Gotta send another huge thank you to Naliza for being a fantastic beta. I really appreciate all your help!!
Thanks for all the encouraging reviews, seeing as no one has objected to the cliff hangers expect more!! He he he (Yes Danielite & SG1psychopath, I am evil and the cliff hangers simply represent my truly evil nature! ;-) ) Lynn, I'd love to see you write a million different reviews ;-) (just kidding). I do appreciate all the support everyone's given, especially the loyal reviewers (Gatergirl, Female Aphophis, mugseymalone, urdreamkeeper, purestevil, NG and anyone else I've forgotten!)
I've exhausted my medical knowledge so I've been forced to widen my medical research away from the TV (there's only so much ER can tell you!) so I've been using the medical encyclopaedia on www.marylandgeneralhospital.com for symptom/illness stuff and The Merck Manual (www.merck.com) and British National Formulary (www.bnf.org) for the drug information, I couldn't really pass it off as my knowledge. I'm not really sure if I've used all the information correctly, I'm a psychology student, not a doctor okay!
*~*
For an anxious 20 minutes Jack, Daniel, Teal'c and General Hammond watched Dr Warner's attempts to stabilise Sam. Jack did not understand what was going on, but he knew that the doctor was doing his best.
The activity in the room calmed significantly as Major Carter's vital signs stabilised, they were still far from normal but had greatly improved.
Eventually Dr Warner came through to the observation area. Jack immediately approached him for answers.
"What happened Doc? Is Carter alright?"
"We've started her on a lidocaine drip and dopamine to try and control the arrhythmia and keep her blood pressure up, it seems to be working but as far as I can tell she's got septicaemia…"
"Blood poisoning?" Daniel interrupted.
"Yes. She is stable for now but I'm not sure for how long. I'm also concerned about her kidney function. We need answers Sir. And soon."
*~*
Janet was relieved as the military ambulance arrived to transfer Cassandra to Cheyenne Mountain. The ER doctor, Dr Richards, had tried to persuade Janet not to transfer her but there was no way that she could leave her at Memorial Hospital. The ride from the hospital to the mountain was thankfully uneventful. Janet monitored Cassandra closely but to her relief she remained stable.
When they arrived at the base Cassandra was put in the isolation room next to the one where Sam was housed. Janet reluctantly left her daughter's side to go and check on Sam and to check in with General Hammond.
"How's Cassie doing?" Daniel asked, the concern evident in his face.
"Stable but she's unconscious. When did they intubate Sam?"
"About an half-hour ago," Jack answered tiredly, looking at his watch.
"Warner says she has septicaemia," Daniel added quietly.
Janet closed her eyes and exhaled deeply at the news.
"I was kind of expecting it, just not so soon. This disease is progressing at an incredible pace."
"We need answers Doctor, we don't have much time, " Hammond said gently.
"I know Sir, I know."
Janet had laboratory facilities set up in isolation room 6, Cassandra's room, so she could attempt to find a cure while remaining close to her daughter. The blood tests taken from the base personnel showed a number of people were infected. Some were already symptomatic; others had the organism in their blood but were not experiencing any symptoms at that stage.
Almost all of those infected had some kind of contact with Major Carter. Most of the medical team whom had been treating Sam was showing some level of infection though the remainder of SG-1 was still uninfected.
The current theory was that something on P5J 347 had infected Sam with the disease and at the same time gave Jack, Daniel and Teal'c some immunity though Janet could find no identifiable alien factors in their blood.
Janet was quickly running out of ideas. The only remaining option was for SG-1 to go back to P5J 347 to collect samples and retrace their footsteps as soon as possible. She knew that she would have a problem persuading General Hammond to allow them off world. With the base under lock-down it was against protocol but without more information Sam, Cassandra and the other infected base personnel would soon start dying.
*~*
"General, I'm out of ideas. People are going to start dying unless we get more information."
"I know Doctor but the base is under complete lock-down."
Hammond was tired. He was infected and beginning to show symptoms, as were more and more of the base personnel. He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about the decision he had to make. The last thing he wanted was to see people dying. At that moment the phone in front of him started to ring. He snatched the receiver from its cradle, glad to be given a temporary reprieve.
"Hammond"
"You sure about this?"
"Thank you."
General Hammond exhaled deeply; the decision was easy to make now.
"SG-1 is going to P5J 347."
"General?" Fraiser said, confused at his sudden U-Turn.
"It would appear that a number of the
medical staff at Memorial as well as staff and students at Cassandra's school
are infected. We need answers as soon as
possible."
"Yes Sir."
*~*
Jack O'Neill stepped out of the wormhole on P5J 347, breathing in the humid air.
"Déjà vu," Jack observed.
"Oh yeah."
"So, samples of everything, retrace our steps."
Jack, Daniel and Teal'c retraced their steps from their previous mission as quickly as they could while trying not to miss anything that could possibly help.
They walked at an unforgiving pace. Jack in the lead, Daniel struggling to keep up and Teal'c bringing up the rear but maintaining the pace easily.
As the sun began to set bugs once again besieged them. They decided to catch a couple for analysis but it was much harder than anticipated. Eventually they managed to catch a few, which spent the rest of the night flitting off the glass of the container. They were much bigger than they had first though, about an inch long. They looked like mosquitoes from Earth but much bigger.
As soon as the sun was up they continued on their trail back to the Stargate. They kept the same pace as they had the day before despite the heat and their rapidly sapping energy levels.
*~*
General Hammond was feeling much worse. He recently had a painful coughing fit that had been so loud that it brought an airman into his office to check if he was all right. He had already fielded a concerned phone call from the President, who was more than a little concerned about the disease that was currently spreading through Memorial Hospital and Colorado Springs High School.
The official cover story was that an unusually virulent form of influenza was sweeping the area. It was brought back from a remote area of the Middle East.
Hammond was not sure everyone would be convinced but it was out of his hands. The teams assigned to the hospital and the school were liaising with the CDC in Atlanta who had been alerted to the presence of an unknown infectious disease. That situation made the work harder since it was another level of government bureaucracy to deal with. The phone rang again for the uttermost time that day.
"Hammond," he said, attempting to stifle the urge to cough.
"Yes Sir. SG-1 are currently off-world attempting to find the source of the infection."
"Yes Sir, Major Carter is critically ill but currently stable."
"Yes Sir, I will keep you apprised. The medical teams are currently working in conjunction with the CDC."
"There are twelve students and two members of staff from Colorado Springs High School that are currently showing symptoms with another four students infected but not symptomatic. Six of the medical staff from Memorial are also infected."
"Yes Sir, approximately a third of the base personnel are infected to some degree. We are attempting to isolate those who are infected to stop any further spread."
Hammond could not hold back the coughs any further. He turned the phone away as he felt them tearing painfully through his body. He brought the coughs under control as quickly as he could.
"Sorry Sir."
"Yes I am."
"Thank you Sir."
"I will, goodbye."
He wearily put the phone down and ran his hands over his bald crown. He had to admit he was feeling pretty rough. He knew it would not be long before he would have to take up a bed in the infirmary but he was waiting for O'Neill to return with SG-1 so he could hand over command of the SGC to his uninfected second-in-command.
Hammond stood up slowly and walked carefully to the control room as he heard the Stargate spinning into action. He sighed in relieve as Sergeant Davis announced that SG-1's iris code had been received. He ordered the iris opened and a few seconds later SG-1 stepped through laden with sample containers.
"Welcome back SG-1, find anything?" Hammond said hoarsely.
"Oh you betcha General, just not sure if it's useful, any change?"
"No. Report to the infirmary."
"Yes Sir."
Hammond met them in the corridor. Jack did not miss his appearance.
"Are you alright Sir?"
"Ahh, no not really. I'm going to have to hand command of the SGC over to you Jack."
"Really?" Jack said, slightly shocked.
"Yes," Hammond replied.
As they reached the infirmary Dr Warner immediately noticed the General's condition and rushed over.
"Come on General, got a bed all ready for you."
Normally Hammond would have taken offence at the tone with which he was being addressed but he did not have the energy and a bed sounded pretty good.
O'Neill watched as the medics began treating Hammond and realised with a sudden shock that he was in charge. The whole situation had been unceremoniously dumped into his lap.
*~*
I know, not much of a cliff hanger is it, thought I'd give you a week off. Okay, in all honesty I couldn't think of a cliff hangery way to end the chapter, you got me!
Seeing as people seem to be appreciating the medical explanations here's the information for this chapter. Lidocaine (which was also mentioned in the last chapter but not explained) is a drug which is used to control an unstable heart beat (arrhythmia) such as the V-tach Sam was in at the end of the last chapter. Dopamine belongs to a class of drugs known as Sympathomimetics (big word I know), which mimic the effects of the sympathetic nervous system and increase blood pressure. One of the major symptoms of septicaemia (which is as Daniel said, blood poisoning) is a falling blood pressure.
By the way, for those non-Americans among us (and that includes me! ) the CDC is the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, they deal with outbreaks of infectious diseases and work towards preventing disease and finding cures and that sort of thing.
I think that probably covers everything! (thought about…ever...in the universe)
Sorry about the length of the notes, I kinda got carried away, if I keep going on like this the notes are going to end up being longer than the chapter. I just have to say please review, feedback helps me get through the boring lectures and there is a lot of them!! Go on, the button is just there!