Ronon shifted uncomfortably as he slowly regained consciousness. A bleary glance at his surroundings indicated that he was in a cell much like the one in Atlantis.

With a growl he lunged to his feet, looking around for an opponent – any opponent. To his frustration there was no sign of the annoying girl who had stunned him, or of anybody else for that matter. He was completely alone in the cell.

Pacing irritably in order to work off the after effects of the stunner – it had been a strong blast – he methodically checked the sides of the cell for any sign of weakness. Finding none, he chose to focus his attention on the door.

Lifting the heavy ornate wooden bench that had been placed against one of the walls, he rammed it at the door, hoping to loosen it from its hinges. Unfortunately the only result was an electrical flare as the cell's force field repelled the impact and sent the bench rebounding to the floor.

Shaking his arm to recover from the rebound, Ronon picked up the bench and rammed it at the door again, and again, and again…

Rodney stood next to John and stared up at the building in front of them. The energy readings coming from it were incredible, but probably the most noticeable feature about it was the complete absence of a door.

"So, how do we get in?" John asked him impatiently.

"How should I know?" Rodney protested. "It's not like the Ancients left a set of blueprints lying around for me to find."

"You've been staring at that scanner for twenty minutes now," John pointed out in his 'I'm trying to be patient' voice.

"Useful as the scanners may be, they are not a miracle solution to all things," Rodney snapped crossly. "And they are certainly not intended for opening strange buildings."

John shrugged. "I just thought that you would've come up with a solution by now,' he replied placidly.

Rodney sighed. "Isn't it your turn to think of a solution – preferably one that doesn't involve explosives?"

"Alright," John said thoughtfully, studying the building. "Why don't we knock and see if anyone's home?"

Rodney spluttered in protest as John walked up to the building and rapped his hand against the smooth surface. "That's not going to work…" he began, and then stopped in surprise as John's hand passed through the surface of the building.

John grinned in delight. "It's just an illusion," he said cheerfully.

Rodney frowned at the readings on his scanner. The energy signature definitely wasn't consistent with that of a holographic projection. In fact, the scanner was reading the surface as 100 percent solid.

"Be careful with that," he warned John. "You don't want to spend six months trapped inside a building."

John paused at that. "Why would the ancients build such a small place to learn to ascend in?"

Rodney shrugged. "Why did the ancients build half the things they did? They weren't exactly a logical race."

John smirked. "Just because you have no idea how half their stuff works doesn't mean that it's illogical. Anyway, the local said that there were people living here, so it's reasonably safe to assume that this isn't some elaborate ancient trap."

"Fine, but you get to explain your reasoning to Elizabeth if the building tries to eat us," Rodney retorted, moving to join John next to the building.

"Fair enough," John nodded, reaching out to touch the building. As before the surface yielded to his touch. He glanced at Rodney. "Wait for 20 seconds then follow me," he instructed.

Rodney nodded solemnly, and watched as John took a deep breath and walked through the surface. The twenty seconds seemed to stretch on for eternity as Rodney waited impatiently.

Finally the time limit was reached and he stepped into the wall – only to bounce off a hard and undoubtedly solid surface. "Ow!" he complained, rubbing his forehead in pain. "What on earth?"

He poked at the surface and found that it remained unyielding. He carefully tried several spots, including the exact location that John had passed through the wall at, but the wall refused to let him through.

Finally he gave it up as a lost cause and radioed for Teyla.

"Yes?" she said, sounding distracted.

'Teyla, it's Rodney," he said briskly. "Sheppard's managed to get himself in trouble again. Could you get Ronon and meet me at the large building on the edge of the marketplace?"

There was a pause, and then Teyla replied. "Certainly Rodney," she said calmly. "We'll be there shortly."

Rodney sighed and sat down to study the readings on his scanner. The building surface was still registering as a solid, so John must've done something that made it change to a liquid state on contact. He tried to think back on all the things that John might've touched to produce such an effect, but gave it up as a lost cause. John touched anything that was shiny or colourful – much like an overgrown kid with no survival instincts.

It was a considerable while later when Teyla finally turned up alone and looking concerned. "I can't find Ronon anywhere," she announced. "He's not answering his radio and no one seems to have seen him."

Rodney frowned. "Great, that means that two of our team members are missing. I thought you said this planet was harmless?"

Teyla nodded. "Violence is prohibited," she confirmed. "I am sure that no harm has come to our team mates. Ronon is probably exploring the market, and John is…where is John again?"

Wordlessly Rodney pointed at the building.

Teyla walked over to it and pressed her hand against the cool surface. "How did he get inside?" she asked in bewilderment.

"He just walked straight through," Rodney replied gesturing at the building in frustration. "I can't reach him on his radio either – the building seems to be blocking the signal."

"Can you open it?" Teyla asked him in concern.

Rodney shook his head. "The technology is similar to Ancient design, but it is different enough that the scanner can't identify most of it. I'd need a lot more equipment and several weeks at least."

Teyla looked serious. "John may not have that much time."

Rodney groaned. "I know that, but I can't change the laws of physics. New technology requires time to understand, no matter how urgent the situation."

Teyla nodded. "I understand. Perhaps we should contact Atlantis and ask Dr Weir to send a science team and some equipment through."

"Alright," Rodney agreed, climbing to his feet. "And some marines to start looking for Ronon. I don't want to have to search the entire market just because he's off drooling over some new weapon."

John stumbled slightly as he pulled free of the illusionary wall and found himself in a brightly lit hallway that curved away in either direction. It was a terrible design from a military standpoint – an enemy could be standing feet away and completely out of sight.

He quickly checked both directions as far as he could within twenty seconds, and once he was reassured that it was safe he waited impatiently for Rodney to follow him through. After about a minute he figured he'd better go see what had happened to the scientist – Elizabeth wouldn't be very impressed if he managed to lose the Chief Science Officer on a 'safe' planet.

To his surprise, the illusion that had easily allowed him to enter refused to let him leave. The wall felt like solid metal – there was no visible way out. Frowning, John checked the wall at regular intervals along the hall, but there was no change.

With a sigh, John decided to go look for another way out. Surely the Ancients hadn't been insane enough to build two time enclosures… Besides, Rodney would find a way to get him out – eventually.

Choosing the hallway to the right to follow, he cautiously set off in that direction, being careful to check the doorways leading off the hallway for any sign of inhabitants.

He'd made it about halfway around the building before he heard voices. Ducking into a nearby room, he crouched next to the door – ready to attack if necessary. Listening intently, he frowned to himself as he realised that the voices seemed familiar…

"He won't stop attacking the door," Kilatha said anxiously. "I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself."

"He'll be fine," Shaya replied, her footsteps echoing as she walked briskly along the corridor. "Besides, we'll be moving him shortly, and I'll make sure that there's nothing loose in his next cell."

"There was nothing loose in this cell," Kilatha protested. "That bench was bolted to the floor."

"In that case it's his own fault if he gets injured," Shaya replied. "Anyway, it's only for a short time – we'll get him back to Lathuria and wait until the Atlanteans discover that he's missing. Then they'll get the address to that planet with the faulty Stargate from the guard at the gate and we can send Ronon after them. It's the perfect revenge – no one gets hurt, and Thorac won't even have to know."

Kilatha sighed. "I don't see why we can't just send Ronon through first," she complained.

"Because if something goes wrong, I don't want to have to fly out there and fetch him," Shaya pointed out. "Dr McKay should be able to fix the gate after a couple of days, the giant can't."

"I still say this is a bad idea," Kilatha argued as they passed by John's location and continued down the hall.

John stood up silently as their voices faded into the distance. So Thorac's people were here and they had Ronon, he thought furiously to himself. Although Thorac and John had parted on fairly good terms, it seemed that his people were inclined to hold a grudge.

Checking that the hallway was clear once again, he slipped out and headed the direction that the girls had gone. If Ronon was a prisoner here then John intended to find him.

It turned out that Ronon's cell wasn't that far away – John narrowly avoided been spotted by the girls on their way back. Slipping into the room, he found that the cell was empty. A small wagon-like vehicle hovered to one side of the room though, and he wandered across to have a look at it.

Inside, disguised as a large crate of vegetables, he found an unconscious Ronon. Even in his sleep the large man managed to look dangerous. John hastily considered his options. Ronon was too heavy for John to move, and even if he could get him out of the wagon he still would be trapped inside the building.

He eyed the contents of the wagon thoughtfully. There was a second large crate that actually contained vegetables. John grinned slightly. They didn't really need that many vegetables, surely.

He emptied the crate into a nearby cupboard and hid inside. This way, when Ronon regained consciousness John would be in a position to help him escape.

Rodney scowled at the gate in frustration. They'd contacted Atlantis only to be informed that there was a mild outbreak of the plague, and the gate was refusing to dial out.

For the moment, they were on their own.

"We'd better go back to the building that John's stuck in," Teyla said softly. "Perhaps he has managed to find a way out."

Rodney shook his head gloomily. "If he had then he would have radioed us by now. And we still have to find Ronon and let him know what's going on."

Teyla nodded. "Alright. Do you want to split up to save time?"

Rodney considered this for a moment and then shook his head vehemently. "If we spilt up then we mightn't find one another again. We're better off sticking together."

"In that case I suggest that we start with the weapons stalls," Teyla recommended. "Ronon indicated that he was going to spend some time there – perhaps someone has seen him."

Rodney nodded and they started to weave their way across the busy marketplace. Not far from the weapons stalls though, Teyla grabbed Rodney's arm and pulled him to a halt.

"Over there," she hissed, pointing towards a man standing in front of one of the stalls. "That's Kalak."

Rodney squinted at the man. "Are you sure?" he asked her. "He looks a lot older than I remember."

Teyla nodded. "I am certain. Thorac must've fed off him."

"What's he doing here?" Rodney mused, puzzled. His eyes widened as a thought came to him. "You don't think that he's responsible for Ronon's and John's disappearance?"

"It is possible," Teyla shrugged.

"It's extremely likely," Rodney said firmly. "I bet that if we follow him he'll lead us to wherever they're keeping them."

Kalak actually led them around most of the market instead, prompting Teyla to suggest that maybe he was simply shopping. Rodney was adamant that he was up to no good though, so they continued to track him for most of the afternoon.

Finally, he headed back to the Stargate, where he met up with Col, Shaya and Kilatha.

"See!" Rodney exclaimed quietly to Teyla. "They're all here. It can't be a coincidence."

"It does seem unlikely," Teyla admitted reluctantly. "But I don't see any sign of John or Ronon."

Rodney waved this away. "They've probably already transported them back to Thorac's lair," he reasoned.

They watched carefully as the Companions dialled the gate – Rodney making sure to note the address.

"What should we do?" Teyla asked once the wormhole vanished.

Rodney frowned. "We can't wait until Atlantis finds the cure to this disease or whatever that they've got – it might take weeks. We'll have to go after them."

"Shouldn't we at least let Atlantis know where we're going?" Teyla asked in concern.

Rodney shook his head. "There's no time. If we don't leave now we won't be able to follow them to wherever they're going. We'll leave a message near the gate for them to find once they can travel offworld again."

Teyla nodded doubtfully. "You are right," she agreed reluctantly. "We can't afford to wait while John and Ronon are in danger. They would do the same for us."

Rodney hastily programmed a message into his scanner and hid it in the trees near the gate. It was designed to emit a certain frequency that would register on another scanner – he'd gotten tired of never been able to find his.

He then punched the address that the Companions had travelled to into the DHD and together they stepped into the Stargate.

Deep inside his lab, Thorac looked up with a puzzled frown as the gate sensors registered the arrival of four unauthorised visitors.