Word
Count: 6,572
Rating:
PG13
Category:
Angst.
Story Status:
Complete
Summary:
Set towards the end of Season Two. McKay wakes up alone and
imprisoned...
Beta:
Thank you to Jayne Perry for
the beta-reading.
The Web
By Leesa Perrie
----------------
I hear the sound of the ticking
of clocks
Come back and look for me
Look for me when I am
lost
And just a whisper,
whisper, whisper, whisper
Lyrics from ‘A
Whisper’ by Coldplay
----------------
He awoke to darkness, and confusion, and fear. His arms were
tied
behind his back and his ankles were tied together. No, not
tied. It wasn’t rope, but metal cuffs that held him
tight. And he was blindfolded, and gagged. And
terrified.
He had no idea where he was, or who had taken him. No idea if
he
was alone, or if his team were also prisoners. He
couldn’t
hear anyone nearby. Distant sounds of people moving, but
nothing
close. No sounds of breathing. Nothing but his
heart
thundering in his ears.
And pain. His arms hurt from being held behind his
back.
His head hurt badly, and the gag cut into the sides of his mouth, a
mouth that was as dry as any desert.
They’d been exploring a planet, he remembered. Just
one of
many. He hadn’t picked up any energy readings, and
so
wasn’t too interested in being there.
They’d found a
village, deserted. It looked like a culling had taken place
some
time ago, and they could find no survivors. If there had been
any, they had clearly moved on. He didn’t blame
them.
And then…he shuddered at the memory. A
dart.
He’d been hit with a dart. Must have knocked him out, because
the
next thing he remembered was waking up here. Had the others
been
taken as well? Probably. But where were
they? Where
was he? Who had done this, and why?
He could feel himself starting to hyperventilate, and strove to calm
his breathing. If only he could see…or
move…or even
speak, damn it. Anything but lying here like this, just
waiting. Waiting for who knew what…no,
don’t go
there. At least whoever had attacked had wanted him alive,
hopefully the others were alive as well. He had to assume
they
were. He couldn’t face the alternative.
But just
because they had wanted him alive, didn’t mean he would stay
that
way. Or that he wouldn’t be hurt.
No, really, don’t go there. Just wait.
Concentrate on
breathing. In… out… slowly…
calmly.
A door opened nearby him with a loud clang. He
jumped. And
then there were boots approaching, and hands grabbing him, pulling him
up. He was thrown over someone’s shoulders and
carried
out. He tried to talk, to scream, to hit out. But
he was no
match for the one carrying him, or those around him. And no one spoke.
He was carried for a few minutes, and then thrown onto a hard
surface. Then there were more hands, undoing the cuffs that
held
his hands behind him and re-securing him. Doing the same to
his
ankles, until he was spread-eagled on the surface. He had
fought
them, but to no avail. There were too many of them, and they
were
too strong. A strap or rope was placed over his chest and
another
across his thighs, securing him further. And again, no one
spoke.
He was seriously freaking out. Seriously. This was
just too scary, too strange, too frightening…
And then his arm was grabbed, held tight, and something was injected
into him…
----------------
…when he awoke again, he was back at the village.
All was
quiet. He soon realised he was unrestrained, with no
blindfold or
gag. He sat up carefully, his head ached
abominably. He
squinted at his arm, seeing a puncture mark. He
couldn’t
remember what had happened to him after they had drugged him, and that
was really freaking him out.
And where was his team? Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon…he
couldn’t see them. Had they been taken?
Were they
still prisoners? Or had they…left. No,
they
wouldn’t have left without him. If they knew he was
missing, they’d wouldn’t stop looking for
him. They
would have brought reinforcements in, to look as well.
His gear had been taken. He was left with just his clothes,
and
even then he was missing his jacket. He rubbed his arms,
becoming
aware of the decreasing temperature.
Okay, he had to head to the gate. Had to…okay, he
couldn’t contact Atlantis. No radio, no
GDO…so, the
Alpha site. Okay, that was the plan.
----------------
It took him ten minutes to reach the gate, and the temperature was
quickly falling. Chilling him to the bone. He
dialled the
Alpha site and stepped through…
But the Alpha site was abandoned. That was so
wrong…the
site had only been set up a couple of days ago. They
wouldn’t have moved on yet, not for another three weeks or
so. Not unless something had happened to compromise it, but
even
so…they couldn’t have packed up that
quickly.
Unless…
Oh crap, how long had he been held? It couldn’t be
weeks,
could it? He hadn’t lost weight as far as he could
tell, or
show signs of having been held for that long. So…
He had no idea where the next Alpha site would be.
He could dial Atlantis, but they wouldn’t know the address of
the
gate he dialled in from, and without a radio he couldn’t tell
them. He couldn’t do through without contacting
them, not
unless he wanted to have an up close and personal, not to mention
fatal, experience with the gate shield.
So, what was he going to do? Other than panic…and
panic
was definitely an option here. He needed to go
home. He was
afraid of what had been done to him. He didn’t feel
different, but he knew something must have happened. People
don’t grab you and tie you down for no reason.
Maybe he should go back to the planet they’d been
exploring? Hopefully someone would come from Atlantis at some
point. Unless he’d been missing for longer than he
realised, and they had given up the search. But staying here
was
pointless. But going back there…he might be
grabbed
again. But…
He couldn’t decide. He felt confused.
This was just so not fair.
He chose to go back to the planet. He would just have to be
careful. And hope that someone from Atlantis came through to
search for him. Hope that the others weren’t still
prisoners, and were still looking for him.
----------------
The planet was colder now, night was falling along with the
temperature. He headed back to the village, hoping to find
shelter. Maybe blankets. Food would be good, but
not
likely. One step at a time. Warmth first.
The village seemed as deserted as when he had left it. He
entered
one of the huts, looking for and finding some blankets, and a
bed. He shook the blankets, and then pulled them around him,
not
really caring about dust and dirt right now. He huddled down
on
the bed, unsure of what to do next. After a while, tiredness
pulled at him and he fell asleep…
----------------
It was morning, and the temperature was rising. He was still
cold, and kept a blanket around his shoulders as he left the
hut.
He found a place to relieve himself, and then headed for the
well. He could only hope that the water was okay to drink,
but it
wasn’t like he had much choice. Well, unless he
wanted to
die of dehydration. Which he didn’t.
The water was cool and clear, and refreshing. It helped to
clear
his head a little, though the headache was still very much in
evidence. He needed food. But he had no idea what
was safe
to eat on this planet. He checked out some of the huts, and
found
some animal traps. He would have to set them and hope the
local
wildlife was edible. He couldn’t be sure, but would
just
have to hope for the best. Only not yet, not until he was
desperate. Which would be sooner than for most people because
of
his damned hypoglycaemia.
There was no sign of his team, or anyone else for that
matter. He
was alone. More alone than he’d been for a long,
long
time. Alone and confused and very, very afraid.
He spent the day exploring the village and surrounding area, but never
straying far, so that he wouldn’t get lost. He
gathered
some wood, though he wasn’t sure how to start a
fire. He
knew the concept, but had never tried rubbing wood, or rocks, together
to cause a spark. He knew he needed kindling for the spark to
light, but was far from confident he would be able to achieve anything
easily. It wasn’t too cold, so long as he kept a blanket
wrapped
round him, and he’d save the fire starting lessons for
later. He was hoping he wouldn’t need to try.
But no one came through the stargate.
As the days passed, he learnt to start a fire, and was even able to
catch some of the local wildlife and cook it. He was
surviving. Just.
----------------
He had made a note of the days as they passed. He felt that
the
days were shorter here than on Earth or Atlantis, but not by a
lot. Maybe somewhere around eighteen to twenty
hours? He
wasn’t sure. But he knew he had been here five of
this
planet’s days. And no one had come. He
was beginning
to believe no one would. That he would spend the rest of his
life
on this planet, alone. And that would be such a waste of his
talents, his intelligence.
He spent a lot of his time thinking about Atlantean technology, about
theories and ideas…It helped, a little, but he was
frustrated by
not being able to write anything down. He had found no
writing
equipment in the village.
He was beginning to think he should dial somewhere else. But
where?
And then it was like a light bulb switching on in his head. That planet
with the kids. They were in contact with Atlantis.
He
didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of this
before. He
blamed it on the constant headache. He felt
confused.
Perhaps it was as well he couldn’t write down his theories,
he
suspected they wouldn’t make sense to anyone else.
He
suspected he wasn’t thinking clearly. No,
he knew
he wasn’t thinking clearly. He should have thought
of this days ago…
----------------
He walked towards Keras’ village. He
wasn’t surprised
when a group of kid warriors appeared in front of him as he neared
it. One of them recognised him, and he was led towards the
village to meet with Keras. He was certain they had asked him
questions, but things were beginning to get very fuzzy. His
headache was growing to blinding proportions. He stumbled,
and
would have fallen if two of the warriors hadn’t grabbed him,
and
held him up.
He didn’t remember passing out. Or being carried
back to the village on a litter.
Nor did he remember the arrival of his team a short while later, or
being carried back to the gate. Or being taken to the
infirmary. He remained unconscious throughout it
all…
----------------
This time, when he awoke he realised that he was back. On
Atlantis. Home. Safe.
He still felt a little fuzzy and confused, but more clear headed than
for days. The headache had eased, which was good.
He
sighed, closing eyes he was only vaguely aware of having opened.
There was movement next to him, causing him to reopen his eyes quickly,
and a tired looking Beckett, with a bruise across his right cheek, came
into view.
“Carson?” he managed to croak, before a coughing
fit hit him.
Beckett grabbed some ice chips, and offered him some once
he’d stopped coughing. They were wonderful.
“How are you feeling?” Carson asked.
He closed his eyes again, leaning back against the pillows, and thought
about it for a moment.
“Safe,” was what slipped out. It
wasn’t what he
had wanted to say, at least not out loud. He opened his eyes
again. “A little confused.”
“Aye, that will be from the drug in your system.
It’s
nearly worked its way out, but there’s still a few traces
left.”
“What drug?” he asked, starting to feel panicky.
“I’m not sure. Maybe you should tell me
what you
remember, and then I’ll fill in the blanks for you?”
“Um…okay.” He thought for a
moment, and then
told Carson about waking up a prisoner, about being taken somewhere and
injected with something, about waking up back at the village, checking
the Alpha site, and then returning to the village. About
being
there for five days before thinking of going to M7G-677.
“I knew then that something was wrong with me. I
should
have thought of that straight away. And once I’d
thought of
it, I knew there were other planets I could go to, but
couldn’t
remember the addresses. What’s wrong with
me?” He was
desperately trying not to sound as panicked as he felt, but suspected
Carson was fully aware of his fear. “And why am I in
restraints?” Another little fact that had only made
itself
known part way through his story. And the fact that he
hadn’t noticed straight away was worrying. Very
worrying.
“Easy, now.”
“Don’t ‘easy, now’
me! Just tell what they did to me, whoever they
were!”
“Okay, but you need to calm down.”
“I’m trying, really I am. It’s
just…”
“Scary?” Carson sat down on the bed next to
his.
“Okay, when you were on N8P-994, your team were attacked by
an
unknown force. When Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon recovered, they
discovered you were missing. Obviously, they let us know what
had
happened and started to search for you.”
“You couldn’t find me.”
“No, we couldn’t. Radek was able to get
about fifty
addresses from the DHD, but that’s a lot of places to
search.”
“Just like when Ford captured us. Too many
addresses,” he sighed in frustration. “There has to
be a
way to narrow it down, but we haven’t found it yet.”
“Aye, and it has taken a long time to search, and although we
started with all our teams out searching, we had to cut it back after a
while due to other circumstances. But we never stopped
looking. You need to know that. We never gave
up.”
“How long?”
“Eleven weeks and three days, more or less,” a
voice came from behind him.
“Colonel. I was about to let you know Rodney had
woken up.”
“Thanks.” Sheppard walked round, and settled on the
bed
just down from Carson. “Beckett’s right,
McKay. We
never stopped looking. Never gave up.”
“Over two months?” Rodney was shocked.
“I knew
it had to be longer than a few days, but…eleven
weeks?”
The colonel shot Beckett a concerned look.
“Rodney doesn’t remember much between being
captured and
waking up back at the village he was taken from,” Carson
explained.
“Oh, that…that sucks.”
“You think?” Rodney said. “What the hell
happened to me?”
Sheppard looked at Beckett again. Carson sighed.
“You have two implants in you.”
“What?” Rodney paled.
“Where?”
“One is in your back, close to the base of your spine, and
the other…is in your brain.”
“My brain?” He closed his eyes. “No, no,
no, no, no, this cannot be happening.”
Sheppard came over to stand near him, and placed a hand on his arm.
“We’ll figure this out, McKay.
You’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that!” He turned to look
at Carson.
“Do you know what these implants are? What they
do?”
“Partly. The one in your back was releasing a drug
into
your system over a period of time. It’s also
transmitting
some kind of electrical impulses, which seem to be related to the
implant in your brain. As for what that is for, or what it
does,
I’m afraid we don’t know yet.”
“Can you remove them?”
“It would be possible to remove the one in your
back.
However, the one in your brain…it appears to have a network
of
tendrils around and inside your brain. A sort of
web. We
don’t have the technology to remove it surgically, and
Hermiod
says that the tendrils are too many and too small to be removed by the
beaming technology. Not knowing how the one in your back is
related to it, we daren’t remove that one either. Both Radek,
the
science team and Hermiod are working on this. As am
I.”
“And the drug?” He was trying to hold his panic
down.
But the more he heard, the more he was afraid. Truly,
dreadfully
afraid.
“It seems that the implant had opened to allow the next
dosage
out just as you entered the EM field on M7G-677, causing it to remain
open. You received the entire drug that was left in
it.
Fortunately it appears there were only three dosages left, but even so,
it overloaded your system. That’s why you
collapsed.”
“You were confused when you first woke up,”
Sheppard said
quietly. “Didn’t know who you were, where you were,
or who
we were.”
“You became…agitated. Hence the
restraints.”
“Agitated?” Rodney asked, and then looked at the
bruise on
Beckett’s face. “Did I do that? Did I hit
you?”
“Aye, lad, you clocked me a good one. But it
wasn’t your fault. You were confused and
afraid.”
“Did I hurt anyone else?” he asked, scared at the
thought of what he might have done.
“Well, I have a couple of bruises, but other than that,
no.
Ronon happened to come in when you were…freaking
out. He
shot you. It was set on stun, of course.”
“He shot me?” his voice squeaked slightly at that.
“Yes.” Sheppard smiled sadly. “He
didn’t want to hurt you, or let you hurt yourself.”
“Oh. Just hope he didn’t enjoy it too
much.”
“I don’t think enjoyment came into it.”
Sheppard
looked him in the eyes. “We’ve been worried about
you. All of us.”
“Oh.” He was silent a moment, taking that
in. “How long have I been back?”
“Three days,” Carson said. “But now that
the drug is
mostly gone, I think it should be safe to remove the
restraints.”
“Is that wise? You don’t know what these
implants are for. I could be dangerous.”
“That’s why we have a couple of guards with
stunners
nearby. And you’ll have an escort when
you’re
released from the infirmary. Just until we get a better idea
of
what has been done to you.” John looked unhappy about the
precautions.
“That’s okay. Understandable.
I…I
don’t want to do anything bad…and until we know
what this
is all about…” Rodney sighed.
“It’s the
sensible thing to do.”
“Doesn’t mean I like it,” Sheppard said.
Carson had removed the restraints during this.
“Okay, I need to do some tests.” He looked at
Sheppard.
“You can wait outside. I’ll let you know
when
I’m done.”
“No,” Rodney started, and stopped when they stared
at
him. “I mean, he can stay. If
that’s
alright.”
Carson studied him for a moment, and then nodded.
“Okay, just stay out of the way.”
“Will do.”
----------------
The following day, Beckett released him to his quarters. He
wasn’t allowed to work on anything. In fact, his
room had
been searched, and his laptop and other equipment removed.
Until
they knew how the implants affected him, he was a security
risk.
And allowing him access to Atlantis’ systems was not a good
idea.
The guards remained outside his door, thankfully, but he was soon
bored. The confusion had receded quickly, along with the
headache
that had been plaguing him. He decided to find Zelenka, maybe
he
would be allowed to check out the work so far on the
implants.
After all, if he was supervised, and he winced at the thought of that,
then he couldn’t do much harm, if any. And he might
be able
to help.
The guards didn’t seem happy with him as he approached the
lab
area. They didn’t stop him, but were tense and more
alert,
he noticed. Okay, this was officially ‘not
fun’ now,
but he knew he had to put up with it. Would have insisted on
it
if it hadn’t already been done. The thought of
unknown
implants doing unknown things to his brain was terrifying.
More
terrifying in many ways than anything else he’d been through
since coming to Atlantis, and that was saying a lot.
When he entered the lab, Zelenka looked up, startled to see him.
“Rodney, why are you here?”
“I…I wanted to see if I could help. With
the implant
thing. Figured that should be safe for me to work on, if
I’m…supervised.” Damn, how he hated that
word.
“I am not sure if Dr Weir would agree.”
He looked around the lab, anywhere but at Radek, trying to work out how
to explain things.
“Radek, I…need to be doing something.
I’m…terrified. I sit in my room,
wondering what is
happening to me…scared that something really bad is going to
happen…I need
to do something. Anything.” He looked at him,
hating to admit to his fear, but needing Radek to understand.
“I see.” Radek was surprised at Rodney’s
openness. But he could understand the fear. He
could not
imagine how he would feel in Rodney’s place. He
didn’t even want to consider it. “Let us
go and see
her now. I think we can put in place enough security for her
to
agree.” Radek pushed his glasses up, and stood.
“I
will agree to check your work, yes?”
“Yes.” Rodney looked relieved. “I
wouldn’t want
anyone else to.” He smiled self-consciously, and looked
away. “Thanks.”
“Is okay. I would not want to be in your
shoes,”
Radek paused. “That is, I would wish no one to be where you
are.”
“Nor would I,” Rodney agreed quietly.
They left to see Elizabeth.
----------------
It was agreed that Rodney would have access to a laptop whilst in the
lab, but would only be allowed to work on the implant information,
nothing else. And that Zelenka would check regularly what he
was
doing, and ensure he was not allowed to connect to any other
systems. The other scientists were to keep a discreet eye on
him
as well, though this bit of information was withheld from
Rodney.
There would be two guards in the lab at all times when McKay was there,
armed with stunners.
Rodney was just glad to be doing something.
Two more days passed with no incidents. Sheppard, Teyla and
Ronon
made sure to spend time with McKay when he wasn’t in the
lab. Keeping him occupied, and reassuring themselves that he
was
truly back. From the time they had awoken and found him gone,
until the time they had collected him from Keras’ village,
they
had been terrified that they wouldn’t be able to find
him.
Worried that he was hurt, or dead. Desperate to find their
missing team member, and their friend, annoying though he could
be. And refusing to take a replacement member onto the team.
Rodney was touched by their obvious concern. Touched and
scared
as well. He wasn’t used to people caring about him
to this
degree. He was getting better with it. Getting more
used to
the idea, but even now, after all this time, he still had moments when
he felt it was all too good to be true. That they were only
faking the concern. He knew it wasn’t the case, but
he had
been betrayed by so-called friends before, and old habits and fears
died hard. Very hard, sometimes. But the fact they
were
genuinely concerned for him helped to break through some of the
remaining barriers, which scared him when he thought about it too
much. And when he thought about the implants, and what they
might
be doing to him, he became even more scared. Terrified that
he
would do something to hurt the very people who cared so much for
him. Of betraying them, even if it was against his will.
He threw himself into the work. Trying to find something to
tell
them what the implants were for. Trying to find a way to
remove
them. Desperate not to harm any of his friends and co-workers.
But on the third day, he didn’t go to the lab. He
went out
to a balcony and stared out over the sea. He didn’t
know
how long he had been there for, time just seemed to disappear, but he
knew it must have been hours. Then someone came and
stood
beside him, and it wasn’t one of his guards.
“Hey, McKay.” Sheppard, no doubt come to
check if he was okay.
“Hey,” he replied.
“So, what you doing?”
“Nothing,” he said, sighing.
“Just…nothing.”
“Okay,” Sheppard said, drawing the word out,
“And that is so
like you. Not.”
“I know. I just…” he
paused. “I’m hearing things.”
“Things?”
“Yeah, whispers. I can hear whispering in my mind,
but can’t hear the words.”
“So you came out here to do nothing…but listen to
the whispering?”
“I…don’t know.” He turned to
look at the colonel. “I…”
“What?” John asked gently.
Rodney didn’t reply, but turned to look out over the ocean
again.
“Okay, you’re seriously starting to freak me out
here, McKay. I think we should go and see Beckett.”
“No!” Rodney turned and looked at him, fear in his
eyes.
“No, please. I just want to be alone.” He
snorted
softly. “Well, alone but for my escorts. I need to
be
alone. I can’t explain it…I
just…something
bad will happen if I’m not alone.”
“That doesn’t make much sense to me,”
John said, reaching
out and taking McKay by the arm. “I really think we should
see Beckett.”
The move took Sheppard by surprise. Rodney grabbed him,
pulling
him off balance and pushing him into the guards behind them.
One
of the stun weapons clattered across the deck. Rodney ran
past
them before they could react, picking up the fallen weapon.
By
the time they had untangled themselves, he was gone. Sheppard informed
Elizabeth what had happened as he and the two guards took off after
McKay.
----------------
He headed to the ZPM, shooting anyone who got in his way with the stun
weapon. When he arrived at the room, he typed in a
sub-routine
and set it going. The ZPM powered down and Atlantis was
plunged
into darkness and chaos.
Using the distraction, he was able to make his way to the Control Room
without too much problem. He shot the few people who tried to
stop him. He used his innate knowledge of Atlantis and its
corridors to his advantage, only using his flashlight when necessary,
and
feeling his way carefully when not.
He took out the guards, though one of them came close to shooting him,
the bullet tearing through his shirt sleeve, but missing skin. He
stunned the techs, and headed over to the control for the gate
shield.
“Rodney,” a voice came from Elizabeth’s
office, as she stepped out.
“Stay back,” he said, aiming the weapon at her.
“Rodney, what are you doing?” she asked, trying to
stall him, and moving a step closer.
“I said stay back!” he yelled.
Just then the power returned, as his sub-routine disabled itself,
and a wormhole was established. The shield
automatically
activated, but Rodney reached out to deactivate it.
“No, Rodney. Don’t.
Please.” Elizabeth moved closer to him.
He didn’t want to shoot her. Even knowing it was
only a
stun weapon, he really didn’t want to shoot her.
But he had
to open the shield. Had to let them through. They
were
ordering him to do it, insisting that he obey.
Elizabeth could see the war on his face.
“Rodney, you don’t want to do this. I
know you don’t.”
“Please,” he hissed. “Stay
back.”
“No, I won’t. You’ll have to
stun me, like everyone else.”
“No, please.” His hand moved closer to the shield
control, but wavered.
Elizabeth continued to approach him. Damn it, why
couldn’t she stay back?
“I won’t let you do this, Rodney. You
know that.”
“I…I…have to…”
“Fight it, Rodney. Please.”
“No…I…can’t…Have
to do…have to…”
A red light hit him from behind and he fell. Elizabeth looked
up into the eyes of Ronon.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t,” Ronon replied, looking less than
happy at having to stun McKay yet again.
The wormhole disengaged.
----------------
His head was killing him. And then the memories returned.
Yeah,
his head was definitely doing something to him. Something
bad. He moaned, and tried to move, realising he was in
restraints
again. He didn’t blame them. He
wouldn’t have
blamed them if he had awoken to find himself in that cell, the
one they kept wraith in.
“Hey, Doc, he’s waking up.” He heard a
familiar voice
call. He opened his eyes, and sure enough, Sheppard was
there,
watching him.
“Hey, McKay, you had us worried there.
You’ve been out for nearly two days.”
He blinked. Two days? He wondered when time was
going to stop disappearing on him like this.
“So, you going to say anything?” Sheppard asked,
looking worried.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
“Not your fault,” Sheppard replied.
“No, it is. Should have known. Should
have…fought it.”
“But you did. Elizabeth said you were fighting
it.
You didn’t want to shoot her, even though it was just a
stunner,
and you tried not to close down the gate shield.”
“But…I nearly did.”
“Yeah, but the fact you fought it bought enough time for
Ronon to
sneak up on you and stun you…again. Something
he’s
not too happy about, by the way, as it’s getting to be a
regular
habit.”
“They didn’t get through?”
“No. And the wormhole disengaged shortly after you
were stunned.”
“They…I think they know what I
know…”
“It would seem that way.” This was Carson, who had
arrived
at his bed. “It seems that the neural web, or
whatever it
is, activated, causing you to respond to it. Radek was able
to
get some interesting data whilst it was still active. It
seems to
have deactivated itself again for now.”
“Can it be stopped from happening again?” he said.
“From what I can gather, when the web is active, whoever is
behind this can see and hear everything you can. They can
also
communicate with you, give you orders. Orders you are
compelled
to obey. Now that it has deactivated, the two-way
communication
has been stopped.” Carson sighed. “But no one had
been
able to work out how to stop it from reactivating, or stop the
communication from occurring if it does. Or find a way to
remove
it without causing serious brain damage.”
“So, you have to keep me prisoner,” he stated
flatly.
“I’m sorry, Rodney,” Sheppard said.
“I really am.”
“I know. So am I.” He closed his eyes
briefly.
“If it wasn’t part organic, then the EM field on
Keras’ world would protect me. Not that I would
want to be
exiled there.” He looked at the colonel. “So, I
guess
I’ll be seeing one of those cells from the inside,
then?”
“Just until we figure this out,” Sheppard said,
hating every word.
Rodney gave a hollow laugh.
“If
it can be figured
out. It’s okay. I know, you have no
choice. So,
when do I get to see my new room?”
“I want to keep an eye on you for a while,” Carson
said. “So not until tomorrow.”
“Okay.” He closed his eyes.
“Tired,” he muttered.
“Rest then,” he heard Carson say, before sleep
claimed him.
----------------
Rodney was ‘settled’ into the cell, with books to
read, and
a laptop with the implant data on it. He was glad they had
allowed him something to work on.
Several days passed, and he was giving up any hope of being able to
remove or incapacitate the implants. He was beginning to
think he
was going to spend the rest of his life locked up amongst friends.
And that hurt. It hurt knowing that he couldn’t be
trusted. That he could hurt people if the web was
activated. That he would have little control over his
actions, if
any. It hurt to see his friends, but not be able to join them
for
those little activities he had taken for granted. Sharing
meals,
watching that stupid football game, or other stupid DVDs that Sheppard
had brought back from Earth with him, being dragged down to the gym
every so often and forced to work out, even do some sparring; just
being with them. Hanging out.
He would never be able to live a normal life again. Never be
able
to do anything without several guards around him. He was
beginning to lose all hope of a solution.
----------------
A ship, that must have been cloaked, appeared suddenly above
Atlantis. A few moments later, two people beamed down into
the
Control Room and immediately rendered the guards unconscious.
Elizabeth came out of her office, as the first person, a female, spoke.
“Where is the one who was taken?”
“Who are you?” Elizabeth asked. “What do
you want?”
“We are the Nerindi. People who we took in as
refugees
stole some of our technology. One of your people was taken by
force, and the technology implanted into him. Those
responsible
for this have been imprisoned. Now, we have come to reclaim
what
it ours, and free your man.”
“How do we know you’re telling the truth?
Forgive me for doubting you, but your actions…”
“We have merely rendered your warriors unconscious, so that
they
would not fire on us. Time is important. And time
is
running out for the one who was taken. The one called
McKay.”
“What do you mean, his time is running out?”
“The implants will kill him if they are not removed in
time.”
“I have found him,” the other Nerindi, a man, spoke
as he looked up from some type of scanner.
“Good.”
A voice came over the comm, saying that a beam had taken McKay from his
cell.
“He will be returned to you unharmed once we have removed the
implants,” the female said, and then a beam took the two
Nerindi
away.
Elizabeth called Colonel Sheppard and his team to the Control Room, as
well as Beckett. After a short discussion, Sheppard and his
team
took a jumper up towards the Nerindi ship, ready to use force if
necessary to demand McKay’s return.
However, as they approached the ship, they were caught in some type of
traction beam and pulled onboard. When they attempted to
leave
the jumper, they found the door jammed. They were stuck.
An hour passed, and Sheppard was getting extremely pissed at events,
when Rodney was beamed aboard the jumper. He was unconscious,
but
seemed unharmed. The traction beam activated and placed the
jumper outside the ship, and Sheppard had to take control.
The
Nerindi ship then cloaked and, hopefully, left. They returned
to
Atlantis.
----------------
“…the implants are gone. No sign they
were ever there.”
He recognised Carson’s voice close by.
“So, he’s okay?”
That was Sheppard.
“Yes, at least physically. I’ve no idea
about the
emotional turmoil he’s been through, but he’s
nothing if
not resilient.”
“I’ll ask Kate to schedule some sessions with
him.”
And that was Elizabeth.
Okay, guess it was time he opened his eyes. Hmm, they
didn’t want to open. Well, tough. Slowly,
he managed
to open one eye, and then the other. Keeping them open,
however,
was another thing altogether. Damn.
And then memories started hit him. Over two months worth of
them. Crap. His eyes shot open, this time adrenalin
overcoming the fatigue. He tried to sit up, but his body
wasn’t happy with that idea.
“Hey, McKay, calm down!” He felt Sheppard put a
hand on his
chest, holding him down. “Just take it
easy.
You’re okay.”
“I remember…” he managed to say, wincing
at how hoarse his throat was.
“Easy now.” Sheppard patted his chest.
“Just take it slowly.”
He felt someone take his pulse, Carson presumably. He twisted
his
arm, and grabbed him, holding on as the memories assailed
him. He
felt Carson move his hand into his, letting him hold on. He
was
vaguely aware of reassuring noises from the people around
him.
And slowly, he felt himself start to relax, to calm down. He
was
safe.
He pulled his hand out of Carson’s, embarrassed now at the
need to hang onto someone.
“I remember,” he said again, more calmly this time.
“They were Genii. But not.”
“The ones who took you?” Sheppard asked gently.
“Yes. They said they had left their home world,
that they
were working for themselves now. I remember the
implants.
It hurt, when I woke up from the operation, it hurt. A
lot.
And then they were asking questions, and I couldn’t stay
quiet. I had to answer them.” He looked
round,
wildly, trying to remain calm. “They asked about
Atlantis,
the jumpers, the ATA gene. I told them so much.
About how
things worked.
“And then they wanted me to design them new
computers. More
powerful ones. And I did.” He felt ill as the
memories
became clearer. “I built them better computers.
Designed
weapons. I’m sorry…I couldn’t
fight
them. I had to obey. I didn’t want to
help them, but
I had to obey. I’m sorry…”
“It was not your fault, Rodney,” Elizabeth stated.
“But…”
“No buts,” Sheppard interrupted. “Not
your fault.”
“When they decided to take Atlantis, I was the one who helped
plan it. They used my knowledge of the city, and of how you
would
react. They used me to plan their attack.”
“Still not your fault,” Sheppard stated bluntly.
“Why didn’t I remember?”
“We think the implants suppressed your memory,”
Carson told him.
“Do you remember anything about being on the Nerindi
ship?” Elizabeth asked gently.
“Yes. They beamed me onboard. I think it
was some
kind of med-bay. They told me that the technology had been
stolen
from them and that the ones responsible had been imprisoned and
won’t be a threat to us again.”
“That’s something,” Sheppard muttered.
“Then…I don’t remember anything until I
woke up just
now. The implants are gone, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they’re gone. No trace they were
even
there. These Nerindi are obviously a very advanced
race.
Pity we weren’t able to find out more about them.”
“I don’t think they wanted us to know anything
about
them,” he said, frowning in concentration, trying to
remember.
“They said…they said we were not ready to meet
them. Or something like that.”
“Sounds a bit like the Nox. Only in that case we
were
considered to be too ‘young’,” Elizabeth
pondered.
“Yes, it was something like that,” he
said. “I
don’t think we’ll be seeing them again, or at least
not
anytime soon.”
“Maybe as well. They seemed to be severely lacking
in the
social niceties,” Sheppard noted, adding wryly,
“Perhaps
that’s a trait of all true geniuses,” he said,
smirking at Rodney,
who rolled his eyes back at him.
“Funny,” he muttered.
They talked for a few minutes more, and then Beckett insisted that
Rodney needed his rest. Elizabeth took the hint and left, but
Sheppard merely pulled up a chair, picking up a book from a nearby
table. Rodney smiled, secretly glad that Sheppard had
remained. He closed his eyes, drifting into a deep sleep,
content
with the knowledge that he was back amongst his friends, and he was
safe, and he was free.
The End
