Sheppard moved over to the medics, who were standing round Cole's bed looking concerned.
"Something wrong?" He asked.
"Cole's heart rate is returning to normal as is his blood pressure." Scott explained.
"I know I am not a doctor, but I thought that was a good thing?" Sheppard asked, confused about the glum faces.
"It is normally." Jennifer explained. "Unfortunately it looks like the hormone release is not regulated, so occasionally there is a spike and his heart rate and blood pressure also increases. If we can't do something soon, the strain on his heart during one of those bursts will kill him." Sheppard threw a sympathetic look to the medical personnel.
"I am sorry to add to your troubles, but there is a small chance that the spiders may be in here, so if you could keep an eye out that would be great." Sheppard said before briefly pausing. "Is Cole releasing any sound or smell that they could be tracking?"
"You think they are trying to get to him?" Jennifer asked.
"Maybe. It seems a bit of a coincidence that they would end up here if not."
"It is possible that they could detect the release of extra hormones. But seeing Cole is in an isolation room, I don't see how they would pick it up from the infirmary." Jennifer said after some consideration.
"Ok, just stay alert for a possible threat. And Doc maybe you should sit down you look a little peaky."
"Good luck with that argument. " Scott muttered as he headed off to look at a scan on the screen.
"You being difficult towards your staff?" Sheppard asked.
"Not compared to you and your team." Jennifer replied with a faint smile, although weariness was clear in her eyes.
Sheppard placed a hand on her left shoulder and guided her to one side, followed closely by Ronon. "I mean it doc, let your team deal with this, while you take it easy. Or as easy as you can trapped in a room with eccentric individuals, without food or entertainment and lots of McKay-like spiders roaming around. Of course if you prefer I can just have Ronon hold you down."
"I'm fine." Jennifer replied.
"And if I had had an operation yesterday, what would you be telling me to do?" Sheppard asked, as Jennifer remained silence. "That's what I thought. So sit down and rest. Besides we will need your skills later when we have been trapped in here for several hours and everyone goes stir crazy and Ronon shoots them."
Jennifer looked at Sheppard and nodded, just as McKay came bustling over holding his laptop. "Ok I should be able to do a scan of this room. But it will take five minutes to complete."
"So why are you not running it?" Sheppard asked.
"Because, as I explained earlier, the power in this room is out of phase with everything else."
"So?"
"So." McKay started, looking frustrated. "So, I can't just plug my laptop into the wiring and expect to be connected to the sensors." Seeing Sheppard was staring at him blankly he tried again. "Look, to use the sensors I need to connect my laptop to the local network. That will involve me hooking my computer into something that is operating in a different phase."
"ok." Sheppard tried.
"Not ok. There is a small chance I cold fry some of the local circuits, cutting power to the room."
"Breaking the quarantine?" Sheppard asked.
"No there are fail safes that should prevent that." McKay answered. "But internally we could loose power. Meaning the medical equipment might not work." He finished, looking apologetically at Jennifer.
"Then don't fry the circuits." Ronon said simply, causing McKay to roll his eyes and huff.
"It is not that simple. This is an extremely complex procedure. There is no way that-" McKay started before Sheppard cut him off.
"Do you need me to get Zelenka to talk you through it?" Sheppard asked.
"What? No." McKay replied quickly. Both affronted and stunned by the suggestion. "What good would that do? I am the only person here with any chance of succeeding."
"Well the do it and don't screw up." Sheppard ordered.
McKay looked slightly flustered as Jennifer said. "I know you can do it Rodney."
"Well of course I can do it." McKay answered. "I just wanted to make everyone aware of the risk first. But I will go and start." He finished as he moved over to the side of the room and removed the panel.
Sheppard turned to Jennifer, but before he could speak she said.
"Over here." As she moved to the near wall. Ronon and Sheppard shared a confused glance, but followed. As the reached the wall, Jennifer was keying a code into a panel, causing a drawer to open, revealing five torches.
Sheppard nodded his appreciation as he picked up the torches and deployed them; one each to McKay and Lorne, one to the team of marines, one to the medics and kept the other one. Moving back to Jennifer and Ronon he asked.
"Are you sure you don't have a DS hiding in here? I would take a PSP."
Jennifer did not have time to answer before the room plunged into darkness, causing her to subconsciously back into Ronon.
"McKay?" Sheppard said as he flicked the switch on his torch and moved over towards the physicist.
"It should be temporary." McKay explained as noise penetrated the darkness. Sheppard spun round and saw illuminated by his and three other torches Cole thrashing.
"Ronon." Sheppard called. Understanding immediately Ronon moved away from Jennifer, towards Cole, his blaster at the ready.
Then, just as quickly as they had gone off, the room flashed into light once more.
"Told you." McKay said smugly as Sheppard kept his focus on Cole, who seemed to be calming. Sheppard's attention was quickly brought back to McKay though when McKay said.
"No. Jennifer."
Sheppard watched as McKay moved as fast as he had ever seen him move and throw himself at Jennifer, sending them both crashing into the floor.