“... the seismic activity was growing quickly; the thing was off the charts, going completely nutso.”
“Now there’s a technical term,” Lorne said interrupting the conversation as he stepped into the infirmary with Elizabeth. Ronon watched her for a moment, pale as a ghost and a look on her face that told him she knew exactly how bad this was going to get and she hadn’t told a soul. She crossed the group, heading for John’s bed at just the moment the lightning illuminated the room and his hands automatically reached for her as the rumble shuddered up his legs.
Stable, she moved on and Ronon turned back to the conversation in front of him, only half listening to the discussion about the C4 and where it should go. He’d need to know, he was aware of that. The faster they set the charges the quicker this could all be over, but at the same time the conversation about John’s strangely stable health was reaching his ears. He figured the Elizabeth look-a-like had something to do with it, after all Carson had told them the virus had infested his body quicker than anything he’d ever seen, so John Sheppard should have been dead long ago. On impulse, Ronon turned, took the few steps to Elizabeth’s side and plucked the radio pack from her pyjama bottoms before unhooking the ear piece from her shoulder.
“How bad is it gonna get?” he asked her as she turned to him. He knew by the glance she gave over his shoulder that everyone else had heard that question.
“The planet’s dying,” she said. “They knew long ago that it wouldn’t last forever, they were leaving because of it. They were meant to come back for their people, with a cure, and then dismantle the structure. Back then they had plenty of time to do it, but now...”
“The planet’s falling apart,” Bethan said finishing Elizabeth’s sentence. “The core became unstable during an experiment thousands of years ago, they predicted between 10,000 and 12,000 years until it became too late to stop. We never found a cure; we never found a way to undo the mistake we made here. But if the planet fails with the cure alive, the implosion will spread the virus throughout the galaxy.”
“Gate’s active,” Lorne announced. “Keller and additional military personnel inbound.”
“You should stay here with Sheppard, Teyla and Carson,” he told her as she turned back to Sheppard.
~~**~~
“Inside, quickly, move it, move it, move it,” Lorne shouted as each person came out of the gate, they’d all been told it was a short drop off the gate and they needed to run for cover quickly. He hadn’t stopped anyone, just instructing them to get in quick, though it hadn’t passed his notice that not one person stepping out of the gate was wearing an isolation suit. One officer had pre-empted a group of nurses, each and every person through carried a box and each one of them stumbled out, gave a short cry of shock at the amount of rain and took off running down the pier. Keller was the last person through and she stumbled for a moment before standing up and looking around.
“Where’s Doctor Beckett?” she asked as the gate shut down behind her. Lorne grabbed her arm to keep her moving and started a fast pace back to the city, he was soaked to the skin and would rather not add pneumonia to his list of problems.
“Infirmary,” he replied, keeping the pace. “Layout’s pretty much like Atlantis,” he said and stepped gratefully into the dry. “You’ll have to find your own way there, get them sorted; we’ll join you when we’re done.”
“No,” she said. “You lot first, this vaccine has a short life span, that’s why we’re not in suits, and it would take too long fumbling with the large fingers.” She grabbed a vial out of the box a nurse was holding and readied the needed dose in record time. It only took a few minutes to do all the guys that were there. “Atlantis is isolating the gate room, we go back as we are and keep ourselves separate until we’re absolutely sure this stuff works.”
“Infirmary’s our meeting point. When we’re finished, that’s where we’ll be heading. You’ll have to find your own way there. If the ground starts shaking stand still and watch out for falling debris.”
“Rest of the medical supplies are there,” one of the other men said pointing to a small stack next to one of the nurses. “This is the C4, modified as requested.”
“You get the plans?” he asked as the medical team picked up their supplies, there was a lot less of that than there was explosive.
“Yes sir, we have it worked out, the quickest way to distribute the explosive with control activation is three boxes each in a specific section of the city, the largest concentrates in the medical areas.”
“Excellent, let’s get to work so we can get the hell out of here.”
“How exactly is this gonna work? What’s the idea behind this?”
“The vaccine spreads thinner when heated, the idea is to decimate the city and spread the stuff as far as we possibly can,” he picked up a container and popped the lid. “Which is why the largest packets go in the medical bays and the edge of the city. The information I was given came from an ancient, she knew this city backwards, all its weakest points and the amount of explosive that would be required to leave nothing intact. We’ve pretty much just been handed the plans to blow up Atlantis on a much smaller scale.”
“Times by three to blow ourselves up if required.”
“More like times by nine,” Lorne said heading off down one corridor. “This place is just the center section of Atlantis. Don’t be shocked if a woman appears and tells you you’re putting it in the wrong place – just follow her instructions,” he called back.
~~**~~
“Start with Elizabeth and John,” Carson said after the short welcomes of the medical team. He hadn’t really felt like it was worth anything more than a hello and get to work, he felt horrible right now and that was nothing to what John and Teyla were going through, not to mention the men who had so far done all the work while feeling this bad, if not worse.
“Is everyone showing signs of the illness?”
“Not everyone,” Penny said. “Other than Doctor Weir, I still feel fine.”
“It seems to affect everyone at different rates,” Carson said. “John’s the furthest along, followed by Teyla, but I’m not far behind either of them and I was exposed later.”
“Okay, well as a precaution, Doctor Biro is working with the lab techs to produce more of this and is vaccinating everyone there. Each of these vials contains enough for three doses, I have no idea how quickly they will take effect or even if they work, but the idea here is to get everyone out anyway. So let’s inject, get to the pier, into suits and through the gate.”
“Right,” Carson said rolling up his sleeve as a nurse approached with needle and cure. He smiled at her before turning his attention to Keller, who was injecting John with the vaccine. Another nurse approached Elizabeth and she brushed her off. “Everyone, Elizabeth,” Carson said pointedly.
“You can do mine last.”
“You’re immune, yes,” Carson said. “But the baby isn’t.”
“And the baby won’t start to feel the effects until its eight years old, so you can do mine last.”
The ground began to rumble again as Carson pulled his shirt down. Ignoring it, he pushed out of his seat, grabbed the needle from the nurse and roughly pulled Elizabeth’s arm away from her lap. Her hand trapped under his arm, he yanked her sleeve up and jabbed the needle into place. She winced, as he expected she would, but he was tired and wanted nothing more than for this nightmare to be over and he was just a little too annoyed to take the ‘brave leader’ route with her.
“Hey, that’s my wife to be you’re sticking needles into,” John said, awake for the first time in almost a day.
“John,” Elizabeth said, pulling her arm from Carson’s grip as he removed the needle.
“Are we there yet?” Elizabeth gave a short laugh as Carson moved away to help inject his own nurses. “What’s going on?”
“Hopefully you’ve just been given a cure.”
“Hopefully?”
“Well, we’re the guinea pigs.”
“Is that why my throat feels furry?”
Elizabeth grinned at him for a split second before she hummed and responded. “That or the wild party you threw last night.”
“Ah,” John said. “That explains the headache and lack of memory, too.”
“How many others need to be inoculated?” Carson asked turning from Elizabeth to Jennifer. He never got the chance to look her in the face before the flash of light flooded the room, it lasted longer than the previous times and he could feel the rumble at his feet before it was over.
“Just the people here,” Jennifer said, her voice rising above the quickly growing rumble.
The ground shuddered below him and Carson spared a moment looking around, slightly confused that the simple quick shudder was all they were going to get for the extended flash and low growl of the planet.
“I don’t think we have much time,” Elizabeth said, turning her attention back to him. He would have acted faster under normal circumstances, but the look of horror on Elizabeth’s face took him back a pace or two and he hesitated for a moment longer than he would have liked before he finally picked up another needle and moved towards Penny.
“Can you get up, Colonel?” Jennifer asked as Carson carefully vaccinated the last of his nurses. He spared a glance to Teyla, who was slowly prying her eyes open and smiling up at the nurse who had injected her. When he turned to look at John, he was a little shocked to see the colour return to his cheeks as he sat up, whatever this cure was it worked damn fast, though he still felt as though he could sleep for a month – maybe two. “Just take it easy, we need to get down to the pier.”
“We going swimming?” John asked turning himself to face Elizabeth and leaning forward to slide off the bed. Carson knew he had said something to her as he got up and the back of his mind screamed ‘skinny dipping’ at him as Elizabeth chuckled.
“Dream on,” she said helping him to his feet and heading for the door.
~~**~~
“Why not?” John asked as Elizabeth guided him out the room. “Skinny dipping is a great idea.” He gave her a charming smile – or at least he hoped it was charming, when you felt this bad, you never could tell.
“Sure,” Elizabeth said a little too eagerly. “If the water temperature isn’t below freezing, the sky isn’t black as ink and it’s not raining, thundering and lightning while the ground shakes about below you.”
“You make it sound so poetic.” He said turning a corner with her and taking more and more of his own weight as they moved. “You all right?” he asked after a moment.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth said. “Wishing this had never started,” she added and he caught the edge of her tone as it dipped down to regret. Turning another corner he stopped her, pulling her to the side as the medical team and Teyla approached. He nodded to Carson as the doctor gave him a questioning look and waited for them to move a little further down the corridor.
“What happened?”
Her head dropped and for a moment he was worried she wouldn’t answer the question. When she did say something it was so quiet he thought he’d heard it wrong.
“Peters died,” she breathed. It took a moment for the words to actually sink in and for a moment – just a moment, he couldn’t actually believe it. When she looked up at him there were tears in her eyes and for the first time, he noticed the faint tracks down her cheeks. “Crushed by the dialling computer in one of the big quakes,” she managed before letting out the sob that drew his arms around her. Elizabeth gripped at his sides as he pulled her in close.
“I take it we have to leave him?” he asked and she nodded against his chest. He swallowed, thinking carefully through his still fogged mind about this next question. “What about the ring?” Instinctively her left hand tightened in his shirt.
“He told Lorne I should keep it. The first Sheppard family heirloom, unless there’s one you’re not telling me about.”
“There is,” John said trying hard not to smile. “Good looks are always passed on,” he said failing miserably and breaking out into a grin as Elizabeth gave a short laugh and slapped his chest before moving away.
“We should catch up with the others.”
“Yeah,” John said pushing away from the wall. “And get out of here at last.”
Almost as if the planet was daring him to say it, the city lit up, the flash of lightning seeming to get longer with each passing minute and the rumble of the thunder began to seep into the ground and push through the quake that was quickly building. And by building, John meant toppling. He could feel the ground sway and buck, forcing him to the side and slightly forward. He took hold of Elizabeth, trying to steady her despite the difficulty he was having with his own feet and quickly found himself thrust towards the wall in front of him. Elizabeth staggered backwards under his weight and he barely had a passing thought of the problem squashing her against the wall could cause before she hit hard and let out a shout of pain. John barely managed to plant his hands on either side of her, stopping himself from landing on top of her.
“Shit,” he cursed sharply, listening to the sound of metal creaking painfully. “You okay?” he asked, more shouted over the sound of the quake and the city’s groan.
“My back’s gonna pay for that later.”
The ground dropped down towards the center and John turned away from Elizabeth to look out the nearest window. Instantly he wished he hadn’t done it, he could see the next tower tipping horribly away from there, looking as though it was either posing for the leaning tower of Pisa picture or having a fight with gravity to stay vertical.
“Come on,” he said, carefully easing her away from the wall. “We need to get down the stairs before they collapse.” Again the planet was playing with his words and as he turned to the stairwell he saw the opposite tower win the gravity battle and straighten up for just a moment. He’d moved only a couple of steps closer when he heard the shouts for them from below and the metal tower swayed over in their direction.
A black streak came up the stairs and before John could react he was being pulled back around the corner and down the corridor. He was jolted to the side hard, hit the wall and then the ground before sound of shattering glass reached his ears and the tower seemed to drop suddenly to one side. He heard Lorne shout something before someone grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him quickly along the floor to another corner.
He looked around, trying to find Elizabeth as he was hurled into a room and the door shut swiftly behind him. Panic quickly set in, he had no idea where Elizabeth was or what was going on. The tower tipped a little more and John slid back along the floor to the door as Sergeant Miles followed him at a staggered run. That was when he realised, the collision of one tower into the other and the still rumbling ground was tipping the tower over. If they’d stayed in the corridor, they’d have been given a great view of the ocean – seeping in through all the windows and cracks.
He turned to Miles, and then turned quickly to look around the room, there was another door on the other side of the room and he realised, perhaps a little later than he should that he was in a lab.
“We need to keep moving,” he said, hoping to high heaven that Elizabeth and whoever was with her had the same idea. He reached out and grabbed the fixed table in the middle of the room and heaved himself up over it to the other side. He could have collapsed there and then, still weak from whatever the virus had been, and he barely had the strength to contemplate the severity of the situation, let alone get out of it. Wondering when he’d turned into McKay, John turned to help Miles up over the side and then indicated the door, almost completely above them now.
It wasn’t until they’d managed to get the door open that John realised they had stopped, and so had the quakes, the tower must have been tilted at an almost horizontal angle over the city, either held up by a few strong pieces of metal or leaning vicariously on something equally as strong. With the door open, he could hear people shouting, Ronon, Hadly and Carson first then Lorne’s voice from closer caught his attention.
“Lab corridor,” he called back. “Need one of the docs here,” he added and John’s mind shot to the fact that with Lorne was Elizabeth. He turned back to Miles as the man pulled off his vest and dropped it onto the side of the table.
“Going up, sir?” he said linking his fingers together to create a cradle. John smiled and slipped his foot into the cradle, exchanged a glance with the man and pushed up for the door-ceiling. He managed to grab the door and pull himself halfway up when his exhaustion caught up with him and thankfully a hand took hold of his arm and effortlessly pulled him up.
“Thanks,” John said, standing up to face Ronon. The Satedan just grinned before flattening himself on the ground to help Miles up. John turned away to look for Elizabeth, setting his eyes on the back of Lorne he felt a slight amount of hope that she was perfectly fine, Lorne had several pieces of shrapnel sticking out of his back and arms, cuts slowly oozed blood down his uniform and Carson was already tending to a long slice in his arm. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen.
Crossing to the open door way where Lorne sat with his legs over the edge, John looked down. Elizabeth was lying across the back of the desk, fixed as the one in his room had been. It looked as though they’d taken a beating on their way up. She had her knees raised, and a hand lying across her stomach and her eyes closed.
“Elizabeth?” he asked, as Ronon and Miles moved to either side of the door frame. She opened her eyes and looked up at him with a faint smile, and as she turned her head a little to look right at him, he noticed the drop of blood slithering down her hairline. He turned to Lorne, almost ready to shout at him.
“Only thing in that room that was fixed was the table, I was a little too slow in moving her under it. She’s only got the cut on her head and probably just a mild concussion – I tried to shield her as much as I could,” Lorne said looking down at the cut on his arm. “Something hit me in the back, heavy and hard. Forced me forward and I didn’t get a chance to steady myself.”
John just nodded and watched as Ronon lowered Miles into the room, his feet landing on either side of Elizabeth.
“You wanna go down doc?” Ronon asked.
“Aye,” Carson said.
John could hear the ‘I don’t really want to’ in his voice, who would want to be lowered down by the wrists. Carson was probably looking forward to it as much as Elizabeth was at being pulled up in much the same way. He didn’t even want to contemplate how Lorne had gotten Elizabeth on top of the table and for that matter, how he’d then pulled himself out of the room with all his cuts.
John watched as Carson was lowered into the room and did a quick check of Elizabeth. Words he didn’t hear were exchanged before both Carson and Miles helped her to her feet. She stumbled as the ground gave a quick shake, rattle and roll and John had never been more thankful for a man’s reflexes as Miles stopped her from stepping off the very small space they were on.
“We really need to get out of here,” Carson said and John nodded along with Elizabeth.
“Let’s get going, then,” Ronon said reaching down into the room.
“Let us do the work,” Carson said to Elizabeth as John settled himself down on the floor. He reached down, taking one of her hands as Ronon took the other and between them they pulled her up. John moved away from the door with her, leaving Ronon to pull the others out, he wanted to make sure she was alright, he hadn’t been there to protect her, and he’d have to find a way to thank Lorne later. Against the wall – or floor, he’d lost track of what it was, he wrapped his arms around Elizabeth, holding her tight.
“I’m alright, John.” She was trying hard to reassure him, convince him that nothing serious had happened. It was a hard sell as everything seemed to go wrong all at the same time for them.
“Let’s go,” Ronon said sharply before he could even consider a response. He pulled himself up off the ground/wall and helped Elizabeth up before following them down the corridor – or what was left of it.
~~**~~
She’d never ached so much in her life, even the broken leg she’d had as a kid was nothing in comparison to the pain she was in right now. Her eyelids hurt to blink, which only went to show that the exhaustion of the last three days had finally caught up with her and was now just playing games with her mentality. Though she had yet to determine just how much discomfort it would take before she passed out – either from pain or the weight of tiredness that lingered.
Crawling through half a tower that was literally, in all ways, shapes and forms facing the wrong direction had been an arduous task, at the least – and the worst thing about it, was she hadn’t been able to pull her own weight. With Carson and John telling her she had to be careful because of the baby and Lorne, Ronon and Miles lugging her up over each section she was surprised any of them were on their feet.
Though she suspected that the person sent to the control room was in just as much pain right now. Thankfully for them, the control tower was still vertical, if you could call the leaning tower of Thule vertical. They obviously hadn’t reached the control room yet, though with the electrical storm interfering with the radios they had no way of knowing when he would get there. Poised ready to go at the bottom of the tower, their supplies distributed evenly between everyone except her and Ronon – who had the glorious job of getting her from point a (where she stood) and point b (on the other side of the wormhole) without extra injury and as quickly as possible.
Everyone time someone mentioned the trip back, she had a random method in her head of just how Ronon Dex, big strong and anything but graceful, would complete that task without squashing her or hurting her. Though the hurting bit would be understandable to a point. They were first on the evac list, by order of Carson, John, Teyla and shockingly Lorne, and all they had to do was wait for the gate to dial, count to three and then run.
She turned back to the window, looking down at the almost pitch black exterior of the city and tried to work out if they’d see the gate dial. Teasingly the first chevron lit up and she squinted at the second to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. When the second came to life she had a strange thought that they would be leaving another person behind.
“How exactly,” she said turning to whoever was nearest, “is Sergeant Banes getting down here to get through the gate?”
“Abseiling, ma’am,” the marine said. “He’s got harness equipment, he’s probably already set up so he can dial and just drop out the window.”
There was another entertaining thought to add to her collection. She could write a novel on all the weird things they’d had to do while here. Everything from being handed down a broken set of stairs to being dropped – literally – into a cradle of arms from about twelve feet up. There was a reason she never became a cheerleader after all.
“Everyone ready?” Lorne called from nearby, making her jump just a little too much and turn to him. For a moment she had to figure out what they were getting ready for, and then she turned back to the window and found that the gate was sporting a stable wormhole. A hand on her arm tugged her towards the door and she didn’t need to look up to know Ronon was getting ready for the go. He set her in the doorway and adjusted his grip on her arm, there was no way she could keep pace with him, she’d trip and fall and he’d end up dragging her unacceptably to the gate. It wasn’t until the sound made her look up that she realised just how they were getting her halfway down the pier and through the gate quickly.
A pair of feet came into view and Ronon tugged her forward. Normally she’d have something to say about being manhandled, but under the circumstances she was willing to give it go in favour of getting the hell out of Thule. The door opened and before she could even contemplate how hard the rain was coming down, she was thrust into it at great speed, Ronon’s tight grip on one arm made her stagger for just a second before the other hand took hold of her and she found herself practically flying down the pier with her feet moving quicker than she knew possible. The gate came flying towards her and barely a pace before it; Ronon turned, wrapped his arms around her and twisted into the event horizon.
She didn’t remember actually closing her eyes, but she had never been so thankful to open them in Atlantis. The sound of the klaxons and the voices of familiar people was comforting and she almost relaxed before more military hands grabbed her and she was pulled off her back – consequently off Ronon – and to one side. A containment suited Stackhouse made sure she was stable where she stood and asked through the muffled helmet if she was okay. She just nodded, thankful that the ground was solid and the air was dry.
The medical team ushered her to the nearest gurney and she let them guide her away as she turned back to the gate. Ronon and Markham, the now unknown third runner, were on the other side of the room and being tended to. The gate gave a daring flicker before Teyla and Carson emerged, looking like drowned rats. Their luggage was taken from them and they were moved to the side and out of the way.
Reaching the bed, Elizabeth relaxed down, letting the medic lay her back and she looked up to find a plastic ceiling blocking her view of jumper hatch. They were still under confinement, but at least they were home. She took a deep breath, hearing two more sets of feet stagger from the gate and closed her eyes.
“Now there’s a technical term,” Lorne said interrupting the conversation as he stepped into the infirmary with Elizabeth. Ronon watched her for a moment, pale as a ghost and a look on her face that told him she knew exactly how bad this was going to get and she hadn’t told a soul. She crossed the group, heading for John’s bed at just the moment the lightning illuminated the room and his hands automatically reached for her as the rumble shuddered up his legs.
Stable, she moved on and Ronon turned back to the conversation in front of him, only half listening to the discussion about the C4 and where it should go. He’d need to know, he was aware of that. The faster they set the charges the quicker this could all be over, but at the same time the conversation about John’s strangely stable health was reaching his ears. He figured the Elizabeth look-a-like had something to do with it, after all Carson had told them the virus had infested his body quicker than anything he’d ever seen, so John Sheppard should have been dead long ago. On impulse, Ronon turned, took the few steps to Elizabeth’s side and plucked the radio pack from her pyjama bottoms before unhooking the ear piece from her shoulder.
“How bad is it gonna get?” he asked her as she turned to him. He knew by the glance she gave over his shoulder that everyone else had heard that question.
“The planet’s dying,” she said. “They knew long ago that it wouldn’t last forever, they were leaving because of it. They were meant to come back for their people, with a cure, and then dismantle the structure. Back then they had plenty of time to do it, but now...”
“The planet’s falling apart,” Bethan said finishing Elizabeth’s sentence. “The core became unstable during an experiment thousands of years ago, they predicted between 10,000 and 12,000 years until it became too late to stop. We never found a cure; we never found a way to undo the mistake we made here. But if the planet fails with the cure alive, the implosion will spread the virus throughout the galaxy.”
“Gate’s active,” Lorne announced. “Keller and additional military personnel inbound.”
“You should stay here with Sheppard, Teyla and Carson,” he told her as she turned back to Sheppard.
~~**~~
“Inside, quickly, move it, move it, move it,” Lorne shouted as each person came out of the gate, they’d all been told it was a short drop off the gate and they needed to run for cover quickly. He hadn’t stopped anyone, just instructing them to get in quick, though it hadn’t passed his notice that not one person stepping out of the gate was wearing an isolation suit. One officer had pre-empted a group of nurses, each and every person through carried a box and each one of them stumbled out, gave a short cry of shock at the amount of rain and took off running down the pier. Keller was the last person through and she stumbled for a moment before standing up and looking around.
“Where’s Doctor Beckett?” she asked as the gate shut down behind her. Lorne grabbed her arm to keep her moving and started a fast pace back to the city, he was soaked to the skin and would rather not add pneumonia to his list of problems.
“Infirmary,” he replied, keeping the pace. “Layout’s pretty much like Atlantis,” he said and stepped gratefully into the dry. “You’ll have to find your own way there, get them sorted; we’ll join you when we’re done.”
“No,” she said. “You lot first, this vaccine has a short life span, that’s why we’re not in suits, and it would take too long fumbling with the large fingers.” She grabbed a vial out of the box a nurse was holding and readied the needed dose in record time. It only took a few minutes to do all the guys that were there. “Atlantis is isolating the gate room, we go back as we are and keep ourselves separate until we’re absolutely sure this stuff works.”
“Infirmary’s our meeting point. When we’re finished, that’s where we’ll be heading. You’ll have to find your own way there. If the ground starts shaking stand still and watch out for falling debris.”
“Rest of the medical supplies are there,” one of the other men said pointing to a small stack next to one of the nurses. “This is the C4, modified as requested.”
“You get the plans?” he asked as the medical team picked up their supplies, there was a lot less of that than there was explosive.
“Yes sir, we have it worked out, the quickest way to distribute the explosive with control activation is three boxes each in a specific section of the city, the largest concentrates in the medical areas.”
“Excellent, let’s get to work so we can get the hell out of here.”
“How exactly is this gonna work? What’s the idea behind this?”
“The vaccine spreads thinner when heated, the idea is to decimate the city and spread the stuff as far as we possibly can,” he picked up a container and popped the lid. “Which is why the largest packets go in the medical bays and the edge of the city. The information I was given came from an ancient, she knew this city backwards, all its weakest points and the amount of explosive that would be required to leave nothing intact. We’ve pretty much just been handed the plans to blow up Atlantis on a much smaller scale.”
“Times by three to blow ourselves up if required.”
“More like times by nine,” Lorne said heading off down one corridor. “This place is just the center section of Atlantis. Don’t be shocked if a woman appears and tells you you’re putting it in the wrong place – just follow her instructions,” he called back.
~~**~~
“Start with Elizabeth and John,” Carson said after the short welcomes of the medical team. He hadn’t really felt like it was worth anything more than a hello and get to work, he felt horrible right now and that was nothing to what John and Teyla were going through, not to mention the men who had so far done all the work while feeling this bad, if not worse.
“Is everyone showing signs of the illness?”
“Not everyone,” Penny said. “Other than Doctor Weir, I still feel fine.”
“It seems to affect everyone at different rates,” Carson said. “John’s the furthest along, followed by Teyla, but I’m not far behind either of them and I was exposed later.”
“Okay, well as a precaution, Doctor Biro is working with the lab techs to produce more of this and is vaccinating everyone there. Each of these vials contains enough for three doses, I have no idea how quickly they will take effect or even if they work, but the idea here is to get everyone out anyway. So let’s inject, get to the pier, into suits and through the gate.”
“Right,” Carson said rolling up his sleeve as a nurse approached with needle and cure. He smiled at her before turning his attention to Keller, who was injecting John with the vaccine. Another nurse approached Elizabeth and she brushed her off. “Everyone, Elizabeth,” Carson said pointedly.
“You can do mine last.”
“You’re immune, yes,” Carson said. “But the baby isn’t.”
“And the baby won’t start to feel the effects until its eight years old, so you can do mine last.”
The ground began to rumble again as Carson pulled his shirt down. Ignoring it, he pushed out of his seat, grabbed the needle from the nurse and roughly pulled Elizabeth’s arm away from her lap. Her hand trapped under his arm, he yanked her sleeve up and jabbed the needle into place. She winced, as he expected she would, but he was tired and wanted nothing more than for this nightmare to be over and he was just a little too annoyed to take the ‘brave leader’ route with her.
“Hey, that’s my wife to be you’re sticking needles into,” John said, awake for the first time in almost a day.
“John,” Elizabeth said, pulling her arm from Carson’s grip as he removed the needle.
“Are we there yet?” Elizabeth gave a short laugh as Carson moved away to help inject his own nurses. “What’s going on?”
“Hopefully you’ve just been given a cure.”
“Hopefully?”
“Well, we’re the guinea pigs.”
“Is that why my throat feels furry?”
Elizabeth grinned at him for a split second before she hummed and responded. “That or the wild party you threw last night.”
“Ah,” John said. “That explains the headache and lack of memory, too.”
“How many others need to be inoculated?” Carson asked turning from Elizabeth to Jennifer. He never got the chance to look her in the face before the flash of light flooded the room, it lasted longer than the previous times and he could feel the rumble at his feet before it was over.
“Just the people here,” Jennifer said, her voice rising above the quickly growing rumble.
The ground shuddered below him and Carson spared a moment looking around, slightly confused that the simple quick shudder was all they were going to get for the extended flash and low growl of the planet.
“I don’t think we have much time,” Elizabeth said, turning her attention back to him. He would have acted faster under normal circumstances, but the look of horror on Elizabeth’s face took him back a pace or two and he hesitated for a moment longer than he would have liked before he finally picked up another needle and moved towards Penny.
“Can you get up, Colonel?” Jennifer asked as Carson carefully vaccinated the last of his nurses. He spared a glance to Teyla, who was slowly prying her eyes open and smiling up at the nurse who had injected her. When he turned to look at John, he was a little shocked to see the colour return to his cheeks as he sat up, whatever this cure was it worked damn fast, though he still felt as though he could sleep for a month – maybe two. “Just take it easy, we need to get down to the pier.”
“We going swimming?” John asked turning himself to face Elizabeth and leaning forward to slide off the bed. Carson knew he had said something to her as he got up and the back of his mind screamed ‘skinny dipping’ at him as Elizabeth chuckled.
“Dream on,” she said helping him to his feet and heading for the door.
~~**~~
“Why not?” John asked as Elizabeth guided him out the room. “Skinny dipping is a great idea.” He gave her a charming smile – or at least he hoped it was charming, when you felt this bad, you never could tell.
“Sure,” Elizabeth said a little too eagerly. “If the water temperature isn’t below freezing, the sky isn’t black as ink and it’s not raining, thundering and lightning while the ground shakes about below you.”
“You make it sound so poetic.” He said turning a corner with her and taking more and more of his own weight as they moved. “You all right?” he asked after a moment.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth said. “Wishing this had never started,” she added and he caught the edge of her tone as it dipped down to regret. Turning another corner he stopped her, pulling her to the side as the medical team and Teyla approached. He nodded to Carson as the doctor gave him a questioning look and waited for them to move a little further down the corridor.
“What happened?”
Her head dropped and for a moment he was worried she wouldn’t answer the question. When she did say something it was so quiet he thought he’d heard it wrong.
“Peters died,” she breathed. It took a moment for the words to actually sink in and for a moment – just a moment, he couldn’t actually believe it. When she looked up at him there were tears in her eyes and for the first time, he noticed the faint tracks down her cheeks. “Crushed by the dialling computer in one of the big quakes,” she managed before letting out the sob that drew his arms around her. Elizabeth gripped at his sides as he pulled her in close.
“I take it we have to leave him?” he asked and she nodded against his chest. He swallowed, thinking carefully through his still fogged mind about this next question. “What about the ring?” Instinctively her left hand tightened in his shirt.
“He told Lorne I should keep it. The first Sheppard family heirloom, unless there’s one you’re not telling me about.”
“There is,” John said trying hard not to smile. “Good looks are always passed on,” he said failing miserably and breaking out into a grin as Elizabeth gave a short laugh and slapped his chest before moving away.
“We should catch up with the others.”
“Yeah,” John said pushing away from the wall. “And get out of here at last.”
Almost as if the planet was daring him to say it, the city lit up, the flash of lightning seeming to get longer with each passing minute and the rumble of the thunder began to seep into the ground and push through the quake that was quickly building. And by building, John meant toppling. He could feel the ground sway and buck, forcing him to the side and slightly forward. He took hold of Elizabeth, trying to steady her despite the difficulty he was having with his own feet and quickly found himself thrust towards the wall in front of him. Elizabeth staggered backwards under his weight and he barely had a passing thought of the problem squashing her against the wall could cause before she hit hard and let out a shout of pain. John barely managed to plant his hands on either side of her, stopping himself from landing on top of her.
“Shit,” he cursed sharply, listening to the sound of metal creaking painfully. “You okay?” he asked, more shouted over the sound of the quake and the city’s groan.
“My back’s gonna pay for that later.”
The ground dropped down towards the center and John turned away from Elizabeth to look out the nearest window. Instantly he wished he hadn’t done it, he could see the next tower tipping horribly away from there, looking as though it was either posing for the leaning tower of Pisa picture or having a fight with gravity to stay vertical.
“Come on,” he said, carefully easing her away from the wall. “We need to get down the stairs before they collapse.” Again the planet was playing with his words and as he turned to the stairwell he saw the opposite tower win the gravity battle and straighten up for just a moment. He’d moved only a couple of steps closer when he heard the shouts for them from below and the metal tower swayed over in their direction.
A black streak came up the stairs and before John could react he was being pulled back around the corner and down the corridor. He was jolted to the side hard, hit the wall and then the ground before sound of shattering glass reached his ears and the tower seemed to drop suddenly to one side. He heard Lorne shout something before someone grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him quickly along the floor to another corner.
He looked around, trying to find Elizabeth as he was hurled into a room and the door shut swiftly behind him. Panic quickly set in, he had no idea where Elizabeth was or what was going on. The tower tipped a little more and John slid back along the floor to the door as Sergeant Miles followed him at a staggered run. That was when he realised, the collision of one tower into the other and the still rumbling ground was tipping the tower over. If they’d stayed in the corridor, they’d have been given a great view of the ocean – seeping in through all the windows and cracks.
He turned to Miles, and then turned quickly to look around the room, there was another door on the other side of the room and he realised, perhaps a little later than he should that he was in a lab.
“We need to keep moving,” he said, hoping to high heaven that Elizabeth and whoever was with her had the same idea. He reached out and grabbed the fixed table in the middle of the room and heaved himself up over it to the other side. He could have collapsed there and then, still weak from whatever the virus had been, and he barely had the strength to contemplate the severity of the situation, let alone get out of it. Wondering when he’d turned into McKay, John turned to help Miles up over the side and then indicated the door, almost completely above them now.
It wasn’t until they’d managed to get the door open that John realised they had stopped, and so had the quakes, the tower must have been tilted at an almost horizontal angle over the city, either held up by a few strong pieces of metal or leaning vicariously on something equally as strong. With the door open, he could hear people shouting, Ronon, Hadly and Carson first then Lorne’s voice from closer caught his attention.
“Lab corridor,” he called back. “Need one of the docs here,” he added and John’s mind shot to the fact that with Lorne was Elizabeth. He turned back to Miles as the man pulled off his vest and dropped it onto the side of the table.
“Going up, sir?” he said linking his fingers together to create a cradle. John smiled and slipped his foot into the cradle, exchanged a glance with the man and pushed up for the door-ceiling. He managed to grab the door and pull himself halfway up when his exhaustion caught up with him and thankfully a hand took hold of his arm and effortlessly pulled him up.
“Thanks,” John said, standing up to face Ronon. The Satedan just grinned before flattening himself on the ground to help Miles up. John turned away to look for Elizabeth, setting his eyes on the back of Lorne he felt a slight amount of hope that she was perfectly fine, Lorne had several pieces of shrapnel sticking out of his back and arms, cuts slowly oozed blood down his uniform and Carson was already tending to a long slice in his arm. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen.
Crossing to the open door way where Lorne sat with his legs over the edge, John looked down. Elizabeth was lying across the back of the desk, fixed as the one in his room had been. It looked as though they’d taken a beating on their way up. She had her knees raised, and a hand lying across her stomach and her eyes closed.
“Elizabeth?” he asked, as Ronon and Miles moved to either side of the door frame. She opened her eyes and looked up at him with a faint smile, and as she turned her head a little to look right at him, he noticed the drop of blood slithering down her hairline. He turned to Lorne, almost ready to shout at him.
“Only thing in that room that was fixed was the table, I was a little too slow in moving her under it. She’s only got the cut on her head and probably just a mild concussion – I tried to shield her as much as I could,” Lorne said looking down at the cut on his arm. “Something hit me in the back, heavy and hard. Forced me forward and I didn’t get a chance to steady myself.”
John just nodded and watched as Ronon lowered Miles into the room, his feet landing on either side of Elizabeth.
“You wanna go down doc?” Ronon asked.
“Aye,” Carson said.
John could hear the ‘I don’t really want to’ in his voice, who would want to be lowered down by the wrists. Carson was probably looking forward to it as much as Elizabeth was at being pulled up in much the same way. He didn’t even want to contemplate how Lorne had gotten Elizabeth on top of the table and for that matter, how he’d then pulled himself out of the room with all his cuts.
John watched as Carson was lowered into the room and did a quick check of Elizabeth. Words he didn’t hear were exchanged before both Carson and Miles helped her to her feet. She stumbled as the ground gave a quick shake, rattle and roll and John had never been more thankful for a man’s reflexes as Miles stopped her from stepping off the very small space they were on.
“We really need to get out of here,” Carson said and John nodded along with Elizabeth.
“Let’s get going, then,” Ronon said reaching down into the room.
“Let us do the work,” Carson said to Elizabeth as John settled himself down on the floor. He reached down, taking one of her hands as Ronon took the other and between them they pulled her up. John moved away from the door with her, leaving Ronon to pull the others out, he wanted to make sure she was alright, he hadn’t been there to protect her, and he’d have to find a way to thank Lorne later. Against the wall – or floor, he’d lost track of what it was, he wrapped his arms around Elizabeth, holding her tight.
“I’m alright, John.” She was trying hard to reassure him, convince him that nothing serious had happened. It was a hard sell as everything seemed to go wrong all at the same time for them.
“Let’s go,” Ronon said sharply before he could even consider a response. He pulled himself up off the ground/wall and helped Elizabeth up before following them down the corridor – or what was left of it.
~~**~~
She’d never ached so much in her life, even the broken leg she’d had as a kid was nothing in comparison to the pain she was in right now. Her eyelids hurt to blink, which only went to show that the exhaustion of the last three days had finally caught up with her and was now just playing games with her mentality. Though she had yet to determine just how much discomfort it would take before she passed out – either from pain or the weight of tiredness that lingered.
Crawling through half a tower that was literally, in all ways, shapes and forms facing the wrong direction had been an arduous task, at the least – and the worst thing about it, was she hadn’t been able to pull her own weight. With Carson and John telling her she had to be careful because of the baby and Lorne, Ronon and Miles lugging her up over each section she was surprised any of them were on their feet.
Though she suspected that the person sent to the control room was in just as much pain right now. Thankfully for them, the control tower was still vertical, if you could call the leaning tower of Thule vertical. They obviously hadn’t reached the control room yet, though with the electrical storm interfering with the radios they had no way of knowing when he would get there. Poised ready to go at the bottom of the tower, their supplies distributed evenly between everyone except her and Ronon – who had the glorious job of getting her from point a (where she stood) and point b (on the other side of the wormhole) without extra injury and as quickly as possible.
Everyone time someone mentioned the trip back, she had a random method in her head of just how Ronon Dex, big strong and anything but graceful, would complete that task without squashing her or hurting her. Though the hurting bit would be understandable to a point. They were first on the evac list, by order of Carson, John, Teyla and shockingly Lorne, and all they had to do was wait for the gate to dial, count to three and then run.
She turned back to the window, looking down at the almost pitch black exterior of the city and tried to work out if they’d see the gate dial. Teasingly the first chevron lit up and she squinted at the second to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. When the second came to life she had a strange thought that they would be leaving another person behind.
“How exactly,” she said turning to whoever was nearest, “is Sergeant Banes getting down here to get through the gate?”
“Abseiling, ma’am,” the marine said. “He’s got harness equipment, he’s probably already set up so he can dial and just drop out the window.”
There was another entertaining thought to add to her collection. She could write a novel on all the weird things they’d had to do while here. Everything from being handed down a broken set of stairs to being dropped – literally – into a cradle of arms from about twelve feet up. There was a reason she never became a cheerleader after all.
“Everyone ready?” Lorne called from nearby, making her jump just a little too much and turn to him. For a moment she had to figure out what they were getting ready for, and then she turned back to the window and found that the gate was sporting a stable wormhole. A hand on her arm tugged her towards the door and she didn’t need to look up to know Ronon was getting ready for the go. He set her in the doorway and adjusted his grip on her arm, there was no way she could keep pace with him, she’d trip and fall and he’d end up dragging her unacceptably to the gate. It wasn’t until the sound made her look up that she realised just how they were getting her halfway down the pier and through the gate quickly.
A pair of feet came into view and Ronon tugged her forward. Normally she’d have something to say about being manhandled, but under the circumstances she was willing to give it go in favour of getting the hell out of Thule. The door opened and before she could even contemplate how hard the rain was coming down, she was thrust into it at great speed, Ronon’s tight grip on one arm made her stagger for just a second before the other hand took hold of her and she found herself practically flying down the pier with her feet moving quicker than she knew possible. The gate came flying towards her and barely a pace before it; Ronon turned, wrapped his arms around her and twisted into the event horizon.
She didn’t remember actually closing her eyes, but she had never been so thankful to open them in Atlantis. The sound of the klaxons and the voices of familiar people was comforting and she almost relaxed before more military hands grabbed her and she was pulled off her back – consequently off Ronon – and to one side. A containment suited Stackhouse made sure she was stable where she stood and asked through the muffled helmet if she was okay. She just nodded, thankful that the ground was solid and the air was dry.
The medical team ushered her to the nearest gurney and she let them guide her away as she turned back to the gate. Ronon and Markham, the now unknown third runner, were on the other side of the room and being tended to. The gate gave a daring flicker before Teyla and Carson emerged, looking like drowned rats. Their luggage was taken from them and they were moved to the side and out of the way.
Reaching the bed, Elizabeth relaxed down, letting the medic lay her back and she looked up to find a plastic ceiling blocking her view of jumper hatch. They were still under confinement, but at least they were home. She took a deep breath, hearing two more sets of feet stagger from the gate and closed her eyes.