A Calculation of Entropy
Chapter 12
AN: Welcome to the beginning of the end. There are a couple of chapters left after this.
Sara made her way back onto the Waverider at a somewhat slower pace, once she was sure that the Helios was gone for good.
"Gideon, please tell me you received the transmission," said Sara, as she stepped through the hatch of the Waverider.
"Yes, Miss Lance and I have already begun fabricating the cure and passed that knowledge on to Professor Stein and Doctor Palmer," said Gideon.
"Thank you, Gideon," said Sara. She closed the hatch behind her.
She headed for the medbay, knowing that was where everyone would be. She stepped through the doorway to find the team stood around the couch that Rip was lying on. Four people then asked her questions at once.
"Sara! Are you okay?"
"Miss Lance, Gideon says that you were successful?"
"What happened over there after we left?"
"Did you kill the bitch?"
"Stop! One at a time," she said, holding up her hands.
The four men looked at each other, and then they looked at Sara.
"Okay," said Sara. "Yes, Zero Hour is dead and so is Godiva. Gideon-bot took the Helios, got Godiva to sing Pink Floyd and flew the ship into the sun. Everyone and everything on that ship is now toast."
"Thank god for that," said Martin. "No more nightmarish robots to fight."
"But that included Gideon-bot?" asked Ray, a little sadly.
"Yes, but she knew what she was doing and our Gideon is still here. It was a worthy sacrifice," said Sara.
"I'm glad you think so, Miss Lance," said Gideon.
Sara smiled. "It was one of the noblest things I've ever seen."
"And you got the cure for the Captain," said Martin. "Gideon's fabricating it as we speak."
"How's he doing?" she asked, indicating the sleeping man.
"Not well. He's very ill," said Martin, solemnly. "It's going to be touch and go as to whether we've got the cure in time."
Sara's face fell. She'd foolishly assumed that once they'd got the cure, it would only be a matter of giving it to Rip and then he'd be well again. Of course, nothing was ever that simple, and even she could tell that his vital signs were poor. He was wearing the oxygen line and cannula, and someone had replaced the Helios' blanket with one of the Waverider's softer blue ones. He had a new dressing on the wound down the middle of his chest but it hadn't been healed yet. She knew that the cell regenerator was too taxing to the body to use on Rip for anything minor. If they had to use it, then it would be to regenerate his heart muscles again.
"The first dose of the antiviral cure is now ready for use," said Gideon.
"I'll get it," said Ray, heading to the medical fabricator and grabbing the vial that was there. The liquid had a red hue to it. He fitted it into the injector. "This is the correct dose, Gideon?"
"Yes, Doctor Palmer. It should be injected into muscle. His upper arm would be ideal," said Gideon.
Ray nodded, and did as she said, pressing the injector to Rip's skin. The reaction was almost immediate, Rip gasped for breath and his back arched, before he fell back, limply. Alarms sounded.
"He's crashing," said Martin. "Gideon…?"
"Captain Hunter overrode my medical protocols. As per his orders, I am unable to revive him," said Gideon.
"What?!" shouted Sara. "You just died to save him!"
"His order not to resuscitate supersedes my primary directive to protect him. I'm sorry, but I cannot go against his express wish to be allowed to die rather than experience further medical intervention," said Gideon.
"Moron!" said Mick, with feeling, and Sara knew he didn't mean Gideon.
"Out of the way," said Martin, grabbing the oxygen mask and placing it over Rip's nose and mouth, after removing the cannula line. "Gideon may not be allowed to resuscitate him, but there's nothing stopping us. Raymond, the defibrillator."
Ray located the defibrillator and brought it over, whilst Martin flattened the couch out and raised Rip's feet. Sara remembered something about getting the feet above the head during shock.
"Okay, he's in arrhythmia so this should be enough to shock him back into sinus rhythm." Ray powered the paddles and pressed them to Rip's chest. "Clear!" Rip jerked as the current ran through his body. Ray and Martin looked up at Rip's vital signs and found that his heart was still beating dangerously unevenly and sluggishly.
"Gideon, can you fabricate us a suitable dose of adrenalin without breaking your orders?" asked Martin.
"I can," said Gideon, and in a few seconds, there was a vial ready for the injector.
"Charging again," said Ray. "Adrenalin first?"
Martin nodded. "I believe so." Martin picked up the injector and fitted the adrenalin. He placed the injector over Rip's heart and dispensed the medication.
"Come on, Rip! Not this way, man," said Jax. "Not today."
"Clear!" shouted Ray, and shocked Rip again. His body jerked and this time his heart nervously picked up a steadier beat. It became more regular as they all watched the heart monitor trace on the screen.
"Yes!" exclaimed Ray, holding up a hand for Martin to high five, which, after only a moment's hesitation, the older man did.
"Is he back?" asked Sara.
"For now," said Ray. "That's probably going to happen every time we dose him with the cure and, until we can get him to wake up and rescind the DNR order, Gideon won't be able to help us resuscitate him."
"If this doesn't kill him, then I think I just might," said Sara with feeling. "I knew that stupid code was the wrong call. I should have made him take it back."
"I don't know," said Ray. "After meeting Zero Hour, I understand why he wouldn't want Gideon to go on trying to keep him alive."
"He's still a moron," said Mick, gruffly.
"I think the pacemaker is required again," said Martin, locating the small, silver device that had helped Rip before and placing it on his chest. "His heart is still damaged and recovering from the myocarditis. We might have to risk the tissue regeneration sooner than I was hoping."
Ray nodded. "We should definitely do it before we give him the next dose."
"When's that?" asked Sara.
"There are twenty-four hours between doses, Miss Lance," said Gideon. "I would suggest waiting until tomorrow to attempt the cell regeneration. The additional rest will give his body some recovery time. I really am very sorry that I couldn't assist in resuscitation."
"That's okay, Gideon. We understand," said Sara. "It's not your fault that Rip's an idiot." She let out a long sigh, as she looked down as the pale form of their unconscious Captain. "Always have to do things the hard way, don't you, Rip?"
"We're going to have to take shifts monitoring him in case he crashes again," said Ray. "I don't mind staying here if you guys want to get some sleep."
"I'll stay too," said Sara.
"Nah, you should get some sleep after everything you've been through today," said Jax. "I'll stay."
"Actually, I think it might be better if I was the one to remain awake," said Martin.
Sara raised her eyebrows. "Maybe we should just grab some mattresses for the floor and all sleep here."
Mick gave a huff. "You're all idiots. I'm going to sleep in my own bed."
"After Gideon has seen to that new burn you're hiding, Mr Rory," said Martin, managing to stand between Mick and the door. He glanced over at Sara. "And you're next, Miss Lance."
Mick looked like he might argue, but then just sighed and rather reluctantly collapsed into the empty medbay chair. Gideon immediately began the regeneration process, erasing any evidence of the damage that had been done. Sara just gave Martin a nod to indicate that she understood.
"Well, I thought it was a good idea," said Ray. "You guys stay here while Jax and I round up the mattresses?"
Sara smiled and agreed. She hadn't really thought that Mick would join them. Stuff like this just wasn't in his emotional vocabulary. When Gideon was done healing his burn, she swapped places with him in the chair and watched him leave the medbay, heading in the direction of the galley and more beer. She got something of a surprise when Mick returned at 4am with his own mattress, dumped it on the floor beside the others, lay down without a word, and went to sleep. Sara very pointedly didn't say anything, she just let herself smile.
Rip remained unconscious, but stable, though the night. In the morning, his vitals looked better and his temperature was coming down again. Gideon decided that it was safe enough to use the tissue regenerator on his heart and everyone breathed yet another sigh of relief when the only ill effect observed was a slight dip in blood pressure. It went well enough that they also decided to finally mend the large, ugly, cut down his breast bone, which disappeared without a trace once Gideon had worked her magic. Sara was glad that they didn't have that reminder anymore of what Zero had been planning for Rip.
Jax left the medbay to start undoing the modifications that he'd made to the guns so that they could be fired manually. He seemed very enthusiastic to get it all put back to normal before Rip woke up and saw it. Sara also briefly left the medbay to pilot the ship to a safer location, a remote area out of the way of any trouble and suitably isolated so that no one would accidentally find them. There wasn't much else to do at this stage since they couldn't jump anywhere with Rip still so sick. They'd need to stay here now until he was well enough to travel again.
Sara returned to the medbay to find Ray fabricating the second dose of the cure, and looking worriedly at the monitors. Martin had fallen asleep on the other medbay couch, having taken the majority of the night shift watch. Mick was drinking beer, sat on a chair in the corner of the room.
"Is it time already?" she asked.
Ray shook his head. "Just getting it ready for later. Gideon says that we should give it to him as close to the same time as yesterday's dose as possible."
"So, this evening," said Sara, quietly dreading it. Her own heart had nearly stopped when Gideon had refused to resuscitate Rip.
"Yeah, although Gideon thinks he's doing much better and the reaction shouldn't be quite so severe this time," said Ray.
"Well that's something at least," said Sara. "How many doses does he need?"
"Seven," replied Ray, with a sigh. And they hadn't even done the second yet. It was going to be a long few days. "But Gideon's replaced his blood volume and she's got him on beta blockers for the arrhythmia, plus a few other things to bring his fever down again and keep him pain free."
"There's nothing else we can do then?" asked Sara. "We just have to wait."
Ray nodded. "He just needs time to heal and more doses of the antiviral."
"I guess we're camping out here for a while then," said Sara, pulling a pack of cards out of her pocket. "Anyone fancy a game of blackjack?"
"Finally, a good idea," said Mick, putting down his beer.
The next two days consisted of various members of the team playing cards in the medbay whilst Rip slept through two more doses of the antiviral sending his body into cardiogenic shock, although the pacemaker dealt with the second of those without needing the defibrillator. Each use of the antiviral left a bruise on his skin from where the injector had been pressed, because this cure was powerful and didn't just destroy virions. Gideon reported that the antiviral was working to deal with the virus and Rip's weakened immune system was being bolstered by the cure. His body was finally fighting back again.
Rip himself was taking his time to come back to the land of the living. He'd twitched his fingers a few times, even opened his eyes, but he hadn't responded to their voices or even acknowledged that they were there. Gideon seemed to think that this was all normal and Rip would wake when he was stronger. Sara wondered if actually Rip wasn't waking up because he knew he'd be in trouble when he did.
Ray and Martin had dressed Rip in a pair of his pyjamas. Sara had gone to his quarters to get them and asked Gideon which were his favourites. She'd brought back the pair Gideon had indicated and hoped that even a little bit of extra comfort would make him feel more at ease when he woke up. He was also currently swathed in the softest blankets that they could find, including one that Gideon suggested they bring from his quarters that had been a gift from Miranda. His temperature was still a little high, and he still shivered sometimes as he slept.
It was on the morning of the fourth day, that he moved restlessly and mumbled "no" several times. Sara was alert immediately. Ray and Jax had been there with her earlier, but she'd sent them to get some breakfast in the galley. She'd resorted to solitaire to keep herself occupied as she kept an eye on Rip. So, she put down the cards that she was holding and went to the side of the bed.
"Rip?" asked Sara. "Are you thinking about joining us?"
"Don't…" he muttered, his head falling to the side. "No…"
"Hey, Rip, it's okay," said Sara, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Rip's heart rate and breathing increased. "I won't… No…"
"Rip, come on, it's a dream. You need to wake up," said Sara, more urgently, she gave him a shake of his shoulder.
His eyes flew open and Sara could see that he wasn't really awake. He brought his arms up, hands in front of him, palms out defensively, to keep her away. He cowered away from her, as if he didn't recognise her.
"Please…" he murmured. "Please… Don't…"
"Rip, it's okay. We rescued you, remember? You're home. You're on the Waverider," said Sara.
"No… please… no…" he said, and she realised that he was shaking with fear, as he pulled himself as far away from her as he could manage and still be on the bed.
"Rip! It's Sara," she grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands down. He struggled against her, but he'd been ill for weeks and had no real strength to speak of.
His eyes were wide, but he did stop trying to pull away from her. Then it was as if he actually saw her, and recognised her. He uttered her name like it was the most important thing in the world. "Sara." He was breathing hard, and his eyes closed in relief for a moment. "Sara," he said, again.
She let go of his wrists, placing his hands gently down at his sides. He was still shaking, and now glancing about the room as if he expected someone to jump out at him. Sara realised that was probably exactly what his subconscious was telling him was going to happen.
"Rip, look at me" said Sara.
It took a moment, but he pulled his eyes around and focused on her.
"It's all okay, Rip, you're safe and you're going to be fine."
He blinked with confusion, and Sara could only think of one thing to do. She leaned in and hugged him. It took a second for him to become less stiff and then she felt his trembling arms wrap around her. He rested his head on her shoulder, and for a few moments she just held him.
"Sara," he murmured. Again, the single word was filled with so much relief and feeling that she wasn't sure what to do or how to respond, so she didn't. It was a while before he asked his next question. "How long have I been out?"
"About three days," said Sara, trying not to make it seem like a big deal. She released him, carefully, wary of how thin and fragile he felt, and he settled back against the medbay couch. Much of the tension had left him, but she could see his mind working and his forehead creasing into concern as he remembered.
Rip was suddenly looking around again. "Gideon? She said she'd used a computer virus…"
"I am fine, Captain," said Gideon. "Mr Jackson rebooted me and I was able to fight off the virus easily."
"Oh thank god," said Rip, closing his eyes in relief for a moment. He was trembling again and his hands clenched and unclenched nervously as his sides. It seemed one hug wasn't going to be enough to deal with this, but then she hadn't really expected it would be. He looked at Sara again. "What happened to Zero and Godiva?"
"She's dead and so is her creepy AI."
Rip gave a nervous nod. "Okay. Er, how?"
"Gideon downloaded a copy of herself into one of the ATOMbots, took over the Helios and flew it into the sun, after she downloaded the cure from Zero's head and transmitted it to the Waverider. Basically, Gideon saved you."
Rip frowned and then looked upwards. "Is that true, Gideon?"
"Yes, Captain, although perhaps somewhat lacking in detail," said Gideon.
"Yeah, well that can wait for another day," said Sara, knowing that Rip wouldn't be staying awake long.
"Indeed, Gideon and I need to have words," said Rip, tiredly. At least he was relaxing a little more now.
"The only words that you and Gideon need to have are to rescind your stupid "do not resuscitate" override code," said Sara.
"Well, clearly I'm still here, so I assume Gideon didn't need…" Rip stopped when he saw Sara's face. "Oh hell, what happened?"
"The cure has the side effect of putting extra strain on your heart. You had a serious arrhythmia twice and Martin and Ray had to bring you back. Gideon tells us that she would have done it a lot more efficiently and caused less damage. Hence, you've got a pacemaker again and you're due another session with the tissue regenerator on your heart muscles," said Sara.
Rip glanced down at the small metal device on his chest, and then thumped back against the headrest with a tired sigh.
"Gideon," said Rip, with a brief glance upwards. "Cancel domino night revelation on my voice authorisation. I apologise for putting you in that position."
"Override cancelled. I definitely did not enjoy being unable to help you, Captain," said Gideon, in the tone of voice which Sara had taken to thinking of as "disappointed parent".
"Understood, Gideon," said Rip, duly chastised. "Hopefully I'll never have to use it again."
"Amen to that," said Sara.
"How bad were things?" asked Rip, blinking heavily.
"They were bad," said Sara, "your heart was damaged and we had to wait to use the tissue regenerator on it because you were too weak when we brought you back from the Helios. It helped, but probably was partly responsible for you sleeping so long. Your blood pressure kept trying to crash and your immune system was on its last legs, but we got you the cure and Gideon predicts that you'll make a full recovery."
She smiled at Rip, who gave her a slow and relieved nod.
"You'll… er… have to… tell me the rest later," he said, trying to keep his eyes open and failing. "I think I'm going to sleep now."
"You do that," said Sara. "Someone will be here when you wake up."
His eyes flicked open again at that. "Thank you for bringing me back, Sara."
"Yeah, well, this ship still needs her Captain, even if he is a pain in the ass," said Sara.
Rip let out a small, tired laugh and then fell asleep again.
Rip was awoken by someone speaking his name and shaking his shoulder. He sluggishly pulled his eyes open.
"Ray," he said, recognising the man after only a few seconds of working out where he was and why. He hated the medbay, more now after his encounter with Zero, but he willed himself not to be afraid. This was the Waverider, it was the closest thing to home that he had and he refused to be frightened of his own medbay.
"Rip, how are you doing?" asked Ray, with a slightly nervous smile.
"I'm guessing that Gideon has me on all sorts of interesting drugs," said Rip, "because I'm having a lot of trouble forming coherent thoughts about anything."
He looked around the room and noticed that Martin was readying some medical equipment to one side. Jax and Mick were sat at a table on the other side of the room where it looked like they'd been playing cards with three other people, judging by the discarded hands laid face down on the table. Sara was standing off to one side of the bed, her arms folded over her chest and she was chewing her lip nervously. Everyone looked like they were getting ready for some kind of difficult undertaking and Rip wasn't really compos mentis enough to work out what was going on. He was also slightly perplexed by why they were all even in medbay.
"Right, yes, she does," said Ray. "The virus damaged your body and there's a lot of healing to be done, but the good news is that I've got dose four of the antiviral for you, so we're over halfway on that."
Rip noticed that Ray was holding an injector with a red liquid inside it. "Over halfway?"
"Yeah, seven doses over seven days," said Ray. "They have to be given at the same time every day and you're due for today's. You were asleep for the other three."
Rip nodded slowly in understanding. Sara came closer and stood on the opposite side of the bed to Ray.
"Do you remember that I said it was hard on your heart?" she asked.
"Yes, hence why my order to Gideon was unhelpful," said Rip.
"Moron," said Mick.
"Leave him alone, Mick," chastised Sara.
"What we're trying to explain," said Martin, approaching the end of the bed, "is that on the last three occasions the antiviral has produced a dangerous arrhythmia and either myself or the pacemaker has had to shock you back into normal rhythm. It's very likely that will happen again and it definitely won't be an entirely pleasant experience, even if it isn't as severe."
Well, that explained all the concerned looks.
"I see," said Rip. "Perhaps best just get it over with."
"Right, yes," said Ray. He pressed the injector to Rip's upper arm and the medication dispensed into his body.
The first sensation was pain, because the liquid entering his body felt like molten metal as it burned its way through his veins. He clenched his teeth together, groaned, and tried desperately not to scream, because this was getting through Gideon's painkillers, and it was excruciating. He had no wish to appear weak in front of his crew, however, this was testing his ability to hold himself together. Then alarms sounded as his heart decided that enough was enough and failed to beat on time. That caused more pain across his chest, and he let out a completely involuntary yell.
People around him were shouting and someone grabbed his hand as he tried to curl in on himself. He held on for dear life, and eventually had enough awareness that he could hear one voice telling him to breathe. He could feel the strange tickle of the pacemaker kicking his heart back into rhythm. It was considerably gentler than the defibrillator, but for this slight arrhythmia it would work well enough.
"Rip, just breathe. Come on, slow and steady, you can do it," said Sara. It was her hand that he was holding, he realised.
The pain was subsiding but he felt wrung out, like a used dishrag. He was finally able to follow Sara's instructions and breathe through the last of the pain as it left his body. His muscles relaxed and he was sweating fiercely. He began to shiver and he wasn't sure if it was from relief or shock or just because he was cold. He peeled his eyes open and saw five concerned pairs of eyes looking down at him.
"Captain?" asked Martin.
"I'm okay," he said, with a deep breath in. "Zero's parting gift is…er… quite something." He turned his head away to the side, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. He was thinking about just falling asleep again, but Sara was still holding his hand and he had a strange desire not to let it go.
"I'm sorry," said Ray, guiltily. "I didn't realise it would hurt so much. We'll sedate you next time."
As much as Rip wanted to agree to that, he couldn't. "No more sedation," he said. "I can deal with the pain and I'd rather not be drugged into oblivion every time something is difficult."
"That really isn't what this is," said Martin. "There are another three doses of the antiviral and you simply don't need to go through that every time."
"And, if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to know what's happening rather than sleep through it," said Rip, who was suddenly faced with an image of the Godiva-bot holding a scalpel as he was dragged under by anaesthetic. He flinched away from the image, accidentally squeezing Sara's hand, and wasn't quite quick enough to hide the fact that he'd reacted to something that was in his head.
"Are you okay?" asked Sara.
"I'll be fine," said Rip, which wasn't a lie, but was definitely a sidestep of the truth.
"Either you're a masochist, or there's something else going on here," said Jax.
Rip sighed, he really didn't want to talk about this, but he knew his team and they weren't going to let this go. They never did when it came to secrets.
"When Zero took me to the Helios, they… they told me they were going to turn me into a cyborg whilst I was asleep… and then Godiva sedated me… and I didn't know if I would wake up as myself or..."
"A robot," finished Ray.
Rip nodded, still trying not to make eye contact. "I'm having a bit of trouble coping with the idea of sedation for medical purposes at the moment…" he confessed with some embarrassment. He fiddled with his blanket with his free hand.
Martin sighed. "Well, we won't force you to do anything that you don't want, but you need the final doses of the antiviral. Perhaps we can find some other ways to help. I'll have to think about it."
"Thank you, Martin," said Rip. "Your efforts are appreciated."
He looked down at himself and realised that he was covered with a blanket from his quarters. It was the one that Miranda had given him the second Christmas after they were married. He'd complained about the Waverider being cold, so she'd given him a blanket. It was green, with a pattern of clocks across it – Miranda's idea of a joke. It was soft and reminded him of that happier time. He smoothed it with his hand.
"How did you know about the blanket?" he asked, not addressing his question to anyone in particular.
"I went to your quarters to get you some fresh PJs," said Sara. "But I saw the blanket and thought it would be nice to have something to cheer you up while you were recovering. Gideon said that it was a present from Miranda. It felt warm, so I grabbed it for you."
Rip lay back, his hand on the blanket, feeling something more than just warmth from it. "Thank you. It means a lot to me."
"Go to sleep, Rip," said Jax. "Someone will be here when you wake up again."
So he did.
Mostly Rip slept, and he was ill enough that he hadn't really begun to get bored by being stuck in the medbay. The drugs that Gideon had him on rather precluded any kind of activity that wasn't staring at the ceiling and trying to feel better. His team were constantly around, which he still found puzzling. It couldn't be that interesting for them to be sat around the medbay all this time. They would chat to him if he was awake, but he was never awake for very long at the moment and had a habit of passing out mid-sentence. They seemed to find this amusing, whereas he was alternately embarrassed and frustrated by his constant tiredness.
However, the fact that they never left him alone did come in handy when the nightmares hit him on day five, and someone was always on hand to offer him reassurance that he wasn't on the Helios anymore. The most surprising moment was when he found himself being shaken awake by Mick Rory, a shout dying on his lips as reality returned.
"Sorry," he mumbled. The lights were down low, so it was late at night, ship's time.
"For what?" asked Mick. "You're sick."
The two words had meaning behind them that no one else could have managed to put there. It was as if that excused him from every wrongdoing whilst he lay in medbay.
"Hardly a justification for my inability to cope with recent events," replied Rip, knowing how pathetic he sounded.
Mick gave a shrug. "The Time Bitch messed with your head. It'll take a while for it to all shake out."
Rip frowned. He wasn't used to having an actual conversation with Mick, let alone getting sensible advice. He really should stop underestimating the man.
"How did you deal with it?" asked Rip. "The Time Masters did far worse to you than Zero tried to do to me."
Mick raised both eyebrows, as if he was surprised that Rip even remembered that. "I didn't. I got angry and I got revenge. Then I lost my friend and gained a bunch of losers. You and the misfits keep me too busy now to worry about the shit the Time Masters did." He paused and appeared to think for a moment. "And beer helps."
"I think Gideon would disapprove if I tried to drink alcohol at the moment," said Rip, with amusement. Then he stopped and thought about what Mick had just said. "I deeply regret losing Mr Snart."
"Yeah, me too," said Mick. "But he never did do as he was told."
"So I heard," replied Rip.
"What did you hear?" asked Mick, somewhat suspiciously.
"I had to do some research on all of you before I assembled the team. I am very well acquainted with all of your past history."
"Yeah, whatever you read was a pale shadow of what actually happened," said Mick.
"I have no doubt," said Rip, yawning. "Maybe you can enlighten me sometime."
Then he was asleep again, completely missing the transition. He hadn't quite managed to drop off midsentence but given how rarely Mick ever talked about these things, when he awoke again, he was quite disappointed with his body's inability to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time. He knew he needed the rest and it was getting better, but this was ridiculous.
He awoke to Martin and Ray discussing something, with other members of the crew apparently occasionally chipping in.
"Hypnotism," said Ray.
"That's hardly scientific," said Martin. "You might as well just suggest acupuncture and be done with it."
"I've read papers on how hypnotism affects the brain. It's actually really interesting and I don't think we should discount it. Or we just get Gideon to up the pain meds," said Ray.
"I don't believe that would be wise," said Gideon. "Given the Captain's weakened condition, it could suppress his respiration. I would only recommend mild sedation."
"I hear that weed's good for dealing with pain," said Sara, teasingly. "What do you think, Martin?"
"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" replied Martin. "And we are not getting the Captain high on marijuana. I doubt it would help anyway."
"Electrical stimulation," said Ray.
"You're suggesting electrocuting him?" asked Sara.
"No, not electrocution as such. I thought it involved surgery and implanting electrodes?" asked Martin.
"Not necessarily," said Ray. "But it can have side effects."
"Just knock him out and be done with it," grumbled Mick. "I'd be happy to hit him for you."
"If that is your plan, then I will not be part of it," said Gideon, with indignation.
"Glad you're still on my side, Gideon," muttered Rip, still half asleep.
"Rip, you're awake," said an enthusiastic Ray.
"It would appear so. You need to get my watch for me," said Rip.
"Your pocket watch?" asked Sara. "The one with the picture in it?"
"It was given to me by Zatanna Zatara. It has certain special properties," said Rip.
"The Zatanna?" asked Ray. "The stage magician?"
"Sorcerer and stage magician actually, but yes, that Zatanna," said Rip. "If you say the right words, then you can use my watch to hypnotise someone."
"That sounds like it would have been useful," said Sara. "Why are we just hearing about this now?"
"Because it can't actually make anyone do anything that they definitely don't want to do, that's not how hypnotism works. All it can do is put someone in a trance for a short period and maybe get them to give up smoking or cluck like a chicken," said Rip, adding quickly: "Do not get any ideas Sara!"
Sara smirked.
"How does that help us?" asked Martin.
"It could put me in a trance and you could instruct me not to feel pain," said Rip. "As long as I don't fight it. It's going to require some trust on my part."
"Trust?" asked Sara.
"Stage magicians get their subjects to comply by treating it all as a bit of fun. I already know that this isn't just for fun and my brain may decide that it doesn't want to be hypnotised at all. I need to trust the person doing the hypnotising to keep me safe or I just won't be able to enter the trance."
"Well, it's certainly worth a shot," said Ray.
"I'll get it later and you can tell us how it works," said Sara.
Rip nodded. "When can I get out of here and back to my quarters?" he asked.
"That depends on how well the antiviral works and how quickly," said Martin. "But I'd expect it to be at least another few days."
Rip closed his eyes in misery for a moment. "That long?"
"I'm afraid so," said Martin. "We can't let you go back to your quarters until you're at least well enough to get out of bed without help."
Rip frowned at that. Surely, he could already get up on his own. They'd raised the head of the bed a little for him so that he wasn't laid out completely flat anymore. He decided to try an experiment and sit up. He put his arms down to steady himself and tried to push upwards. His arms failed him before his stomach muscles, his head swam, and alarms sounded behind him as he collapsed back to where he was, sore and exhausted.
"Rip, what are you doing?" asked Ray.
"Failing to sit up, apparently," said Rip, with disappointment.
"You've been unconscious for more than three days and you were ill with the virus for weeks before that," said Ray. "You're going to need to build your strength back up. Gideon's got an entire physiotherapy regime waiting for you."
"Oh good," said Rip, sarcastically. "I'm sure I'll really enjoy that."
"You'd better not complain too much," said Sara, "I've been designated as the one to help you with it."
"I did offer," said Mick, with a dangerous grin.
Rip looked up at Sara. "You have my eternal gratitude."
"Don't speak too soon. I may yet draft in Mick when we need to get you back on your feet," said Sara.
Rip just gave the assembled crew a resigned look. "When do we start?"
"Gideon thinks that tomorrow should be soon enough, so you should probably make the most of being able to lie around and do nothing," said Sara.
"And we need to get you eating again," said Martin. "Whilst Gideon is quite capable of giving you nutrition through your IV, it will definitely help your recovery if we can get you back onto solid food."
"Something else to look forwards to," said Rip, with further sarcasm. He had a feeling that there would be a lot of jelly and plain toast in his future while his stomach got used to digesting things again.
"Actually, Gideon suggested the best way to get you to eat was to give you food you enjoy. So how do you feel about ice-cream for lunch?" asked Sara.
"Ice-cream? That doesn't sound terrible healthy," said Rip.
"At the moment, the goal is getting any food into you at all," pointed out Ray. "Your stomach's probably a little sensitive so, you don't want to start with a three-course meal, but Gideon seemed to think that jello wasn't going to do it for you."
"Ice-cream does sound surprisingly nice," replied Rip.
"We're totally prepared to let you eat fruit loops for a couple of days as well," added Sara, with a broad smile.
"Which I will be completely fine with, assuming Ray hasn't eaten them all," said Rip.
"How did you know…?" asked Ray.
"Kendra may have suggested I keep you away from my stash of sugary cereal before she left," said Rip, with a touch of amusement.
"Gideon, could you get Jax to pick up lunch when he's done in the engine room?" asked Sara.
"Of course, Miss Lance. He says he'll be about twenty minutes," said Gideon.
About thirty minutes later, Jax arrived with a tray full of several tubs of ice-cream. The rest of the team set about serving themselves, while Sara presented Rip with his bowl which contained a scoop each of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate.
"You don't all really want ice-cream for lunch," said Rip. "You don't have to do this just to make me feel better."
"You're kidding, right?" asked Sara.
"Yeah, dude, my Mom never let me just eat ice-cream for lunch. This is practically a dream come true," said Jax.
"Pardon me," said Rip. "I'd forgotten I was dealing with bunch of children in adults' bodies."
The entire team sat around eating ice-cream and bantering good-naturedly while Rip very slowly worked his way through about a scoop's worth of ice-cream. His stomach then made it clear that it hadn't done this eating thing in a while and it was going to need a bit longer before he could eat more than that. He felt strangely disheartened by this. He knew it would take a while to get back to normal but he hadn't anticipated just how slow progress was going to be. He wasn't used to long recoveries after injury, given Gideon's usual ability to fix any damage in minutes.
He dozed off halfway through Martin trying to explain the finer points of poker tactics to Jax, with his ice-cream bowl still on his lap.
Sara had been quite pleased to see Rip attempting to eat, even if it had been something of a struggle for him. Anything which helped him to feel better was good, but she knew he had a long road ahead of him and Rip wasn't known to be a patient man. She wasn't under any illusions about how tough this was going to be for everyone.
She went to his quarters and with Gideon's help, retrieved his pocket watch from the drawer in his desk where he kept it when it wasn't on his person. She always felt like she was intruding whenever she entered his quarters without him being present. She'd seen his watch hundreds of times by now and registered it as practically part of him. It was silver, a traditional pocket watch with intricate engraving on the lid and back, attached to a chain that would run through a buttonhole to keep it safe. Pushing down on the top opened it and revealed the watch face and the picture of Miranda and Jonas that she knew he kept inside. There was no more personal item to Rip, but it didn't look particularly magical. She placed it in her own pocket carefully.
He slept most of the afternoon, so that Martin had to wake him to give him his next dose of the antiviral. It seemed counterproductive to wake him up just to put him to sleep again, but no one was willing to go against Rip's wishes and sedate him. It was a matter of trust and they wouldn't break it now, even if it would have made things easier.
Sara watched as Martin shook Rip awake as gently as he could.
"Sorry to wake you, Captain, but it's time," said Martin, holding the dreaded injector of red liquid.
Rip took a few moments to wake up, and he blinked to clear his vision, looking around the room to get his bearings again. Sara had noticed that he always did that at the moment, and he hadn't bothered before the Helios.
"Did you get my watch?" he asked.
"Yes," said Sara, pulling it out of her pocket.
"Can you sit me up a bit more?"
"Not a problem," said Ray, adjusting the bed.
When Rip was more upright, he took the watch from Sara. He opened it, took a moment to look at Miranda and Jonas, touched the picture with a fond fingertip and then shut it again.
"Esitonpyh ym tcejbus," said Rip, to the watch. He handed it back to Sara. "Swing it backwards and forwards. I'll watch it and go into a trance. Then you can give me instructions. Tell me to wake up when you're finished."
"This is ridiculous," said Martin. "I can't believe that this is actually going to work."
"It does seem a little hokey," said Sara. "Do I have to tell you that you're getting very sleepy? Do the whole stage hypnosis thing?"
Rip gave a shrug. "It might help. The more suggestion you put behind it the better it works."
"Okay, let's give this a go," said Sara, holding the watch by its chain. "Comfortable?"
Rip settled himself back against his pillows. "Yes, I'm ready."
She held it up and let it swing back and forth, catching the light. "Rip, follow the watch."
He did his best to concentrate on the watch, and she watched his expression change subtly as something indefinable began to happen.
"Breathe slowly," said Sara. "Listen to my voice. You're going to fall asleep for me. Every breath you take is going to make you more sleepy."
He kept his eyes on the watch. Then she realised that the watch was glowing slightly and Rip's eyelids were falling shut as his breathing evened out.
"Okay, Rip, keep your eyes shut now. I want you to lift up your right hand for five seconds and then put it down," said Sara. This was the test to see if it was working, and much to her surprise, he did exactly as she asked.
She looked over to Martin and Ray, who were both being very quiet just in case they said something that interfered with the hypnosis. They looked just as surprised as she was. Ray gave her a nod of encouragement.
"Rip, you're going to feel no pain from anything that happens to you until I tell you to wake up. You're going to be completely safe here with us and we won't let anything happen to you. Do you understand?"
"Yes," murmured Rip, sleepily.
Sara reached out and pinched Rip on the arm. He didn't react. She looked around at Martin. "Do it."
Martin pressed the injector to Rip's arm and dispensed the medication. An alarm sounded, indicating that Rip's heart was, as usual, being taxed by the antiviral. The pacemaker did its job and got the arrhythmia back under control. Rip didn't react to any of it, and Sara let out a sigh of relief.
"Well done," said Sara. "Okay, I'm going to count to five and you're going to get closer to awake as I count. You'll be fully awake on five and open your eyes. Okay?"
"Yes," he replied in the same sleepy voice.
"One, two," she said and Rip began to stir, "three, four." Rip moved restlessly. "Five." Rip's eyes flew open and he gasped.
Sara put the watch down, and grabbed his hand. "You okay?"
"Er, yes," said Rip. "Shall we get started?"
Sara smiled. "We already did. It's all done."
"It worked?" he asked, incredulously.
"Perfectly," said Ray. "I wasn't sure if you'd trust her enough to let her do it."
"Rip knows I'd never make him cluck like a chicken," said Sara, with a gleam in her eyes.
"Do I now?" asked Rip, with a look in Sara's direction.
"It's okay, we made sure she stuck to the script," said Ray.
"Of course, I get two more goes," said Sara, mischievously.
"Which we will also be present for," reminded Martin. The spoilsport. She'd been enjoying teasing Rip.
"Are you hungry?" asked Ray. "It's about time for dinner."
"I slept all afternoon?" asked Rip, with not a little dismay.
"I'm afraid so," said Martin, "but it's good for you, so I wouldn't worry too much."
Rip didn't seem terribly happy to hear that, despite Martin's words.
"I'll go to the galley and find you some food," said Ray. "Don't fall asleep again until I get back."
"Very well, Doctor Palmer, I shall do my best," said Rip, with a slight upturn to his lips at the order.
Ray gave him a nod and headed out of the room.
"I need to see how well we're doing against the virus," said Martin. "I'll leave you with Miss Lance whilst I analyse this new data." Martin picked up a tablet and also wandered from the room.
Rip lay back, and glanced over at Sara.
"How did you come to have a watch that hypnotises people?" asked Sara.
Rip looked downwards and then back at Sara. "I needed some assistance remembering something that I'd seen. Zatanna was kind enough to help."
"Oh, so you trusted her to hypnotise you?"
"Well, it took a few goes and some relaxation techniques," said Rip, "apparently I'm not the easiest person to put into a hypnotic trance. Zatanna told me that I have a very suspicious mind."
Sara let out a knowing laugh at that. Rip didn't let people get close to him and this was definitely one of the reasons why.
"I'm amazed that I managed it first time then," said Sara.
"Sara, I trust you with my life on a daily basis," said Rip, his eyes meeting hers. "Letting you hypnotise me was easy."