Complete December 2, 2007 with Chapter 17:

Could Be Worse - part II
By NotTasha

CHAPTER 9:  SCREWED

“How long will it take,” Ronon said into the radio.

“Hello?” Winfield responded.  “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes!”

“I’m very busy.”

Ronon frowned and growled into the radio, “I need answers!”

“How long will what take?”

“Those skahas.  How long will it take them to reach us?”  The Satedan glanced to Rodney, finding him tilting alarmingly, about to pitch sideways onto the landing.  He turned sharply, grabbing a fistful of Rodney’s jacket, and arrested his fall.

Rodney looked up at him, embarrassment evident in his expression.  “Sorry,” he muttered.

“Forget about it,” Ronon told him.  Still holding onto Rodney, he shucked one arm out of his jacket, changed his hold on Rodney and freed the other arm.  Forming the jacket into a ball, he set it down and let Rodney ease onto the makeshift pillow.  “Okay?” the Satedan asked.

“No!  It’s not okay!” McKay spat out.  “How could this possibly be okay? I can’t move!  I can’t even hold my head up anymore!  I’m so damn screwed!  This is not good!”

Ronon wanted to say that everything would be fine, that it’d be okay and they’d be out of this mess as soon as Sheppard returned with the big robot, but he didn’t like to lie.

“And your coat really kinda stinks,” Rodney continued with his face half buried in the thing.  He saved Ronon from having to say anything.  “Did you know that?  Do you ever wash it?”

Winfield was talking, but Dex had missed most of what he was saying, “… in the vault?  There’s nothing there for them to eat.”  Winfield was clattering about, moving things, searching.  “ The stairway is rarely opened.  Well, they have air at least because… oh…”

“What?”

“Why hadn’t I thought of that?  Of course, that’s how they found their way in! The air shaft,” Winfield stated.  “But wait… that would mean…they’re out here too.”  His voice took on a hollow, frightened tone.

Ronon had only heard as far as ‘air shaft’, and that opened a new hope in him.  “Where’s the airshaft?”  A means of escape!  If he could just access the airshaft, he might have a way to get McKay out of this place.

“It’s in the center of the stairway,” Winfield told him.  “It exits onto the roof of this building.  If they’ve been using the shaft, to come and go, then they must also be in the city!”

Ronon didn’t care.  He stared at the inner wall of the stairway.  The flights of stairs wrapped around a core, spiraling downward.   The exit to the stairway was blocked, but the airshaft wasn’t.

Winfield kept speaking, mostly to himself, “Probably because they move at night.  That’s it!  That’s why they’re in the vault – because of the darkness.  They come out to feed at night.  Probably just taking small game right now.”  There was a pause, and then the Bankier said, “I have to go.  I’ll contact you again when I am able.”

Ronon rapped on the wall, listening, hearing it was hollow.

“Ronon,” McKay called.  “What are you doing?”

“It could be our way out,” Ronon responded, rapping harder.  Yes, definitely hollow inside.  It wouldn’t be very wide, but that would work to his advantage.  If it was big enough that he could fit within, then he’d just have to brace himself against the opposite walls, and he’d be able to ‘shimmy’ his way out – and once out, he could free the others.

“You did hear what he just said,” McKay tried, his voice snide.

“I’m just going to look.  It’s daylight out.  The lizards are probably all in the vault.”

“Probably?” McKay’s voice was high.  “I don’t think we should risk…”

Letting out a low growl, Ronon stated, “We MUST find a way out!  I will check the shaft to see if it’s safe.”

“The robot is coming!  We should wait.  They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

Ronon frowned.  “Robot might not work.  Sheppard didn’t trust the thing.”  He gazed upward, calculating how far they’d need to climb.  He patted the wall.  “This might be the only way.”

“Hate to break it to you…” McKay started, “… but I really don’t think I’m up to climbing.”  Ronon turned toward him, wondering if McKay's voice sounded quieter than it should.   Rodney went on, “I … don’t think I could even manage it, even if I wasn’t…incapacitated.”

Ronon said nothing, just watching Rodney, noting how little he moved.

“It’s… I used to be able to move my head at least.”  McKay paused, grimacing slightly.  Ronon couldn’t help notice that there was a slackness there – as if even McKay’s face was succumbing.    “I can’t move!  I can’t gesture.  I can hardly see because of this stupid coat.  Do you have any idea how aggravating that is?”

"I know," Ronon responded. “I've been hit by Wraith stunners a few times.”

“It’s not like that!” Rodney exclaimed, sounding frustrated.  “I can feel every inch of it progressing.  It’s like I’m dying bit by bit.  It’s… its just so wrong.  Do I sound funny to you?”

Ronon shrugged, not wanting to say it, but there was a thickness to Rodney’s voice.  He squatted down and fixed his coat/pillow so that McKay could see better.

McKay went on, quiet and sluggish.  “What if I don’t get better?  How can I get a point across if I can’t… point, or indicate or… How can I describe something if I’m not able to ‘show’ you what I mean?”

Ronon nodded.  McKay’s hands were always moving about when he spoke, illustrating his words, adding flourish and detail.  Although Dex hated to admit it, the pantomimes had been helpful to understand the constant cascade of words.

But, as Ronon stood, he knew it was the least of his worries.

“Oh my God, what if I can’t work?” Rodney lamented.  “Can’t type? Can’t use a computer?  What good am I then?”

Ronon turned so that he wouldn’t have to face those plaintive eyes.  “We’ll get you fixed up,” he promised.  “After I get us out of here.”  He pulled a knife from his side, drew back his arm, and stabbed it into the wall.  He smiled when the blade was driven to its hilt. The inside walls could be cut.  “I’ll just look inside, and when Sheppard gets back, we’ll figure it out.”

“Careful!” McKay warned.  “Really, be careful.  If one of those lizards bites you too…”

Ronon paused long enough to pull on gloves.  He flexed his hands, showing them to McKay, who seemed to calm slightly at the sight.  That solved, Dex went back to sawing, throwing occasional glances to Rodney, to see that the man was still okay, to ensure that the lizards had not made it to their level.

He calculated, figuring out how long it would take him to climb the shaft, how long it would take the toxin to affect him if he were bitten in the process, how long it would take to free his friends. He could do it, he figured.  If he were to be bitten, he could stave off the paralysis longer than McKay, no doubt.  He’d free them all.

Ronon carved, ripping at the wall, tearing a hole.  He’d check to see that the shaft was clear, then after Teyla and Sheppard returned, he’d cut a hole big enough for him to fit through, and start climbing.

“Okay,” McKay said slowly.  “What are you going to do if you do see lizards in that airshaft?”

“I’ll kill them,” Ronon declared as he reached in his gloved fingers and pulled, feeling the wall give.

“But what if they get out?  They’ll eat to eat me alive.  They’ll just … chomp off bits and pieces. Suck out my eyeballs and feast on my spleen while I …”

Ronon spun about and shouted, “I will NOT let that happen!  Do you see any lizards here?  NO!  It’s going to stay that way!”  He pulled, freeing the square that he’d cut from the wall.  With a grunt he tossed it aside and stepped forward to peer in – only to instantly jump back as dozens of hissing lizards came in at him.

CHAPTER 10:  CHUNG

Teyla studied the laptop for a moment, checked the data that McKay had collected and pushed a few keys.   “It appears that Rodney was able to download very little information.  I am not finding anything we can use.”  Looking to Sheppard, she questioned, “Perhaps this laptop was interfering with your ability to activate the Osoyoos.”

“Could be,” Sheppard admitted.

She shut down the computer and began detaching the cables, glancing from time to time to the still unmoving robot.  “Try it now,” she declared.

Sheppard tried, calling out, “Start! On! Go!”

Teyla frowned as the machine remained silent.  “Are you still wishing that it did not activate?” she questioned carefully.

“No!” Sheppard snapped.  “We need this thing to get Rodney out of here in time.  Of course, I want the damn thing to work.”  He lifted the ring and pointing it at the robot as he closed his eyes and thought, ‘Turn on.  Initiate systems.  Engage!’

The metal man was silent.  Its lights stayed dim.  It didn’t move.

“Damn it!” Sheppard shouted.  “What the hell is the matter with you?  ON!  Turn on!  Osoyoos, Go!  Boot up!  Function!  Start! Begin Processing!”  He swung around and kicked the thing, but the action did nothing beyond making the colonel hop in pain for a moment.

The Osoyoos remained quiet.

“I don’t know what else we could do,” Teyla said mournfully.  “Certainly we are missing something.”  She stood up to search the Osoyoos.

“Are you looking for an on switch?” Sheppard snarled incredulously.  “I think McKay would have tried that already.”

Teyla ignored Sheppard’s tone, knowing that it came from his concern over Rodney.  “I am looking at the symbols,” Teyla told him as she reached up to investigate the marks.  “Rodney did not realize that they matched your ring until he looked at your hand.  Perhaps the symbols are the key.”  She paused and pointed. “This character is different from the others.”

Sheppard moved to stand beside her, seeing the spot at the machine’s ‘neck’.  The decorations encircled the area where its head met its body.  The symbols were all identical, with one exception.  At the back of the Osoyoos’ head, one character was sunken in, while all the others were raised.

“Perhaps,” Teyla started, “ you must physically interact with it to activate it?”

"Okay," Sheppard responded.  So there was an ‘on’ switch.  Sheppard reached up, and inserted the ring into place at its neck.  It was a perfect fit.

“Turn on!” he demanded – and it did.

A glow came to the thing.  Designs and patterns lit all over the metal structure.  Colors flickered across its head.  The ovals that formed its eyes illuminated and then the whole thing rattled, as if shaking off a slumber.

Sheppard let out a breath and he could hear Teyla’s similar response.

Thank God, Sheppard thought as he stepped back and regarded the thing.  It swiveled its head slowly, first turning one way and then the other.  It seemed to survey the room, then it return its attention to him.

“Hey, you… robot,” Sheppard started, addressing the thing.

Little lights flashed throughout the machine.

Sheppard waited a moment, wondering what to expect.  “Ah, can you talk?”

The robot only buzzed softly – whether it was meant as an answer, Sheppard couldn’t tell.  A series of purple lights went off across its cranium.

“Great… great,” Sheppard stepped back from it and ran a hand through his hair.  “How am I supposed to deal with this thing?  The same people who built Atlantis also made this…science fair project?”

Teyla touched Sheppard’s arm and said urgently, “John, we must hurry.”

”Yeah,” Sheppard agreed.  “Robot,” he called, “You’re going to obey me, right?”

The low buzz repeated – was that an affirmative? Or was it a quiet and rising rage, an urge to destroy, to smash all things human?  ‘Don’t smash anything,’ he quickly thought at the thing.  ‘At least… not yet.’

It made no aggressive moves, so Sheppard went on, “Okay…you will climb the stairs, and when you reach the top you will wait further instructions.  Do you understand?”

There was another buzz, a higher tone than before.  Lights flickered again, and the thing turned to face the direction Sheppard had indicated.  Then, as if it had figured out its plan of action, it started walking.

One leg lifted and dropped with a CHUNG, and then the other – mechanisms grinding from lack of use.  CHUNG CHUNG CHUNG. 

Sheppard and Teyla followed, hoping for the best.

When faced with the stairway, it stopped.  Lights glimmered again as it regarded the space, and Sheppard wondered if the hall was wide enough to take on the girth of the robot.

Calculations complete, the big thing took the first step, chipping off bits of material from the step as its heavy foot came down.  Then, it took another step.  With the third, it ground to a halt.  For a moment it was stalled as one of its ‘hands’ became wedged between the handrail and the wall.  It kept dragging itself forward, pulling hard.  The structure creaked and moaned as metal and material was strained, and suddenly -- the rail snapped.  It went off like a gunshot.

Teyla and Sheppard jumped back, protecting their faces from the flying shrapnel.

Freed, and oblivious, the machine continued, stepping up, and up and up. The ruined rail fell in the stairway, crumpled.

CHUNG CHUNG CHUNG, it moved, knocking down tiling and splitting steps.  Sheppard and Teyla kept up – but left a wise distance between themselves and the thing.  It looked top-heavy – all shoulders and hulking arms, with a narrow waist atop those tree-trunk legs. A bad step might send the thing crashing backward.

It came around a turn in the stairs, and once again, rammed its arm in-between the rail and the wall.  Another rail was jerked from the wall with a BAM.

Stupid freak should keep its arms up, Sheppard thought.  It complied.  Raising it arms into a Frankenstein pose.

Great …. Great… a giant dumb-ass robot.  Just what we need.  The Marvel would probably ram right through a wall if we don’t keep an eye on it.

The robot veered, scraping into the wall and raining plaster-like material all around them.

“Robot!” Sheppard shouted, feeling stupid as hell for using 'robot' as a name. 

It stopped again. 

Grumbling, Sheppard tried to form the right words. “You will not smash anything until I ‘say’ for you to smash it, okay?  You’re not going to smash ANYTHING… unless you get a spoken order from me to do so.  In fact, don’t do anything that I ‘think’.  Just do what I say.  Got it?”

The robots lights flashed a series of fuchsia and yellow lights.

Sheppard couldn’t tell if the robot agreed or disagreed with the demand.  It just stood there.  It took a moment for John to realize that it was waiting for a verbal command.  “Right,” the colonel said.  “Keep going up.”

It swiveled its head and did as it was told.

As the robot moved upward, Sheppard glanced behind, to where Teyla followed, walking backward up the stairs.

Feeling his observation, she turned to him for a moment, glanced to the Marvel that kept its monotonous stride upward, then returned her gaze to watching their six.

“It’ll get us out of here,” Sheppard said, wanting to believe it.

Teyla nodded and said, “Let us hope it is strong enough.”

“Yeah,” Sheppard replied, still feeling uneasy about the whole situation.  The damn thing wasn’t a quick mover, but it seemed relentless and would carelessly follow any command.  Sheppard just hoped he could stop it before it reached the others.  He couldn’t trust it to tread lightly around them.

“The skahas,” Teyla said softly. “Do you find it strange that we have not seen them?”

“It’s better that way,” Sheppard replied, wishing the robot would hurry it up a bit.  “I’d rather not see them at all.”

“Still,” Teyla said.  “I find it worrying.”

CHAPTER 11: SKAHAS

Lizards tumbled through the hole in the wall, and the radio dropped from Ronon’s hand as he instantly snatched the sword from his back.  He didn't even have to think.  He slashed, decapitating the first reptiles that spilled through.  He twirled the weapon and twained the lizards that clambered at the top of the opening.

His other hand still clenched the knife, and he stabbed a dozen or so skaha in rapid succession – they stacked up on the blade until they reached the bolster.

“Ronon…”  Behind him, Rodney called.  “Oh no… oh no…”

He turned quickly to see that the scientist was okay.  McKay, still fixed on his side, looked at him with frightened eyes.

Dex returned his attention to the hissing purple and green skahas. His sword swung about, halving lizards.  With the other hand, he sloughed them off his knife, freeing the implement for further slaughter.

And somewhere, far off, he could hear a booming sound -- a thudding that seemed to vibrate from below, through the stairwell.  Something went off with a bang, sounding like a weapon firing.

Sheppard…Teyla…

Ronon set his jaw, realizing there was nothing he could do for them.  He had only one duty at the moment – killing every lizard that skittered through that hole – keeping them from getting to McKay.

The lizards kept coming through, one after the other.  The sword revolved, slicing and mincing, while the knife stabbed.  If a live skaha hit the floor, it was stomped into paste.   Once, he miss-stepped and the radio suffered for it.

He allowed himself a tight smile as the number of emerging lizards slackened.  Yes, he'd keep his promise to McKay. No one was going to be eaten by little lizards today!  And a second later, as a wave of them came at him, swarming out like a bucket thrown through the hole.

Too many!  Too many!  And they seemed to totally ignore the Satedan – having only one goal in mind.

“Ronon!” Rodney yelped, his voice high and horrified.  “Help!  I can’t… I can’t…”

Ronon dropped the sword.  Knowing that the hole was allowing more to enter, he scooped up Rodney’s pack and jamming it into the opening in the wall.  He just hoped it would stay in place and seal the hole.

He didn’t wait to see the result as he ran to Rodney, smashing lizards on his way, and fell to one knee as he grabbed a reptile that had landed on Rodney’s arm.

He quickly squeezed it between his fingers, popping its skull.

The next he ripped from McKay’s side and smashed it into the wall. Another was pulled off his leg and was pummeled into the ground.  He reached, pulling the skahas, grabbing at them as they landed on the scientist.

He could hear Rodney’s panicked breaths, his fear-filled cries, but had no time to notice anything more.  Ronon kept moving, as quickly as he could, gloved hands flying, becoming sticky with the entrails of the massacred.  He jammed a thumb into the gut of one and smashed another with his knee.  There were hundreds of them.

The thudding sound continued below them, like a horrible heartbeat to the stairs.

One skaha landed on the side of Rodney’s face.  McKay flinched, unable to do anything except shriek as the hissing thing skittered across his cheek toward his eye.  Ronon snatched it away and flung it into a wall where it left only a moist spot.

Ronon kept moving, his hands flying as he dispatched them – little creatures that seemed bent on doing nothing except getting to McKay – and eating him alive.

He killed them, reaching, smashing, smearing, squishing, popping, gutting, destroying.  His movements were automatic – just killing purple and green lizards.  Killing them all.  Just one more… and one more… and…

The Satedan’s gaze darted as he sought the next target.  As he realized that they were gone, he met Rodney’s gaze.  For a minute, they did nothing except pant, trying to catch their breath.

“I…” McKay finally whimpered.  “I… think… think that was the… last of them.”

“Yeah,” Ronon responded, glancing down the stairwell, as he listened to the continuing pounding that echoed up the stairs. 

“Think that’s Sheppard and Teyla?” Rodney asked, a tremor in his voice as he obviously tried to calm down.

“Hope so,” Ronon responded, stripping off his messy gloves.  “Wouldn’t want to think about what else would make that noise.”

“The robot sounds… bigger that I thought.  Must be pretty heavy,” McKay stated, trying to talk about anything except the lizards, but his gaze flickered toward a busted up lizard not far from his face.

“Just as long as it busts down that door,” Ronon responded, still feeling annoyed with his inability to do so on his own.  He flicked the closest corpses away from McKay's face.

And any idea of escaping through the airshaft had been ruined.  Ronon checked out his patch.  “Looks like the hole’s still blocked,” he stated, glad that the pack hadn’t shaken loose, that it hadn’t fallen in, that it kept more of the lizards from getting through.

He cursed himself for being so stupid.

Unable to find any skahas in sight, he hunched down beside McKay to search around him to make certain that none were hidden near him.  He tried not to grimace as he considered the fact that one of them might be feeding off the man and Rodney was unable to feel it.

“I think I hate those things,” Dex said offhand as he searched, feeling miserable that he had allowed this to happen.

“That was…” Rodney said quietly, his voice sounding strange and muted, “That was … pathetic.”

Ronon frowned at the statement as he continued hunting.

“Pathetic,” McKay repeated.

“I know,” Ronon finally responded.  It was his fault, after all – a stupid choice.  Shame flooded him.

“You won’t tell the others?” Rodney asked softly.

“Probably should,” Ronon responded, wondering if he should be grateful for McKay’s offer.  He rolled McKay forward slightly, being careful not to hurt him as he looked behind him for any evidence of the creatures, feeling along Rodney’s back to ensure that none had managed to get within his clothing.

“When you do... tell them... could you just leave out the part…” Rodney started, his face turned toward the ground as Ronon held him.  “…where I screamed like a girl?  I… I just couldn’t help it… I…”

Stunned by the request, Dex rolled McKay back onto his side.  Rodney’s eyes were filled with embarrassment.   Ronon said nothing.  The pounding, thudding sound continued in the stairs below them, getting louder.

“I should have been… more… stoic, right?” Rodney tried.  “I just don’t do… brave very well.”

Ronon tried to think of something to say.  “It’s just a bad situation,” he finally pronounced.

“Yeah,” McKay agreed.  He forced a laugh and added, “But… it could be worse.”

Ronon frowned.  “Don’t see how.”

“Could be raining,” McKay added, trying to smile, but his expression seemed muddled.

Ronon, not sure how to respond to that said, “I think we got all of them.  I’m going to check to make sure we got this hole plugged up good.”

“K,” Rodney responded.

“Tell me if you see any more,” Ronon added.

“Yeah,” was Rodney’s reply, but his voice sounded so distorted now, Ronon could hardly recognize it. 

Dex let out a heavy sigh as he stood to check the pack.

And the floor continued to shake.

888888888888888888

“Robot!” Sheppard shouted.  “Robot, stop!”

The Osoyoos complied, turning its head again to blink its blinky lights at him.

“Wait here,” Sheppard ordered.  “Stay still…”

Since silence seemed to be the best response he’d get, Sheppard turned to Teyla, telling her, “I’m going ahead.  Need to check on the others and see if we can get them moved out of the way.”

“Yes,” Teyla replied.  “I will remain here and keep an eye on… it.”

Sheppard moved forward, squeezing through the space between the robot’s hips and the wall, glad that it still held its arms in front of itself.  It swayed a little to one side, probably reading his thoughts when he wanted a little more room.

“Ronon!” Sheppard shouted up the stairs.  “McKay?”

“Hey,” Ronon’s voice came down.  “That you making all the noise?”

“Yeah, we got the robot.  I’m coming up.”  He came to a halt as he made the final turn and caught sight of the last landing.  It was splattered, spooged and stained with bloody unrecognizable bits.  “What the hell?” he called out.

“Be careful where you step,” Ronon told him.  “There’s guts everywhere.”  The Satedan was standing beside Rodney, and was splattered with entrails himself.

“What happened?” John asked, climbing to their level.  He could distinguish some of the stains now – lizard parts – purple and green tails, legs, bodies, heads and gooey innards strewn everywhere.

“Skahas,” Ronon said tersely.  “I let them in.”  And he nodded to the pack that had been stuffed in the wall.

“Go figure,” Sheppard responded, “And… you had a good reason for this?”

Ronon shook his head, and Sheppard couldn’t help note the look of guilt that crossed the big man’s face.  “They came after him,” Ronon said, jerking his head toward McKay.  “It’s what they do.  Incapacitate then…”

There was no need to go any further.  John squatted down beside Rodney, trying not to look at the split and stomped lizard remains.  God, how horrible that must have been for Rodney – for Ronon.

Only McKay’s eyes seemed to work as he followed John’s movements.  It was obvious that his condition had worsened since John had last seen him, and it hurt his chest to see Rodney like this, paralyzed and totally helpless.

“Hey,” Sheppard greeted.

“Hey…” McKay responded, his mouth moving as if it were full of Novocain.  “You’re back?  Teyla?” His eyes darted, looking for her on the stairway.

“She’s with the robot.  He’s just a flight or two down.  He’s big and he’s stupid, but we got him moving.  We’re going to get you out of here.”

“Yeah…” McKay garbled.  “Good.”  His eyes searched, piercingly.  It seemed to take great effort for him to say, “Think it’ll open up that door?” 

Rodney looked so – weird, like a not entirely human version of McKay.

“Oh yeah,” Sheppard assured.  “He’ll rip a hole right through that place.  Just hang in there a bit.  We’re almost out of here.”  And he stood to face Ronon.  “We have to move McKay.  That robot barely fits in the stairway and I don’t trust it to step around anyone.  That landing is pretty wide,” he said, pointing the level beneath them.  “Think you can …”

Before Sheppard could answer, Ronon was already stooping down, and grasping onto Rodney.  Sheppard moved fast to help, letting Ronon lift McKay’s upper body, while Sheppard followed with the legs.  He managed to snag discarded Ronon’s coat with one arm.

Rodney felt cold, Sheppard realized.  Almost as if he were already dead, and John sought out Rodney’s face again to ensure that he was still with them.

Those honest blue eyes still followed him, looking terrified and mortified.  “This is almost over, Rodney,” Sheppard promised they maneuvered him.  “We’ll get you to Keller and she’ll fix you up.  I promise, we’ll get you back to Atlantis.”

The muscles of Rodney’s face flickered and Sheppard had the feeling that McKay had tried to nod.  Failing that, he simply said, “Sure.”

At the larger landing, Ronon pulled Rodney into the corner, holding onto him and keeping him upright.  There would not be enough room to let him lay down comfortably.  Sheppard tossed Ronon the coat, saying, “He’s cold.”

“Yeah,” Ronon responded sadly, and then with a bit of forced bravo, addressed Rodney, saying, “Come on, little man, think you can fit in my clothing?”

Rodney made a disgusted grunt as Ronon pulled the coat around him like a blanket, holding him up the whole time.  “Seriously…” Rodney said slowly, his words so garbled and soft, it was difficult to understand him.  “We have a laundry system.”  He drew in a breath and whispered, “Use it.”

Ronon allowed himself a smile, apparently glad to hear the abuse. “It’d probably fall apart.  You look good in it.  I’ll getcha one like it next time I’m at a market.  They might have to make it special though, don’t know if they make them in size ‘tiny’.”

“Har har,” Rodney responded, the words barely more than an exhale.  Swamped in the big jacket, he leaned as deadweight in Ronon’s arms.  His head dipped and his eyes were on the floor as if he were embarrassed to look at either of them.

Dex nodded to Sheppard, “Okay, we’re ready,” he said casually, but his gaze said, ‘hurry’.

Sheppard nodded sharply and ran down the stairs to where Teyla waited with the robot.  She stood, behind it, watching anxiously as John ran toward her.

“I heard Ronon, but did not hear Rodney,” she quietly stated, watching Sheppard’s expression.

“He’s still with us.  Just not talking very loud,” Sheppard told her.  “We have to get this done, now.  Robot,” he changed his tone as he addressed the Osoyoos.

Its lights blinked.

“Follow me.  Stop when I tell you to stop,” the colonel demanded and started up the stairway again.  The robot clanked after him with Teyla behind.

Sheppard hurried, turning around one flight of stairs to the next.  Ronon waited just above on a landing, holding onto Rodney, keeping him out of the way of the massive robot.  The scientist gazed at them, watching the robot with eyes that reflected fascination, but a face that expressed nothing.

Sheppard hated it – hated to see Rodney so debilitated.  It was wrong – it was as wrong as activating a giant killer robot or being attacked by candy-striped lizards.

This planet sucked.  There was no doubt about it.

Turning sharply, John faced the robot again.  “Stop,” he ordered.  The robot stopped.

“See that?” Sheppard stated, indicating the blocked exit.  “I need you to open the door and bust through the barricade that’s on the other side.  And you’re going to be cautious as you walk past us.  No one gets hurt. Do you understand?”

Another series of flickers coursed over the thing and it lurched forward.  Sheppard stepped quickly, squeezing in beside Ronon and grabbing hold of the slumping Rodney.  They turned, keeping Rodney against the safety of the wall, and squeezed themselves onto the landing as the Osoyoos lumbered by.

There was little room, and the two held their breath.  Rodney, his face pressed into the wall, uttered an unhappy, “This bites.”

The robot eased by, whisking alongside them.  Once past them, it turned and started up the last flight of stairs.

It galumphed, one step at a time, clunking its way up.

Teyla joined them as Ronon and Sheppard eased Rodney back to the ground.  She looked distraught as she was finally able to see the state he was in.

But, as she moved closer, she smiled, and said softly, “Rodney, we will be home soon.”

“Sure,” Rodney said with difficulty.  She wasn’t certain if he was questioning her or agreeing.  She pressed a hand to the side of his face, trying to impart only hope and certainty.

Ronon stood beside them, protectively, as Sheppard stepped away, following the Osoyoos to keep an eye on it.  There was no telling what would happen when the thing started attacking the door.

The big robot shambled upward, its wide shoulders scrubbing the walls as it clumped at every step.  Then, it reached the upper platform, with only the barricaded, ruined door ahead.

Something caught, something tugged at its shoulder.

“Stop the thing!” Ronon suddenly shouted, grabbing Sheppard by the shoulder.  “Stop it!”

“Robot, stop!”  Sheppard shouted, but it was already too late.  The pack pulled free, hanging jauntily from the robot’s shoulder – and the hole to the airshaft and the lizard super highway was once again open.

CHAPTER 12: OUT!

“No!” Ronon bellowed as he lurched forward, rushing to catch the pack before it hit the ground.

The robot had stopped in place at John’s command, as Dex snagged the backpack.  He was spinning about to put it into place when a voice called out, echoing in the airshaft.

“Hello?  Hello?  Is someone talking?  Is that you, Ronon?”

Ronon paused, holding the pack by a strap as he gazed at the hole. There was no sign of reptile intruders, and a strange chemical smell wafted from the airshaft.

“Hello?” The voice called again.  “Are you there?”

Still warily eyeing the hole, Ronon responded with, “Winfield?”

“Ronon, you’re there!  Thank the Ancestors!” the voice echoed back at him. “I’d tried using the talking device, but my calls went unanswered and I gave up.”

Ronon glanced to his feet, at the remains of the radio.

The Bankier continued, “I’ve sprayed the inside of the air shaft with the repellent, but I fear that may have simply sent the skahas to the bottom level.  You’d best be cautious.”

“Repellent, huh?” Sheppard asked as he joined Ronon.

"He's some sort of exterminator," Ronon explained in a low voice.

"You don't say," Sheppard responded.

“Colonel Sheppard?” Winfield questioned.  “Yes, I was able to mix the repellent quickly and had to use the entire batch.  There wasn’t time to create the killing potion, but it was enough to ensure the skaha will no longer use the airshaft.”

“But they might start using the stairway,” Sheppard added.

“Oh,” Winfield responded.  “Yes, that’s true.”

“I’ll check it out,” Ronon declared.

Sheppard nodded to Ronon.  “Don’t go too far.  We’re getting out of here.”

Ronon turned and dashed down the stairway. 

“Winfield,” Sheppard called.  “I need that barricade moved.  Now!”

“No, sorry,” the voice returned.  “Like I told Ronon, the building has been emptied.  I’m on the roof right now so that I could access the shaft.  I doubt the barrier could be moved if we tried, after what you did to it with your weapon.”

“Fine!” Sheppard grimaced, hoping that he would have heard better news.  “We’re busting through.”

“What? How?”

Sheppard grinned slightly. “We activated your Osoyoos.”

“Activated?  Do you mean, it is walking?”

“More like stomping, but yeah… it’s walking.”

“The Osoyoos is walking?” Winfield said, sounding perplexed and a little alarmed.  “Is that wise?”

Sheppard looked to McKay, sick and still and undoubtedly dying.  How much longer would he be able to breathe? 

“Wise?  Probably not,” Sheppard returned.  “But we have to get out, and this is all we could come up with.”  He then addressed the robot, calling, “Osoyoos, force open this door.”

And the robot, blinking pinkishly, complied.

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The world seemed to have closed down around him, focused to nothing outside of what he could see and hear.   And his vision was limited to what was directly in front of him. Rodney was broken – little more than an active mind inside a body that would not work.

Even his jaw felt strange, his tongue like rubber.  Forming words would take all his concentration.  Only his eyes still moved with any ease, but it was getting harder to keep them open.

He watched the stairway, where Ronon had disappeared, and where the awful skahas were certainly congregated.

It had been terrifying, horrifying, to be so damn helpless.  He’d never felt so vulnerable before.  If not for Ronon, he would have been eaten alive, and now the man had run down to face off the creatures again.

If Ronon were to be bitten…

Rodney didn’t even want to think of that possibility, yet he continued to gaze down the stairway because his head wouldn’t move and he had nowhere else to look.

A clatter diverted his attention, a dreadful rending of metal.  The robot!  Sluggishly, he tried to change his gaze, trying to see what was happening, but he couldn’t move to get a better view.

Crashing, tearing, smashing, the sound filled the corridor as the Osoyoos battered against the door and the barricade.

If he could only see… He tried.  He tried with all his might to change the angle of his head, only a little, but his head felt as if it was fixed in a vice.

The banging continued.  Metal screeched and clanged.  Sheppard was shouting at the robot, urging it onward.

Rodney wanted to see, but his head just wouldn’t move.  It was so damnably frustrating. He tried to flex a hand, to bring up an arm to leverage himself, but nothing worked, nothing responded to his demands.  He wanted to see.

The Osoyoos smashed.  The Osoyoos busted and broke and battered.  It must be fantastic! He was so damn close!

This sucked.

Would he always be like this?  Forever trapped in a body that refused to work for him?  Unable to even turn his head an inch?  He’d be unable to do anything, dependant forever on others, stuck in shell.  How could he work?  There was so much that he needed to do.

What would they do with him if he couldn’t contribute?

Stephen Hawking faced this every day, right?  Look at what he’s accomplished.  He’s a genius.  Everyone respects him… but it’s so damn terrifying.

Please, he thought.  Please.  I just want to see.  Is it that so hard?  I just want to see the Giant Killer Robot rip a hole in the door.  It would be so cool.

He saw nothing but the downward stairway.

It was as frustrating as hell.

The smashing continued, Sheppard shouting commands that seemed to amount to little more than, “Go!  Go!  Go!"

The robot banged and crashed and tore.  The ground beneath him might have been shaking but he could feel nothing.

Suddenly, Sheppard shouted, “I think he’s almost through.  Robot, just keep going!  Get that thing out of the way!  Now!  Go!  Smash that thing there.”

And with another screech of metal, Sheppard shouted, “Yes!  That’s it!”  He sounded excited and it made McKay feel even worse that he’d missed out on the show.  “He’s through!  We can get out!”

Great! McKay thought.  Let’s go.  Let’s get out of here – now – please.  I can’t do this.  This is torture.  This is torment.

“Ronon!” Teyla shouted from somewhere nearby.  She’d been so close that McKay would have jumped if he were able.   Where was she? Right beside him the whole time?  “Hurry, Ronon, we can leave.”

Ronon came running up the stairway, and McKay would have smiled for the chance to actually see something.  The Satedan, splattered in fresh gore, paused when he realized McKay was looking at him, and then ran past Rodney, out of sight. 

“The skahas are coming up the stairs,” Dex announced.  “I’ve been trying to stop them, but there are too many.”  He sounded frustrated.

“Time to go,” Sheppard said from above.

Ronon’s face suddenly came into view.  He squatted down and asked, “Ready?”

Rodney tried to form a response, managing only a thick, “Okay.”

“Let’s go,” Ronon said brusquely.

There was a moment of dizzying movement, and suddenly he found himself upside-down, his face pressed against leathery material.  Something fluttered near his face and he realized it was Ronon’s coat – still wrapped around him like a blanket.

“I got him,” Ronon announced.

“How’s he doing?” Sheppard asked.

Rodney wanted to snap something clever, but his mouth wasn’t working well and he could see nothing now with his face against Ronon’s back.

“We must hurry,” Teyla announced.  Her hand must have been on his neck. He’d never felt the pressure of it, and had only seen her hand as she pulled it away.  “Now, Ronon. We must move quickly.”

And then they were moving, his face bumping against Ronon’s back.  He realized that being in a fireman’s carry should have been uncomfortable.

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She fought.  She struggled.  She tried for all she was worth to free herself from the grip of the Osoyoos.  One metal hand was clamped tightly over her and no matter now hard she worked against it, the grip would not loosen.

It stomped, it raged, it tore and savaged the machinery around it.   It seemed aimless, constantly changing directions and intents.

Another large piece of equipment fell and she cried out involuntarily as it struck her hard on the shoulders.

Ronon was behind her.  He’d given up on firing on the thing, and was now trying smash it across the knees with a metal bar that was as thick as his arm.  He swung, hard.

The bar impacted with a WANG, and Ronon shouted as the action resulted in nothing outside of vibrating his shoulders down to his spine.  The robot didn’t stop.

There were other people in the factory now.  Teyla caught sight of them as the Osoyoos spun around.  She saw Keremeos shouting angrily and throwing things.  A metal tool smacked the robot’s head and she ducked again, trying save her own cranium.

She felt dizzy and sick.  She knew she’d been hit far too often. One of her arms was probably broken, a victim of a falling beam.  She struggled against the nausea as the machine continued to move.

She saw Solly who looked enraptured as he watched the berserk Osoyoos.  There were others, but she did not see Winfield.

The Bankiers were shouting to each other as they tried to block the robot, to herd it one way or another.

They failed.

Teyla twisted, trying to see where they were going.  One Bankier stood in front of the Osoyoos, waving hands shouting at the thing – he wore red.  “Osoyoos!  I command thee!” he shouted.  “Stop!  In the name of the Kaleden, stop!”

The robot did not listen.  She yelled at the man to get back, to get away, but he did not move and the big robot just smashed over the unfortunate man.  Teyla gasped, not wanting to be horrified.

“This must end!” she demanded. The Osoyoos stormed onward, tossing machinery hither and yon as people scrambled.

Ronon was beside her, doing what he could to stop the machine.  But everything failed.  The machine was unstoppable.  It wouldn’t cease until everything in the factory was torn to pieces.

And then where would it go?

Suddenly, Sheppard was sprinting toward her.  She called out his name as the thing spun her about.  John stopped, and yelled something about the ring.

“The ring?” she called back, wanting to understand, but the cacophony was impenetrable, her head hurt too badly, one arm wouldn’t move without sending out electric bolts of pain.

“We need to turn it off with the ring!” Sheppard shouted as he tried to get around the mishmash of damaged machines. 

He could not get close.

“John!” she shouted.  “Toss it to me!”

Sheppard had the jewelry off his finger in an instant and drew back, waiting until the right moment, when the Osoyoos had paused at the base of what looked like a massive water tank.

He flung the ring just as the robot stepped forward.  It reached toward the huge tank as Teyla strained, her one good arm reaching.

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Rodney tried, but it was too hard to keep his eyes open. He struggled, but there was nothing to see, and his eyelids were leaden.  Defeated, he let them close.  He could feel nothing.  It was as if his body was gone.

All he had left was sound.  He could still hear.

Things still smashed, still crashed.  The Osoyoos was moving further away.  Ronon and Teyla were shouting to each other, and then Sheppard’s voice joined in.

They would stop the robot, he told himself.  They would succeed.

They’d save Teyla.

There were other voices, and he wondered where they’d come from.

Breathing was getting difficult.  He found that he had to consciously draw each breath.  It was as if his lungs had forgotten how to work.  He couldn’t feel his chest and the act of breathing felt alien to him.. 

The voices were getting garbled, the sounds fainter and he strained to hear – to hear anything.  What were they saying?  Why were they so far away?

He could hardly distinguish one noise from another.  In the distance, it was all slipping into white noise.

Even the crashing of the marauding robot seemed to fade.  Everything was fading.

He listened, willing himself to hear, because his eyes wouldn’t open and his ears were all he had left.  He listened… he listened.

And then a sound became distinct to him.  It was soft, so it must have been very close.  What was it? -- a slithery, slickery sound -- the padding of feet.

He tried to understand.  What could that be?

A quiet hiss.  A little ‘thunk’.  Another.  Something was hitting another surface.  Perhaps, something was jumping? Landing?

It bustled.  They hustled, very near.  There were many of them.  Getting closer all the time.

Thunk and thunk and thunk.  Very quietly.

He listened, hearing the quiet smacking, a ripping, a tearing – little teeth – little mouths working – biting –

Eating.

Oh my God, he thought, and no… no… no…

And then even his hearing went away.  He was left senseless, in the dark, alone, with the thought that tiny creatures were eating him alive.

And he had to keep breathing.

Continue to Chapter 14:

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