Title: Insidious (E03)
Summary: On the return trip to Pegasus, Atlantis' systems begin to fail while the crew are afflicted with a mysterious illness that sends half the population into a coma. As the city continues to encounter problems, the patients get worse. Is there a connection? Can they figure out what is ailing the city before the life support system fails for the last time? Will they be able to bring the patients back from the brink before it's too late?
Characters: All
Pairing: John-Teyla
Rating: T
In the infirmary, Carson looked over the latest results the research team had wielded on the 'turning the Wraith into a human' retro virus and he had to admit, it wasn't looking any more promising than it had the previous month. He was beginning to wonder if it was really worth all the hassle they'd gotten from the IOA-Home World Security panel back on Earth. Instantly, he cringed at the thought and shook his head; ridding the Pegasus galaxy of the Wraith was the right thing to do and they all had their place in it – the military fought with their bodies, Carson would fight with his mind.
He felt a shudder and his stomach rolled slightly and he looked around instantly, startled when he heard Zelenka's irate voice gripe over the comm. link to Rodney.
"We've dropped out of hyper space."
Carson could imagine Rodney's eye roll and he was almost tempted to dislocate the ear piece and leave the two well alone; as he looked around at the nurses milling about, he noted that they had did just that and he smiled tightly. He sighed, suddenly resenting his job that meant he had to sit and listen in case of any emergency.
"I noticed that, Radek, but that doesn't answer the question as to why wehave we dropped out of hyper space."
They continued on for a few more minutes before Rodney finally made it to the control room and the radio chatter died away. Carson sighed and looked back to the screen in front of him before glancing at the watch on his wrist; 23:53 – he'd been at this for hours. He stretched and felt his spine crack back into place at the motion. There was a rustle at the open office door and he looked up as he heard a high pitched grumble; startled, he smiled when he saw Teyla standing there with Torren in her arms.
"Well hello there," he said as he stood automatically, the ingrained manners having survived his cloning. Teyla smiled tiredly and shifted the still fussing Torren. Carson frowned; Torren was usually always so settled when with his mother, his agitation was unusual. "Restless?" He asked as he moved towards them and Teyla smiled widely, relieved as Carson's medical instincts took over and he began fussing over Torren.
"He has not slept since last night and he is very grumpy," she said and Carson looked up to her eyes, smiling at the very Earth term. She shifted him again and Carson changed tact and met her eyes, questioning. "Of course," she replied to his unasked question and Carson smiled as the familiar weight of Torren fell on his arms.
The boy was getting big, Carson noted with a smile. At almost a year old, Carson shouldn't have been surprised and yet he was. Babies were a marvel to him and he smiled wistfully – would that be something for him, ever? He didn't think so.
At the doorway, two figures moved, bickering quietly as they bypassed a couple of sleeping personnel who had fallen ill during the day and Carson met Teyla's eyes, mirroring the eye roll as Sheppard and Ronon moved further into the infirmary, Ronon's glower becoming clearer as they made their way into the lit area. Carson shifted Torren and stepped out into the main bay, causing Sheppard and Ronon to come up short and stare at him for a quick moment. Carson smiled slightly when he noticed Sheppard's eyes slip behind Carson's shoulder, pause there for a moment before he nodded once, softly.
Hm.
Teyla stepped forward of Carson then and took Torren back instantly, without words and Carson smiled his thanks to her before moving to Sheppard, who was holding a rag to his head.
"Sparring again?"
"He passed out."
Sheppard glared at Ronon, his eyes flickering to Carson then to Teyla who Carson saw step into his peripheral vision.
"I did not. I tripped, that's all. The whole city shuddered when we dropped out of hyper space." Carson raised his eyebrows at that and lifted his fingers to Sheppard's head, ushering him to remove the rag before expertly sticking his finger into the wound. Sheppard flinched and glared up at Carson in admonishment and Carson smirked but quickly hid it. "Ouch, doc!"
"What did you say about the city?" Carson asked instead, deciding to distract the Colonel while he checked the gash on his forehead, pulling a tray with steriliser and wipes over.
"When he we dropped out of hyper space," he began but flinched when Carson touched an iodine wipe to the bloody wound. It didn't look too deep but it would leave its mark. Sheppard clenched his teeth together and opened his eyes, instantly looking at Torren when he let out a small grunt as he wrestled about in Teyla's grip; Carson watched as his frown deepened in concern. "He all right?" He asked and Carson noted the awkward tone Sheppard use when referring to Torren.
"He is just restless; he needs sleep but he is very unsettled."
"The shuddering city?" Carson prompted when Sheppard didn't continue and Sheppard turned his confused gaze back up to the doctor and Carson lifted the corner of his lips in an attempt at a smile but he was suddenly awash with fatigue. He fought the yawn and rested his wrists against Sheppard's shoulders for a moment before he shook it off and thought longingly of the coffee machine in his office. "Sorry," he said after a moment and Sheppard frowned.
"You didn't feel it?" Sheppard asked and Carson shook his head. "The floor shook and everything; the wall was vibrating when I fell against it," he said quietly and Carson could hear the confusion in his tone.
"That's because you passed out," Ronon grunted and Sheppard met his gaze with a sharp shake of his head and there was an edge to the Colonel's eyes that Carson rarely saw directed towards his friends.
"I did not."
"You're eyes were closed when I picked you up off the floor," Ronon continued, almost smug and Carson bit back a grin.
"I was in pain; of course they were closed!" He protested again Carson sighed, still smiling.
"And closing your eyes helps how?"
Sheppard frowned and grumbled something that sounded like just does. Neither said anything after that. Minutes passed by in silence – aside from Torren's grumbling – and Carson was more than aware of the tension seeping off of the Colonel in waves. He finished up and dropped the used wipes and gauze into the bedpan, taking a step back when Sheppard all but pushed him out of the way.
"I'm beat, going to head to bed." He nodded to the adults and tapped Torren's nose with his index finger before stalking out of infirmary.
Carson didn't say anything as he went about disposing of the used medical supplies, feeling his own exhaustion rear its ugly head again. He listened to Teyla and Ronon exchange a few words before Teyla too left. Ronon hovered in Carson's peripheral vision, waiting for his orders. Carson turned to look at him over his shoulder, stifling a yawn.
"Bring him down tomorrow morning and I'll check him over again." Ronon nodded and moved to the doorway. Carson called to him. "Did he have the chicken for dinner?" He asked when Ronon turned back into the room. Carson could see Ronon's frown as he thought.
"Yeah, I think so." Carson nodded and Ronon lifted his eyebrow in question. "Why?"
Carson shook his head.
"I think it must have been a bad batch; a couple of people are feeling under the weather since dinner and as far as I can tell, they all had the chicken."
Ronon huffed and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"I feel fine and I had the chicken."
Carson quirked a half grin but Ronon wasn't paying attention.
"Some of us have stronger stomachs than others." Ronon nodded again, meeting Carson's gaze for a moment before shifting again. "Okay. Bring him down first thing in the morning. Come by yourself if you feel ill at all."
Ronon nodded and left the infirmary, Carson close on his tail. He, too, was beat and was looking forward to sliding into his warm, comfortable bed.
The thought made him smile.
--
Carson checked his watch, sighing again as he noted the lateness of the morning. He couldn't imagine Ronon forgetting to bring the Colonel down so he just assumed that Sheppard was being stubborn but it was pushing eleven o'clock and he was sure that Ronon would at least have contacted him to let him know if they were coming or not.
"Doctor Beckett?" His radio crackled and he jumped, mid-yawn and reached up to tap the ear-piece.
"Yes, Teyla, it's me."
There was a pause and he felt his body stiffen automatically.
"Please come to Colonel Sheppard's quarters." Carson felt a chill run through his body at that and he stood up, ready to run.
"What's wrong, love?" He asked as he reached down to the side of his desk to pull his medical kit up onto his shoulder, moving fluidly into the corridor outside his office.
"It is Colonel Sheppard; we cannot wake him up."
--
Carson studied the monitor beside Sheppard's bed, the lines meaning nothing to the others around him. Mr Woolsey stood at the foot of the bed, Teyla on the left, Ronon and Rodney on the right and a few nurses tried to come and go between the group as they took more blood and listened for more orders.
"What's wrong with him, doctor?" Woolsey asked and Carson sighed, shaking his head.
"I don't know; everything seems to be normal. His breathing is a bit shallow but there is no head trauma, nothing in his blood. It's as if he's sleeping but just won't wake up."
Teyla swallowed at that; she remembered when her father told her that her mother was dead – that he used those words.
"It looks just like she is asleep," Teyla said quietly, her voice small and broken in the cold tent on Athos.
"She is," her father said and Teyla felt a kindling of hope in her chest. "But she will not awaken from this sleep."
She knew that this was different; that they would fix this but if they did not know what was wrong, how could they possibly fix it? She shook her head to dispel the thought as Carson continued talking but though he tried to remain upbeat, she could sense his tiredness in the way his shoulders stooped low and his head would tilt to the side as though his neck was not strong enough to hold him up.
"How are the others?" Woolsey asked when Carson stopped describing the tests he still wanted to run and Teyla took the opportunity to look around the infirmary; many of the beds were filled and she could not remember ever seeing the place so full unless there was a crisis on hand.
Carson sighed, gripping the edge of Sheppard's bed as he clenched his eyes shut, wincing. It looked as though he would be sick, his body shuddering but he seemed to recover himself quickly and opened his eyes, scanning the room as he studiously avoided meeting the gaze of the others.
"They all seem to be all right," he said as his eyes settled on a young woman in a bed at the other end of the infirmary. "Most of them are well enough to rest up in their own bed but I wanted to keep an eye on a few."
"Are you sure it's just food poisoning?" Woolsey asked and Teyla felt her stomach clench slightly at the edge of fear in his tone.
Carson nodded and attempted to smile but his body shuddered again and he reached out to grab onto the wall beside him for support. Something clamoured to the floor, sending a ricochet of sound around the room and they all winced.
"Are you all right, Carson?" Teyla asked as she took a step towards him but he brushed her off with an easy smile.
"Aye, I'm fine," he reassured, wincing as he rubbed his shoulder where he'd impacted the wall behind him. "I'm just exhausted; I'm supposed to be doing night shift but I've been here since eight o'clock this morning since Marcus has come down with this bug." Woolsey looked sceptical and Carson sighed. "It's just a sore head." Teyla smiled sympathetically; she knew he had been in the infirmary until the small hours tending to herself, Torren and John, catching only a few small hours of sleep before he had been recalled. "But aye, the others don't have any symptoms like the Colonel's here; just the usual food poisoning symptoms. The Colonel's condition – whatever that is – seems to be isolated."
Teyla quirked a smile in Carson's direction but he wasn't paying attention.
"Sheppard always did like to be the centre of attention." Teyla frowned at Rodney's remark, knowing it to be far from the truth but the others snickered and nodded and she let it go. Rodney took a step away from the bed, dropping his tablet, expelling a loud "Woaw!" When he righted himself his face was ashen and he reached out to grip onto the edge of Sheppard's bed as Ronon automatically reached out and grabbed onto the back of his jacket to keep him from falling to the ground.
"Mind your feet, Rodney," Carson remarked, smiling, as he stepped around the end of the bed, his own footsteps faltering for a moment before he frowned and shook his head and continued towards Rodney.
"Did you guys seriously not feel that?"
"Feel what?" Carson asked as they all took a step closer to him. Teyla was used to seeing Rodney frightened but his eyes held none of his usual fear, simply a morbid curiosity that set her nerve ends alight. Rodney rarely ever got that glean in his eyes anymore; she had begun to believe the power of the Ancients technology had ceased to affect him.
"Rodney?" Zelenka's voice interrupted them on the radio, sounding panicked.
"What, Radek?" Rodney retorted, his voice strained and Teyla thought for a moment that he sounded breathless and she watched as he sucked in a deep breath before exhaling it slowly.
"We just lost sub-lights."
Rodney groaned – or growled? – and tapped his ear piece, walking away from the group around Sheppard's bed as though to achieve privacy.
"I told you not to touch anything until I got back!" He said down the radio, loudly and Teyla winced as a couple of the people in the beds grumbled, before one or two vomited into bowls placed conveniently in front of them.
"None of us touched anything. We were going over the statistics from the last time and then the computer started-"
"You must have done something Zelenka, the sub-lights don't just shut themselves off!"
"We didn't-"
"I'll be up in a minute!" Rodney bit and Teyla instantly winced, feeling for Zelenka; Teyla knew Rodney was not easy to work with let alone for.
"Everything all right, Doctor McKay?" Woolsey asked and Rodney turned to him nodding.
"Just my incompetent team being even more incompetent than usual with my machinery," he said glibly as he gathered the tablet and others things he had brought to the infirmary with him, tucking them under his arm. "Let me know if anything changes?" He said to no one in particular as he indicated Sheppard with his head. They all nodded. "Now I have to go see what those stupid Europeans have done to my lab."
He pivoted on his heel and stalked out of the infirmary, grumbling to himself all the way. Teyla waited a moment before turning back to Sheppard's prone frame on the bed, noting the white bandage still in place on his forehead from the previous night. She felt guilt gnaw at her; she had wanted to check in on him last night but had not, opting to sit in the darkness of the room she shared with Kanaan, in silence. If only she had gone, perhaps she could have prevented this.
"He'll be all right, love." Carson reassured her and she looked up to him, noticing that Ronon and Mr Woolsey had left the infirmary. She did not know how long she had been standing there, staring. She frowned and shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Once we figure out what's wrong with him, of course," Carson said lightly and she looked up, smiling her thanks to him. She had no doubt that they would work something out; they always did.
"Thank you," she said and Carson returned her smile. She looked back to Sheppard once before taking a step back from the bed. "I am going to get lunch, would you like me to get you anything?" She said as she made her way to the door of the infirmary but Carson didn't reply. Frowning, she turned and saw him gripping the wall with his right hand as he tried to hold himself up. His body was shuddering again and she could hear him panting for breath. She was at his side in a moment. "Carson?"
He collapsed like dead weight to the ground and Teyla was sure he wasn't breathing.
--
Teyla liked Keller, she reminded herself as she watched panic settle into the younger woman's features. Teyla liked Keller but she wondered, not for the first time, if perhaps the young doctor was too inexperienced – too young – to be the chief of medicine of the Atlantis expedition. She'd heard the briefest of whispers of a medical review board and Carson's permanent residence on Atlantis was promising but Teyla was uncertain – once again – if Jennifer Keller would be able to handle the pressures set before her.
Throughout the day, more and more people had arrived in the infirmary; some were unconscious while others showed signs of 'food poisoning'. Those who had spent the night in the infirmary had only gotten worse, some slipping into a coma much like Colonel Sheppard's and Doctor Beckett's. Mr Woolsey had barely left his office, other than to panic in public before retreating behind the relative privacy of the glass walled office above the gate room. Teyla had not had that luxury; with John out of commission and Mr Woolsey thinking in his office, the panicked people of Atlantis had sought her out in the infirmary and the mess hall and the gym and she had not had a moment to herself, let alone time to contact Kanaan about Torren's well-being. When she had left him that morning, he had seemed much more settled than the previous night and she had no doubt that Kanaan would not hesitate to inform her if her son's condition worsened; she only hoped his radio silence was a good thing. Regardless, she made her way stealthily down the corridors trying to avoid – momentarily – the people who had sought her out, worried about the state of various members of the expedition.
She sighed briefly when she slid in the door of her quarters, startled by the silence. She looked around the familiar room, noting the empty living space. She wandered quietly through to the smaller room – Torren's room – and smiled fondly when she saw Kanaan in the old rocking chair that had been salvaged from New Athos. In the small bed up against the wall, Torren lay motionless, his chest rising and falling in tiny increments. She smiled and took a step towards him, laying her hand flat on his chest hesitantly, hoping not to wake him. He did not rouse nor grumble and she felt instantaneous panic grip her chest.
She turned to Kanaan, calling his name in the quiet room. He grumbled but Torren remained asleep.
"Kanaan," Teyla called again and this time, Kanaan's eyes opened and he blinked blearily over to her. Once, Teyla had enjoyed the sight of Kanaan waking from slumber but in that instant, she could not wait for consciousness to return to him. "How long has Torren been asleep?"
Kanaan frowned as he stretched, his hand rising to the back of his head as he scratched, still obviously half asleep.
"A couple of hours; he must have exhausted himself last night," Kanaan said as he stood, moving to stand by Teyla's side as she turned back to Torren. "He is well, Teyla. You should have called me on the radio," he continued and Teyla could hear a tone that had become familiar to her in their conversations of late. She brushed it aside and took Torren in her arms, lifting him. The panic refused to leave her, especially when he only murmured before settling in against her shoulder. "Teyla, what is wrong?" Kanaan obviously sensed Teyla's panic.
"Members of the expedition have fallen into comas; some are unconscious and others very ill." She did not think she need elaborate further and she felt the tiniest amount of relief when Kanaan's hands joined her on Torren's body, desperately trying to rouse the toddler. She held her breath, fearful and felt tears prick the back of her eyes; the last thing she needed was for her son to be sick as well as her closest friends. Fleetingly, she thought of John lying in a coma in the infirmary but she shook the thought away; she would deal with it, if she had to.
"Teyla," Kanaan began and it was only when she was forced to open her eyes that she realised she had closed them in the first place. She looked down to her son as he looked back up to her, frowning grumpily. She let out a relieved breath, pulling her son further into her body as he grumbled, pushing against her for a moment before settling against her. "I told you he was fine."
Teyla chose to ignore the tone.
"How are you, little one?" Teyla asked Torren directly but he didn't make any comprehensible response and she smiled slightly, nuzzling against his fluffy head for a moment. She wished she could take him with her, to have the reassurance that he was okay right in front of her eyes but they had yet to deduce the nature of what had afflicted almost half of the base; there were many more questions than answers and Teyla would not risk exposing her son until they knew how it had been contracted.
"Teyla," it was Mr Woolsey who eventually pulled her out of her quiet stupor over her son. She shifted him in her arms and reached up to her ear piece, tapping it lightly and responding to Woolsey's call. "There's been... Doctor McKay never made it back to his lab."
Teyla felt a stab of panic in her chest again and she closed her eyes against it.
"What do you mean?"
"He was in one of the labs with Dr Radley and was on his way back to his own lab – he never got there," Radek responded instead of Mr Woolsey and Teyla held her breath.
"Ronon is already out searching for him with Lorne and his team," Woolsey said and Teyla nodded, though he could not see her. "Would-"
The alarms blared, cutting Woolsey's words off and Teyla cringed when Torren wailed in her other ear. She tried to shush him and was grateful when Kanaan took him from his arms, despite the pang of guilt she felt at putting her son second; he was safe, that was all that mattered. Now she had to concentrate on helping the others.
She tapped her ear piece again but there was no response. She tried again and again there was nothing – not even static. Torren wailed and it tore Teyla in two as she listened to Kanaan comfort him as the alarms continued to blare into every room on Atlantis. She cringed; they seemed louder than normal in the confines of her room. She moved back into the main room, moving to the radio control panel on the wall – set up by Rodney 'just in case' – and tapped there. Still there was no response.
The alarms cut off and Teyla tried the radios again. Silence. From the other room, silence.
It was eerie and she felt unease settle in her every bone.
She turned back to Kanaan, who stood cradling a now sniffling Torren in his arms, staring at her wide-eyed.
"Is there anything I can do?" He asked as Teyla took the few steps across the room to reach him.
She shook her head as she pressed her palm against her son's head, hoping to offer him some comfort, no matter how belated it may be. She rubbed her other hand over Kanaan's arm and took a breath.
"Keep him safe, that is all I ask for now. I must go."
Kanaan nodded and Teyla hesitated before stepping away. It pained her to do so.
Torren was safe. That was all that mattered. The others needed her.
She repeated the mantra as she stepped out into the halls that were suddenly bustling with activity.
--
Keller wasn't entirely sure she would be able to handle this. She'd had to deal with crises before but this... for some reason, it was different. With members of the expedition dropping like flies around her, she had to deal not only with her own fear but also everyone else's. Add to that the fact that Rodney had been carted into the infirmary shortly after Beckett had slipped into a coma and she was a bumbling mess.
She purposely ignored the panicked personnel that seemed to crave answers from her; she kept her head low in the file she carried in an attempt to ward off the swarm of questions fired in her direction. Already her head was aching and she still hadn't been to the meeting with Woolsey, which she'd tried – futily – to avoid all afternoon.
She could no longer avoid it and she wondered if Woolsey could see her hovering in the control room and decided that since she – and his office – was surrounded by glass, he probably could so she sighed, snapped the file closed and walked into his office, barely making it through the glass door before he jumped on her back.
"I don't know," she said and shrugged her shoulders, sliding into the seat opposite him. She watched as he ran his palm over his head and she wondered if he'd at one time been in the habit of running his hand through his hair, which – with the loss of said hair – had morphed into palming his bald head. "I don't have the answers; I'm not even sure what the question is." Woolsey's eyebrow tilted down and Keller shifted in her seat again, cringing at the intense look on his face. If ever there was an image of what a stressed man would look like, in that moment, Woolsey was it. "I can only give information to you, not answers."
Woolsey sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Okay. Tell me what you know."
Keller slid the file she had been reading across the table to him and he promptly flicked it open, scanning the top sheet. As he did, she narrated what he would no doubt be reading.
"Almost half of the population is either unconscious, or suffering the same symptoms as those who are now unconscious. Colonel Sheppard's condition is the most severe but he's the one who isn't suffering as badly; he went straight into a coma and doesn't seem to have any of the heart or respiratory problems that the others do. Doctor Beckett's condition is the worst; he's in a coma, he's on a ventilator and we have to keep draining his lungs. No one else seems to be as bad as that yet, even the ones who've been sicker for longer but we're ready for anything. We've put out a bulletin that if anyone feels dizzy, or sick or is experiencing blanks in their memory they have to come to the infirmary straight away. Early symptoms are almost like food poisoning, which is why none of the medical staff thought to raise the alarm sooner."
Woolsey nodded.
"Any pattern to the illness? Any way we can trace it to an origin."
Keller sighed; they had exhausted all avenues of inquiry and turned up nothing. There seemed to be no logical pattern, no rhyme nor reason for the spread of the disease. She told Woolsey as much and he replied with the same groan she'd used only an hour or so before when she'd pulled away from the computer screen to come up to the meeting.
"Mr Woolsey?" Keller turned to see Zelenka in the doorway and she smiled tentatively over to him as he hovered uncertainly in the entry way. Woolsey indicated for him to come in and the scientist slid in, tablet in hand, and sat in the seat next to Keller.
"What have you got for me, Doctor?"
Zelenka shrugged and looked down to the tablet, flitting his fingers over the touch screen and Keller saw tables and maps appear and disappear in what seemed like an illogical order.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We cannot find any reason for the city to have dropped out of hyper space, or for why we cannot fix it. The scans we have run tell us that the city is fine but the city is telling us that she is not fine." He tapped a few buttons, the soft bleep of the screen almost bringing comfort to Keller.
"Did you at least manage to get the radio fixed?" Woolsey asked as Zelenka continued to plunk away.
"What?" He asked after a moment.
"The radios?"
"Oh, yes-" Just then, there was a strange sound and Zelenka sat straight up in his chair, craning his neck to get a better listen; the sound was duller now and Keller had to concentrate to hear it. "Did that sound like something powering down to you?" Zelenka asked and Keller turned to him just as Woolsey did, both frowning. Keller gulped passed the lump in her throat, but it didn't dislodge.
"Why?"
The room went black and the alarms started blaring moments before the emergency lights flickered on, illuminating them in a low ambient light; if it wasn't the signal that something was very wrong with the city, the low-lighting seemed almost intimate.
"Doctor Zelenka-" Woolsey began but he was cut off when their ear pieces crackled to life.
"Doctor Keller to the infirmary."
Keller tapped her ear piece.
"What's wrong?"
There was a pause and Keller was almost sure she felt her heart beat falter in the moment of silence on the radio.
"It's Doctor Beckett and Colonel Sheppard." There was another pause and Keller's eyes found Woolsey's across the table. They were blank, almost lifeless and she felt a shiver run down her spine at that. "They're crashing."
"Doctor Zelenka! Power is down across the city and..." Another alarm blared and there was a flurry of activity beyond Woolsey's office that had the three of them rushing into the control room. Keller turned to Woolsey for permission to attend to the infirmary and he nodded quickly, just once before spinning to Chuck. As Keller ran to the nearest transporter, her steps faltered as Doctor Kadinsky continued his report to Zelenka. "The shield is failing!"
--
Teyla met Jennifer's eyes across the bed but looked quickly away, fearful that the doctor would see the terror in them. She glanced back down to John's prone figure on the bed and had to move her eyes away from that, too. When she had heard the call on her radio that Carson and John's hearts had stopped, she had felt coldness spread through her body, despite the rapid beating of her heart. Her legs were like dead weights, an all-encompassing numbness emanated from her stomach and she had to lean against the wall for support. The thought of losing either of them was dreadful but as she stood between the two beds and watched the machines breathe for them, live for them, she wondered if this was any better.
"They're stable, for now," Keller said, addressing no one in particular. Teyla blanched at the 'for now' but tried to hide it.
She looked to her left and found Mr Woolsey's eyes, watched as he tried to smile encouragingly but failed miserably. She shook her head slightly and turned away, looking down to her hands that rested on the bed beside John's leg.
"Is there anything you can do?" She asked and Keller shrugged.
"Not really. We just need to monitor them. We've run every test we can think of and everything is coming back clean." She looked remorseful and scared and Teyla forced herself to remember that Keller was losing Rodney.
"Torren has been restless since last night; do you think there is any connection?" Teyla asked quietly.
"It wouldn't hurt to check."
Teyla nodded and tapped her ear piece, radioing for Kanaan. He agreed to bring Torren to the infirmary, conceding that if there was a virus, then Torren had already been subjected to it the previous night when he'd been with John.
"I really have no idea what we're dealing with, sir," Keller said to Woolsey as they began to make their way through the infirmary. Teyla was torn; she knew she could do nothing for John or Carson or Rodney and she hated to leave them alone but she had a duty to the people of Atlantis and staying behind to care for her friends would be equal to giving up that duty. She followed closely behind Keller and Woolsey as they stopped at a few of the sicker patients. "I was thinking... I know that he's a Wraith but he helped Rodney with the nanite-"
"You want to ask Todd to help?" Woolsey asked, his voice flat and toneless. Keller shrugged. "I would like to think that is a last resort." Keller looked stricken, her eyes flickering to where Carson, Rodney and John lay behind a screen. "I don't believe we are there yet."
"But they could die," Keller emphasised, panicked and Teyla felt her own unease grow at Jennifer's words. "The three most important people on this base-"
"All of the people on this base are important, Dr Keller," Woolsey argued and Keller recoiled slightly, conceding. Teyla knew how she felt; the desire to protect friends was more powerful than to protect the many but it was a sacrifice that needed to be made at times. She only hoped that such a choice would not need to be made in this circumstance. "We don't know what kind of information Todd could get a hold of."
"Are you planning on letting him go?"
'The three most important people...'
Something jarred in Teyla's mind, floating across her consciousness only long enough for her to understand that there was something she was missing. She grappled with it, fought to bring it to the surface but it sank away from her grasp. She sighed regretfully and tried to focus her mind but it was futile; the thought was gone.
"That is besides the point; who knows what he could do if he could gain access to the Ancient database."
The thought returned and Teyla sprang between Jennifer and Mr Woolsey, turning her attention to Keller instantly.
"Who was the first to be affected by this?"
Keller thought for a moment.
"I'm not sure... A few airmen and scientists were the first but their reaction hasn't been as severe as the Colonel's or Doctor Beckett's."
Teyla closed her in thought, trying to remember names and faces of the people she had seen in beds in the infirmary.
"Teyla, what are you thinking?"
She held up her hand, processing thoughts as they flickered through her mind. Lorne, Beckett, Rodney, John...
"Do all of those who suffer carry the Ancient gene?"
Keller shook her head.
"No." Teyla sagged slightly. "I thought about that, too, but quite a lot of the people who aren't as sick didn't take to the Ancient gene."
Teyla thought again. Memories of John's change to the Iratus bug, listening to Carson talk about genes and cells and things she did not really care to understand. She thought, closing her eyes to process, using her hand on Keller's shoulder to ground her.
"When Colonel Sheppard was infected with the Iratus bug, Doctor Beckett kept referring to his junk DNA?" She asked the last part as a question, not entirely sure if she had remembered the information correctly; there had been a lot of jargon thrown about in those few days and she knew the likelihood of her mishearing were great. But when she saw Keller's eyes widen in surprise and she looked from Teyla to Woolsey and back again, Teyla knew she had hit upon something.
"Of course!" Keller exclaimed after a moment of rapid thought and Teyla smiled at her. "The ATA gene is still in their system – it just doesn't work. I just don't know if-"
"Check and see if all of the people affected have had the Ancient gene inoculation; even if it didn't take," Woolsey instructed and Keller nodded, racing over to the computer.
Teyla turned at the sound of Torren's annoyed snuffling and she moved to Kanaan, taking her son in her arms.
"Has he been well?" Teyla asked as she assessed her son's features. It felt like so long ago that she had last held him.
"He has been unsettled but nothing untoward." Teyla nodded. If her thoughts were correct then Torren's unsettled mood was unrelated to what was happening to those around her and she didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "How is everyone?"
Teyla winced and looked around the infirmary. It was a horrid sight, seeing so many in so much pain and sickness.
"The Colonel and Doctor Beckett continue to bear the brunt of whatever this is, though we may have had a breakthrough. We shall see."
"And Torren? Is he safe?"
Teyla wished she had the answer to that. She took Torren to Keller's side, unsure of whether or not to disturb her.
"I think this might be it," Jennifer said without looking up from the screen. "Everyone who has the symptoms either has the gene or was given the gene therapy and it didn't take." She typed a few more buttons. "And given that Doctor Beckett and Colonel Sheppard have the strongest gene, it makes sense that they are the ones who are most affected."
"It is a virus, then – designed for the Ancients?" Keller nodded and Teyla shifted a grumbling Torren in her arms.
"I... their bloods came back negative. We'll check them again, see if anything has come up in the last few hours."
"And what of Torren? He has not had the gene therapy," Teyla stated.
Keller turned to her then, meeting her eyes for a moment before turning back to the computer. Teyla watched as she typed a few commands and Torren's file appeared on screen.
"At the time, we didn't know what Michael had injected Torren with." Teyla flinched at the mention of Michael and she turned slightly towards Kanaan to see him looking down to his feet; he was still ashamed of his actions, despite Teyla's reassurance that it had not been his fault. "If he is reacting like the others without actually getting sick, it could maybe mean that it was a sort of gene therapy that Michael injected him with. We considered this at the time, especially considering Carson's heightened control of Ancient technology since..."
Teyla nodded, pondering.
"We know he was looking into the Ancient gene. He wished to have the best possible hybrid; it would make sense that he would wish his hybrid to have the Ancient gene as well."
Keller nodded enthusiastically, typing away at her keyboard, pulling up file after file.
"It probably didn't take because of the Wraith DNA; the same way it probably won't take in you if you ever do decide to take the therapy." Teyla nodded, quiet. "We can check Torren, if you want?"
Teyla thought about it.
"And if it is in his junk DNA, will it hurt him?"
Keller shook her head.
"He'll just be a little uncomfortable, maybe a little sick just like the others who it didn't take to."
Teyla nodded again.
"Then it does not matter."
"I'll get one of the nurses to run bloods on him anyway, just in case that's not it."
Teyla nodded her thanks and turned back to Kanaan but paused when the radio crackled to life again.
"Mr Woolsey," It was Radek. "We managed to stabilise the shield, for now. But some of the lower levels of the city are beginning to lose life support."
Just then, the loud screech of two heart monitors flat lining echoed throughout the infirmary.
--
After Jennifer urged them from the infirmary (much to Teyla's dismay), Teyla and Woolsey rushed through the corridors and up the stairs. Beside her, Woolsey was panting and she slowed her pace to keep him from falling behind. They ignored the frantic pleas of those around them, concentrating instead on getting to the control room. Too much was going wrong. Once in the control room several people began speaking at once and Teyla looked about, half expecting to see Rodney at one of the machines. Instead, she found Radek hunched over the control panel, three laptops open around him.
"Radek, report," Woolsey demanded and Radek looked up then, startled, as though only just realising the commander had returned. He tapped away at his laptop for a few seconds then rose, lifting one into his arms and stepped towards Woolsey and Teyla.
"We have collapsed the shield as much as possible but with the population spread out as far as it is now, we could not bring it in as much as we wanted-"
"Can't we just order them back to the main tower?" Woolsey asked as he looked over the readings on the laptop.
Radek shook his head. "No, the machinery that is out there now is really quite sensitive... we did not wish to lose risking it; the shield is stable for now."
Woolsey thought for a moment then nodded.
"Very well but if the shield becomes unstable, we will have no choice."
Radek nodded again. "I know." He glanced to Teyla and she smiled at him encouragingly. Behind her, she could feel people moving around and she was jostled often by passing scientists. "The problem now is that the lower levels of the city seem to be losing life support; they are still protected by the shield so there is no reason for them to be... well." He shrugged.
"What can you do?" Teyla asked as Woolsey looked around the bustling control room in dismay. Radek looked to her with a small frown on his lips and she sighed.
"I don't know. We're trying anything right now..." He trailed off for a moment and heaved a sigh. "If Rodney were here-"
"He is not. You can do this Radek, we have faith in you." She met his eye and gave him a nod of both encouragement and finality. He paused for a moment before smiling tightly and retreating back to a bank of laptops. Teyla sighed.
"You know..." Radek said after a few long minutes at the laptop and both Teyla and Woolsey turned to him with questioning stares. "No... It is a stupid idea."
Woolsey and Teyla shared a look over Radek's head before Woolsey took a step towards him.
"I think perhaps it's time for stupid ideas, don't you?"
Zelenka's turned in his seat, starting slightly at Woolsey's proximity, before grimacing and looking away from their commander's eyes.
"Todd might be able to help..."
"Absolutely not."
Zelenka shifted in his seat and glanced to Teyla. She shrugged slightly and Zelenka turned back to Woolsey. She could understand Woolsey's refusal but a part of her also understood Radek's proposal.
"We have exhausted all other avenues... I don't know what else we can do. We've all been at this for hours – a fresh pair of eyes could be... beneficial. And he has used our computers before..."
Woolsey sighed and shook his head again, lifting his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Teyla felt for him; as a leader, she was used to difficult decisions but at that moment, she did not resent Woolsey his position.
"Leave it with me," he murmured before retreating to the relative sanctuary of his office.
Twenty minutes later, Ronon and a team of Marines escorted Todd into one of the labs in the central tower.
--
As the day drew to a close, Teyla found herself back in the infirmary. She lingered in the doorway, watching the nurses and doctors come and go from the various beds. A few of the worst off had slipped into comas during the day while the others (namely John, Carson and Rodney) were merely 'stable'. She had a few minutes until she was officially 'off duty' for the day and she could retreat to her quarters for a few hours of rest; she did not imagine they would be peaceful rest but she could hope.
"How are they?" She asked a haggard looking Keller as the younger woman approached her. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin was much paler than usual. She wished she had brought coffee for her.
"The same." She tilted her head back towards the bed and Teyla followed the gesture with her eyes, settling on the prone form of John Sheppard furthest back. "You can go in if you want."
Teyla nodded but Keller was already walking passed her towards another bed.
She stood between Carson's bed and John's, her eyes lingering over the machines hooked up the them, listening to the chilling 'whoosh-click' of the artificial lungs drawing breath for them. Part of her wished to leave, to block out the sight before her but another part – the more helpless part – wanted to believe that her presence by their bedside would be enough to bring them out.
She stood there for countless minutes, just existing when she felt a familiar presence by her side. She turned to Kanaan with a smile that he did not meet.
"Good evening," she murmured and he nodded slightly, looking between the beds, his eyes settling on John's bed. Teyla followed his gaze and was surprised to find that her hand was resting near John's on the blankets. She retracted it and smiled tightly to Kanaan.
"How are they?"
Teyla turned back to John's bed and shifted on her feet. How to answer? She let out a breath and shook her head.
"Jennifer says that they are well enough, though looking at them now I have to wonder how that can be." She turned to him again and this time, he met her eyes briefly.
"And the City?"
Teyla shrugged.
"Radek and his team are doing all that they can."
Kanaan nodded and an odd, uncomfortably silence descended around them.
"I think when we return, I will return to live amongst our people." Teyla turned her whole body towards him then, feeling her chest tighten as she watched him shift on his feet. She sought words but none came and Kanaan let out a light, cynical laugh. "I must ask..." he trailed off and Teyla reached out to touch his arm. They both stared at where her fingers lingered on his arm before she looked back up to his face.
"Anything."
She watched as he took a gulp, his eyes flitting around the room and she felt her breath quicken in anticipation.
"If... it were me who was here," he gestured to the beds, "would you be here, watching over me like you are them?"
Teyla guffawed lightly in her mind and retracted her hand, astonished, if not a little hurt.
"Of course I would, Kanaan. How can you-"
Kanaan winced and held up his hand to interrupt her. She bit her tongue and closed her eyes briefly before settling her gaze upon him once again.
"I am not sure you would..." he trailed off, struggling for the words. Teyla watched him, unsure if she should intercede but not knowing what to say if she should. "Which is why I feel I must leave."
"Kanaan, I-"
"Teyla, come in," Woolsey's voice interrupted over her ear piece and she tilted her head, ready to ignore the call. "Teyla-"
Kanaan smiled ruefully.
"Go, Teyla." He met her eyes. "I will be here for a while longer."
She hesitated, watching him and she felt that the conversation was already over. As she walked behind him, she rested her hand for a long moment on his forearm. He smiled to her over his shoulder but it was smile full of resignation and sadness and Teyla felt it to her very core. As she left the infirmary, she tapped her earpiece.
"Teyla here."
"We might have figured it out."
--
Despite Todd being an almost constant presence in the City these past months, Teyla was still uneasy when she faced him. She did not trust him – not even half as much as John did. Her instincts told her to eradicate the threat, to distrust any and all things he said and while she had faith in her own instincts, she believed more in John's when it came to this Wraith. If he could trust him, then Teyla would endeavour to try.
"This coding," Todd said as he pointed with his shackled hands to one of the Ancient screens in the room and Teyla shifted her focus there. "It is Wraith coding."
To Teyla, it looked exactly like the rest of it, so she didn't say anything in response.
"It is very, very well placed and looks like the old diagnostic coding we used to run which is why we did not pick it up..." Radek explained from his perch on the other side of the room. Teyla smiled to herself when she realised the scientist was as far away from Todd as he could logically be.
"Are you certain it's Wraith?" Woolsey added and both Radek and Todd nodded.
"Yes. Now that it has been pointed out, I can see the difference. It's interfering with everything in the city; it has grown and mutated and..."
"How did it get on the ship?" Woolsey interrupted and Teyla flicked her eyes to his, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. His uniform was wrinkled from wear and even from her distance she could smell the strong scent of coffee wafting off of him. She looked away from his tired face and concentrated on the flickering coding in front of her.
"Most likely when we passed back into the Pegasus galaxy," Radek explained as he brought a map of Atlantis' journey onto the display. "We were here," he said and gestured to a spot just inside the Pegasus, "when we first dropped out of hyperspace."
"Given the nature of the virus, I would guess that it was here," Todd continued and gestured slowly towards another spot on the map, "that you contracted the virus."
"But how could we pick it up if we were in hyperspace?"
Radek shrugged and settled his gaze on Todd. Teyla copied him and when she really looked at the Wraith – all pale skin and hunched over – she realised how hungry he looked. She flicked her eyes to Ronon on the other side of Todd, and was glad to see his gun in his hands as he watched Todd's each move.
"There was most likely a Hive ship nearby, transmitting it through subspace."
Woolsey blanched and Teyla sucked in a breath at this news.
"You mean there could be a Hive on its way to us now?"
Radek shrugged.
"Long range sensors are down." He glanced to Todd again. "But if they were they would have been here by now and short range sensors haven't picked anything up."
"They probably do not realise you passed by them."
Teyla wasn't entirely convinced and neither, it seemed, was Woolsey.
"How do you know the virus isn't affecting the short range sensors?"
"We checked them first. They are working." Teyla met Woolsey's eyes and he let out a slow breath. "We are working on reversing the damage but we still need to find the source first and then we need to make sure we've checked all of the systems. I think we are going to need a bigger team in here..."
"Where is Colonel Sheppard?" Todd asked suddenly and Teyla turned to look at him with a questioning eyebrow raised. "What? Can't I ask after an old friend?"
Ronon made a noise of disapproval but Teyla didn't look away from Todd.
"What are you not telling us?" She demanded when she saw the smirk pinch the corner of Todd's thin mouth.
"How is Doctor Beckett?" Ronon took a step forward and Todd turned to him slightly, smirking again as his eyes slid back to Teyla. "And the other ATA gene carriers?"
Teyla heard Ronon's gun beep and in an instant, Todd was pressed against a worktop with Ronon looming over him. Teyla moved to his side, as two Marines surrounded her, weapons raised an aimed at Todd.
"Tell them or I'll shoot you."
"I am weak..." Todd murmured with exaggerated anguish and Ronon pressed his gun harder against the Wraith's chest. "It has been many weeks since my last feed..."
Teyla's stomach rolled and she saw Woolsey's stricken face out of the corner of her eye.
"You expect me to care?" Ronon said in a low voice, his tone menacing and Teyla could see his desire to just shoot Todd anyway, despite what help he may be able to give. "Tell them, or I'll shoot you."
Todd smirked.
"It would be a better death than the one I face if I do not feed."
Ronon relented slightly at that, some of the fire dimming from his eyes.
"We will not let you feed on one of our people."
Todd made a low keening sound in his chest that Teyla knew was an act. She hated him in that moment.
"Then I am afraid I can be of no further assistance."
"Doctor Zelenka, can you do this on your own?" Woolsey asked turning to Radek.
As Teyla did the same, the look on Radek's face told her what his words seemed unable to.
"I... I... now that I know what I am looking for, I can find the rest of it but... I don't know how to reverse it – it is very complex and if we do not move fast enough the virus will continue to spread through the system and-"
"That's a no then?"
Radek sagged slightly, his gaze flicking to Todd then back to Woolsey before he grimaced and shook his head.
"From what he said," Radek continued slowly as he pointed to Todd, "then there is a correlation between this virus," he pointed to the computer systems, "and what is happening to the crew."
"Doctor Keller?" Woolsey was instantly on the radio to Keller.
"Yes, sir?"
"How are the patients?"
"Stable for now. Why?"
"It seems that the city has contracted a Wraith virus and from what Todd has inferred, it's also what is affecting those with the ATA gene. Is that possible?"
There was a long beat before Keller responded,
"Anything is possible, sir- hold on." Teyla felt her heart stutter at Keller's frantic hold on and she had to fight the urge to flee the small lab and make her way to the infirmary. She hated being so far away from those she cared about, relying on Keller's infrequent radio transmissions for information. "It's Lieutenant Goddard... I have to go, sir."
As the line turned to static, the lump returned to Teyla's throat.
Woolsey sighed and leaned heavily on the edge of one of the work benches. Teyla mirrored his pose as she watched Todd shift from foot to foot at the other side of the room, Ronon shadowing his every move.
"If there is a correlation between them, we should perhaps have Doctor Keller send a team up here with some of the gene therapy and tissue samples so that we can monitor the progress of both city and the patients without the inconvenience of interruptions," Radek continued as he motioned to the radio in his ear.
Woolsey reached up and pushed his glasses away from his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose and Teyla heaved a small sigh as she cracked her neck again.
"Okay."
--
Teyla and Woolsey – who had become her constant companion throughout the debacle – made their way through the doors that led to the main room of the infirmary. The room was bustling with activity as exhausted nurses and doctors flitted from bed to bed. Keller spotted them upon entrance and she made her way to them, looking grave. Teyla's eyes instantly flitted from her to the far end of the infirmary where she knew John, Rodney and Carson were.
"What's the report, doctor?" Woolsey asked as Keller's swiped her hand over her head removing the hair band she was using to keep the hair from her face.
"Lieutenant Goddard's brain function plummeted... He's brain dead, sir," she said quietly, her eyes on the ground. "There was nothing we could do..." She shook her head and Teyla thought she saw a sheen of tears in the younger woman's eyes. She felt for her; Teyla had at least managed a few hours sleep here and there, while the medical staff – short staffed as they were – were lucky to snatch two or three minutes at a time. "We've kept him on life support but... there's nothing there."
Teyla felt the breath stick in her throat and she turned to see Woolsey staring off across the infirmary.
"Are... Has anyone else...?" Teyla trailed off, unable to find the words to ask what she really wanted to ask.
"A few of my nurses have noticed that some of the younger personnel's brain functions are decreasing... We've since hooked everyone up to one of the Ancient machines to monitor them... It's only a matter of time before the next person..."
"So we have an even tighter time frame to fix this," Woolsey stated dully before walking away and tapping his earpiece.
"What happened upstairs? I sent a team up but I didn't really..."
Teyla sighed and ducked her head, breaking the almost-trance she had been in as she stared around the infirmary.
"Todd seems to think the city picked up a virus as we crossed the threshold of the Pegasus galaxy. Radek thinks that since it is attacking the city, the city is in turn attacking those with the ATA gene."
Keller nodded.
"It wouldn't surprise me." Teyla nodded in agreement. There was a thoughtful silence and Teyla watched questions and answers flicker across Keller's features. "The timeline fits, I guess. The symptoms almost correspond with each other..." She trailed off and closed her eyes, pained. "If that's the case then there is absolutely nothing I can do for any of these people. Their lives are tied up with that of the City."
Keller swiped at the drop of moisture that leaked out of her eyes and Teyla felt similar wetness in her own eyes. It was up to Radek and Todd to keep the people alive. Teyla didn't want to have to owe anyone's life to Todd, again. John did not need another reason to feel indebted to the Wraith.
"Todd isn't co-operating," Woolsey said, interrupting the heavy silence between the two women. Teyla turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "He insists he is too weak."
Teyla watched as Woolsey's eyes flickered to the beds in the infirmary, then back to the women in front of him. Teyla couldn't look at the pained pinch of his eyebrows, nor did she wish to think about what put that look there. She licked her lips and looked away because she knew what he was contemplating. She did not wish to think of it.
"Sir... no..."
Apparently, Keller understood as well because she took a startled step back when Woolsey didn't correct her assumption. Teyla gulped down the pressure in her throat and lifted her eyes to stare at Woolsey. His features had smoothed out but his eyes gave him away and Teyla lightly shook her head, despite knowing that he had already made up his mind.
"It's like you said, doctor; there is nothing there." Keller opened her mouth to protest but Woolsey held up his hand and silenced her with a shake of his head. "We need Todd; given the time Doctor Zelenka would need to do it without him, this isn't a negotiation." He looked beyond them, focussing on nothing in particular as he took a shuddering breath. "We need him," he reiterated quietly.
Teyla met Keller's troubled eyes for a second before looking away.
She couldn't disagree with that.
--
Teyla escorted Keller from the infirmary as Ronon led the Marines and Todd into the private room off the main ward; neither of them really needed to witness what was about to happen. They walked slowly down the corridors away from the infirmary and Teyla could hear the tell-tale dragging of Keller's feet on the hard ground.
"Perhaps you should take a few hours rest?" Teyla suggested as they neared the mess hall. Keller shook her head. "There is no more that you can do for them, Jennifer," Teyla consoled as they bypassed the food and took a seat near the open balcony doors.
Teyla stared at the inky darkness beyond, suddenly missing the salty breeze that wafted up from the cerulean waves below. She closed her eyes to block out the nothingness.
"I know but... I would still like to feel at least a little proactive." Teyla opened her eyes and met Keller's saddened stare. "I might just head up to the lab and see if Zelenka needs any help."
She made to stand but Teyla stopped her with a hand on her wrist, gently urging the doctor to take her seat.
"Radek will be fine; he has his team and soon Todd will return to help him." Keller fiddled with a napkin that had been left on the table and Teyla watched as she shredded it into thin strips. "I really do think it would be best if you rested, for an hour at least; you have been awake for almost twenty six hours."
Keller snorted quietly and shook her head.
"So have you."
Teyla paused a moment then tilted her head in acquiesce.
"I have managed a few minutes here and there and I have not been under the same pressure that you have."
Keller didn't say anything and Teyla didn't push. There was no use in it. They sat there in contemplative silence for long minutes, the heat of the room lulling Teyla into a false sense of calm. Her head throbbed gently in time with her heart beat and she knew it was only a matter of a few short hours before she would need to sleep longer than ten minutes. She tilted her neck from side to side, feeling as well as hearing the dull crack at the top of her spine as some of the tension released.
"I can't believe Woolsey is letting Todd feed off of Goddard."
Teyla looked over to the younger doctor and tried to smile but even she knew it seemed forced.
"He is doing everything he can to get the City... to save the lives of half of the population." Teyla looked down. She knew these difficult decisions had been made before but she still found it difficult to come to terms with at times. "We do what we must." The use of 'we' didn't go unnoticed by Keller who looked up and glared at Teyla for a short moment before she nodded in understanding. "As you said yourself, there is nothing more you could have done for Goddard... At least this way, his death..."
Keller looked up and shook her head derisively.
"His death meant something?" Teyla winced at Keller's tone but she understood it; no one should have to suffer at the hands of the Wraith – brain dead or no. "It just seems..."
"Yes. I know."
They slipped into silence again and it was long minutes before either of them broke it.
"I think I'm going to go lie down for a while," Keller said as she pushed away from the table, running a weary hand through her hair. "Contact me if..." She couldn't finish. Teyla watched as she scrubbed her eyes with her knuckles before turning away from Teyla entirely.
"I will," Teyla murmured to her retreating back.
--
Teyla took her own advice and retreated to the sanctity of her quarters. She curled up in bed, facing Torren's sleeper and let unconsciousness sweep over her. She was woken several hours later by the chimes on her door and she rolled onto her back, momentarily surprised by the darkness and emptiness of her room before she remembered that in space, it was eternal darkness.
She rolled from her bed, her movements sluggish from sleep and ran her hand through her hair, feeling the results of her tossing and turning as her fingers caught on several snags and tugs. She sighed as she opened the door, smiling slightly when she saw Ronon leaning against the doorframe. He looked her over, his eyebrow quirking in amusement and she resisted the urge to smack his shoulder when he smirked cheekily at her.
"Come in," she said and motioned for him to enter. She couldn't help the smile on her lips as Ronon moved to Torren's sleeper and reached in to touch her son's cheek. "Is everything all right?"
Ronon turned to her and nodded, folding his arms over his chest.
"Zelenka got the virus; the medics think the others will wake up soon."
Teyla's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Why did you not wake me sooner?" She asked as she stepped to his side, smiling down at her son as he too rose from slumber. She lifted him into her arms before he started grumbling and moved to the other side of the room for his food.
"We tried." Teyla turned to him and raised her eyebrow in question. "You were out." Teyla nodded, smiling sheepishly as she held the small jar of food out for Ronon to open. He did so without question. "He hungry?"
Teyla smiled as she set Torren into his high chair, setting the jar on the small table attached to it as she searched for his spoon.
"It is one thing he and Rodney have very much in common; they are both always hungry."
Ronon grunted and pulled one of the tall armchairs up beside Torren and lowered himself into it.
"You going down to the infirmary?" He asked needlessly but Teyla nodded anyway. "You should take him with you," he said and motioned with his head towards Torren. Teyla smiled and nodded.
"I am surprised to see you here, Ronon." He quirked his eyebrow as he glanced to her. "You have not left Todd's side since this all started," she elaborated and Ronon grunted again.
"Marines can handle him."
Teyla nodded again and continued to feed Torren.
"Yes, they can."
--
"From what we can gather," a much fresher faced Keller said as Teyla and Ronon settled into the group surrounding the three beds, "the City was trying to protect the ones who had the gene the strongest."
"Protect? How?" Woolsey asked as he glanced at the still beds in front of him. Carson and John had yet to wake up from their comas, although Keller had assured them all that they were both fine. Rodney had been in the first group to awaken but he had promptly fallen back asleep in a bed next to John and Carson before Teyla and Ronon had made it to the infirmary.
"Well..." Keller shifted from foot to foot as she glanced to Rodney's bed again and again. "We've wondered ever since we've got here if the City was sentient and I guess, in one sense, we can say it is. The City recognised those who had the gene the strongest and put them into comas straight away when it realised what was going on. Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Beckett have been in comas since the first day – it was the City's way of protecting them from all the other systems."
"Then why were they the ones who crashed when life support went down?" Woolsey questioned again and Keller shifted again.
"This is all theoretical, sir but... We think because they were so connected with the City – since it was trying to protect them – that when the biggest systems failed, the city was too caught up in their minds to retract as quickly as it needed to." She shrugged. "It's the best – and probably the only – explanation we'll get. It's not like we can ask the city itself, right?" She quipped with a nervous laugh and Teyla smiled politely.
"The City thought it would be a good idea to knock me out... to protect me from itself?"
They all turned at the sound of Sheppard's croaky voice and Teyla's shoulders slumped in relief. She took a step towards the bed but Keller was quicker, appearing at his side within moments. She checked his pulse and his vision, flashing her pen light in his eyes before she turned to them and nodded.
"At least you were lying down!"
"Rodney!" Keller was at his side in an instant, one hand feeling for his pulse while the other gripped his hand in hers. "How do you feel?"
Rodney answered as Teyla stepped to Sheppard's side, letting her hand linger on the bed sheets for a moment before she lifted her eyes to meet his. He looked tired, the skin around his eyes tight and pale. His hair was flat and oily and she had to restrain herself from reaching out and brushing the long strands from his forehead.
"How do you feel?" She asked as she handed him a cup of ice chips, smiling as he glanced at her then the cup then back to her. She lifted two out of the cup and pushed them against his lips, smiling.
"Tired. Feel like I could sleep for days."
"You've been asleep for days," Ronon grumbled and Sheppard looked over Teyla's shoulders to the Satedan, smiling tiredly at his friend. Teyla smiled. "Brought someone," Ronon said as he set Torren on the bottom of John's bed. Teyla watched as her son crawled up John's legs before settling against the rail. Her hands moved to hover over him, just in case.
"I would ask what the hell happened but I think I'd forget it in about two seconds anyway."
"You'll have our reports to read, Colonel," Woolsey said lightly as he took residence on the other side of his bed. John turned to him and raised his eyebrow. "Not that I expect you to be at your desk tomorrow, of course," Woolsey continued with a smirk.
"You wouldn't think anyone was trying to get some sleep in here," Carson grumbled and Teyla turned to his bed, grinning. Keller was by his side in moments, doing the same preliminary checks she had run on John. Carson grumbled and tried to bat her hands away but she simply admonished him quietly and continued. "I told you I was fine." He stretched and groaned, rubbing his shoulder. "What happened?"
"Mr Woolsey, Teyla?" Teyla tilted her head at the sound of Chuck's voice in her ear. "We have a situation."
"What do you mean a 'situation'?" Woolsey questioned as he stepped away from the beds.
"It's Todd, sir," he continued and Teyla saw Ronon reach to his hip for his gun, stepping away from the bed as Teyla felt her shoulders tense. "He's escaped."
Ronon fled the infirmary and Teyla was torn between staying with her son and joining him.
"What do you mean he's escaped?" Woolsey demanded.
"What's going on?" Sheppard questioned, looking between Teyla and the door that Ronon had just fled through.
"The Marines he was with were found outside the holding cells."
"Todd has escaped," Teyla replied to Sheppard's question even as he slid a radio into his ear that Keller handed him.
"Sir," a young woman's voice sounded over the radio, "Jumper Two just launched from the bay."
"Shut it down!" Sheppard demanded as he scrambled to get out of his bed. Teyla grabbed Torren up and Keller moved to tackle Sheppard back to his bed. He struggled against her for a moment before his knees buckled and he fell against the bed. Teyla shifted Torren on her hip and reached out with her free arm to press against John's chest as he tried to stand up again.
"It's too late, sir." Teyla felt her heart drop. "He's gone."
"Who did he take with him?" Sheppard demanded from the bed as he glared at Teyla's hand on his chest that was still holding him down.
"No one," Chuck answered. "All six Marines were knocked unconscious and everyone else has been accounted for."
Sheppard groaned and ran a frustrated hand through his hair, tugging at the ends. Seeing that he was no longer trying to move from the bed, Teyla relented and let him sit up.
"How is that possible?" Rodney asked as he shuffled up from his lying position.
"Sir?" Zelenka's voice sounded over the radio, the nervous lilt not unnoticed amongst the group. "We heard over the radio and..." He trailed off for a second before continuing. "A few samples of the gene therapy are... gone."
"What do you mean they're gone?" Woolsey demanded, his voice tight and Teyla understood; what more could possibly go wrong?
"They're... missing."
Teyla closed her eyes as John and Rodney let out frustrated groans.
"But the gene doesn't take to the Wraith-" John began but both Carson and Keller cut him off.
"It takes a while for the body's system to turn against the therapy. The gene registers at first."
"How long does it take to wear off?" John asked and Keller turned to Carson.
"We've never tested it in a live Wraith before. The closest we came would be..." He flicked his eyes to Teyla and she flinched slightly at the reminder of her Wraith gene. "But Teyla never took the therapy so we have no basis for comparison."
"I can't imagine it would be very long; the longest a human has gone before the system rejected the therapy was six hours," Keller concluded.
"Doctor Zelenka, how much did he take?" Woolsey questioned.
There was silence for a few seconds before Zelenka responded.
"Three, sir."
"One to get out, one for a boost and one to research," John surmised grumpily with a shake of his head. "Damn it!"
"How did this happen?" Woolsey questioned, glancing around at the remaining people in the room. Teyla did not believe he expected an answer.
"What would he want with the gene therapy anyway?" Keller asked, voicing the question Teyla did not wish to even begin to think about. She looked down to Torren in her arms and thought of Michael.
"I can imagine..." Sheppard murmured. "Chuck?" He said into his radio. "Who've we got in Jumpers going after him?"
There was pause and Teyla looked to the others in the room, each of their faces registering their chagrin.
"Uh... No one, sir."
"What do you mean no one?"
"Well, all of the Jumper pilots are in the infirmary, sir," Chuck responded and Teyla closed her eyes and shook her head.
Todd was far too good at escaping from them. Teyla looked to the others again and she knew they were thinking the same thing.