Chapter 29: Investigations
He'd made a game of it. Communicating with the Wraith over random, inaccessible channels, sabotaging the efforts of his rivals, it had been fun. But even he was ready to collect on the debt. It was enough. He wanted to take his payoff and go home.
They'd promised to trade him technical secrets for his information. With the specifications of some of the more exciting Wraith technology, he intended to finally make his mark. He could backwards engineer their culling beam and things like it. He'd take credit for the inventions and he'd make his fortune.
More important than the money, was the recognition. He'd always craved it. Having people know of his brilliance, how extraordinary he was, that had always been of prime importance in his life. And if he could deflate the egos of some of the pretentious pretenders around here, especially that little twit McKay, it was all the better.
And so he set out to send his last communiqué to Oscar, his handler of sorts. He had no idea how well he had been "handled". His payoff would be a surprise for everyone.
OoOoOo
The attempt to cure Sam Carter was not going well. In fact, a cure was so far out of reach right now, it was all Keller could do to focus on simply keeping her patient alive. She'd never watched a patient starve in front of her eyes before, not when she was doing everything she could to restore them to health. It was unthinkable.
At the moment, the frustrated physician stood at the bedside of her patient. Sam Carter appeared to be sleeping peacefully, exhausted after her most recent set of scans and tests. The results of those tests would occupy Jennifer Keller's mind for the rest of the afternoon. There had to be something, a clue, an idea of what she could do for her commander and her friend.
Sam's husband had come to check on their progress two or three times. On each occasion, Keller had politely told him to go away and leave them to their work. He'd complied, but she could tell he wasn't happy about it, not by a long shot. General O'Neill was a man of action and he loved his wife. Keller knew sitting by and doing nothing was killing him.
As for Sam, she knew very well what was happening to her. On the positive side, she was gradually starting to recall bits and pieces of her life, memories of important people and events. Though things were still disjointed and jumbled at times, it was an encouraging indication that whatever had blocked her memory circuits was beginning to dissipate. Keller wished she could say the same for the Wraith feeding instinct her patient had been saddled with as well.
She'd been altered. There was no way around that fact. Tests had shown minute changes in one of Sam's genetic markers when she first returned. Most likely this had accounted for the development of the feeding aperture as well as the aggressive instincts she'd manifested when she'd first returned.
Like the Wraith she'd examined before, Keller realized Sam Carter now garnered only minimal nourishment from ingested foodstuffs. Her metabolism had been restructured to feed off the nutrients provided by an infusion of human life energy. Unfortunately, Keller was no way to provide such an infusion without significantly damage the donor.
Since her rescue, Sam's slowly returning sense of self had collided with her instinct to feed on other humans. Keller could only imagine the horror of Sam's inner conflict. True to her human character, she'd sublimated her instinctive need as best she could, reconciling herself to the fact that the failure to feed might eventually lead to her death. When she'd put on McKay's glove, things became easier. She'd told Keller she no longer needed to expend huge amounts of energy to dampen the feeding instinct. Having the glove in place seemed to do that for her. Now, Sam was left with the ever increasing weakness and insatiable hunger. And of course, the fear she wouldn't survive.
General O'Neill had come to Dr. Keller with a disturbing proposition a few moments ago. He suggested that Sam be allowed to feed on him. Keller recoiled from the suggestion. It was a visceral response. She couldn't imagine sanctioning something like that for any reason. O'Neill had been insistent, as only a two star general could be. He'd said it was his right, his right to offer himself for his wife. That kind of love always made Jennifer Keller envious. Still there was no way she would allow this to happen on her watch. Besides, Sam would never go along with it.
Still she was certain she'd not heard the end of the General's proposal. He'd seemed undeterred by her negative reaction. In fact, as he left, reminding her he'd be back again for Sam, he'd told her he was on the way to Mr. Woolsey's office. She could only guess he'd look for someone to override her decision.
OoOoOo
"You want to what?" Richard Woolsey asked. He was sure this was the worst idea he'd ever heard.
"You heard me," Jack O'Neill replied. "Sam needs to be fed. I'm not about to watch my wife starve to death. Whatever it takes, I'm not about to let that happen."
"From what Dr. Keller tells me, we're not there yet," Woolsey said, holding on to Jennifer's estimate that a Wraith could survive nearly three weeks without feeding.
"But we will be," Jack said. And probably sooner than later, he thought, realizing Sam's constitution was not that of the typical Wraith. "So, will you talk with Keller?"
"I will not," Woolsey said. "Nothing that barbaric is going to happen here on my watch."
"I'm sorry, what gives you the right to make that choice?"
"In case you forget, General, I am in command of this station," Woolsey said emphatically.
Before Jack could offer one of his more undiplomatic responses, he was saved from himself by a most unlikely rescuer.
"Excuse me," called the unexpected cavalry. "I couldn't help but overhear your rather heated 'discussion'," said a particularly sheepish Rodney McKay.
"What are you doing here, McKay," Jack asked. "Can't you see we're in the middle of something?"
"So I heard," Rodney replied. "General O'Neill, you may want to fire me, beat me up, I don't know, but I have to say something."
"Fine, spit it out," Jack said, "then get the hell out of here."
Rodney swallowed hard. He'd grown a backbone over the years, but this man still intimidated him. After all, Jack O'Neill could probably break his neck without trying. And then, he was Sam's husband, a sad state of affairs if you asked McKay. Be that as it may, Rodney still cared about Sam and needed to make his opinion known.
"I know you're not asking me, General," he began, "but just listen to what I have to say. Sure you can force Mr. Woolsey to give in, but do you really want to do that? What would that do to Sam? Maybe she'll live a little longer, but do you really think she could live with herself if she hurt you? See, I don't, not the Sam Carter I know."
Rodney took another deep breath to help himself calm down. "There, that's all I have to say. I'll be leaving now. You two," he said, gesturing with his hands as he backed out of Woolsey's office, "keep arguing, have fun."
Jack smirked as he watched McKay's retreating form. The irritating man was right. As willing as he was to sacrifice himself for Sam, doing so would cause her endless pain in the long run.
Somehow, arguing his point didn't seem so attractive anymore.
OoOoOo
"Well, when will you have something?" John Sheppard asked. Clearly at the end of his rope, he wanted some results. There was a traitor in their midst, someone passing classified information to the enemy. The thought of a spy incensed him, but the fact his information had resulted in Colonel Carter's current condition and the destruction of the Alpha site, well that added insult to injury. When he found that sorry excuse for a human being, he planned to make him sorry he'd ever been born.
Then again, it was more than likely he'd have to stand in line for that pleasure. Doubtless, General O'Neill would claim first dibs on perpetrating significant physical injury on the man who'd set up his wife. When Sheppard stopped to think it through rationally, it would probably be up to him to keep the older man from doing something that could derail his career. And it certainly wouldn't help Sam.
The report Sheppard just received from Security Chief Donovan was discouraging. Though Donovan and his people had uncovered several initially clandestine transmissions, they'd been completely unable to track any of them from Atlantis to a Wraith vessel. However, as the mission logs were reviewed for the past twelve months, an unexplained pattern of Wraith activity correlated with the timing of these transmissions. Wraith had seemed to materialize at their mission sites, much as they had when Teyla unknowingly carried the Ancient transmitter. This was most obvious in activities involving Colonel Carter or the development of Alpha site. There were clues leading in several different directions, a dozen possible suspects in total, crew members whose activities were not clearly accounted for during the times of those missions. A few were long time members of the expedition, like McKay, others had been in and out of Atlantis like Kavanaugh and Donovan himself. Still others were relatively new, Dr. Lattimore and Jennifer Keller to name two.
The next few days promised to be interesting. John had always wanted to be a small town sheriff, better yet, an FBI agent, at least in his dreams. Now was his chance.
OoOoOo
It was 2200 hours. Jack had waited long enough. He wanted to walk Sam back to her quarters. It stood to reason she'd be more comfortable there than spending the night in the infirmary.
As he entered Keller's domain for the umpteenth time today, he was gratified to see Sam sitting up and sipping on a protein shake Keller had concocted.
"Hey doc, you think I can spring Sam anytime soon?" Jack asked.
Sam smiled in spite of herself. She had to admit she was feeling a bit stronger after the intravenous infusions Jennifer had provided today. She'd also received a blood transfusion. She was as ready to get out of here as she'd ever be.
"What do you think, Jennifer?" Sam seconded.
"I suppose," Keller relented. "There really isn't much more I can do for you here that a little more sleep won't accomplish."
"Okay, Sam, what do you say we get out of here before she changes her mind?" Jack suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," she answered. With that, the couple was out the infirmary door before Jennifer Keller could reconsider. She shook her head. It would still be a long night for her. She'd find an answer to her friend's dilemma, or fall asleep trying. Had to admit, the later was a lot more likely at this point.
TBC
A/N: I'm pretty proud of myself. I got a chapter up before the weekend ended. Too sore from raking leaves, pruning bushes and starting the lawn to do anymore outdoor work today, so writing came naturally.
Hope you liked the chapter. I was trying to cover a lot of bases, so hope it wasn't too disjointed.
More will be revealed soon.
Thanks for reading and for taking the time to review. I value your input.
