NOTES: This is unashamedly and unabashedly a Sheplantis story (Sheppard and his gene interacting with the city). If you dislike stories where Atlantis appears almost sentient, then you'll probably want to give this one a pass. :)

Legacy of the Last

"Rodney! What the hell is going on?" John charged into the lab, having to shout to be heard above the blaring alarms.

"I don't know!" The scientist was busily tapping away at the data pad in his hand, alternately checking the screens of several consoles as he went. "Systems are randomly going offline all over the city, but there doesn't seem to be any discernable pattern or cause that I've been able to find. Yet. Now go away and let me work."

"Can I help?" John shouted to be heard over the noise, but the alarms died off just as he spoke and the words hung loudly in the air.

Irritated, McKay didn't even look up as he waved him off. "Unless you've been hiding a scientific doctorate from me all this time, no."

Having dismissed the pilot, the physicist went about trying to solve the mysterious power outage issues.

A persistent thumping finally drew his attention back to Sheppard, leaning against a console and kicking at the base. "Trying to work here," he snapped. "Why don't you go blow something up or, better yet, shoot something?"

Rodney went back to work, but the irritating noise continued, even increased in both intensity and speed. Shooting a death-glare Sheppard's way, he paused. "What are you, five or something? I said stop it!"

The relentless noise continued, prompting McKay to slam his data pad on the console and march over to Sheppard. Grabbing the lieutenant colonel's arm, he attempted to pull him away. "Go! Out! Now!"

To his immense surprise, Sheppard didn't move. He seemed in a trance, leaning heavily on the console with his palms splayed on its surface. Rodney tugged harder, but the officer stayed firmly in place.

"Rodney?" The pilot's voice was strained, but it was the hint of fear in it that began to unnerve the scientist.

"This is not funny. Now is not the time for juvenile practical jokes. So knock it off or I'm calling Elizabeth."

Rodney's mouth hung open as he watched Sheppard struggle to turn his head. "I…can't," he ground out. "Something's…wrong. I don't…know what…she's…" Before he could finish the sentence, his eyes rolled up in his head and a line of blood trailed from his nose. But still, the relentless thumping continued.

With a shaky hand, McKay reached up and tapped his earpiece. "Beckett, I need a medical team to my lab. Now!"

Without warning, Sheppard's body went limp and slid down the waist-high unit to land in a heap at Rodney's feet. McKay knelt and felt for a pulse, relieved to find a strong, if somewhat rapid, beat. He bent over to ascertain whether the pilot's nose was still bleeding, but John's arms were blocking his view. He reached out to move them, but hesitated. They had no idea what had prompted the man's collapse--maybe Beckett wouldn't want him to be moved.

"I'm on ma way now, Rodney. Can ye tell me what's happened?"

Saved from making the decision himself, he tapped his earpiece. "Sheppard's collapsed. He was acting…weird--even for Sheppard. Then his nose started bleeding, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he went down."

"Then I assume he's na conscious? Has his nose stopped bleeding yet?"

McKay rolled his eyes. "Well if he was conscious, he'd be the one talking to you instead of me, now wouldn't he? And I can't tell on the bleeding. His arms are blocking my view. Should I move them out of the way so I can see?"

Rodney frowned when no answer came. "Carson?" On the verge of panic, he tapped the earpiece again. "Beckett, are you there?" When the physician still did not respond, McKay tapped the device again. "Control, this is McKay. What's going on up there?"

Again, his question was met with dead silence. "Can anybody hear me?"

A soft groan from John brought his attention back to the man on the floor. "Sheppard? Now would be a really, really good time to wake up because I have to fix the city and-and I can't do that because I can't leave you until Beckett gets here." Rodney frowned, looking down at the pilot. "Um, can I?"

John groaned again, louder this time, but still did not move. McKay's eyes widened as he caught sight of a red puddle emerging from beneath Sheppard's arms. "Oh come on!"

The scientist looked to the ceiling, complaining to whatever higher being might be--hopefully--listening. "This is so not fair. You could have at least waited until Beckett answered me before taking communications down."

"Ro'ney?"

Sheppard's voice was weak and the word slurred, but it was music to McKay's ears. "Sheppard--oh thank god. Can you sit up?"

"'M not your pet dog." The words lacked the usual bite, but John's voice was stronger and clearer. It was still muffled by his arms, however, which hadn't moved even a fraction.

Rodney frowned at that. "Move your arms. I want to see if your nose has stopped bleeding."

"Why'm I bleeding?"

To the physicist's irritation, the pilot made no effort to move. "I don't know why, but you were--now move your arms so I can check if it's stopped."

"'Kay." At first there was no movement, but then a twitch was followed by another and then another. Slowly the arms came away from his face to reveal a steady stream of red dripping onto the floor.

McKay grimaced at the sight of the blood. "That would be a definite no. Wait here--and do not lose consciousness again. I need to grab the first aid kit."

Sheppard made no further attempt to move. "Wasn't planning...on going anywhere."

Rodney quickly retrieved the medical kit and returned to John's side. The physicist did a rapid visual assessment of the pilot as he pulled out some gauze and opened the package. In addition to the blood flowing freely from his nose, there were dark circles around both eyes--eyes that were firmly closed. Fine tremors ran through the man's extremities and his skin was far too pale for Rodney's liking.

Once the gauze was free of it's wrappings, McKay put it in Sheppard's hand. "Here, pinch your nose with this and try to stop the bleeding. I...open your eyes and look at me. It's creeping me out talking to your eyelids."

The klaxon picked that moment to go off yet again. Rodney immediately looked around and voiced his displeasure. "Oh what now? Can't you see I've already got my hands full here?"

Movement from Sheppard brought his attention immediately back to the situation at hand. John was struggling to sit up and had McKay not grabbed onto his shirt, he would have fallen back to the floor. "Help me...up! Need to...get to the...control chair--'Lantis is...in trouble."

"Nooo, really? So what was your first clue--the alarms blaring in your ears or that little...whatever it was that caused the blood to start gushing from your nose? And I told you to keep that gauze on it. I can think of dozens of things I'd like to decorate my lab with, but believe it or not, your blood isn't one of them."

John raised the red-stained material back to pinch his nose with a shaking hand. With his other hand, he reached out to grab McKay's shirt. "No time...to explain--I need...to get to...the chair now!"

Rodney took a quick look around the lab as he came to a decision. On one hand, Sheppard was in no shape to be traipsing around the city. On the other hand, he certainly wasn't having much luck in figuring out why the city had seemingly gone haywire from in here. He grabbed John's hand and placed an arm around his shoulders to help him to his feet. "Fine, I suppose that will at least keep you from bleeding all over my lab."

Once Sheppard was on his feet, the pair set off for the chair room. John was leaning heavily on McKay, struggling to stay on his feet in spite of the support. They'd barely taken two steps down the hallway outside the lab when they were plunged into darkness. "Will you please stop doing that?"

"Stop...doing...what?" John's question was breathy, an indication of how difficult a time he was having.

"Not you," snapped McKay. "I was talking to Atl...oh never mind." He shifted, redistributing Sheppard's weight to a more comfortable position as they waited for the emergency lighting to come on. It soon became apparent that the emergency systems were down also. "I don't suppose you have a flashlight on you?"

John snorted. "Mean to...tell me...the great...Rodney McKay...got caught...unprepared?"

"Ha ha, very funny, and so on and so forth. Now will you just answer the question? You can rub it in later if you insist." McKay's irritation was growing by leaps and bounds.

"Bottom pocket...front left...side...of my vest."

As John made to retrieve the light, McKay smacked at his hand. "I'll get it. You keep that gauze on your nose until it stops bleeding."

Once the flashlight was retrieved, the duo set off again. Sheppard tried to keep the material pinched to his nose, but with Rodney having to use one hand for the light, he wasn't able to shoulder as much of John's weight as before. The going became increasing difficult for him as weak muscles protested the exertion. He finally gave up trying to stop his nose from bleeding and reached out for the wall for support. Neither of them could see the bloody hand prints he left behind in the darkness.

They finally arrived in the chair room, only to find it just as dark as the lab and the rest of the territory they'd covered. "Well isn't this just the icing on the cake," complained McKay. "All this way and there's no juice. Perfect."

"Help me...to the chair," insisted the pilot. "There's...still power there."

"Why would there be power there when there isn't any anywhere else? Because unless something has changed in the last five minutes, I'm the only one in here with a PhD--hence the only one qualified to make such determinations. The fact that you're Mr. Super-gene does not make you an expert on technical matters such as this, my friend."

Sheppard shook his head. "Not expert, 'Lantis told me. Before I passed out." John had to catch his breath a moment before continuing. "No time...to explain. You gonna...help me...to the chair...or do I...have to...crawl?"

"Fine! I suppose you're going to have to sit somewhere while I figure this out--might as well be in the chair." Grudgingly, McKay half-carried, half-dragged him over to the chair and dropped him heavily into it. When Sheppard leaned back, the chair lit up, just as it had in Antarctica.

Rodney stared open-mouthed as John reclined and brought up a schematic of the city's power grid. "How-how did you do that? It shouldn't...there's no way..." Suddenly, McKay realized what the screen was showing him. "Wait, no. That's not good. Oh, that is so not good." Muttering to himself, he walked over to a console nearby and grabbed a data pad that lay abandoned. As he waited for it to power up, he studied the readout floating in the air above the reclining Sheppard. "We're cut off now. The city has gone into lockdown; no one can get to us down here until we get this fixed."

So intent on the data was he that he didn't even notice that Sheppard had not said anything since he'd sat down. His eyes followed the data scrolling across the projected screen, desperately trying to find the source of the problem. The outages were random, with no apparent rhyme or reason to their pattern. Then without warning, the floating display flickered and vanished. Indignant, he snapped at Sheppard. "What are you doing? Put that back up there--I was trying to follow the sub-routes to the source of the problem!"

When nothing happened, he turned to the man in the chair, annoyed. "Well, what are you waiting for? I told you..." The tirade ended abruptly when he realized that Sheppard's head had lolled to the side and he was again unconscious. "Will you please stop doing that?" Nevertheless, Rodney immediately went to check on his friend.

He reached to check John's pulse, noticing that the nose bleed had not abated at all. If anything, it was worse now than it had been in the lab. McKay's own pulse quickened as he found the fluttery beat in Sheppard's neck. Grimacing, he pulled another packet of gauze from the unconscious man's vest and opened it. "You are so going to owe me for this one--you know how I feel about blood." With a look of total distaste, he carefully pushed the gauze up into each side of Sheppard's nose.

His task finished, he stepped back. "You know, now would be a really, really good time to wake up again--we still have to fix the city. Well, I have to fix it, but I need you to show me those readouts again so I can figure out how I'm going to accomplish said fixing."

John moaned, which in turn got Rodney's hopes up. "Sheppard?"

The only reply was another soft groan. John was obviously trying to awaken but finding it difficult, so McKay tried again. "Sheppard!"

To his dismay, there was still no response. When he could no longer stand the silence McKay blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Okay, fine! Schematics issues aside, I really, really, really wish you would wake up. You're scaring me with all the blood and the being unconscious thing, okay?"

"S'rry."

The slurred response was music to Rodney's ears. "Sheppard, you're awake! Ohthankgod!"

"R'ny?" Hazel eyes peered out through mere slits, trying to ascertain what was happening. John's confusion was clear in his tone, further worrying the physicist.

"You okay? Aside from your nose bleeding all over the place, I mean? And the being unconscious a few minutes ago, of course." He was babbling and he knew it, but Rodney couldn't seem to help himself.

McKay could tell it was a struggle for him, but Sheppard managed to force his eyes open. "'Lantis," he slurred. "'Lantis's in trouble."

"Yes, yes, we've already been over that. You were showing me a schematic of the city's power grid before you passed out. Remember? Can you get that back up again? I almost had something before it went down."

John didn't answer, but his face contorted in concentration. The requested schematic appeared, though faintly at first. Rodney wasted no time in following the diagram to the new addition. Unfortunately, it did not lead him to the source of the problem as he'd hoped.

"Damn it! That's not it. Can you magnify the sub-route to the secondary..."

Before he could even finish his request, the image shimmered and zoomed in to the area Rodney needed to see. "Oh, yes, thank you. Good, that's good." He resisted the urge to check on Sheppard and forced himself to concentrate on the schematic, knowing that every second counted in the race to save both him and the city.

McKay frowned at the display floating before him. "Hello, where did you come from?" Rodney tapped at his data pad, trying to keep watching the projection at the same time he pulled up information on his screen. He didn't know how long Sheppard would be able to keep it active and he couldn't afford to waste a single moment.

"Can you show me..." Again, before he could even finish his query, the projection shifted to the information the scientist needed. "I'm not even going to ask how you know what I want even before I tell you."

His only answer was a whimper from the man in the chair.

Rodney had never felt so torn in his life. On one hand, Sheppard was clearly suffering and in trouble--but he was also Rodney's only hope of figuring out what what causing the power outages and had sent the city into lockdown. "Just, just try to hang in there, okay? I'm working as fast as I can."

It did not surprise him that John didn't answer him. He pushed his concern to the back of his mind and continued to track the information before him. When the holographic image dimmed, his heart skipped a beat. "Nononono! You have to hold on for just a little longer--I'm almost there."

"T-t-try'n." The terse reply was slurred through gritted teeth. "Hrry."

Rodney swallowed a gigantic lump in his throat. "I am, I promise you I am. I'm almost there. I need to see the..." Rodney shook his head as John had again seemingly read his mind and provided the information he needed.

Sheppard again whimpered in pain, the projection dimming another notch. Before McKay could call out to him, the image shifted. "Good, this is good. Now if you can just give me one more minute..."

John didn't answer, but the projection again shifted. Rodney barely had time to digest the information before it changed yet again. He struggled to keep up with what the pilot was showing him, but several moments later he had his answer. "Oh for the love of...you can let go now. I know what's wrong and how to fix it."

With a final cry of pain, the projection winked out and John's head flopped to the side. Rodney wasted no time in flying to his side and checking for a pulse, holding his breath until he found the faint beat fluttering beneath his fingers. The blood was now fairly gushing from the pilot's nose and Rodney took a moment to carefully replace the gauze in each nostril.

Leaving the man to rest, Rodney quickly retrieved the necessary cables and tapped into the chair's control mechanism. He then set to work typing a program into the data pad, finishing as quickly as possible. When the last character was finally typed in, he looked regretfully at the still-unconscious pilot and tentatively reached out to tap Sheppard's cheek. "Hey, you need to wake up now. I need your help--Atlantis needs your help."

Though John didn't answer, the lights surrounding the chair brightened and dimmed several times in quick succession. Rodney's heart pounded in his chest as he prayed that the power would hold here. "Please-please-please don't go out on me now! We are so close."

Another series of fluctuations in the chair finally produced a groan from the pilot. His eyes opened slowly, stopping halfway as John drifted back to consciousness with a whimper. "Hrrts."

Helpless to aid him, there was only one answer Rodney could give. "I know. And I'm sorry. But listen to me; I know what's wrong with the city, but I can't fix it without your help. You hear me? I need your help--and so does Atlantis."

Sheppard whimpered again, louder this time, and managed to nod his head a fraction in agreement. McKay figured that speaking was most likely beyond him now. "Good, that's good. Can you bring up that last screen again?"

Another barely perceptible nod was quickly followed by the requested grid. "Good, that's good, now I need you to override this sequence here, here, and here. Can you do that?"

John didn't answer, but his hands immediately began to manipulate the gel-like pads at the end of each arm. His face contorted in pain and the whimpers grew in intensity as he worked. Sweat poured from his forehead, running down his face to mix with the blood from his nose.

Rodney kept a careful eye on his friend as he made the necessary changes. "Good, and now that one, yes--oh, and by the way, try not to pass out when you're done; we have a few more reconfigurations and overrides to get through before I can start bringing things back online again."

Again, Sheppard didn't answer, but his whimpers escalated to a series of gasps and groans, each one more painful sounding than the last. Rodney swallowed hard, nowhere near as immune to his friend's pain as he was pretending to be. "Okay, now when you have the connections made to the primary power core here, you'll need to reroute the secondary system to connect here, here, here, and...here."

McKay nodded in approval as John struggled to make the requested changes and adjustments needed to bring the city back to normal operations, offering as much support and encouragement as possible while still keeping a close eye on what was happening with the city. Inwardly, the scientist was becoming increasingly concerned about the pilot. His gasping and groaning was growing in both volume and intensity the longer Sheppard worked. Blood was flowing freely from the man's nose, the gauze unable to keep it at bay. His movements were increasingly sluggish also, giving a clear picture of how hard John was fighting to stay with the task.

At last, and much to Rodney's immense relief, Sheppard initiated the last of the required changes. "That's it! You did it! Okay, you take it easy now while I finish uploading the final program and...there. We. Go. Now one more reroute here..." So intent was he on his own finishing touches, McKay didn't notice that the gasps and groans had stopped.

Within seconds, light filled the room as system after system came back on line. "Yes! We did it! We saved the city--thanks to you and your super-gene..." His elation died along with the words on his lips as he turned and got a good look at the man in the chair. Sheppard's head had again lolled to the side, the front of him covered in blood. But more worrisome than that was the complete and utter stillness of the pilot. Not even his chest was moving...

It was then that Rodney realized that his friend was no longer breathing. Ditching the data pad as fast as humanly possible, he literally flew to John's side and sought a pulse. Finding none, he adjusted the position of his fingers and tried again. Still, there was nothing, not even a slight flutter beneath his fingertips. "Oh nonononono--you can't do this to me now! Not when we've come so far!" Reaching for his earpiece, he tapped it, praying harder than he ever remembered praying in his whole life that Beckett would now be on the other end. "McKay to Beckett! You need to get the chair room now--Sheppard's not breathing and I can't find a pulse. I repeat, Sheppard is no longer breathing."

He waited, holding his own breath, for a response. None came. "Damn it!" Knowing he had to start CPR immediately, Rodney dragged John out of the chair and laid him next to it on the floor. After getting his friend into the required position, he started mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions. Desperate, he tried the comm again, though never stopping the life-saving maneuvers. "Beckett this is McKay--Sheppard's down and he's not breathing. Get your ass to the chair room now!"

Again, there was no response from the Scot. Rodney half-swallowed a sob and quickly immersed himself in a seemingly unending cycle of potential life-saving measures. Clear airway. Breathe. Compressions. Check for pulse. Clear airway. Breathe. Compressions. Check for pulse. Clear airway. Breathe. Compressions. Check for pulse.

He had no idea how long he'd been at it when he felt John's ribs snap under his hand. Exhausted, on edge, and now fighting to keep from being sick over what he'd done, he activated the comm again. "Damn it, Beckett, I need you in the chair room right now! Sheppard's...he's not...he's..."

"I'm here, Rodney. Ye can step back and let us take over now."

McKay immediately rose to his feet, rounding on the physician. "Why didn't you answer your comm?"

"Communications and sensors are still down, Rodney. I didn't answer ye because I didna hear ye call." Even as Beckett answered him, he was dropping to his knees beside John and assessing his condition.

"Oh." McKay watched one of the female medics accompanying the doctor place an ambu-bag over Sheppard's mouth and begin forcing air into the pilot's lungs. He frowned, realizing that no one had been informed of their destination with communications down. "How did you know we were here?"

Carson shared a knowing look with the woman operating the bag as he answered. "Oh, let's just say we had no trouble following the trail ye left and leave it at that." He then nodded toward Rodney, indicating to one of the team that he wanted her to tend to him.

For his part, Rodney didn't resist as he was pulled to his feet and away from the unconscious Sheppard. "Is, um, is he going to be okay?" His eyes had never left his friend as the medical team worked on him and he was startled when a pad of gauze was extended to him. He tried to push it away, but his hand was shaking too badly for any chance of success. When she again firmly pushed it toward him, he snapped. "Get that out of my way."

Carson quickly set him straight, though keeping his main focus on the officer in front of him. "Let the lass do her job, Rodney. Yer nose is bleeding and yer goin' inta shock. As for the colonel, ye need ta stay back and let us work--we're doin' everything humanly possible. Do ya have any idea what might have triggered this? It's affected all the ATA gene carriers to some degree, but none so bad as Colonel Sheppard."

McKay started to shake his head but stopped dead, his eyes going wide. "Oh no. Nononono, it can't be." Ignoring the medic trying to start an in IV in his arm, he pulled away and scrambled over to the discarded data pad.

"Rodney! What are ye doing--yer in no condition to be working with sensitive equipment." Carson nodded to the woman who'd been attempting to treat the physicist to follow the stubborn scientist.

McKay didn't miss a beat, urgently tapping the screen. "Maybe not--but if I'm right about what's happening--and I'm almost positive that I am--if I don't keep going and stop this, every single person in Atlantis with the ATA gene is in serious trouble."

"Bloody hell! Are ye certain?"

"Did I not just say that I was? Now if you'll kindly stop asking me pointless questions, I'm trying to work here." Rodney ignored the woman hovering nearby and concentrated on his work. He did his best to block out the sounds of the medical team only a few feet away.

"Charging!"

"Clear!"

Though he was trying to ignore it, the noise of the defibrillator discharging and sending a jolt of electricity straight to John's heart made Rodney jump--badly. He

continued to tap away at the screen before him, pointedly refusing to look over where the desperate battle to save Sheppard was being waged.

"Still no pulse! Charging to 360!"

He continued to try to blot out the noise, losing himself in the numbers and schematics on his screen while the throbbing behind his eyes intensified. He even managed not to flinch at the second discharge of the defibrillator.

"Doctor McKay?" The female medic earned herself a death-glare with the interruption, but she nevertheless pushed on. "Your nose is bleeding. A lot, I mean."

Rodney frowned, pausing long enough to reach up and check for himself, ready to blast her for pulling his attention away from his work. His eyes widened when his fingers came away liberally coated in red. "Oh crap!"

As he turned to her with terror in his eyes, she was already moving toward him. "Here, if you'll allow me we can try to stem the bleeding with this." He didn't resist as she moved in and packed the white bandaging into each of his nostrils.

"Thank you," he said. The nurse smiled and nodded, moving back out of his way to allow him to work. Again the sounds of the fight to save his friend filtered through his mind.

"...cc's epinephrine here--we're losing him people, and that's just na acceptable."

Rodney swallowed hard, blocking out the sound of Beckett's voice as he concentrated on finding the source of whatever was affecting both he and Sheppard. Relentlessly, he chased down lead after lead, followed path after path, until finally he found the answer he sought. "Oh no. Oh this is bad. This is very bad." Leaping to his feet, he called to the doctor. "Carson! I need you in the chair now!"

The Scot didn't miss a beat in refusing. "I canna leave the colonel right now, Rodney. We've managed to get his heart goin' again, but it's na a sure thing by a long shot."

McKay's eyes flashed angrily. "I don't think you quite grasp the gravity of the situation, so allow me to explain in terms even you can understand. Either you park your butt in that chair right now, or by this time tomorrow, there won't be a single ATA gene carrier left alive on Atlantis. Period."

Beckett froze, staring at the scientist with his mouth wide. "Oh bloody hell! Isn't there some other way ye can stop whatever it is that's happening? Colonel Sheppard needs me, Rodney. Or do ye want to risk losing him?"

"Of course I don't want to lose him! If there were another way--any other way--I'd be glad to take it. But there's not, so it's either take the risk possibly losing him now or definitely losing him within the next 24 hours. So you tell me, Mr. Answer-man, do we risk possibly losing one man or doom us all?"

Before Carson could reply, Evan Lorne strolled into the room with a security team. "Hey Doc, Doc. Everything okay in here?"

"NO!" Both doctors answered simultaneously with a vehemence that had the major flinching.

Beckett was the first to explain. "Rodney needs your help, Major. And I need ta get Colonel Sheppard to the infirmary right way."

"Fine," agreed Rodney. "But you'd better leave a couple of your medics and your equipment." He then turned to a stunned Lorne. "Major, if you would be so kind as to get in the chair, I'll explain what we need to do as we go. Oh, and, um, this is probably going to be extremely painful, just so you know."

"What? I think someone had better explain to me what's going on," insisted Lorne.

"There's no time for that now--just get in the chair and I'll explain later." Rodney was equally determined, his voice urgent.

"Sorry, Doc, but no can do. With Colonel Sheppard down, I'm the ranking officer here. So you tell me what's going down or I can't help you."

McKay rolled his eyes, rattling off the explanation as fast as he could. "When the Ancients came back, they were apparently not pleased to find us inhabiting their city. As such, one of their scientists began working on a program to keep Atlantis from ever falling into the hands of non-Ancients again. Now from what I can tell, the program was still being developed when the Asurans attacked and it's not functioning properly. And while I don't yet know how, that program was somehow triggered this morning. Now if you will be so kind as to get into the chair?"

"Is that what was behind all the power outages?" Even as he asked, Lorne was moving toward the chair, careful to avoid the medics and equipment. "And what happened to Colonel Sheppard?"

Rodney sighed. "Look, we don't have time for all the details right now. Suffice it to say that yes, Sheppard was targeted by the same program for operating Ancient technology and attacked while he helped me to get main power back online. And I should probably warn you that you'll be number one on it's hit list once you begin, by the way, and it's a spot you'll no doubt hold until we can get it shut down."

Lorne paused at that, but only for a moment. "No other way, huh? Mind if I at least ask what's going to happen?"

"Of course," McKay agreed. "The aforementioned program is going after any and every non-Ancient in the city who tries to operate any of the Ancient technology here. And according to what I've found, it isn't going to stop there. By this time tomorrow, it will have sought out and destroyed every non-Ancient ATA gene carrier in the city. Suffice it to say, this means that you'll soon be experiencing a severe nosebleed, along with an excruciatingly painful headache, not to mention muscle weakness and, as a result, it's possible that your heart could eventually stop. But I'm confident we can shut this thing down long before that happens," he added. "Probably."

"Bloody hell!" Carson listened in on Rodney's explanation as the medical team loaded Sheppard onto a gurney for transport. "They must've been more 'an a wee bit daft to even attempt to create such a vile thing." Without waiting for a reaction from the physicist, he turned to the members of his team. "Lucy, Eric, Ryan? I'd like you three ta stay behind in case the major needs assistance."

Lorne nodded gratefully at Beckett as he sat down on the chair. "Thanks, Doc, appreciate it." Breathing deeply, he nodded at McKay and leaned back. "All right, McKay, let's do this." The chair came to life under his touch, if not quite as rapidly as it had for Sheppard.

"We'll start here in this section. I'll need you to initiate an interface here and here." As Rodney gave the major his instructions, the departing medical team began to wheel the gurney bearing Sheppard away. McKay shot a brief look of concern at the stretcher before returning his attention to the task at hand.

Carson had not missed the gesture, however, and tried to reassure him. "We'll take good care of him, Rodney, I promise. Good luck to you and the major there."

McKay waved absently, already deeply engrossed in the work Lorne was doing. As the officer continued to manipulate the controls on the arms of the chair, a deep crease formed across his forehead. It didn't take long after that for a trickle of blood to appear from the major's nose.

The three medics were also watching Lorne for signs of distress and when one stepped toward the chair, Rodney held up a hand for him to stay back. "Back off already. If you keep interrupting before he really needs you, we're never going to make any progress."

"He's right--I'll let you know when I need you." The major continued to work as he gave the order, the pain lines in his forehead deepening more with each passing moment.

"Okay, good, that's good. Now I need you reroute this subroutine over there, but keep the connections open here, here, and here." Rodney carefully guided him through the sequence, watching for any further sign of distress on the officer's part.

Lorne had barely made it through the first adjustments when that sign came. "You weren't kidding about that headache, were you?" He tried to laugh it off, only to have it come out as a groan instead. Determined, he forced his hands to keep manipulating the controls in spite of the intense pain.

Though his growing discomfort had them edgy, it was the dramatic increase in the flow of blood from his nose that spurred the medics into action. "I got it." Ryan stepped up to approach the chair, a gauze in hand and ready to pack into the major's nostrils. He tried to stay out of Lorne's way as much as possible, knowing what was at stake if they failed to shut down the program. Working as quickly and efficiently as possible, he finished his treatment and stepped back to allow the pair to finish their task.

McKay nodded at the medic, knowing the treatment was needed and approving of his backing out of the way again so promptly. He then gave Lorne the next set of instructions and waited for them to be carried out. He alternated between watching the officer for the inevitable worsening of symptoms and checking the information scrolling across his data pad. As the first signs of tremors in the major's arms became apparent, Rodney mentally cursed. Damn it! This was taking too long. Lorne's symptoms were progressing rapidly--too rapidly. If they didn't hurry, the major would end up just as bad off as Sheppard. Or worse.

"Any way to speed things up a little here, Doc?" Lorne's question came through gritted teeth, yet one more sign of the tremendous pain that was being inflicted upon him.

"No," snapped McKay. "If there were, don't you think I'd be using it?" Before anyone could react, the physicist snapped his fingers. "Unless..." He didn't bother explaining, but his stylus began to move at a frantic pace all over his screen. "If I change this to that and that to this and bypass that altogether..."

Just as Rodney finished up the adjustments, Lorne gasped loudly from the increasing strain on his body. "All right, Major, you'll need to access the program from the mainframe while keeping the interface with the secondary systems you were just working on."

"On it," he answered, his voice weakening as quickly as his muscles.

"Good, good. Now we need to begin shutting down the access points, but you'll have to do it in the exact order I give you--and I cannot stress this enough, I do mean exact order. Even the tiniest little divergence from the sequence could spell disaster for us all--got it?"

Lorne was breathing hard, his face contorted with the pain. "I got it...now start...giving me sequence...before 's too late. Don't know...how much longer...can hold on...here."

Lucy stepped forward, leaning over to get the major's pulse and check pupil response. "What exactly are your symptoms, Major Lorne?"

"We don't have time for that!" snapped Rodney. "We're at a critical phase here, in case you hadn't noticed, and he's going to need every bit of concentration he can muster to make sure he gets this right."

"McKay's right...ma'am. Need to focus..on instructions...'s getting hard...enough...without you...shining...lights in my...eyes." The officer groaned as soon as he finished speaking, almost an underscore of how dire his situation was becoming.

The medic wasn't going to be so easily swayed. "I'm sorry, Major, but it's my job to look after you. I'm going to have to insist you allow us to step in before your condition becomes anymore critical."

Rodney saved Lorne the effort of answering. "Hello? Did you not hear me say that if we don't get this program shut down that every single gene carrier in the city will be dead by tomorrow--him included? At this moment there is nothing more critical than that, so move back and stay out of the way."

"He's right, lass. I don' like it any better than you, but we have to allow him to try to finish." Surprised at Beckett's reappearance, Lucy nonetheless backed off.

"What are you doing back here? I thought you couldn't leave Sheppard." Though Rodney voiced the question they were all thinking, his eyes never left the screen of his computer as he began explaining the procedure to the major. "All right, you need to begin the shutdown here, then move here, here, here, here, and here."

"Got...it." Lorne's confirmation came through gritted teeth even as he began to implement the sequence.

"Doctor Karey is seeing to the colonel. He's stable enough for the time being, so I thought I best come see how things were progressing down here."

Rodney gave a half-wave in acknowledgement before he blocked out the sounds of Beckett and the medical team as they readied equipment, concentrating solely on the man in the chair and the task before them. "Good, good, almost there. Next we need to initiate shut down here, here, here, here, and then here."

The major gave a small nod accompanied by a half-sob in answer, again fighting to make the controls respond and do his bidding. As McKay looked on, he couldn't help but flashback to just a short time earlier when his friend and team leader was sitting in the same chair, going through the same agony in an attempt to save the city. He ruthlessly shoved the image and feelings aside, rubbing his forehead as he watched to see that Lorne did as requested in the correct sequence. The throbbing in his own head was increasing exponentially, so he had no doubt that Lorne was experiencing far worse.

"Yes! Now override this connection here and then close off these last three interfaces here, here, and then here." Rodney held his breath as Lorne's shaking hands worked to complete the final steps in the process.

"That it...I hope?" Though his voice was still weak and the tremors in his extremities continued, the pain lines creasing the major's forehead began to lessen.

"Just let me check...looks good there, nothing there..." Though Rodney's own headache had eased, he was leaving nothing to chance. He quickly ran through his list of checkpoints, constantly muttering a running commentary under his breath, until finally, he was satisfied. "That's it--you did it! Good job, Major. You can relax now."

The officer didn't answer, his head lolling to the side as his eyes rolled up into his head. Rodney tried to call for Carson, but the words wouldn't come and he managed nothing more than an unintelligible squeak. Before he even knew what was happening, someone was pulling the computer from his hands and guiding him to a waiting gurney. He tried to protest, wanting to stay to see how Lorne was doing, but again, no words would come to him. Voices drifted all around him, nothing more than a buzzing noise in his ears.

Hands forced him onto his back, but he tried to fight them. To his surprise, he found that he was too weak, the same tremors that Sheppard and Lorne had experienced running through his arms and legs. A gray hue settled over his vision as he attempted to speak, to tell them that something was wrong. Only the harder he tried, the darker the room became, until finally, he knew no more.

A

"Well when is he going to wake up? Lorne and I have been awake for hours now--why is Sheppard still out?"

McKay's demanding whine was the first thing John heard when awareness returned. He thought he should probably let him know he was awake, but he couldn't seem to find the energy to make the effort.

"Rodney, I already told ye, Colonel Sheppard will wake up when he's good and ready--and not before. He was a lot worse off than either you or the major. He lost a fair amount o' blood, so it's going to take him a wee bit longer to recover. Give him time; I'll let ye know when it's time to worry. Now either ye get back to your bed or I'll confiscate that computer ye bullied Radek into bringing ye."

Ah, so Carson was nearby as well. That wasn't really surprising, given the doctor's penchant for insisting upon erring on the side of caution. Wait a minute, was that about him being worse off than Rodney or Lorne?

He searched his fuzzy mind for the answer to why he--why they--were in here in the first place, but he came up empty. If only the pounding in his head would stop, then maybe he could find the answer.

"You can't do that! I need that computer to analyze the program responsible for this mess! I have to be sure that there is absolutely no possibility that we could inadvertently trigger it again. Or would you rather take the risk of going through this again? Maybe we could even manage to wait long enough this time for it to kill someone."

Program? A computer program was responsible for this...whatever had happened? Okay, that didn't sound good at all. It was time to find the ability to let them know he was awake and get some answers.

Summoning every ounce of strength he had, he called out. "Hey, 'm trying to sleep."

He was shocked at how weak his voice sounded and he wasn't completely certain anyone had heard him. He concentrated on convincing his eyelids to open and when he was finally successful, he found Beckett peering down at him.

"It's good to see ye've finally decided to join us, Colonel. Rodney here was getting a mite worried."

John swallowed, trying to wet his dry mouth. "What happened?" The words had no sooner left his mouth than the tickle in his throat erupted into a cough. Pain exploded in his chest, leaving him gasping for air.

"Easy there, Colonel." He could hear Carson's voice, though it sounded far away and tinny through the haze of pain.

He did his best to follow the doctor's orders and, though the pain didn't go away completely, he managed to get it under control enough to eventually take a sip of the water being offered him. The cool liquid took away the urge to cough and he gratefully collapsed back onto the bed. It took another few moments before he was recovered enough to speak. "What the hell happened?"

Beckett and McKay exchanged a knowing look before the physicist finally began to clue him in. "You were...attacked."

Sheppard waited for him to explain, but when no further information was offered, he shot Rodney an irritated look. "By?"

The physicist shifted uncomfortably. "By, um, by...Atlantis."

"Is this some kind of joke? Because gotta tell ya, I'm really not seeing the humor here."

McKay rolled his eyes. "Of course not--not all of us share your juvenile delinquent sense of humor, you know. I, for one, would never stoop to such childish behavior."

Carson nearly choked upon hearing McKay's declaration, earning himself another glare from the physicist. Rodney shook his head and turned his attention back to Sheppard. "You remember the power outages and storming into my lab earlier?"

John nodded. "Yeah, you were trying to figure out what was causing it. I remember you telling me that you were working on it, but things get kind of fuzzy after that. What'd I miss?"

Rodney took a deep breath. "You touched a console in my lab, which activated it, and then promptly collapsed. I called Beckett, but the comm went down before he got there. You woke up and said that Atlantis told you that we had to get to the Chair room--and you owe me one for bleeding all over my lab, by the way. Anyway, I did what I could to stop your nosebleed and we set off for the Chair room. Only the city went into lockdown and not even the emergency lighting was working. So I practically carried you all the way to the chair room. Only there wasn't any power there either--or so I thought. But you insisted that Atlantis told you the Chair still had power and you had to use it to fix her."

Sheppard shook his head. "That's crazy. Atlantis told me? Come on, buddy, you're slipping. Granted she's a pretty amazing city, but she's still just a city--and last time I checked, cities don't talk to people."

"Hey, don't look at me--you're the one who said she told you, not me. The really weird thing is you were right. The chair did still have power. Only you weren't doing so well, but you insisted you had to do it and you nearly gave me a heart attack when you passed out again in the middle of showing me what was causing the problem."

"Well I see you managed to survive it better than I apparently did, so how about we skip the lectures and get on to the part where you tell me how you single-handedly saved all of us, along with the city. Again."

"How did you know...oh, right, I get it. More of that friends-kidding-thing again. Well as it so happens, joking or not, you're right. I did save the city, yet again, and consequently, all of the people in it. Again."

Another loud cough from Carson had McKay hastily backtracking. "Although I suppose some of the credit should possibly go to you, since you did lead me through to where the problem was. Although how you knew what I needed to see before I could even ask you for it is something I'd definitely like an answer to."

Another cough from Beckett had Rodney qualifying even further. "Fine, and possibly Major Lorne over there as well." He craned his neck to look back at the physician. "Now is that it or is there someone else you seem to think also deserves a spot in the limelight here?"

Before the Scot could answer, John was trying to sit up and find the major. "Where is Lorne? How bad is he hurt?"

"Lay back and take it easy, Colonel. The major is right over there, resting like he was told. Unlike some people." Carson shot a pointed glare at McKay as he finished speaking.

Sheppard spied Lorne several beds over, being tended by a reddish-blonde nurse. Kelly? Kacey? No, Kelly. It was definitely Kelly. Or Kacey.

His attention was pulled back to the matter at hand by Beckett's distinctive brogue. "All right, Rodney, ye've seen the colonel awake--now it's time to get back to your own bed."

"No wait!" The room spun as John whipped his head back around to face the two men next to his bed. Even before it settled, he continued his plea. "He still hasn't told me how this...whatever happened."

Carson sighed. "All right, but ye best be quick about it. Rodney wasna affected as badly as you or Major Lorne, but he got a fair dose of backlash from the chair himself and needs to rest--not to mention ye yourself bein' the worst off of the lot."

"Fine," agreed Sheppard. "He can bottom-line it for me. How the heck did Atlantis put the three of us in the infirmary?"

McKay smiled, quite happy to provide the information. "Oh, well, it was really quite ingenious. One of the Ancients had begun work on a program that would have prevented any non-Ancient gene carrier from initializing or operating any of the technology that requires an ATA gene. He managed to focus an intense low frequency beam combined with an EM field to target a specific user--any unauthorized, non-Ancient ATA carrier who attempts to operate any of the city's technology--while shielding it from everyone else."

"Rodney!" Beckett's warning tone stopped the scientist in mid-explanation, earning him another glare from the physicist. "Bottom-line, remember?"

"You said he'd begun to work on it?" Sheppard ignored Carson's warning, wanting to know what had happened and, more importantly, to know that it wasn't going to happen again.

"Yes, well, from what I've been able to ascertain, it appears his work was interrupted by the attack on the city from the Replicators. This program was not originally meant to seriously harm anyone--only to deter them from using the technology or taking up residence in the city. I don't know how it was triggered--yet--but I'm working on it." Rodney also happily ignored the Scot's warning and carried on as if he'd never spoken. "But once it was initiated, the program began shutting down power, eventually going into total lockdown. That's where you came in and how you ended up in here. Eventually."

John's eyes widened for an instant. "Wow, that's some legacy to leave behind. There's still one thing you haven't told me, though--how did this beam-thing manage to break my ribs?"

McKay shot a panicked look at Beckett. "Um, well...it, um, didn't."

"Rodney." The warning in Sheppard's tone was clear--he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"All right, I'm sorry, okay? But what was I supposed to do--just stand there and watch you die? You finished restoring the power, but then you weren't breathing and I had to drag you out of the chair and I still couldn't reach Carson because the comm hadn't come back online yet and I didn't know what else to do so I started CPR, but you still weren't breathing and it seemed like I was doing it forever, but I had to keep it up because if I didn't you'd be dead and I was afraid it had been too long and you might be getting brain damage, but then I heard this noise and then I realized that your ribs, um, broke. Sort of."

"You broke my ribs?" Sheppard was incredulous. "And trust me, there is no "sort of" about it--they're definitely broken."

Carson had heard enough. "Colonel, may I remind ye that if Rodney hadn't performed CPR in such a timely fashion, ye would'na be here right now? And have ye also forgotten that it's na uncommon at all for ribs to break under properly administered CPR?"

Properly chastised, John sighed. "Well, I suppose since you did save my life and all, I can probably forgive you for breaking my ribs--this time."

"Oh how very generous of you," sniped McKay. "Next time I should just stand there and wait for the medical team to arrive and hope for the best."

"Here's an idea for ye," suggested the Scot. "How about ye both be more careful and make certain that there won't be a next time?"

Sheppard tilted his head in a half-nod to McKay. "He does have a point there."

"Well," agreed Rodney. "I suppose that would solve a number of problems."

John looked at the ceiling and pondered the situation further. "Not nearly as exciting, though."

"Yes, well, there is that."

"Och, bloody fools, the both of ye." Carson shook his head at the pair. "All right, Rodney. The colonel's had his explanation, so now it's time to get back in your own bed and the both of ye are going to rest--no arguments."

Sheppard's eyes were already closing as McKay rose and started back to his bed. "Rodney?"

McKay stopped and turned around, a wary look on his face. "Yes?"

"Thanks."

Rodney smiled, waving as he headed back to his bed. "Yeah, sure. Anytime."

The End