Title: The Darker Side of Forever
Rating: 15, PG13, T
Words: ~19k
Genre: Gen with some het UST (Rodney/OFC). Adventure teamfic with a skew towards Rodney centricity.
Summary: How does forever sound? Tricks and traps hide secrets left behind by the Ancients that could doom Sheppard's team. Set late Season 2. Rodney whump.
A/N: Written for the Stargateland Big Bang challenge over on LiveJournal. There was no specific prompt and the only rule is that the fic has to be 10k or more :) It took ages to write this, work's been a stressfest for the past month+ They say things will get better soon, but I doubt it.

Chapter One

Out in the coldness of space, bright sunlight glinted on metal in the vacuum. After so long waiting, her day was finally about to come.

xxx

"So what's out there?" Elizabeth asked across the conference room table.

Rodney spoke in a flat voice, "I've already said, we don't know."

"But it was a hidden and encoded address," John said with hopeful look at Elizabeth. "So it must be something important."

"Or something very dangerous that the Ancestors wanted to keep well hidden," Teyla added reasonably.

Ronon was swinging his chair looking bored, then he abruptly stopped. "Let's go check it out."

Elizabeth looked between them. "As valid each of your points are, we can't overlook the fact that the Ancients wanted this to remain hidden. But thankfully, with the science team's expertise at decoding the data..."

Rodney puffed out his chest and looked smug.

"...we have gained access and are now presented with a dilemma."

"Which can only be resolved by authorising us to go," Rodney said, looking more hopeful than Sheppard. "Yes, it could be dangerous, I'm the first one to think that. But it could also lead us to the greatest discovery we'll ever make."

Sheppard raised his eyebrows, "Can't argue with that."

Elizabeth regarded them all for a moment longer and then smiled. "Alright, you have a go. But I want the data from the MALP we send through to be fully analysed before you do so."

"Have you ever known me to not fully analyse something?" Rodney said, looking a little hurt.

"You don't analyse food for very long before it disappears," Ronon said.

Rodney lifted his chin. "Only for potential citrus content."

"Alright," Elizabeth said. "Get to work."

xxx

"And... the MALP is through," Rodney said from his seat in the Control Room.

"Put it on the main screen, please," Elizabeth said.

The white noise slowly faded into a dark image. Lights flickered on and revealed a room and the DHD in front of the gate.

"Temperature and atmospheric content within safe parameters," Rodney announced, tapping away on his computer. "No known toxins in the vicinity of the MALP."

Elizabeth continued to study the screen as the MALP moved forwards and revealed a plain, smooth wall in front of it. "Any power readings?"

"Checking. No." Rodney frowned and stopped typing to look up at the screen. "There doesn't seem to be anything there at all, except for the DHD and four walls. The room itself is only big enough to house the gate and the splash of the wormhole formation."

"Can we go through yet?" Sheppard called from down in the gate room where he was waiting with Ronon and Teyla.

Elizabeth turned to Rodney and he shrugged, "I can't believe there's nothing there at all, but we won't know until we go through and I can run some more in depth scans."

She nodded, "Alright, go. But if you don't dial back in an hour we'll send the cavalry."

Rodney stood up and straightened his tac vest out before packing up his laptop and tucking it into the case strapped to his back. He trotted down the stairs and grabbed the large, heavy rucksack full of gear Ronon tossed at him.

"Careful!" he cried. "Delicate equipment!"

Ronon grunted as Sheppard set off towards the gate with the other three members of his team following behind.

xxx

It was as dark as the MALP had shown them when Rodney stepped through the gate behind Sheppard and Ronon. He heard Teyla step up behind him before the gate shut down and the room was plunged into a deeper blackness so pressing he imagined no light other than that from the gate had pierced it for a long time.

He flicked on his torch at the same time as the others and coughed on the stale air. "Okay, that's nasty," he said out loud.

"What died in here?" John asked.

Rodney peered at his scanner, "No life signs."

"Hopefully not if it's dead," John drawled.

"No organic matter," Rodney continued with a loud voice.

Ronon moved towards the MALP, blaster drawn and ready. "Smells like nothing's been down here for years."

"Or centuries," Teyla said.

Sheppard reached the MALP where it rested by the DHD and looked down at the dialling device. "McKay!"

Rodney jumped and clutched his chest. "Give me a heart attack!"

"You'll have more than that when you see this," Sheppard said, his face pale and grim in the poor lighting.

Rodney walked over, weighed down by his bag, but knowing that he really had only packed the essentials this time: enough food for at least a day, and so much Ancient tech, he would be able to detect a single ant walking across a desert at ten miles.

He peered down at the DHD and gasped. "But... what...?"

There were no gate symbols on it and when Rodney crouched down and pulled off the panel, he found that to be empty too. "Why would the Ancients do such a thing?" he asked, feeling insulted and suddenly very nervous.

"And why didn't you see that from the MALP?" Sheppard asked, his forehead creasing in a frown to counterbalance Rodney's fear.

"I just assumed it was alright! The MALP can't check if all the crystals are in the right place anyway."

Teyla and Ronon came over and saw it too. Teyla did a quick sweep of the room and spoke, "A Puddle Jumper will not fit in this room."

"And the Daedalus is at least a week away," Ronon added, still looking around the room with his blaster up as though he expected something to assail them at any moment.

Rodney put his bag down by the MALP and opted for his smaller hand scanner. His hands trembled slightly, but nothing that would be seen by his team mates in the dull light.

"Anything?" Sheppard asked, trying not to sound angry, but not masking it very well.

Rodney frowned, "Yes. There are energy conduits running through all of the walls. He stepped over to the wall opposite the gate and pressed his hand against it. He then knocked it with his knuckles and it clanged hollowly. "I'm reading another room beyond this wall, approximately the same size, but with tapered walls. Other than that, this room appears to be surrounded by solid stone or soil that my scans can't penetrate."

"So, we're stuck here," Ronon asked, finally powering down his blaster and tucking it back in the holster.

"It seems so," Rodney conceded. "The Daedalus will be here in a week, and we know Atlantis can establish a connection to keep sending us food and water and whatever else we need."

"Air?" Teyla asked as her eyes scanned the completely blank walls.

"That too," Rodney said, feeling less nervous but put out that he'd led them here and not even used the MALP to check the DHD was even a real one with buttons and power.

Sheppard's face finally smoothed out as the frown lines and anger dissipated. "Well, it could be worse."

There was a slight rumble and the room moved a little to one side.

Rodney shouted, "Why did you have to say that?"

John called back, "I didn't do it on purpose!"

The rumble increased in volume and there was another noise over the top of it – an ominous metallic grinding and chinking sound.

"That sounds like a gate dialling!" Rodney shouted.

Teyla started and glanced back at the dull ring behind them. "It is not this gate. How is that possible?"

Rodney glanced at his scanner and spread his feet to avoid toppling over in the earthquake. His eyes widened and he muttered a litany under his breath. "Oh no no no no no!"

"What is it?" Ronon shouted above the increasing din.

"The other room behind the wall holds another gate. The energy readings and sounds are consistent with an older style gate much like those in the Milky Way."

The wall in the middle of the room shimmered and vanished just as the splash of the gate opposite flew out and the wormhole formed.

"McKay!" John shouted. "What's going on?"

"I... I don't know!"

The room tilted further than before and then abandoned normal gravity entirely. The occupants were tipped towards the other gate as the far wall became the floor. The tapered walls prevented them from going in any direction other than through the gate and the MALP fell with them. One by one they went through the other gate to destination unknown.

xxx

Chapter Two

They were coming now. So close, yet so far away. She had already waited eternity, so what was one more minute in this span of never ending time in the void?

xxx

Rodney fell for only a couple of seconds, but that was long enough. Halfway down, his body went through the gate and was pulled to an unknown place that could have been anywhere. When he came through the other side, he fell the rest of the way. He landed heavily and lost his breath in a pained whoosh.

Rolling onto his back, he had a fraction of a second to react when he saw the MALP falling towards him. Despite the pain of all the badly broken bones and lack of air, his survival instinct was still strong and his body had enough energy left that he was able to use to roll out of the way in time as the heavy machine smacked into the floor beside him. He felt the reverberation of the impact travel through the floor into his chest and he lost his breath again. Keep this up and he wouldn't be able to start again, he thought miserably.

He looked at the open vortex of the wormhole above curiously from where he lay breathing harshly and assessing the damage. It soon shut down and revealed nothing but a blank ceiling behind. Strange.

"Is everyone okay?" John asked.

"I am unharmed," Teyla responded.

Ronon grunted and got up. John came over to Rodney and crouched down, "Are you hurt, Rodney?"

"I think I broke my back. My ribs..."

John furrowed his brow, "Do you want me to take a look?"

Rodney grumbled, "Not really." He very slowly and gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position, curling one hand around his side while John took his other hand.

"MALP nearly landed on my head," he said shakily, his heart still pounding so fast he thought it was about to break loose and run away.

"I can see that. Can you stand?"

"I don't know. Hold on."

Ronon had his blaster out again and was surveying the room they had landed in - the well lit room.

A cool female voice suddenly sounded, "Welcome. Please report to the medical bay for health checks and registration."

"What does that mean?" John asked as he helped Rodney to his unsteady feet.

"I just got here too! Or were you lucky enough to avoid falling from a great height through a gate and slamming into the floor?"

"We fell too," Ronon said, picking up McKay's rucksack and passing it to him. "How's your delicate equipment?"

Rodney said, "Bruised, broken, probably bleeding."

"I believe he meant in your bag," Teyla said with a small smile.

Rodney sighed heavily, his bruised ribs protesting vehemently. It was mostly food in the bag so he did not need to check that, but he pulled his laptop out of its protective sleeve and found it to be intact and working. "Looks like the equipment's fine at the expense of my ribs."

"You're still breathing enough to complain and standing upright," Ronon said, never once looking at Rodney as his eyes tracked around the plain room.

There was no DHD in this room, fake or otherwise. But instead of totally blank walls all around, there was a door in one of them.

Sheppard indicated it with his P90. "Well, now that we've ascertained that we're all in one piece."

Rodney mumbled unhappily.

"More or less, let's see what we've landed ourselves in."

xxx

John went through the door first, followed by Teyla with Rodney and Ronon at the back of the group. Rodney wasn't really paying much attention to his surroundings, as he stared at the scanner held in his tight grip.

Lights came on as the team made their way into the corridor beyond. It led away from the door they had gone through and only went in one direction, curving slightly a few metres ahead so that it was impossible to see any further. All the walls were plain white and featureless like the room they had left behind.

"Anything?" John asked.

"Plenty," Rodney replied.

John paused and turned just enough so that Rodney could see his expression and quickly elaborated, "Power readings all around, new areas are powering up all the time. According to these scans, we're in a large complex of sprawling corridors and rooms."

"Life signs?" Teyla asked.

"First thing I checked, and no, it's just us."

Ronon didn't lower his gun and neither did the others. He said, "Could there be people in shielded areas?"

"It's a possibility, but this complex or outpost or whatever it is, is massive and it could take hours, if not days, to explore every corridor and room to find out if there's anyone lurking here."

Sheppard started walking again, letting his P90 lead the way as he rounded the curve and was greeted by yet more featureless plain white corridor. There was no visible source of light from the walls, it was as though the light just existed all around them with no bulbs or obvious place where the illumination came from. When he checked, he couldn't see any shadows either. It was creepy and more than a little bit sterile and unwelcoming, like a hospital, but he reserved judgement until they found an access panel or computer for Rodney to get some data.

They came to another door which slid open soundlessly. The same smooth, emotionless female voice came from the room. "Please choose a bay and await your scan results and registration."

Rodney looked around warily as they stepped into the room. There were a few beds in the middle along with scanners and blank screens above, just like the infirmary on Atlantis.

"At least we know it's Ancient," John said.

"Obviously, or the lights wouldn't have come on," Rodney said, sounding annoyed.

"Why do they have an automated medical bay on an outpost?" Teyla asked, glancing around the room for danger.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "So it's the usual: 'When the guns don't work, ask the smart one.'"

Ronon growled at him.

"I don't know!" Rodney cried back. "Maybe there was a disaster or something and all the medical staff were killed." His eyes darted about in barely suppressed panic and he quickly ran some more scans for radiation and toxic particles in the air. He didn't find any and gradually his heart slowed.

"Can you get any data from any of this stuff?" John asked, walking around to one of the bays the disembodied woman had told them all the stand in.

Rodney scowled and sighed, but went to the nearest terminal anyway and plugged in a lead. Just as he did so, a bolt of visible blue energy ran up the lead and into his hand, throwing him backwards. He landed heavily and shut his eyes with a grimace.

Teyla was there first and laid her hand on his upper arm. She asked in alarm, "Are you alright, Rodney?"

The voice of the complex spoke before he could. "Unauthorised access attempts are not allowed."

"Clearly," Rodney said with a wince before he lifted his arm and jammed his burnt fingers into his mouth.

The voice of the complex was becoming more and more sinister, especially when its next words were spoken. "You will submit to medical scans and registration."

John suddenly jumped backwards with a short cry of alarm. "The floor shocked me," he said sheepishly.

Teyla helped Rodney upright as he continued to suck his fingers. The cable was still hanging from the wall and he held up his uninjured hand and spoke to the ceiling, "I'm just going to get my gear. No accessing anything, I swear."

He retrieved it without incident and stuffed it back in his bag next to the terminal. He felt a sharp pain in his leg as he stood, so intense that he jumped backwards with a loud, "Ow!"

"You too?" John said.

Ronon grunted and shifted.

"I believe the base is herding us towards the alcoves," Teyla said.

"Are they dangerous?" John asked, looking at Rodney.

"I don't know. I can't test them without getting zapped by the robot woman. I hope they won't kill or freeze us, but who knows."

"Not good enough, McKay! Find out what they do."

"I told you, I don't know! And I don't think that even if I did know we'd have much of a choice!"

And as usual, Rodney was right in this instance.

xxx

Chapter Three

The electrified floor forced every member of the team back until there was nothing to do but step into the pods and allow the scans to take place.

"I'm sure it's perfectly safe," Rodney protested to Sheppard's angry glare. "Why would they want to kill us when we only just got here?"

Sheppard said, "If they intend to kill us, I'm sure we'll be dead before I can berate you, McKay."

"It's not my fault this is happening!" Rodney cried, feeling justified in how put out he was. "You saw what the wall did to me when I tried to get some more information."

Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla stepped into alcoves and Rodney hesitated. He yelped as the floor zapped him and he had to carry on. He put his pack on the floor with his computer and the cable outside the alcove and closed his eyes.

The female voice came to him in the alcove as the door swished shut. He thanked the Ancients that the door was glass, but he pressed his hands against it anyway and his breathing sped up in panic. He was trapped! The space was so small!

"Relax. The procedure will be over very soon."

A light ran slowly down the wall and his body was pulled back and pinned against the wall of the alcove as the bright light ran across him, spreading numbness as it went. The pressure was such that it was hard for him to suck in a breath to ease the tightness in his chest and he became light-headed as his sight dimmed.

"Scan complete. Your health is within acceptable parameters. Please enjoy your stay."

"Well, that's good to know. Thanks," Rodney said, trying to sound genuinely grateful but ending up sarcastic.

Rodney fell out of the alcove as the pressure eased and the door swished open. He crawled across the floor on hands and knees to his bag, trying to make it appear that he had meant to do that. The rest of his team staggered, but kept their feet as they too exited the alcoves.

"Be nice to the robot lady, Rodney or she might shock more than your fingers," John said as he glanced around the room.

The door they had come through was still closed, but the other door was now open and revealed more plain white featureless corridor beyond.

"That was most uncomfortable," Teyla said, rolling her shoulders and blinking.

Ronon nodded, "I know I'm fine. Don't need a computer to tell me that."

"Hmm," Rodney said as he shouldered his pack and grabbed his computer from the floor. He retrieved his pocket scanner and started searching for anything that would help them.

"Anything?" John asked as he followed Rodney from the room, Teyla and Ronon taking point this time.

"The whole facility has power, but there are still no lifesigns." He waved the scanner at Sheppard, too fast for the other man to possibly see the screen. "I think this concentrated energy reading is either a big disco or the central control room."

"I'll go with control room," John said with a small smile. "Or it could just be a junction room."

Rodney scowled. "Let's hope not."

They reached the end of the shorter corridor and came to a T junction, each corridor curving around so that they couldn't see very far.

John stepped up. "Okay, I think it's best that we split up if this place is as big as McKay says it is."

"Which it is," Rodney said loudly. "The highest concentration of power is bearing right."

John nodded, "We'll go that way, Teyla, Ronon, go left and try to find out what this place is and what happened to those who lived here. A way back to the gate wouldn't go amiss either."

Ronon nodded and Teyla said, "Be careful."

"You too."

John walked alongside Rodney as they parted from their team mates. "So, any ideas what this place is yet?"

"The scary robot woman didn't give you a clue?"

"Humour me."

"It's possibly an automated outpost of some kind. Maybe a top secret research base."

"Or medical facility," John added as he looked at the sterile white walls.

Rodney swallowed nervously, "Let's hope not or we might soon be compressed down to fill many petri dishes for further study."

Rodney led John through a maze of corridors and junctions. "This way," he pointed and John followed.

John hoped Ronon and Teyla didn't get lost, and he fished out his own lifesigns detector every now and then and he could still see them as they made their further and further away. They would be able to find them if necessary.

"What's behind all these doors?" John asked as they walked past another one which had six blue crystals arranged to the side where the Lantean door locking mechanisms were situated back on Atlantis.

"Living quarters," Rodney said offhand.

"Okay, can we look inside?"

"Power reading," Rodney snapped, waving his scanner again. "Ask Ronon and Teyla to check one of them if you like, but the dimensions are virtually identical to those on Atlantis."

"Sounds like you woke up on the wrong side of your regulation Lantean bed this morning."

Rodney turned around to shoot him a furious glare. "I've fallen from a great height through a gate, we've all been cut off from our only source of food and water and I for one am keen to discover all the secrets this base holds. Establishing a viable link back to Atlantis takes priority over satisfying your curiosity."

"Yes, but it wouldn't take long to do a quick recon. Check for skeletons or personal computers or logs inside the quarters you so quickly dismissed. They might reveal what happened here."

Rodney sighed. "Alright. Hold on." He stopped by a door and peered at the unusual control mechanism.

He pulled out a few of the crystals and rearranged them for a minute until the door clicked and opened a short way. With John's help, he got the door open and they were greeted by an empty room. It was unmistakably living quarters, but there was nothing in there at all other than the same bright white walls as the corridors and unnaturally harsh glare of the lighting which seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"Huh," Rodney said when he opened his eyes and straightened up in the doorway.

John stepped inside and did a quick walk round. "There's nothing here. No computers, no bed."

Rodney held up his scanner and pondered the screen, "And no organic matter at all. Not even a single hair."

John came out into the corridor again and they carried on going. He said, "Maybe this place was an experiment into a brand new Ancient cleaning system."

"Which would explain all the white walls and lack of anything in the quarters." Rodney eyes widened. "But that could also be very, very bad!"

"Cleanliness is akin to godliness, Rodney."

"Not in this case. No. There was an episode of Star Trek where the cleaner went mad and decided to get rid of the source of all the dirt - its human charges."

Sheppard tightened the grip on his P90. "You think that's what happened here?"

"There's no way to be sure until I can find a access point that doesn't zap me to death. Maybe no one ever lived here."

John nodded. "I think it's creepy."

"Creepy and scary and haunted," Rodney said vehemently. "We're so dead."

"Not yet."

Rodney suddenly held up his hand and pointed at a door on their left. "In here."

He swapped the crystals and gained access faster than before. When the door swished open, there was a large, circular room beyond, the same size as the room where they had entered the base after falling through the gate. There were control panels around a central pillar and the ceiling was higher and sloped from the pillar so that the middle was higher than the edges. Rodney went straight for the central control consoles while John walked around the perimeter with his P90 held out and at the ready.

Rodney plugged in his computer and frowned. "That's strange."

John didn't look at him as he asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure."

John walked around the room twice before he broke, "McKay?"

"Hmm, there doesn't seem to be any data here other than a basic operating system and the AI we encountered in the gate room and medical bay."

John stopped just behind Rodney, covering him more out of habit than consciously doing so. "No logs about what this place is?"

Rodney stopped typing and straightened up. "No. Unfortunately there are no nasty medical experiments or deranged cleaning bots logging their hair and skin and human related woes."

John tapped his radio, "Teyla, Ronon. Report."

"We have not found anything other than endless white corridors," Teyla responded.

"This place is giving me the creeps," Ronon added.

"We're in the control room now, but Rodney hasn't found anything either."

Rodney had gone back to searching and snapped his fingers, "Hold on."

John spoke the same words to the others.

"Hmm, that's strange. There's a file here which doesn't seem to be connected with the operating system or AI or anything to do with the base functioning."

"What is it?" John asked.

"Oh yes, it's clearly labelled: Sheppard Petri Dish Experiment! I don't know yet and the Ancients were hardly the paragons of clear labelling and explanation." Rodney sighed heavily and closed his mouth. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke again, "There's no way of knowing without activating it. It looks like it's about to activate anyway, but I can speed it up."

"Go on then."

"And if it's something that breaks the main operating system and cuts off all our air or blows us up?"

"It's better to know than get stuck here forever," John said. "Do it."

Rodney took another deep breath and pressed a few keys. He then stopped and straightened up again. He turned to John. "It's been nice knowing you."

"Likewise," John responded with a quick smile at McKay.

They waited and waited some more. Rodney shifted between his feet and after a while longer John asked, "Anything?"

Rodney checked his portable scanner and his mouth opened, "Oh."

"What is it?"

"We're not alone. There's another life sign a few doors down from where we are."

John and Rodney exchanged a glance. Rodney's face was full of fear, and John's was barely neutral where he hid it, he was just masking it better.

xxx

Chapter Four

"Ronon, Teyla, did you hear all of that?" John asked. "We have a newcomer."

"Yes," Teyla replied. "We are able to make our way to your position now. We may require some guidance to reach you."

"Hold back for a while until we can ascertain whether the life sign is friend or foe."

"Understood," came Ronon's gruff reply.

John checked his life sign detector and saw the two blips signifying the other half of his team stop moving about a hundred metres away. Meanwhile, the new life sign was out in the corridor and heading for Rodney and himself.

"What did you do, McKay?"

"Exactly what you told me to!" Rodney protested. "It was a stasis algorithm of some form, but nothing that I've ever seen before. I can't see any life pods where it appeared, at least, nothing like those we know about."

"How was it powered for so long? Is there a ZPM?"

"I don't know!" Rodney cried, tapping away on the console, trying to pry as much information as possible from the unyielding database. "I told you already, there's nothing here but some basic code by Ancient standards."

Sheppard moved between Rodney and the door as the life sign approached. The back of Rodney's neck prickled in anxiety as it approached. He thought maybe it was a phantom that walked the halls and haunted the base, but the reading on both his and Sheppard's scanners showed them otherwise.

"You don't think we're hallucinating, do you?" Rodney asked in a high voice.

"No," Sheppard drawled as he raised his P90 towards the door and his whole frame tensed in anticipation.

"It could be a hallucination, very elaborate, but maybe a new alien race have captured us and are experimenting on us as we play their game." Rodney started working himself up into a full blown panic attack and his eyes widened as his breaths and words sped up. "First we fell through the gate. Then we found ourselves in this strange base that looks nothing like an Ancient outpost in any way. The whole place is very high tech even for the Ancients – almost too much so. And now a ghost!"

"It's not a ghost and doesn't this feel real to you?" John said. "It does to me. Also, you said so yourself that there was Ancient coding in the database."

"Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!"

"Grab your gun and get over here."

Rodney grimaced and retrieved his sidearm from its holster and held it pointing at the floor. He didn't want to shoot the life sign - person or Wraith or animal or whatever it was accidentally. He drew alongside Sheppard and his hands shook where he held the scanner in one and the cold metal weight of the gun in the other.

Sheppard clicked the safety off his P90 just before the door opened and the owner of the life sign stepped inside.

It was a woman dressed in a long white tunic and white trousers. Her shoes were also clean white and she looked shocked to see them. "Oh," she uttered and stopped walking just far enough into the room that the door closed behind her.

She had long blonde hair that shimmered in the light. Rodney thought she was ethereal and slightly surreal like the walls and light around them. Huh? She was hot too. Far too hot to have been trapped here for over ten thousand years and to be looking at him like that.

"Uh, hi," Rodney said stupidly, cursing himself the moment the words had left his lips.

John elbowed him and lowered his gun, putting the safety back on as he did so. "Hello. I'm Lt. Col. John Sheppard and my eloquent companion here is Dr. Rodney McKay."

"Laurna," she said in a bright voice that sounded as close to song as it was possible to get without actually singing. "Laurna Elaro"

Rodney fumbled his gun back into its holster and blinked rapidly a few times.

Rodney cleared his throat and stuttered, "S-so, who are you and what happened here?"

She closed her eyes briefly and smiled. There was a loud noise from the ceiling and Sheppard pointed his P90 at it while Rodney ducked. The ceiling turned out not to be solid, but made of retractable shutters covering...

"Is that glass?" John asked as he lowered his gun and frowned.

Rodney was gazing upwards when the first points of light became visible on the blackness of space revealed to them. He turned to John and asked, "Why didn't you do that?"

"I didn't try. Why didn't you know we were in space?"

"Touché," Rodney snapped back as the sun came into view. It was bright, but not painfully so.

"The glass absorbs the energy," the woman said in her pleasantly lilting voice.

Rodney shivered, but not through cold. When he looked away from the shutters, he saw that the woman, Laurna, was at the console where he had been working.

She sighed, "How long has it been? Was it too long?"

"Too long for what?" Sheppard asked.

She ignored him as she continued to type.

Rodney sidled over to her awkwardly, then raised his chin as his voice became more confident in arrogance, "There's nothing in there except for the basic coding that keeps everything running."

"There must be more!" she responded, the song of her unusual voice becoming atonal for a moment.

Rodney winced and moved closer with a big smug smile plastered across his face. "I got you out of your stasis."

"Stasis?" She looked up at him and confusion passed across her face before she smiled at him. "Thank you."

Her voice wasn't quite as cheerful as before and something strange in the tone set alarm bells ringing in Sheppard's mind and made his hand tense on the trigger again. That Rodney had let his guard down so easily was unnerving, but not unusual. Either Rodney hadn't heard it, or he had chosen to ignore it, instantly smitten as he was. Sheppard would make sure he never lived it down if they got out of this. If they didn't, they'd deal with that in time. With a real living Ancient and one Dr. Rodney McKay, they would find a way, he was sure of it.

Rodney held his breath as his insides turned to wobbly jelly at the smile he received. He grinned back at her lopsidedly. She laughed and his stomach flopped over at the sound of her voice in combination with the smile. He let out the breath he had been holding shakily when he started getting a little light-headed.

Sheppard could see that she was all over him straight away to his annoyance. Perhaps that's why he didn't like her already – he was the buff, space pilot military man - hot chicks should be all over him like they usually were, not Rodney. He knew he shouldn't think it and it was mean to do so, but nonetheless, he couldn't help it either.

Rodney went to the console she had been working and tapped a few buttons, looking at what she had on the screen.

She leant in close and said into his neck, "There's nothing there, is there?"

He winced involuntarily as he caught a painful part of his burnt hand on the console. She laid a hand over his, the shock of the touch making him jump and recoil. But she had already done what she needed to.

Rodney turned his hand over and examined it with a slight frown. "You healed me? Then that proves you are an Ancient - activating the shutters only proves it further."

She smiled again, but not at him, it was a private smile, but she showed them anyway.

Sheppard said, "Should I leave you two alone?"

"Uh, no," Rodney blurted immediately, so fast that he can't have thought before he spoke.

She mistook his flustered and embarrassed face and quick response for rejection and looked hurt.

"No offense, but not yet. We've got a lot of work to do and there's so much you need to tell us about the base and how we can escape."

A slight frown creased her forehead, but she didn't respond as she went back to the console and hit a few more keys. "Oh, it has been a long time. Surely all ages would have passed away by now?"

"We're here," Rodney said.

John shared a bemused look with Rodney, then John tapped his radio and walked away and lowered his head as he spoke, "Ronon, Teyla, all clear. Join us in the control room. It's roughly in the middle of the structure, Rodney can guide you if you get lost."

"We're not lost," Ronon said.

"Oh please," Rodney uttered and rolled his eyes. "All the corridors look the same and you haven't been here before. It's not a forest or bog and you're not squirrel hunting."

"We would appreciate the assistance," Teyla said.

While Rodney was guiding them through maze like corridors using his scanner and poor sense of direction, John went to the woman.

"There are more of you here?" she asked.

"Only two more." He hesitated to ask, but did anyway, "Is there any way out of this base? We were forced through the stargate and my team mate can't find a way out."

Rodney paused in his hand waving and directing to call across the room to them, "Yes, I haven't found one yet, Sheppard! I haven't said that there isn't a way, have I?"

She laughed and Rodney looked like he had been struck. Sheppard rarely laughed at his witty cracks and it was strange, but oddly nice to be appreciated for once. His heart swelled in pride while Sheppard's face only darkened.

xxx

Chapter Five

Back on Atlantis, Elizabeth stood in the control room behind the assembled staff, which at this moment included Radek Zelenka.

"It's been over three hours now," Radek said.

"I know." She sighed. "Alright, dial it up."

Chuck did as she asked and the wormhole formed in the gate room below.

Elizabeth tapped her radio, "Atlantis to Colonel Sheppard." She counted to three without any response. "John, come in please."

There was still nothing and she tried each team member in turn without any luck.

"They may have gone into a shielded area," Radek offered.

She looked down at him. "Or they could be in trouble. How far away is the Daedalus?"

"A week as they are on their way back from Earth. The MALP we previously sent through is not responding either. We could send through another one?"

"And lose that one too." Elizabeth gazed down at the open gate and willed someone from Sheppard's team to reply.

Radek said, "True, we have lost four people already, including both our Pegasus liaisons, head of science and our military commander."

Elizabeth tore her eyes away from the gate. "Shut it down."

Chuck did as she asked and she turned to Radek. "Analyse the data we have from the MALP. Go over it with every scan and test, look in every spectrum. If you still don't find anything to explain how four people and a MALP vanished from a large empty room, then I'll consider sending another one."

Radek nodded. "Are you going to divert the Daedalus?"

"Yes."

xxx

Ronon and Teyla entered the main control room on the base while Rodney continued to work with Laurna on the consoles.

John introduced them. Ronon narrowed his eyes at the woman, while Teyla's face remained carefully neutral, but her cheek muscles tightened almost imperceptibly as she bowed her head slightly in greeting.

John went to Rodney, "Any luck on finding a way out of here yet?"

Laurna straightened up and shook her head. "There is no escape."

Rodney frowned and stopped typing, "But I'm still looking and it's only been a few minutes!" His face softened when their eyes met.

Teyla's face tightened further at the glance they exchanged and Ronon's hand twitched towards his blaster. Teyla said, "We found nothing but endless corridors curving in one direction."

Rodney tapped a few buttons and a map of the base flashed up on the screen on one of the walls. He and Laurna made their way over to it and Rodney proceeded to explain: "This is a schematic of the whole base. There are three continuous corridors, all circular and one inside the other joined together with corridors like the spokes of a large wheel."

Laurna continued, "There is a narrow pathway to the stargate, as you call it. There is the medical room along the narrow way you passed through. Beyond there the corridor is one way. It allows newcomers into the base, but once they are within, the corridor is cut."

Rodney's lips thinned. "Even if we could re-establish a connection with the other corridor leading to the gate, there's no way to leave. We don't have a DHD and the gate is in the ceiling."

"Find a way, McKay," John said. "We can't stay here forever."

"Actually," Rodney held up a finger with a lopsided smile. He tapped a few buttons on the console before him and the image on the screen zoomed out to show the asteroid the base was attached to. "My theory about this base being an experiment in self sufficiency was correct of course. The corridors are enclosed because they are covered in the Ancient equivalent of solar panels." He muttered to Laurna, "Much more efficient than anything we have though."

She smiled again and pointed to the large rectangular areas now revealed, each at right angles to the base and each larger than the base itself. She said, "These fields are where the food is grown. Water and air is recycled. That we are still alive now, means that the automatic functions of the station have remained at least partially operative for the length of time I have been in stasis."

Teyla asked, "And exactly how long has that been?"

"A very long time."

Ronon frowned, "It's still working?"

Rodney barked a laugh. "Well, it might be a bit overgrown, but the systems are still working. There are probably all sorts of mutant vegetables out there, it could be dangerous."

Ronon rested a hand on his blaster and Rodney shook his head, "But none of them will have had the time to evolve legs or teeth."

"How did you survive all his time, Laurna?" Teyla asked, her face still sceptical and tense as though the woman was about to draw an invisible gun and shoot her.

"Stasis. But not the conventional kind, no." She furrowed her brow and Rodney did likewise. She sighed and continued, "I was here for years on my own, trying to find a way out."

"They left you all alone?" Rodney asked, his mouth down turning.

"Yes. The others said they would only leave me here for a few weeks while I made sure everything was working, but they never returned. It's a true experiment whereby there are no communication devices or shields or anything that could signal the Wraith or the others even if there was an emergency."

Sheppard nodded knowingly, "So you could meditate in peace without any technological distractions."

"In order to ascend, yes. The Wraith would not think to look for us on an asteroid orbiting a sun with no habitable planets. There is also a cloaking device should any Wraith approach, but none ever did."

She shook her head and brushed the golden strands that landed in front of her eyes away. Rodney watched in fascination until she caught his eye and he immediately looked away. She gave him a small smile and then carried on, "There was nothing more I could do, so I eventually realised I would have to wait for rescue to come. There is a transporter for moving heavy equipment and grain from the fields to storage tanks in the fields and outer ring."

"You reconfigured it somehow to hold you in the buffer for all this time?" Rodney said in unmasked awe.

Sheppard rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Rodney. I calculated the power requirements and found they would be sufficient if the rest of the base was put on minimal power for keeping the automatic functions going. If power requirements ever dipped below what was required to keep the field stable, I would be beamed from the buffer."

"Like when we arrived," Sheppard said. "So there's no way out?

Rodney scowled, "Well, excuse me for not giving up straight away!" He glanced at Laurna who looked a little hurt. He ploughed on regardless, "I'm not giving up until I've found a way off this place. There's no data here and I for one don't want to spend the rest of my life in this place, meditating on the white, sterile walls and how the Wraith could come at any time to eat us!"

Laurna sighed deeply. "I had been expecting rescue. Should I adjust my calculations to see whether five people could be stored in the buffer?"

"Not yet," Ronon said. "McKay'll figure it out."

"Thank you."

"Your friends' faith in you alone will not find a solution to this. We are truly trapped, but if you need to see proof of that for yourself, I have all the time the universe has left to give me."

"Right," Rodney said. "Back to work then."

John nodded and turned to Teyla and Ronon, "Ronon, stay here. Teyla you're with me. Let's go and see if any of the plants have grown teeth yet."

Teyla's face finally lost its tenseness and she uncoiled from her 'ready to spring' stance as she gave him a small smile.

xxx

Chapter Six

Minutes turned into hours as Rodney and Laurna worked on the systems. She tried to convince him that it was hopeless, but he was his usual stubborn self – the more she said it would never work, the harder he tried to prove her wrong.

Ronon, Teyla and Sheppard took it in turns to watch over Rodney while he worked. John was still not entirely convinced that Laurna was trustworthy, especially as she already had Rodney wrapped around her little finger, when the man was usually so cautious and paranoid. It was deeply troubling.

xxx

Rodney yawned widely and glanced at his watch. It was midnight on Atlantis, but he kept working. He refused to sleep until he had solved the problem and found them a way home.

Laurna touched his shoulder lightly and he shivered. She smiled and said, "You will have to sleep eventually. No man or woman can stay awake indefinitely."

It was Teyla's turn to play guard duty and she said, "Perhaps the solution will present itself to you after a night's rest?"

Rodney waggled his finger and Laurna followed it, mesmerised. He said, "No no no. There's a solution right here and I'll find it."

Laurna sighed, but they kept going.

xxx

Ronon and Sheppard soon found the hydroponics fields with the map Rodney had provided. The door looked just like all the others which gave John the excuse he needed as to why he had just walked right past it the first time. How Rodney had missed it on their first pass was more troubling, but maybe he just had not mentioned it – one track minded to find the control room as he had been at the time.

Sheppard exchanged a glance with Ronon, the man already had his blaster out and ready, his large frame tense and ready to uncoil in violence at short notice. Ronon nodded and John opened the door.

Ronon took a step back and John's mouth opened as a leafy branch sprang out into the corridor towards them and the scent of flowers and greenery and soft, damp soil assaulted their senses. An artificial breeze blew through the leaves and intensified the smells reaching out to them.

Ronon grinned and John shook his head with a short laugh. "Looks like we've got a lot of weeding to do."

Ronon said, "Let's check the other three out."

John pushed the branch back inside and closed the door. There were no animal life signs beyond and he trusted the scanner, but not completely – some of Rodney's paranoia was brushing off on him. Either that or he had absorbed all the paranoia and Rodney had been left with none, considering the way he was working with this Laurna woman like they were best friends forever already.

"You alright, Sheppard?" Ronon asked as they walked along the white and sterile corridor.

"Yes." He shot Ronon what he thought was a winning smile, but the Satedan raised his eyebrows. John's face fell and he gestured at the walls, "Could do with a little decoration."

Ronon wasn't buying it, but kept silent as they reached the door to the second hydroponics field.

xxx

Laurna patted Rodney on the upper back and let her hand linger when it reached 3am. His eyes were drooping, but he kept going. She rubbed gently and said, "It is late. We should take rest as your companions keep saying. None of us can stay awake forever."

Rodney blinked and looked up at where she stood over him as he sat typing at the console. She smiled at him and his eyes widened. He cleared his throat. "Uh, our people will be wondering where we are."

Laurna frowned. "Where do you come from, Dr. McKay?"

He puffed his chest out importantly, "Well, Earth originally, but we live on Atlantis now."

Ronon coughed from across the room.

Laurna's hand bunched into a fist against Rodney's back and her face fell into a scowl which quickly softened and vanished when he peered back up at her.

"Once we've found a way out, we'll take you back with us," Rodney said. "There's so much you could show and teach us."

She smiled again, "Really? You would do that?"

"Sure." Rodney looked down and waved a hand around. "I'd have to clear it with Sheppard and probably Elizabeth, but I don't see why not. Your gene is stronger than his to open the shutters when he didn't even sense they were there."

He was cut off as Laurna leaned over and clutched both sides of his head in her hands and kissed him on the forehead. Rodney's mouth opened and he went bright red such that even the tips of his ears didn't avoid the colour change.

Laurna laughed happily and Ronon grinned.

"Thank you, Dr. McKay. I would be honoured to return with you!"

She pointed to the map, "I have instructed the systems to provide us with clean water and beds in these quarters."

"Water?"

"Yes, it is recycled like everything here. We will not die of dehydration or hunger if these hydroponic readings are correct. The automated systems have been running for thousands of years and the grain storage bays are full."

Rodney's face gradually went back to a healthier colour as he tapped on the console. "Should we perhaps power down the unused sections to conserve power just in case?"

She beamed at him. "Good idea. It should not take too long."

Rodney went pink again and Ronon shook his head, but kept his guardian post and blaster ready just in case.

xxx

Teyla and Sheppard talked as they further investigated the hydroponics fields. Ronon had leant them his long sword to cut a path through the jungle. But 'jungle' was not really the correct term as the plants were more like bushes than trees. Some had flowers, others had fruit.

They had already seen two other fields - one growing grain at varying stages of development and towering above their heads. The other field had the Ancient equivalent of many different types of beans.

"We could get lost in here," Sheppard said as he chopped back a clinging branch that tried to grab and smother him.

Teyla nodded. "It is very close. I am surprised it is still alive and thriving so well after all this time. The fields of Athos require constant attention to prevent the weeds taking hold."

"They do on Earth too. But there are chemicals used to help."

"Chemicals?"

"Kill the weeds, keep the good stuff."

Teyla looked at a large yellow fruit hanging down from one of the plants and said, "There must be some of that in use here. We should not stay too long or we might be considered weeds and removed."

John laughed. "If it's poisonous, we're dead if we stay here much longer and have to eat the fruit if it's doused in poison."

Teyla pursed her lips, "Dr. McKay is working with Laurna, but she has tried to convince him many times that he will never find what he seeks."

Sheppard stopped moving and turned to her, "As long as he's busy, I'm happy for him to continue. We haven't got anything else right now and he could be our only ticket back home."

"I too am not going to give up hope for we have only been here a few hours. There is enough fruit and grain for us to survive for many weeks."

Sheppard baulked and then turned back to the bushes and started hacking through them again far more vigorously than before. "Let's hope it doesn't take that long to get out of here. You heard McKay when he said there's nothing but an operating system on the computer system? What are we going to do with ourselves all that time?"

Teyla pulled the yellow fruit from the tree and examined it carefully. "Harvest."

"Hope there isn't any citrus here or Rodney will be very grumpy."

Teyla eyed the fruit. "I am unfamiliar with this variety. We will have to ask Laurna to help us."

"I'm not sure how much we can ask of her," John said, stopping cutting and planting the tip of the blade into the soil with a sigh.

Teyla frowned, but kept her peace as he continued. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I trust her as blindly as Rodney does just yet. It's all just a little too convenient that she's agreeing with everything Rodney says."

"Rodney is very smart though," Teyla said, "As he likes to remind us at least once an hour. Maybe he is correct."

"I don't trust her. Maybe it's just a gut instinct or something tingling my spidey sense."

Teyla raised an eyebrow.

Sheppard shook his head, "At least not until I know her better."

And that was it right there, Sheppard didn't trust her. Not because she was all over Rodney or because she was agreeing with every word that came from his mouth, but because none of them knew her. She had just appeared from nowhere and they had no idea of her real intentions.

xxx

When John got back to the control room later, he walked over to Laurna and Rodney where they were talking animatedly about power conduits. He interrupted, "So, Laurna, how come you're the only person here? Why did the others leave you behind?"

Rodney scowled at John, but she missed the look.

"I do not know. I was the only one they sent here and the head developer of the base. They should have come for me, but did not."

Sheppard hummed, but said no more.

xxx

Chapter Seven

The first night passed and Sheppard set up a rotation so that one of them was always awake and on patrol, looking out for signs that Laurna might try anything. Nothing happened, but it was better to be cautious. The fact that neither Teyla nor Ronon questioned him about it, didn't go unnoticed by John either. He didn't mention it to Rodney, who was too busy working on the systems during the day to be assigned patrol duty.

xxx

The second day passed much as the first, Rodney ran through the code again and again, trying to think of ideas and Laurna smiling at him every now and then or touching his arm or shoulder or back possessively.

Ronon took his sword back and continued cutting a path through the foliage in the first fruit field with Teyla assisting in gathering some samples to show Laurna and test for citrus.

John stood watch and his uneasiness grew at how unguarded Rodney was around the woman.

xxx

Rodney bade Laurna goodnight for the second time and then he sighed. If they were going to be here for a few days, maybe it wasn't going to be so bad with her around. Then the rational part of his mind not governed by his basic human instincts awoke from its frustration and tiredness induced stupor and shouted at him internally. He winced as he went into his new quarters and flopped down on the white bed. He rested his forearm over his eyes and everything went blissfully black – all except the turmoil within.

He had too much to do and see and discover. There was no way he could survive here for the rest of his life even if forced to. The lack of information in the base computer was already grinding him down and it had only been two days. He had even gone back to the medical unit, but found nothing there of any use. No computers and no new access terminals except the one he had already interfaced with before and been given a nasty zap.

The corridor back to the gate was blocked and cut off, just as Laurna had said. "Fat lot of good it'd do to be able to get in there anyway," he said to the overly bright, empty room. There was no DHD and no way to get through the gate unless gravity decided to have a day off.

He snorted and then drew a deep breath so that he could release a shuddering sigh. He was beginning to see that it was hopeless, he would have to keep trying though. Perhaps tomorrow he could start working with Laurna on a little reprogramming project to let them escape.

John and the others giving him those strange looks all the time wasn't very pleasant either, but Laurna's smile soon washed away his concerns. He remembered it now and felt his mouth curling up into a small smile of his own. She really liked him! Him, the man who could make grown men cry with his words and have women flee from the fear of his wrath. But she stayed around and instead of snapping back or getting upset, she met him head on or just smiled or laughed at his sarcastic comments. It was nice and his heart felt like it swelled a little every time he was near her. Even thinking about her made it feel like there was a balloon in his chest constricting his breathing and making him flush.

Somewhere beyond his thoughts, he heard the door to his quarters slide open. He knew who was on duty now so didn't lift his arm from his eyes. "Sheppard, can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

His bed dipped where someone sat down and he frowned through the arm covering his face. "Sheppard?" he asked tentatively.

When there was no response he lowered his arm from his face and looked at the newcomer. The lights dimmed in response to his discomfort, but the person was clear even in dull light. He sat up and bent his legs to get comfortable. "Laurna? What are you doing here? Didn't Sheppard stop you?"

"No," she said as she gazed back at him. Her hair was down – long golden locks shimmering in the half light as though they had an internal light source of their own. "I told him I needed to run a new idea by you and he let me pass."

Strange, Rodney thought, but he let it go.

She grinned at him with her eyes firmly locked onto his, such that he had to look away after a few seconds or be burned. "It's been a while now and you know in your heart that there is no way we are ever leaving this place."

Rodney swallowed. "There is a way, as I keep telling you, I just haven't found..."

She cut him off with a finger on his lips. "Shh, we are going to be here for a very long time, so maybe we should get rid of all this tension between us."

Rodney swallowed again as she moved her hand down from his lips and placed it against his chest. He looked at it and stammered, "H-how long d-do you think it'll take to find a way out of here?"

She leant in for the kill and grazed her lips against his before she backed away a little. Their eyes locked, hers feral and his wide with an almost innocent hopefulness.

"How does forever sound?"

She started to laugh. Not the melody Rodney was accustomed to, but a braying, downright evil laugh borne of the suffering of others. Rodney's heart shrunk to the size of a walnut as he furrowed his brow in terror.

Rodney woke up with a start, his breaths coming fast and blood rushing past his ears. The Ancient sensors detected his panic and turned on the lights. "A dream," he gasped. "Or a nightmare." He rubbed at his sweaty face and sat up. He could still taste her breath and grimaced as he grabbed the glass of water beside his bed and downed half of it in a couple of massive gulps.

"It's all Sheppard's fault," he explained to the room. "He's been against her and against me from the start. Planting these ideas in my head."

He grabbed his life signs detector from the tac vest beside the bed and checked the screen. "One, two, three, four, five," he said out loud as he counted the dots. "One moving and four still."

He sighed and flopped back down onto the bed. He wasn't going to sleep well after that and it was going to take some time to convince himself that it had only be a dream.

xxx

Chapter Eight

McKay confronted Sheppard the next day at lunch – their third day being trapped on the base and with no sign of rescue or freedom. One of the empty rooms close to the control room was now their designated eating area due to the tables and chairs that rose out of the floor when one of the gene carriers thought about it hard enough. Laurna was off fruit picking with Teyla while Ronon hacked a way through the second fruit field.

"So," Rodney said through a mouthful of (non citrus) fruit. He swallowed and pushed the bread around the plate. "Is it me you have a problem with, or just Laurna?"

Sheppard sighed and shook his head. "I don't have a problem with either of you. My job is to protect you and not let my guard down no matter what the circumstances. And that's what I'm doing."

Rodney still wasn't entirely convinced and kept going, "Maybe it's because she's quite clearly attracted to me and not you this time?"

"You've only known her for a couple of days, Rodney. What makes you think she's attracted to you?"

"Can't you see it? She really like me!" He smiled broadly, not a smirk, but a genuine smile of happiness that was truly rare for him.

"Don't you think it's a bit suspicious?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. His eyes widened in realisation. "You're jealous!"

John looked away. "Am not."

"Because she's attracted to me and not you!"

John's head shot up and he glared at the man opposite him. "Listen to yourself, McKay. How well do you know this woman? Can you verify that everything she's said so far is true?"

Rodney looked crestfallen. "Why would she lie?"

John lowered his voice with a furrowed brow. His tone evened out as he said, "I don't know. None of us knows anything yet. I'm not trying to step on your toes or make you unhappy, I'm just trying to make you more cautious, that's all."

Rodney sighed deeply and looked away. "Alright."

xxx

Ronon stood in the main control room with Rodney and Laurna, like a large, hairy statue.

"Haven't you got anything you'd rather be doing than staring at us like that?" Rodney asked.

"No."

"Because if you want to go off and run laps around the corridors or explore empty rooms with Sheppard and Teyla, I don't mind." He looked at Laurna and she nodded back. "We don't mind."

Ronon shifted his eyes away from them and didn't move an inch. "I'm fine here."

Rodney sighed. "Alright, well, it's your boredom. Only this could take a while."

Ronon shifted between his feet. "Can I help?"

Rodney frowned. "Not unless you can understand the finer intricacies of Ancient coding."

"No then."

Laurna laughed and Rodney beamed, while Ronon stood growling.

xxx

"There must be something here we're missing," Sheppard said as he opened another door to yet another empty room.

Teyla stood in the corridor on guard while Sheppard did a quick sweep of the room and then came out. She said, "I too believe we are not in possession of all knowledge regarding this base."

They walked along the corridor to the next room and John rearranged the crystals as Rodney had shown him and the door opened. He sighed – this one was empty too. The lights came on with his gene as he took a quick look around. He called out to Teyla, "This would go faster if we were to split up."

The grip Teyla had on her P90 tightened and she frowned, "We are not short of time."

Sheppard came out and joined her again. "I'm not so sure. The sooner I get rid of this feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, the better things will be."

"Very well. I shall take the middle ring of rooms while you continue this outer ring."

"Radio me if you see anything out of the ordinary. And I mean anything – even a computer terminal."

"I understand."

xxx

Back in the control room, Laurna was watching Sheppard and Teyla on the life signs detector. She narrowed her eyes. Rodney was working with his back to her, but Ronon was staring at her constantly. Ronon did not know what controls her hands were pressing as she touched them though, and without Rodney seeing, she could do anything.

xxx

Teyla opened the third door along the second ring of rooms and frowned. The lights in the others had come on the moment she had opened them even though she had no gene, but these did not. She pulled the torch from her tac vest and shone it into the new room. She drew in a short breath in shock as her heart rate sped up.

She tapped her radio with a barely suppressed tremble in her hand. "John! Ronon! I have found something very troubling."

She stepped into the room as both men asked her what it was. She picked her way through the debris and crouched down to retrieve a data crystal on the floor in front of the - "Skeletons. Lots of them."

xxx

Ronon's hand moved to tap his headset. "Go ahead." There was a short pause before he asked, "What's wrong?"

He listened while Laurna sat with her back to him and pressed a few more controls.

"McKay. The radio stopped working."

Rodney sighed and turned around, "I recharged them all. It should be working perfectly. Try it in the corridor or something."

Laurna smiled at him and his eyes brightened as he caught her gaze.

The moment Ronon stepped out of the room, the door slammed shut behind him.

"Laurna, what's going on?" Rodney asked, his eyes were still bright, but there was a hint of fear on his face already.

She stood up and walked over to him. He also left his chair as his eyes darted across the room to his tac vest on another chair way across the room behind Laurna who was approaching (wow, did he wish he'd never taken it off right now).

Her punch caught him off guard, right in the nose and snapping his head back. It wasn't particularly hard, but it was so surprising he was stunned which allowed her to drive another fist into his gut a lot harder this time and he lost his breath.

He coughed and gasped, "Laurna? What are you doing?"

Her response was to lift her knee as he doubled up, which cracked him in the chest and his face got buried in her approaching shoulder. The resulting impact to his forehead and already bloodied nose rendered him unconscious and he collapsed to the floor in a heap.

"I'm truly sorry, Rodney. But no one must leave this place and you need to be stopped from trying. This is my domain and I am in control here." She closed her eyes, testing the power of the lock on the door to the control room. Finding it strong, she smiled.

She walked over to his tac vest and pack, retrieving the pieces of plastic Rodney had called zip ties. She also took his combat knife from the belt and studied the blade with a sigh. "Too big," she said. She didn't want to kill him, at least, not that quickly. She rummaged through his pack until she found the smaller closed knife and unfolded it.

She returned to him where he lay and kicked him over onto his back. She hastily tied his ankles together, then straddled him in case he woke up, but his face was bruised and slack. She parted his jacket and pushed up his shirt. His skin was very pale, except for the bruising that darkened before her eyes. She brushed her hand over the warm skin indulgently and furrowed her brow. "Maybe in another place and time I would have had you, Rodney. If you are still alive when I come for you, I will have you yet."

She pulled the scanner from her back pocket and laid it on his chest, clutching the knife ready in her right hand. She contemplated plunging the blade into his chest or stomach, cutting him open right there and then. If she did it slowly enough, he might wake and gargle feebly before he screamed. She closed her eyes and shook her head, "I need to be a lot slower than that. Ten thousand years is a lot of time to make up."

Rodney's shirt was made of thicker material than she had anticipated so she tugged it back down and slit it open at his right shoulder revealing his collar bone and upper chest on that side. She used the scanner again. "Ah!" she cried in triumph and jabbed the knife deeply into his shoulder, just beneath the collarbone.

Rodney twitched and moaned softly as she gouged deeper with the blade, an evil look on her face while she worked, her lips curved upwards in a feral parody of a smile as blood flowed out and soaked the blade. It ran over his skin and was only stopped by the tattered edges of his shirt where it was absorbed. She worked the blade against the bone and then stopped and tugged it out.

"One down," she said as she finished, adjusting the scanner to reveal Rodney's team mates to her. "Three to go." She smiled as she slapped Rodney's face hard enough to that the sound echoed and she left a bright red bloody handprint on his pale skin.

The game had begun.

xxx

Chapter Nine

Ronon slammed his shoulder against the door trying in vain to gain re-entry to the room where he had left Rodney with Laurna. He had only let his guard down for a second, but that had been enough. What was she doing to him? If she hurt him, Sheppard and Teyla would be upset with him. He was already furious with himself and channelled the anger as he roared and smacked into the door again. He ignored the pain in his shoulder, but eventually had to concede defeat. He had just caught the end of Teyla's response so knew that things were now unravelling and Sheppard had been right all along – something was very very wrong with the base and probably Laurna as well.

He said, "I'm locked out of the control room and Laurna's in there alone with McKay."

"How did that happen?" Sheppard asked in a disappointed drawl.

"She tricked us by blocking the radio transmissions in and out of the room."

Teyla responded. "I have a data crystal, there is nothing else in here that is alive or of importance."

From her tone, Ronon could hear she was grimacing, and with good reason.

Sheppard said, "Bring the crystal and get to the control room. Maybe my gene will help open the door."

Ronon continued barging into the door to try and release it to no avail, but at least he was doing something.

xxx

Sheppard ran all the way to the control room, reaching it at the same time as Teyla. He heard a grunt and saw Ronon rubbing his shoulder. He called out, "Stop doing that! It won't help us if you bust your shoulder."

Sheppard pulled out his life signs detector and glanced at the screen. He frowned and shook it, then smacked it against his leg before looking again.

Teyla furrowed her brow, "What is wrong?"

"Either this thing's not working, or she's killed McKay. There's only one life sign in that room."

Teyla's eyes widened and Ronon unholstered his blaster and shot at the door. The red energy was absorbed and left a black mark, but otherwise the door was undamaged.

"The transporter," Teyla said. "She may have sent him to another part of the base that is shielded from readings or put him in stasis like she was."

"Let's hope so," John said grimly. He closed his eyes and concentrated and eventually shook his head. "I can't break through." He checked the scanner again and his frown deepened. "There's another life sign in the outer ring - neither of them are moving. She must've used the transporter."

Teyla rearranged the crystals but the panel beeped negatively and the door remained sealed.

"There might be something in the medical bay that can cut through it," Teyla said.

John shook his head, "We're not splitting up. That's what she wants and she'll pick us off one by one if we do that."

Ronon said, "You're got the scanner and there are two readings?"

"Yes, but I don't think I trust it anymore."

"Rodney may be hurt," Teyla said. "And if she has moved him to another section, he could be running out of time."

John sighed, "Alright alright. Ronon you're with me to check this other reading. Teyla, go to the medical bay and try to find a cutting tool, call us the moment you have something and we'll rendezvous and take her together. Keep the radio channel open at all times. If we lose contact we'll meet up in the room opposite the first fruit field."

Their tasks assigned, Teyla set off at a run while John and Ronon went off to check the new location of the second life sign.

xxx

Rodney woke up in a large, dark room and groaned into the dull emergency lighting. He was lying on his left side, curled up on the hard floor where he lay. His shirt felt stiff and cold and a nasty coppery smell assaulted his nose as he tried to breathe as shallowly as possible against the building pain in his chest and shoulder. His arm was not very happy either where he lay on it.

Laurna had done something to him after he had been knocked out as the smell was unmistakably blood.

He rolled over onto his back and stifled a scream. Then realised that it didn't really matter how much noise he made so he let it out. His left arm was broken.

The pain was awful, making him feel dizzy and nauseous. He didn't know where he was or how big the room was for most of it was in darkness. He whimpered into the void, his voice echoing a little. A big room. Probably empty. "Hopefully empty," he said out loud.

He used his right arm to check himself over, unable to localise the source of the hurt or the bleeding. Other than the bite of some sore bruising, his belly felt mostly alright. He moved his legs and found them tied together at the ankle but otherwise fine. He tried his chest next and was dismayed to find dampness spreading through his torn shirt and that his ribs ached. She had done something to his shoulder. Judging by the level and depth of the pain, it probably involved a sharp implement and blood still oozed from the wound. He couldn't face moving his left arm to see his watch and find out how long he had been lying here.

Every breath sent knives dancing around his ribs and through his shoulder making him not want to keep drawing in air, but his body needed it and even when he consciously stopped, his betraying diaphragm eventually moved on its own to keep him alive.

He patted his pockets but they were empty – she had even taken his spare power bar and epi-pen. His radio was also missing.

He would have killed for some painkillers and would have even endured Carson's needles right now to make the pain go away, but it increased until his eyes watered. He couldn't move and he hated it – waiting to either die or be rescued. Laurna was more cunning than he would ever have anticipated. Some genius he was not to realise she had been playing them all and him especially from the start. He was tricked the most because she knew he might find something eventually if he kept pushing it.

He had been stupid and Sheppard was right to have been so mistrustful. Why he thought for a moment that a woman as stunning as Laurna would go for him instead of Sheppard should have rung alarm bells straight away, but in his arrogance and barefaced hope he had wanted to believe it was true.

He gasped in a breath and coughed, really wishing he hadn't, but unable to stop himself. His eyes drifted shut and he fell unconscious again, hoping that the others met a better end than he did.

xxx

Chapter Ten

Teyla ran as fast as she could through the overly bright white corridors that had now taken on a more sinister air. She sensed, rather than heard a presence behind her and ducked and rolled just in time to avoid a burst of P90 fire aimed towards her. The sound was deafening and the bullets tore into the walls, but none hit her for she was already out of line.

"Laurna!" she cried where she took cover just around the curve of the corridor. "What have you done with Rodney and why are you attacking me?"

She tapped her radio but it was no longer working. She hoped John and Ronon noticed too and came to her – this had to end and fast.

Laurna spoke, "You were supposed to get me out of here, but you are just like all the others that came – useless and trapped like me."

"The skeletons I found and the data crystal – are they your doing?"

Laurna barked a harsh laugh and muttered, "I got rid of them and I'll get rid of you then go back to my stasis and wait another ten thousand years if necessary for someone to come who can free me."

"Rodney was working on that, in case you have forgotten. This data crystal should aid him."

"There is no escape! How many times do I have to tell you! The data crystal is useless!"

Teyla stood up from her crouch, if Laurna decided to dash along the corridor firing constantly, she would not be able to get to cover around the next curve without being shot. She listened, but the other woman did not move.

Teyla said calmly, "We can figure something out. Dr McKay is very intelligent as you should be well aware by now. Provided he is unharmed, he should be able to assist."

Laurna laughed again and Teyla's heart thudded in fear over what she had done to him. Speed was important so she took matters into her own hands and ran round the corner in the same manner she had thought Laurna would try. She fired ahead and was met with a shriek as metal tore through the flesh of Laurna's arm, splattering bright red blood on the sterile white walls and she let go of the P90. Teyla had a brief glimpse of her – Laurna was wearing a tac vest where the P90 now hung – both belonging to Rodney. She had a controller out in her left hand and depressed the button and the next thing Teyla knew, her vision was filled with white and she fell as the corridor vanished into stars.

xxx

John and Ronon immediately changed course and ran towards the med bay the moment they lost contact with Teyla.

"Too many places to hide," Ronon said as they passed closed door after closed door.

John had long ago given up on using the life signs detector – Laurna had definitely done something to shield much of the base and set up false readings everywhere so it was now useless.

They stopped when they came across blood on the wall. There was some on the floor too, drips leading away from the med bay, but it stopped after a few metres. A struggle had taken place, but there was no sign of either woman, or Rodney.

"Teyla!" John called.

"Whoever got shot, they had a bandage or something to stem the flow," Ronon said as he crouched over the drops, dabbed his finger into one and tasted.

John grimaced. "Any idea?"

Ronon shook his head. "It's fresh, but I can't tell who."

"Let's keep going and see if we can find a cutting tool. The sooner we get back in the control room, the sooner we can find a way to shut off these phantom readings."

They continued to run, now more alert than ever for danger.

xxx

Teyla fell a short distance, but landed on her feet and rolled - the advantage of being conscious. She hit something soft that yielded with a moan - Rodney! She swept the room she had landed in, but saw nothing else and no apparent danger. She put her gun aside and gently placed a hand on his hitching chest and spoke softly to him, "Rodney, can you hear me?"

There was blood everywhere: on his face and in his hair from his nose, soaked into his shirt and on the floor around him. She quickly found the source - a deep stab wound just beneath his right collar bone that was still slowly bleeding. His chest and abdomen were badly bruised and his left arm was bent out of shape.

She had bandages in her tac vest and retrieved one and pressed it against his upper chest to staunch the blood flow. She had nothing to splint his arm with, but was able to find a pulse in his wrist, so let it be.

His breathing was a little unsteady and his heart rate was elevated but strong, so she let him sleep. His injuries were serious and looked painful and she only had basic painkillers and one precious dose of morphine - not for use with chest injuries, she had been told. Better for him to be unconscious and unaware than awake and in pain, so out of kindness she did not try to rouse him.

She looked around the room, standing and shining her torch into every corner and up at the high ceiling. There were no seams in the walls and no door - they were trapped and probably running out of air for there were no visible vents either. She tapped her radio again, but it still wasn't working. She sat down with a sigh beside Rodney and laced her fingers through his right hand and held on, willing him to do likewise.

xxx

John and Ronon ransacked the med bay, the female voice that had greeted them now remained silent – another of Laurna's amendments to the operating system. John was actually glad for that because even a few words had grated and they didn't want to be getting shocked as they rooted through cupboard and drawer in search of something they could use. Considering it was a med bay on an Ancient facility designed for self sufficiency, there wasn't a whole lot of stuff there – barely any drugs or surgical tools and the alcoves they had been in before looked like the most sophisticated pieces of equipment in there.

"What about this?" Ronon asked from beside a row of tall lockers. John went to him and raised an eyebrow at the machine that looked like a flamethrower.

John took it from him and turned it over. He pressed a button and a thin, bright blue flame shot out the end. "Perfect," he said, shutting it down.

"What's it doing in here?" Ronon asked.

John shrugged, "Space base – must be planning for emergency decompression or something."

Ronon opened the other lockers and found various other welding tools. "Either that or they practiced surgery with them."

John winced as he glanced around the bright white, clean room. He sincerely hoped not.

Ronon took the cutting tool back and shouldered it, keeping his blaster ready in his right hand as they took off at a fast pace back to the sealed control room door.

Both Teyla and Rodney were now running out of time if she had done something beastly to them.

Ronon stood guard while John squinted at the flame cutting its path through the door. It seemed to be working – the orange line it made quickly turning black. Ronon booted the cut part out of the door and they finally had access back into the control room.

Just as John had feared, there was no one in there. There was blood on the floor and on some of the panels in gory fingerprints where bloody hands had used the controls.

Ronon crouched by the blood pool and frowned, while John tapped the bloodiest controls – Rodney had already translated the text on the screen into English to make his work easier, so he quickly found the blocks Laurna had put on the radios and shut them down along with the phantom sensor readings.

John said, "She might not know what we've done for a while."

Ronon stood up, his blaster still out and ready and his eyes checking every edge of the room and the door over and over. "See them?"

John brought out his life signs detector and smiled. "Yes. Three readings. Rodney and Teyla are alive. One reading is heading towards the grain field, the other two are close together in a silo at the outer edge of the field. Laurna's heading towards them."

"To finish them off?"

"Let's hope not. Come on."

They set off at a run again and John didn't radio Teyla just yet, in case Laurna was monitoring them – they were alive and that was good enough for John at the moment.

xxx

Chapter Eleven

John and Ronon split up the moment the entered the grain field. John went left and Ronon, right. The grain was at a mature stage and therefore towered over their heads. It was odd walking through tall grain when the windows overhead showed only black with a constantly bright sun shining down on them.

Laurna was walking through the middle of the field and they intended to head her off and stop her.

John found her first and Ronon circled around behind her unseen.

She stopped as John stood in front of her and spoke, "If you kill me, you will never find them. I removed Rodney's tracking chip, but I can still see three on here. Both McKay and Teyla will die and it will take some time before they do. Let me live and I will make it quick for all of you."

John noticed that she had Rodney's tac vest on and his guns and knife out. She also had what looked like a scanner in her left hand and a bandage around her left arm. "We can see where they are alright," Sheppard said, waving his life signs detector in her direction.

"Who are you, really?" John asked.

"My name is Laurna Elaro, in that respect I told you the truth." She frowned. "And I did feel something for Rodney, maybe it was real or maybe it was because I have been alone for so long."

"This base is not just an experiment into self sufficiency is it?" John pressed.

"No, although that is also its purpose. All you need to know is on the data crystal Teyla found."

Teyla still had the crystal.

"Where are they!" Ronon growled.

"Somewhere they can die slowly. I like to draw it out as it is better that way. To know that their suffering continues." She closed her eyes in bliss and smiled.

"This place - it's a prison?" John asked.

Her eyes opened, "Well done. I suppose there is a brain in there after all."

Ronon frowned and asked John, "How did you know that?"

"The way we're so well trapped here that even McKay can't figure out how to get us out. The self sufficiency and the means of our entrance. The Ancients throw people through the gate to the original address, they get pulled through to this place and the Ancients never had to think about them again.

"The location of this place would never have been known to anyone other than those who built it. No communications array, no space ships and no means to escape and get back - a one way trip to oblivion for their most dangerous criminals."

She smiled and nodded. "It was their mistake sending me here. I quickly got rid of all the competition until it was only me left. They used to send through one or two people a year, but eventually they stopped so I put myself in stasis until someone else came and here you are.

"I knew straight away that you were different from the others and then when I saw how much time had passed, you became my ticket out of here. But you grew too suspicious and found my special room, so now you have to die too.

"My sentence was forever for murder. As yours will be too."

She pressed a button on the controller she held in her hand and started firing wildly all around herself, forcing both men to drop and hug the ground to avoid being hit by her volley.

She ran then, turning on her heel and going back towards the base as the ground began to shake. Ronon fired a few blasts at her retreating back, but she vanished into the corn before she got hit.

John tapped his radio as he and Ronon chased after Laurna. "Sheppard to Teyla. Come in."

"John! I thought..."

"Is McKay with you?"

"Yes, but he is badly hurt and has not yet awoken."

John furrowed his brow. "We've shut down the radio and life sign detector blocks Laurna set up, but she's done something else now."

"I felt it too – the base moved."

"Can you wake McKay up? We might need him in a minute."

"I will try, but he is not going to be very happy. We are trapped in a room and the transporter is the only way in or out."

Laurna left the doors open, so John and Ronon were not hindered, but she was nowhere to be seen. The floor lurched to one side again as they ran, knocking both men sideways. John caught his breath and pushed away from the wall. "Control room," he gasped.

Ronon was already ahead of him, running along the corridor at a hellish speed.

They reached the door with the hole cut through into the control room a minute later amid more tremors and lurches - they had long since given up running when it became impossible to do so without falling over.

Laurna was pressing controls on the central panel almost as though she had been driven to madness by a fever.

John shouted at her, as the trembles were now accompanied by creaks and bangs. "Laurna! Stop what you're doing!"

She paused briefly, but then kept going, shouting back at him. "You were meant to get me out of here. Now you try to kill me! We will all die here today."

She pressed a button with a flourish as though she had just finished a tricky piano concerto and spun on the spot to face them with a smile like she expected applause.

Ronon shouted, "What have you done?"

The roof shutters were open and a map of the base and the asteroid upon which it was attached were on the screen with ominous red warning bars flashing. Sirens began blaring. John watched as the base parted company with the asteroid just before he was forced down and flattened to the ground as the rumbles increased along with gravity. Asteroid bases didn't have inertial dampeners like Puddle Jumpers.

There was a howling sound above it all and John was pulled along the floor towards the centre of the control room. He looked up in time to see that the central column was remaining attached to the asteroid as they lifted off the surface, although the panels remained in the room. He looked on in helpless horror as Laurna was pulled fast along the floor and sucked out the newly made hole in the floor and out into the blackness of space.

Ronon rolled into him at that moment, but they had more time and warning than Laurna, so both braced their feet against the edges of the panels in front of the hole in the floor and were taken no further. John's legs ached and his muscles shook and he sent out a call for help from anywhere to seal the hole that was sucking out all their air and would eventually suck them out too. His prayer was answered as some unknown failsafe kicked in and the gap was finally blocked as a sheet of metal slid into place.

John and Ronon lay in a heap on the floor, getting their breath back. John tried to pry Ronon's heavy frame off him, but his muscles had turned to jelly. Ronon quickly rolled over and John could breathe again.

"What the hell was that?" Ronon asked.

"I don't think we're attached to the asteroid anymore."

Ronon stood up and helped John upright and they staggered weak-legged to the panels. John tapped a few buttons and got the schematic up on the screen. They were still tethered to the asteroid, but the grain and fruit fields were far below and now inaccessible.

"Great. Just great," John said. He tapped his radio. "Sheppard to Teyla, you still there?"

"We are here, John. What was that?"

"An earthquake, I'll explain later. Is Rodney awake? We need his help to get you guys out of there."

"That would be most welcome," Teyla said. "I shall wake him now."

xxx

Teyla patted Rodney's face, "Dr. McKay, you need to wake up so that we may leave this room."

Apart from a flinch and long moan when the room had been vigorously shaken a few minutes ago, Rodney had shown no signs of stirring, so he was difficult to wake up.

Teyla pinched the flesh between his thumb and forefinger of his right arm and he winced. "Rodney, you must wake now!"

His eyes shot open and he gasped. "What? Why's the sky falling!"

Teyla smiled. "The sky is not falling, at least not as far as I know."

"Oh, Teyla. How did you get in here? Am I hallucinating again?"

"No. I am very real. We require your assistance." She spoke into her radio, "John, Rodney is awake."

"Alright, put him on, we need his help with the transporter."

Teyla clutched Rodney's hand as his face crinkled in pain and his eyes tightened. She unhooked her radio and tucked it behind his ear. He gave her a questioning look, but then his eyes were turned elsewhere as he falteringly guided John through the controls to activate the transporter.

"Just don't target us in space!" Rodney snapped.

Teyla held his hand tightly and he squeezed back. The bleeding from the stab wound had stopped from where the bandage was now in place. He accidentally moved his arm and he cried out and screwed his eyes tightly shut. "It's my arm. I think it's shattered," he said to John in response to the concerned question he had received which Teyla could not hear.

"I am sorry. I do not have a splint. Try not to move."

Rodney rolled his eyes with a 'duh-obviously' expression.

With careful, but increasingly slurred guidance, their sight was soon clouded with stars and the darkness of the grain silo was left far behind as they reappeared in the control room.

Teyla let go of Rodney's hand as the man shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. Ronon took one look at Rodney's broken arm and tore a supporting beam from under one of the consoles.

Teyla spoke to John while Ronon shoved a bandage into Rodney's mouth for him to bite while he set his arm, splinted and wrapped it. The scream was muffled, but still very painful to listen to and worse for Rodney who panted and wheezed through the material wadded in his mouth. Pink spotted the bandage against his upper chest.

Ronon pulled the material from Rodney's mouth and the man gasped and shouted in terror, "Is it off yet? Have you finished your amputation?"

Ronon patted Rodney's unhurt arm. "It's still there, McKay, and it'll be better soon."

John handed Rodney some painkillers and he swallowed them with water from the proffered canteen.

Rodney's face was pinched with pain, but slowly smoothed out and he looked down at his well wrapped arm. "Oh."

Teyla spoke to John, "Along with the broken arm, he has at least one broken rib and a stab wound in his upper chest."

"That's not the worst of it," John said. He showed Teyla the map of the base and how they were now floating above the asteroid. "We've lost access to the fields and the medical bay. The gate is even further away than it was."

"We can use the transporter when Rodney is feeling well enough to teach us properly in its usage."

"You've still got the data crystal?" John asked her.

She undid a flap on her vest and retrieved the precious crystal. John glanced down where Ronon was kneeling beside Rodney as the other man fell unconscious. John turned back to Teyla, "Let's wait for McKay to wake up before we do anything drastic. We could be stuck here for a while."

Teyla nodded. "Let us hope it is not forever."

xxx

Chapter Twelve

John filled Teyla in about what had happened. He also told Rodney when he next regained consciousness and was able to take more painkillers and antibiotics and get some food down. Rodney had been moved to a bed in one of their designated quarters and slept most of the time.

Rodney was evidently feeling a little better for his response was a sarcastic: "Oh great, Laurna's dead, but so are we, stuck away from the food and water supply."

"Transporters, Rodney."

"Won't keep us alive indefinitely."

John was perched on the edge of the bed at Rodney's feet. Rodney himself was still very pale and weak from blood loss. John drew out the data crystal and stood up to place it on the table beside Rodney's bed. "When you're feeling well enough, we're all hoping that it holds some answers."

Rodney sighed. "Help me up."

John did as he asked and after many grunts, stops, winces and heavy, annoyed breaths, he had Rodney out of the room, down the corridor and in a chair in front of the main panel in the control room. Ronon and Teyla were below, harvesting grain and fruit for the day, so it was just John and Rodney on the tethered base.

Rodney eyed the crystal for a moment and then slid it into one of the cradles designed for it on the control panel. He watched the main screen as the data loaded and translated for John. "Prisoner manifests, crop rotations and how-to guides for the systems. Hmm, what's this?"

He trailed off and frowned and then his brow furrowed as his mouth opened but no words came out. He held his healing arm where it hung in a sling.

John saw his expression as Rodney's eyes darted across the screen and absorbed all the data headings. John asked, "What is it?"

Rodney blinked out of his trance and turned to face John, "We were all wondering what the inhabitants of this base did for entertainment. Well here it is. There are books and poems and music here. Logs and journals and artwork of those who were incarcerated. At least a hundred year's worth, possibly more."

"Do we really want to be reading that stuff – if they were all like Laurna and murderers?"

Rodney flinched at the mention of her name and winced in pain. He sighed sadly and John patted his back gently and awkwardly. "She did try to kill you."

Rodney tilted his head down in sorrow. "I know, but in the time before that happened, I thought maybe just this once..." He trailed off and sighed.

John indicated the screen. "This will take some time to go through and there should be something in there to help us get out, right?"

Rodney brightened a little. "Hopefully, yes." He clicked on one of the music files and the room was filled with the sound of chainsaws.

Both men flinched and Rodney quickly shut it down. "Well, it isn't Mozart," he said with a grimace.

John sat down beside him and put his feet up on the console as he watched and listened with Rodney to all the data on the crystal.

xxx

Far away across the cold black void of light years of empty space, the occupants of Atlantis had dialled back their search when the second MALP sent through the gate had revealed nothing of their missing team. It had been over a week now. The Daedalus had been diverted to the location of the gate, but had found nothing there except for a large asteroid made of a material that their scans could not penetrate. They remained there and sent data back to Atlantis, but there was little else they could do and Elizabeth refused to risk another team through the gate.

The air was heavy and tense with mourning. They all knew that John and his team were surely dead by now if they were stuck on the asteroid without any further provisions. Some had been sent through the gate, but they remained untouched.

Zelenka was sitting at his computer in the control room, looking melancholy and with his hair more haywire than usual and his glasses askew. His rubbed his stubbled chin and sighed as he typed on the keyboard. They were all feeling down at the loss of their team and friends and Rodney's shoes were impossible to fill, especially under the circumstances.

The beep he heard was short at first and Radek ignored it – he was tired and it wouldn't be the first time his ears had deceived him these past few days, thinking he heard Rodney's arrogant and sarcastic voice, but turning and finding it to be Kavanagh spouting his vitriol at one of the other scientists. At least Rodney had been endearing and more importantly, correct, when he was sarcastic.

The beep came again, louder than before and Radek looked over at the Ancient control panel and saw a light pulsing and now beeping constantly. He sighed and wheeled his chair over to it. He tapped a few controls to quieten it and then brought up the source of the beep on the main screen. It was a transmission from several light years away.

He taped his radio, "Elizabeth, you had better come into the control room."

She was only in her office, so was there in a flash. Her face was calm, but Radek could see the tension in her frame.

"It may be nothing, but there is a distress signal coming from these co-ordinates."

Elizabeth frowned. "What kind of distress call? Is there a message?"

"Nothing at all, but it is Ancient in origin, which is why we are picking it up. It is directly aimed at us and encrypted so should not be intercepted."

"Do you think...?"

"It is many light years away from where the Daedalus is. It will take them several hours to reach it."

Elizabeth pursed her lips and made her decision swiftly. "It's too much of a coincidence that Sheppard's team is the only one still off world at this time. Send the Daedalus to investigate."

Radek did as she asked, the small candle of hope in his chest that had burned lower and lower during the past week abruptly kindled into a blazing inferno.

xxx

Rodney sat in a chair out in the grain field. He was well shaded to protect his pale skin but pleasantly warm. He watched while Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla harvested the corn. His arm hurt like nothing else, as did the stab wound and broken ribs, but somehow being in the warmth lessened the pain to a bearable level. He had munched his way through all their painkillers long since and felt like crying most of the time, but he didn't.

When the pain was intense and awful, he would read through the data on his computer where the artistic endeavours and pastimes of the inmates of the prison were recorded. He was reading some now, with gritted teeth and his skin had a sheen of sweat.

John came over, his face also glistening in the heat of the sun overhead in the middle of the black starry sky. "Hey, Rodney. Do you want to go back up? You don't look too good."

Rodney grimaced, "No. I'll just die right here. Besides the transporter needs at least another thirty minutes to recharge."

"Lie down then?"

"No no no, this is interesting."

"Maybe you shouldn't read that stuff. The creations of murderers and criminals aren't good for the mind."

"I'm not so sure. There are finger paintings here." Rodney frowned as he read through the data until he found the data line with the creator of the work. "By Saleena, age ten."

"They had children here?"

"Apparently so." He took a breath and moaned, the computer slipping from his lap and onto the soil.

John moved closer in case Rodney himself decided to fall from the chair too, he retrieved the computer from the ground and passed it back to the ailing scientist.

Rodney stayed upright, trembling and frowning. "She killed them! All of them. Why would she do such a thing?"

John rested his hand on the upper part of Rodney's unhurt arm. "I don't know. But that's why she was here."

"Children!"

"We don't know that. Maybe they ascended. How many skeletons did Teyla find? It wasn't that many."

"Children?"

"No. They were all adults."

Rodney sighed, still in pain, but better able to cope.

The sunlight through the glass roof dimmed and then came back to full intensity. Rodney frowned and looked up along with the others. He grinned in relief as the large grey metal flew through space over them.

Sheppard tapped his radio. "This is Sheppard, go ahead."

Rodney clutched his shoulder and bowed his head with a grimace.

Sheppard grinned. "We're glad to hear your voice too. Beam us straight to sickbay, Rodney's hurt."

Rodney clutched his computer containing the precious data to his throbbing chest, and soon left the brightness of the field behind to have it replaced by four walls of cold steel.

John took the computer and Rodney let out an unhappy noise and reached for it. John said, "I'll look after it, don't worry."

Rodney relaxed as the medical team moved him onto a bed and put some real painkillers in him, far more effective than sunlight and warmth. He sighed contentedly and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

xxx

Chapter Thirteen

"Ten days! You were gone for..."

"Ten days. I know, Radek, you've said it enough times."

Radek's face remained unhappy as he regarded Rodney where he lay safe and pain free, tucked into a bed in the infirmary back on Atlantis.

Rodney shifted, but stopped and hugged his plaster cast protectively. Ronon's first aid skills were commendable, but Carson had decided that Rodney's arm hadn't been set exactly straight so had had to rebreak and pin it. The stab wound in Rodney's upper chest had been thoroughly cleaned and rebandaged as an infection had been setting in despite the antibiotics. He was now under observation with strict orders to rest.

Rodney said, "The way things were heading, I thought it might turn into ten years. And it's nice to see you too."

Radek opened his mouth a hot reply on his lips, "You... you..." but he shut it again, totally speechless. After a few minutes of floundering, he eventually conceded, "I am very glad you are back."

Rodney grinned back at him and said, "You'll have to keep the science department in line for at least a few more hours until the infirmary shift changes and I can sneak out of here."

"You do not know what it has been like." Radek lowered his voice as a nurse walked past. "We had begun to think you were all dead until the distress call came. It was triggered because you lost access to the food fields. The Ancients were evil for creating the place, but they had decided not to knowingly kill their own prisoners."

Rodney smiled smugly, "Well, it's nice to be needed."

John came in then, with Ronon and Teyla following behind. All three of them were looking around shiftily and trying to skulk in without being noticed. Rodney was mildly amused that a man as large as Ronon would even attempt such a thing and think that he could get away with it.

John pushed a wheelchair over to Rodney's bed and Radek asked, "What are you doing?"

"Organising a jail break."

"That's not funny, Sheppard."

John tilted his head, "Well at least I'm trying."

Rodney pushed the covers back and stood up shakily. Ronon was already behind him steadying him with a hand on his back and Rodney thought then that perhaps Ronon could be sneaky after all as he hadn't noticed him moving behind. The whole team was on stand down while Rodney recovered and each had a bandage over their right shoulders from the removal of the tracking chips the base had installed in them. The chips were how Laurna had been able to track them when she set the sensors haywire.

Radek said, "I would rather not be a part of this and get subjected to large needles at my next physical." He backed away, "I have work to do in the labs. I will see you later, Rodney."

McKay nodded, "It's good to see you again, Radek."

The Czech scientist gave him a brief nod and quickly scuttled out of the infirmary.

Rodney bypassed the wheelchair whispering angrily that he could walk, but the white scrubs and slippers he wore were a dead giveaway that he shouldn't have been walking the corridors in his current state. Teyla and John's steady support helped him along and Ronon glared at anyone who so much as looked at them as they passed.

"Where are we going?" Rodney asked.

"It is a surprise," Teyla said.

They stepped into a transporter and John hid the control panel from Rodney's eyes as he pressed their destination.

The door swished open and they went along another corridor and the door ahead opened to bright sunlight beyond. Rodney drew back, but they kept on pushing him forwards. "My skin... I'll burn."

"Do not fear, Rodney," Teyla said. "We are well prepared."

The group walked out onto the pier to where there were four deckchairs and a parasol set up. There were also two low tables nearby and on them there were... "Oh, are they chocolate muffins?" Rodney said, his exhaustion and injuries forgotten for a moment as he broke away from his support and half-ran, half-staggered over to the covered trays.

Ronon only just made it in time to catch him as he went down and Ronon said, "Not so fast, McKay."

"But it's been so long since I had any chocolate or sugary food! Carson won't give me any yet!"

Ronon guided him into the chair positioned under the parasol and helped him to sit without jarring too badly. Rodney held his breath for a moment with his face scrunched up, then opened his eyes and let out a sigh. The view was one over the end of the pier and across the vast sea. It was calm and the sky was a bright cerulean blue. He drew in a deep breath of fresh sea air even though it pained him and sighed.

Teyla smiled at him as she offered him a chocolate muffin on a plate. She gazed over the water towards the clear horizon. "It is beautiful after being trapped on the station for so long."

Rodney schooled his features and said, "It's just sea and sky. Nothing more."

Ronon chuckled and John grinned. McKay wasn't fooling anyone.

Rodney sighed sadly and looked out across the sea again as the rest of his team sat down with him.

"What's up, Rodney?" John asked quietly.

"I feel sorry for Laurna and all the others trapped on the base and abandoned by the other Ancients."

"She was a murderer," John said.

Ronon was frowning angrily. "She tried to kill you and all of us. She probably killed all those people whose skeletons we found."

He furrowed his brow and looked away, "I know. But I can't help it."

Teyla said, "The music and poetry I have seen are truly wonderful, but there is also sadness and loneliness there that goes deeper than I would ever wish to look."

Rodney nibbled his muffin, lost in thought as they all looked over the sea and felt the gentle natural breeze on their faces – a far cry from the artificial pollinating fans on the base. It was light and bright and open.

"It is good to be back in the open air again," Teyla said.

"Cooped up on a space station for ten days," Ronon grumbled.

The warming sunlight shone down on them (apart from Rodney) and Rodney frowned, "I wonder if there are any other prisons out there like the one we found?"

John peered up into the sky. "We'll know what to do next time if we find another one."

They sat there in silence for a while longer until Ronon and John grew bored and John pulled out the Frisbee he had brought. Teyla and Rodney watched while they played under the sun. The sound of soft snoring soon mixed with the sound of the waves breaking against the pier. Teyla looked at Rodney in amusement to see that he was fast asleep with an empty plate resting on his belly beneath the cast and sling his arm was nestled in. She took it from him and smiled down at him where he rested, then went back to watching John and Ronon running around under the sun.

The End