Disclaimer: The usual etc
I've been watching a program on Discovery called "Man Vs Wild" with a guy called Bear Grylls (no kidding) and that's where the "eat a live frog idea" came from. He actually did it on the show (YUK). Anyhow I figured that Ronon would be OK with it, John MIGHT be kinda OK but I gave Rodney MY reaction!! Enjoy...
They say don't sweat the small stuff but sometimes that's what gets ya!!
Small Stuff, Big Problem.
They exited the gate into space and the wormhole closed behind them.
"OK," John said. "It's not yet dawn on the side with the settlement so we can check this part of the planet out while we're waiting." He pulled up the HUD. "There's a land mass over there," he added.
"And an energy spike," Rodney said pointing. "Only one on the planet as far as our sensors can tell."
"I guess I'll never hear the end of it if we don't check it out," John said.
"Oh you would," Rodney said smiling. "Eventually."
oOo
Rodney turned the tablet over and looked at the bottom again. It was about eighteen inches square and a dark tan color and it had no markings on it at all.
John looked bored. "So is that it, Rodney ?" he said standing resting his hands on his P90.
"It has to be," Rodney answered looking puzzled. "There's nothing else here that could account for the reading. Maybe it's a battery or something. It looks like it might be made to plug into something..."
"Like what ?" Ronon said looking around the clearing. "There's nothing else here."
"I can see that thank you," Rodney said. "So presumably whatever it was has been removed..."
"So we can just take it back with us ?" John said.
"What's the rush ? Do you have somewhere to be ?"
"Anywhere but here," Ronon said.
"Et tu Brutus ?"
"What ?"
"It's from a play, Julius Caesar. Means you too ?" Rodney explained.
"Yeah," Ronon said. "Me too."
"Too bad Teyla missed the excitement," John said starting to walk back towards the Jumper as Rodney stuffed the tablet into his pack.
"Well she needs to spend some time with her own people," Rodney said. "Especially for their harvest...festival ...thing."
"The Shucnaar Ceremony," Ronon said as they walked. "Thanking their god for the bounty of the land."
"That's what I said, kinda."
They walked out from the forest to the flat grassy plain .
"Where's the Jumper ?" John asked.
"It was right there," Rodney said as they stopped and stared at the empty field before them..
"I know where it was, Rodney. I want to know where it is."
Rodney got his hand held padd out. "It's still there," he said looking grim.
"Did it get cloaked somehow ?" Ronon asked.
"Nope. It's right where we left it..."
"Rodney..." John said.
"Only about fifty feet down."
oOo
"What ?" John said loudly. "Are you saying that it..."
"Sank. Yep. Straight down. In the mud."
"But the ground's firm," Ronon said.
"Firm enough to walk on. Not to support a Jumper for any length of time."
"Why didn't you say anything, McKay ?" Ronon asked.
"Because I didn't know. When did this become my fault ?"
"When you took so long with that alien what not," John said.
"Hey I don't pick the parking spot."
"But I don't get it. Where's the hole ?" John asked.
"Well I can't be sure without further scans of course but it seems that there's a crust and then underneath it's much more fluid. So it cracked and then tilted kinda like the lid on a coffee pot. When the Jumper slipped underneath it just tilted back into position. We should be able to retrieve it. It'll take another Jumper though. We'll just have to..."
"Rodney.."
"There are more important things to think about," Ronon said. "Water, shelter, food."
"Come on, Rodney," John said grabbing the pack from Rodney's back. "What do you have in there ?"
"Nothing that will help us for the next two days while we're waiting for Atlantis to log us as missing," Rodney said.
"You only have equipment in here," John said.
"Right," Rodney said taking the pack back. "My MREs and stuff are in the Jumper."
"I saw some caves on the other side of those trees when we flew in," John said. "And where there's trees there's water." He started to walk back towards the forest.
Rodney sighed and followed. "How far did you say it was to those caves ?" he asked.
"It looked like they were just a couple of miles past the trees," John said walking easily. "We'll be able to get there long before dark."
"Can we stop for a minute ? I've got a stone in my boot."
"Ah suck it up, McKay," Ronon said letting go of a branch which swung back at Rodney.
"Ow !" Rodney said shielding his face with his hand. "Did you know that those things have thorns ?" he said shaking his hand. "It spiked me."
"You'll be fine."
"Stone ?"
"There's a lake here where we can fill our water canteens," John said. "We can stop here for a while."
"Good," Rodney said sitting on a rock and untying his boot.
"Look what I found," Ronon said popping a live tree frog in his mouth and chewing happily.
"Oh I can not believe you just did that," Rodney said turning away and waving his hand in front of his face.
"You OK ?" Ronon asked.
"Just trying not to lose my lunch watching you eat yours."
"Hey you gotta do what you gotta do. It's all energy. Right Sheppard ?"
John pulled a face. "Right," he said.
"Now what are you doing ?" Ronon asked as Rodney was checking the pockets on his tac vest.
"I'm just seeing how many glucose tablets I have on me."
oOo
They reached the cave just before nightfall.
"Hungry ?" Ronon asked as Rodney dumped his pack down by the entrance.
"Not enough to eat a live frog," Rodney said.
John came out of the cave. "All clear," he said switching off the light on his P90.
"There are small animal tracks around," Ronon said. "I was thinking more of tryin' to catch somethin'."
"And killing it ?"
Ronon just shrugged and smiled crookedly clearly enjoying Rodney's discomfort.
"Think you can get a fire started while we catch supper ?" John asked.
"Sure," Rodney said. "I can handle that."
"You only did that frog thing to gross Rodney out," John said as they walked away. "Didn't you ?"
Ronon just looked at him and smiled.
"Yeah that's what I thought."
oOo
A couple of days after they were rescued John went down to the Jumper bay where Rodney was getting retrieval equipment together so that they could salvage the Jumper. He found him sitting in the back of the Jumper. He had his head down and his padd was on the floor at his feet.
"Hey," John said. "You OK ?"
Rodney looked up and squinted at him. He looked very pale. "I don't know," he said. "Haven't felt well for a day or so now. Think I caught the flu or something."
"Have you seen Carson ?"
"If it is the flu there's nothing that he can do anyway," Rodney said getting up.
"That's a no then."
"Yes that's a no," Rodney said as he picked up his padd. He swayed slightly and John stepped forward. "Look let's get this done and if I don't feel better by the morning I'll go and see him. OK mom ?"
"Sure," John said looking uncertain. "What have you got ?"
"OK. The engineers have put together a magnetic grapple which they're gonna be installing here in about an hour or so. I've programmed the assembly so that you can control it from the pilot's chair with no problem."
"How do I get to the Jumper ?"
"Use your typical military solution, Colonel. Fire a drone and blow a hole in the crust."
"Won't that damage the Jumper ?"
Rodney looked at him wearily. "Well you don't fire right down at it," he said. "Just skim the surface with the drone and detonate. The crust is already fractured after all. I'll program the specifics in for you if you'd like."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Right. Be back here in a couple of hours and it'll all be ready for you."
"You sure you're OK ? You look like crap."
"Thank you. Go."
oOo
It took the rest of the afternoon to retrieve the Jumper from what turned out to be a mud hole. John carefully maneuvered the second Jumper and placed the muddy craft over near the trees and well away from the underground mire. Then he took it for a dip in the ocean to wash the mud off before heading back through the gate.
He had just parked the craft and was walking to his quarters to get cleaned up when his radio chirped.
"John ?"
"Yes Elizabeth. Is this urgent ? I was hoping to..."
"It's Rodney. He's in the Infirmary. He collapsed."
oOo
John rushed into the Infirmary. Rodney was laying on a bed near to Carson's desk. He was unconscious and an oxygen mask was covering his face. The monitor was beeping and an IV was dripping steadily into his left arm. A nurse was attaching another IV solution bag and adjusting the flow.
Carson turned towards him as he entered.
"What happened ?" John asked.
"We don't know," Carson said. "He was talking with Radek, said that he was dizzy and passed out. That was about an hour ago and he hasn't regained consciousness since. Has he been complaining of being sick ? Did something happen on the planet ?"
"When I saw him earlier," John said rubbing his hand through his hair. "He said that he felt like he had the flu."
"And of course he didn't nae say anythin' to me about it. What about on the planet ? Did anything out of the ordinary happen ?"
John shook his head. "Nope. He ate what we ate. Well apart from the frog."
"Frog ?"
"Long story. No. Nothing happened."
"Well he's running a fever and I've got blood tests going to check for toxins and the like. I want blood samples from you and Ronon just in case there's something on that planet that I need to know about."
"Sure," John said rolling his sleeve up. "No problem."
"He ate a frog ?" Carson asked as he prepared to draw the blood sample.
"No. Ronon did. To gross him out. Worked too. That's the first time I've seen Rodney not want to eat."
oOo
John came back to the Infirmary that evening. Carson was in his lab checking samples under the microscope.
"Any news ?" John asked.
"Only that he's getting worse. I'm gonna have to put him on life support if his O2 stats don't get any better real soon."
"What happened ? I don't understand. He was fine..."
"There's some kind of toxin in his blood. Looks like it could be from a plant. It's not in yours or Ronon's sample. Did he catch himself on something ?"
"I don't think...the tree !"
Carson looked at him.
"Ronon let a tree branch go and it had thorns on it. I think that it caught Rodney's hand."
"Well I need a sample quickly so that I can synthesize an antidote."
"Those trees were everywhere, I'll be right back," John said running towards the Jumper bay.
oOo
"That's not it," Carson said examining the sample.
"It's the same kind of tree," Ronon said looking serious.
"Aye that it might be but there's no poison on these thorns."
"Are you sure ?" John asked.
Carson looked up at him exasperated. "I've checked it twice, laddie !" he said sharply.
"So we have to get a sample from that particular tree ?" John said.
"Looks like it. Unless the problem's something else."
"Doc we were in a forest of these things. How are we supposed to find one tree ?"
"I'll find it," Ronon said walking out.
"Hurry up," Carson said as John followed him. "I've already got him on a ventilator."
oOo
They parked the Jumper well away from the clearing but John left it hovering a few inches from the ground just in case.
Just past the clearing, at the edge of the forest, Ronon crouched down and checked the ground. "This way," he said.
They walked in silence for a few minutes as Ronon scanned the ground.
"I did it deliberately," Ronon said.
"Excuse me ?"
"The branch. I let it hit him deliberately. Because he was complaining. It's my fault."
"No one blames you. We didn't know..."
Ronon turned and glared at him. "It was my fault !" he said angrily.
"Well let's find the tree and put it right."
Ronon nodded and led the way.
"Blood," he said stopping suddenly and touching the ground. "It happened here."
John looked at the tree. "There's fungus on these trees. Maybe that's where the toxin is."
Ronon grabbed the branch and snapped it off. "Let's get this back to Carson," he said.
oOo
It was three days later before Rodney was well enough that Carson would let him have visitors.
John stuck his head around the curtain surrounding Rodney's bed. Rodney lay propped up on pillows, still attached to the monitors and IV's but off the ventilator. "Thank God," John thought. John smiled. "Told you to see the Doctor," he said.
"Yeah well how often are you right," Rodney said. He looked tired and pale. "Get the Jumper OK ?"
"Course we did. It just needs a quick check over and it'll be ready to go. Good as new."
"Hum. Carson said that this all came from that tree branch that hit me."
"Yeah. Ronon feels pretty bad about that."
"Why ? He didn't know."
"You know him. He'll be in later."
"As long as he hasn't got any frogs."
John couldn't help but laugh. "You should've seen the look on your face. You were about the same color as the frog..."
oOo
Just a short one...
Love some reviews (as always ;D )
debbie
