THE WHITE ROOM - Part 21
Rodney was relieved to hear Teyla and Ronon run into the bedroom as he tried to hold down Sheppard. The pilot was thrashing around violently, yelling loudly as he struggled to get out of bed.
"Help me hold him and call Carson," Rodney shouted to the pair. In a heartbeat, Ronon appeared on the other side of the bed reaching for John and he could hear Teyla calling Beckett behind him.
When they had John pinned to the bed so that he couldn't move, the struggles lessened. Wild, terrified eyes looked up at them. "Lantis alevia, egomae necessitas adjuvare eam."
"What?" asked Ronon, glancing at Rodney.
"He said Atlantis hurts and he needs to help her," translated Rodney. Moving his face closer to John's, Rodney made sure John was looking at him. "Sheppard, what's wrong with Atlantis? What hurts?"
John squeezed his eyes shut at the sharp pain that stabbed into both temples, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out. His body shuddered as a wave of fire ran through his head and down his spine. Atlantis was screaming so loud in his head that his already scrambled thoughts were even more frayed. He focused on shutting out the pain and concentrated on tracking what was wrong with Atlantis.
"Colonel, can you hear me at all?" asked Rodney frantically when Sheppard didn't respond to his earlier questions. He flinched back a little when John's eyes snapped open.
"Sella . . . " John focused on choosing his words. "Chair . . . need to . . . get to . . . the chair . . . help Atlantis."
Rodney was about to reply when Carson rushed into the room with a nurse. "What's happened?" he asked, taking Ronon's place at the side of the bed. Rodney realized that John had stopped fighting them, so he let the man's arms go and backed up.
"He said there's something wrong with Atlantis, that she's in pain, and he needs to go to the chair to help her," explained Rodney. He looked down at John to realize for the first time he was covered with sweat and panting. His face was drawn tight, but whether from fear or pain, Rodney wasn't sure.
"Colonel, are you in pain?" asked Carson as he got out his stethoscope.
"I need to adjuvare Lantis. Necessitas the sella." John tried to sit up again, only to have Carson and Rodney push him back.
"Just a second, son," said Carson as he slid the stethoscope under John's shirt.
Rodney's radio crackled in his ear. "Rodney, we need you in the control room," said Elizabeth. "We've lost all gate functions, including the shield, and systems are going off all over the city."
As if to emphasize her words, the lights in the room flickered and went off, coming back on a few seconds later. "On my way. You should know that Sheppard is having some sort of episode and he's insisting that Atlantis is in pain."
"Does he know what's causing it?"
Rodney looked down at the pale face, scrunched in pain and dark eyes boring into him. "I don't know, but he's insisting on going to the chair to help her."
"Let him. It's getting worse by the minute and we have no protection with all shield capabilities down."
Carson shook his head, keying his own radio. "Negative, Elizabeth. The Colonel's in pain and too weak to even stand. I don't know how he could help."
"Wheelchair," whispered John. "Please." He could feel the chaos growing inside Atlantis and knew there would be limited time in which he could help. If they waited too long, her systems would be so unraveled he wouldn't be able to fix her. He was furious to know what he needed to say and not be able to find the words to say it.
Carson looked at his patient for a few seconds before sighing. "All right, but I go with him."
John nodded and began trying to sit up again. Carson took his arm and pulled him upright while Rodney gave the information to Elizabeth. By the time John was on his feet, Ronon had returned with the wheelchair and helped settle him in it.
Rodney kneeled in front of John. "I'm going to the control room to see what's going on from there. I'll send Radek to the chair room to monitor. Let us know what's going on if you can and don't do anything stupid, like get your brain fried."
John nodded, reaching out a shaky hand to take Rodney's wrist in a surprisingly weak grip. "Help her."
Rodney smiled and nodded. "I will." He stood and headed for the door, calling to the others behind him. "You better not let him get himself killed or you'll answer to me."
"Well, I'm scared," Ronon deadpanned as he began pushing the wheelchair.
oOo
John was highly annoyed when Ronon scooped him up from the wheelchair like a child and set him in the control chair. He grunted to show his displeasure with the situation, but was unable to do much else, which only served to frustrate him more. He reached out to Atlantis and almost immediately cried out at the rush of agony that coursed through his whole body. It caught him off guard and seemed to suck the breath from his lungs.
"Colonel?" The edge of panic in Carson's voice caught John's attention as he pushed the pain away and focused on getting to Atlantis. He was peripherally aware of hands on him and he batted them away.
"No . . . stop . . . I'm 'kay." He shut them out as he concentrated on reaching Atlantis and finding out what was wrong. His body shuddered with the strain of pushing through the pain while trying to make his muddled brain actually work correctly. He knew the pain he was feeling was hers and he was almost desperate to find the cause and stop it.
Ronon, Teyla, and Carson stood around the chair, watching John and wincing every time his back arched up and off the chair. His fingers seemed to clutch at the gel pads underneath his hands. Every few minutes he would groan and suck in a deep breath, as if a wave of pain had suddenly caught him unprepared.
The lights in the room flickered and went out, plunging them in near darkness. The light from the chair pedestal also flickered, but remained on. John's body jerked and he cried out when the lights went down, causing Carson to grab his wrist.
"Colonel, I think you should stop now."
John took a deep breath and his eyes opened a small slit. "Found it. Tell . . . Rodney . . . Dr. Wang . . . loaded . . . virus . . . working on . . . ruinosum."
Radek looked at the computer screen in front of him and clicked his radio. "Rodney, it is Radek. Colonel Sheppard says problem is virus loaded by Dr. Wang, but that he is working on . . . ruinosum. That is repairs, correct?"
"Yes, yes, repairs. It's about time. Dr. Wang . . . isn't he that new chemist that came over with the last batch on the Daedalus? How does Sheppard know it's him? Never mind, we can worry about that later. I'll tell Elizabeth so she can send the troops after him. I'll monitor from here, but let me know if you need anything done from this end."
"That is good. I must go to help the Colonel now." Radek went back to his computer and studied the screen a moment before beginning to type.
John closed his eyes again so he could concentrate on stripping out the virus and repairing the systems that were down. It took him a long time to track down all the remnants that had spread far and wide through the city. By the time they were cleaned out, he was exhausted, but there was still a lot of work to be done. Atlantis was better, however, and finally able to help with the repair efforts. By the time they were finished, his head felt like his brain had swollen and was literally crammed into his skull.
Carson looked up from his position sitting on the floor beside the chair platform to see Elizabeth come through the door. He got to his feet and joined Teyla and Ronon just as the lights in the room came back on. The three of them extinguished their flashlights.
Elizabeth's eyes strayed over to John, looking very frail and sickly in the chair, his mouth moving silently as if he was talking to himself. "How's he doing?"
Carson shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. He's been at it almost three hours now and he won't quit. I think he's getting weaker. We need to get him out of there and soon."
Elizabeth pursed her lips a second. "Rodney thinks he's almost done. He's removed all traces of the virus, at least as far as Rodney can tell, and most of the systems have come back on line."
Radek looked up from the computer screen. "Rodney is correct, he is almost done. What he has done is . . . amazing. It would have taken Rodney and I . . . possibly days to do from computer stations. By then, virus would have done irreparable damage."
Elizabeth nodded. "That's pretty close to what Rodney said."
"Even when he is ill, John takes care of the city and everyone in it," said Teyla.
Elizabeth grinned at her and walked over to John, reaching out to brush the hair from his forehead. "It's what he does. I guess it always will be."
John's eyes fluttered before opening, squinting immediately against the light. Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder and leaned over closer. "Hey, how are you doing?"
John blinked slowly and smiled. "Lantis undique rectrusa."
Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, Atlantis is all right now, thanks to you."
John took a deep, shuddering breath. "Tired," he said quietly as his eyes slid shut and the chair powered down. Carson was on him immediately, checking his pulse and blood pressure. After several minutes, he turned back to the others.
"Well?" asked Elizabeth.
"I think he may just be sleeping, but I won't know for sure until I run some tests. We'll need to call for a gurney."
"You're taking him to the infirmary?" asked Ronon gruffly, thinking of all they had been through to keep him out of there.
Carson sighed, not looking forward to the fight that was coming. "Aye, at least for a bit. I need to run some tests and possibly monitor him for a while. As soon as I know he's all right, I'll move him back to your suite."
Ronon frowned, as did Teyla, but they each took a look at John and didn't argue any more. Radek shut down his computer and joined them, glancing at John. "Colonel must be exhausted. I think what he did was hard and he seemed to be in much pain."
Carson nodded. "That's another reason I want to be careful. I'm not sure what was causing the pain, whether Atlantis's pain was just being transferred to him or whether the virus was somehow affecting him through the connection. If the latter was the case, it may have caused him harm, especially with his brain having already gone through a recent trauma."
Teyla placed one hand on Carson's arm, her dark eyes locking onto his. "We understand. We want John to be safe as well, so do what you must."
"Thank you, lass. I'll take good care of him."
The clattering of a gurney being wheeled into the room drew their attention. A minute later, John had been loaded onto the stretcher and was being wheeled out. Rodney reached the door in time to see the Colonel wheeled by. Carson came up behind him as he watched the gurney travel down the hall.
"Did you get everything fixed?" asked Carson.
Rodney turned to face the doctor, the other people flowing out of the room to stand behind him. "I think so. Chuck is making a few finishing adjustments to the gate controls. Is Sheppard all right?"
"That's what I'm on my way to find out." Carson walked past Rodney to follow his patient.
oOo
John opened his eyes to a fuzzy world of haze. Blinking several times, he finally brought the room into focus. He lay there, staring at the ceiling and trying to get his mind out of neutral and moving forward. Looking around, he discovered he was in his room of the suite, which he found surprising since he was dressed in a gown and had both an IV and a catheter. The room was empty and quiet and he found that unsettling. They would not have left him alone in this state.
"Hey," he tried to call out, but the rough groan he heard didn't sound much like what he had intended. It had the desired results though. Teyla came rushing through the door, a smile instantly spreading across her face when she saw he was awake. She tapped her radio as she walked.
"Dr. Beckett, John is awake."
John felt a smile pulling at his lips, her obvious relief making him feel good. She immediately went about helping him sit up so she could pile a couple of pillows behind him and then settled him back against them. She then poured him some water from a pitcher and helped him sip some, obviously reading his mind about desperately needing a drink. Then she settled on the edge of the bed.
"I am very glad to see you awake. How do you feel?"
John cleared what seemed like a ton of mucous from his throat before even trying to speak. "How long?" The events had slowly been trickling back to him and he knew he'd passed out in the chair.
"Three days." Teyla reached out to grasp John's arm, her expression sobering. "We were very worried. Now, you did not answer my question. How do you feel?"
John gave a small snort. "Good, just a little tired. Is Atlantis . . . okay?"
Teyla smiled again and nodded. "Yes, she is fine. Rodney and Dr. Zelenka have been able to get everything back on line. He said you were able to isolate Dr. Wang's computer as the source of the virus. Colonel Caldwell questioned him for several hours yesterday until he finally confessed."
"Trust?" asked John.
Teyla nodded, her eyes growing dark.
John suddenly looked up. "Caldwell?"
"Yes, the Daedalus arrived two days ago."
John sighed and closed his eyes. He hadn't even realized they were on the way. He thought about how much time he'd lost, with his brains scrambled so badly he had a hard time knowing who he was most of the time. Connecting with Atlantis had hurt more than anything he remembered in a long time, and yet he relished the feeling that he was helping, doing something that needed to be done.
John jumped when Carson came bustling through the door. "Colonel, it's good to see your eyes without having to pry your lids open. Let's just have a look at you." Teyla stood up so Carson could take her place. John did a small eye roll when Carson began taking his vital signs, prompting a smile and a warning look from Teyla.
"Colonel, I need to know how you feel and if anything hurts," said Carson when he was finished.
"Headache . . . but not bad. A little tired." John furrowed his brow a bit as if thinking. "Think my mind seems clearer. Not so . . . confused."
Carson tilted his head a bit. "Hmm. Maybe the concentration it took to work with Atlantis helped. I have no idea."
John motioned to the room. "Surprised to be here . . . and not infirmary."
Carson chuckled. "Well, you started out in the infirmary so I could keep an eye on you. Your pressure was low and your blood chemistry and EEG were a mess. But once they stabilized, your little support group insisted that you be brought back here."
John grinned and nodded. "They . . . watch my back."
"Indeed they do, Colonel. Everything looks good right now. I think the sleep has done you a lot of good, you were completely exhausted."
John looked down at the IV port and lifted his hand a bit. "Can I get rid of this . . . and other things?" he added, nodding down.
Carson nodded. "Well, now that you're awake, I think we can do that. And then we can get you something to eat."
Teyla stepped back up to the bed. "I could go get John some broth, and maybe some Jell-o."
Carson nodded. "Aye, lass, that would be good, thank you. While you're gone, I'll just get things . . . unhooked."
John flushed slightly as Teyla smiled at him and left. Then he looked back at Carson. "So, shower?"
Carson laughed out loud as he stood to get what he needed from the shelf of materials they had stocked in John's room. "Colonel, some things never change. Son, you're so weak you probably can't even stand up. You can barely sit up."
John grimaced and fiddled with the edge of the covers. His gown felt sweaty and he was pretty sure the soured body odor smell was him. "Is that a yes?"
Carson sighed and stood looking at him for a moment. It reminded him of the way his father used to look at him when he asked if he could do something like borrow his parachute to jump out of a tree. He tensed, waiting on the no.
"Let me get some reinforcements and we'll see what we can do."
Fortunately, Carson was not much like his father.
TBC