Chapter 5: Looking for answers
Carson awoke slowly, wondering where he was and why did he feel so terrible. Looking around he realised that he was in the infirmary, but it was different to normal as now he was a patient and not a doctor. It didn't take him long to realise why he was there, when a sudden piercing pain shot through the back of his eyes. All he could do was lie there and groan and hope that the pain passed. After a few minutes it settled down a little, but it was still there along with the red itching spots all over his body and the sweat dripping of his forehead.
He closed his eyes again hoping that it would alleviate the pain that he was in. It seemed to help for a while until a loud voice pervaded his consciousness.
He recognised her voice as soon as she spoke; it was Jennifer, "Carson, how are you feeling?"
"Absolutely terrible, I feel as if someone is knifing me between my eyes, I feel incredibly hot and these spots are driving me crazy."
"I can give you something for the pain if you'd like?" She suggested, looking at him with what could only be described as sympathy.
"Please do, the sooner the better?"
He watched as she left the room, all the while he was trying to breathe through the ever increasing pain at the back of his eyes. Suddenly the comforting hum of Atlantis disappeared and was replaced by a high pitch screeching sound; he started to scream just as Jennifer came back in the room.
"Carson, are you alright?" She asked taking his face into her hands.
"Atlantis is screeching at me?" He ground out between gritted teeth.
He lay there moaning in agony as the pain behind his eyes began to intensify and the screeching became louder. Just when he thought that his head was about to explode he felt a cool soothing liquid flowing through his veins and he let the darkness that was encroaching on him finally claim him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Teyla stepped through the wormhole onto MX-079 on a bright sunny day, looking around she saw a beautiful wooded landscape ahead of her. It really was a lovely sight and if they hadn't been looking for John she would have thoroughly enjoyed herself.
She had spent far to much time over the last couple of days with a sick child. Torren was feeling much better now and he was almost over the red spot, so she was happy to be out with her team again. The only problem was her team leader, who was also her best friend was missing and quite possibly very sick.
A few seconds after she had stepped through the gate Ronan stepped through followed by Dr Zelenka and two marines, Lt James and Lt Sullivan.
Teyla watched as each man came through the gate to see what they would do; Zelenka immediately started checking the DHD for gate addresses and Ronan immediately started to scope out the area, looking for possible threats.
"Lt James, stay with Zelenka and keep your eyes out for any hostiles, Teyla, Lt Sullivan you're with me. We will go and check out the ruins where we last saw the giants." Ronan instructed them.
They nodded and Teyla started to follow Ronan with Lt Sullivan following her. She wondered what any of this was going to prove, because it was a strong possibility that John was no longer on this planet.
She walked on in silence, trying not to think about her best friend and where he had been taken and what the giants might be doing to him, or how sick he might actually be. She had heard rumours of those who'd had a severe case of the red spot and some of them had even died. She prayed that John wouldn't become one of them.
She thought back to the night that she had told her team that it was over between her and Kanaan. The look in John's eyes had been almost hopeful. She wondered whether he had feelings other than friendship for her. Hopefully she would get a chance to discuss things with him, because she had always suspected that there could be something more than friendship between them.
She was startled out of her thoughts when Ronan stopped in front of her and she walked into the back of him. She looked up to see an old building with ancient writing around the top of it.
"Why have we stopped Ronan?" She asked her voice barely above a whisper.
Ronan turned around to face her. "This is where the giants brought us, but now it looks abandoned. I want to have a look inside, but we will have to be careful."
She nodded at him and signalled to Lt Sullivan to remain outside. Taking out her flashlight she followed Ronan inside. Her flashlight beam lit up the room around them and she was in awe by what she saw. The walls were made of beautiful sandstone bricks and there were ancient writings around the top of the walls. The torches that were mounted around the walls had obviously burnt out many hours ago, which tended to suggest that there was no-one here any longer.
"I do not believe that there is any one here?" She whispered to Ronan.
She watched as Ronan pulled up a trapdoor in the middle of the floor and looked down the gaping black hole beneath it.
"Do you see anything down there?" She asked all the while holding her breath.
"No I don't think there is anyone down there, but I think I'll go down and have a quick look." He answered her and began to climb down the hole.
She held her flashlight steady for him as he climbed down. She knew when he'd reached the bottom, because his flashlight beam disappeared. Walking over and sitting against the wall she wondered how long she would have to wait for Ronan to finish his exploration.
A few minutes later Ronan climbed out of the pit and grunted. "There's nothing down there, so I suggest that we get back to the gate as soon as possible, because this mission has been a total bust."
She followed him out of the ruins and tried to keep up as he headed to the gate. Lt Sullivan didn't appear to have any more luck in keeping up than she did. They were both totally exhausted when they reached the gate.
"Have you found any gate addresses Zelenka?" Ronan mumbled the minute he reached the gate.
"I have found about twenty." Zelenka informed them.
"What now?" Teyla asked him gently.
"Now we head back to Atlantis and sort through the gate addresses I have found. We can see if any of them match the addresses that Radim gave us." Zelenka answered looking awkward.
"Well dial the gate then?!" Ronan growled at Zelenka.
When the wormhole sprang to life Ronan was the first one through. She knew that her friend wasn't happy, but neither was she. They needed to find John and find him quickly.
Sighing she followed the others through the wormhole hoping that the gate addresses that Zelenka had found would shed some light on Colonel Sheppard's whereabouts.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
John awoke to find that the piercing pain behind his eyes had dulled a little and the screeching he had heard before he'd lost consciousness was not as loud. Slowly opening his eyes he looked around at his surroundings and realised that he was back in the dark damp cell again. His symptoms seemed to be getting worse and now he was having difficulty in breathing as well. His body was wracked by constant pain and all he could hope for was that his friends would come soon, because he really had no idea how much more he could take. He really wanted to be in the infirmary right now with Carson's good drugs running through his veins. He chuckled to himself; he knew he must be in a bad way if he wanted to be in the infirmary on drugs.
Closing his eyes he thought of Teyla and the conversation they'd had the other night after the others had left her quarters. They were both dancing around the issue, but it seemed as if now that Kanaan was out of the picture that they both wanted something more than friendship between them.
His thoughts were interrupted when shorty and his friends returned to the cell.
"We have some artefacts here that we want you to activate." Shorty explained with a grunt.
Slowly he opened his eyes again and immediately regretted the decision when the screeching became louder again, "Sorry…can't…do…that…" he stuttered through shallow breaths.
"You will do it or you will never see your people again." Shorty answered forcefully.
The screeching was continuing to rise and even if he wanted to activate the devices there was no way he could, because he couldn't think straight.
"Can…you…please…take…that…thing…away…from…me? It's…screeching…at…me…and…hurting…my…head." He panted, as the pain behind his eyes continued to rise.
He felt Shorty and his goons staring at him and his got the distinct feeling that they didn't believe him. "I have it on good authority that you are a descendant of the ancestors and you are able to activate these devices."
"I…sure…am…but…this…can't…be…an…ancient…device,…because…it's…making…my…head…explode." He panted, as the pressure behind his eyes continued to build.
"I assure you that this is an ancient device and you will activate it, or you will be of no use to us."
John was about to tell him where to go, when the pressure and the screeching in his head became unbearable, he grabbed his head and let out an almighty scream, just before he lost consciousness.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Kolah was sitting in his office at the end or another tiering day. He really had hoped that with someone to activate the ancestor's technology, they could fight back against the Genii and the Coalition of planets. These people were ruining their way of life. By banding together to fight the wraith, people were sharing whatever recourses they found and helping each other. This led to fewer things to be scavenged and sold, so they really needed to find something to fight back, maybe something to trade or sell that would give them the upper hand, or maybe even a weapon.
Sitting with his hands on the desk in front of him, he ran his fingers through his hair; his head was really beginning to hurt. He was almost asleep when he heard the door open and one of his men walk in.
Looking up at the door he saw that Goliath; who was one of the shortest men of his race that he'd ever seen had entered the room.
"What can I do for you Goliath?" Kolah asked him, still holding his throbbing head.
Goliath looked at his feet before answering. "Commander Kolah, the prisoner claims that he cannot activate the ancient devices, because they are screeching at him and hurting his head."
Kolah thought about what Goliath had said, John Sheppard was beginning to become irritating and he'd like nothing more to kill him, but he wasn't a murderer and he wasn't about to become one today. He had no idea what the future would hold and whether at some point he might be forced to take another life, the thought had always repulsed him and he hoped that the day would never come.
He looked up at Goliath and stared at him, he wanted to make sure that the man understood his instructions, "we will see how co-operative he is tomorrow and if he is of no use to us dump him in the desert and then we will go through the gate to another world and hopefully someone will find him, before it is too late for him. I fear that he is gravely ill with the Red Spot which is highly unusual, because it is usually a harmless illness which only affects children."
He watched as Goliath nodded his head, he could see that Goliath wasn't convinced, but he had absolute trust in the smaller man to do the right thing.
Once Goliath had left his office he placed his head in his hands once more, he just couldn't catch a break. He was a scavenger and that was all he knew how to do, business had been poor the last few years and he was struggling to make ends meet. He wondered if it was time he tried something else.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Woolsey was sitting in his office ready to conduct another meeting, he sighed he was really getting tired of these meetings. There always seemed to be a problem in Atlantis and more often than not it involved his Chief Military officer and his team.
He heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and when he looked up he saw Dr Keller entering the room, followed by Ronan, Teyla and Dr Zelenka.
He was happy to see that almost everyone he had called to attend was there, everyone but Dr McKay of course.
He sighed again and tapped his radio, "Woolsey to McKay, come in please?"
"What can I do for you Mr Woolsey?"
You're supposed to be in my office for a meeting."
"Sorry, I'm on my way now, McKay out."
"Make sure you come straight here, Woolsey out."
He looked around at the people in front of him and noticed how exhausted they looked, it had been a long day for all of them and he suspected that they hadn't found anything that could lead them to Colonel Sheppard.
Woolsey looked at Dr Keller, who was playing with her hands, "Dr Keller, why don't you start with a report on the ATA gene carriers in the infirmary?"
"Yes well Carson and Major Lorne slipped into Coma's about twenty minutes ago. The weird thing is that before they lost consciousness they were complaining that Atlantis was screeching at them and I have no idea what they meant by that."
"John always said that Atlantis communicated to him in a gentle whisper and that her presence was always a steady hum in the background. I suspect that any ATA carrier would have experienced it to a lesser degree than John." Teyla explained.
Woolsey looked at her and a strange look crossed his face, he was totally confused by what she had just said. "So basically what you're telling me it that Atlantis has turned on these people and is screeching at them?"
"I can't think of any other explanation." Jennifer answered for Teyla.
Woolsey locked away that piece of information to discuss at another time, his major concern right now was what had happened to Colonel Sheppard, because if what Teyla and Jennifer had said was true, who knows how the Red Spot would be affecting him.
He looked at Ronan who was pacing at the back of the room, "Ronan did you find any clues on MX-079?"
"No it was a total waste of time." Ronan mumbled.
"I have found twenty recent gate addresses and I'm cross referencing them with the list that Radim gave us." Zelenka explained, while pushing his glasses back up onto his nose.
Woolsey didn't get a chance to say anything else, because at that moment Rodney came storming into his office.
Rodney looked at them with fear in his eyes as he spoke, "I know what the red spot is and what it was designed to do."
TBC…
Sorry about the evil cliff hanger.