Chapter 10

Once settled in his bed, Harri was presented with a meal tray. "Eat." Will said as he settled himself in the chair at the foot of the bed.

"Will, I'm not hungry," Harri answered and began to push the tray away.

"No, sir. We had a deal and I expect you to live up to your commitments. You're not going to do Lee any good if you make yourself sick."

Harri reluctantly pulled the tray back and picked up a fork. He loaded the utensil with a mound of eggs and sneered at it before putting it into his mouth and forcing it down. "There, happy? I ate."

"Geez you're worse than Lee. I'll let you know when I'm happy, now eat," the doctor replied.

Nelson groused some more but as he ate he began to feel better and realized that he truly was hungry. Jamie silently regarded Harri as he ate his breakfast. There was something very definitely wrong and he needed to find out what that was if he was going to try and help the man heal the hurt he had seen in his eyes.

Having eaten his fill, Harri put down his fork and pushed the rolling tray stand back. "Happy now?"

"Feel better?" Jamie asked.

"Yes, thank you," Harri answered as he scowled at the physician. "I'm developing a greater appreciation and sympathy for Lee's claims of your excessive nagging and mother henning."

Jamie laughed. He sat quietly for a moment trying to decide how best to broach the topic he was most interested in and finally decided a direct approach would be the most effective. "Harri, what happened on that planet? Lee's experiences are obvious but the pain I see in your eyes and your reaction to Lee has me concerned."

Harri's expression became as hard and inscrutable as stone at Jamie's question. He was only now having any luck at locking that hate and self-loathing behind an internal wall of steel, suffering in silence. After a moment he spoke. "I would think it rather obvious. Lee was tortured and I was not. We should have shared that fate but we didn't, they decided to take it all out on him. I got to stand there and watch!"

"There's more to it than that. You may not have been tortured physically, but emotionally you're just as injured as Lee. You need to open up about this Harri or it will eat you alive. Let me help if I can," Jamie responded evenly.

Harri regarded his friend and physician for a moment, wondering what his reaction would be to finding out he had betrayed his captain and served him up to the aliens. "It's not something I'm willing to talk about, not yet, maybe not ever," he replied quietly.

Just as Jamie was about to answer, a nurse flung open the door to the admiral's room. "Doctor we need you immediately, Captain Crane is having problems!"

Jamie leapt to his feet and charged out the door following the man down the hall and into Lee's room. Harri also worked his way out of bed, threw on his robe and bolted from his room to check on his friend.

(ooloo)

The scene had an element of choreographed chaos as the medical staff worked frantically to respond to the alarms sounding from nearly every machine monitoring the patient in bed. "What happened?!" Will asked Frank as he moved quickly to Lee's side.

"His heartbeat has become very erratic, BP is falling and based on the readings his body has begun to shut down," he replied tersely.

Jamie nodded as he received the report and scanned the various monitors. He began ordering a litany of drugs in an attempt to reverse and stabilize the captain's condition and bring his system back in balance. Nothing he tried had any positive effect as Lee's condition continued to decline at an alarming rate.

After nearly an hour of frantic work, Jamie finally stepped back and hung his head. He turned slowly and faced Harri and Chip, who stood shaken and transfixed by what they had just observed. They were Lee's next of kin in all reality and they needed to make the next very difficult decision.

"He's just not responding," Jamie said quietly. "If you want we can continue trying to reverse what's happening, but it will only prolong the inevitable. Even if we can keep him from dying, I'm practically certain that he will be paralyzed to some extent and has most likely suffered significant brain damage that will leave him little more than just a shell of himself, if he even regains consciousness."

The doctor's words hit Harri and Chip like a point-blank broadside of torpedoes. Both men paled and Harri felt his knees go weak at Will's prognosis. The looks of shock and pain on their faces was palpable as they processed the loss of their friend/brother/son. They both opened their mouths to speak, but neither was able to force a word out.

Finally breaking through the barrier of denial, Chip spoke first, his voice shaken and choked with emotion. "I think it best we let him go then. We all know Lee wouldn't want to live that way." Jamie nodded in agreement and he and Chip looked to Harri for his input.

Nelson stood immobile, his eyes fixed on the man struggling for life in the bed across the room. He shook his head slowly back and forth, "No, no, no," he repeated quietly his eyes brimming with tears.

"Admiral, are you all right?" Jamie said as he stepped forward and gently grabbed his arm, afraid he might collapse.

The touch startled Nelson and he stared ferociously at both Chip and Jamie. A moment later he yanked his arm free and bolted from the room leaving everyone inside stunned by his actions. The only sound that could be heard was the erratic beep emanating from the heart monitor and the click-hiss-whoosh of the ventilator.

(ooloo)

Shocked by Nelson's response, Chip stared agape at Jamieson and the rest of the medical staff. He then bolted out of the room to go find the admiral and help him. As he moved down the hall, he spied the door to the admiral's room slowly swinging shut. He ran quickly over to the door, pushed it open and looked inside.

What he found was Nelson tearing open the drawers to the small dresser in the room. Not finding what he was after he moved to the closet and flung open the door. He grabbed the uniform hanging on the hanger and began rooting through the pockets, desperately looking for something. "Where the hell are my personal effects?!" he yelled as he looked around the room for any other possible places they could be stored.

"Sir, what are you looking for? We need to go back and be with Lee. We need to make a decision, Admiral."

"No! I need to find where they've stored everything I had in my pockets," Harri replied loudly.

"They were probably placed in the safe in Jamie's office for safe keeping," Chip answered, still confused by the admiral's behavior.

"Go get Jamie and meet me there!" Harri ordered. "I have to get what was in my pockets. Chip, run!"

Chip nodded and bolted out of the admiral's room back down to Lee's. Harri followed him out and then made a beeline down to Jamie's office at the end of the corridor. He kicked himself for not remembering what Pradjic had given him earlier. Only now as Jamieson had announced that there was nothing else he could do, did he recall the small cylinder the Odejaian had given him for use in just this case.

He threw open the doctor's door and located the safe. He began pacing furiously as he awaited the arrival of Jamie and Chip. "Hurry… hurry…no time left," he repeated as he moved around the office like a caged animal.

Seconds later Chip arrived with Jamie. Both men were quite obviously concerned with the admiral's odd behavior, but even when he seemed most irrational there was usually a sound reason behind it.

Harri let loose a relieved sigh as he regarded both men. "Jamie are my personal effects in your safe?"

"Yes, everything that was in your pockets was placed there; it's SOP," Jamie replied as he closely scrutinized his friend.

"Get that safe open now!" Harri ordered. "Please Jamie, this could mean Lee's life."

Jamieson was about to balk, but the fierce expression on Nelson's face told him it would be better to comply now, and try to reason with him later. He walked to the safe, quickly entered the combination and pulled open the door. He removed the sealed envelope with Harri's effects and passed it over to him.

Nelson snatched the envelope out of the doctor's hand, ripped it open and spilled the contents out onto the doctor's desk. He rapidly sorted through the few things that were there until he spotted the small metal cylinder he was after. He snatched it up then dashed from the room and back down the hall, followed closely by Jamieson and Morton.

"Harri what have you got? Admiral?!" Jamieson called after the man as he ran after him.

Harri threw open the door to Lee's room, startling the staff inside. He walked quickly over to Lee and looked down at his son. He already looked dead, his skin was an ashy white and his body felt cold to the touch. He swallowed hard then opened his hand and regarded the cylinder he had collected. He quickly rotated it in his hand looking for a way to activate it and inject the contents into Lee. Finding a small button on one end he oriented the device and prepared to use it on him.

Just then Jamieson grabbed his wrist almost making him drop it. "What are you doing? What is that?" he inquired.

"The Odejaian who helped us escape gave me this before we left. It said it could possibly save Lee's life if our medical abilities came up short. He said that I should only use it if all else fails, since it was developed for them," Harri replied.

"I can't sanction that. We don't know what effects it will have on him. It could…" Jamieson started.

"It could what? Kill him? Haven't you already sentenced him to death?" Nelson ground out.

Jamie glared back at him. The words stung but were true. "And what if this does save him, are you ready to sentence him to a life in a long-term nursing facility? Is that what Lee would want?"

Nelson's expression softened as he regarded his long-time friend. "Jamie, what have we really got to lose? These beings, aside from being sadistic capitalists, are an advanced race with access to hundreds if not thousands of other societies across the galaxy and medicines we've never even conceived of yet," Harri said. "I want to give Lee every chance possible. I owe him that much, a thousand times over. I also accept all responsibility for this."

Jamie sighed deeply and closed his eyes. "Okay Harri proceed, as long as it's acceptable with Chip." Chip stared at Nelson a long moment then slowly nodded his agreement.

"Thank you both," he said quietly. He then placed the small cylinder against Lee's thigh and pressed the switch. There was a slight hiss and the cylinder grew very warm, then changed in color from silver, to red and then black.

Harri moved forward and took up Lee's hand. "There son, now fight your way back to us. I know you have it in you," he said quietly in his ear.

(ooloo)

They all watched expectantly for nearly five minutes but nothing had apparently changed because of the injection. Suddenly that changed as Lee's legs began to shake and he was soon consumed by violent convulsions as his body reacted to the medication. Jamie and his team galvanized into action, applying restraints to keep Lee on the table and from injuring himself or others.

As they applied the restraints, Jamie became aware of a rapid rise in Lee's temperature. As his heart and other bodily functions had failed his temperature had dropped to the low 90's but was now radiating something well over a hundred. "What's his temp?" he called out.

Frank quickly grabbed the insta-read thermometer and inserted it gently into his ear. He looked at the readout and did a visible double take. He zeroed out the display, took another reading and got exactly the same thing. "You're not going to believe this sir, it's 104."

"That's not possible, not that quickly," Jamie replied, even though he could feel the heat radiating from the body on the bed.

The next thing they became aware of was an almost manic response from the EEG as Lee's brain activity increased dramatically. The scope recording his brain wave pattern was pegged, displaying a solid screen of activity much like a large magnitude earthquake. His eyes shifted frantically back and forth beneath his lids. His heartrate skyrocketed as though he was being chased by some predator and was running for his life. Sweat now poured out of every pore as the strain on his various systems and organs superheated his body.

The only thing they could do was watch and wait since they had no idea what was in the cylinder Nelson had used, and if that would react negatively with any of the drugs Jamie might use to try and mitigate the reaction Lee was having. The only action Jamie had taken was to disconnect Lee from the ventilator since he was now breathing heavily on his own. Harri stood there steadfastly gripping his son's hand as he went through yet another round of hell, resolute that he would not go through this alone.

Forty minutes into the reaction the convulsions stopped as suddenly as they had begun. Lee was gulping in air trying desperately to oxygenate his blood given the extreme exertion he had experienced as the compound had worked its way through his system. As they watched in wonder, his heart rate slowed to a normal rate as did his respiration. His temperature began to decline rapidly and his EEG began settling into a normal resting pattern.

As Lee resumed his usual textbook readings Jamie scratched his head. "I'll be damned."

While Harri continued to hold Lee's hand he felt a slight pressure as though Lee was squeezing his hand back. He stared down at his son in apprehension wondering what permanent effects Lee had sustained from his torture and exposure to the drug. Watching his face carefully, he was completely surprised to see the long black lashes flutter slightly and then his eyelids slowly opened revealing his amber eyes much like a sunrise following a wicked storm.

"Lee?" Harri said quietly as he locked eyes with him.

Lee blinked a number of times trying desperately to focus on the blurry figure above him. After a moment he made out a man staring down at him, his worried expression plain to see. He tried to respond but found that he had a tube down his throat at which point his eyes opened wide and he became somewhat panicked, his hand shooting to his mouth and the offending object.

At that point Jamie stepped in and captured Lee's free hand. "Lee, Lee! It's Will, focus on me!" he said sternly. Lee reluctantly tore his eyes away from Harri and focused on Jamie. He was greeted with a relieved smile that reached the depths of the doctor's blue eyes.

"Lee, I need you to relax. You've been very ill and have been hooked up to just about every machine I have at my disposal. I need you to just relax and breathe normally, okay."

Lee blinked and took a deep breath. As he was doing that Jamie eased his way between Harri and Lee.

"Admiral, I need you to let go of Lee and step back so we can take care of him now." Nelson made no move to leave. "Harri, please let go of his hand and step back a bit. I promise once we get the breathing tube removed, get a reading on his vitals and assess his condition, I'll let you come back. Is that acceptable?"

Harri blinked as Jamie's words worked their way in. He smiled and nodded. As he released Lee's hand and stepped back he noticed Lee's wide eyes riveted on him. He tried to divine the feelings behind the nearly feral stare but couldn't even begin to guess at what was going on in Lee's mind at the moment. His eyes never strayed, even with Jamie and crew fussing about him. What was it he saw in them; hatred, fear, betrayal, condemnation, disappointment?

Harri had never felt so afraid and uncertain in his life, he almost didn't want Jamie removing the breathing tube and giving Lee access to his voice. He was terrified Lee would condemn him for his actions and order him from his life. He knew he deserved it and more but dearly hoped that there would be some compassion, some forgiveness from the man he considered his son.

(ooloo)