Authors Note:
Thanks for the reviews ... I liked the 'wearing a friends jacket' ref chevron7 - that was exactly the flavour I was going for - hopefully Sabina wasn't too depressed that John's shirt was a reasonable fit! Glad you liked the physics research Allie108 - I am amazed at what I find when I go searching for things to use in my story! Welcome to the story ArafelSedai - I know it'll be a while before you get to this chapter but I just had to put in a note to agree with your comment re Jack O'Neill being the ultimate but belonging to Carter. There's been so much fanfic about their ship there is no way I could ever come up with anything remotely original! And welcome CanadianHalliwell - thanks for your kind review of my season 1 story too ... I appreciate your suggestion re Sabina's friendships - I do have my reasons for the way things are at the moment - if I take this into Season 3 then there will be much more scope for that. Okay ... on with the chapter.
Chapter 37: No one is indestructible
"Are you ready?" I asked John nervously. We were set up for my first attempt to control John's mind through the TED and I was feeling very apprehensive. We hadn't discussed in any further the previous evening but I'd tossed and turned all night in my quarters worrying about it.
"I know this is bothering you," John commented. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"I could misjudge the strength of the device and punch a quantum hole right through your brain," I said starkly. John looked a bit taken aback by that. "Don't worry though ... I'm pretty sure TED has failsafes I can set to make sure that doesn't happen."
"And what's the best that could happen?" John continued.
"We prove the TED is powerful enough to control as many Wraith Hives as they can send to attack us," I replied.
"Sounds worth the risk to me," John said easily. "I say we do this."
"Okay," I agreed reluctantly, "I'm proceeding to phase one now."
Just like the day before I focussed on accessing the telepathic pool first and then placed my hand on top of the device to activate it. I dipped into the pool of shimmering light and found a specific frequency that was immediately recognisable as John. Instead of a fragile looking thread, when I grabbed for John the connection was more like a thickly wound rope. Once I'd made the connection it felt much stronger than I'd previously experienced.
"Phase one complete," I murmured, maintaining the connection with ease. John said nothing so I quickly moved into phase two – sending a command.
"Raise your right arm," I send the thought down the rope to John. I wasn't surprised when John sat without moving. Still feeling reluctant to push too hard for fear of causing pain I pushed a little harder, and then a little harder again.
"You've gotta do better than that," John challenged. "That was barely a tickle!"
Taking a deep breath I doubled the strength of the command. It seemed like the quantum rope connecting us vibrated but still John remained motionless.
"You can push harder," John told me. "I could feel that one but it was nowhere near as hard as that last Wraith Queen pushed me."
"Okay," I muttered, gathering myself to try again. I added a bit more strength to the push without success.
"Break it off," John's voice made that sound a bit like an order. I carefully returned our connection to the pool and deactivated the TED. Not looking at John I made the pretence of checking some of the readings I'd gotten. If I understood the brain activity scans properly both John and I had exhibited much higher levels than in any of my previous attempts.
"You're not trying hard enough," John grabbed my shoulder and swung me back to face him.
"I was trying," I denied, trying to pull away.
"Don't try and tell me that was the best you could throw at me," John accused, "because I know that's not true. It took everything I had to hold off a Wraith Queen – just maintaining my position was the best I could do. You've gotta have more because you didn't just hold off the Queen, you bested her and that was without the aid of the TED."
"I don't know what to tell you," I prevaricated. "Maybe it was because I was really angry with the Queen. Or maybe it was the extra connection the Wraith gene gave me."
"Or maybe you don't think I'm up to the challenge so you thought you'd take it easy," John suggested grimly.
"That's not true!" I denied heatedly. "I know your strength, your stubbornness – I would never underestimate you."
"Then get back on that device and show me what you can do," John ordered angrily, letting me go and returning to his chair.
I stood with my back towards him, clenching my fists as I fought my anger at the situation I found myself in. Although I really didn't want to be doing this with John I knew there were no other choices – the potential for defence that the TED had presented us with was too valuable to give up because I was feeling squeamish about hurting John.
"Okay, Okay!" I said, turning back to glare at him. "But if I hurt you I'm gonna be really, really, mad!"
"Noted," John said complacently. "Do it!"
I established the connection within seconds and decided to lighten things up by changing my command. "Kiss me," I thought down the line, using less force than at the end of our last attempt.
John got up, grabbed my head, and kissed me breathless before sitting down again. When I raised an eyebrow at him he grinned and said "if you want this to work you've gotta make it something I want to resist!"
"All right," I replied, "let's get serious."
Without pause I sent the command "Stand" down the line harder than any previous attempt. I could feel the connection vibrate sharply as John resisted. Instead of sending the command like a pulse this time I made it continuous and steadily upped the force. Keeping a watchful eye on John the whole time I noticed his knees twitching and the pained frown on his face.
"Should I stop?" I asked in concern.
"No ... keep going," John said in a slightly strained voice.
Steeling myself, I continued to hammer the connection with that one thought – Stand – increasing the force until finally John, clearly fighting with himself, slid off the chair and stood up. Dropping the force back to zero, I quickly broke the connection and deactivated the device. As soon as the connection was severed John collapsed back on his chair, putting a hand to his forehead and wincing.
"I wouldn't want to make you angry when you've got access to that thing," John joked, glancing at me with a pained grin to let me know he was all right.
"How's your head?" I knelt in front of his chair and made him look directly into my eyes. His eyes were a little blood shot and he was pale enough that I was pretty sure he had a hell of a headache. "We should visit Doctor Beckett," I said, pushing myself back to my feet.
"Not yet," John pulled me back down to his level. "We should clear the air here first, and then I'll get Carson to give me something for the headache."
"Well at least you're not trying to pretend you don't have one," I acknowledged, "which tells me it's a headache on a mammoth scale."
"You did it though," John pointed out. "My sore head is a small price to pay to find that out."
"It bothers me that I made you do something you didn't want to do," I admitted, looking down at the floor.
"It was an experiment with my full cooperation," John chided me. "The whole point was for you to get me to do something I was supposed to resist."
"I know that," I said, "but it still bothers me. You're indestructible ... undefeated ... I really didn't think I'd succeed in beating you."
"No one is indestructible," John denied.
"I know that on an intellectual level," I admitted, "but when it comes to you I kind of liked having the emotional view that you can't be taken down. Now I know exactly how much force it would take to accomplish that."
"Not exactly," John said reluctantly. "Out in the field I would have resisted until the point that a Queen would have ended up scrambling my brain before I gave in. I didn't think you'd appreciate me applying that much resistance to this experiment."
"Strangely, that makes me feel better," I smiled at him.
"How about you?" John asked curiously. "How are you feeling after exerting all that force?"
"Massive headache," I admitted. "I feel like someone is trying to bore their way out of my brain from the inside."
"Let's get Doctor Beckett to check us both out," John suggested, rising carefully from his seat and pulling me up with him.
"I can't see any signs of damage," Carson reassured us a few minutes later, "although there is definitely evidence of increased brain activity in both of you. I can give you something for the pain and then I'd suggest you both take it easy for a few hours – give the medication time to take effect."
"Thanks Doc," John replied, once we'd both had a shot administered. "Can you let Elizabeth know Sabina and I will both be off radio for the rest of the day?"
"Aye lad," Carson smiled fondly at the two of us. "Enjoy yourselves."
"Where are we going?" I asked as John pulled me quickly towards the nearest transporter.
"The last time we did city exploration I found a nice spot," John replied. "I was saving it for just the right occasion ... now seems like as good a time as any. But first we need supplies."
John literally dragged me from place to place as he loaded us both up with blankets, changes of clothes, and enough food to feed us for days.
"That's enough," I finally protested laughingly. "I can't carry any more – show me this place or I'm dumping this stuff right here."
"Alright grumpy," John replied. He led me back to the transporter, stepping us out into a section of the city I'd never seen before. "It's just down this corridor a ways," he promised. After a brief walk he stopped at a door that looked no more remarkable than any of the others. "Here it is."
He swiped a hand over the door control and walked inside, gesturing for me to follow him.
"These are living quarters," I said with a puzzled frown.
"This is the five star deluxe version of living quarters," John corrected, grinning smugly. "We've got a huge bed," he raised an eyebrow suggestively, "an even bigger bath tub through there, and that's not even the best part." Grabbing my hand he pulled me towards another door like an excited school boy. "Look!" he opened the door and gestured out to the balcony.
That's when I realised the room was only slightly above sea level – the balcony led straight to the ocean like a concrete beach. A cordoned off square on one side even suggested the possibility of swimming. The view was also spectacular – the room was on the hub of one of the arms of the city so that at night the lights of Atlantis would shine down.
"You're right," I said almost reverently, "this really is five star deluxe!"
"I knew you'd like it," John said happily. "What do you want to do first?"
"Try out the bed," I admitted, laughing when he stopped abruptly to look at me. "Sorry, I should have added for sleeping – I'm really tired and I think we'd both enjoy this room more if we had a nap first."
"Way to crush a guys hopes," John complained good naturedly. I went over to him and pulled one of his arms around my shoulders.
"There'll be plenty of time for that," I promised, dragging him back into the sleeping area.
I wasn't content until I had us striped down to the essentials and spooned together under the blankets. "Now this is nice," I stretched my legs out in front of me and smiled happily.
"Wait a minute," John growled suspiciously, raising himself to loom above me. "That's why you keep leaving in the middle of the night?"
"Huh?" I pretended ignorance.
"You don't like my bed?" John demanded in a heated voice.
"It's not that I don't like it," I denied. "It's just really ... small for two people ... especially when one of them is a bed hog," I spoke defensively, lying flat on my back and looking up at his pained expression. "Most of the time when I get up to leave it's because you've almost pushed me out of the bed."
"Why didn't you say something?" John's tone was long suffering.
"I don't know," I muttered. "Didn't want you to feel bad ... didn't see what you could do about it."
"You could have asked me to get a bigger bed," John pointed out in frustration.
"I really hate asking for things," I admitted. "I always have to psyche myself up before hand and most of the time it just doesn't seem worth the effort."
"But you know how I feel about you," John protested. "Surely that'd make it easier to ask me for something."
"Harder actually," I pointed out. "You've got the power to grant me a lot of leeway here – I don't want to abuse that."
"You've gotta learn to trust me, and yourself more," John pointed out. "You wouldn't ask for something you shouldn't ... but if you ever did I wouldn't give it to you."
"Point taken," I said. "Now can you shut up so I can enjoy this enormous bed?"
Authors Note:
It's probably a little silly but after seeing Trinity and noticing that they've got Sheppard sleeping in a single bed (poor guy would have limbs hanging off the bed!!) I just had to work the concept of a too small bed somewhere into my story. I did have another reason which will become clear in time ... apologies if the silliness put anyone off!