"It's okay," the keeper's voice came from above him. "You just need to rest." The Wraith was holding him, keeping his head slightly elevated. He wasn't simply watching Carson, he was caring for his charge.
The physical contact made Carson feel a bit strange and his first reaction was to back away, but it was something about the way that the Wraith was holding him that made him feel safe. He needed to feel safe.
"Did I get you in any trouble?" Carson asked, genuinely concerned.
"I wouldn't be here if you did. I only reminded him that you need to stay alive."
"You need me to stay alive," Carson softly answered.
"How could your friends rescue you otherwise?"
"It's been a day and nothing has happened."
"Don't you trust them?"
Carson moved to a sitting position and looked at him. "There are the things I feel and the things I know. I know I'm here and I feel that I should trust them." He wanted to hope, but so many times before he was disappointed. John and Elizabeth and everyone else in Atlantis would do everything to help him, but he feared that not even they could rescue him.
With a smile, the Wraith answered, "That is the difference between us. Your feelings are a strange mixture of instinct and knowledge."
"Between you and me, or the Wraith and the humans?"
"Am I not Wraith? Are you not human?"
Carson smiled. The Wraith before him was different. He had hoped so much when first meeting Ellia and it went so terribly wrong, that he was afraid to hope again. "We have a saying – some of us do - 'You are what you eat.'"
The Wraith snickered. "You humans are odd."
"Aye, we are. How many humans have you known?"
"A lot." The keeper's voice was blank and leveled.
"I mean... talking to, like you're talking to me now."
"I know that's what you mean. I knew a lot of humans. Now rest." He rose from his place and left the cell abruptly
- -- - -- -
Rodney summoned those who were involved in the rescue mission to the conference room. Elizabeth couldn't help but remember the way they had gathered when the city was under siege.
Rodney explained the plan: they would go to the planet, implant a locator chip in Carson's arm and beam him out using the Daedalus' transporter beam.
"We contacted the Daedalus and they will make the stop here as short as possible. Hermiod suggested they might be able to reach the planet a little faster than we initially thought," Elizabeth explained.
"Yes. We must make sure that the Daedalus can beam him up as soon as it reaches orbit. This means we must get to the planet through the gate to implant the chip." John stopped to look at the scientists gathered around the table. "The best solution I've come up with is a cloaked jumper."
"The problem is that nobody dials the gate without going through," Zelenka said.
" We must send two jumpers, one cloaked and one visible. As soon as the visible one distracts them, the cloaked jumper will fly through the gate. After that, the first jumper can return and the Wraith will think that we've given up."
Elizabeth waited for a few seconds, letting them digest the information and said, "Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay will be in the cloaked jumper. Major Lorne and Ronon will be in the other jumper."
"Dr. McKay and I have thought that it would be better to remove the Wraith device before Carson left the planet," Dr. Andrews said.
"It could be some kind of tracking device, alerting the Wraith of our rescue, or it could affect Carson physically after leaving the perimeter," Rodney explained.
"I agree. It's better to be cautious," Elizabeth said.
"Have you determined how I can do this?" she asked, looking toward Rodney.
"From what you told me, I understood you need about thirty minutes," Rodney intervened.
"Yes. Give or take ten."
"Well, you beam into the room where he is, do your job and then we beam the both of you up to the Daedalus," Rodney explained. As he saw no reaction from those around them, he decided to go into more detail about the plan, to make them understand. "As soon as we implant that chip, Colonel Sheppard and I will return to the jumper. Since coming back through the gate would be dangerous, we'll go aboard the Daedalus, as soon as it reaches orbit. Then Dr. Andrews will beam to the cell and remove the device."
"What if he's not alone?" Weir asked.
"We'll take care of the others," John said dryly. Seeing the surprised looks he others gave him, he continued, "Stun them before they can say something. The life-sign detector can tell us if he's alone. If there's anybody, I'll beam together with Dr. Andrews and take them out. I should probably beam down with her, just in case."
"Good. This is the plan, prepare for the mission," Elizabeth dismissed them.
- -- - -- -
The second day in the lab passed quite slowly. His keeper was as silent and impassive as a statue. Carson refused to do any actual research, but studied the devices that the Wraith had provided. From what he could tell without actually using them, the Wraith built one instrument for each separate task. Their knowledge of human physiology didn't go beyond what was needed for their feeding process. Carson suspected that the Wraith feeding process was fully developed when they came into sentience as a race, their evolutionary progress through time being minimal. He was considering ways of testing this theory when the older Wraith entered the lab.
"What is your progress?"
"I am studying the technology you have here. I must know what -"
"That is what the instructions are for. Do you have a formula?"
"No." There was too much stubbornness in that one word, too much determination for the Wraith not to understand.
Before Carson could move the Wraith's feeding hand had slammed into his chest and a cracking sound echoed in the room. The Wraith moved back, startled by the sound and asked the younger one, "Is he going to die?"
"If you keep hitting him, probably." He approached Carson, who was slumped on the floor by one of the desks. "How bad is it?"
"Cracked a rib... or two." He hoped they wouldn't ask him to move right away. To be honest, he just wanted to sit there and wait for everything to go away. His keeper gently helped him up from the floor and slowly guided him to the cell.
Once inside and lying down Carson touched his chest, trying to assess the damage. He had two cracked ribs, nothing major considering what could have happened.
"That was stupid." The Wraith's voice was full of reproach. "You could have died."
"I know. This is what I have decided to do. I can't help him achieve this, and if it will lead to my death, then so be it," Carson said in a strong voice.
The keeper's features softened as he said, "I didn't say it was wrong."
Carson kept twisting in his bed, trying to find a comfortable position.
"May I help?"
"Not really. Never had cracked ribs before, takes some time to find a comfortable position."
The Wraith smiled. "You really are odd."
"Well... I have seen worse." Carson had tried to block all thoughts of Atlantis, of his friends back home, but it was impossible. They have marked his life more than anything else before.
"So have I."
Carson remembered his keeper's departure the day before and said, "Sorry if I upset you yesterday. I didn't mean to it's just that -"
"No need to apologize." The keeper paused for a moment, before continuing thoughtfully, "What do you know about Wraith children?"
"That they eat normal food until they're eleven or twelve."
"Is that all?"
"Aye." Carson finally gave up and leaned against the wall, enjoying the coolness of the concrete-like material. "We met a girl once. She wanted to become human."
"I know what happened," the Wraith responded. Seeing the surprise on Carson's face, he explained, "There are many humans who offer information to the Wraith in exchange for protection. That is one of the reasons why you were considered for this task."
"Right."
"You shouldn't feel ashamed... or guilty. What happened there was not your fault. Neither was what happened here when you first came. It wouldn't have happened without you, but it wasn't your fault."
"Thanks. But just knowing that I was part of this makes me..."
"That guilt brought you here... a prisoner with little chance of escape. You must learn to be less... emotional."
"And end up where? If we weren't emotional... Do you think a rescue mission is reasonable? So many people risking their lives to come and save me. But that doesn't stop them. It never did. It is what makes us the way we are. And I'm fine with what I am."
"You are. And many others like you, but there are so many who aren't..."
"What do you mean?"
"I grew up... Wraith children are brought up by humans. There are some worlds where all humans have this duty... to raise a Wraith child. My caretaker, Jenth, was a good man. He taught me a lot." He paused for a few minutes, memories overwhelming him. "Most of the humans hated us, because of what we would become. It was hard to understand back then. But Jenth was kind and he... he gave me a name. He even said that I was more human than many of the humans that he knew." He raised his eyes and met Carson's. "Can you make me human?"
"My drug isn't finished, but I'm working on it." Carson wanted to get out of his prison, but he wasn't willing to make a promise he couldn't fulfill. "I'm not certain that it will work."
"I understand."
"Do you want to tell me your name?" Carson asked gently, hoping that he had earned his trust.
"I will. But please, don't say it when others are around. They wouldn't understand." Carson nodded his head in acknowledgement. "My name is Ketrhym."
Carson smiled and reached out and placed his right hand on Ketrhym's. "Mine is Carson."
"Rest, Carson."