Chapter 4 – Virus

Doctors Beckett and Keller spent an inordinately long time on Ronon's post-mission checkup after the team had returned to Atlantis. They tsked and fussed especially over his new injury, minor as it was. Every possible test was performed, and Ronon stoically sat through all of them, until Beckett had to grudgingly give him a clean bill of health and let him go.
By then evening had fallen over the city of Atlantis, and Weir told the team to get some dinner before joining her in her office for the debriefing. Rodney was notably absent from the mess hall, he was too busy analyzing the crystal's structure and energy signature.

The team's report to Elizabeth about this rather uneventful mission didn't take long, but to Ronon it seemed it would never end. He was restless, there was an itching in his joints and a tingling down his spine that had him fidgeting in his chair, rolling his shoulders, crossing and uncrossing his long legs.

After Weir had dismissed them, Ronon was on his way to the transporter when Sheppard caught up with. "You okay, big guy?" he asked.

"Fine," was Ronon's reply, as usual. "I just feel a little... achy, that's all. My muscles must have gotten stiff from all that time in the infirmary."

"Probably," Sheppard agreed, slapping his teammate on the back. "What you need is a hot bath and a good night's sleep."

Ronon glared at him. "What good is that supposed to do?" He signaled for the transporter doors to open. "When I'm sore I usually work out. Actually, I'm on my way to the gym right now. How about it? You up to a round of sparring?"

Sheppard hesitated. He had actually been looking forward to something more relaxing, like a movie and a couple of beers, but he didn't want to leave Ronon alone at this time. The agonized, haunted look in the Satedan's eyes when he appeared from that dust cloud was still very vivid in his memory. No matter how good Ronon was at hiding his emotions, Sheppard knew that returning to his devastated home world had been a very traumatic experience for the Satedan. And if sparring was what it took to make him feel better, sparring it would be.

"Sure," John said finally. "I'll grab some other clothes and a very large towel and meet you there."

An hour later they were facing each other over their wooden practice swords, both breathing heavily and soaked with sweat. John noticed that whatever was bothering Ronon was really affecting him. His performance that night was far from his normal skill level. His parries were slower, and his attacks lacked their usual vigor.

"Okay," Sheppard panted, walking to a corner where he used an already dripping wet bath towel to wipe his face. "One more round, then I've had it for tonight."

Ronon nodded, circling warily around the room, waiting for Sheppard to take the initiative. Deciding on a combination of strikes and thrusts, Sheppard leapt at his opponent. Ronon reflected his first three moves, but when Sheppard pivoted unexpectedly, switching his attack to the other side Ronon's parry was a split second too slow, and the blunt edge of John's weapon caught him squarely on the hip. If John was surprised to be able to land such a direct hit, he was even more surprised by the Satedan's reaction. With an agonized yell of pain, the big man crumpled on the mat. Quickly, Sheppard threw his sword aside and knelt next to his teammate.

"Ronon?" he asked, "Ronon! What's wrong? Did I catch your stitches? Did I hit a nerve? Talk to me!"

But Ronon could not. He was in the grip of unbearable pain that spread like wildfire throughout his body. He was shaking uncontrollably and his jaw was clenched like a vise to stop him from screaming.

Tapping his earpiece, John yelled "I need a medical team in the gym NOW!"

Sheppard hesitated a moment before entering the infirmary. He was not looking forward to the tongue lashing he was about to receive from Carson. To his relief, the only person in the room was Teyla, who was nervously pacing up and down between the beds.

"Any news?" Sheppard asked. Teyla shook her head.

"No, they are still examining him."

She came over to John and looked him squarely in the face.

"I simply do not understand. Tell me again what happened."

Sheppard opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment a door at the far end of the room slid aside and Dr. Beckett entered.

"Have you discovered what is wrong with him?" Teyla asked Carson. Beckett shook his head.

"We could only treat his symptoms. I pumped him full tae the gills wi' massive pain killers. It's the only thing we can do at the moment."

"Look, doc," Sheppard began, "I'm really sorry about this. I realize I should not have been sparring with him, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He said that..."

"Dinna worry, Colonel," Bechett interrupted him. "Whatever is causing his condition, it is not your little jousting exercise."

"But I hit him," Sheppard protested, "and then he collapsed."

"I know," Carson replied. "There's a bit o' bruising on his hip. But it canna explain the intense pain he experienced."

Sheppard and Teyla exchanged confused looks.

"We will have tae wait fer the results of the blood tests, " Carson told them. "Dr. Keller is working on them right now. If there is any organism in his body tha's causing this, she is sure tae find it."

Meeting Sheppard's skeptical look, he continued, "Aye, she's still very young, but she's been doing research at NASA fer several years. Her thesis was about the impact o' space travel on viral mutations. Tha's why I requested her. She's miles ahead o' everybody with regard tae space viruses."

Teyla stifled a yawn. "Off ye go, both of ye," Carson ordered. "Ye've had a long hard day, and there's nothing ye can do for Ronon at this point. He's sleeping, and tha's what you should be doing as well. Come back tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we'll know more about this by then."

When Ronon woke up from his drug induced sleep it took him a while to remember what happened. The searing pain he had felt the night before had subsided to a dull throb, thanks to Dr. Beckett's wonder drugs. But the painkillers also made him drowsy, and he was on the brink of slipping back into sleep when he felt a touch on his wrist. He slowly turned his head, and saw Jennifer Keller checking his pulse. It appeared that she had not gotten much sleep the night before, there were dark circles under her eyes and her features were drawn.

When she saw that he was awake, a smile lit up her face. Ronon loved that smile, it reminded him of the long comfortable talks they'd had during his last prolonged stay in the infirmary. Once he had discovered what a sense of humor Jennifer was hiding under the brisk, efficient shell of Dr. Keller, he had made a point of engaging her in conversation every time she came to check on him. And she had been more than willing to chat with him whenever her schedule permitted it.

"Hey there, sleepyhead, how is the pain?" she asked him.

"Not too bad," Ronon tried to say, but his mouth seemed to be stuffed with cotton wool. He only managed to croak "Wa'er?"

There was a plastic cup with a straw on the bedside table. Dr. Keller slipped her arm around Ronon's shoulders and helped him to a half sitting position, his head resting against her shoulder. She held the cup for him while he drank thirstily.

At this moment, Dr. Beckett entered, closely followed by Teyla and Sheppard. All three of them looked rather startled to see the two of them locked in what seemed like some kind of embrace. Dr. Keller blushed furiously and tried to pull her arm away, but it was pinned between Ronon's shoulders and the pillows, and since the Satedan quite enjoyed being so close to her, he made no attempt to help her free it.

Then Dr. Keller saw the loaded syringe in Carson's hand, and Ronon felt her whole body stiffen.

"I still don't think it's wise," Dr. Keller told the Atlantis CMO.

"Ye said it's a virus," Beckett shot back, "similar tae the herpes virus tha' causes chicken pox and shingles, and this is the most powerful anti-viral medication available in two galaxies."

"I know," Dr. Keller admitted, "but I need more time to study this particular mutation. It does not behave like a normal virus. I doesn't attack the nerve cells, it doesn't alter them – it just appears to stimulate them in a way to cause the greatest possible amount of pain."

Beckett looked first at the clear liquid in the syringe, then at the young doctor sitting on the bed next to their patient.

"If ye can give me a viable alternative, I will consider it," he said.

"I don't know enough about this virus yet to offer any suggestions for treatment," Dr. Keller replied, finally managing to pull her arm free. "I need more time."

"I found something," a voice came from the door. Elizabeth Weir was standing there, her eyes red rimmed from lack of sleep. She was carrying a tablet.

"There is an entry in the Ancient database about Satedan rituals." She walked into the room and stood at the end of Ronon's bed. "It appears that the rite of passage for any new priest to the temple was to prove his ability to detach his soul from his body. The priests were trained to attain a plane of spiritual existence that removed them so far from their earthly life that they did not experience physical discomfort." She looked up from the tablet screen. "I believe they were trying to emulate the Ascension of the Ancients."

"And they created this pain-inducing virus as a test for these rites?" Carson asked. Elizabeth nodded.

"It appears so. The candidate was injected with a serum that caused agonizing pain, and he had to bear it for a certain period or time."

"The serum must have been in the glass jars Ronon broke when looking for the crystal," Teyla exclaimed.

Weir nodded again. "Probably. And it entered his body through the cuts on his fingers."

"You never had this kind of training, though, did you?" Sheppard asked.

It took Ronon's sluggish brain a moment to process this question, then he shook his head.

"Obviously not," Weir agreed. "That's why its effects were so severe. This serum was never meant to be given to somebody untrained in bearing the pain it causes."

"But if that's the case, there must be a cure," Dr. Keller proposed eagerly. "If the condition was meant to be temporary for initiation purposes, it must have been reversible."

Elizabeth scrolled through the text in front of her. "Unfortunately, the reference here is very obscure. It says... here it is 'bearing this agonizing pain for a period of at least 21 sectons" whatever that is "before asking for the cave'."

"Cave?" Sheppard repeated. "What kind of cave?"

The word 'cave' triggered a memory in Ronon. "The cave of relief," he mumbled. "They took them there, and the pain went away."

Weir frowned. "They had a medical facility in a cave?" she asked in disbelief.

"No," Ronon replied, his brow furrowed in an attempt to remember. "There was nothing in that cave. It was enough just to be... inside to get better."

"Maybe some radiation, or a natural gas wi' anti-viral properties," Dr. Beckett mused. "It's definitely worth checking out."

"I would like to accompany the team to this planet," Dr. Keller said. "We may very well have stumbled over something to protect people from the Herpes virus. I'll bring a mobile lab to analyze any samples we will gather."

She looked at Carson, who nodded his approval.

"Okay, doc, I give you 30 minutes to assemble your kit," Sheppard told her. "Teyla, gear up. We're going back to Sateda."

Teyla nodded and turned towards Ronon's bed. "Where is this cave you spoke of?" she asked Ronon. She was distracted for a moment by a giggle coming from Elizabeth, who was asking John why he left it to the woman in his team to ask for directions. John gave a long-suffering sigh, rolling his eyes.

When Teyla looked at Ronon again, a faraway look had come into the Satedan's eyes as he tried to remember. "You must follow the river to the mountains," he said finally. "A valley takes you to the source of one of its tributaries, where it comes tumbling out of a rocky cliff. Behind that waterfall is the cave."

"There must be several tributaries. Do you remember which one we are supposed to follow?" Teyla asked.

Ronon shook his head. "No, I was only a boy when we went up there. My cousin was on of the new priests undergoing initiation, and I went with my uncle to pick him up after he'd been in the cave."

"How long did he have to stay there?" Dr. Keller asked.

"I'm not sure, a couple of days I think, but I... I..." Ronon broke off as a streak of fire ran down his spine, drawing a hiss of pain from his lips. Dr. Keller quickly checked the IV line.

"I don't understand," she said, "the painkillers are getting through – why aren't they working anymore?"

"Maybe the level of pain is increasing," Teyla suggested.

"Or the virus is neutralizing them," Elizabeth noted. "There are some references here that the virus was re-engineered to detect pain mitigating substances, after one of the candidates tried to cheat."

"Can't you up the dose?" Sheppard asked.

"Aye, I could give him a wee bit more," Dr. Beckett replied, "but there is a limit or the drugs may damage his heart and liver."

"We should take him with us," Dr. Keller proposed.

"But we don't even know if there is any substance tae this miracle-cure story," Carson pointed out.

"There is nothing constructive we can do for him here, anyway," Dr. Keller insisted. "At least there is a chance he could be cured if he is exposed to whatever it is in this cave.

"She's right," Sheppard told the CMO. "I've always been a sucker for outside chances, and this sounds promising enough for me. We'll get a couple of marines and a stretcher, and we'll have him there in no time."

He turned away, but Ronon's hand clamped down on his wrist like a vise. "No," he rasped, "too steep... for a stretcher. Must... climb."

"In know about Murphy's law, but this is getting ridiculous," Sheppard sighed. "How about it, Doc, can you fix it so he can walk?"

He had spoken to Carson, but it was Dr. Keller who answered. "Yes, I can. I'll monitor him constantly, and keep him at a level where he's lucid but the pain is not crippling."

"So what are we waiting for, let's go scare some bats," Sheppard quipped.

"I'll have a jumper made ready," Elizabeth promised, "and I think you better hurry. Who knows how much time you have before the painkillers become completely ineffective."