Earth-New Beginning

Dragonlots aka Dana Bell

Chapter 23: Who is he?

Quiet prevailed over the infirmary and Elisabeth enjoyed the break. The invading dinosaurs had not appeared lately, except to kill the T Rex, and no serious injuries had occurred.

She sat in her office going over the remaining inventory of drugs used for various ailments after losing contact with 2149. It would take some creativity to treat her patients who needed regular doses of specific medications to live.

Secretly she hoped to speak with their visitors and find out what kind of medicine and treatments they used. From what little she'd seen, they were more advanced and might hold some answers for those who needed assistance.

"I wonder how what kind of influence they'll have on Terra Nova," she murmured.

"You okay Dr. Shannon?" Skye stuck her head in. She had changed into her regular clothes after completing the night shift. The teen yawned.

"Fine," she assured the young woman. "Get some rest and we'll see you tonight."

"Hey, if you see Josh, will you ask him to drop by." She didn't miss the look of hope on Skye's face. Despite having been the Sixer spy for good reason, to save her mother's life, Elisabeth couldn't hold the betrayal against her.

"I'll let him know." Her son had come home late from working at Boylin's and had gone straight to bed.

"Thanks." She ducked out.

Rain fell heavily on the roof draining down the sides in a gush. Maddy had taken Zoe to school and then went to her internship so Elisabeth could get some administrative work done too. The part of her job she had to do but always put off.

What had caught her interest was Malcolm's note that Dr. Jackson's group had brought back several containers left behind by the flying city, which Jim had told her about, before it had launched. She wondered if it was selfish on her part to hope they left behind medical supplies.

"Mom!" Her oldest daughter burst into her room, her coat leaving water on the floor. "You need to come quick."

Dread filled her. "Did something happen to Zoe?"

Maddy shook her head. "One of the cylinders popped open and…" she paused to take a breath. "You won't believe what we found!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Barnabas found shelter in a hole some dinosaur had dug. He could smell a faint reptilian scent indicating it had been made at least a week or longer before. No danger of the creature returning and it would provide him with the badly needed shelter from the hot Badlands sun.

Curling up, he pulled his long coat over him to protect himself from the deadly rays, tucking his cane tightly against him. It had a role to play in ending Lucas Taylor.

His eyes dropped instinctively closed. He'd drop into a helpless coma until night fall. His quarry was very close. Hopefully by the time the sun rose tomorrow, he would have finished his task and finally be able to enter the final blissful rest.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Elisabeth entered the large research lab not sure what to expect. Maddy hadn't given any details. Just encouraged her to grab a med kit and follow her. She had ordered a gurney to be sent which would arrive shortly.

She stopped and stared at the open cylinder. Inside lay a young man probably in his thirties if her gage of his age was accurate. He wore military fatigues similar to ones Taylor sometimes wore, but she didn't recognize the insignia. His boots sat next to his socked feet.

"How long ago did this open?" she demanded.

"Not more than fifteen minutes," Dr. Quest answered. "His pulse is slow and his breathing shallow."

"You have medical training?"

He half grinned. "Most tend to forget I also trained as a medical doctor."

"I could use you in the infirmary." She ran a quick scan verifying what Dr. Quest had told her. "Maddy, watch for the gurney and direct them here."

"Okay, Mom." Maddy dashed out.

Taking a moment to further examine the man, he had a lean face with black hair which needed to be combed. Given the uniform she had no doubt he was in excellent shape or so she hoped. It would help his recovery.

"He looks familiar," Dr. Jackson murmured. She glanced behind her. "Thought you'd gone home to sleep Kelly."

"The boys are playing a lively game of cards. You know how loud they get."

"I do."

Dr. McKay took a closer look nodding at Elisabeth. "You know, Tessa might know."

"She's working at the mess hall."

No doubt their housemate worked the breakfast shift. Elisabeth knew it went on until lunch got set up. "Do you have an idea who this man is?"

"Not for sure. I think I may have seen a picture." Alona stopped. "It can't be." She ran from the room.

"A picture?" Dr. Quest asked. "I think his uniform belongs to the Air Force."

"There hasn't been an Air Force for years," Elisabeth informed him.

Laura who had just checked on the babies, stretched and yawned. "Intriguing as this all is, I'm going back to my bungalow and get some sleep."

"Need help with the babies?" Benton Quest offered.

She shook her head. "They'll follow me like I'm their mother duck."

"Babies?" Dr. Shannon glanced in the corner where six little bodies wiggled and got to their feet watching every move Laura Collins made. She wrapped her clock around her and they vanished underneath. "Don't tell Zoe." Her youngest daughter had not wanted to return the baby ankylosaurus to the wild after they treated it so it could. She kept telling them she wanted a pet.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Laura promised. "Come on kids." She pulled up the hood and left.

Minutes later the gurney arrived and with help she loaded the soldier onto it, covering him the best they could. She didn't want him to get wet and sick.

"Dr. Shannon." She turned her attention to Dr. Quest. "He's in a Cryro unit."

"Even we never mastered the technology."

"Evidently, the Atlantians,"

"Ancients," Kelly corrected him.

He nodded. "Have."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Cold. Tingling in his toes and fingers making his nerves hurt. A feeling of warmth began to pierce the deep chill.

Voices around him. Their words making no sense.

Unfamiliar animal cries.

His muscles ached and twitched.

His bones hurt.

More snatches of words. He could almost hear and understand them. His clouded brain struggled to make sense of what was happening.

Tired of trying, he dropped back into the welcome and quiet darkness.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Obviously military," Commander Taylor confirmed. "I don't recognize the branch or rank."

"Dr. Quest said he was Air Force." Elisabeth checked her patient's reading. They'd been slowly rising. Brain activity near normal levels finally. She'd feared there might be damage.

"Has he said anything?" her husband asked. Today he wore jeans and a long sleeved blue shirt. His boots, covered in mud, she hoped he remembered to take off before he went into their home.

"Air Force!" Taylor bellowed. "We haven't had a branch in years." He rubbed his graying beard. "I want to talk to him as soon as he wakes up."

"I'll allow you to speak with him when it is medically safe for my patient."

"Doc," his tone held a warning.

"In here Commander," she reminded him. "I make the decisions."

He opened his mouth to speak and closed it again. Grimly he nodded agreement. "Of course, Dr. Shannon." He wore his normal green pants and black T-shirt. At least he recognized her authority.

Taylor looked in need of some sleep. She might just order him to bed for a few hours.

She noticed Dr. Quest had joined them. "Commander, the cylinders are all cryro tubes. They're equipped with individual power units."

"So there's no hurry in awakening the occupants."

"Yet to be determined."

"How many?"

"Dr. Jackson and Maddy are counting them now."

"Dr. Quest, did Dr. Jackson find the picture?" Elisabeth waited to see if the linguist had.

He nodded. "Tucked in her ancestor's notes."

"She give you a name?" Jim Shannon pushed.

Dr. Quest waited a moment before answering. "She wants Tessa to confirm it, but the man may be Colonel John Sheppard."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"How many tubes?" Alona asked Maddy.

"Fifty."

They worked together in the storage shed with two guards, one of them Maddy's boyfriend, discouraging any curious onlookers. Not that many wandered out during the bad storms.

"Wish we could figure out why the first one opened." Dr. Quest had examined the cylinder after the soldier had been moved to the infirmary trying to discover why.

"Maybe it was programmed to?" Maddy suggested.

Her suggestion made sense. Wake up the leader, which she suspected the man might be, to make sure it was safe to rouse the rest.

"Wonder what they'll think of Terra Nova," Maddy mused.

What Alona wanted to know is how did they come to be placed in cryro by the Ancients, when had they come from and why were they left for her to find? All questions that needed to be answered before any more awoke.

Hissing and hums filled the space and Alona started. Too late for her to find the answers. Every cylinder had been activated.

"Maddy run tell you mom what is happening and then find Commander Taylor."

The teen froze.

"Maddy go!" The teen grabbed her coat and raced off.

Taking a deep breath, Alona only hoped the doctors arrived before any of them opened and wondered just who the cylinders contained.