"Why do you have to park so far away," gripped Rodney as they made their way towards a large cave.
"The ridge was a little further away than it looked, besides you can use the exercise…or so Carson keeps telling me," joked John.
"Oh bite me…we're almost there," mumbled Rodney.
John grinned as he threw a punch at his brother's shoulder, he looked over at Teyla who eyed him playfully, "Rodney do you even know what it is we are looking for?"
"Yeah…well whatever it is, it's around here somewhere…"
"What's around here?" Ronan asked looking at the scientist with a questionable glance.
"Whatever it was that was cuasing the energy spike we detected from the puddle jumper," Rodney replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Do you have any idea what…it looks like?"
"I'll know it when I see it…" he looked towards his left and smiled, "I see it," he grinned.
"Looks like a door." Muttered Ronan as they pulled back some vines reveal more rocks.
"Yes, it is remarkably door like," Rodney replied sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and turned away.
"Well, looks like the only way through the ridge anyway. It runs for miles. Alright, let's check it out."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa. There's something there."
"What?" Sheppard muttered glaring at his brother.
"Some kind of an energy barrier around the threshold."
Sighing, John quickly looked around then found a large pebble, he tossed it towards the door way, they watched as a blue light seemed to glow around it, then suddenly disappeared.
"It disappeared," Teyla murmured.
"Or it went through some type of cloak…" Sheppard concluded.
"It has some of the same properties as a cloaking field," Rodney continued as he looked at his device.
"Yeah, and the Ancients did tend to hide all the really cool stuff," John said as though he were a big kid in a candy shop.
"Yeah – I would just like to be able to explain these readings better before we step through. Get me a branch," Rodney said pointing to Ronan, "You got tape? Because…I got a camera!" He pulled it out of his jacket only to see Ronan coming with a rather….large branch, "I didn't ask for a log," Rodney griped at Ronan who shrugged and walked away with the branch, "Teyla, thank you," Rodney replied loudly as he took her branch.
"You just took it because she's prettier than me," mumbled Ronan playfully.
"Ronan, everyone is prettier than you," Teyla returned smiling.
"Now, now children," came John's quick response as he smiled at his friends and shook his head.
The four teammates quickly worked, taping the camera to the front of the branch, "It's a MALP on a stick! You're a regular MacGyver Rod," grinned John.
"Oh please, MacGyver wasn't nearly as smart as me…" mumbled Rodney.
"He certainly got in as much trouble as you do," John shot in return.
"I seem to recall him having a friend that got him in just as much trouble…"
"Gentlemen…please," smiled Teyla. "I am not fluent in Ancient but I do recognise a few words: "welcome" and "ascension"," she whispered as she looked at the doorway behind them, meanwhile Rodney and John fed the camera through the doorway.
"You mean…what happened to you?" Ronan murmured.
"Yeah…sorta," explained Rodney.
"Uh…that doesn't sound like much fun…."
"Yeah, well, sadly it's a matter of, uh, evolution. Anyway … I'm sure we've got more than enough now." He pulled the camera back from the door way, "There we go. And … have a look, shall we? Okay, looks safe, any volunteers?"
"I'll go," Sheppard offered.
"Just, um, back out if you encounter anything problematic…"
"Problematic? As in?"
"You know, like poisonous atmosphere, acid atmosphere, no atmosphere. Hey, it's a MALP on a stick; only shows you so much." He said grinning nervously.
"Okay…here goes," mumbled John as he stepped towards the force field. It began to blue as he felt his hands sucked in, "this is a little weird…it hurts…" hissed John suddenly as he tried to pull his hands out.
"Okay, so get outta there…" Rodney replied
"I'm trying….but it's pulling me in!"
"I got you," Ronan said easily as he tried to pull John out, Teyla quickly joined the group and grabbed John's vest.
"Guys!" he cried.
"We're tryin'," yelled Ronan.
"Well try harder!"
"No-no-no, we proved this – it shouldn't be happening!" Rodney panicked.
"Rodney!" cried John
"It's too strong!" Teyla called.
They watched at he was sucked into the force field, "Don't touch the barrier!" Rodney cried out before they could get sucked in as well.
"Why did you tell us to let him go?" hissed Ronan.
"Because you weren't gonna stop and the last thing we need is both of you to get pulled in with him…" Rodney growled.
"Why would the Ancestors create something that would do this?" Teyla questioned.
"I don't know," he whispered as he looked over his information.
"Figure it out or you're going in after him!" growled Ronan
"Ronan…" came Teyla's soft warning.
"Okay…That's not helping! News flash Ronan, I don't know if you've realized this yet but he's my brother! And while you may be overprotective of your friends, I guarantee I feel worse about this right now! We'll save him! Now, obviously the portal reacts differently to living matter than it does to inanimate objects. It might even be specific to humans."
"Colonel Sheppard, this is Teyla. Please respond," Teyla called through her radio. She preferred not to get involved in Ronan and Rodney's arguments. While Ronan was vastly over protective of Teyla and John, she was fairly sure he hadn't quite grown on their wayward scientist yet, and that concerned her, it was something she desired mentioning to Colonel Sheppard…when they got him out.
"You're wasting your time and it's not gonna work." Mumbled Rodney
"Colonel, if you can hear me, please respond," Teyla chose to ignore him, she loved Rodney like a brother, and while he could be a wise man, he was also sometimes the biggest pain in the ass.
"There's absolutely nothing on this tape that could possibly indicate any kind of …Oh, no!" he murmured.
"What?" Ronan asked.
"The memory's full. It's recorded almost two hours and … and the battery just died! Dammit!" hissed Rodney.
"Why are you wasting time?" growled Ronan suddenly.
"That is the one thing I am not doing. Okay, look, I need something living, like a, like a flower, or a blossom. Okay, now observe…" he spotted a small cluster of flowers off to one side and quickly pulled them down, then slowly emerged them through the barrier "I'm trying to test a theory. Work with me here, people. Look, if I'm right, we need to hurry.
"What are you doin', McKay?"
"I am trying to determine how much faster time is passing on the other side of the portal than it is here."
"Why would time progress faster?" Teyla spoke up this time.
"It doesn't make any sense," Ronan added.
"That is what I am trying to prove. Now, just wait…" he sighed deeply, "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine …
"McKay …" Ronan spoke
"… ten, bear with me, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty." He finally pulled the branch out of the field, revealing they were all brown dried out and almost dead, Rodney felt his heart thud harder in his chest, "a whole…lot faster," he whispered searching between Ronan and Teyla.
"The blossoms have aged several hours at least." Whispered Teyla sadly.
"We might be able to pick him up in the Jumper but I need to get back to Atlantis." Rodney began to stand and walk away.
"You're not goin' anywhere!" hissed Ronan as he suddenly grabbed Rodney and spun him around.
"It's a time dilation field! Which means time is passing much faster on the other side of the portal than it is here for us! I'm not sure the exact ratio but I need to go now," his face suddenly became desprate, praying Ronan would understand.
"Why?"
"I don't have time to explain temporal compression theory to you when every moment we stand here debating this, literally hours could be going by for Colonel Sheppard relative to us. Look, hours equate to days, and days for us could mean years for him. Do you get it now? Teyla – I need you to follow me back as far as the Puddle jumper and I'll explain what I need you to do on the way." Suddenly Rodney paused and looked at Ronan, "and you, stay here."
"And do what?" Ronan asked knowing what he wanted to do.
"Don't go through, if that's what you're thinking. Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa. Give me the knapsack. Now empty your pockets of everything he might need to survive. We might just buy him a little more time there."
"Go!" Ronan said as they finished filling it.
Quickly closing the knapsack closed he tossed it through the barrier and smiled, "good, hopefully that'll last him…"
"Alright – emergency rations, medical kit. Anything else?" Rodney called from inside the jumper.
"Extra batteries for the camcorder…" she replied as she rummaged on the other side in the back of the jumper.
"Right, you know what to do?"
"Press record, extend and hold for three seconds…" she replied gently.
"No more, no less."
"And then pull it out again."
"Right, if he's still there that should give him plenty of time to record a detailed message. Damn! Why didn't I send a note through…"
"What do you mean if he is still there…"
"Look, depending on the compression ratio inside the field, there's a very good chance he may have used up the supplies we've sent through by the time you get back. I know it's hard to get your head around but what it means is we have to …" explained Rodney.
"It means we must hurry…" she replied, "Rodney, he will be all right…" she said simply.
"Right. Go-go-go-go-go-go-go."
"What, you have no idea whether he's injured?" Carson grumbled as they quickly packed items to return to the planet.
"The excruciating pain he was experiencing was a result of the temporal differential…"
"And that is?"
"Okay, the portal must somehow dampen the extreme tidal forces that would normally occur in the even horizon of a time dilation field, and we were keeping him from safely…passing through it."
"So part of his body is experiencing time at a different pace than the other? Who knows what that could do to him…."
"I have no idea, but he could probably use a doctor," mumbled Rodney.
"Do you know if he's even alive?"
"The most time-efficient approach was to assume that he was alive but stranded."
"And why not assume that he'll make his own way back through the portal?"
"Because Colonel Sheppard would have already had hours to try to make it back through the portal in the time I wasted explaining the situation to Conan and Xena!" muttered Rodney.
"Now, Rodney, that's not very …" Carson was cut off as Rodney shrugged suddenly.
"No, I suppose it isn't, this is McKay. Are the supplies loaded aboard yet?"
"Almost there, sir. Just a few more cases," came the reply.
"Alright. When you're done with that, make sure you assist Zelenka in securing the descent probe into the launch compartment. Let's move!" he said tossing a bag to Carson then leaving, followed by Elizabeth and Carson. "We've loaded weeks of supplies and everything I could think of," called Rodney as they entered the jumper bay.
"What are we not thinking of?" Carson asked.
"Now take a minute and please be certain. If your theory is correct we can't afford any more trips…"
"I'm painfully aware of that," muttered Rodney.
Elizabeth sighed and faced him, she gently squeezed his shoulder, "Rushing is what got him in trouble in the first place, we can't afford to rush on this…"
"This was not his fault…" whispered Rodney, the next words out of his mouth stunned everyone, "it was mine. I should have looked more closely at the video. The clues were there before he even stepped through. Look all I can do now is hope to fix this in his life time," whispered Rodney.
Carson was surprised, Rodney's words were a true testament at how much the scientist had changed in the past several months, "His lifetime?"
"If it takes us a week to ten days to fix this, then it won't matter, because he will probably have died of old age."
"Oh my God."
:"Yeah…hench the rushing. Now are you ready? Because you don't look ready…"
"I'm ready," replied Carson.
"I need to pick up some books to help with the translations…" Elizabeth complied.
"Well, we'll pick em up on the way, and I hope you've got us a real Jumper pilot because I don't trust him," Rodney quickly said pointing to his best friend, "and I can't fly the damned thing in a straight line." He hissed.
"There it is," Elizabeth called.
"Well, according to these readings, it's not there," replied Rodney.
"Rodney, I can see it with my own eyes – it's right inside that crater," Carson stated.
"It's hard to say whether the Ancients actually built it inside the crater or whether the rim formed as a result of the time dilation field."
"The Jumper sensors aren't picking up anything?"
"Nothing, ma'am," replied the pilot.
"Alright. Position us directly above it and stand by. Prepare to launch the probe on my mark."
"What is this probe of yours supposed to do?" Elizabeth inquired.
"Well, it's supposed to descend slowly into the atmosphere of a gas giant. The chute opens, the probe separates into two components joined by a tether hundreds of meters long."
"So we should be able to receive telemetry from inside the time dilation field while the other half of the probe is still outside," added Elizabeth.
"Right. And depending on the variance, we might be able to fly right into the field and rescue Sheppard."
"Very clever, Rodney!" grinned Carson.
"Uh, yes, it is. It was actually Zelenka's idea," mumbled Rodney uncomfortably.
Teyla, Ronan, McKay, Elizabeth, and Carson stood in the cave as Teyla quickly explained the findings on the tape, "You're sure it was three seconds?"
"Yes," Teyla replied.
"And there's twelve minutes of video?"
"Yes," she replied again.
"All right, so it's a ratio of about…"
"Two hundred and fifty to one…I sent my watch through," she replied smiling as she held up the branch with her watch taped to it, "I also sent a letter to Colonel Sheppard telling him we are doing our best to rescue him. If you would like to check again…"
"No, Thank you Teyla…you're a genius," grinned Rodney as he smiled at her.
Teyla seemingly beamed at this and nodded thanks. Carson suddenly spoke up, "in terms of the Colonel how many days are we talking here?"
"We're already talking months," answered Rodney.
"OK, I think I've got it. I am interpreting a bit, but it seems the field was designed as a sanctuary from the Wraith, but a place the last of the Ancients could travel to and hopefully ascend without fear of attack," Elizabeth called a few minutes later, having missed most of the conversation between Teyla and Rodney.
"Oh, of course. They could potentially spend entire lifetimes inside the field before the Wraith even discovered the place," Rodney offered.
"And if they ever attacked, their ships would get torn apart just as the probe did," Carson pointed out.
"And so it has remained for ten thousand years," Teyla whispered.
"This writing here – this serves as a sort of welcome, as well as a warning for any of the humans under their protection looking for sanctuary; but I think it was left there for anyone who wanted to seek the path to ascension on their own," Elizabeth read.
"And what's the warning?" Ronan asked in worry.
"That once you cross the threshold, there's no return." She said softly.
"That is, unless you have the exact location of the power source and the expertise to turn it off." Grinned Rodney, "Hey, we may even get a ZedPM out of this."
"Now you're talkin'." Grinned Ronan.
"Lieutenant, this is Weir. If you haven't heard from us in … Rodney?" she paused from talking into her radio to look at her closest friend.
"Well, an hour would give us months in there, but, Elizabeth, of all the people who should stay, it would be you."
No one noticed Carson slowly raising his hand, "There may be writing by the power source that needs translating," Elizabeth continued calmly, she wasn't letting Rodney off on this adventure without her.
"Okay, there is a slight chance that when we go through…"
"Rodney, I'm going, Lieutenant, one hour then head back to Atlantis and see if Zelenka can think of anything," she spoke into her radio.
Carson still stood again the rock with his hand raised, then huffed, nervously lowering his hand, "well he may need medical treatment and I'm the only doctor here…so I should probably just…"
"Carson it probably won't hurt so much if you go quickly," replied Rodney.
Elizabeth had to hide her smile at how the roles had suddenly reversed when John wasn't around. Rodney took over John's place of being in charge, and generally if Carson was involved: which he usually was, Carson took poor Rodney's place of being nervous and tending to be a little more cowardly about things. "Alright – let's do this."
Taking a deep breath Rodney stepped through the barrier, he looked around quickly then took a seat and began to get set up and study his device. Five or ten minutes later Elizabeth walked through the shield.
"That wasn't so…bad," she whispered.
"Have a seat…the others' we'll be at least five minutes," replied Rodney as he patted a spot on the ground by his side.
She chuckled softly as sat down next to him, looking half over his shoulder and half around the cave.
"How ya doin?" she asked softly.
"I sent him in here Liz…" he shrugged.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean it's your fault…he agreed to it."
"I know…" he shrugged again, "we're always in these life and death situations…we're going to be old a gray long before the average."
"At least you haven't seen what you're going to look like old," she grinned.
"Yes well…I suppose…speaking of getting older, your birthday is coming up isn't it?" he asked grinning.
"Maybe…"
"I have connections Elizabeth," grinned Rodney.
"This is not what we should be discussing…." She muttered softly.
"No, maybe not…but John's waited this long…he can wait a little longer."
"Know big plans for my birthday, okay Rodney…besides I know for a fact yours isn't all that far off either…"
"You play dirty…" he mumbled as he continued to look at his device.
"What is it with you and ascended women!" Rodney said staring at his brother.
John shrugged and smiled as he looked at the others surrounding him, "took you guys long enough."
"The beard is…interesting," joked Elizabeth.
"First thing to go when we get home," grinned John. "Never thought I'd see any of you again…Kinda even missed you…well except you Rod."
"I'm touched," mumbled Rodney
"Yeah well, it was only a couple hours for us…so…"
"Ronan," came Teyla's soft warning, "we were quite worried," she said smiling at him gently.
John smiled at her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He couldn't believe how much he had missed her. That was one thing he had discovered in the past several months. Teyla was something special to him. He reached out and pressed a kiss to the top of Teyla's head, "let's go home," he grinned.