Mind Over Matter, Ch. 8
Title: Mind Over Matter
Author: LaughtersMelody
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Disclaimer: It's still not mine, but I'm allowed to dream, aren't I? :)
Genre: Friendship/Adventure/Angst
Pairing: N/A
Type: Multi-chapter
Spoilers: No spoilers in this chapter.
Characters: Rodney
Secondary Characters: Sheppard
Summary: When Sheppard returns from bereavement leave after his father's death, a discovery leads Atlantis to a new world and potentially valuable allies. But a secret from the planet's past might just wind up costing Rodney and Sheppard their lives.
A/N: I'm repeating myself, but to everyone who is reading, and most especially, those who have reviewed, thank you so much!
As always, I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for his goodness and mercy.
I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think!
~*~*~*~*~
Mind Over Matter
Chapter 8
The lights flickered once more, and then shut off, leaving only the dim, emergency lighting behind.
Sheppard pushed himself away from the counter, but doubled over just as fast, a low, pained sound escaping. Rodney rushed to his side, catching him before he fell, and pulling him towards the door.
It slammed shut when they were still a few feet away, trapping them again.
"I am going to kill you slowly," Amirelle's disembodied voice growled. "You'll beg for death before I'm through!"
Rodney swallowed hard, his eyes darting to the controls. "Maybe I can short it out, or-"
Sheppard raised the blaster and fired at the door. The metal glowed under the continuous barrage, then finally started to give way.
"-or, you could just do that."
It took a few minutes, but by the time Sheppard was done, they had an opening that was big enough for them to slip through. Rodney helped Sheppard through first, flinching when he came a little too close to the still-hot metal, singeing a sleeve and his arm, too.
"Which way?" Sheppard managed hoarsely, once they were outside in the corridor.
Rodney ran through a mental map of the outpost, trying to place the rooms he'd been in. Amirelle's lab was to the left, and the office he'd been taken to earlier was to the right. The cell they'd been held in was somewhere in the middle, on the opposite side of the hallway, not that far from the cafeteria.
"Left," he answered, quickly pulling them both that way.
Amirelle had said that her colleague had left samples of the enzyme behind and that meant he'd probably had a lab too. Since the labs were usually in the same area, that was their best bet for finding the antidote.
Rodney kept them moving as fast as he could, but Sheppard was stumbling every few steps, and the muscles of Rodney's own injured leg felt like they were on fire. If he had to guess, he'd say that the shrapnel was probably working its way in deeper, but they didn't have time - Sheppard didn't have time - for them to stop and treat it.
"Keep running, Dr. McKay," Amirelle taunted, the words seeming to come from everywhere. "It doesn't matter. I told you, you can't escape me!"
Rodney wanted to yell at her to just shut up - they really didn't need the reminder - but he was too out of breath to try.
He paused when they reached the doorway of Amirelle's lab, and adjusted his grip on Sheppard, accidentally jarring him a little. When Sheppard winced, Rodney mumbled a quick apology, and looked around. In this part of the outpost, Amirelle had gutted just about everything she could get her hands - well, droids - on, and the room next to Amirelle's lab had almost been stripped to the studs. But, a room across the hallway looked relatively untouched, and the door was still there. The botanist's lab, maybe? She would probably want to keep that intact.
"Think…the antidote…is in there?" Sheppard asked, his reasoning obviously running along the same lines.
Rodney nodded. "Yeah. Uh, could you…?" He waved his hand at the entrance, and Sheppard raised his blaster once more.
The lab was apparently better protected than the cafeteria had been, so it took longer to break through the door, but eventually, they did.
Rodney bent down and peered inside. The room was dark and quiet, almost strangely peaceful. That wasn't exactly reassuring, but he couldn't see anything suspicious, and if the antidote really was there, they didn't have a choice.
The makeshift entrance wasn't quite tall enough for them to walk through standing up, and Sheppard's breath hitched when they had to duck to make it inside. Rodney helped Sheppard sit down on the floor, wincing at the way Sheppard immediately hunched over, his grip on the blaster hard enough that his knuckles were white.
How much damage had the enzyme done already?
Rodney swallowed hard and started searching the room. The emergency lighting filling the base didn't let him see much, but he could make out a work station in a back corner, a long-dead plant beside it. A table ran the length of one wall, and a row of shelves stood opposite that. Most of the equipment was gone, but… Rodney's gaze fell on the lowest shelf. Yes! A square box, about half the size of a desk-top computer, sat in the shadows. It was almost hidden from view - maybe that was why it had been missed when the Ancients had emptied out the lab the first time - but it was a miniature stasis unit, he was sure of it. He'd seen some similar ones in the infirmary, and in the botany wing…Katie had one like that, actually. Rodney reached down to pick up the box. He turned it over in his hands, trying to remember how it opened. It didn't require the gene, but it did have a locking mechanism. He ran his fingers over the stasis unit, trying to find the - there. He slid open the latch and the unit gave a soft click, revealing three shelves.
Rodney cursed under his breath, elation fading rapidly. There were several samples inside, and while they were labeled, the writing was in Ancient. He'd gotten a lot more fluent in the language over the last few years, but that fluency didn't extend to botany, and he couldn't make out more than one or two words. At least a few of these samples had to be the enzyme, but which one was the neutralizing agent?
Well, Rodney thought a little desperately, they'd just have to find a way out of here, and take every sample with them. When they got back to Atlantis, they could-
Searing heat passed over his shoulder. Rodney gave a shout, clutching the stasis unit and ducking instinctively as the room glowed green for an instant, the sound of a blaster shot echoing.
"What the-" he started frantically, turning to look at Sheppard. "You almost hit me!" he accused.
"Better than the alternative," Sheppard retorted breathlessly, motioning with his blaster.
Rodney followed his gaze and paled - there, on the shelf above him, laying in a now-partly-melted heap, was the spider-droid, one claw raised, a syringe in its grip.
"You're welcome," Sheppard offered, seeing his look.
"Yeah, thanks," Rodney answered distractedly, still staring at the droid. If the enzyme was in that syringe…
He reached forward and quickly pried it free from the droid, immediately comparing it to the samples in the stasis unit. "Looks like it could be the same thing" wasn't exactly the height of scientific study, but maybe he could narrow things down a little, at least.
"I've run out of patience, Dr. McKay."
Rodney froze, then swallowed hard and turned around, not really surprised to find Amirelle standing behind him, her features contorted in fury. Hologram or not, the look of rage was real, and it was hard not to take her seriously when she'd come so close to killing them already.
"You will die," she snarled.
The sound of rapidly rushing air cut off any reply Rodney might have made. His eyes widened in horror as realization sunk in. "Oh, no…"
Amirelle gave a twisted smile then faded from view.
"Rodney?" Sheppard questioned sharply, struggling to his feet.
"The ruins on M7G-677 were underground!" Rodney yelled, grabbing all the samples from the stasis unit and shoving them into the empty pockets of his TAC vest as fast as he could. "If this outpost is underground too, it has a closed ventilation system! That means she can vent the atmosphere! We have to find a way out of here, now!"
Another gust of wind blew through the lab, and Rodney reached for Sheppard again, taking most of his weight as they moved for the door. By the time they made it back into the corridor, Rodney's lungs were starting to ache. It reminded him of when he'd been eight and his dad had insisted he go out for baseball, and the coach had made them run laps for thirty minutes. Rodney had been pretty sure he was having an asthma attack then, even though his mom had just scoffed and told him that he didn't have asthma. But it had felt an awful lot like this, and no matter how deep a breath Rodney took, he just couldn't seem to get enough air.
He didn't know for sure how big the outpost was, but at the rate the air was moving, he guessed they had maybe five to seven more minutes of oxygen left. The levels were dropping steadily though, and the extra physical exertion wasn't helping. The muscles in his back and shoulders were starting to burn from holding onto Sheppard, and he could feel a warm trickle of blood running down the back of his leg where the shrapnel had hit.
Rodney took another gulp of air, trying to pretend that it didn't leave him feeling like he was already breathing in a vacuum. He had to focus. If the base was underground, then there had to be some way for them to get to the surface. The ruins on M7G-677...the layout of this outpost was probably similar if not identical. But his head was starting to hurt, and he just couldn't think, and-
Sheppard suddenly went limp, and Rodney almost fell. "Sheppard!" he called, shouting to be heard over the wind. "Sheppard!"
He didn't answer. Rodney looked down at him and felt his stomach lurch. Sheppard's skin had a faint bluish tinge, and his eyes were rolled back in his head, lids fluttering.
He needed to get Sheppard out of here now!
Rodney's gaze darted around the corridor frantically. There were maybe a dozen rooms in this outpost, and any one of them could lead to an exit, but he had no idea where to start. Then again, Rodney thought bitterly, even if he did know where to go, Amirelle would try to stop him. She was everywhere.
Rodney blinked.
She was everywhere. And that meant…maybe they couldn't get away from her, but she couldn't get away from them, either!
Rodney quickly laid Sheppard down on the floor, then scooped up the blaster from where it had fallen when Sheppard had lost consciousness. He staggered down the hallway, heading back towards the labs, forcing himself to hurry.
As soon as he reached the first missing bulkhead he raised the blaster and fired. Sparks flew as circuits and crystals fused, and a burnt, electrical smell filled the corridor.
Rodney kept going. He hit every exposed wire, junction, and panel he could find. The corridor started heating up as small fires ignited, and that was probably consuming extra oxygen they couldn't afford to lose, but he didn't stop.
Amirelle reappeared directly in front of him, her expression outraged. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"What does…it look like…I'm doing?" Rodney gasped out.
"Stop it!" Amirelle growled.
Rodney didn't answer this time. It felt like there was a vise around his chest now, squeezing, and if he was going to die, he wanted to spend his last breaths blasting Amirelle into tiny little pieces - or at least, a lump of melted circuits - not talking to her.
He raised his blaster again and fired, sending another shower of sparks into the corridor.
Amirelle's hologram flickered suddenly, and she stared down at herself in shock. "I said, STOP!" she yelled.
There was a conduit next to him. Rodney blasted that too, watching with satisfaction as it buckled under the heat. A long line of cable was next. Then a group of wires. A control panel.
"STOP!"
More crystals. A circuit board. Another cable.
Rodney stumbled suddenly, his chest heaving, black spots dancing before his eyes. He blinked hard, trying to will them away. Oxygen deprivation, his brain explained helpfully. Symptoms include-
Shut up! Rodney snapped. I don't need to know the symptoms! I've already got them!
He raised his arm again. A second conduit. Another bundle of wires.
Amirelle's hologram was flickering repeatedly now, like the static on an old television set.
Rodney's gaze fell on nearest open bulkhead. He tried to aim the blaster to fire at the closest batch of crystals, but his finger fumbled on the trigger. He grabbed onto the weapon with his other hand instead, and raised his arms, ready to bring the blaster down.
Amirelle's features contorted in rage. "You'll die!" she shrieked. "I SWEAR, YOU'LL DIE! YOU'LL DI-"
Rodney let his arms drop, smiling a little when he heard the fragile crystals shatter under the butt of the gun.
Amirelle's shriek turned into a shrill scream, and then into a piercing electronic whine that stopped the instant Amirelle vanished from view.
The base was abruptly, eerily silent.
Rodney slumped forward to lean against the wall, gasping. The cool of the metal felt good in the heat of the corridor, and even though he was still on his feet, this position was surprisingly comfortable. His eyes drifted closed. He was tired…really tired. It was so tempting to just stay here and rest.
Sheppard would be okay for a little while. He just needed to-
Sheppard!
Rodney's eyes snapped open, and he pushed himself away from the wall. Those black spots made a reappearance, and Rodney shook his head. Not now! He couldn't pass out now!
He grit his teeth and kept going, making his way back to where he'd left Sheppard.
He was so focused on not passing out that it took him a while to realize that something was different.
The air. It wasn't moving anymore. And he could still breathe - barely. But, it was better than not being able to breathe at all. The atmosphere must have stopped venting when Amirelle…died? Rodney grimaced. He wasn't convinced that she was really gone. He wasn't sure he'd done enough damage for that. All he'd had was a blaster, and he'd much prefer to have used, oh, say, a few nuclear warheads. At least. Just to be sure.
If Amirelle was still lurking around in the base's mainframe now…
Rodney tried to move faster.
Thinking about whether or not Amirelle was off in a circuit somewhere, plotting their demise again, had one benefit, though - it had kept him from thinking about other things, like the fact that the air so thin that he could see a blue tinge to his fingernails, or the fact that the air they did have wouldn't last forever, or-
Rodney stopped.
He could see Sheppard now. And Sheppard hadn't moved; he was laying exactly where Rodney had left him.
Rodney drew a deep breath that wasn't very deep, and started forward again, every step feeling heavier. His hand was shaking by the time he bent down to feel for Sheppard's pulse.
His eyes closed in relief. It was weak and sluggish, but it was there, and now that he was closer, he could see the slight rise and fall of Sheppard's chest. He wasn't in good shape by any means, but he was still alive.
Summoning up what little energy he had left, Rodney dropped the blaster, hooked his arm under Sheppard, looped one of Sheppard's arms over his own shoulders, and started forward.
Later, when he was asked about it, Rodney honestly couldn't remember much of his search of the outpost. Everything was gray and hazy until he finally found himself in front of something that looked like a smaller version of the transporters on Atlantis. He stumbled forward, pulling them both inside, and then put his hand on the control panel.
There was a flash of light, and instantly they were on the planet's surface, standing in the middle of an Itharian alley. Rodney blinked. The city. They'd right been under the city. It was dark, and the cool, crisp, night air was a shock, but Rodney couldn't stop himself from taking in deep lungfuls of it anyway.
There was a sound - a foot scuffing the nearby pavement, and a moment later a woman appeared from around the corner. Rodney recognized her as one of the villagers he'd seen earlier. Her eyes widened when she saw them, and Rodney realized how they probably looked: bloody, bruised, and battered.
She turned right around and screamed for help, and things got blurry again after that.
Then, suddenly, Ronon was there, and Edison and Lorne, and they were calling for a medical team, and…
"Dr. McKay," Lorne asked, "Can you tell us what happened?"
Rodney blinked again, and forced the words out between gasps for air. He wondered how long it would be before his chest stopped hurting. "She…there…there was an Ancient. Crazy. Trapped…her mind…in a computer. Wanted…wanted me to join her. We …got away."
"Are you having trouble breathing?"
Rodney waved Lorne's concern away. "I'll be…okay. She…tried to vent…the atmosphere. But, but…Sheppard," he managed, "she…injected him with a plant enzyme…a digestive enzyme. He…he doesn't have much time left. Two hours, she said. Almost been…two hours. I've got…the antidote somewhere," he fumbled for his pockets, "just don't know…which one…"
Ronon nodded. "…did good, McKay," Rodney heard distantly, "You did good."
The darkness came rushing back again, but this time, Ronon caught him before he hit the ground.
TBC…
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Hard to believe there are only a couple more chapters to go! The next chapter should, Lord willing, be up in a few days. :)
Take care and God bless!
-Laughter
~*~*~*~*~
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 |
| Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 |
~*~*~*~*~
Author: LaughtersMelody
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Disclaimer: It's still not mine, but I'm allowed to dream, aren't I? :)
Genre: Friendship/Adventure/Angst
Pairing: N/A
Type: Multi-chapter
Spoilers: No spoilers in this chapter.
Characters: Rodney
Secondary Characters: Sheppard
Summary: When Sheppard returns from bereavement leave after his father's death, a discovery leads Atlantis to a new world and potentially valuable allies. But a secret from the planet's past might just wind up costing Rodney and Sheppard their lives.
A/N: I'm repeating myself, but to everyone who is reading, and most especially, those who have reviewed, thank you so much!
As always, I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for his goodness and mercy.
I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think!
~*~*~*~*~
Mind Over Matter
Chapter 8
The lights flickered once more, and then shut off, leaving only the dim, emergency lighting behind.
Sheppard pushed himself away from the counter, but doubled over just as fast, a low, pained sound escaping. Rodney rushed to his side, catching him before he fell, and pulling him towards the door.
It slammed shut when they were still a few feet away, trapping them again.
"I am going to kill you slowly," Amirelle's disembodied voice growled. "You'll beg for death before I'm through!"
Rodney swallowed hard, his eyes darting to the controls. "Maybe I can short it out, or-"
Sheppard raised the blaster and fired at the door. The metal glowed under the continuous barrage, then finally started to give way.
"-or, you could just do that."
It took a few minutes, but by the time Sheppard was done, they had an opening that was big enough for them to slip through. Rodney helped Sheppard through first, flinching when he came a little too close to the still-hot metal, singeing a sleeve and his arm, too.
"Which way?" Sheppard managed hoarsely, once they were outside in the corridor.
Rodney ran through a mental map of the outpost, trying to place the rooms he'd been in. Amirelle's lab was to the left, and the office he'd been taken to earlier was to the right. The cell they'd been held in was somewhere in the middle, on the opposite side of the hallway, not that far from the cafeteria.
"Left," he answered, quickly pulling them both that way.
Amirelle had said that her colleague had left samples of the enzyme behind and that meant he'd probably had a lab too. Since the labs were usually in the same area, that was their best bet for finding the antidote.
Rodney kept them moving as fast as he could, but Sheppard was stumbling every few steps, and the muscles of Rodney's own injured leg felt like they were on fire. If he had to guess, he'd say that the shrapnel was probably working its way in deeper, but they didn't have time - Sheppard didn't have time - for them to stop and treat it.
"Keep running, Dr. McKay," Amirelle taunted, the words seeming to come from everywhere. "It doesn't matter. I told you, you can't escape me!"
Rodney wanted to yell at her to just shut up - they really didn't need the reminder - but he was too out of breath to try.
He paused when they reached the doorway of Amirelle's lab, and adjusted his grip on Sheppard, accidentally jarring him a little. When Sheppard winced, Rodney mumbled a quick apology, and looked around. In this part of the outpost, Amirelle had gutted just about everything she could get her hands - well, droids - on, and the room next to Amirelle's lab had almost been stripped to the studs. But, a room across the hallway looked relatively untouched, and the door was still there. The botanist's lab, maybe? She would probably want to keep that intact.
"Think…the antidote…is in there?" Sheppard asked, his reasoning obviously running along the same lines.
Rodney nodded. "Yeah. Uh, could you…?" He waved his hand at the entrance, and Sheppard raised his blaster once more.
The lab was apparently better protected than the cafeteria had been, so it took longer to break through the door, but eventually, they did.
Rodney bent down and peered inside. The room was dark and quiet, almost strangely peaceful. That wasn't exactly reassuring, but he couldn't see anything suspicious, and if the antidote really was there, they didn't have a choice.
The makeshift entrance wasn't quite tall enough for them to walk through standing up, and Sheppard's breath hitched when they had to duck to make it inside. Rodney helped Sheppard sit down on the floor, wincing at the way Sheppard immediately hunched over, his grip on the blaster hard enough that his knuckles were white.
How much damage had the enzyme done already?
Rodney swallowed hard and started searching the room. The emergency lighting filling the base didn't let him see much, but he could make out a work station in a back corner, a long-dead plant beside it. A table ran the length of one wall, and a row of shelves stood opposite that. Most of the equipment was gone, but… Rodney's gaze fell on the lowest shelf. Yes! A square box, about half the size of a desk-top computer, sat in the shadows. It was almost hidden from view - maybe that was why it had been missed when the Ancients had emptied out the lab the first time - but it was a miniature stasis unit, he was sure of it. He'd seen some similar ones in the infirmary, and in the botany wing…Katie had one like that, actually. Rodney reached down to pick up the box. He turned it over in his hands, trying to remember how it opened. It didn't require the gene, but it did have a locking mechanism. He ran his fingers over the stasis unit, trying to find the - there. He slid open the latch and the unit gave a soft click, revealing three shelves.
Rodney cursed under his breath, elation fading rapidly. There were several samples inside, and while they were labeled, the writing was in Ancient. He'd gotten a lot more fluent in the language over the last few years, but that fluency didn't extend to botany, and he couldn't make out more than one or two words. At least a few of these samples had to be the enzyme, but which one was the neutralizing agent?
Well, Rodney thought a little desperately, they'd just have to find a way out of here, and take every sample with them. When they got back to Atlantis, they could-
Searing heat passed over his shoulder. Rodney gave a shout, clutching the stasis unit and ducking instinctively as the room glowed green for an instant, the sound of a blaster shot echoing.
"What the-" he started frantically, turning to look at Sheppard. "You almost hit me!" he accused.
"Better than the alternative," Sheppard retorted breathlessly, motioning with his blaster.
Rodney followed his gaze and paled - there, on the shelf above him, laying in a now-partly-melted heap, was the spider-droid, one claw raised, a syringe in its grip.
"You're welcome," Sheppard offered, seeing his look.
"Yeah, thanks," Rodney answered distractedly, still staring at the droid. If the enzyme was in that syringe…
He reached forward and quickly pried it free from the droid, immediately comparing it to the samples in the stasis unit. "Looks like it could be the same thing" wasn't exactly the height of scientific study, but maybe he could narrow things down a little, at least.
"I've run out of patience, Dr. McKay."
Rodney froze, then swallowed hard and turned around, not really surprised to find Amirelle standing behind him, her features contorted in fury. Hologram or not, the look of rage was real, and it was hard not to take her seriously when she'd come so close to killing them already.
"You will die," she snarled.
The sound of rapidly rushing air cut off any reply Rodney might have made. His eyes widened in horror as realization sunk in. "Oh, no…"
Amirelle gave a twisted smile then faded from view.
"Rodney?" Sheppard questioned sharply, struggling to his feet.
"The ruins on M7G-677 were underground!" Rodney yelled, grabbing all the samples from the stasis unit and shoving them into the empty pockets of his TAC vest as fast as he could. "If this outpost is underground too, it has a closed ventilation system! That means she can vent the atmosphere! We have to find a way out of here, now!"
Another gust of wind blew through the lab, and Rodney reached for Sheppard again, taking most of his weight as they moved for the door. By the time they made it back into the corridor, Rodney's lungs were starting to ache. It reminded him of when he'd been eight and his dad had insisted he go out for baseball, and the coach had made them run laps for thirty minutes. Rodney had been pretty sure he was having an asthma attack then, even though his mom had just scoffed and told him that he didn't have asthma. But it had felt an awful lot like this, and no matter how deep a breath Rodney took, he just couldn't seem to get enough air.
He didn't know for sure how big the outpost was, but at the rate the air was moving, he guessed they had maybe five to seven more minutes of oxygen left. The levels were dropping steadily though, and the extra physical exertion wasn't helping. The muscles in his back and shoulders were starting to burn from holding onto Sheppard, and he could feel a warm trickle of blood running down the back of his leg where the shrapnel had hit.
Rodney took another gulp of air, trying to pretend that it didn't leave him feeling like he was already breathing in a vacuum. He had to focus. If the base was underground, then there had to be some way for them to get to the surface. The ruins on M7G-677...the layout of this outpost was probably similar if not identical. But his head was starting to hurt, and he just couldn't think, and-
Sheppard suddenly went limp, and Rodney almost fell. "Sheppard!" he called, shouting to be heard over the wind. "Sheppard!"
He didn't answer. Rodney looked down at him and felt his stomach lurch. Sheppard's skin had a faint bluish tinge, and his eyes were rolled back in his head, lids fluttering.
He needed to get Sheppard out of here now!
Rodney's gaze darted around the corridor frantically. There were maybe a dozen rooms in this outpost, and any one of them could lead to an exit, but he had no idea where to start. Then again, Rodney thought bitterly, even if he did know where to go, Amirelle would try to stop him. She was everywhere.
Rodney blinked.
She was everywhere. And that meant…maybe they couldn't get away from her, but she couldn't get away from them, either!
Rodney quickly laid Sheppard down on the floor, then scooped up the blaster from where it had fallen when Sheppard had lost consciousness. He staggered down the hallway, heading back towards the labs, forcing himself to hurry.
As soon as he reached the first missing bulkhead he raised the blaster and fired. Sparks flew as circuits and crystals fused, and a burnt, electrical smell filled the corridor.
Rodney kept going. He hit every exposed wire, junction, and panel he could find. The corridor started heating up as small fires ignited, and that was probably consuming extra oxygen they couldn't afford to lose, but he didn't stop.
Amirelle reappeared directly in front of him, her expression outraged. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"What does…it look like…I'm doing?" Rodney gasped out.
"Stop it!" Amirelle growled.
Rodney didn't answer this time. It felt like there was a vise around his chest now, squeezing, and if he was going to die, he wanted to spend his last breaths blasting Amirelle into tiny little pieces - or at least, a lump of melted circuits - not talking to her.
He raised his blaster again and fired, sending another shower of sparks into the corridor.
Amirelle's hologram flickered suddenly, and she stared down at herself in shock. "I said, STOP!" she yelled.
There was a conduit next to him. Rodney blasted that too, watching with satisfaction as it buckled under the heat. A long line of cable was next. Then a group of wires. A control panel.
"STOP!"
More crystals. A circuit board. Another cable.
Rodney stumbled suddenly, his chest heaving, black spots dancing before his eyes. He blinked hard, trying to will them away. Oxygen deprivation, his brain explained helpfully. Symptoms include-
Shut up! Rodney snapped. I don't need to know the symptoms! I've already got them!
He raised his arm again. A second conduit. Another bundle of wires.
Amirelle's hologram was flickering repeatedly now, like the static on an old television set.
Rodney's gaze fell on nearest open bulkhead. He tried to aim the blaster to fire at the closest batch of crystals, but his finger fumbled on the trigger. He grabbed onto the weapon with his other hand instead, and raised his arms, ready to bring the blaster down.
Amirelle's features contorted in rage. "You'll die!" she shrieked. "I SWEAR, YOU'LL DIE! YOU'LL DI-"
Rodney let his arms drop, smiling a little when he heard the fragile crystals shatter under the butt of the gun.
Amirelle's shriek turned into a shrill scream, and then into a piercing electronic whine that stopped the instant Amirelle vanished from view.
The base was abruptly, eerily silent.
Rodney slumped forward to lean against the wall, gasping. The cool of the metal felt good in the heat of the corridor, and even though he was still on his feet, this position was surprisingly comfortable. His eyes drifted closed. He was tired…really tired. It was so tempting to just stay here and rest.
Sheppard would be okay for a little while. He just needed to-
Sheppard!
Rodney's eyes snapped open, and he pushed himself away from the wall. Those black spots made a reappearance, and Rodney shook his head. Not now! He couldn't pass out now!
He grit his teeth and kept going, making his way back to where he'd left Sheppard.
He was so focused on not passing out that it took him a while to realize that something was different.
The air. It wasn't moving anymore. And he could still breathe - barely. But, it was better than not being able to breathe at all. The atmosphere must have stopped venting when Amirelle…died? Rodney grimaced. He wasn't convinced that she was really gone. He wasn't sure he'd done enough damage for that. All he'd had was a blaster, and he'd much prefer to have used, oh, say, a few nuclear warheads. At least. Just to be sure.
If Amirelle was still lurking around in the base's mainframe now…
Rodney tried to move faster.
Thinking about whether or not Amirelle was off in a circuit somewhere, plotting their demise again, had one benefit, though - it had kept him from thinking about other things, like the fact that the air so thin that he could see a blue tinge to his fingernails, or the fact that the air they did have wouldn't last forever, or-
Rodney stopped.
He could see Sheppard now. And Sheppard hadn't moved; he was laying exactly where Rodney had left him.
Rodney drew a deep breath that wasn't very deep, and started forward again, every step feeling heavier. His hand was shaking by the time he bent down to feel for Sheppard's pulse.
His eyes closed in relief. It was weak and sluggish, but it was there, and now that he was closer, he could see the slight rise and fall of Sheppard's chest. He wasn't in good shape by any means, but he was still alive.
Summoning up what little energy he had left, Rodney dropped the blaster, hooked his arm under Sheppard, looped one of Sheppard's arms over his own shoulders, and started forward.
Later, when he was asked about it, Rodney honestly couldn't remember much of his search of the outpost. Everything was gray and hazy until he finally found himself in front of something that looked like a smaller version of the transporters on Atlantis. He stumbled forward, pulling them both inside, and then put his hand on the control panel.
There was a flash of light, and instantly they were on the planet's surface, standing in the middle of an Itharian alley. Rodney blinked. The city. They'd right been under the city. It was dark, and the cool, crisp, night air was a shock, but Rodney couldn't stop himself from taking in deep lungfuls of it anyway.
There was a sound - a foot scuffing the nearby pavement, and a moment later a woman appeared from around the corner. Rodney recognized her as one of the villagers he'd seen earlier. Her eyes widened when she saw them, and Rodney realized how they probably looked: bloody, bruised, and battered.
She turned right around and screamed for help, and things got blurry again after that.
Then, suddenly, Ronon was there, and Edison and Lorne, and they were calling for a medical team, and…
"Dr. McKay," Lorne asked, "Can you tell us what happened?"
Rodney blinked again, and forced the words out between gasps for air. He wondered how long it would be before his chest stopped hurting. "She…there…there was an Ancient. Crazy. Trapped…her mind…in a computer. Wanted…wanted me to join her. We …got away."
"Are you having trouble breathing?"
Rodney waved Lorne's concern away. "I'll be…okay. She…tried to vent…the atmosphere. But, but…Sheppard," he managed, "she…injected him with a plant enzyme…a digestive enzyme. He…he doesn't have much time left. Two hours, she said. Almost been…two hours. I've got…the antidote somewhere," he fumbled for his pockets, "just don't know…which one…"
Ronon nodded. "…did good, McKay," Rodney heard distantly, "You did good."
The darkness came rushing back again, but this time, Ronon caught him before he hit the ground.
TBC…
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A/N: Hard to believe there are only a couple more chapters to go! The next chapter should, Lord willing, be up in a few days. :)
Take care and God bless!
-Laughter
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| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 |
| Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 |
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