Chapter 7
'I've just received word from the Daedalus. They're continuing on their course and should be here in just over nine days at their current speed, maybe a little sooner of they really push it,' Lorne advised Carter on their next scheduled communication.
'I'd prefer them not to do anything that might jeopardise their flight. Much as I would like them to be here sooner, since we only plan to use them in an extreme emergency, arriving in one piece would definitely be preferable.'
'Yes, Ma'am,' Lorne agreed. 'I've updated Colonel Caldwell on the information from Alishia, but he insists that if the situation requires their intervention, he and his crew are prepared to move into range of the planet and beam you out of there.'
'That's good to hear, Major. Give him our thanks, but hopefully it won't come to that.'
'How are Colonel Sheppard and his team holding up?'
'Not good actually. The colonel had an altercation with a tree and fractured his arm. He's resting back at the village while Rodney and I try to figure out this 'gate malfunction.'
That was odd. Lorne had been expected news of problems with Sarayah, not difficulties with the local flora. 'An altercation with a tree? I had no idea nature could be so disagreeable.'
'To be frank, it could have been worse, but thankfully, when it fell on him, it only pinned his arm. Jennifer thinks the fracture is pretty minor and should heal quickly if he keeps it immobile,' she told him, leaving him none the wiser.
Lorne winced at the thought. That had to hurt. 'Should I even ask why the tree was falling?'
'Courtesy of the anomaly McKay reported,' Sam replied. 'Although, the locals here have quite a different theory about it.'
'I guess that's the divine being theory,' Lorne smirked.
'That's the one,' Carter confirmed. 'Anyway, much as the Frahs may believe the Divine One is out to judge us all, McKay and I suspect there's a slightly more scientific cause, something similar to the earth lights seen back home...except a far more extreme version. Perhaps if we ever figure out how to get the 'gate working, we'll send a team back to study it.I expect we'd find recurring geological characteristics such as significant faulting, seismic history, mineral deposits or bodies of water...all the significant factors of tectonic stress. Light anomalies are pretty common around those kinds of features back on Earth...although I've never known one strong enough to take out a jumper engine pod before...'
'Sounds fascinating,' Lorne replied, thinking it sounded anything but. He only grasped half of what Carter and McKay talked about at the best of times. That just sounded like more science that would go way over his head. 'I bet McKay's itching to wrap his brain cells round it.'
Sam's voice dropped in volume slightly. 'Actually, I think he'd prefer it if it wasn't here at all.'
'Must have a guilty conscience,' the major quipped.
'Must have. Anyway, I'd better get back to work since this 'gate problem isn't about to solve itself. I'll update you in another three hours.
'Roger that. Atlantis out.'
Lorne watched the shimmering portal fade, and found himself wishing he was there helping out...though not with the science. Sheppard had to be going nuts down there with Sarayah hanging around and no jurisdiction to restrain her – he knew he would be. And his team were there, three good men whom he'd built a strong bond with and felt he would trust with his life. If anything happened to them...well...they were friends as well as colleagues now. That kind of thing couldn't be replaced by shipping in new personnel. That took time.
With heavy legs, he trudged back up to Colonel Carter's office and sat down at the desk. It didn't suit him, not this kind of command post. His strength lay in combat and peacekeeping, not co-ordinating and administrating. He wished Carter had sent him through instead of going to Guedeseo herself, but he figured it was better she was there since he knew next to nothing about 'gate technology or light anomalies. No, Colonel Carter was the best person to be there, that was certain. So, all he could do was sit patiently by and help where he could. It was a pity patience wasn't one of his strengths either.
oooOOOooo
Leaden eyelids dragged open, but the room seemed strangely dim somehow – not dark exactly, more ...undefined. Voices, disjointed, panicky, surrounded him speaking to each other...or to him...he couldn't tell. Where the hell was he? He was sick, he could tell that much from the sweat beading on his forehead and running down his temples, and the faint smell of vomit...along with something worse. Oh man, tell me I haven't...
'Doc! Doc! He's wakin' up!' Too loud...
'Colonel...Colonel Sheppard, can you hear me?'
His lids began to slide shut, but slim fingers sharp as knives pushed them back open, shining a penetrating light into his stinging irises. He snatched his head away, which she obviously took as evidence of his consciousness.
'Colonel...John...it's Doctor Keller, can you talk to me?'
'Gonna...puke!' And with that, what felt like the entire contents of his stomach and then some projected out at high speed. He heard the splatter as it hit the wooden floor, and a groan from the doctor. He wanted to feel bad about it, he really did, but he just didn't have the energy.
'Wha's wr...wrong...with me,' he panted, as his stomach cramped and his body curled.
'Can someone get this cleaned up please!' Keller ordered. 'All right, Colonel. I need you to focus for me. I need you to try to remember anything unusual you might have eaten today.'
An eruption of what felt like volcanic lava, rushed into his mouth again, and he had no hope of containing it. Keller managed to side step this time, leaning in to gently rub his back as if that would be some kind of comfort.
It wasn't; her touch felt like hot pokers through his shirt. He groaned and flinched away, before curling once again against the crippling cramps. As if to add to his torture, someone pressed a cold rag to his forehead, making the ache inside his skull increase ten-fold.
'Colonel, can you tell me if you've eaten anything unusual today...something the rest of us haven't eaten.'
He couldn't think of anything, literally couldn't think at all, because the pain raging in his abdomen was so all encompassing.
'How the hell did she get to him? You people were supposed to be watching her,' he heard Ronon growl, but he couldn't stop heaving long enough to set him straight. She hadn't got to him...at least not to his knowledge...
'Hey, we don't know what's happened yet. Let's focus on what's important here.' That was Keller, and he didn't think he had ever heard her sound so firm before.
Small hands took hold of his face, and he drew back his lids to find Teyla gazing down at him, her eyes moist and filled with fear. 'John, please, you have to tell us if you have eaten or drunk anything other than your normal rations.'
Her hands burned into his cheeks, scalding his flesh. Why did people keep touching him? Couldn't they see how much it hurt?
Another voice. Further away. Frah Mussa. 'Did you eat any berries from the woodland, Colonel?'
'Fe...fell in...some,' he grunted through his gritted teeth.
'Meritza, quickly, fetch the serum,' the Frah ordered. 'It is possible he absorbed the juice of the lantha berry through his skin lacerations. It is terribly poisonous.'
Discussion erupted around him, only small parts of which Sheppard caught between bouts of retching and gagging on his own saliva, which seemed to have gone into an alarming rate of overproduction. He was hot, so hot; he just wanted fresh air, then he'd feel okay...that was all he needed.
Unfortunately, no one else seemed to agree with that theory, and when he tried to roll off the bed toward the door, searing hands grabbed him and pushed him back onto the burning hot mattress.
'Need...air!' he gasped.
'Your throat has constricted from the poison in your system, Colonel,' Keller said, speaking slowly and clearly as if she thought he'd sustained some kind of brain damage. 'Going outside won't make it feel any better. Just lie still and let us help you.'
That was far easier said than done...especially when his entire body began to spasm involuntarily. And...oh crap, did it hurt. It felt like his muscles were being twisted up and wrung out, over and over.
He arched his back against the pain, more hands grabbing his arms and legs and pinning him to the bed, while panic laced voices screamed instructions over him as if he wasn't there. They were scared, that much filtered through, but he hurt too much to feel any fear himself.
Then he saw her, right there amidst everyone else.
Sarayah.
She was touching him, holding his legs, her eyes drilling into him and drinking up his torment.
'NO! NO! Get...get her...off me!' he yelled, trying to pull free from her grip, but finding he had little to no control over his body.
'Who is he talking about?' Mussa.
'I think he may be hallucinating.' Keller...or maybe Teyla, it was hard to tell now with the blood rushing in his ears, but definitely female.
'Can't you do something for him?' Big guy with snakes for hair. Crap. The guy had snakes for hair! A seething mass of them, snapping their venomous jaws at him. He flinched away, avoiding their hideously sharp fangs.
'John, hold it together, you know that isn't real.' Elizabeth? But isn't she...?
'Dead. Yes she is...and you're going to join her.' Crazy bitch talking. She was holding his shoulders now, pinning him flat, staring straight into his face.
'Get...her...off...me!'
'Sarayah isn't here, John. You are among friends.' Teyla's voice, but Sarayah's face. Wait, now there were two of them...no four...Everyone in the room looked like her. How was she doing that?
He thrashed against the sweat soaked, flaming mattress beneath him, trying to gain purchase with his feet and lever himself from her grip, all seven of her, every one of them grinning at him...taunting him because he was too weak to fight...always too weak...
'Always too weak,' they hissed in unison with his thoughts.
'No! Lemme go! Get y'r han's off of me!'
'John. Please be still, you're hurting yourself.' Teyla. Why couldn't he see her?
'Teyla!'
'I am here, John.'
A hand took hold of his, burning the skin from his palm, but the face that leaned toward him wasn't hers.
'Get away from me, you bitch!'
He tried to snatch his hand free and take a swipe at her, but someone caught hold of him, their grip searing his skin like a hot metal cuff around his wrist. Sarayah's face morphed and changed momentarily to that of Teyla and back again, twisting, changing, until he didn't know who he was looking at anymore.
'Keep her away...' he pleaded. 'Keep them all away.'
'It's all right, Colonel. I'm not sure what you're seeing right now, but this is Keller. Frah Mussa thinks he has something to help you, so just hang on in there.' It was Keller's voice, but still Sarayah's face. Which should he trust, his ears or his eyes?
'Neither,' the wavering faces taunted.
'I need to...go!'
He tried to get up, but could barely move, scalding hands grabbing and tearing at him, ripping the skin from his bones.
'Careful of his left arm.' That was Keller, always fussing...always hurting him...no...not right...she was there to help.
He continued to strain against them until his head began to spin to the point he thought he was going to pass out. 'Thir...sty.'
'I'm sorry, Colonel, but I can't give you anything right now,' Keller/the mad Medulsan soothed.
'They won't give you anything...they want you to die,' the others chorused.
'Don't wanna die,' he croaked, aware again of the sensation of his body vibrating, shaking the bed as the faces around him swam into focus. It was his team, and the marines. They were holding him. 'Don't wanna die!'
'That's not going to happen, Colonel. Just stay with us,' Keller told him. He wanted to believed her, but the edges of his vision were clouding, and his kidney's hurt like they were about to explode.
Footsteps, running across the wooden floor – light, feminine. Then one of the Sarayahs morphed and Frah Mussa's wrinkled face was above him, his broad fingers wrapping around the back of Sheppard's neck and lifting his head from the bed.
'Drink this, Colonel. Slowly.'
It was hard to keep still long enough for the Frah to pour his serum into his mouth, but he tried. Someone caught hold of his head, adding their strength to keep him steady and ensure the liquid went exactly where it was supposed to. The sensation of the cool mixture slipping down his burning throat was sheer bliss, even in the midst of all the other horrific symptoms. It was small comfort, but at least it was some. He leaned toward the bottle, the only way he could communicate he wanted more.
'Slowly, Colonel. We have found the best way to take this antidote is a sip at a time. Too quickly and your stomach might simply reject it.'
So he endured the slow drip, drip of the cool and slightly bitter liquid, and the body wracking convulsions and hoped it would be over soon. He was pretty sure it would be, one way or another, and right now, he didn't actually care which way it went.
Eventually, when the serum was all consumed, and his body hurt from straining against the hands holding him to the bed, his brain decided he'd had enough and ended transmissions...
When he woke again later – several hours later – the first thing that struck him was a strong floral smell, that and something distinctly antiseptic. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out, but what he did know was that he felt a hell of a lot better than when his brain had called time on him.
The sensation of a cold cloth dabbing his forehead made him open his eyes to find Teyla smiling down on him. 'John. It is good to see those eyes open at last. How are you feeling?'
A residual ache nagged in his muscles, and a faint throb niggled behind his eyes, but it was nothing compared to the state he had woken in earlier. 'Okay...I think,' he replied cautiously, not wanting to tempt fate and have all that sickness come rushing back in on him. Then, a moment of recollection about his earlier rantings filtered back to him. 'Uh, Teyla...about earlier...I wasn't calling you a bitch.'
'It's forgotten already. Think no more about it,' she assured him. Then, looking back over her shoulder, she called. 'Dr Keller, he is awake,' bringing not only Jennifer, but Rodney, Ronon and Carter hurrying to his bedside in the process.
'How're you doing there, Colonel?' Keller asked, taking a temperature reading from his ear as she waited for his answer.
'Like I've been used as a tow-rope...but better than I did.'
She pulled back the bed sheets, revealing his now unclad chest, and slipped on her stethoscope to listen to his heart. 'Well, that sounds a lot less erratic than earlier,' she smiled, moving on to checking his blood pressure.
Ronon perched on the end of his bed, his eyes crinkling with obvious happiness. 'You gave us a scare there, buddy.'
'I know. Sorry,' he winced, pushing himself up a little on his pillows, and feeling the tug of the IV line in his hand for the first time now.
'Not your fault.'
'Thought you guys were at the 'gate,' he croaked, to Carter and McKay.
'We were...but I tend to get distracted when one of my people is that sick,' Carter smiled down at him. 'Besides, Rodney was worried for you. He insisted we come back.'
McKay squinted his disgust at her. Clearly he hadn't expected her to tell Sheppard that.
'I'm touched,' Sheppard told him, making his face flush.
Jennifer slipped the blood pressure cuff from around his arm. 'Almost back to normal. Looks like you're going to be fine, Colonel.'
'That's good to know...and Doc, sorry for throwing up on you earlier.'
Dr Keller just shrugged. 'It's not the first time it's happened, and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last. Are you feeling up to a drink?'
'Am I ever.'
Someone had provided a pitcher of water and a cup while he'd been out. Keller tore open a packet of powder and tipped it into the freshly filled cup, stirring it in until it dissolved. 'This'll help re-hydrate you. Just take small sips for a start. We need to make sure you can keep it down.'
Once a few sips had stayed put for a while, she allowed him to take a little more, relieving the burning sensation in his throat. He still felt hot, despite having been relieved of his uniform, but he wasn't happy about lying there in his birthday suit, even with a blanket to cover his modesty.
'Uh, any chance I could have some clothes?' he asked, pulling the blanket a little higher.
Keller picked up a loose, white shirt from one of the other beds and held it up for him to see. 'This do?'
He screwed up his face; it hadn't been quite what he had in mind. 'Not exactly practical in an emergency.'
'Trust me. If there are any emergencies tonight, you won't be answering them.' She tossed it across his lap. 'It's clean, it's light, and it'll cover your embarrassment if you need to go to the bathroom. Right now, all you need to do is get some rest, and this shirt will do just fine for that.'
He thought about arguing more – about emphasising the necessity of being able to respond effectively should the need arise – but since he figured any attempt to get out of bed would result in his falling flat on his face, he knew that argument wouldn't get him anywhere.
As she'd poured his drink, he'd spotted his sweatband and wristwatch on the nightstand, and so thought about asking for one of them instead, just to feel like he had something a little more uniform-like on. Then, realising his skin still felt a little sensitive to the touch, he decided he could live without them for one night. Tomorrow, he'd have to see if he could get them both on one arm since his watch arm was in a cast now.
He relaxed back onto his pillows, closed his eyes, and told himself to let it go.
'So, did you and McKay get anywhere with the gate problem, Colonel?' he asked Sam.
She was about to reply, but McKay couldn't resist getting a shot in first. 'Well, we might have managed something, had a certain lieutenant colonel not get himself into trouble...again.'
'I already apologised, Rodney. What more do you want from me?' he asked without looking.
'How about a promise to stay out of trouble for the next...I don't know... year at least?' Rodney suggested.
Sheppard cracked one eye gave him a crooked smile. 'I'll do my best.'
'Okay, I know you're all concerned, but the colonel really needs some sleep now, so I want everybody else out of the room,' Keller ordered.
For the most part they obeyed, all except Ronon. Sheppard saw Keller stop packing her things away and stare at him, but the Satedan clearly had no intention of leaving.
'I won't be any trouble, Doc, but I'm not leaving him like this with Sarayah out there.'
'All right...if you insist,' she agreed, looking a little awkward. 'But if you're staying in here you can make yourself useful. If the colonel wakes up needing any more water during the night, I need you to add one of these sachets to it.' She waved a couple of sachets for him to see, then lay them beside the water pitcher on Sheppard's nightstand. 'I'm going to get some sleep while he's doing well, but if you're worried about anything, you wake me up. Understand?'
'Understood,' Ronon rumbled, crossing over to the corner of the room to dim the oil lamp burning there, then grabbing a ladder-back chair and pulling it up beside the colonel's bed.
Keller climbed onto what had been Teyla's designated bunk until all hell had broken loose, and slipped off her boots before pulling the blankets over herself and turning to the wall. It wasn't long before Sheppard heard the telltale shift in her breathing that signalled she'd fallen asleep.
Sheppard made the most of the reduced audience and lighting to pull on the shirt, letting Ronon help with feeding the saline bag down the baggy sleeve and hanging it up again from the bedpost, and then slid down beneath his covers to make himself comfortable. 'You know. You should go climb on one of the beds and get some sleep too, buddy. I'm good,' he told his friend.
'Yeah...maybe,' Ronon replied, lowering the lamplight to darken the room enough for sleep. Though he'd couched it as a request, Sheppard knew there would be no persuading Ronon to change his mind. He picked up his cup and had one last sip of his drink before closing his eyes. After the exertions of his earlier illness, sleep was swift to claim him.
oooOOOooo
Sarayah peered out from her window, careful not to attract the attention of the two Frahs sitting outside her door, chatting quietly about the earlier chaos. With her keen vision, she was easily able to spot the dulling of the lamp in the Lanteans' quarters through the gaps in the boarded shutters, deciphering that it meant they were preparing for sleep. That was a good sign, a sign that things were improving.
She hadn't been allowed into Sheppard's room during his illness, the troops with him had been watching the door and as soon as they'd spotted her they had twitched their weapons in a way that had suggested they were not afraid to discharge them.
So, she'd loitered instead in the square, watching the Frahs and Meritza running to and fro until eventually things had calmed. That had told her Sheppard was stable at least, but only when she'd stopped Meritza later as she returned to her own quarters did she find out about the poisoning and how close he had come to death.
The thought had sent her stomach spinning with nausea. She hadn't set up this scenario only to lose him to the vicious nature of this planet. She needed him...needed him alive, she corrected herself, although she knew her first thought had been the more accurate. A burning desire to possess him still consumed her just as strongly as it ever had, and she knew she would never be cured of it until she had tamed the rebellious lieutenant colonel.
As one of the Frahs turned her way she ducked back from the window and returned to her bed. She dearly wanted to see Sheppard, to ascertain for herself that he was out of danger, but she would not be permitted to do so. Meritza had told her he was recovering well, but she needed to see for herself, not simply take the word of that simpering wretch.
As she listened, the sound of footsteps crossing the square approached her dwelling. A voice, female but not one she recognised, asked if she could enter. The Frahs seemed to be trying to dissuade whoever was out there from doing so, but, intrigued, Sarayah pulled open the door and found Sheppard's leader standing on her doorstep.
'Sarayah,' the blonde woman smiled, though it was instantly clear it wasn't genuine. 'I was wondering if I could have a quick word?'
Assuring the Frahs that she didn't mind the intrusion, they allowed the woman to pass.
'I suppose you're here to accuse me of causing whatever ails Colonel Sheppard,' Sarayah said, gesturing toward the chair in the corner of her room as she sat down on the edge of her bed.
'Not at all, I'm certain you had no involvement,' the woman told her. 'That's not why I'm here. I just thought it was time I introduced myself. I'm Colonel Samantha Carter, Commander of Atlantis.'
Sarayah raised her chin, squinting at the tall woman who seemed determined not to accept her offer of a seat. 'The role vacated after Dr Weir's death?'
'That's right.' Again, the woman smiled at her, but it lacked any real warmth.
'Most unfortunate. Although we clashed, I appreciated her strength of character,' Sarayah told her, eyeing her clothing and weaponry. She appeared at home in it all. Perhaps she was trained military unlike Weir.
'Well, she was certainly well respected and greatly missed.'
Seeing an opportunity to dig for information, Sarayah pressed on. 'I suppose Colonel Sheppard will have felt the loss quite acutely. They did work closely for a number of years that I know of.'
'I'm not going to discuss John with you Sarayah, other than to offer an apology on his behalf. He shouldn't have lashed out at you the way he did earlier, and he knows that, although considering the lies you told about him...'
'Did he ask you to apologise for him?' Sarayah asked, cutting her off.
Colonel Carter narrowed her eyes. 'Does it matter?'
'The apology means nothing if it didn't come from him.'
'It came from him.'
Sarayah held the woman's piercing blue eyes, certain she was lying, but that this Carter was bright enough to know she couldn't prove that right now.
'Very well. I accept.'
'Good. We're not looking for any trouble from you, Sarayah. I imagine you're feeling just as trapped on this planet as we are.'
That suggestion didn't sit well with her overall plan, so she immediately refuted it. 'I came here looking for...forgiveness. Why should I feel trapped?'
Apparently this woman wasn't nearly as foolish as the Frahs. Her smile slowly twisted into a smirk. 'I think we both know that's a lie, so I'll offer you a deal. When we fix this gate, you can hand yourself over to our custody and we'll take you through with us. Otherwise, we bring a jumper through to dial the gate, take out the control crystal from this planet's DHD, and you can stay here and repent till your heart's content. You don't have to decide now, of course, but don't take too long thinking about it or you might miss your chance.'
'You are so certain you can fix the Ancestral Ring when the Divine One has kept it inactive for so many thousands of years?' she asked, giving the woman a smirk of her own.
'Absolutely,' Carter said, looking completely confident. 'The only thing you have to worry about is whether you'll be leaving through it, too.'
With that comment still hanging in the air, the colonel headed back toward the door, and Sarayah knew this was her last chance to get an update on Sheppard's condition. 'How is he doing now...Colonel Sheppard? Is he out of danger?'
'We have a policy on Atlantis enforced by Dr Heightmeyer. No one talks to you about Colonel Sheppard, and I'm not about break that silence no matter how nicely you ask.'
She left then, leaving Sarayah just as frustratingly in the dark as she had been before her arrival. She crossed to her window and watched Colonel Carter stride back across the square to their abode. She had to admire the woman; her height gave her bearing, she carried herself like a warrior, she had a sharp mind, and also wasn't afraid to use threats where necessary. These Lanteans certainly had impeccable taste in leaders.
As the door to the Lanteans' dwelling closed, Sarayah put her shutters across and began to pace the floorboards. So they wouldn't talk to her about Sheppard, and she wouldn't be allowed through the door of their residence, that much had already been made clear to her earlier. Well that was fine – there were other ways she could get within reach of the beleaguered military man. Colonel Carter might think she was clever, but she wasn't clever enough to keep her from finding out what was going on. No one was.
