Stargate Atlantis: Emerald Isle

Chapter 2 - Stranded

Rodney staggered forward, dazed.

"Stop, McKay!" came Sheppard's voice. "It's not safe!"

"I have to see! I have to... " Rodney swallowed, a feeling of nausea swept over him. "I have to see if I can fix it," he whispered.

"Let me go first then," said Sheppard, and Rodney, out of habit, waited while Sheppard moved gingerly forward, testing his weight on every step.

Sheppard stopped as near to the shattered edge of rock as he could safely get.

"What do you see?" called Rodney.

Sheppard waved him forward. "No closer than this," he warned.

Rodney crept over the uneven surface, stopped and looked down into the chasm. The DHD was clearly smashed. He could barely see the gate itself; the settling of the rock meant that it was trapped, wedged securely beneath great slabs of stone. What he could see was that at least one chevrons was buckled, twisted out of place by the huge force exerted on it by the planet itself.

"We need to move," he heard Sheppard say, and he allowed himself to be led away, over the shattered clifftop, on to the short turf and away over the heather-clad crest of the headland.

It was not until they were threading their way down the other side, picking a path between the woody stems that reached their waists in places that Rodney came out of his daze, saying, "Wait! Where are we going? Shouldn't we stay near the gate?"

"Need shelter," said Sheppard succinctly. "Sun's going down."

"Oh. But..." Rodney swallowed, realising how alone they were, how far from home. "Oh."

He followed Sheppard, who marched steadily on ahead, the back of his tac vest familiar from many an off-world hike. And yet now there was a barrier between them. It felt like he was following a cardboard cutout of a soldier. Someone who was there to protect, but that was all. An automaton who would march, keep watch, fight if necessary, but who wasn't really there as a person with feelings.

They trudged on, down a steep incline where rocky outcrops broke uncompromisingly through the dark soil, down where there was no longer a chill sea breeze. Sheppard didn't speak.

"Wait!" Rodney broke the silence suddenly. "There are people, aren't there? The UAV showed people?" No response. Rodney continued, his excited words tripping over one another: "There was a hill fort and a settlement on a tiny island off the west coast, primitive, probably about iron age stage of development. They could help us! We could stay with them til the Daedalus comes. Sheppard! It could be months, we need them."

A terse, "No," came from in front.

"Why not? Sheppard? They'll have food! They'll have shelter! They'll have food!" Rodney persisted, his excitement turning to frustration.

Sheppard stopped suddenly and Rodney nearly ran into him. He turned round and glared.

"Why not?" he said, eye-to-eye with Rodney. "You saw the UAV footage, yeah?"

Rodney nodded.

"Got a good look, didn't we, yeah?" He continued to glare. "So that means they saw the UAV. So, primitive people, already spooked? We turn up - what do they do, McKay, worship us or sacrifice us? Which?" He jabbed Rodney in the chest to emphasize his last word.

"I don't know," Rodney said, quietly, stunned at Sheppard's outburst after so long a silence.

"You don't know," Sheppard paused. "So we stay out of an unpredictable situation." He spoke slowly, firmly. "We lie low. We survive. You," emphasized with another jab in the chest,"let me do my job of keeping you alive," and when he turned away and carried on walking, Rodney was almost certain he heard Sheppard continue, "for a change."