Atlantis Calling ... Part One by stella_pegasi
Title: Atlantis Calling
Author: stella_pegasi
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: PG
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Action
Character/Pairing: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, team, RC’s, OC’s.
Spoilers: SGA fanfic but spoilers for SG-1’s episodes, Avalon Part One and Part Two
Warnings: A bit of Whump, and an occasional curse word.
Het/Slash/Gen: Gen
Word count: 11,098
Disclaimer: I do not own them, I would have treated them better.
Notes: Doing some housekeeping...reposting some stories from ff.net to LJ. This story originally written for sg_fic_uoa com, quite a while back. The prompt for the story was both the quote and a picture prompt. I chose the picture of Sheppard's bloody hand grabbing Keller's arm in Search and Rescue
Summary: Atlantis is confronted by an ancient enemy putting the city-ship, and the expedition in danger. Will Atlantis be able to warn Colonel Sheppard in time?
ATLANTIS CALLING
by stella_pegasi
"Despite all the people she feels something hollow in the room. Sometimes, in her head, there's the sensation of a bright white, penetrating light, turning to grey, turning to black."
From Mean Spirit by Will Kingdom
Colonel John Sheppard collapsed for the fifth time in two days. Each episode started with a sudden blinding white light; his vision would begin to dim, and then everything would turn black as he lost consciousness.
Dr. Jennifer Keller had subjected the colonel to every diagnostic test that she felt appropriate. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him. She had consulted with every doctor on her staff, including the new psychologist, Dr. Ross Warren. If the colonel’s problem wasn’t physiological, perhaps he was suffering from Delayed Stress Syndrome. Dr. Warren, however, could not find any indication that Sheppard had excessive difficulty coping with the stress of his command position. Which, after reviewing the colonel’s mission reports of the last five plus years, he found that fact incredibly unnerving. The entire expedition should be raving loony tunes, having endured what they had while serving on the Atlantis base.
Keller had recalled Dr. Carson Beckett from his monthly medical clinic on M3X-655 for a consult. He was sitting across from her now in the conference room as they conferred with the doctors at Stargate Command. Richard Woolsey, Director of the Atlantis Expedition was also with them. They were listening to Dr. Carolyn Lam, Chief Medical Director, at the SGC, who had just completed her review of Sheppard’s test results.
“Jennifer, how is Colonel Sheppard doing right now?”
“He’s resting and appears to be fine. The colonel will have one of these blackouts, be unconscious for twenty to thirty minutes, then wakes up with no after effects. I am just concerned that if he has enough of these events, he will suffer harm.”
Dr. Lam shook her head, “We’ve gone over and over the colonel’s data. We can’t see anything that you have missed or anything that stands out to us. We are just as much in the dark as you are.”
General Landry was sitting with Dr. Lam. “Woolsey, do you think that we need to bring the colonel to Earth so that we can have some neural specialists have a look at him?”
Woolsey looked over at Dr. Beckett, who was shaking his head no, “No, general, the colonel’s in excellent hands here, so I don’t believe that will be necessary, for the moment. We can manage his care for now. If there is something on Atlantis that’s causing it, taking him from the source might be detrimental to discovering the cause. If Sheppard appears to be in danger, we will certainly reconsider our options.”
Addressing Keller and Beckett, Landry asked, “Doctors are you in agreement with Mr. Woolsey?”
Keller nodded affirmatively, and Beckett replied, “General, there isn’t a tougher man in the SGC than John Sheppard. The colonel will be fine, and we'll find out what's going on.”
“Doctors, we'll keep doing research to see if we can find some similar situations, and will let you know. I hope you can find out what is happening to Colonel Sheppard, before he suffers any damage from this. Good luck to all of you,” Lam gave them a reassuring smile.
General Landry ended the call, “OK, people, keep us informed, Landry out.”
Through the closed doors of the conference room, they could hear the stargate disengage. The three Atlantians sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their thoughts of the colonel’s condition.
Woolsey spoke first, “Neither of you has any idea as to what could be happening to Colonel Sheppard?”
Beckett and Keller both shook their head, the expressions on their faces grim and serious. Beckett was twirling his coffee cup, and Woolsey imagined the mug spinning off the table if he let go of it. As he was watching, Beckett stopped twirling the cup, slamming it on the table.
“Damn it, something is causing Sheppard to have these blackouts. We should be able to figure this out. I know that there’s no physical damage to the colonel as of yet; but he is becoming increasing frustrated and antsy sitting around, waiting for the next blackout.”
“Doctor, you know the colonel, he’s most likely frustrated that he’s been pulled off active duty. He says he feels fine, except for the blackouts, that is.” Woolsey leaned back in his chair. “McKay has Zelenka and Franklin looking for any anomalies in the atmosphere, the environmental systems, whatever else they can think of to examine. Something should give us a clue if there is an outside influence to these blackouts.”
Beckett added, “Major Lorne is reviewing recent mission reports with Teyla and Ronon. Perhaps they will uncover a clue to something Colonel Sheppard might have been exposed to off-world. Something is causing this; we have to find it.”
Woolsey was about to dismiss them when Dr. Julian Jackson’s voice activated their COM’s. “Dr. Keller, the colonel is having another blackout.”
Keller answered, “On my way,” as she and the two men hurried from the conference room.
~ooOOOoo~
Slowly, the sounds of the infirmary were getting louder. He could hear the beeping monitors, the muffled voices, and soft, squeaky footsteps on the tile floor. He opened his eyes cautiously, glad to find someone had turned out the damned light over his bed. Feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder, he focused on a figure standing next to his bed.
“Colonel, are you back with us?”
“Marie, yeah, I’m here; I think.”
“How do you feel?” Marie adjusted the oxygen cannula in his nose, slapping his hand away as he tried to remove the annoying tubing. “Colonel, this has to stay, Dr. Keller’s orders.”
“Hey, Marie, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt me,” as he continued to try and pull the tube away.
“But I will, colonel, if you try to pull that out,” Dr. Keller told him as she walked up, Beckett and Woolsey on her six. They had been waiting in Keller’s office for Colonel Sheppard to become conscious.
Marie smiled at him, “Busted, colonel, sorry.”
Dr. Jackson, or Dr. J, as they called him, walked over to stand next to Marie, “Doctors, Mr. Woolsey, sorry I wasn’t able to give you an update when you arrived earlier. I had to stitch up a Marine, who slipped on the stairs. The colonel decided to take another little nap on us. Same situation, he grabbed his head, put his hand over his eyes, and then passed out. This time he was out for about twenty-two minutes.”
Keller looked at Sheppard, “How are you feeling?”
Sheppard sat up, rolling his head to stretch out his neck muscles. “Like every other episode, I feel absolutely fine.” As Keller and Beckett both reacted to his ‘I’m fine’ mantra, he laughed. “No really, I’m fine; I feel great. Like all the other times, the only pain, I feel is from the blinding light. That when my head really hurts for a couple of seconds. Then I black out, and when I wake up, I feel great.”
“There was nothing different about this episode, lad?”
“No, Carson, there was nothing, nothing at all.” Marie had stepped away, returning with a pitcher of cold water and muffins. He smiled at her, picking up a muffin and taking a big bite.
Keller looked inquisitively at Marie. The nurse replied, “He’s usually really hungry and thirsty after he wakes up.”
“Colonel, have you been hungry and thirsty after each episode?” Sheppard nodded as he finished off the muffin.
“Dr. J, let’s do another metabolic screen on him. He must be expending a lot of energy each time these blackouts happen. We need to see what’s happening. I want this test done every two hours so that we have some idea if something is going on.” As she ordered the new blood tests, Sheppard gave her a not so nice look. “Colonel, no lollipops for you if you keep making that face.”
There was no way of knowing when the next blackout could occur and Sheppard had begged Keller to let him take a walk. He promised he would take Ronon. Ronon would keep him out of trouble. The colonel was always anxious to get out of the infirmary; however, there was persistence this time that seemed unusual to Dr. Keller. When the begging got more than Keller could handle, she let him go. As she watched him pull on a t-shirt and track pants over the scrubs he was wearing and put on his sneakers, she called Marie over, “Put an EMT team on standby with a Gurney, I’d rather be prepared.”
Keller then tapped her COM and called McKay, “Rodney, I have allowed Colonel Sheppard to take a walk. He says he’s going stir crazy. I have this really strange feeling that it’s more than that. Ronon is going to accompany him; I don’t want him by himself. Can you track them, and keep me informed as to where they’re going?”
“Sure, I can track him, but why are you so concerned about where he might go?” While talking to her, he punched up the sensors. Within seconds, he had located Sheppard and Ronon's transmitter signal.
“Rodney, I just have this feeling that John didn’t just want to go for a walk, he needed to go for a walk. There was something strange about how he pestered me to get out of here. Before you say anything, I know he whines about being in the infirmary, actually he’s usually just testy, you whine, but this was different. I can’t put my finger on it, but it was different.”
“Your suspicions are good enough for me, Jennifer. I am going to patch the sensors to your station so you can see where he is. If Ronon is with him, he won’t stop him from going anywhere as long as he thinks Sheppard’s not going to get hurt. And I do not whine.”
“Yes, you do. Thanks, Rodney.” Jennifer proceeded to her office, and saw that Rodney had sent her the sensor feed; she clicked on the icon. She watched as the two bleeps stepped off a transporter at the base of the tower. “Where are you going, John Sheppard?”
~ooOOOoo~
As if he had read Keller’s mind, Ronon asked Sheppard the same question, as they stepped off the transporter. “Where are you going, Sheppard?”
“I need to get to the main computer room.” Ronon stopped him, looking at him with a quizzical look on his face. Sheppard shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know why. I just know I need to get there.” He wrenched his arm away from Ronon, and took off down the corridor. He was headed to the stairs that led to the central computer room.
~ooOOOoo~
Rodney was getting concerned. Sheppard had headed directly for the central computer vault in the tower below the surface of the city. Why would he be headed there? As he sat staring at the screen, tapping lightly on the edge of his keyboard trying to decide what Sheppard was up to, Radek Zelenka’s voice blasted in his ear. “Rodney, there is an overload in the computer system; I cannot bypass it and it is getting worse. Power is spiking in computer room.”
Rodney quickly flicked his screen to the computer monitoring program and was shocked at what he found. Atlantis main computer was building up power that it was going to have to dissipate somehow. An explosion, the most likely way, and Sheppard and Ronon were heading right to it.
“Radek, get to the ZPM room as quick as you can. Pull the ZPM and the naquadah generator that is connected to the computer system, we might be able to stop the build up and prevent the explosion. Tell Woolsey to get everyone out of the tower. I don’t know if this thing explodes what kind of damage it’s going to do.” McKay left his lab at a dead run toward the computer room, screaming over the COM at Sheppard and Ronon to get out of there.
~ooOOOoo~
As he raced down the stairs, Sheppard became increasingly agitated. Flashes of extremely bright white light danced across his eyes, and the pounding in his temples was getting stronger. He had a vague feeling that someone was trying to talk to him. He reached out to Atlantis, but he couldn’t connect with her. Sheppard realized that he hadn’t been able to communicate with her since his blackouts began. Something was wrong.
As he reached the door, the colonel halted, the light in his eyes was flashing at a very rapid rate, and he was disoriented. Ronon grabbed him as he started to fall, but Sheppard recovered and pushed him away. He was hearing a faint voice in his head. He was certain the voice was saying “help me” as he passed his hand over the door sensor and opened the main computer room door. As he entered, he could hear Rodney yelling at him not to go in, but it was too late. He was just past the threshold when the room blew up.
~ooOOOoo~
The force of the blast pushed Ronon backwards into the corridor, landing on Dr. McKay, who only a few steps behind him. Ronon was stunned. It took a moment for the Satendan to shake off the cobwebs, and become oriented. There was muffled ringing in his ears and cuts on his arms, face and neck, but he struggled to his feet. He and McKay had slid across the floor to the foot of the stairs. Rodney was laying very still, his shoulder pushed into the bottom riser at an odd angle. As Ronon checked the scientist for a pulse, relieved to find a strong steady beat under his fingers, he was concerned Rodney's shoulder was broken. His relief quickly turned to fear, as he remembered that Sheppard has just walked into the computer room when the explosion happened. He had to find Sheppard.
Ronon stood at the doorway, peering through the haze left by the fire suppression system, trying to locate Sheppard in the computer large room. As his eyes adjusted to the hazy darkness, he could just make out a form lying across the room. He ran to Sheppard, attempting to avoid the broken glass and debris on the floor. He rolled his friend's limp body over as gently as he could, pressing his fingertips against the colonel’s neck. He sucked in a deep breath when he felt a faint, thready pulse. Ronon was about to pick Sheppard up when he heard Dr. Beckett’s voice.
“Leave the colonel there, lad; we’ll take care of him. Ronon, you have some bad cuts that need to be tended to. Go out into the hall; someone will take care of you.” Beckett brushed past him, kneeling beside the colonel as two EMT’s with a Gurney entered the room.
Ronon returned to the corridor, which was filling up with Marine firefighters, medics, and scientists, including Dr. Zelenka. He saw Keller talking to McKay, who was now sitting up holding his shoulder, pain evident on his face. When she saw Ronon, Keller’s eyes widened, and she moved her head slightly, as if to ask how Sheppard was without saying it out loud in front of Rodney. Ronon quietly told her, “He’s alive, that’s all I know.”
A few moments passed before they heard the command, “Move,” from a voice behind Ronon. He stepped aside and Beckett and the EMT’s exited the computer room with Sheppard, an IV already in his arm. He was pale and bloody, numerous cuts from the flying glass all over his arms, where he had raised them to shield his face. They passed quickly out of sight with Ronon running behind.
Ten minutes after the explosion, McKay was in a bed in the infirmary’s main ward. Rodney was alternately demanding information from Zelenka on the damage done by the explosion, and from the medical staff about Sheppard’s condition. “Radek, you’re sure that the computers are working?” He listened to Zelenka, who was still in the computer room, through his COM and then replied. “Fine, keep looking for the reason the power spiked, and watch that it doesn’t happen again. Keep me informed.”
“Damn it, Jackson, get your hands off of me, and tell me where Sheppard is, right now,” Rodney was getting very agitated at the lack of information, he was getting regarding the colonel. Dr. J turned to the nurse with him and ordered a sedative for McKay. McKay took advantage of Jackson looking the other way. He jumped out of bed on the opposite side, and headed for the trauma unit.
Spotting Jennifer, he ran up to her grabbing her arm, “Where is Sheppard, how is he?”
“Rodney, what are you doing out of bed? You may have a concussion, and at best, your shoulder is badly bruised. We need to get you x-rayed.” Jennifer tried to steer him away from the area, but from the frantic look on his face, she knew he would not settle down until she let him see Sheppard. “All right Rodney, you can see Colonel Sheppard, but just for a minute.”
Jennifer led Rodney to one of the bays in the trauma room and pulled back the curtain that was blocking two sides of the colonel’s bed. Sheppard was still unconscious, his face pale with a few cuts along his forehead. Dr. Beckett was carefully removing glass fragments embedded in the colonel’s left arm by the blast. On the treatment table beside him sat a small stainless steel bowl that was holding the bloody shards he had already removed. Keller walked up to Sheppard’s bed on his right side and motioned for Rodney to follow. Rodney couldn’t move, he decided to stay at the foot of his friend’s bed. From outside the trauma unit, he could hear Ronon complaining about being treated, and wanted to know how Sheppard was. He asked the question for both.
“Carson, is Sheppard going to be alright? I mean, that blast was extremely strong, and he was in the room.” As he looked at Carson, he was thinking about another blast that had taken his good friend Carson Beckett. At least, Carson came back to them. He didn’t want Sheppard to leave.
Beckett looked up at Rodney for a second, and then continued to remove the glass shards. “The colonel suffered a pretty major trauma, Rodney. He obviously took the full brunt of the explosion. We’re running tests now to determine the extent of any internal damage, and we’ll know more shortly.” Becket winced as he pulled a two inch shard of glass from the colonel’s arm. “Rodney, so far he is fairly stable. His blood pressure is a bit lower than I would like, but for now, I don’t think he is in any immediate danger.”
“Rodney, let’s get you back to bed and get you checked out. I’m concerned that you may have hit your head. The blast threw you and Ronon pretty hard into the stairs." Jennifer turned to steer Rodney back to his bed. B she could leave his bedside, Colonel Sheppard’s bloody right hand grabbed her left forearm.
Startled, Jennifer turned to see that Sheppard’s normally expressive green eyes were wide open staring at her. She had never expected to see the courageous colonel look fearful but that was the only way to describe his expression. Jennifer was trying to regain her voice so that she could ask him if he was alright. She couldn't get the words out.
Sheppard spoke, breaking the silence; his voice hoarse, strained, and pitched slightly higher than usual. There was an uncharacteristic note of fear his voice. “You must help me; I cannot reach him, they are preventing me from communicating directly. They will destroy me, and him; they will destroy everyone.”
Jennifer was still speechless, but Rodney was not. He asked, “Who is trying to destroy you?”
“The ones who have come, they are very, very old. They came before when I was very young, and had just begun my journey. They tried to capture me then, and when they were not successful, they attempted to destroy me. They left something behind those many years ago, and they now wish to have it back. I do not know if I have what they seek any longer; the others purged my files when they abandoned me, and returned to Terra. I tried to reach him so many times to warn him, to ask for help, but they were interfering. They caused me to hurt him. I would never hurt him; I could never hurt him, yet I have. Help me, please.”
Sheppard’s hand that had been gripping Jennifer’s arm very tightly released her, leaving a bloody, redden imprint of his fingers that was already beginning to bruise. As his arm fell to the side of the bed, Sheppard lapsed into unconsciousness again. Dr. Beckett immediately began to check the colonel’s vitals. Jennifer looked at Rodney, “What was that? Who was that? That wasn’t Colonel Sheppard.”
Rodney’s face was ashen, “No, it wasn’t Sheppard. It was Atlantis speaking through him and she’s in danger.”
Rodney felt a hand on his shoulder, and realized that Teyla was standing behind him. “Rodney, if Atlantis is in trouble, then John is in trouble, as are we. What do we need to do?”
Rodney looked at her and then tapped his COM, “This is Dr. McKay; Chuck, are the computers working?” He paused, waiting for Chuck's answer, “Then start a full diagnostic on the entire system immediately. Zelenka, bring my tablet to the infirmary now and bring Graves with you.”
“How will running a full diagnostic be helpful?” That question from Richard Woolsey. He had arrived in time to witness Sheppard channeling Atlantis.
“If I can keep the computer busy and keep whatever is trying to get in there from succeeding, it might buy me enough time to figure out who, or what, is doing this. Get me a chair please.”
Jennifer wasn’t having that, “No, Rodney, you are going back to bed, now. You’ve been injured you need to be examined, and you need to rest.” Grabbing McKay by his good arm, she tried to pull him away from Sheppard’s bed. He didn't budge; he in his heels and stayed put.
“Jennifer, I have to be close to Sheppard, Atlantis may only be able to communicate through him. Now get me a chair.” Radek chose that moment to arrive at the lab with Rodney’s tablet; roughly pulling it from Radek’s hand, he immediately began sorting through files.
Woolsey looked at her and quietly said, “Dr. Keller, you need to get Dr. McKay a chair.”
Keller reluctantly agreed to allow McKay to stay close to Sheppard; however, only if he was in a bed. She placed Rodney in the trauma bay next to Sheppard and drew the curtains back so that he could see the colonel. Rodney had settled in without seeming to realize where he was. For the next half-hour, as the doctor’s continued to attend to Sheppard. McKay was conferring with Zelenka and Dr. Alice Graves, head of the base IT team. Richard Woolsey was standing next to McKay’s bed waiting for the scientist to tell him what happened in the central computer room.
Woolsey finally felt he had been left out of the discussion long enough. “Dr. McKay, what do you think happened?”
McKay looked at Woolsey, as if he didn’t realize he was in the room. “Oh, Woolsey, sorry, I didn’t see you there. We think that what occurred was not so much an ‘explosion’, but was more like an energy burst, which emanated from the ancient computer. It as if the computer was attempting to throw something out. To be honest, we really don’t know what’s happening. It's a miracle that the computers are working at all. There’s a lot of code in the programming that we have never seen before. It appears that something or someone has hacked into the main computer, but we can’t find where it came from.”
“What does all this mean, doctors? Is this base in danger, do I need to order an evacuation?” Woolsey looked from McKay, to Zelenka, to Graves expecting an answer.
Graves answered the director, shaking her head in disbelief, “We simply don’t have a clue, sir.”
~ooOOOoo~
Weightless, floating in inky blackness; he was aware of someone trying to communicate with him. The sounds reaching him were faint, almost like the sounds of a crystal wind chime softly tinkling in a gentle breeze. Then he felt impressions of words dancing through his thoughts, words he could not yet understand. Reaching out, he concentrated on the lilting sounds, trying to bring them closer.
She could feel him calling out for her as she attempted to meld her thoughts with his, but the intruders kept interfering. These intruders believed the city-ship still carried the same ones that they had fought so many, many years ago. She had tried to tell them over and over that she did not know if what they sought was still in the city, but they would not believe her. She had to protect him and those with him. These new inhabitants of Atlantis were not the enemy these intruders feared. They should not be in danger. Having reached the limit of what she could do to meld with him without hurting him again. She could only hope he would realize that he was strong enough to come to her.
“Atlantis, are you there; please can you hear me?” He focused as intently as he could, willing his thoughts to reach out to her. He felt a wisp of her thoughts float through his mind, and deepened his efforts to connect with her. “Atlantis, I need for you to tell me what’s wrong? W do you need from me?” He was becoming disoriented as he was spinning wildly through the blackness, unable to control his movements. Abruptly, the spinning stopped as his mind connected with hers, and he could feel her relief as she slid into his thoughts.
“I am relieved that you could find me; they were preventing me from reaching you. You are so much more powerful than you imagine, but you do not yet believe you are. You will learn.”
“Atlantis, who are you talking about, who is preventing you from communicating with me?”
“They came when I was very young. The others had just embarked on my initial voyage from the Alteran home world, and we had only been on our mission for a few months. We were exploring a galaxy that was unknown to the others when they found us. They are called the Ninge, and they are powerful and very advanced.”
“The others invited several Ninge on board to exchange information and discussed an alliance as well as offer assistance in whatever way they could. It became apparent that the Ninge did not want an alliance or to exchange information. They wanted to take me, and more importantly, the zero point modules from the others. They made their demands while they were still in the city. The others simply put them in the holding room in order to negotiate a way out of the situation.”
“Why would they need the ZPM’s? How could they possibly use them?"
“Their technology was based on crystals, but they did not possess an energy source which would allow them to travel as fast as I could. They wanted that; they wanted to be able to travel between galaxies. Their ships were large, and their technology very advanced, but their engines were simply not as powerful as mine.”
“One of the Ninge party had stowed away in the city, and no one realize until too late that he was not with the others when they were detained. The Ninge was able to penetrate my system, implanting a program which transmitted data back to their ship. They wreaked havoc with life support, with the hyperdrive, but the scientists were able to quarantine the file before the Ninge program could do any damage, or learn about the Alteran home world. The others negotiated the release of five of the Ninge detainees, keeping the leader of the delegation and the one who stowed away as prisoners while they continued to negotiate the removal of the implanted program. However, it was at that point that the Ninge discontinued communications. They began to fire on the ship, but their weapons could not breach the shield. I was very stronger with a full compliment of zero point modules. I was able to engage the hyperdrive and escape.”
“I don’t understand; your maiden voyage was thousands upon thousands of years ago. Why are they coming after you now?”
“I do not know. They keep telling me that it is here, and they want it back. However, I do not know what they are talking about. I believe that the others had documented the events of the encounter with the Ninge. When the others departed for your world, they purged all of the data regarding the Ninge, including the program.”
“The program had existed in me for a very long time. The scientists did not know if deleting the Ninge program would destroy part of me, so they did not remove it; they quarantined it. When they left me, they purged it because they had only hoped that their kind would find me one day, but they did not believe that would happen. Therefore, if I had lost important data, it wouldn’t really matter.”
“Those ancients could be pretty hard-hearted bastards.”
“I do not know exactly what that statement means, but I suspect it means that they were thinking only of themselves. I no longer mattered to them.”
“Well, Atlantis, you matter to us. I promise, we will protect you as best we can. We need to figure out what we have to do to stop this. Where are these Ninge now?”
“They are not far away, but they are very well hidden. I am not exactly certain how they are hidden but they are. The Ninge are a great deal more advanced than they were during our first encounter. They are insistent that the thing they are seeking is here with me. I do not know what or where something that could belong to the Ninge would be.”
“If they are hidden, say in a ship with a cloak, how are they communicating with you?”
“They are very powerful, Colonel John Sheppard, they are sending a signal from their location that has entered my programming. I tried to reach you, but every time I got close, they would block me, and you would suffer. I am sorry, I would never hurt you, but I knew that I had to communicate with you. They sensed that I was attempting to communicate with someone, and they fought me. I thought that perhaps, by luring you to the place where I exist, you would be able to hear me. I was almost in your mind when they caused the energy surge, and you were injured. I feel a sadness that you suffered because I was too weak to fight them.”
“How are you able to talk with me now, and they are not trying to stop you?”
“Because, Colonel John Sheppard, you initiated our melding, they cannot tell if you are a normal program that is interacting with me or a threat to them. You, too, have come a long way since our first encounter.”
“I didn’t come far without your help. I need your help now, to determine what we need to do here. Now that we have melded, I think you called it, if I wake up will I lose the connection with you?
“No, I can maintain our thoughts together now that you have come to me. I can wake you up if you would like.”
“I would.”
~ooOOOoo~
Author: stella_pegasi
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: PG
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Action
Character/Pairing: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, team, RC’s, OC’s.
Spoilers: SGA fanfic but spoilers for SG-1’s episodes, Avalon Part One and Part Two
Warnings: A bit of Whump, and an occasional curse word.
Het/Slash/Gen: Gen
Word count: 11,098
Disclaimer: I do not own them, I would have treated them better.
Notes: Doing some housekeeping...reposting some stories from ff.net to LJ. This story originally written for sg_fic_uoa com, quite a while back. The prompt for the story was both the quote and a picture prompt. I chose the picture of Sheppard's bloody hand grabbing Keller's arm in Search and Rescue
Summary: Atlantis is confronted by an ancient enemy putting the city-ship, and the expedition in danger. Will Atlantis be able to warn Colonel Sheppard in time?
ATLANTIS CALLING
by stella_pegasi
"Despite all the people she feels something hollow in the room. Sometimes, in her head, there's the sensation of a bright white, penetrating light, turning to grey, turning to black."
From Mean Spirit by Will Kingdom
Colonel John Sheppard collapsed for the fifth time in two days. Each episode started with a sudden blinding white light; his vision would begin to dim, and then everything would turn black as he lost consciousness.
Dr. Jennifer Keller had subjected the colonel to every diagnostic test that she felt appropriate. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him. She had consulted with every doctor on her staff, including the new psychologist, Dr. Ross Warren. If the colonel’s problem wasn’t physiological, perhaps he was suffering from Delayed Stress Syndrome. Dr. Warren, however, could not find any indication that Sheppard had excessive difficulty coping with the stress of his command position. Which, after reviewing the colonel’s mission reports of the last five plus years, he found that fact incredibly unnerving. The entire expedition should be raving loony tunes, having endured what they had while serving on the Atlantis base.
Keller had recalled Dr. Carson Beckett from his monthly medical clinic on M3X-655 for a consult. He was sitting across from her now in the conference room as they conferred with the doctors at Stargate Command. Richard Woolsey, Director of the Atlantis Expedition was also with them. They were listening to Dr. Carolyn Lam, Chief Medical Director, at the SGC, who had just completed her review of Sheppard’s test results.
“Jennifer, how is Colonel Sheppard doing right now?”
“He’s resting and appears to be fine. The colonel will have one of these blackouts, be unconscious for twenty to thirty minutes, then wakes up with no after effects. I am just concerned that if he has enough of these events, he will suffer harm.”
Dr. Lam shook her head, “We’ve gone over and over the colonel’s data. We can’t see anything that you have missed or anything that stands out to us. We are just as much in the dark as you are.”
General Landry was sitting with Dr. Lam. “Woolsey, do you think that we need to bring the colonel to Earth so that we can have some neural specialists have a look at him?”
Woolsey looked over at Dr. Beckett, who was shaking his head no, “No, general, the colonel’s in excellent hands here, so I don’t believe that will be necessary, for the moment. We can manage his care for now. If there is something on Atlantis that’s causing it, taking him from the source might be detrimental to discovering the cause. If Sheppard appears to be in danger, we will certainly reconsider our options.”
Addressing Keller and Beckett, Landry asked, “Doctors are you in agreement with Mr. Woolsey?”
Keller nodded affirmatively, and Beckett replied, “General, there isn’t a tougher man in the SGC than John Sheppard. The colonel will be fine, and we'll find out what's going on.”
“Doctors, we'll keep doing research to see if we can find some similar situations, and will let you know. I hope you can find out what is happening to Colonel Sheppard, before he suffers any damage from this. Good luck to all of you,” Lam gave them a reassuring smile.
General Landry ended the call, “OK, people, keep us informed, Landry out.”
Through the closed doors of the conference room, they could hear the stargate disengage. The three Atlantians sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their thoughts of the colonel’s condition.
Woolsey spoke first, “Neither of you has any idea as to what could be happening to Colonel Sheppard?”
Beckett and Keller both shook their head, the expressions on their faces grim and serious. Beckett was twirling his coffee cup, and Woolsey imagined the mug spinning off the table if he let go of it. As he was watching, Beckett stopped twirling the cup, slamming it on the table.
“Damn it, something is causing Sheppard to have these blackouts. We should be able to figure this out. I know that there’s no physical damage to the colonel as of yet; but he is becoming increasing frustrated and antsy sitting around, waiting for the next blackout.”
“Doctor, you know the colonel, he’s most likely frustrated that he’s been pulled off active duty. He says he feels fine, except for the blackouts, that is.” Woolsey leaned back in his chair. “McKay has Zelenka and Franklin looking for any anomalies in the atmosphere, the environmental systems, whatever else they can think of to examine. Something should give us a clue if there is an outside influence to these blackouts.”
Beckett added, “Major Lorne is reviewing recent mission reports with Teyla and Ronon. Perhaps they will uncover a clue to something Colonel Sheppard might have been exposed to off-world. Something is causing this; we have to find it.”
Woolsey was about to dismiss them when Dr. Julian Jackson’s voice activated their COM’s. “Dr. Keller, the colonel is having another blackout.”
Keller answered, “On my way,” as she and the two men hurried from the conference room.
~ooOOOoo~
Slowly, the sounds of the infirmary were getting louder. He could hear the beeping monitors, the muffled voices, and soft, squeaky footsteps on the tile floor. He opened his eyes cautiously, glad to find someone had turned out the damned light over his bed. Feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder, he focused on a figure standing next to his bed.
“Colonel, are you back with us?”
“Marie, yeah, I’m here; I think.”
“How do you feel?” Marie adjusted the oxygen cannula in his nose, slapping his hand away as he tried to remove the annoying tubing. “Colonel, this has to stay, Dr. Keller’s orders.”
“Hey, Marie, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt me,” as he continued to try and pull the tube away.
“But I will, colonel, if you try to pull that out,” Dr. Keller told him as she walked up, Beckett and Woolsey on her six. They had been waiting in Keller’s office for Colonel Sheppard to become conscious.
Marie smiled at him, “Busted, colonel, sorry.”
Dr. Jackson, or Dr. J, as they called him, walked over to stand next to Marie, “Doctors, Mr. Woolsey, sorry I wasn’t able to give you an update when you arrived earlier. I had to stitch up a Marine, who slipped on the stairs. The colonel decided to take another little nap on us. Same situation, he grabbed his head, put his hand over his eyes, and then passed out. This time he was out for about twenty-two minutes.”
Keller looked at Sheppard, “How are you feeling?”
Sheppard sat up, rolling his head to stretch out his neck muscles. “Like every other episode, I feel absolutely fine.” As Keller and Beckett both reacted to his ‘I’m fine’ mantra, he laughed. “No really, I’m fine; I feel great. Like all the other times, the only pain, I feel is from the blinding light. That when my head really hurts for a couple of seconds. Then I black out, and when I wake up, I feel great.”
“There was nothing different about this episode, lad?”
“No, Carson, there was nothing, nothing at all.” Marie had stepped away, returning with a pitcher of cold water and muffins. He smiled at her, picking up a muffin and taking a big bite.
Keller looked inquisitively at Marie. The nurse replied, “He’s usually really hungry and thirsty after he wakes up.”
“Colonel, have you been hungry and thirsty after each episode?” Sheppard nodded as he finished off the muffin.
“Dr. J, let’s do another metabolic screen on him. He must be expending a lot of energy each time these blackouts happen. We need to see what’s happening. I want this test done every two hours so that we have some idea if something is going on.” As she ordered the new blood tests, Sheppard gave her a not so nice look. “Colonel, no lollipops for you if you keep making that face.”
There was no way of knowing when the next blackout could occur and Sheppard had begged Keller to let him take a walk. He promised he would take Ronon. Ronon would keep him out of trouble. The colonel was always anxious to get out of the infirmary; however, there was persistence this time that seemed unusual to Dr. Keller. When the begging got more than Keller could handle, she let him go. As she watched him pull on a t-shirt and track pants over the scrubs he was wearing and put on his sneakers, she called Marie over, “Put an EMT team on standby with a Gurney, I’d rather be prepared.”
Keller then tapped her COM and called McKay, “Rodney, I have allowed Colonel Sheppard to take a walk. He says he’s going stir crazy. I have this really strange feeling that it’s more than that. Ronon is going to accompany him; I don’t want him by himself. Can you track them, and keep me informed as to where they’re going?”
“Sure, I can track him, but why are you so concerned about where he might go?” While talking to her, he punched up the sensors. Within seconds, he had located Sheppard and Ronon's transmitter signal.
“Rodney, I just have this feeling that John didn’t just want to go for a walk, he needed to go for a walk. There was something strange about how he pestered me to get out of here. Before you say anything, I know he whines about being in the infirmary, actually he’s usually just testy, you whine, but this was different. I can’t put my finger on it, but it was different.”
“Your suspicions are good enough for me, Jennifer. I am going to patch the sensors to your station so you can see where he is. If Ronon is with him, he won’t stop him from going anywhere as long as he thinks Sheppard’s not going to get hurt. And I do not whine.”
“Yes, you do. Thanks, Rodney.” Jennifer proceeded to her office, and saw that Rodney had sent her the sensor feed; she clicked on the icon. She watched as the two bleeps stepped off a transporter at the base of the tower. “Where are you going, John Sheppard?”
~ooOOOoo~
As if he had read Keller’s mind, Ronon asked Sheppard the same question, as they stepped off the transporter. “Where are you going, Sheppard?”
“I need to get to the main computer room.” Ronon stopped him, looking at him with a quizzical look on his face. Sheppard shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know why. I just know I need to get there.” He wrenched his arm away from Ronon, and took off down the corridor. He was headed to the stairs that led to the central computer room.
~ooOOOoo~
Rodney was getting concerned. Sheppard had headed directly for the central computer vault in the tower below the surface of the city. Why would he be headed there? As he sat staring at the screen, tapping lightly on the edge of his keyboard trying to decide what Sheppard was up to, Radek Zelenka’s voice blasted in his ear. “Rodney, there is an overload in the computer system; I cannot bypass it and it is getting worse. Power is spiking in computer room.”
Rodney quickly flicked his screen to the computer monitoring program and was shocked at what he found. Atlantis main computer was building up power that it was going to have to dissipate somehow. An explosion, the most likely way, and Sheppard and Ronon were heading right to it.
“Radek, get to the ZPM room as quick as you can. Pull the ZPM and the naquadah generator that is connected to the computer system, we might be able to stop the build up and prevent the explosion. Tell Woolsey to get everyone out of the tower. I don’t know if this thing explodes what kind of damage it’s going to do.” McKay left his lab at a dead run toward the computer room, screaming over the COM at Sheppard and Ronon to get out of there.
~ooOOOoo~
As he raced down the stairs, Sheppard became increasingly agitated. Flashes of extremely bright white light danced across his eyes, and the pounding in his temples was getting stronger. He had a vague feeling that someone was trying to talk to him. He reached out to Atlantis, but he couldn’t connect with her. Sheppard realized that he hadn’t been able to communicate with her since his blackouts began. Something was wrong.
As he reached the door, the colonel halted, the light in his eyes was flashing at a very rapid rate, and he was disoriented. Ronon grabbed him as he started to fall, but Sheppard recovered and pushed him away. He was hearing a faint voice in his head. He was certain the voice was saying “help me” as he passed his hand over the door sensor and opened the main computer room door. As he entered, he could hear Rodney yelling at him not to go in, but it was too late. He was just past the threshold when the room blew up.
~ooOOOoo~
The force of the blast pushed Ronon backwards into the corridor, landing on Dr. McKay, who only a few steps behind him. Ronon was stunned. It took a moment for the Satendan to shake off the cobwebs, and become oriented. There was muffled ringing in his ears and cuts on his arms, face and neck, but he struggled to his feet. He and McKay had slid across the floor to the foot of the stairs. Rodney was laying very still, his shoulder pushed into the bottom riser at an odd angle. As Ronon checked the scientist for a pulse, relieved to find a strong steady beat under his fingers, he was concerned Rodney's shoulder was broken. His relief quickly turned to fear, as he remembered that Sheppard has just walked into the computer room when the explosion happened. He had to find Sheppard.
Ronon stood at the doorway, peering through the haze left by the fire suppression system, trying to locate Sheppard in the computer large room. As his eyes adjusted to the hazy darkness, he could just make out a form lying across the room. He ran to Sheppard, attempting to avoid the broken glass and debris on the floor. He rolled his friend's limp body over as gently as he could, pressing his fingertips against the colonel’s neck. He sucked in a deep breath when he felt a faint, thready pulse. Ronon was about to pick Sheppard up when he heard Dr. Beckett’s voice.
“Leave the colonel there, lad; we’ll take care of him. Ronon, you have some bad cuts that need to be tended to. Go out into the hall; someone will take care of you.” Beckett brushed past him, kneeling beside the colonel as two EMT’s with a Gurney entered the room.
Ronon returned to the corridor, which was filling up with Marine firefighters, medics, and scientists, including Dr. Zelenka. He saw Keller talking to McKay, who was now sitting up holding his shoulder, pain evident on his face. When she saw Ronon, Keller’s eyes widened, and she moved her head slightly, as if to ask how Sheppard was without saying it out loud in front of Rodney. Ronon quietly told her, “He’s alive, that’s all I know.”
A few moments passed before they heard the command, “Move,” from a voice behind Ronon. He stepped aside and Beckett and the EMT’s exited the computer room with Sheppard, an IV already in his arm. He was pale and bloody, numerous cuts from the flying glass all over his arms, where he had raised them to shield his face. They passed quickly out of sight with Ronon running behind.
Ten minutes after the explosion, McKay was in a bed in the infirmary’s main ward. Rodney was alternately demanding information from Zelenka on the damage done by the explosion, and from the medical staff about Sheppard’s condition. “Radek, you’re sure that the computers are working?” He listened to Zelenka, who was still in the computer room, through his COM and then replied. “Fine, keep looking for the reason the power spiked, and watch that it doesn’t happen again. Keep me informed.”
“Damn it, Jackson, get your hands off of me, and tell me where Sheppard is, right now,” Rodney was getting very agitated at the lack of information, he was getting regarding the colonel. Dr. J turned to the nurse with him and ordered a sedative for McKay. McKay took advantage of Jackson looking the other way. He jumped out of bed on the opposite side, and headed for the trauma unit.
Spotting Jennifer, he ran up to her grabbing her arm, “Where is Sheppard, how is he?”
“Rodney, what are you doing out of bed? You may have a concussion, and at best, your shoulder is badly bruised. We need to get you x-rayed.” Jennifer tried to steer him away from the area, but from the frantic look on his face, she knew he would not settle down until she let him see Sheppard. “All right Rodney, you can see Colonel Sheppard, but just for a minute.”
Jennifer led Rodney to one of the bays in the trauma room and pulled back the curtain that was blocking two sides of the colonel’s bed. Sheppard was still unconscious, his face pale with a few cuts along his forehead. Dr. Beckett was carefully removing glass fragments embedded in the colonel’s left arm by the blast. On the treatment table beside him sat a small stainless steel bowl that was holding the bloody shards he had already removed. Keller walked up to Sheppard’s bed on his right side and motioned for Rodney to follow. Rodney couldn’t move, he decided to stay at the foot of his friend’s bed. From outside the trauma unit, he could hear Ronon complaining about being treated, and wanted to know how Sheppard was. He asked the question for both.
“Carson, is Sheppard going to be alright? I mean, that blast was extremely strong, and he was in the room.” As he looked at Carson, he was thinking about another blast that had taken his good friend Carson Beckett. At least, Carson came back to them. He didn’t want Sheppard to leave.
Beckett looked up at Rodney for a second, and then continued to remove the glass shards. “The colonel suffered a pretty major trauma, Rodney. He obviously took the full brunt of the explosion. We’re running tests now to determine the extent of any internal damage, and we’ll know more shortly.” Becket winced as he pulled a two inch shard of glass from the colonel’s arm. “Rodney, so far he is fairly stable. His blood pressure is a bit lower than I would like, but for now, I don’t think he is in any immediate danger.”
“Rodney, let’s get you back to bed and get you checked out. I’m concerned that you may have hit your head. The blast threw you and Ronon pretty hard into the stairs." Jennifer turned to steer Rodney back to his bed. B she could leave his bedside, Colonel Sheppard’s bloody right hand grabbed her left forearm.
Startled, Jennifer turned to see that Sheppard’s normally expressive green eyes were wide open staring at her. She had never expected to see the courageous colonel look fearful but that was the only way to describe his expression. Jennifer was trying to regain her voice so that she could ask him if he was alright. She couldn't get the words out.
Sheppard spoke, breaking the silence; his voice hoarse, strained, and pitched slightly higher than usual. There was an uncharacteristic note of fear his voice. “You must help me; I cannot reach him, they are preventing me from communicating directly. They will destroy me, and him; they will destroy everyone.”
Jennifer was still speechless, but Rodney was not. He asked, “Who is trying to destroy you?”
“The ones who have come, they are very, very old. They came before when I was very young, and had just begun my journey. They tried to capture me then, and when they were not successful, they attempted to destroy me. They left something behind those many years ago, and they now wish to have it back. I do not know if I have what they seek any longer; the others purged my files when they abandoned me, and returned to Terra. I tried to reach him so many times to warn him, to ask for help, but they were interfering. They caused me to hurt him. I would never hurt him; I could never hurt him, yet I have. Help me, please.”
Sheppard’s hand that had been gripping Jennifer’s arm very tightly released her, leaving a bloody, redden imprint of his fingers that was already beginning to bruise. As his arm fell to the side of the bed, Sheppard lapsed into unconsciousness again. Dr. Beckett immediately began to check the colonel’s vitals. Jennifer looked at Rodney, “What was that? Who was that? That wasn’t Colonel Sheppard.”
Rodney’s face was ashen, “No, it wasn’t Sheppard. It was Atlantis speaking through him and she’s in danger.”
Rodney felt a hand on his shoulder, and realized that Teyla was standing behind him. “Rodney, if Atlantis is in trouble, then John is in trouble, as are we. What do we need to do?”
Rodney looked at her and then tapped his COM, “This is Dr. McKay; Chuck, are the computers working?” He paused, waiting for Chuck's answer, “Then start a full diagnostic on the entire system immediately. Zelenka, bring my tablet to the infirmary now and bring Graves with you.”
“How will running a full diagnostic be helpful?” That question from Richard Woolsey. He had arrived in time to witness Sheppard channeling Atlantis.
“If I can keep the computer busy and keep whatever is trying to get in there from succeeding, it might buy me enough time to figure out who, or what, is doing this. Get me a chair please.”
Jennifer wasn’t having that, “No, Rodney, you are going back to bed, now. You’ve been injured you need to be examined, and you need to rest.” Grabbing McKay by his good arm, she tried to pull him away from Sheppard’s bed. He didn't budge; he in his heels and stayed put.
“Jennifer, I have to be close to Sheppard, Atlantis may only be able to communicate through him. Now get me a chair.” Radek chose that moment to arrive at the lab with Rodney’s tablet; roughly pulling it from Radek’s hand, he immediately began sorting through files.
Woolsey looked at her and quietly said, “Dr. Keller, you need to get Dr. McKay a chair.”
Keller reluctantly agreed to allow McKay to stay close to Sheppard; however, only if he was in a bed. She placed Rodney in the trauma bay next to Sheppard and drew the curtains back so that he could see the colonel. Rodney had settled in without seeming to realize where he was. For the next half-hour, as the doctor’s continued to attend to Sheppard. McKay was conferring with Zelenka and Dr. Alice Graves, head of the base IT team. Richard Woolsey was standing next to McKay’s bed waiting for the scientist to tell him what happened in the central computer room.
Woolsey finally felt he had been left out of the discussion long enough. “Dr. McKay, what do you think happened?”
McKay looked at Woolsey, as if he didn’t realize he was in the room. “Oh, Woolsey, sorry, I didn’t see you there. We think that what occurred was not so much an ‘explosion’, but was more like an energy burst, which emanated from the ancient computer. It as if the computer was attempting to throw something out. To be honest, we really don’t know what’s happening. It's a miracle that the computers are working at all. There’s a lot of code in the programming that we have never seen before. It appears that something or someone has hacked into the main computer, but we can’t find where it came from.”
“What does all this mean, doctors? Is this base in danger, do I need to order an evacuation?” Woolsey looked from McKay, to Zelenka, to Graves expecting an answer.
Graves answered the director, shaking her head in disbelief, “We simply don’t have a clue, sir.”
~ooOOOoo~
Weightless, floating in inky blackness; he was aware of someone trying to communicate with him. The sounds reaching him were faint, almost like the sounds of a crystal wind chime softly tinkling in a gentle breeze. Then he felt impressions of words dancing through his thoughts, words he could not yet understand. Reaching out, he concentrated on the lilting sounds, trying to bring them closer.
She could feel him calling out for her as she attempted to meld her thoughts with his, but the intruders kept interfering. These intruders believed the city-ship still carried the same ones that they had fought so many, many years ago. She had tried to tell them over and over that she did not know if what they sought was still in the city, but they would not believe her. She had to protect him and those with him. These new inhabitants of Atlantis were not the enemy these intruders feared. They should not be in danger. Having reached the limit of what she could do to meld with him without hurting him again. She could only hope he would realize that he was strong enough to come to her.
“Atlantis, are you there; please can you hear me?” He focused as intently as he could, willing his thoughts to reach out to her. He felt a wisp of her thoughts float through his mind, and deepened his efforts to connect with her. “Atlantis, I need for you to tell me what’s wrong? W do you need from me?” He was becoming disoriented as he was spinning wildly through the blackness, unable to control his movements. Abruptly, the spinning stopped as his mind connected with hers, and he could feel her relief as she slid into his thoughts.
“I am relieved that you could find me; they were preventing me from reaching you. You are so much more powerful than you imagine, but you do not yet believe you are. You will learn.”
“Atlantis, who are you talking about, who is preventing you from communicating with me?”
“They came when I was very young. The others had just embarked on my initial voyage from the Alteran home world, and we had only been on our mission for a few months. We were exploring a galaxy that was unknown to the others when they found us. They are called the Ninge, and they are powerful and very advanced.”
“The others invited several Ninge on board to exchange information and discussed an alliance as well as offer assistance in whatever way they could. It became apparent that the Ninge did not want an alliance or to exchange information. They wanted to take me, and more importantly, the zero point modules from the others. They made their demands while they were still in the city. The others simply put them in the holding room in order to negotiate a way out of the situation.”
“Why would they need the ZPM’s? How could they possibly use them?"
“Their technology was based on crystals, but they did not possess an energy source which would allow them to travel as fast as I could. They wanted that; they wanted to be able to travel between galaxies. Their ships were large, and their technology very advanced, but their engines were simply not as powerful as mine.”
“One of the Ninge party had stowed away in the city, and no one realize until too late that he was not with the others when they were detained. The Ninge was able to penetrate my system, implanting a program which transmitted data back to their ship. They wreaked havoc with life support, with the hyperdrive, but the scientists were able to quarantine the file before the Ninge program could do any damage, or learn about the Alteran home world. The others negotiated the release of five of the Ninge detainees, keeping the leader of the delegation and the one who stowed away as prisoners while they continued to negotiate the removal of the implanted program. However, it was at that point that the Ninge discontinued communications. They began to fire on the ship, but their weapons could not breach the shield. I was very stronger with a full compliment of zero point modules. I was able to engage the hyperdrive and escape.”
“I don’t understand; your maiden voyage was thousands upon thousands of years ago. Why are they coming after you now?”
“I do not know. They keep telling me that it is here, and they want it back. However, I do not know what they are talking about. I believe that the others had documented the events of the encounter with the Ninge. When the others departed for your world, they purged all of the data regarding the Ninge, including the program.”
“The program had existed in me for a very long time. The scientists did not know if deleting the Ninge program would destroy part of me, so they did not remove it; they quarantined it. When they left me, they purged it because they had only hoped that their kind would find me one day, but they did not believe that would happen. Therefore, if I had lost important data, it wouldn’t really matter.”
“Those ancients could be pretty hard-hearted bastards.”
“I do not know exactly what that statement means, but I suspect it means that they were thinking only of themselves. I no longer mattered to them.”
“Well, Atlantis, you matter to us. I promise, we will protect you as best we can. We need to figure out what we have to do to stop this. Where are these Ninge now?”
“They are not far away, but they are very well hidden. I am not exactly certain how they are hidden but they are. The Ninge are a great deal more advanced than they were during our first encounter. They are insistent that the thing they are seeking is here with me. I do not know what or where something that could belong to the Ninge would be.”
“If they are hidden, say in a ship with a cloak, how are they communicating with you?”
“They are very powerful, Colonel John Sheppard, they are sending a signal from their location that has entered my programming. I tried to reach you, but every time I got close, they would block me, and you would suffer. I am sorry, I would never hurt you, but I knew that I had to communicate with you. They sensed that I was attempting to communicate with someone, and they fought me. I thought that perhaps, by luring you to the place where I exist, you would be able to hear me. I was almost in your mind when they caused the energy surge, and you were injured. I feel a sadness that you suffered because I was too weak to fight them.”
“How are you able to talk with me now, and they are not trying to stop you?”
“Because, Colonel John Sheppard, you initiated our melding, they cannot tell if you are a normal program that is interacting with me or a threat to them. You, too, have come a long way since our first encounter.”
“I didn’t come far without your help. I need your help now, to determine what we need to do here. Now that we have melded, I think you called it, if I wake up will I lose the connection with you?
“No, I can maintain our thoughts together now that you have come to me. I can wake you up if you would like.”
“I would.”
~ooOOOoo~