney said.
"Yes, we know," John responded.
Carson wandered away from beneath the control section. "I think whomever these beings were, they were physiologically tall and thin."
"What makes you say that?" John asked, following.
"When you pointed out the symbols, they were fairly high up. Much higher than the usual range for a humanoid who averages about 5 feet 10 or so. Even Wraith controls are within human parameters. And that control room Rodney's in is high and narrow. Perhaps they prefer high narrow places in dim areas."
"Okay, I'm following you, Doc," John encouraged him to continue.
"It's interesting that the form of life they used to emulate for their UAV is a bat. Bats navigate with a form or sonar. From what you described about the walls seeming to move, it's possible that these beings use a more evolved version. Humans design their technology based on the world that they're familiar with. It wouldn't be a stretch that parts of the Zoan technology may have to do with manipulation of sound in registers that are higher or lower than what we can hear."
"That actually makes a lot of sense, Carson." Rodney cut in from where he was working. "I only caught that last part, but it's giving me an idea."
"Good. Hurry up. Bats to kill," John said.
"What about this area?" John turned back to Carson, and gestured down into the inner circle.
They moved into the recessed space and looked up at the higher section. "Maybe storage?" Carson tried.
"Maybe." John doubted it. There was a disturbance in the air – almost like a sonic shift, that really made sense in light of what Carson had just said. Then Ronon and Teyla appeared in the upper section of the room, looking mildly confused at having just seemingly walked through a stone wall. They immediately headed downward into the lower circle to greet them.
"The guards are waiting as you asked. Colonel Caldwell says that things are becoming more difficult. He has requested an ETA."
"Rodney?" John called upward toward the clear wall space.
"Wait a minute, I'm on to something. I think I've found a way to switch the power from the bats to another system."
"What's the other system?"
"I'm not sure yet. It looks like… I don't know. But I'm switching it… now."
John caught the change almost immediately. There was a faint shimmer that seemed to wink in mid air. "That definitely did something. Good job, Rodney! Now, how about communications? We need to know if that actually worked."
"Would you like for Ronon and I to go back to see if Caldwell has noticed a difference?" Teyla asked.
"Yes, go," Sheppard agreed, frowning as the shift he'd sensed began to take on faint color. He could see it whirling around them. It was starting to make his head hurt a little.
Teyla and Ronon nodded, and headed back up toward the outer circle level. There was a bright flash of light as they neared the top. Their bodies tumbled back down into the circle at John and Carson's feet.
"Rodney!" John yelled as he stooped to check on Teyla. Carson was already checking Ronon. They were both conscious, but clearly stunned.
"What happened?" Teyla asked groggily.
"I think there's some kind of force field around this area," John answered their confused looks at the same time as he communicated the problem to Rodney.
"Some thing is very very wrong!"
John caught the panic loud and clear in Rodney's tone. "Rodney! What did you do?" The whirling that had started around the lower circle was increasing in intensity. His eyes were starting to burn.
"I turned something on… I don't know what it is. I just…"
"Well, turn it off, let us get out of here, and then turn it back on." That sounded perfectly reasonable to John.
"I – I can't." Rodney's terrified voice reached him through the growing swirls. "The system won't let me. Whatever is happening, it's building up toward something. It has to finish."
John stared intently up at Rodney watching him work frantically at the too high controls. "I think I can switch it to a separate area. It'll be much stronger, but it should work."
John felt tentative relief. "Where are you moving it to?" he asked. The last thing they needed to do was to run into it.
"There! It's done." Rodney looked up and around as if waiting.
The swirling colors that were moving around John, Teyla, Ronon and Carson seemed to sink beneath floor level and then reappear surrounding the control room where Rodney was standing.
"No! Rodney!" John ran up out of the lower circle, and stopped just on the other side of the field that surrounded his friend. "What are you doing?"
"It was the only way," Rodney told him, his stance showing his resolve. "Besides, I think I know what this does. If I'm right and it is a transport system to the space base, then I know you'll find me. You're probably the only one who can at this point."
"What if you're wrong?" John hated the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Then, so long, John."
The whirlpool of energy coalesced in a brilliant flash containing more colors than John's brain could comprehend. His synapses whited-out and the world receded.
Steven consciously resisted the urge to pace on the command deck. This mission had been going on for far longer than it should have. The fact that Sheppard's team had returned with one man down and one missing, presumed dead wasn't helping matters.
A chime from Marks' station caught his attention. "Major Marks, please tell me that sound means that we've picked up a signal from Dr. McKay's subcutaneous transmitter."
"No, sir, I'm sorry."
"What is it?"
"It seems that long range sensors have detected two vessels approaching."
"You sound confused, Marks. What kind of vessels do they appear to be?"
"Difficult to tell, sir. The sensor data is sporadic, and the readings are anomalous. But whatever the objects are, they're moving steadily toward us."
Steven sighed internally. "How long before they're in visual range?"
"Current speed and heading – they will be in range in a little over an hour."
"Let me know immediately of any changes. Open a channel to Lorne's team."
"Channel open, sir."
"Major Lorne, what's your status?"
"Looks like the docs are wrapping up. We'll be ready to beam up the gate itself within a few minutes."
"Good – finish up and get back onboard as soon as you can. I'd like to be out of this star system within the next thirty minutes."
"Put him down here," Carson ordered, directing Ronon toward the nearest examination table as soon as they rematerialized in the Daedalus infirmary. Even though he'd still been recovering from the shock he'd received in that cave laboratory, Ronon had insisted on carrying Sheppard back to the beam out point.
"Now, the both of you," his pointed gaze took in both Teyla and Ronon, "Dr. Meriwether is waiting to get you checked over."
"Carson." Teyla didn't need to say more, her eyes and Ronon's simmering anger said it all. But there was nothing Carson could do; he could only take care of the living. And to do that, he needed to keep moving lest his own emotions overtake him.
"I need to see to Colonel Sheppard," he said gently. "We'll figure out the next steps afterward. Please go with Dr. Meriwether." He gestured them toward the waiting physician, and watched them go. He then gathered his nerves, and quickly made his way back to Sheppard's bed. The nurses, efficient loves that they were, had already removed his tac vest and were working on his blood pressure.
"Alright – I'll need a CBC for starters," he said as he acquired a stethoscope. "I'll also -" He was just leaning over the colonel to begin his examination when John's eyes flew wide open.
"Rodney? Where's Rodney?" The colonel focused heavily bloodshot, still gray-tinged eyes on Carson. Fear and desperation were obvious in the dark gaze. When Carson took a moment too long to answer, Sheppard tried to sit up, his eyes darting around the room.
"Calm down, John. I need you to relax for me," Carson told him in soft, measured tones. "We need to get you checked over so we can make sure everything is okay."
John refocused on him. "If Rodney isn't here, then everything is not okay."
"John!" Teyla and Ronon stormed back into the examination area with two Daedalus medical staff on their heels.
"Teyla. Ronon." Sheppard latched onto his team mates for answers. "Where's McKay?"
"We lost him. He disappeared in the flash. He's gone, John."
"No." John wouldn't accept that answer. "He's not gone. He's waiting for us to find him." He threw his legs over the side of the bed and moved past a nurse who quickly scurried out of his way. He ripped off the BP cuff and tossed it down behind him.
"Now, wait just a minute." Carson tried to slow his patient, but ended up only running after him as he made for the infirmary exit. "Rodney's my friend, too. Colonel Caldwell has been scanning the planet's surface looking for any trace. Do you really think you can do any better than that?"
John turned back to face him. "He's not on the planet. He's on some base in orbit around this world, waiting for us to find him; waiting for his friends to come and rescue him. Do you understand what I'm saying, Carson?"
The pieces clicked in place in his mind so loudly Carson thought he heard the sound. He remembered clearly waiting for his friends to save him from Michael's clutches. Even as the months passed, he'd never truly given up hope. And Rodney had been on about something in outer space.
"I'm going with you," he declared, taking the leap of faith.
John turned and started walking again. "No, you're not."
"Do you really think you're going to be able to convince Caldwell without my medical recommendation?"
"I have it on good authority that Colonel Caldwell is a little miffed at you."
"Where'd you hear a thing like that?"
"You want to do what?" Steven stared at the group standing before him. Sheppard was looking a little rough around the edges and Dr. Beckett was still wearing a stethoscope. Teyla and Ronon were backing them up.
"We need to use McKay's program; he's installed it on the Daedalus network. It'll help us find the base that he was transported to. And once we find it, we need to be in line of sight."
"Because only you can see it?" Steven asked, just for confirmation, because even though this was team Sheppard, and he'd heard some pretty crazy things from and about them, this one topped the list.
"Yes." Sheppard didn't even blink. He believed every word of what he was saying, and he'd stand by it, no matter how it sounded.
"It's really a technological marvel," Beckett was saying, "I believe the microscopic ash that made up those bat creatures likely also allowed them to navigate. The substance has had an unexpected effect when exposed to the human eye. It is somehow interacting with the Colonel's -"
Steven shot a fiery glance the physician's way. "Don't bother with the explanations, Doctor." Then, back at Sheppard. "Do it, but make it fast. There are two unknown and unidentified vessels headed this way. I have no intention of having this ship anywhere near here when they arrive in just under an hour."
"I'll need Dr. Novak's help. She's already up to speed on Rodney's program." Sheppard didn't bother to argue for more time.
"Fine. Go."
"Sir?" Lorne gave John a confused look as his team passed him, Teyla, Ronon and Carson as Lorne's team was on their way out of the jumper.
"No time to explain," John responded to the half asked question on the move. Then, to Teyla, "How much time do we have left?"
"Forty-two minutes," Teyla responded.
"Rodney would appreciate the irony," John said and settled into the pilot's seat, doing a mental preflight as he went. The jumper was off the deck and moving before the ramp completely sealed. He signaled his departure and guided the small ship into the dark of space.
Rodney had, of course, been right. The base was hidden on the surface of the planet's moon. John had spotted the large vibrating section of ground from the Daedalus video feed once they'd managed to get a location on the source of the fluctuating signal. The entryway was too small for a vessel the size of the Daedalus, but a jumper would fit just fine. The Daedalus remained in synchronous orbit above the otherwise nondescript mound of moon rock as the jumper shot forward. They arrived in under a minute.
Up close and personal, the bouncing-sand-particle look made John want to rub his eyes. The door was much larger than the jumper and took up the whole of the view screen. The perspective of seemingly flying into the ground wasn't helping.
"Daedalus." John squinted as he spoke into the radio, bringing the ship into a hover nose-to-ground above the entry. "We're going in. See you in a few."
"You'd better," Caldwell replied. "Daedalus out."
"If he's not careful, we're going to start to think he likes us," John remarked, easing the vessel forward. He hoped that this door would be just as friendly as the others on the planet had been. He breathed a half sigh when they came through the other side into absolute darkness.
The jumper's outer lights illuminated on demand at the same moment the HUD came up. Two notices flashed, one transmitting a directional beacon. "He's here. The jumper's picking up his transmitter." John felt a weight lift from his heart. "Can you get anything on his life signs from this?" he asked Carson.
"Only that he's alive and stable. Not much more," Carson replied.
"How are we supposed to get inside?" Ronon asked, staring out the view screen at the large metal tubes and fittings which were set at regular intervals above and around them.
"I don't know. Maybe Rodney can help." John tapped his radio and tried to reach his friend. There was no response.
"Perhaps his radio was damaged," Teyla offered.
"Yeah, maybe." John continued to guide the ship slowly forward into what was beginning to feel like diving deeper into a well. Finding Rodney was going to be a problem if they couldn't even find the door. Then the darkness evened out into a dead end. John brought the jumper to a halt.
The wall wasn't vibrating for him. He bumped it just slightly with the nose of the jumper and received a muted thump for his efforts. "This isn't helpful." He backed the jumper away from the wall and turned back in the other direction.
"You aren't seeing anything out of the ordinary? Anything that looks like it might be a way in?" Carson asked. "Perhaps the effect has worn off."
"This area looks well used and some of the surfaces are scarred." Teyla spoke thoughtfully from beside him. "It reminds me of the underside of Atlantis."
John's eyes widened. "Or one side of a docking rig. I'll bet this isn't a dock for a lot of ships. This is a dock for one ship." He looked around at the tubes and interlocks and it all made sense. He turned the ship toward the wall and began to slowly rise back toward the entrance. "Look for a symbol or anything that looks like it might be an airlock."
"And what exactly would an alien airlock look like?" Carson wanted to know.
John shrugged. "Like something that looks different from everything else."
"There." Teyla pointed to a portion of wall just ahead. "It bears the sign of the Zoan."
John directed the jumper in closer. This section of wall was smooth, no pipes. Nothing. He looked at the HUD, noting that Rodney's life sign was not in this section of the facility. All he probably needed was a nudge.
He turned the jumper and headed away from the ugly Z. The ship lurched slightly as the drone was released. John ignored Carson's cries of surprise as he rammed the barely glowing weapon into the smooth section beside the Z. He allowed his eyes to go unfocused in deep concentration as he worked to minimize the intensity of the drone's detonation.
"Colonel! I can't believe you just did that! You could have blown up this entire base and Rodney and all of us with it!"
"Relax, Carson. There was no more time to try to figure out how to get inside. Now we have a door." He piloted the jumper toward the new opening. The little ship might have a few scratch marks, but he was able to maneuver it inside. From there, another vibrating area led to the pressurized area of the base.
"All right. We're here. How much time?" John turned to cloak the ship then started out in the direction of Rodney's sub-Q.
"Twenty five minutes."
"We can do this." Ronon grinned confidently.
"That's the spirit."
The inside of the base was all dark surfaces. They moved through the corridors quickly and without resistance. Only one other life sign shown on the LSD; not a single energy spike indicating a swarm of bats might be on the way.
John supposed that being able to hide in plain sight literally was an excellent tactical advantage. He had a feeling whoever these guys were, they'd be rethinking security for their remote bases once they figured out that someone had gotten the key to their house and rearranged a few things.
"I think this is it." John came to a stop outside of a tall section of wall at the end of a long corridor. The door's surface seemed to extend all the way up to the ceiling. With a final check of the LSD, he led the team through. There had been dim lighting in the corridors, but in this room the darkness was so complete, it seemed as if the meager light from their P-90s was being absorbed before it reached more than a few feet. Even the flooring was different. Their footsteps were oddly muted as if the floor was literally drawing the sound away.
"Rodney," John called into the surrounding darkness, shining his P-90 around them. The words sounded flat. He could make out narrow alcoves full of consoles placed around the perimeter of the wall to the right. The individual consoles were reminiscent of the control room in the cave.
"McKay." Ronon joined in when there was no response.
Teyla headed off to one side while John moved farther forward. After a dozen paces, his light caught a raised section of floor. Rodney lay crumpled at the base of it, his tablet inches away beside his head.
"Rodney!" John called, then, "I've found him. Over here." He ran forward and knelt near his friend but waited for Carson to do the examination. Rodney lay half on his side; a thick trail of congealed blood was visible along the side of his face.
Everyone gathered near and waited, dividing their attention between Carson's practiced motions and ensuring that no last minute surprises came at them out of the darkness.
"He's obviously suffered a nasty bump to the head, but there are no obvious broken bones," Carson finally announced. "His breathing is okay for the moment, but I really need to get him back to the Daedalus to figure out anything more."
"All right." John rested a hand briefly against Rodney's shoulder, though he knew he wouldn't feel it. Then, "We need to get moving."
"I've got him." Ronon stepped forward and pulled McKay up into his arms. Carson grabbed Rodney's tablet and stowed it with the rest of his equipment.
"Teyla, time?" John asked as he led the way out.
"Fourteen minutes."
"Looks like this is going to be a photo finish."
"Shouldn't you be resting?"
Rodney looked up from his tablet at Teyla's voice. Sheppard and Ronon stood behind her, both wearing obnoxious expressions. He would have rolled his eyes, but concussions and eye-rolling didn't seem to be good bedfellows at the moment.
"This is restful," he argued, going back to the data on the computer's screen to tap an added command before setting it at his bedside. "Besides, I think I might have made a little bit of headway in figuring out how to create a filter so we can see in Zoan vision."
"I don't think they're going to be inviting us back with open arms anytime soon," John said. "We barely managed to get you out of there and jump into hyperspace before their ships arrived."
"But we still know next to nothing about them. Now that we know they're out there, we should, as you would say, gather some intel. We still don't even know what they look like."
"Or why they take people from certain worlds," Teyla added.
"Or how they're going to react to our taking their stargate," John put in.
"Well, they kind of started it when they spammed our gate and tried to break our codes," Rodney defended. "Besides relocating gates is a tried and true technique; the Ancients did it. They've got to be used to it by now."
"They're probably not used to us blowing holes in their space stations from the inside." Ronon threw the statement out there.
"Wait? You what?" Rodney looked at Sheppard askance. "What is it with the two of you and blowing things up?"
"It worked, didn't it?" John looked wounded. "How else were we supposed to get you out of there?"
"We did it to save you, Rodney." Teyla interrupted the argument. "Despite odds and evidence to the contrary, John would not let us give up on you."
Rodney's face heated in embarrassment. "I know that. Thank you all, by the way, for... you know, saving my life and what not."
"You started it." John smirked, but there was something more serious in his eyes.
"He's always starting something," Ronon teased.
"Perhaps we should start lunch," Teyla suggested.
"Lunch sounds good," Rodney agreed.
The End