"Deep breaths, Rodney," John advised, assisting Radek to a waiting gurney. "It's just his eardrums. They'll heal."
"And he is right here," Radek grumbled, fixing Rodney with a poisoned glare, though there didn't seem to be any real malice in it.
"You can hear me?"
"Earless creatures in neighboring star systems can hear you."
"Excuse me for demonstrating some concern for a member of my team."
Rodney's distress was genuine, John could tell, but there was more to it than that. The problem with an ego like Rodney McKay's was that it usually led him to assume a disproportionate share of responsibility in both good times and bad. It wasn't his fault that a mission he'd foisted on Radek had gone to hell in a hand basket, but that probably wouldn't stop Rodney from sending himself on a guilt trip.
Radek's acerbic response suggested that maybe the Czech sensed the same thing. "You admit my invaluable skill. Also, I am the only person willing to work with you."
That snapped Rodney back to form in short order. "Oh, now I know there's brain damage."
"Please excuse me, but I need to throw up now."
From the expression on Radek's face, he wasn't speaking figuratively. Taking that as a cue, John nudged Rodney. "We'd better get to the control room."
"Colonel," called Mueller. John turned back and went over to where the German was being treated. "Dr. Beckett… after the Ancient took him over, he-ah, she pulled something off the stasis pod and took it in the jumper with her."
"The cylinder-looking thing? The sergeants said something about it" John had dismissed it earlier, but he realized now that it might have been their introduction to the machine Ea had men tioned. "Try to remember as many details as you can about it. I think we're going to need them."
He followed Rodney down to the control room, where Elizabeth greeted them with a look of helplessness. "I can't get through to Ea," she said. "I've told her how many people she's threatening, I've promised her everything under the sun, but she's determined that Atlantis has to be destroyed."
"Except she's heading for the mainland, not the city," Rodney pointed out. "She must know of something there that has the capacity to wipe us out."
"Unless it's something she took with her," John said, Mueller's description fresh in his mind. "Like the cylinder."
Rodney was all but bouncing from one foot to the other. "By all means, try not to strain yourself with specifics."
"Mueller and the sergeants saw her take something off the pod. You didn't hear him just tell us about it?"
"I may have had a few other things on my mind at that moment, thank you. Okay, a cylindrical machine." Rodney's fingers tapped a staccato rhythm against his leg. "Did they describe it?"
"Underneath the ten-thousand-year-old oysters, you mean? Mueller said it was long."
"Well, that's astute. Long." His fingers stopped tapping and rolled into a clenched fist.
"Atlantis, Jumper Four." Major Lome's voice sounded over the com. "We have Jumper Three in sight. She's headed out over the main Athosian camp."
Looking at her senior advisors, Elizabeth asked, "Do we have any idea what Ea might be able to do with this machine?"
"Unfortunately, nobody got all that great a look at it." John brushed sweat out of his eyes and took the opportunity to strip off his HAZMAT suit. The damned things were effective but suffocating. "What I want to know is why she's heading inland if her plan is to destroy Atlantis. And how she thinks she can pull that off with a machine the size of a piece of drainpipe."
"Size isn't everything," Rodney declared. "And don't even think about cracking a joke-"
"Too easy." The course of action was unequivocally clear in John's mind. "So we're going to have to stop her."
"How exactly do you propose to do that? I'm sure no one has failed to notice that she's an Ancient, and she has a jumper."
"Which is heavily shielded." Elizabeth clasped her hands in front of her, a gesture that John recognized as the prelude to an unpleasant decision.
The resulting silence was telling. John knew, as the others surely did, that they had only two options: force Ea to land, or use the firepower of the Daedalus to blow the jumper out of the sky. Still pulling the HAZMAT suit off his foot, he nearly lost his balance upon remembering that the Daedalus was currently grounded. So much for options. With a last fierce tug, he threw the garment aside. Of course nobody wanted to be the one to point out that any action they took to stop Ea could kill Carson Beckett. This was an Ancient that had taken over the doctor's mind and body. For all anyone knew, Carson had died at the bottom of the ocean.
"Jumper Three is slowing," Lome announced, drawing all eyes to the control room's main screen.
Rodney leaned down to type a command into the computer, and a topographical map appeared. "Ea's landed on the edge of that rift valley in the mountains above the Athosian camp."
"Lome, get down there," John ordered.
"Roger that, sir "
"We are nearly there as well," Teyla informed them from Jumper Two. "I have Dr. Beckett in sight. He is on the ground, running towards a deep chasm."
Lome continued, cautious with his choice of words. "Colonel, now would be a good time to tell us our rules of engagement."
Elizabeth lifted pained eyes to John, and his chest tightened as he responded. "This is an imminent, severe threat, Major. Do what you have to do."
Anew blip suddenly appeared on the screen. "Too late," declared Rodney. The negative number beside the blip was steadily grow ing. "Something's drilling into the ground at an incredible rate!"
"Ea, can you hear me?" Elizabeth called. No answer came. "Major Lome? Teyla?"
"Coming in now," replied Lome.
"We have landed by Jumper Three" Teyla's voice sounded strained when she added, "There is no sign of Dr. Beckett"
For some time a tense quiet reigned over the control room. At last, Teyla's voice returned, even more apprehensive than before. "I fear he has gone into the chasm."
John glanced at Elizabeth, seeing memories of the same experience mirrored in her expression. If Ea was dying, she likely saw Carson's body as expendable, something to be used up and thrown away.
They heard Lome giving instructions to the Marines to spread out. A few moments later, Teyla reported, "Ea appears to have thrown herself into the ravine along with the machine. However, Dr. Beckett's body has landed on a ledge not far below us."
"Is Carson alive?" Elizabeth brought her clasped hands to her mouth as they all waited for Teyla's reply.
Trying to quell his frustration at not being out there, John steeled himself for the worst.
"It appears so. Dr. Beckett's body is convulsing."
So it had been like the Cohall pod. John's relief at knowing the doctor was alive was tempered by the knowledge of what Beckett was going through now. The term `agony' might have been a little melodramatic, but it was more the sensation of dying without actually dying that still freaked him out. Beckett was going to be in serious need of that drink when he got back.
A weak voice with a familiar accent could be heard over the radio. "Oh, God. .what have I done?"
"Carson?"
There was no immediate reply, and Teyla spoke up again. "I believe Ea has died."
"Maybe," Ronon put in gruffly.
Elizabeth's knuckles were white as she gripped the edge of the nearest console. "Can you get to Dr. Beckett?"
"No problem, ma'am," Lome answered. "Give us a minute to set up a rappelling line."
When the Marines reached the doctor, they reported his condition as stable. He didn't seem to be suffering any broken bones. And while the deep lacerations on his arms had resulted in some blood loss, the pain in his voice was clearly not physical. "I left them," Carson said in a broken voice, devastated. "They were begging me-they needed me!"