Chapter 4: Poor John.
Rodney stumbled through the gate followed closely by Ronan, he knew that the first thing he had to do was to find Woolsey and deliver a message. Luckily Woolsey was standing by the gate to meet them.
"Gentlemen I'd like a situation report?" Woolsey asked before either of them had a chance to open their mouths.
"A group of giants posed as inhabitants of the planet and claimed that we had encroached on their sacred ruins. They decided that they wanted to talk about it and led us to their supposed village where they shoved us down a deep black hole. Sometime later they came and stunned us and a short time later Ronan and I woke up next to the gate guarded by some giants, with no idea as to where Sheppard was. Then they gave us a message for you and we came home. "Rodney rambled.
"What was the message Dr McKay?" Woolsey asked his impatience clearly evident.
"That they have your Military CO and they will give him back when they have finished with him. It could be a couple of weeks or a couple of months, because apparently they have a lot of work for him to do and that is if he lasts that long, because he has a severe case of red spot and isn't very well at the moment. I suspect it's affecting him more than me, because of his natural ATA gene." Rodney was rambling again by the time he'd finished.
"Okay Dr McKay you need to report to Dr Keller in the infirmary now, so that she can take a look at you. Ronan will you accompany him. We will reconvene in my office in one hour." Woolsey stated, before dismissing them.
"Yes that sounds like a good idea, these spots are driving me crazy, so I really need to see a doctor straight away." Rodney complained.
Ronan rolled his eyes and grabbed Rodney by the arm, "Come on McKay, the infirmary awaits."
Two minutes later Rodney and Ronan arrived in the infirmary and Rodney was still complaining about his red spots, "hey Jenn I think I have a pretty severe case of red spot, can you look at me now?"
Rodney sat on the bed still scratching the spots on his arm.
"Sit on the bed and I will look at you in a minute Rodney, I have quite a few patients who seem sicker than you are." Jennifer instructed him and Rodney suspected she wasn't happy.
Rodney looked at her and could see that she wasn't in the mood for his complaining, so he shut his mouth, before he had a chance to complain farther. Once he'd had a chance to think about what he was saying he thanked Jennifer and decided to wait.
He was sitting waiting quietly, when he caught Ronan staring at him, "What?" He asked feeling a little uneasy.
"Well it looks like Doc Keller has you wrapped around her little finger, she barley has to speak and you obey her orders." Ronan commented with a smirk on his face.
"Yes well she's very busy I'm just making her job easier." Rodney mumbled, looking at the floor.
"Whatever you say McKay," Ronan snickered.
Rodney was saved by embarrassment a few minutes later when Jennifer entered the room, "Ronan I want you to head into the other room and Dr Cole will take a look at you in a moment."
"What's wrong with Carson, is he off duty or something?" Ronan mumbled looking confused.
Before Jennifer had a chance to open her mouth Rodney answered for her, "I would suspect that because of his natural ATA gene that the red spot is affecting him worse than most."
"You're absolutely right Rodney, so when I have finished looking you over I would like you to research why natural ATA carriers are so unwell, from a sickness that is supposedly harmless."
Rodney nodded and let Jennifer begin to check him over when she got to the red spots on his arms; she gave him a look that could only be described as sympathy.
"How long have you been scratching these spots," She asked him.
"About the last three hours," Rodney explained sheepishly.
"Okay I'll give you some calamine lotion and bandage your arm up, but I think you're well enough to go back to work. "
"Thanks Jenn." He said giving her one of his best smiles.
While waiting for her to return he contemplated the problem, a childhood illness that was harmless to most of the population, which affected ATA, carrier's quite severely. Looks like it's going to be a long night and what about Colonel Sheppard, he has the strongest ATA gene of them all, and how sick is he at this point? His thoughts were interrupted when Jennifer returned and started treating his arm.
Five minutes later when his arm was covered in calamine lotion and bandaged, he left the infirmary and headed for his lab. He needed to find and answer and he needed to find it fast.
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John slowly awoke, trying to remember what had happened this time. His head was still pounding severely and he could still feel the sweat dripping down his face. And what the hell was it with the itching spots? They seemed to be getting worse and he was convinced that there wasn't any part of his body that didn't have those dam red spots on it. Slowly opening his eyes he realised that he was in a cold, dark and damp cell and he was laying in the middle of the floor with no shirt on and no shoes or socks. Great what the hell is going on this time?
He lay still a while longer trying to get his baring's, to see if he could figure out where he was, but absolutely nothing came to him. Okay John what's the last thing you remember? Dam it I was being carried by giants and I am definitely on a different planet to what I started on.
I must get up I can't lay around here all day, he thought, while gathering strength to get on his feet. He managed to sit up, but when he tried to get to his feet, he felt so dizzy and lethargic that he just fell over and ended up lying in the middle of the floor again.
He tried another three times until he gave up. I'll just have to wait until someone comes and gets me up. He closed his eyes again, hoping that it would help to alleviate the sharp piercing pain behind his eyes; it helped for about a minute, then it began to build again. He really hoped that he would lapse into unconsciousness again soon, because the pain was becoming too intense for him to cope with for much longer.
Just as he felt himself slipping away, the cell door opened and he opened his eyes to see one of the giants walking and this one was at least a foot shorter than all the rest. I'm going to have a field day teasing this one, He thought trying to sit up.
"Do you have a name?" He asked trying to keep a straight face. "Let me guess its shorty." He chuckled despite the pain he was in.
For that comment he received a kick in his leg. Normally it wouldn't have hurt, but because his nerves seemed to be sensitive right now, it hurt like hell. Okay no sense of humour then.
"My name is of no concern to you. All you have to know is that you are here to do some work for us. If you comply we will return you too your people, but if you don't we will punish you severely."
"I'm sorry, but I already have a job and it keeps me pretty busy." John replied with sarcasm.
The minute he opened his mouth he regretted it, because this time the was kicked harder and he heard the sickening crunch as the giants boot broke his leg bone. He gritted his teeth, so that his captor couldn't hear him scream.
There were tears streaming down his face by the time shorty spoke again, "I have some food and water for you. I will come back in a while, so that we can put you to work." Shorty told him, as another giant came into the room and place a bowl of mush and a cup of water on the floor.
John took one look at it and started gagging; it didn't look very appetising at all, "is this some form of torture?" He quipped, knowing that he should probably learn to keep his mouth shut.
"I will be back to collect you soon, so eat up." Shorty told him and left the room.
Sitting up against the wall he drank his cup of warm water; he looked at the food again and decided that he wasn't hungry.
Leaning against the wall he closed his eyes, the pain behind his eyes seemed to be getting worse, the big red spots were continuing to spread across his body and they were still driving him nuts. His hand was still bandaged to prevent him from scratching the spots and his other wrist was still broken and bandaged; for the moment anyway and now he had a broken leg to add to his list of injuries. He wiped the sweat of his bow and settled down to try and sleep again, he knew that his friends would be looking for him and he hoped that they would find him soon, because he knew that things were about to get much worse for him.
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It had been well over an hour since Rodney and Ronan had returned and delivered the giants message to Woolsey and Woolsey was sitting in his office with Ronan and Teyla waiting for Rodney to join them. Major Teldy was supposed to join them as well, but she had come down with red spot, not as severely as Major Lorne or Dr Beckett, but more severe than some of the other cases that had been reported.
Woolsey was getting extremely annoyed at being kept waiting so he tapped his radio, "Mr Woolsey to Dr McKay, come in please?"
"Yes", was the only reply?
"You were supposed to meet me in my office, why aren't you here?"
"I'm sorry, but Dr Keller has asked me to do some very important research, so I can't find the time right now."
"What has she asked you to do Dr McKay?"
"I am researching why the natural ATA carriers seem to be more effected by this virus than anyone else."
"Have you found anything yet Dr McKay?"
"No, but I'm sure if people leave me alone I will be able to find it."
"Okay keep me informed? Woolsey out."
Woolsey heard a grunt at the other end of the radio and knew that Rodney had disconnected the feed.
He looked across his desk at Ronan and Teyla and noticed that they were staring at him intently, "Ronan, Teyla I need you to get back to that planet and see if you can find any trace of Colonel Sheppard." He looked at Teyla before continuing, "Teyla I really need you to go, but if you need to stay with your son I'll understand."
"Alaina is looking after Torren at the moment, so I am free to go." Teyla answered with sadness in her eyes.
"Okay then, I will send Zelenka with you to extract the last twenty or so gate addresses dialled and then I'll get him cross referencing them with the list that Ladon Radim sent over for us. You're dismissed."
Woolsey watched as they left his office, things were beginning to weigh heavily on his mind. This red spot was spreading fast and although it appeared that only the natural ATA carriers were affected severely, the virus seemed to be spreading at an alarming rate. He down at his arm and noticed that his whole arm was now covered in red spots and they were really beginning it itch.
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When John awoke again it felt as if some was knifing him behind his eyes and it was absolute agony. He kept his eyes closed for quite a while trying to alleviate the pain behind his eyes and slowly it dissipated. Opening his eyes he realised that he had been strapped to a chair in a room of artefacts which appeared to be ancient. The only problem was that he couldn't hear the steady hum which he usually felt when he was around all things ancient.
Suddenly he heard a screeching sound coming from the artefacts and the piercing pain behind his eyes started to build. The screeching continued and became louder as the pain in his head became more intense. Just when he felt that his head was going to explode, he felt the darkness beckoning him and it didn't take to long for him to give in to it and a few seconds later he was unconscious.
TBC…