Fic: City Exploration Challenge: The Black Room by springwoof
TITLE: The Black Room
AUTHOR: Springwoof
CATEGORY: Gen
WARNINGS: torture
LENGTH: 2639 words
SPOILERS: sometime after Hot Zone
DISCLAIMER: I make no claims of ownership, and make no profit whatsoever. May the folks who do own the Stargate franchise enjoy continued success and generous financial rewards.
NOTES: not betaed (written at the last minute!)
SUMMARY: “This is a really creepy place, Sir,” said Ford.
The Black Room
By Springwoof
The part of Atlantis they were currently exploring wasn’t as attractive as most of the city tended to be--even the utilitarian levels. The walls here were the pale grey of an institution. It was to be expected that there were no windows, this deep into the bowels of the city--Sheppard suspected they were below the waterline. But the light panels weren’t the familiar, pleasant ones from the city’s living quarters. These were more utilitarian, somehow, and the quality of the light itself seemed harsher.
“Anything, McKay?” he asked Rodney.
The man at his side didn’t look up from his scanner. “Hmm. There should be an intersecting corridor a few meters ahead.” He glanced up at John briefly. “I’d like to turn right at the intersection. There seem to be some interesting readings coming from that direction.”
“Okey-dokey, you got it.” John looked over his shoulder and made brief eye contact with Ford and Teyla receiving nods from them in return. He looked behind them, at doctors Perry and Kumar and Sergeant Stackhouse at the rear. “Did you all hear folks? Right, at the next corridor. Stackhouse, stay at our six for now.”
He received acknowledgements from both civilians and Stackhouse. Leading with his P-90 at the ready for any surprises, he found the promised corridor and turned right. A meter or two later there was a heavy-looking doorway.
“The readings are beyond here,” McKay indicated. “Can we get through, Major?”
“I can try.” Sheppard let the P-90 dangle from its strap as he walked up to the security panel set in the wall next to the door. He placed his palm on the panel, and it glowed. Open, he thought at the door. He was startled into jumping back when the panel asked for his security clearance.
“What’s wrong, Sir?” asked Ford. “Are you hurt, Major Sheppard?” asked Teyla simultaneously.
“Did anybody else hear that?” asked Sheppard.
"Hear what, Major?" asked Dr. Perry over his shoulder, startling him again.
“It wasn’t precisely sound,” McKay offered, frowning. “It was more like a loud thought. It was asking your security clearance?” His eyebrow rose in inquiry.
“We did not experience this, Major Sheppard,” contributed Teyla, exchanging glances with Ford and Perry.
“I could tell what it wanted too, Major,” offered Stackhouse from the rear. “It must be an ATA thing.” Dr.Kumar nodded as well.
“Right, okay.” Sheppard grimly approached the panel again and gingerly laid his palm on it. It repeated the demand for security clearance. He pushed at it the sober thought that he was responsible for the safety of all the lives in the city. After a moment, the panel glowed yellow. Acknowledged. Parameters reset, it told him.
The door abruptly slid open, soundlessly.
Cautiously, they walked through, startling a bit when the door sealed closed behind the group. They found, after a bit of experimentation, that the door only opened automatically for Sheppard. It wouldn’t open at all for Lieutenant Ford, and only opened for Stackhouse when he placed his hand on the panel and answered its demand for security clearance. Stackhouse blushed when the panel asked him whom he belonged to. “Sir?”
“Maybe that’s just their weird way of putting it, Sergeant. Tell it you’re with me.”
Acknowledged. Stackhouse belongs to the Defender of the City. New parameters accepted.
“Defender of the City, eh?” next to him, McKay did nothing to hide his smirk. “Should we be looking for tights and a cape for you, Major?”
Sheppard shot him Death Glare #3. “Just go tell the nice panel that you belong to me, too, Rodney. You too, Dr. Kumar. I want as many of us as possible with the gene able to open the way out before we go any further. Ford, call Bates and update him on our status.”
While Lt. Ford gave Sergeant Bates a quick update, both Rodney and Kumar tried to convince the wall panel to let them open the door. The panel glowed a deep orange. Security clearance denied. Genetic modification detected. Punitive actions, Defender?
“No!” yelled Sheppard. Ford, Perry, and Teyla just stared at him, unable to “hear” the other side of the conversation. No, he glared at the panel. NO punitive action. Modification completed at my approval. These individuals belong to me.
Acknowledged. Security clearance continues unavailable. Exceptions only accepted at Central Programming, Defender. The device “sounded” apologetic.
“This is fascinating!” Dr. Kumar enthused. “The security systems can actually distinguish individuals with naturally occurring ATA genes from individuals with the gene therapy.”
“While that’s interesting to know, it doesn’t necessarily thrill me at this juncture,” McKay said sourly. “I’d rather be able to open the door.”
Sheppard silently acknowledged that he would prefer that as well.
“Dr. McKay, take a look at this,” Perry called from across the room. “I believe this is a security monitor.” McKay hurried over to her with his scanner. After a few moments, he motioned Sheppard over to them, because the security panel was denying him access.
On, John thought at it, as he placed his hand on the panel inset on the desktop.
Several security stations throughout the room lit up, showing several small, empty rooms, with stripped sleeping pallets and crude bathroom facilities.
“It’s a jail of some sort,” offered Kumar, scratching his beard.
“Obviously,” said McKay impatiently. “But what’s the function of that room?” He pointed to a larger room that featured on several of the monitors. Details of the room were difficult to distinguish, since it seemed to be painted black inside. There seemed to be a large, heavy black chair with armrests and a high back in the middle of the room.
“Let’s check it out, Sir,” offered Stackhouse.
“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea…” Sheppard rubbed at the tension in the back of his neck and met Ford’s eye.
Ford nodded. “This place gives me the creeps, too, Major.”
“I think we need to investigate, Major,” argued Perry, her green eyes flashing. “We may have need of a secure facility like this if we ever have prisoners in the future. We’ve had them before,” she said to a frowning Ford. “If the Genii invade Atlantis again, you’ll want someplace to put the prisoners you capture,” she said pointedly to Sheppard.
Sheppard looked down and suppressed a smile at the implied compliment to his military prowess. He looked up and made eye contact with Teyla, who shrugged, and Rodney, who nodded reluctantly.
He sighed. “Okay, Dr. Perry, you have a valid point. Stackhouse, you and Dr. Kumar stay here and watch our backs on the monitor. Stackhouse, radio Bates and apprise him of our situation. Teyla, Ford, you’re with Dr. Perry and me. McKay, do you want to poke around here some more, or do you want to go with?”
McKay seemed to contemplate for a moment, glancing at Kumar, who nodded at him. “I’ll go with you. Pehlaj can handle things out here for now.”
They went to the other security door in the room, and it opened to John’s touch on the panel. At your service, Defender.
They walked cautiously down a broad hallway with the cells arrayed on each side, Sheppard first and Ford last, guarding their rear. Some of the cells had bars in their doorways, some had solid doors with a peek-hole, some had empty gaps where doors or bars should be. All were empty.
Sheppard activated the security panel next to one of the cells with the doors. Open. The door slid into the wall to show an empty cell. Close. The door slid closed again.
Secure? the system asked him. He looked at McKay, who cocked his head and nodded. Okay, secure, he told the system. A faint hum, and a force field shimmered just outside the door. Huh. He turned to investigate the next cell.
“We probably shouldn’t have the unnecessary power drain, Major,” said McKay quietly.
“Good point,” John agreed, and told the system, Un-secure. The force field dropped.
They found that all the cells had bars, doors, and force shields that could be deployed singly, or in combination, at Sheppard’s command. The system still firmly denied access to McKay, and the others didn’t even attempt the process.
Eventually, they made their way to the end of the hallway and faced another heavy security door. Sheppard put his hand on the now-familiar security panel and told the door to Open.
The panel turned yellow. Acknowledged, Defender. Activate interrogation room?
Sheppard shared a glance and raised eyebrows with McKay. “It’s an interrogation room,” he informed the others. Activate, he told the system.
Acknowledged, Defender. The door slid open.
It was the black room from the monitors. They walked in cautiously. The heavy black chair was stationed in a depression in the center of the room. There was some sort of control console behind it, and some ominous-looking drains in the floor around it.
The door slid closed as soon as Ford cleared it. He startled. “This is a really creepy place, Sir,” he said nervously. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to his knees, clutching his head and groaning loudly.
Perry dropped to her knees as well, arms wrapped around herself, and began to scream, piercingly, eyes wide and terrified.
Teyla staggered in place, dropping her gun and grabbing fistfuls of her own hair. She panted harshly, with a small whine in it, her eyes like Ford’s rolled up into her head.
McKay had staggered to lean, shuddering, against a wall and was being violently sick on the floor at his feet.
John Sheppard whipped his attention from one to the other in panic. “What the hell is going on?” He reached out and touched Dr. Perry’s shoulder, since she was closest to him.
He thought her screams were bad earlier. Now she began to shriek in earnest, in terror and obvious agony, dragging herself away from him and crawling across the floor.
“Teyla, what is happening?” He grabbed Teyla’s arm. Her eyes met his in horror before she began to scream as well, deep, hoarse screams. She jerked her arm away from him and backpedaled away, falling clumsily on her rear, still shouting hoarsely and scooting away from him.
Ford had begun to rock and beat his head on the floor, moaning continuously.
“Good Lord, John, turn it off!” McKay demanded in a shaking voice, tears streaming from his eyes and drool and vomit from his slack mouth. “Deactivate it, please!”
Oh, God. DEACTIVATE! he thought at the room. Nothing happened except that McKay began to sob hopelessly, and slid to sit in the vomit on the floor. Ford had curled up into a fetal position. The women were still screaming sporadically, bodies spasming on the floor, Perry in a puddle of her own urine.
Sheppard ran to the security panel on the wall by the door and slapped his hand on it. DEACTIVATE INTERROGATION ROOM NOW! he demanded.
The panel glowed yellow. Acknowledged, Defender. Deactivating.
Open the damn door, he told it. The door slid open soundlessly.
Stackhouse stood just outside, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Kumar stood next to him, wringing his hands.
“I’ve called a medical team and a security team, Sir,” Stackhouse pre-empted him. “We saw it all through the monitors. I tried to get this door open, but it refused access to me.”
“Good work, Sergeant,” Sheppard acknowledged grimly. Behind him in the room, the screams had tapered off to broken weeping. “Go back to the monitor room and make sure the outer door will open for the medical team. Dr. Kumar, do you think you can get my people out of this black room? My touch seems to be painful to them, or I’d help you. I’ll make sure this door stays open.”
Both men acknowledged him. Stackhouse left at a run, and Kumar walked gingerly into the room, grabbed Ford by the armpits, and dragged him out of the room. He laid Ford in the hallway, clear of the door, and went back with more confidence, to drag Perry out. John watched him bleakly, making sure the door stayed Open, until everyone was back in the hallway.
Ford had wet his pants, and he also seemed to be unconscious. Perry was barely conscious, moaning softly, sometimes crying pitifully. Kumar tossed space blankets and jackets over the victims, rolling them onto their sides in a recovery position, removing their boots and using them to elevate everyone's feet. Teyla rolled onto her belly and buried her face in her arms, sobbing brokenly. Kumar crouched down beside her, anxiously stroking her hair. McKay was curled on his side, arms wrapped around himself and trembling, muttering “Ohgod, ohgod, ohgodohgod” continuously, tears streaming unacknowledged from his eyes.
Sheppard crouched down next to him, and offered McKay his canteen and a handkerchief, careful not to touch him. Hands shaking, McKay took both. Rodney rinsed his mouth out and spit onto the floor, mopping his eyes and face and blowing his nose loudly into the handkerchief. He shifted to prop himself up into a sitting position against the wall, but had trouble since he was still holding the canteen and handkerchief. John automatically put a hand on his arm to help him, and they both flinched at the touch.
McKay’s eyes were wet again as they met John’s. “It’s ok to touch us, it doesn’t hurt now,” he reassured his friend.
Sheppard helped McKay prop himself into a sitting position against the wall, and steadied the canteen in Rodney’s shaking hands so that he could take a drink.
“What happened?” Sheppard asked quietly. “I didn’t feel anything. Just all of a sudden, all of you were freaking out.”
McKay sighed, and brought his knees up, curling forward to lay his forehead on them. He rubbed at the back of his neck fitfully. “The pain in there made my worst migraine seem like a children’s birthday party with cake and ice cream,” he said softly, voice gravelly. “I felt it in every nerve. Oh, yes, please, don’t stop,” he begged, as John began to rub his neck. He breathed for a while as Sheppard massaged some tension out of his neck and shoulders.
Teyla and Perry had finally quieted, and the only sounds in the hall were their harsh breathing, and Kumar’s soft murmurs of comfort.
Finally Sheppard patted McKay’s shoulder to end the brief massage. Rodney turned his head slightly to peer at Sheppard out of one eye. “Major, I never want to go in there again. Please promise me now that I’ll never have to go in there.”
“It’s okay, Rodney. I don’t want you going in there either.”
“It’s a very effective interrogation room. I would have told you anything, done absolutely anything you said, within the first three seconds, just to get the pain to stop. To keep you from touching me, I would have betrayed everyone and everything I hold dear.”
“Why was me touching you so bad?” John asked cautiously.
“The pain increased ten-fold, Major,” Teyla answered him shakily. She had rolled to her side facing Sheppard. “And the terror, the terror that filled me that you might touch me again…it was worse than facing a Wraith.” She closed her eyes wearily.
“I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be strapped to that chair in there for interrogation,” Rodney blurted. He covered his face with his hands.
John wished his imagination had less vivid examples than his teammates presently strewn around him.
Finally, they heard the sounds of the approaching medical team….
###ends###
AUTHOR: Springwoof
CATEGORY: Gen
WARNINGS: torture
LENGTH: 2639 words
SPOILERS: sometime after Hot Zone
DISCLAIMER: I make no claims of ownership, and make no profit whatsoever. May the folks who do own the Stargate franchise enjoy continued success and generous financial rewards.
NOTES: not betaed (written at the last minute!)
SUMMARY: “This is a really creepy place, Sir,” said Ford.
The Black Room
By Springwoof
The part of Atlantis they were currently exploring wasn’t as attractive as most of the city tended to be--even the utilitarian levels. The walls here were the pale grey of an institution. It was to be expected that there were no windows, this deep into the bowels of the city--Sheppard suspected they were below the waterline. But the light panels weren’t the familiar, pleasant ones from the city’s living quarters. These were more utilitarian, somehow, and the quality of the light itself seemed harsher.
“Anything, McKay?” he asked Rodney.
The man at his side didn’t look up from his scanner. “Hmm. There should be an intersecting corridor a few meters ahead.” He glanced up at John briefly. “I’d like to turn right at the intersection. There seem to be some interesting readings coming from that direction.”
“Okey-dokey, you got it.” John looked over his shoulder and made brief eye contact with Ford and Teyla receiving nods from them in return. He looked behind them, at doctors Perry and Kumar and Sergeant Stackhouse at the rear. “Did you all hear folks? Right, at the next corridor. Stackhouse, stay at our six for now.”
He received acknowledgements from both civilians and Stackhouse. Leading with his P-90 at the ready for any surprises, he found the promised corridor and turned right. A meter or two later there was a heavy-looking doorway.
“The readings are beyond here,” McKay indicated. “Can we get through, Major?”
“I can try.” Sheppard let the P-90 dangle from its strap as he walked up to the security panel set in the wall next to the door. He placed his palm on the panel, and it glowed. Open, he thought at the door. He was startled into jumping back when the panel asked for his security clearance.
“What’s wrong, Sir?” asked Ford. “Are you hurt, Major Sheppard?” asked Teyla simultaneously.
“Did anybody else hear that?” asked Sheppard.
"Hear what, Major?" asked Dr. Perry over his shoulder, startling him again.
“It wasn’t precisely sound,” McKay offered, frowning. “It was more like a loud thought. It was asking your security clearance?” His eyebrow rose in inquiry.
“We did not experience this, Major Sheppard,” contributed Teyla, exchanging glances with Ford and Perry.
“I could tell what it wanted too, Major,” offered Stackhouse from the rear. “It must be an ATA thing.” Dr.Kumar nodded as well.
“Right, okay.” Sheppard grimly approached the panel again and gingerly laid his palm on it. It repeated the demand for security clearance. He pushed at it the sober thought that he was responsible for the safety of all the lives in the city. After a moment, the panel glowed yellow. Acknowledged. Parameters reset, it told him.
The door abruptly slid open, soundlessly.
Cautiously, they walked through, startling a bit when the door sealed closed behind the group. They found, after a bit of experimentation, that the door only opened automatically for Sheppard. It wouldn’t open at all for Lieutenant Ford, and only opened for Stackhouse when he placed his hand on the panel and answered its demand for security clearance. Stackhouse blushed when the panel asked him whom he belonged to. “Sir?”
“Maybe that’s just their weird way of putting it, Sergeant. Tell it you’re with me.”
Acknowledged. Stackhouse belongs to the Defender of the City. New parameters accepted.
“Defender of the City, eh?” next to him, McKay did nothing to hide his smirk. “Should we be looking for tights and a cape for you, Major?”
Sheppard shot him Death Glare #3. “Just go tell the nice panel that you belong to me, too, Rodney. You too, Dr. Kumar. I want as many of us as possible with the gene able to open the way out before we go any further. Ford, call Bates and update him on our status.”
While Lt. Ford gave Sergeant Bates a quick update, both Rodney and Kumar tried to convince the wall panel to let them open the door. The panel glowed a deep orange. Security clearance denied. Genetic modification detected. Punitive actions, Defender?
“No!” yelled Sheppard. Ford, Perry, and Teyla just stared at him, unable to “hear” the other side of the conversation. No, he glared at the panel. NO punitive action. Modification completed at my approval. These individuals belong to me.
Acknowledged. Security clearance continues unavailable. Exceptions only accepted at Central Programming, Defender. The device “sounded” apologetic.
“This is fascinating!” Dr. Kumar enthused. “The security systems can actually distinguish individuals with naturally occurring ATA genes from individuals with the gene therapy.”
“While that’s interesting to know, it doesn’t necessarily thrill me at this juncture,” McKay said sourly. “I’d rather be able to open the door.”
Sheppard silently acknowledged that he would prefer that as well.
“Dr. McKay, take a look at this,” Perry called from across the room. “I believe this is a security monitor.” McKay hurried over to her with his scanner. After a few moments, he motioned Sheppard over to them, because the security panel was denying him access.
On, John thought at it, as he placed his hand on the panel inset on the desktop.
Several security stations throughout the room lit up, showing several small, empty rooms, with stripped sleeping pallets and crude bathroom facilities.
“It’s a jail of some sort,” offered Kumar, scratching his beard.
“Obviously,” said McKay impatiently. “But what’s the function of that room?” He pointed to a larger room that featured on several of the monitors. Details of the room were difficult to distinguish, since it seemed to be painted black inside. There seemed to be a large, heavy black chair with armrests and a high back in the middle of the room.
“Let’s check it out, Sir,” offered Stackhouse.
“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea…” Sheppard rubbed at the tension in the back of his neck and met Ford’s eye.
Ford nodded. “This place gives me the creeps, too, Major.”
“I think we need to investigate, Major,” argued Perry, her green eyes flashing. “We may have need of a secure facility like this if we ever have prisoners in the future. We’ve had them before,” she said to a frowning Ford. “If the Genii invade Atlantis again, you’ll want someplace to put the prisoners you capture,” she said pointedly to Sheppard.
Sheppard looked down and suppressed a smile at the implied compliment to his military prowess. He looked up and made eye contact with Teyla, who shrugged, and Rodney, who nodded reluctantly.
He sighed. “Okay, Dr. Perry, you have a valid point. Stackhouse, you and Dr. Kumar stay here and watch our backs on the monitor. Stackhouse, radio Bates and apprise him of our situation. Teyla, Ford, you’re with Dr. Perry and me. McKay, do you want to poke around here some more, or do you want to go with?”
McKay seemed to contemplate for a moment, glancing at Kumar, who nodded at him. “I’ll go with you. Pehlaj can handle things out here for now.”
They went to the other security door in the room, and it opened to John’s touch on the panel. At your service, Defender.
They walked cautiously down a broad hallway with the cells arrayed on each side, Sheppard first and Ford last, guarding their rear. Some of the cells had bars in their doorways, some had solid doors with a peek-hole, some had empty gaps where doors or bars should be. All were empty.
Sheppard activated the security panel next to one of the cells with the doors. Open. The door slid into the wall to show an empty cell. Close. The door slid closed again.
Secure? the system asked him. He looked at McKay, who cocked his head and nodded. Okay, secure, he told the system. A faint hum, and a force field shimmered just outside the door. Huh. He turned to investigate the next cell.
“We probably shouldn’t have the unnecessary power drain, Major,” said McKay quietly.
“Good point,” John agreed, and told the system, Un-secure. The force field dropped.
They found that all the cells had bars, doors, and force shields that could be deployed singly, or in combination, at Sheppard’s command. The system still firmly denied access to McKay, and the others didn’t even attempt the process.
Eventually, they made their way to the end of the hallway and faced another heavy security door. Sheppard put his hand on the now-familiar security panel and told the door to Open.
The panel turned yellow. Acknowledged, Defender. Activate interrogation room?
Sheppard shared a glance and raised eyebrows with McKay. “It’s an interrogation room,” he informed the others. Activate, he told the system.
Acknowledged, Defender. The door slid open.
It was the black room from the monitors. They walked in cautiously. The heavy black chair was stationed in a depression in the center of the room. There was some sort of control console behind it, and some ominous-looking drains in the floor around it.
The door slid closed as soon as Ford cleared it. He startled. “This is a really creepy place, Sir,” he said nervously. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to his knees, clutching his head and groaning loudly.
Perry dropped to her knees as well, arms wrapped around herself, and began to scream, piercingly, eyes wide and terrified.
Teyla staggered in place, dropping her gun and grabbing fistfuls of her own hair. She panted harshly, with a small whine in it, her eyes like Ford’s rolled up into her head.
McKay had staggered to lean, shuddering, against a wall and was being violently sick on the floor at his feet.
John Sheppard whipped his attention from one to the other in panic. “What the hell is going on?” He reached out and touched Dr. Perry’s shoulder, since she was closest to him.
He thought her screams were bad earlier. Now she began to shriek in earnest, in terror and obvious agony, dragging herself away from him and crawling across the floor.
“Teyla, what is happening?” He grabbed Teyla’s arm. Her eyes met his in horror before she began to scream as well, deep, hoarse screams. She jerked her arm away from him and backpedaled away, falling clumsily on her rear, still shouting hoarsely and scooting away from him.
Ford had begun to rock and beat his head on the floor, moaning continuously.
“Good Lord, John, turn it off!” McKay demanded in a shaking voice, tears streaming from his eyes and drool and vomit from his slack mouth. “Deactivate it, please!”
Oh, God. DEACTIVATE! he thought at the room. Nothing happened except that McKay began to sob hopelessly, and slid to sit in the vomit on the floor. Ford had curled up into a fetal position. The women were still screaming sporadically, bodies spasming on the floor, Perry in a puddle of her own urine.
Sheppard ran to the security panel on the wall by the door and slapped his hand on it. DEACTIVATE INTERROGATION ROOM NOW! he demanded.
The panel glowed yellow. Acknowledged, Defender. Deactivating.
Open the damn door, he told it. The door slid open soundlessly.
Stackhouse stood just outside, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Kumar stood next to him, wringing his hands.
“I’ve called a medical team and a security team, Sir,” Stackhouse pre-empted him. “We saw it all through the monitors. I tried to get this door open, but it refused access to me.”
“Good work, Sergeant,” Sheppard acknowledged grimly. Behind him in the room, the screams had tapered off to broken weeping. “Go back to the monitor room and make sure the outer door will open for the medical team. Dr. Kumar, do you think you can get my people out of this black room? My touch seems to be painful to them, or I’d help you. I’ll make sure this door stays open.”
Both men acknowledged him. Stackhouse left at a run, and Kumar walked gingerly into the room, grabbed Ford by the armpits, and dragged him out of the room. He laid Ford in the hallway, clear of the door, and went back with more confidence, to drag Perry out. John watched him bleakly, making sure the door stayed Open, until everyone was back in the hallway.
Ford had wet his pants, and he also seemed to be unconscious. Perry was barely conscious, moaning softly, sometimes crying pitifully. Kumar tossed space blankets and jackets over the victims, rolling them onto their sides in a recovery position, removing their boots and using them to elevate everyone's feet. Teyla rolled onto her belly and buried her face in her arms, sobbing brokenly. Kumar crouched down beside her, anxiously stroking her hair. McKay was curled on his side, arms wrapped around himself and trembling, muttering “Ohgod, ohgod, ohgodohgod” continuously, tears streaming unacknowledged from his eyes.
Sheppard crouched down next to him, and offered McKay his canteen and a handkerchief, careful not to touch him. Hands shaking, McKay took both. Rodney rinsed his mouth out and spit onto the floor, mopping his eyes and face and blowing his nose loudly into the handkerchief. He shifted to prop himself up into a sitting position against the wall, but had trouble since he was still holding the canteen and handkerchief. John automatically put a hand on his arm to help him, and they both flinched at the touch.
McKay’s eyes were wet again as they met John’s. “It’s ok to touch us, it doesn’t hurt now,” he reassured his friend.
Sheppard helped McKay prop himself into a sitting position against the wall, and steadied the canteen in Rodney’s shaking hands so that he could take a drink.
“What happened?” Sheppard asked quietly. “I didn’t feel anything. Just all of a sudden, all of you were freaking out.”
McKay sighed, and brought his knees up, curling forward to lay his forehead on them. He rubbed at the back of his neck fitfully. “The pain in there made my worst migraine seem like a children’s birthday party with cake and ice cream,” he said softly, voice gravelly. “I felt it in every nerve. Oh, yes, please, don’t stop,” he begged, as John began to rub his neck. He breathed for a while as Sheppard massaged some tension out of his neck and shoulders.
Teyla and Perry had finally quieted, and the only sounds in the hall were their harsh breathing, and Kumar’s soft murmurs of comfort.
Finally Sheppard patted McKay’s shoulder to end the brief massage. Rodney turned his head slightly to peer at Sheppard out of one eye. “Major, I never want to go in there again. Please promise me now that I’ll never have to go in there.”
“It’s okay, Rodney. I don’t want you going in there either.”
“It’s a very effective interrogation room. I would have told you anything, done absolutely anything you said, within the first three seconds, just to get the pain to stop. To keep you from touching me, I would have betrayed everyone and everything I hold dear.”
“Why was me touching you so bad?” John asked cautiously.
“The pain increased ten-fold, Major,” Teyla answered him shakily. She had rolled to her side facing Sheppard. “And the terror, the terror that filled me that you might touch me again…it was worse than facing a Wraith.” She closed her eyes wearily.
“I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be strapped to that chair in there for interrogation,” Rodney blurted. He covered his face with his hands.
John wished his imagination had less vivid examples than his teammates presently strewn around him.
Finally, they heard the sounds of the approaching medical team….
###ends###