Fic - Outside(1/5)
Title: Outside
Genre: slash, h/c, angst
Rating: PG
Pairing: Carson/Rodney
Characters: Carson, Rodney, John, Teyla, Ronon, Elizabeth, Lorne, Biro, OC
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Not even Carson ;)
Feedback: Feedback is love :)
Author Notes: Written for the icaw ficathon, for westdean, who asked for: Pairing: Gen or Carson/Rodney
What I want to see in my story: Use of Ancient technology going wrong, forced gate travel, Hurt/Comfort.
Betaed by the wonderful marf_the_river. Can't say how grateful I am :)
The fic is finished, I'm posting in parts because it's long :)
Carson was waiting. The small kitchen was filled with the smell of freshly boiled tea, but he couldn't sit still for the five minutes it took to sit down and drink it. Moving past the counter, he was slowly tapping his fingers on the cold surface. After a few minutes of pacing, he went to the bedroom and retrieved his laptop. With the cup of tea in one hand, he sat at the kitchen table and began scrolling through his emails. After a few minutes of skimming, he heard the door whoosh and heard Rodney slowly walking in. Feigning a patience he didn't feel, Carson waited for him.
"You should've stayed at the desk," Rodney said with a big dose of reproach in his voice. "Your back will hurt now and..."
"Don't worry, I won't ask for a massage."
"We're very happy today, aren't we?"
Carson couldn’t point out the exact time when he got upset, but he knew for certain that he was okay before walking in the conference room and he wasn't when he got out. It had been something about the way Rodney had been talking to Sheppard that set him on edge. He knew the two were good friends, he had known that for quite some time, but there were things he was just noticing. The way Rodney's face glowed when Sheppard said he was right, or how he always felt he needed to defend the colonel when someone questioned his choices. But the thing that bothered him most was that Rodney was nicer to John than he was to him - his boyfriend.
"Now that you're here -"
"You shouldn't try the irony routine, because you don't have what it takes." Rodney's words were cold, condescending, and Carson wondered why he bothered. He'd decided a long time ago to ignore Rodney's ironic outbursts and just take the good parts of the man. Unfortunately, he had been on the receiving end of Rodney's tantrums quite often lately and the fact that Sheppard hadn't was slowly eating at him.
Trying to calm down, Carson explained, "I was a bit... surprised when you were so vehement in defending the colonel earlier, when I said that -"
"I remember what you said, and you were wrong." Rodney poured himself a cup of tea and sat down, looking at him expectantly.
"I don't remember you saying that, Rodney. A rational argument would have been okay, but your words were... I was stating a fact."
"Well, you made him feel like a fool."
"Forgive me for not thinking about the way Sheppard felt. I find it strange that you cared so much."
"Oh, so now you're jealous? Is that where you are?"
Rodney left, probably regretting he didn't have any doors to slam. His unspoken words were hanging above Carson. Never thought you'd get so low. Emptying his mug into the sink, he muttered, "Not jealous, Rodney. But I'd love to feel like I'm with you."
~*~
Elizabeth was looking at them like they were three naughty schoolboys.
"Carson, do you agree with going off-world?" she asked.
"I would like to see a wee bit more about that facility, maybe I can -"
"Don't be such a baby." Rodney was smiling, mirroring Sheppard's smile. "We'll all be there. It's just an abandoned research station. It probably is a medical facility, or better said it was..."
"Aye, but you know..." Carson had explained, several times, that using Ancient technology was... unpleasant, not only from a psychological point of view. Seeing Rodney's satisfied smirk, he wondered if the man cared.
"Will you go, Carson?" Elizabeth finally asked.
"Aye, I'll go." Carson left before he could hear Rodney's smart-assed comments. He knew he couldn't put up with that.
~*~
Going through the gate was strange... there was the same feeling he had when he was in a quickly descending elevator, except this time he didn't see his body and those of his companions. It was just the feeling of moving fast, quickly followed by coldness seeping into his body. As 'instantaneous' as it was, Carson always felt it and he always dreaded it.
He was the last to step through on the planet, and the sight that greeted him was truly amazing. The planet they were on was another planet's moon. The huge planet they were orbiting was so close he could see the clouds moving above its surface.
"The planet you see is quite a lot like Jupiter. As in, it's a gas planet. It's difficult to say what gases, but the clouds and the way they are moving suggest a low-density gas. Maybe another time we'll come here with a jumper and explore it a bit better. For all we know, it could be the next generation of fuels." Rodney stopped explaining and took a few moments to admire the planet.
"Are those gases... blue?" Carson asked after a few moments.
"No, of course not. The light and this planet's atmosphere make them look that way. According to the data we have from the database, it's... black."
"I think we'll postpone that jumper trip, then," Sheppard said and Rodney smiled. Of course he did.
~*~
After about an hour of walking, they got to the outpost Rodney had mentioned in the briefing. It consisted of a small chamber, which had two pods, opposite the entrance. They were vertical and resembled the ones they had found on the Orion.
"Stasis chambers?" Carson asked, approaching the pod on the right.
"Not quite. The machinery behind them is not complicated enough to sustain life in that manner. Maybe they're... Colonel, what were you thinking?"
Carson turned around to see the colonel inside the other pod.
"Nothing happened, Rodney. I'm fine." Carson took his medical scanner and approached the man. He seemed to be perfectly fine. "See, I can get out," Sheppard said, stepping out of the device.
Rodney took one of his gadgets and moved to the center of the room, where the two pods were connected. "It seems like they're related somehow, maybe if the both of you get inside we'll -"
"Would that be safe?" Carson asked, slightly worried by the development. He put his scanner back in his backpack and moved a bit closer to the exit.
"I can't ask them to get in," Rodney replied, gesturing towards Ronon and Teyla. "You both have the gene; it will work for you two. Now get in."
Carson slowly moved towards it, praying, as always, that they'd make it. Rodney looked at both of them, to make sure they were inside, and changed some crystals on the console. A transparent lid closed over the pod and he felt the air slowly getting colder and his whole body becoming numb.
"Rodney, something's wrong," he said, hoping the man would hear him.
Rodney turned to look at him, panicked, and yelled, "I'll get you out, don't worry."
Carson heard him explaining something about power, and that only Sheppard could be taken out this time, but he didn't have the power to focus. His feet were completely numb and he could barely feel his hands. Tired eyelids failed to obey his commands to stay open and he fell asleep, oblivious to the world around him.
~*~
A loud thud woke him up. Rodney was banging on the pod's lid with all his force. As soon as he saw him open his eyes, Rodney said, "I can't get you out now. There's not enough power. We were able to get John out, but we can't get you. We'll go to Atlantis, figure this out and we'll come back."
Carson's eyes drifted to Sheppard's body, sprawled on the floor. Teyla and Ronon were trying to keep him awake, but it was obvious it was impossible for the colonel to stay focused.
"We have to take him back. Teyla will wait by the gate, to make sure no one else comes. Just... try to stay awake. We'll come back and we'll -"
Carson closed his eyes and couldn't open them again. Lights changed into shapes behind his eyelids and he fell asleep again, hypnotized by their dance.
~*~
A wave of cold air hit him as two rough hands grabbed him from both sides. He opened his eyes, preparing to protest, when he saw two tall men, dressed in black uniforms, holding a device looking a lot like Earth's handcuffs. They pulled his hands to his back and roughly secured them in the uncomfortable device.
"We got a good specimen today," one of them said, and Carson closed his eyes, praying it was a dream.
The other one laughed, grabbing Carson by his hair. He punched him in the stomach and Carson collapsed, breathing heavily. Another punch came, and then another, until Carson closed his eyes and stopped moving, unconscious.
The two men grinned, grabbing him. They took him to the small vehicle stopped outside the building and attached a chain to his handcuffs. They left a few minutes later, and the little trap was just as it had been that morning, waiting for unsuspecting travellers.
~*~
"I did not fall asleep, Doctor McKay. I was there all the time, guarding the gate. No one went through," Teyla explained, trying to convince not only Rodney, but the rest of her team.
Rodney was pacing the conference room, ignoring Elizabeth's requests to sit down. Carson was gone. It took them thirty minutes to get a naquadah generator ready, and two hours after leaving the facility, he was back with the power source he needed to open the pod. But the pod was already open, and Carson wasn't there. They searched for him around the building, but considering the state Sheppard was in after staying there for ten minutes, he doubted Carson could have moved too much. After that, they did a life-sign scan of the planet and came up empty handed.
"You said the planet was uninhabited, no life signs but yours when you got there," Elizabeth said.
"Yes. Our scans indicated that it was uninhabited. So, right now, we have Carson disappearing from an uninhabited planet, with no gate activity."
"Maybe they had a ship," Ronon intervened.
"I find that hard to believe." Rodney sat down, typing at his computer. "If they came by ship, they would have to know what to come for, and there was no part of that machine that had an alerting function."
"So their presence there was... random?" Elizabeth asked
"Not random, but periodical. They probably go there from time to time, and now they were... lucky." Rodney got up again, frowning.
"How could they take him out? If you couldn't because the -"
"They had the original piece. That pod was powered by something resembling a battery. They had a spare one, brought it and replaced the depleted one." Rodney sighed, staring blankly at the wall opposite him.
"This doesn't make any sense," he said bitterly.
~*~
Carson woke up, feeling warm fingers moving along his ribs. His first instinct was to move away, but he was too tired to do anything. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a man sitting next to him, looking carefully at his torso.
The man moved away from him, taking a small ceramic bowl. He handed it to Carson and helped him get up a bit.
"Thank you." Carson drank the clear liquid, which tasted like water that had been in that bowl for quite some time. He looked around and realized he was in a large room, together with other men. The low ceiling had a few lamps which spread a yellowish, weak light.
Carson tried to find windows, but there were none. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds - pained moans coming from every side of the room.
"You are lucky," the man softly said.
Cracking one eye open, Carson said, "I feel like I'm beaten, not lucky."
"Yes. You have been beaten, but we all were before we were brought here."
Most of the other men were on the cold floor, hurdled in groups of three or four. "Were they brought now?"
"No, they're like that because they've been changed."
"Changed? Changed how?" Carson asked, panic slowly creeping in.
The man slowly got up and moved under one of the lamps, a few feet away. He then turned around in the light and Carson saw the hump in the man's back.
"My God," Carson whispered. "Have they..."
"I was normal once, just like you."
~*~
"So, what are we going to do?" Sheppard asked, trying to keep his tone casual. He knew Rodney and Carson were together and he tried to be calm, hoping that Rodney wouldn't panic.
"What are we going to... Colonel, what part of 'I don't know' didn't you understand?" Rodney sat down on his office chair, staring at his laptop's screen. "I have nothing. I have spent the past five hours going over every piece of information the database has, and I can't figure this out." He sighed, letting his head rest on the cold surface of the table.
"Is it possible for the data to be... wrong?" John asked.
"How?" Rodney asked, his voice muffled by his uniform's sleeve.
"I don't know... maybe something changed."
"No life signs," Rodney said, stressing each word. "Do you know what that means?"
"Rodney, I can't believe you're giving up."
"What can I do? There's no lead that I can follow, nothing." There was a deep feeling of guilt weighing on his every move, his every thought. It was his fault Carson had gone on the planet, his fault Carson was trapped inside, his fault Carson was upset with him when he left... when he left him there, alone.
"We should go there, again. Maybe we missed something," Sheppard said, patting him on the shoulder. Rodney backed away and resumed his staring.
"I'll get the jumper ready," John said, leaving Rodney with his thoughts.
~*~
Carson was woken up by a loud wail. He saw three men in the black uniforms dragging one of the men outside, the man's howls filling the room. He turned questioningly towards his companion, noticing the sadness on his features.
"He is no longer of use. They took away his speech, and since he couldn't speak anymore he was...mad."
"Are they going to kill him?"
"No," the man said. "They will leave him outside. The bad gas will kill him."
Carson frowned. "Bad gas?"
"The black gas." Seeing no recognition, he continued, "The planet we are on has two sides - a normal one, with sun, and plants and the transport ring, and a dark one, where the air is poisoned by a dark gas. We are on the dark one, underground. Anyone who stays in the black gas for more than a few hours dies."
"What are they... how is the changing? Is it...surgical?"
"No. They have a machine... I think it was made by the ancestors. These people, the Kelltals, want to have the powers of the ancestors, and they use us as... "
"Test subjects," Carson supplied.
The man nodded, and Carson closed his eyes, hoping the others would get him before these Kelltals decided to test the machine on him.
~*~
"I didn't know Dr. Biro was an investigator," John said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Rodney just glared at him and went inside, choosing Biro's company.
"What is Dr. Biro doing inside?" Teyla asked, moving closer.
"Whenever someone is killed, we have police people investigating the site. They look for clues."
"Do you think that Carson was killed?"
"Oh, no, we do such investigations in other circumstances, too. I just didn't... let's go see what they have."
Biro was on the floor, studying a small piece of clothing that she found under the dust. Rodney was holding some of her instruments and seemed to be optimistic.
"What do you -"
"We have something," Biro announced, getting up. "Carson was awake when he was taken out of the pod. He probably tried to get away, so they..."
"Hit him," Rodney finished, his face darkening as he said the words.
"We found his blood on the floor, near the exit. Luckily for us, he fought them, and managed to rip this," Biro said, showing them the piece of clothing. "We'll analyze it and I'll give you my report." She went outside, leaving John, Rodney and Teyla inside.
"See, we're getting somewhere," John said, happy.
"They beat him," Rodney said, looking straight into the colonel's eyes. "I thought... I hoped... It seems like it was a trap and I led Carson right into it."
"I thought you were ready to give up, Rodney. This has to be better than giving up."
"I didn't give up, you... I just... This never should have happened."
Part 2
Genre: slash, h/c, angst
Rating: PG
Pairing: Carson/Rodney
Characters: Carson, Rodney, John, Teyla, Ronon, Elizabeth, Lorne, Biro, OC
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Not even Carson ;)
Feedback: Feedback is love :)
Author Notes: Written for the icaw ficathon, for westdean, who asked for: Pairing: Gen or Carson/Rodney
What I want to see in my story: Use of Ancient technology going wrong, forced gate travel, Hurt/Comfort.
Betaed by the wonderful marf_the_river. Can't say how grateful I am :)
The fic is finished, I'm posting in parts because it's long :)
Carson was waiting. The small kitchen was filled with the smell of freshly boiled tea, but he couldn't sit still for the five minutes it took to sit down and drink it. Moving past the counter, he was slowly tapping his fingers on the cold surface. After a few minutes of pacing, he went to the bedroom and retrieved his laptop. With the cup of tea in one hand, he sat at the kitchen table and began scrolling through his emails. After a few minutes of skimming, he heard the door whoosh and heard Rodney slowly walking in. Feigning a patience he didn't feel, Carson waited for him.
"You should've stayed at the desk," Rodney said with a big dose of reproach in his voice. "Your back will hurt now and..."
"Don't worry, I won't ask for a massage."
"We're very happy today, aren't we?"
Carson couldn’t point out the exact time when he got upset, but he knew for certain that he was okay before walking in the conference room and he wasn't when he got out. It had been something about the way Rodney had been talking to Sheppard that set him on edge. He knew the two were good friends, he had known that for quite some time, but there were things he was just noticing. The way Rodney's face glowed when Sheppard said he was right, or how he always felt he needed to defend the colonel when someone questioned his choices. But the thing that bothered him most was that Rodney was nicer to John than he was to him - his boyfriend.
"Now that you're here -"
"You shouldn't try the irony routine, because you don't have what it takes." Rodney's words were cold, condescending, and Carson wondered why he bothered. He'd decided a long time ago to ignore Rodney's ironic outbursts and just take the good parts of the man. Unfortunately, he had been on the receiving end of Rodney's tantrums quite often lately and the fact that Sheppard hadn't was slowly eating at him.
Trying to calm down, Carson explained, "I was a bit... surprised when you were so vehement in defending the colonel earlier, when I said that -"
"I remember what you said, and you were wrong." Rodney poured himself a cup of tea and sat down, looking at him expectantly.
"I don't remember you saying that, Rodney. A rational argument would have been okay, but your words were... I was stating a fact."
"Well, you made him feel like a fool."
"Forgive me for not thinking about the way Sheppard felt. I find it strange that you cared so much."
"Oh, so now you're jealous? Is that where you are?"
Rodney left, probably regretting he didn't have any doors to slam. His unspoken words were hanging above Carson. Never thought you'd get so low. Emptying his mug into the sink, he muttered, "Not jealous, Rodney. But I'd love to feel like I'm with you."
~*~
Elizabeth was looking at them like they were three naughty schoolboys.
"Carson, do you agree with going off-world?" she asked.
"I would like to see a wee bit more about that facility, maybe I can -"
"Don't be such a baby." Rodney was smiling, mirroring Sheppard's smile. "We'll all be there. It's just an abandoned research station. It probably is a medical facility, or better said it was..."
"Aye, but you know..." Carson had explained, several times, that using Ancient technology was... unpleasant, not only from a psychological point of view. Seeing Rodney's satisfied smirk, he wondered if the man cared.
"Will you go, Carson?" Elizabeth finally asked.
"Aye, I'll go." Carson left before he could hear Rodney's smart-assed comments. He knew he couldn't put up with that.
~*~
Going through the gate was strange... there was the same feeling he had when he was in a quickly descending elevator, except this time he didn't see his body and those of his companions. It was just the feeling of moving fast, quickly followed by coldness seeping into his body. As 'instantaneous' as it was, Carson always felt it and he always dreaded it.
He was the last to step through on the planet, and the sight that greeted him was truly amazing. The planet they were on was another planet's moon. The huge planet they were orbiting was so close he could see the clouds moving above its surface.
"The planet you see is quite a lot like Jupiter. As in, it's a gas planet. It's difficult to say what gases, but the clouds and the way they are moving suggest a low-density gas. Maybe another time we'll come here with a jumper and explore it a bit better. For all we know, it could be the next generation of fuels." Rodney stopped explaining and took a few moments to admire the planet.
"Are those gases... blue?" Carson asked after a few moments.
"No, of course not. The light and this planet's atmosphere make them look that way. According to the data we have from the database, it's... black."
"I think we'll postpone that jumper trip, then," Sheppard said and Rodney smiled. Of course he did.
~*~
After about an hour of walking, they got to the outpost Rodney had mentioned in the briefing. It consisted of a small chamber, which had two pods, opposite the entrance. They were vertical and resembled the ones they had found on the Orion.
"Stasis chambers?" Carson asked, approaching the pod on the right.
"Not quite. The machinery behind them is not complicated enough to sustain life in that manner. Maybe they're... Colonel, what were you thinking?"
Carson turned around to see the colonel inside the other pod.
"Nothing happened, Rodney. I'm fine." Carson took his medical scanner and approached the man. He seemed to be perfectly fine. "See, I can get out," Sheppard said, stepping out of the device.
Rodney took one of his gadgets and moved to the center of the room, where the two pods were connected. "It seems like they're related somehow, maybe if the both of you get inside we'll -"
"Would that be safe?" Carson asked, slightly worried by the development. He put his scanner back in his backpack and moved a bit closer to the exit.
"I can't ask them to get in," Rodney replied, gesturing towards Ronon and Teyla. "You both have the gene; it will work for you two. Now get in."
Carson slowly moved towards it, praying, as always, that they'd make it. Rodney looked at both of them, to make sure they were inside, and changed some crystals on the console. A transparent lid closed over the pod and he felt the air slowly getting colder and his whole body becoming numb.
"Rodney, something's wrong," he said, hoping the man would hear him.
Rodney turned to look at him, panicked, and yelled, "I'll get you out, don't worry."
Carson heard him explaining something about power, and that only Sheppard could be taken out this time, but he didn't have the power to focus. His feet were completely numb and he could barely feel his hands. Tired eyelids failed to obey his commands to stay open and he fell asleep, oblivious to the world around him.
~*~
A loud thud woke him up. Rodney was banging on the pod's lid with all his force. As soon as he saw him open his eyes, Rodney said, "I can't get you out now. There's not enough power. We were able to get John out, but we can't get you. We'll go to Atlantis, figure this out and we'll come back."
Carson's eyes drifted to Sheppard's body, sprawled on the floor. Teyla and Ronon were trying to keep him awake, but it was obvious it was impossible for the colonel to stay focused.
"We have to take him back. Teyla will wait by the gate, to make sure no one else comes. Just... try to stay awake. We'll come back and we'll -"
Carson closed his eyes and couldn't open them again. Lights changed into shapes behind his eyelids and he fell asleep again, hypnotized by their dance.
~*~
A wave of cold air hit him as two rough hands grabbed him from both sides. He opened his eyes, preparing to protest, when he saw two tall men, dressed in black uniforms, holding a device looking a lot like Earth's handcuffs. They pulled his hands to his back and roughly secured them in the uncomfortable device.
"We got a good specimen today," one of them said, and Carson closed his eyes, praying it was a dream.
The other one laughed, grabbing Carson by his hair. He punched him in the stomach and Carson collapsed, breathing heavily. Another punch came, and then another, until Carson closed his eyes and stopped moving, unconscious.
The two men grinned, grabbing him. They took him to the small vehicle stopped outside the building and attached a chain to his handcuffs. They left a few minutes later, and the little trap was just as it had been that morning, waiting for unsuspecting travellers.
~*~
"I did not fall asleep, Doctor McKay. I was there all the time, guarding the gate. No one went through," Teyla explained, trying to convince not only Rodney, but the rest of her team.
Rodney was pacing the conference room, ignoring Elizabeth's requests to sit down. Carson was gone. It took them thirty minutes to get a naquadah generator ready, and two hours after leaving the facility, he was back with the power source he needed to open the pod. But the pod was already open, and Carson wasn't there. They searched for him around the building, but considering the state Sheppard was in after staying there for ten minutes, he doubted Carson could have moved too much. After that, they did a life-sign scan of the planet and came up empty handed.
"You said the planet was uninhabited, no life signs but yours when you got there," Elizabeth said.
"Yes. Our scans indicated that it was uninhabited. So, right now, we have Carson disappearing from an uninhabited planet, with no gate activity."
"Maybe they had a ship," Ronon intervened.
"I find that hard to believe." Rodney sat down, typing at his computer. "If they came by ship, they would have to know what to come for, and there was no part of that machine that had an alerting function."
"So their presence there was... random?" Elizabeth asked
"Not random, but periodical. They probably go there from time to time, and now they were... lucky." Rodney got up again, frowning.
"How could they take him out? If you couldn't because the -"
"They had the original piece. That pod was powered by something resembling a battery. They had a spare one, brought it and replaced the depleted one." Rodney sighed, staring blankly at the wall opposite him.
"This doesn't make any sense," he said bitterly.
~*~
Carson woke up, feeling warm fingers moving along his ribs. His first instinct was to move away, but he was too tired to do anything. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a man sitting next to him, looking carefully at his torso.
The man moved away from him, taking a small ceramic bowl. He handed it to Carson and helped him get up a bit.
"Thank you." Carson drank the clear liquid, which tasted like water that had been in that bowl for quite some time. He looked around and realized he was in a large room, together with other men. The low ceiling had a few lamps which spread a yellowish, weak light.
Carson tried to find windows, but there were none. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds - pained moans coming from every side of the room.
"You are lucky," the man softly said.
Cracking one eye open, Carson said, "I feel like I'm beaten, not lucky."
"Yes. You have been beaten, but we all were before we were brought here."
Most of the other men were on the cold floor, hurdled in groups of three or four. "Were they brought now?"
"No, they're like that because they've been changed."
"Changed? Changed how?" Carson asked, panic slowly creeping in.
The man slowly got up and moved under one of the lamps, a few feet away. He then turned around in the light and Carson saw the hump in the man's back.
"My God," Carson whispered. "Have they..."
"I was normal once, just like you."
~*~
"So, what are we going to do?" Sheppard asked, trying to keep his tone casual. He knew Rodney and Carson were together and he tried to be calm, hoping that Rodney wouldn't panic.
"What are we going to... Colonel, what part of 'I don't know' didn't you understand?" Rodney sat down on his office chair, staring at his laptop's screen. "I have nothing. I have spent the past five hours going over every piece of information the database has, and I can't figure this out." He sighed, letting his head rest on the cold surface of the table.
"Is it possible for the data to be... wrong?" John asked.
"How?" Rodney asked, his voice muffled by his uniform's sleeve.
"I don't know... maybe something changed."
"No life signs," Rodney said, stressing each word. "Do you know what that means?"
"Rodney, I can't believe you're giving up."
"What can I do? There's no lead that I can follow, nothing." There was a deep feeling of guilt weighing on his every move, his every thought. It was his fault Carson had gone on the planet, his fault Carson was trapped inside, his fault Carson was upset with him when he left... when he left him there, alone.
"We should go there, again. Maybe we missed something," Sheppard said, patting him on the shoulder. Rodney backed away and resumed his staring.
"I'll get the jumper ready," John said, leaving Rodney with his thoughts.
~*~
Carson was woken up by a loud wail. He saw three men in the black uniforms dragging one of the men outside, the man's howls filling the room. He turned questioningly towards his companion, noticing the sadness on his features.
"He is no longer of use. They took away his speech, and since he couldn't speak anymore he was...mad."
"Are they going to kill him?"
"No," the man said. "They will leave him outside. The bad gas will kill him."
Carson frowned. "Bad gas?"
"The black gas." Seeing no recognition, he continued, "The planet we are on has two sides - a normal one, with sun, and plants and the transport ring, and a dark one, where the air is poisoned by a dark gas. We are on the dark one, underground. Anyone who stays in the black gas for more than a few hours dies."
"What are they... how is the changing? Is it...surgical?"
"No. They have a machine... I think it was made by the ancestors. These people, the Kelltals, want to have the powers of the ancestors, and they use us as... "
"Test subjects," Carson supplied.
The man nodded, and Carson closed his eyes, hoping the others would get him before these Kelltals decided to test the machine on him.
~*~
"I didn't know Dr. Biro was an investigator," John said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Rodney just glared at him and went inside, choosing Biro's company.
"What is Dr. Biro doing inside?" Teyla asked, moving closer.
"Whenever someone is killed, we have police people investigating the site. They look for clues."
"Do you think that Carson was killed?"
"Oh, no, we do such investigations in other circumstances, too. I just didn't... let's go see what they have."
Biro was on the floor, studying a small piece of clothing that she found under the dust. Rodney was holding some of her instruments and seemed to be optimistic.
"What do you -"
"We have something," Biro announced, getting up. "Carson was awake when he was taken out of the pod. He probably tried to get away, so they..."
"Hit him," Rodney finished, his face darkening as he said the words.
"We found his blood on the floor, near the exit. Luckily for us, he fought them, and managed to rip this," Biro said, showing them the piece of clothing. "We'll analyze it and I'll give you my report." She went outside, leaving John, Rodney and Teyla inside.
"See, we're getting somewhere," John said, happy.
"They beat him," Rodney said, looking straight into the colonel's eyes. "I thought... I hoped... It seems like it was a trap and I led Carson right into it."
"I thought you were ready to give up, Rodney. This has to be better than giving up."
"I didn't give up, you... I just... This never should have happened."
Part 2