He shook his head. “Yeah, well, I think that ship has already sailed.” The colonel shot a look over his shoulder. “Lorne! Get your men in here, secure these people.”
As the major spoke into his radio, there was a commotion at the other entrance to the barn. Aaren entered, his face like thunder, together with a knot of his guards and several marines trailing with him. “Sorry, sir,” said the sergeant with them, “I tried to stop him.”
“Just for once, Rush, would it kill you to bring me some good news?”
Aaren waggled a finger in Sheppard’s face. “Soonir has escaped! You allowed this to happen, Colonel, with your delays and indecision!”
“You jumped the gun,” Sheppard replied. “That’s on your head, pal.”
The elder gestured at the sick scattered around the room. “Take the prisoners back to the settlement.”
“They aren’t militants,” said the tall rebel. “They’re our families, afflicted with the sickness that you pretend does not exist!”
“You lied to me,” Sheppard said, in a low, dangerous voice. He took a step closer to Aaren and the elder’s men came forward; in the same moment Lorne, Rush and the other marines had their weapons raised. “This place is packed with non-combatants. You wanted me to raid a hospital.”
“The militants escaped in the confusion,” Aaren retorted. “We know they have an underground network of passages in this area. They must have slipped away…” He straightened and fixed Sheppard with a hard gaze. “You will help us track Soonir. I saw your devices. You will be able to find him for us.”
The colonel grunted. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” He turned to Lorne and shook his head. “Secure your weapons. We’re done here. Assemble our people and head back to the gate.”
The major saluted and moved off.
“You are going to leave?” Aaren was surprised.
“Not all of us.” Sheppard replied. “Not until we find Ronon and Teyla.” He nodded to McKay and Keller. “Come on.”
Jennifer glanced around the room, shaking her head “Colonel, these people —”
“— Are not going to be helped by you staying here.” He spoke over her. “You’re going back to Atlantis. And just in case you’re not certain, that’s an order, Doctor.”
“John,” McKay began to speak, but he was silenced by an uncompromising glare from his friend.
“We’re not getting dragged into another local fight, Rodney. This has happened way too many times on my watch, and it’s not gonna happen again here.” He turned toward the yawning doors.
Aaren snarled. “Sheppard! I am a senior elder! You cannot walk away from me!”
He answered without turning around. “Watch me.”
The bald man halted in front of a larger set of hatch doors and pointed at it. His face retained the same bland nothingness; it was impossible for Teyla to read anything from him, no emotional cues, not a single spark of self. She chewed her lip. Even the Asuran Replicators, pure machine life forms, copied human nature enough to have expressions and emotions visible on their faces. The Athosian felt a moment of sorrow for the man; was this mindless state the condition of every Heruuni who became one of the Taken?
Ronon gestured at the doors and they parted; beyond was a short length of corridor, apparently undamaged, ending in another hatchway. The man continued to point. “That way?” Dex asked. “Open it.”
By way of assent, the bald man walked on, toward the other doors. Ronon followed him, but Teyla hesitated just inside the threshold. Something seemed…wrong.
Ronon eyed her. “Teyla? What is it?”
“I don’t know —”
The ellipse in her hand glowed, flashing a green-red. Before she could react, the doors they had just stepped through slammed shut. She heard a faint squeal as a pressure seal locked.
A sudden and terrible thought formed in her mind. “Oh no.” She launched herself toward the bald man, who was doggedly working a crystalline touchpad in the far wall. “Stop him!”
She was not quick enough. The far hatch clicked and began to open. From nowhere, a horrific tornado blasted through the chamber, knocking the three of them to their feet. The wind was made of ice and razors and it tore at Teyla and Ronon, dragging them across the smooth floor.
Panting, the very breath in her lungs being sucked out through her mouth, Teyla chanced a glance over her shoulder towards the ever-opening doors. Out beyond them, she saw a stark monochrome landscape; a mottled grey-white landscape, a black sky, and hanging in it the globe of a clouded brown world ringed by a glittering halo.
Heruun.
Then her eyes began to prickle as needles of pain lanced into them, the fluid in the soft tissues dropping toward freezing point. Teyla saw the bald man tumble silently out through the widening gap, to tumble into the white dust beyond. A stream of reddish fluid followed him down, droplets from his nostrils and mouth becoming crimson pearls as they flash-froze in the vacuum.
She tried to scream, but the wind was too loud. The terrible chill crept into her, and she was dimly aware of something holding on to her, a strong hand around her wrist. Every movement an effort now, Teyla looked back to see Ronon gripping her arm, his other hand locked around a curved stanchion in the wall. His bare arms were covered in patches of frost, and his beard was turning white. She saw his lips moving.
Hold on.
Teyla managed a nod, but it was all she could do. The sudden, punishing cold was leaching the life from her, draining away her energy. She felt icicles of blood forming on her cheeks, cutting into her. All she could think of was Kanaan and their unborn child.
Her vision fogged, turned grey.
Turned black.
Chapter Six
The landscape was a rusty blur through the canopy of the Puddle Jumper, broken only by the low clumps of trees and long lines of sharp-spined hills. The heads-up display projected a ghostly grid of map lines, marking the small vessel’s passage across the search zone with a blinking blue glyph.
“Coming up to the edge of zone two,” said McKay. He gave a minute sigh. “No reading.”
“Right.” Sheppard ran his hands over the Jumper’s controls and it banked to starboard. “Moving to zone three.”
They’d been up for an hour or so, and the two of them had spoken little in that time. Sheppard had to admit it was actually quite a novelty to be in a room with Rodney McKay and actually have the guy be quiet for more than five minutes at a stretch.
McKay sighed again, tapping at the portable computer on his lap. Okay, so he wasn’t actually being totally quiet. He kept doing the sighing thing, and it was starting to grate on Sheppard as time went on.
When he did it again, it was like the colonel’s tolerance meter suddenly flipped from full to empty. He shot the scientist a glare. “If you have something to say to me, Rodney, spit it out. Otherwise, the next time you sigh, I’m dropping you off in the middle of the next lion pack I find.”
McKay gave him an affronted look in return. “I can’t help it if I exhale noisily. But now you mention it, yes, maybe I do have something on my mind.”
Sheppard kept his eyes on the horizon. “Well?”
Rodney took a breath and launched into the speech he’d clearly been holding in since they took off from the Stargate. “Keller was right. These people need our help.”
“Our people need our help,” Sheppard countered. “Teyla and Ronon, remember them? They’re the priority. Two Atlantis team members in harm’s way —”
McKay broke in. “Yes, I heard what you said to Colonel Carter, you don’t have to repeat it. And clearly she agrees with you, otherwise she wouldn’t have authorized the use of this Jumper.”
Sheppard frowned. He felt fatigued and worn out by the heat and the events of the past day. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept, and it was making him irritable. He glanced at McKay again. “Don’t make me out as the bad guy. Tell me you’re not going to play the ‘civilians versus the military’ card. Keller’s still a newbie out here and from her I could forgive it, but you? After everything we’ve been through, I thought you knew me better than that.” He paused. “And for the record, Carter was not an easy sell about the Jumper.”