Chapter 4
Day 4
Even though it wasn't Elizabeth's favorite game, she was quite excited about meeting up with Radek at 5pm at the mess hall to play some chess. In fact, Liz was so excited about playing a round of chess with Radek that she wondered as to why she was that enthused about it. C'mon! Get a grip! You know very well what the reason is! You just enjoy Radek's company. You're even developing a little crush on him, aren't you, Elizabeth quietly thought to herself. No, no, no. I'm not! I just want to be friendly and introduce him to other people. Since the only way I currently know how to do that is by inviting him to a chess match, that's how I'm going to do it. That's all, she silently retorted back. Elizabeth had wondered what Radek would think if she were to tell him of her real feelings; if she were to just… blurt them out.
In the morning, Dr. Weir had been rummaging around the newly found or re-found, if you prefer, lost city of Atlantis. Elizabeth was looking through some of the contents of the main towers; perhaps some Ancient technology to give Rodney for experimentation or anything that would hint to the lives of the Ancestors. However, she didn't expect to find a small, glass flask. It had Ancient writing on it and from what Liz could make of it, it had said:
Narro Verium, Et Verium Compellu Vos.
Elizabeth had a knack for languages and although her Ancient was getting better, this phrase was a little more difficult to translate. Narro is…"speak?" Yes, it means "speak." Verium is "truth." Et means "is," of course. Compellu means…"will proclaim?" No, that's not right. Um… compellu means "will speak", and vos is "you."
"Speak the truth, and the truth shall speak to you," Elizabeth inquired aloud to herself.
"Rodney," Liz radioed over her ear piece.
"Yes, Dr. Weir," Rodney asked.
"Could you meet me in tower 5? I need help with Ancient translation."
"Will do. I'll be there in 2 minutes."
Rodney arrived at tower five in 2 minutes as he said, and found Dr. Weir staring at the glass flask, looking very pensive.
"You had requested to see me, Dr. Weir," Rodney asked.
"Yes, I did," Elizabeth responded, finally looking up from the flask. She then walked toward Rodney, handed him the flask and continued by inquiring, "Can you make out what this says?"
Rodney took the flask from Dr. Weir's hands and began reading the Ancient writing. "From what I can tell," Rodney began. "…it appears to be saying: "Speak the truth, and the truth shall speak to you."
"That's what I thought," Elizabeth said as she took the object from Rodney's grasp. "I wondered if my Ancient was rusty, but I guess not. Hmm… what is in here, I wonder."
"I don't know, but we could take it to Dr. Beckett for examination," suggested McKay.
"Perhaps that would be best."
"Alright."
Elizabeth had arrived at the infirmary to ask Beckett if he would run some tests on the substance in the flask. Carson had agreed to do so and two hours later:
"I can't seem to find anything abnormal with the Atlantian chemical," Carson told Elizabeth.
"Well, I think we should find out what it is. It can't be anything too dangerous, could it," Dr. Weir curiously responded.
"Aye, I suppose so. Even still, I wouldn't recommend for ye to drink any of it. God only knows what chemicals are in there."
"It could be of substantial importance to our advancement in technology, Carson. I insist I take a drop of it!"
"Dr. Weir," Carson began. "Believe me when I tell you: I can't take the risk of you compromising your own command. We need you here. However, if you are so adamant in discovering this substance's purpose, I would recommend we test it on someone else."
"Carson, I found the drug so I should take it. I was the one responsible for stumbling across the flask, and I would feel awful if the substance did turn out to be dangerous and the test subject died in result. No, it's my responsibility."
Dr. Beckett looked at the floor in remorse for what he was about to do and the horrendous results which could occur from it. "Alright, love," he replied. "I just hope this isn't dangerous." Elizabeth took the flask from Carson's hands, opened it and took a tiny swallow of the substance. Almost immediately, she passed out. Dr. Beckett checked Elizabeth's pulse and it appeared normal. So, he took her to the hospital bed, drew some of her blood for testing and made certain to check her vitals every so often. Whenever Carson did so, Elizabeth seemed to be under stable conditions.
Three hours later, Dr. Weir had finally woken up. Dr. Beckett heard Elizabeth stir and walked over to her bedside immediately.
"Oh," groaned Elizabeth. She tried to sit up, but found that difficult to do.
"You're alright. Just try not to move so much," Dr. Beckett kindly ordered as he put his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder to signify for her to lay back down. Dr. Weir laid herself down on the bed as Carson insisted.
"Have you found anything unusual with the serum? Please tell me you have because I want to get back to my own comfortable bed instead of these rotten things," asked Elizabeth.
"I'm sorry," Carson inquired, a little surprised at Dr. Weir's bluntness.
"Did I say that out loud? Oh, Carson! I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that!"
"No, it's alright. I've been nagging at the others on the med team to order some comfortable ones for a change. They still haven't listened to me though," Carson replied with a slight grin. Elizabeth returned his smile. "Later today, if you appear to be feeling better, I will release you," Carson continued.
"Alright. That would be nice," Dr. Weir answered.
Later that afternoon, Dr. Beckett had released Elizabeth as he said he would. There didn't appear to be anything exceptionally wrong with her: perhaps a major headache, but nothing a couple aspirins couldn't take care of. Dr. Weir felt much better just walking around and looking at all the other people around her. It surprised her how these people could live day by day, being stuck on Atlantis, knowing they probably won't have the option of seeing their families and friends again, and could still laugh.
Out of habit, Elizabeth looked at her watch. "Oh my God," she exclaimed. "It's 5:10! I told Radek I would meet him at 5! Damn!" Dr. Weir rushed to the mess hall. She entered through the doors and looked about to find Radek. Sure enough, he was sitting all by his lonesome with the chess board already setting out on the table.
"Sorry I'm so late," Elizabeth apologetically said as she took a seat across from Dr. Zelenka.
"No, no it's fine," answered Radek. "I understand you're a busy person. Besides, I heard you were in the infirmary today. I wasn't even sure if you were going to make it to our match tonight, but I came here just in case you would show up. You're feeling much better, I hope?"
"Yes! A lot better. Thank-you," Dr. Weir said. "And that's very sweet of you to do, Radek! There are not very many men who would do that."
"It's no trouble."
"And I've noticed your English is getting a lot better!"
"You think so? I've been practicing a lot," Radek shrugged. "I didn't think it was doing me much good though."
"Oh, yeah! Most definitely! I've noticed a huge change," encouragingly replied Elizabeth. "Then again, I like it when men speak other languages besides English. I find that to be a very sexy trait."
Radek confusedly looked at Elizabeth. "I-I'm sorry," he inquired, blushing a little. Zelenka wasn't quite sure he heard Elizabeth correctly, but he indeed had.
Dr. Weir put her palm to her head in embarrassment and said, "Oh, God. I-I should…go. Sorry." Elizabeth raised herself from her seat and walked out of the mess hall. She was more humiliated than she ever remembered being. "Something's not right," Weir thought to herself aloud. "There's a reason I keep blurting out my thoughts."
"Dr. Beckett," Elizabeth radioed over her ear piece.
"Yes," Carson inquiringly replied.
"Are you busy at the moment by any chance," Dr. Weir asked.
"No, not really. Why? Is something the matter?"
"Yes, I believe so. Could you see me?"
"Sure, meet me in the infirmary," Dr. Beckett replied.
"Alright. I'll see you there," answered Elizabeth.
Three minutes later, Elizabeth entered the infirmary and discussed the problems she was having to Carson.
"The only thing I can suggest is I can run an MRI scan, but I did the same thing earlier and the results came back normal," Dr. Beckett informed Elizabeth.
"Do it anyway. Perhaps something will show up now that wouldn't have before," Elizabeth responded.
"Aye, that's what I was thinking."
After the MRI scan was completed, Carson sent Elizabeth back to the infirmary section they were at before.
"Well, something different most certainly has shown up," Dr. Beckett informed Elizabeth. "It appears as though your dopamine levels in your brain have increased significantly. I'm guessing this has to do with the substance you had taken earlier."
"It makes sense! There is probably some chemical in the substance that contains a hormone which causes the dopamine hormone to increase," a very frustrated Elizabeth inferred. "Therefore, it would force me to say things I am actually thinking."
"That's what I would have inferred, yes," Carson regretfully answered. "I'm not a neurologist, but I'm guessing your symptoms are similar to what turrets syndrome patience experience. The difference being you don't always say rude or socially inappropriate comments so much as you constantly say things you're thinking."
"Why do those damn Ancients always seem to invent the most obscure, ridiculous things," Dr. Weir inquired to herself out loud.
"I really don't know."
Elizabeth apologetically looked at Carson, "Just…never mind some of the things I'm saying. I don't mean to say them."
"I completely understand. I can't help but to wonder though: why did the Ancients create this drug," Dr. Beckett curiously asked.
"Hmm… well it could be they were just idiots who didn't know what the hell they were doing! Or it could be they used it to interrogate the wraith during the war," Elizabeth guessed.
"Which do you think it is?"
"Probably both."
Carson and Elizabeth chuckled a bit at the statement, and then Carson deduced, "Well… I suppose the next step is trying to get you better and make it so you're not accidentally blurting your thoughts anymore." Carson had further suggested to Dr. Weir that he could give her a medication used to treat patients with turrets…just until the effects of the Atlantian drug wore off.
