To the north out to sea there were spectacular crashing thunderstorms, but here the skies were clear. Carson Beckett set the jumper down lightly among the dunes along the beach, where a narrow belt of seagrass separated ocean from desert. He cut the power, letting the lights dim to board and emergency lights, and sighed. “We need to talk about this,” he said.
Rodney rubbed his forehead. “There isn’t anything to talk about, Carson! We keep looking until we find them.”
“We can’t search the whole bloody planet!”
“Yes, we can!” Rodney shouted. “And we’re going to until we find them.”
Major Lorne stepped up, standing behind Rodney in the copilot’s seat. “Look,” he said. “We’re not giving up yet. But we’ve got to think this through. Dr. McKay, we’ve been at this more than 48 hours. This is the third night with no sleep for you and me. We’re making mistakes. We’re not making sense. If we keep this up we’re going to fly right over them and miss them, or botch the search and have to cover ground we’ve already covered. We can’t search through the night.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Rodney snapped. “Just go home?”
“That we go back through the gate, switch out for Dr. Kusanagi flying the jumper with Cadman and a second team on board, and the rest of us stand down for ten hours. Dr. McKay, you’ve been going for three days. That’s about the limit.” Lorne put his hand on the back of the chair. “We’re not going to find them by wearing ourselves out and crashing this jumper.”
“Dr. Kusanagi? Please! She’s no pilot,” Rodney scoffed.
“Neither am I,” Carson said. “But nobody seems to remember that. Miko does all right.” He looked at Rodney, his face uplit by the board, dark circles under his eyes. “Rodney, be reasonable. We’ll do a better job coming back fresh in ten hours.”
Rodney closed his eyes. Going back through the gate felt like defeat. It felt like giving them up, abandoning them. They’d never give up on him. When he and Elizabeth had been the prisoners of the Genii leader Kolya during the storm, Sheppard hadn’t even considered ditching him.
And yet he knew he was exhausted. Even with the handy stimulants Major Lorne had asked Dr. Beckett for, he knew he was just about at the limit. This was the point where the mind started to play tricks.
“Ten hours,” Carson said. “Do I need to make it a medical stand down?”
Last year he would have battled it out with Carson, but that was before he’d seen quite so much of other planets. Before he’d been nearly killed quite so many times. This was not a piece of cake, and a mistake could doom his team. Rodney swallowed. Carson was probably right. Rodney shook his head. “No. Back to the gate, people. Let’s radio ahead and tell Kusanagi to get her butt in gear.”
“Cadman, you’ll lead a fresh team,” Lorne said. “You’ve had some sleep in the back, right?”
“I’m good, sir,” Cadman said brightly. “And I’ve been watching the grid. Dr. Kusanagi and I will stick to the grid and report in every hour.”
“That way we’ll keep covering ground,” Lorne said. “And you guys may find them. We’ve covered the entire length of the canal from the crash site to the ocean. It’s time to start expanding the circle. Center on the crash site and make sweeps out at twenty kilometer increments. That ought to get a couple hundred miles out before we relieve you again in the morning.”
“Will do, sir,” Cadman said.
Carson eased the jumper back into the air again, the minutes elongating over the desert in swift flight. When Rodney dialed the gate, the flash of blue fire was visible for miles. It should have been welcoming, but to Rodney it was defeat. I’ll be back, he promised silently. I will be.
It seemed like centuries before Ronon returned, but according to Radek’s watch it was only an hour and twelve minutes. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but Radek was soaked to the skin and long since past wishing for a warm fire or a hot bath. A warm fire seemed likelier, but probably still out of reach.
Ronon walked casually around the edge of a building. He knew better than to creep when such would seem more alarming than simply strolling. The city was full of strangers who might be abroad, but only thieves would be sneaking. “Come on,” he said.
“Come where?”
“Come on.” Ronon disappeared back around the corner of the building, and throwing his hands up in the air, Radek followed.
“Would you care to tell me where we are going?” he hissed.
“This way.” They made their way along the slick streets, dark between the buildings. There were of course no modern streetlights, and only the occasional lit window provided any light outside. The pavers were as uneven as those he’d grown up with in the old parts of cities not wrecked by war, and he liked them no better here than there. They were a pain in the behind quite literally on a motorcycle. He’d skidded into a signpost in rain like this, in Old Town Prague, and torn a ligament in his knee that kept him on crutches for a month.
It was full of these cheerful thoughts that he almost ran into Ronon when he stopped and eased a door open. From within came the distinct smell of goats.
“Lovely,” Radek said.
Ronon ducked in and Radek followed, pulling the door shut behind him.
“I found this place,” Ronon said. “I think the people in the house are gone. The goats are gone. So it’s a good place for us to hole up for a few hours.” It was dark, but Radek could hear the sound of Ronon moving around.
“It is dry,” Radek said optimistically. And if no goats were currently in residence that could only be to the good.
Some dim light came in from a window in the back, showing hay and a coil of rope on the wall, a trough containing stale water.
Ronon sat down on one of the bales of hay. “Here,” he said, reaching under his coat. “I found us some food.”
“As in stole?”
Ronon shrugged. There was half a loaf of brown bread and what seemed to be four hardboiled eggs.
That was not too bad after all. It wasn’t as though he were likely to steal a bowl of stew.
Ronon handed over two of the eggs very fairly, and Radek sat down beside him and began peeling one of them. It really did smell amazingly good, and it tasted even better.
“I found Sheppard and Teyla,” Radek said.
Ronon looked up and blinked. “What?”
“While you were scouting,” Radek said with some satisfaction. “They were prisoners. They were being escorted into the palace under heavy guard. Their hands were tied, but they did not seem injured. Teyla saw me, and I am almost certain that she recognized me. They know we are here.”
“How many men?” Ronon asked, tearing off a chunk of bread and passing the rest to Radek.
“Eight,” he replied. “They were going in the main entrance very heavily guarded. Perhaps they had tried to escape.”
“I would have.” Ronon bit off a bite. “Wish we knew where they were held.”
“I could hardly follow them in,” Radek pointed out. “I thought it best to wait and tell you.”
“Yeah.” Ronon pushed a sodden braid back out of his eyes and nodded thoughtfully. “It doesn’t matter where they’re held tonight. We know where they’re going to be tomorrow. I found the exit from the maze and checked it out.”
Radek leaned back on the hay. It was nice and dry in here. “So what do we have?”
“There’s a courtyard in front of it but no seats. Pretty strange, because you’d think people would want to sit and see the winners come out.”
“Unless they are watching from somewhere else,” Radek said. “As you pointed out before. Which suggests something very strange is going on here.”