Chapter 30: I have something for you
Feeling apprehensive on a number of levels had me almost nervous as I waited for Chuck to dial us in to Vedeena early the next morning. Doctor Keller was standing beside me chewing nervously on her bottom lip.
"This your first mission since New Athos?" I asked Jennifer casually. She'd yet to take me up on my offer of assistance with defensive training and I'd lost track of specifically what she'd been working on since that fateful mission.
"It is that obvious?" Jennifer asked in dismay.
"Being wary isn't a bad thing," I dismissed lightly.
"But you don't get nervous before missions," Jennifer made that assumption in the spirit of being too hard on herself.
"Not usually," I admitted, "but only because I've been on so many now. Although to be honest I'm feeling a little bit nervous myself today." I smiled when Jennifer looked at me in surprise. "John's off trying to out trap the Wraith who almost killed him and we're about to meet with someone who may be able to see the future. Makes it a little hard to relax."
"Yes it does," Jennifer agreed with a grateful smile.
"Okay people," Major Lorne strode across the Gateroom just as the wormhole stabilised. "Sabina, you'll stick close to Doctor Keller while we're on Vedeena. I'll assign guard positions for everyone else once I've had a chance to assess the layout. Move out."
We were met at the Gate by a young blonde woman who introduced herself as Linara, and her two companions. Lorne made the introductions for all of us, Linara greeting us all with an open friendly smile.
"My father is especially looking forward to meeting you Doctor Keller," Linara shared as we walked through the field towards her village.
"How long has he been ill?" Jennifer asked, listening carefully and asking a number of follow up questions. Her conversation took us all the way to Davos's tent. Linara asked us to wait a moment while she checked on her father's condition, coming back with a smile as she urged us to go inside. Major Lorne nodded for me to follow Jennifer, motioning for Brown and Parker to stand guard outside the tent before joining us.
Davos wasn't outwardly what I might have expected from a great Seer. He sat on something I could only describe as a throne, made from the roots of a very large tree. He was older than most of the leaders we'd come across, blonde like his daughter, friendly of expression but very obviously ill.
"Welcome friends," Davos greeted us, waving us all closer. He looked at Jennifer first, urging her to step forward.
"Doctor Keller," he said, even though Linara hadn't introduced us yet. Maybe she'd given him the run down on all of us before letting us in the tent – or maybe he'd pulled our identities from the very air. Either way, his demeanour of knowledge was very convincing. "Thank you for coming to see me ... although I fear your journey may be wasted."
"Let me be the judge of that," Jennifer smiled, pulling her medical kit from her back and setting it on a nearby table.
"Major Lorne," Davos turned his attention to Evan. "I sense that you too are sceptical of my gifts." Lorne made to comment on that but Davos smiled good naturedly and shook his head. "No matter – perhaps when Colonel Sheppard's team has returned from their mission you will see things differently."
"Perhaps," Lorne replied easily.
"Which just leaves you ... Sabina Sheppard," I met Davos's gaze openly, curious to hear what he had to say. "I had the pleasure of meeting your mate yesterday – an intelligent and insightful man. You share many traits in common, particularly your willingness to keep an open mind."
"Well thank you for the compliments to John," I smiled proudly. "As for the rest ... I've seen too much over the past three years to discount anything as not being possible ... in some format or other."
"You wish to know more about my gift?" Davos wouldn't need to be a Seer to have noticed the burning curiosity I had about him.
"I'd be happy to listen to anything you'd like to share," I agreed.
"Well, you'll have to continue this conversation after I've examined my patient," Jennifer broke in, holding up her portable scanner for Davos to see. "I'd like to use this to scan you if I may?"
"Of course," Davos was cooperation itself. I stood back a respectful distance with Evan, waiting for Jennifer to complete her examination so we could see just how bad it was.
"Interesting guy," Lorne commented under his breath.
"He had you pegged," I pointed out. "I wonder how John's team is doing."
"They'll be fine," Evan said firmly. "And if it turns out McKay's vision really does pan out just like he said then I'll reconsider my position on Davos as a Seer."
I nodded, something inside telling me that 'if' should probably be a 'when'. Time would tell.
oOo
Jennifer concluded her examine and then moved over to join us. "I need to talk to Colonel Carter."
"I'll have Brown run back and dial the Gate," Lorne lifted the tent opening and headed outside.
"It's bad?" I looked across at Davos and his daughter as I spoke.
"Probably," Jennifer agreed reluctantly. "I'd need to get him back to Atlantis to say for sure."
"It'll take the guys about ten minutes to get back to the Gate," I pointed out. "We might as well go over and talk to Davos, see if he can tell us more about how his gift works."
"You have time to talk," Davos stated when we walked back across to them.
"If you've got the energy," I agreed. "Doctor McKay told us about how you were able to show him one of your visions. Do you get to decide what you'll have visions about or is that outside your control?"
"You ask not for yourself but for your friend, Teyla Emmagen," Davos commented. "I would like to tell you I can conjure visions at will but unfortunately my gift has never worked that way. The visions appear as though having a will of their own ... I sense them hovering, sometimes over an individual or group and sometimes over a place."
"Oh," my shoulders slumped a little in disappointment. "So it's just random then?"
"Random in terms of the subjects I am offered," Davos clarified. "When a vision is there I must see it and pass it on. In the past I have tried to resist this and discovered the visions most persistent until they are witnessed."
"So you don't get another vision unless you do that?" I asked in surprise. 'What if you have someone who doesn't want to share your vision?"
"Someone like you?" Davos asked with a good natured smile. "It is much rarer than you might suppose. I don't believe I have ever come across someone who genuinely had no interest in finding out about their future, even those who were initially resistant."
"How often do the visions strike?" Jennifer asked curiously.
"It varies," Davos explained. "In isolation here in our village it can be days or even weeks between visions. With the arrival of strangers they strike more frequently."
"And you've never found a way to control them," Jennifer stated with a frown. "Colonel Sheppard said when you showed Rodney that vision, it drained you. Is that always the case?"
"My father gets weaker after every episode," Linara answered sadly. "My people would not have survived without his gift and yet now it is contributing to his condition."
"If I get agreement I'd like to take you back to our home," Jennifer looked at Davos with a serious expression. "We have equipment there I can use to find out more."
"I would enjoy seeing Atlantis," Davos agreed with a twinkle in his eye.
"Doctor Keller, we have a connection back to base," Major Lorne opened the tent flap to give us that update.
"Thank you Major," Jennifer tapped her radio to make contact. "Colonel Carter, this is Doctor Keller."
"How's the patient, Doctor?" Colonel Carter replied.
"Well, from what I can tell, he seems to be suffering from a kind of lymphatic cancer," Jennifer stepped away from Davos and his daughter to report in. "There's not a lot I can do for him here."
"Have you detected any physical anomalies that might be related to his visions?" was that Richard Woolsey asking questions? Colonel Carter must have made some indication of being less than impressed he'd butted in because he actually apologised. "Sorry. Force of habit."
"I don't really have the equipment with me that's necessary to make that kind of analysis," Jennifer replied.
"All right, why don't you bring him back?" Colonel Carter suggested.
"Understood," Jennifer frowned over at me before continuing. "Um, just so we're clear - are we doing this to try and save his life, or to study him?"
"I'll have the Infirmary prepped and ready for your arrival. Carter out."
"I notice she didn't answer your question," I commented.
"No she didn't," Jennifer agreed worriedly.
oOo
A few hours later everyone was back on Atlantis, along with Davos and his daughter now safely ensconced in the infirmary under Jennifer's expert care.
John had just finished briefing Colonel Carter on his talk with the Wraith now being held in our brig. Sitting with him and the rest of team Sheppard in the Mess Hall I listened in stunned disbelief to what he and Ronon had found out.
"The Replicators are destroying human planets in an effort to wipe out the Wraith food source?" Teyla asked, grimly incredulous.
"So our Wraith prisoner claims," John replied. "He gave us a gate address – M5S-768 – said we should check it out to confirm his story."
"We've been there before," Rodney revealed. "It was a thriving preindustrial society. Zelenka's preparing a MALP now so we can go check it out."
"So thousands of humans are potentially dying because I reactivated the Replicator attack command?" I struggled to keep the horrified inflection from my voice.
"One, we reactivated the attack command, not just you," John returned insistently, "and two, if it turns out to be true, responsibility rests with the Replicators just as much as it does with us."
"That's a cop out!" I retorted impatiently. "We should have realised something like this could happen ... maybe we would have if we'd taken the time to fully consider all the angles instead of rushing in all guns blazing."
"Is this you saying 'I told you so'?" John's words brought to vivid memory that scene in the Puddle Jumper before we'd set out to access the Replicator core when everyone had disagreed with me.
"Of course not," I replied heatedly. "I'm just saying that if we'd considered what might happen, if we'd thought about events in our own history, we could have anticipated this. Wiping out the enemy's food supply isn't exactly a new idea, nor is it rocket science."
"She's right," Rodney agreed. "The Replicators have shown that they'll go for the quickest way to achieve their objectives. At first that was wiping out Wraith Hive ships, but now the Wraith are fighting back. They've forced the Replicators to take a different tack."
"We must do something," Teyla intoned. "If it turns out this Wraith is telling the truth, we must protect the human planets in this galaxy. They will be defenceless against such an attack."
"I know," John replied firmly. "And if it turns out to be true we will do everything we can to put a stop to it."
"The Replicators have taken out lots of Wraith already," Ronon reminded us.
"I don't think the human populations will be thanking us for stopping the Wraith culling them if they only end up getting slammed by the Replicators instead," I shook my head in dismay. "They might not be food but dead is still dead."
"There's no point in speculating until we can confirm the Wraith's story," John took control of the conversation abruptly. "For now let's focus on what we get back from the MALP. They should be ready to send it through by now."
"I'll leave you guys to do that," I stood up and put a hand on John's shoulder. "I want to check in with Jennifer, see how Davos is doing."
"I will stop in to see him later as well," Teyla promised.
I tossed a casual wave towards them, turning and strolling out of the Mess Hall. My thoughts were swirling as they always did when unpleasant truths were revealed. I don't know why I was so surprised. It was just another example of how things seemed to work in Pegasus. We'd try something innovative and think we'd covered all the bases only to find when it was too late some usually obvious and predictable flaw.
"Jennifer?" I walked quietly into the infirmary, stopped a couple of steps back from where Doctor Keller was working. Davos was lying in one of the infirmary beds, his daughter at his side. "How's he doing?"
"He's stable, for now," Jennifer replied. "That's about the best we can hope for unfortunately."
"You can't cure him?" my eyes shot to Davos, only to find him already looking at me.
"He said with all his visions he was never able to see his own fate," Jennifer said sadly. "Maybe, if we'd gotten him here months ago I could have helped him. Now, all I can do is make him comfortable and manage his pain."
"Does he know?" I asked.
"Yes," Jennifer revealed. "Linara still holds hope but Davos seems resigned to letting his illness take its course."
"Can I talk to him?" I wasn't sure what I was going to say, only that the look he'd sent me called out that he wanted to talk to me.
"Of course," Jennifer led me over, reaching for her charts and looking at the monitors attached to her patient.
"Sabina," Davos greeted me like an old friend. "Linara, why don't you let Doctor Keller show you a place where you can rest?"
"But father," Linara protested.
"I will be fine in Sabina's company," Davos reassured her.
"Come on Linara," Jennifer put a hand under the young woman's elbow and gently led her towards one of the unused private rooms nearby.
"I have something for you," Davos said as soon as the other two were out of hearing.
"Please tell me it's not a vision," I winced at the idea.
"You truly are unwilling to contemplate the future?" Davos asked curiously.
"No, I'm unwilling to have it spoiled by knowing more than I should," I countered. "If you know what's going to happen, if it's set in concrete before you even do anything, then what's the point of getting up every day? Plus I don't want to see snatches of something and then spend the next few months wondering if each event is going to be what I saw."
"A unique viewpoint," Davos commented. "Most people welcome the chance to see the future with the belief that they can influence it to their advantage." His expression was easy but I could see behind that facade that he was in pain – from not sharing his vision?
"I'm not unique," I denied. "If you asked people here, a lot of them wouldn't want to know what was going to happen next."
"Perhaps," Davos agreed, shifting in his bed and drawing in a sharp breath as something inside dug in deep.
"It's going to cause you pain, isn't it?" I asked reluctantly. "Not sharing this vision with me?"
"Do not concern yourself," Davos neither confirmed nor denied my conclusion.
"Okay," I said abruptly, sitting forward in my seat. "Show me."
"You do not have to participate," Davos countered. "Doctor Keller's very manner tells me that my time is short. Whether I share this vision or not is inconsequential."
"Not to me," I retorted irritably. "I don't want to be the cause of an old man's last days being more painful than they have to be – no offence."
"You have a kind heart," Davos said with a smile. "If you are sure ...," he held out his hand, inviting me silently to take it.
I don't know if I closed my eyes or not but from one blink to the next I went from see the infirmary to seeing the Gateroom of Atlantis, only a version of it that made no sense to me. The place was full of Ancients – not Caritas or the others I'd known personally – they looked similar, wore similar clothes but they didn't have the same air of seriousness. They were relaxed, happy, with none of the urgency or grim purpose the one's I'd known had had at the end of their war with the Wraith.
My eyes were drawn to a couple standing in the Gateroom, holding each other in a tight embrace as they waited for someone to step through the open wormhole. Their expressions were at once sad and excited.
Before I could contemplate what that meant the scene changed. I didn't know where but I was definitely on Earth, sitting at a table in a darkened room with a closed file in front of me. The details on the front of the file jumped out at me.
Sabina Scott. Adoption.
I urged my vision self to open the file so I could find out more but instead found myself shifting scenes again.
This one was a slap in the face for obvious interpretation. It was a full military funeral. I watched myself standing at the grave site, weeping openly as a casket was lowered into the ground. I tried with all I had to wake up, to get out of seeing the rest but I couldn't, helpless to stop the emotions from churning inside me.
Was I crying on the outside too?
Of course I didn't need the tombstone to know whose funeral it was ... nor the solemn faced air force officer who handed me the elaborately folded American flag. But the words engraved for all to see burned into my brain anyway.
Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard.
Why the hell did every vision I'd ever had, Replicator induced or otherwise, always have John dead? Was it a symptom of my greatest fear alone or something more sinister? And then suddenly I was back in the infirmary looking down on a pale and tired Davos.
"I'm sorry," he said sadly, waiting patiently for me to get myself under control.
"Your visions always come true?" I asked weakly, swiping at the real tears under my eyes.
"Always," Davos reiterated.
"I can't ...," I turned away angrily, folding my arms defensively across my chest. "This is why I didn't want to see any visions! There was nothing in there to tell me when that happened ... it could be years or it could be next week. How is that helpful to me?!"
"I cannot interpret the vision, nor the reason it was shown to me," Davos explained slowly, clearly exhausted by his efforts. "Just that reason is there for the recipient to discover."
"But surely with advance warning, knowing what's going to happen – it has to change your actions," I insisted.
"Interpretations can be wrong, and -," Davos began to explain.
It happened quickly. Davos went from talking to convulsing in a heartbeat, his whole body arching off the infirmary bed as he shook and groaned.
"Jennifer!" I yelled, using all my strength to hold him down, fearful he'd fall from the bed and break something.
Jennifer ran in with two nurses close behind her, giving out orders for medications as she quickly assessed the situation. Gently moving me away from her patient she continued to treat him. There was nothing I could do but I didn't want to leave before I knew if he was alright, so I hovered outside the infirmary, waiting to hear something.
"He's stable again," Jennifer stepped out into the corridor to speak to me.
"That was my fault," I pushed away from where I'd been leaning against the wall. "He showed me a vision – I should have said no because I knew it would drain him."
"He's old and he's sick," Jennifer countered. "The convulsions had nothing to do with his gift. You didn't do anything wrong – we have no idea what suppressing a vision would do to him either."
"That's the only reason I agreed," I admitted. "He was in pain and I thought maybe it would help."
"Well he's resting now," Jennifer put a hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "Once he's up to it I want to run some more detailed scans – see if I can work out why he has this gift. Why don't you come and see him in the morning."
"Okay," I turned away, taking a few steps before Jennifer's voice stopped me.
"What did you see?"
"Nothing that made sense," I glanced back at her to reply vaguely. "Atlantis from the past ... and myself back on Earth." Not waiting for her reaction I continued down the corridor, calling out a goodnight as I went.
Author's Note:
Next Up? Fortunate Journey Season 4 Chapter 31