The Tegan Chronicles

Intuition and Lies 6

Tegan sat on her surfboard the hot sun beating down on her shoulders and back. On the beach Janet sat beneath a large beach umbrella sipping some pink frozen concoction. They had the entire beach to themselves, and the ocean's waves were ripe for the picking without another surfer as far as the eye could see. It was perfect, and she didn't let her mind dwell on the unimportant details like just how too perfect it was. She was back in Costa Rica surfing just off her favorite beach. She knew that tree several feet behind Janet's sunshade. The weird way the trunk bent from growing with the winds.

She spotted it, the best set she'd seen in quite awhile, an over head crystal clear wave just waiting to be ridden. She began to paddle the board, and as the wave caught up with her she saw it. At first glance she thought it was a dolphin, they loved to surf the waves as much as she did. But as its dorsal fin broke the surface she felt her gut twist like an over wound spring. Its sharp nose broke the surface and a cold black demonized eye stared up at her before turning in the water and disappearing into the blue depths. But she knew he wasn't done with her yet, and he really didn't care if she was a seal or even a crash test dummy sitting on that board. Before her mind could even process what was going to happen the shark breached the surface like a speeding bullet. His jaws opened and with precision his razor sharp teeth tore into her left arm, his body twisting and tearing it from her body.

"Janet!"


The beeping from the heart monitor had started to beep with increasing speed and Janet had turned to see it jump to one-twenty, and her blood pressure was elevated. Before she had a chance to even turn back to Tegan she heard her name being torn from Tegan's throat in a blood curdling scream that made her own blood run cold.

Dana stuck her masked face in the room, reverse isolation having been implemented to protect Tegan from further infections. "Is she awake?"

"No?" Janet was certain the scream had been one of agony and fear. She returned her attention to her patient. "Tegan? Tegan?"

Dana walked to the other side of the bed. "Sounded like she was in pain."

Janet nodded.

Dana reached up and squeezed Tegan's right trapezius. "Still no pain response."

Janet nodded. "How'd SG1 check out?"

"They're all fine. I sent them off with strict orders to rest. Teal'c reminded me that he doesn't need sleep, and I reminded him he needed to kel'no'reem. Daniel's still sleeping and I've got morphine ordered if he wakes up in pain."

"Thanks."

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with her awhile?"

"Yeah, I've got it." Janet reassured.

"Well you know where to find me if you need me."

"I do."


"Hey," Jack spoke through the microphone in the observation room attached to the isolation room. "Can I come in?"

Janet was about to say no until she looked at her watch. It had been almost eight hours to the minute. "You need to put on a mask."

A few minutes later Jack came into the room with a blue medical mask on. He glanced at the paler than usual Tegan. "How's she doing?"

Janet shook her head. "Not good. Her temperature's up and her white count is elevated. She's still not responding to pain."

"Let me sit with her for a while. You need to rest."

"I… I'm sure she'd like that Colonel." She said without any plans to leave.

"At least go grab a cup of Joe." Jack settled on the stool he'd moved over.

Janet stood in the doorway as he began to talk to Tegan.

"Hey kid." He looked down at his open empty hands. "What a mess we got you into huh?"

He waited, knowing she wouldn't answer. She hadn't been conscious since she'd pulled the bones free from her arm. "You've got to pull through this. Doc's a mess worrying about you. Carter's just as bad, I had to sneak Benadryl into her glass when we ate to get her to sleep. Daniel's going to be ok, but he's worried about you. I told them all you were going to be just fine, and Teal'c agrees. You're a fighter kid, if you could make it through what Nirrti did to you, this… this should be a walk in the park."

He sat there listening to the monitors beeping and finally heard Janet slip out of the room. Too bad he couldn't slip Benadryl in her coffee. "Man, I should have made up a code to give her. Maybe it would have bought us enough time to get everyone out in one piece."

He shivered thinking of the irony of his wording. He sat there thinking of how badly he'd screwed up, how he should have turned around and headed back to the SGC when Tegan had first stopped him. How he should have listened to his own gut when Daniel wanted to pick up the recording device. He prayed to a God he wasn't even sure existed pleading for Tegan to wake up, for him to wake up and find it had all been a dream. One horrifically messed up nightmare, but when he opened his eyes she still lay motionless in the bed, pale and pasty against white sheets, her left arm lying in a liquefied puddle on some God forsaken planet.