Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of its characters, I wish I did. I'm also not making any money on this story (or anywhere else for that matter!). Blah blah blah, you all know the drill.
But I would like to borrow Carson for just a little bit, I promise to return him (mostly) undamaged!
Summary: Dr. Beckett, Major Sheppard and his team must race to solve a mystery on an alien planet before another life is lost.
Warnings: Right now it's G, but I plan to do a little whumping and have some fun with the Atlantis characters, although I do promise to return them all in the condition in which they were found!
Chapter Four
Back on the lifeless forest planet, Sheppard and his team were still staring at the three graves, all struck uncharacteristically speechless. Sofia had spoken of her companions as if she had just seen them and planned to see them again soon. The three wooden crosses were weathered and grey, the six boots moldy, and the dog tags, chains and weapons covered in a thick layer of rust, indicating that the graves had been there for some time.
"Sir, I..." Ford began, but couldn't think of how to continue.
"I know, Lieutenant," Sheppard replied grimly, "I think we need to get back to Atlantis and see what the heck is going on."
"They're dead, John..." Rodney began, before realizing what he had said.
"I had a feeling something was hinky about this planet, right from the beginning, but this..."
"Hinky?" Teyla enquired, "I do not understand the meaning of that word."
"It means nervous or suspicious. In this case, there's something suspicious about this place and that makes me nervous. Let's head back to Atlantis and see if we can get some answers."
The Puddlejumper came through the Gate and settled gently into the landing bay. Sheppard had kept his message to Atlantis terse and generic, informing them only that they were enroute back to base and would not require a medical team. Elizabeth Weir met them outside the ship, a quizzical expression on her face. Her brow wrinkled in concern when she saw that the team had not brought anyone else back from the planet with them.
Sheppard glanced around at the various techies passing through the area and said, "We need to talk privately, Elizabeth."
She looked at him in concern and motioned for the team to precede her to the briefing room.
"Where are the other members of Captain Sutherland's team, John?"
"They're dead."
"What?!"
"We found the graves a short distance from where they had set up camp, it looks like they've been there a while. And by 'a while' I am measuring in years and not months."
"She's been so concerned about them. She even keeps asking when they will be here so that Doctor Beckett can treat them, because they are worse off than she is."
"Well that's the understatement of the year," Rodney interjected. "You can't get much worse off than dead, now can you?"
Back in the infirmary, Carson had just informed Sofia that Sheppard's team had returned from the planet.
"Why haven't you left to go treat them?"
"I was only told that they would not need a med team in the Gate room. Perhaps your friends are na so badly off as you thought, lass."
"I thought they were, but..." Sofia's voice trailed off and she turned her head to the wall, ignoring Carson's attempts to discuss her friends and their condition. He gave up and went back to his desk to deal with the work that seemed to breed like rabbits in his bloody computer every night, no matter how hard he worked to clear it up before he went off duty each evening.
When Weir summoned him to the briefing room several minutes later, Sofia had her eyes closed and he silently exited the room, leaving her to her rest.
He entered the briefing room several minutes later and observed the grim faces of the others assembled before him. "What's happened? Why did ye na need a med team?"
"They were dead, doc."
"Deid? Sofia said that they were worse off than she was, but how could they ha'..." he stopped when he saw the looks the others were exchanging.
"Sit down. Carson, this may take a while," Elizabeth said gently. "John?"
"There were three graves there, doc. Old graves. Those people had been dead for years. What I want to know is, why was she talking about them as if they were recently alive?"
'That's really a question for a psychiatrist, but since ours is off world at the moment I would have to hazard a best guess...." he trailed off, lost in thought.
"And that would be?" Rodney demanded impatiently.
"Can ye imagine livin' all alone on an alien world for months or years? I would guess that she must ha' started talkin' to her friends in her own mind, just to try to keep sane, and over the years she may ha' forgotten that they were no longer physically there. O'course, that's just speculation, I wouldn't be able to say that for sairtain without looking into it further."
"Let's make that your priority, then, Carson. We need to know how this has affected her. And we also need to find out how they died."
"I'll start working on that immediately, but I would ask that no one mention the fact that her friends are dead to her until I can determine her mental state."
All nodded in agreement and were about to adjourn when an urgent call came in for Carson, "Doctor Beckett, you're needed in the infirmary, stat."
"On ma way."
Carson rushed out of the room and headed to the infirmary. As he got closer he could hear what sounded like singing. As the door opened, he saw Sofia, clad in her hospital gown and standing on her bed, surrounded by various medical staff. She was singing mournfully.
"Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave o' Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' MacDonald
They came in the night when the men were asleep
That band of Argyles, through snow soft and deep.
Like murdering foxes, among helpless sheep
They slaughtered the house o' MacDonald
Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave o' Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' MacDonald
They came through the blizzard, we offered them heat
A roof o'er their heads, dry shoes for their feet.
We wined them and dined them, they ate of our meat
And slept m the house O' MacDonald
Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave o' Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' MacDonald
They came from Fort William with murder mind
The Campbell had orders, King William had signed
Put all to the sword, these words underlined
And leave none alive called MacDonald
Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave o' Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' MacDonald
Some died in their beds at the hands of the foe
Some fled in the night, and were lost in the snow.
Some lived to accuse him, that struck the first blow
But gone was the house of MacDonald
Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave o' Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' MacDonald" (1)
Sofia finished singing and opened her eyes. "Carson! I didn't know you were here. I was just singing a song that my teammates always liked to hear. It's a bit depressing, but it has a lovely tune. It was also one of the only songs I could remember all of the words to. The only other song was a bit inappropriate for mixed company, so I don't generally sing it with an audience."
Carson, at a loss for what to say, enquired, "And which song would that be, lass?"
She smiled, winked, and let her gaze drift slowly below his waistline. "It's called 'The Scotsman' and talks about what the Scotsman wears 'neath his kilt." (2)
Carson flushed scarlet and mumbled, "Ye must come down from there, lass."
"I'm sorry, it's just that we always sang songs to keep our minds occupied and things have changed so much that I was just trying to... deal with it. Thank you for taking such good care of my teammates and I, by the way. We really appreciate it."
"Och, lass."
Sofia's eyes took on a distant, almost glazed, look and she started to hum. Carson moved towards her and she jumped off the bed, startled. As he attempted to get closer and offer her comfort, her eyes took on a hunted look and she assumed a defensive posture.
"Lass," he said gently.
"No!" she shrieked. "You can't! You won't! Don't don't don't don't don't don't don't!!!!!" her cries grew in pitch and intensity until she stopped, covering her ears with her clenched fists and rocking back and forth on her heels.
"Sofia," Carson moved closer, slowly, gently, trying to be as still and calm as possible. Trying not to show the anguish and heartbreak he was feeling at her pain and turmoil.
He got within a foot of her before she reacted and it was too fast for him to back away from her. She jabbed her fist into his stomach, causing him to expel all the air out his mouth in a painful "Oomph" and double over. As he doubled over, she leaned in, grabbed his ears and drove her knee into his testicles with as much force as she could muster. She let go and he dropped to the ground in a fetal position, his mouth open in a silent scream of pain.
John Sheppard, who had just entered the infirmary, rushed in with the six medical personnel who had been staring at the confrontation in shock. They tried to subdue her and get her prone so that they could inject her with something to calm her down, but ended up doing no more than dancing around her wildly swinging fists and feet for several minutes. They were trying to subdue her without causing any serious physical injury, but she obviously felt no such compunction for their well-being.
Carson spent another five minutes attempting to regain his composure before, green-faced, he rushed in to assist. Between the eight of them they managed to wrestle her to the ground, but were unsuccessful in getting her to lie still long enough to inject her. She continued to flail and her violent kicks connected between the legs of male and female staff members alike. There would be more than one candidate for the Atlantean version of the Vienna Boys' Choir tonight.
Someone produced handcuffs and they were able to get one around her left wrist before she broke free again, swinging her arm with the open, and now lethal, edge of the other cuff in their direction. Carson, thinking more of her safety than his own, didn't move quickly enough and the sharp, jagged edge of the cuff sliced across his face and then across his hand as he raised it in self-defense.
The slice across his face was shallow, a bare trickle of blood coming out of the thin line running from his ear to the dimple on the opposite side of his face. His hand, however, was bleeding profusely from a deep wound. He wrapped a large pad of gauze around it, taped it in place, and reentered the fray.
Ten minutes later, they had managed to cuff her other arm with a second pair of cuffs and were all sitting on her, attempting to attach the open ends of the two cuffs together. Thirty-two minutes after it began, the fight went out of her and she collapsed in a limp heap under their bodies. In all that time, she had made no sound, not even heavy breathing from exertion. The eight people she had fought so valiantly and needlessly were drenched in sweat, covered in scrapes and bruises.
Her body began to shake and then was racked by heart-wrenching sobs. Carson stepped up and gently injected her with a sedative. He rubbed her back as her muscles began to relax and she drifted into unconsciousness. They placed her gently back on the bed and put her into soft restraints, taking off the hard metal cuffs in the process.
As they stepped back, Sheppard looked at him and said, "Uh, doc?"
"Mmmmm?"
"What's that they say about 'Physician, heal thyself'?"
"What?" Carson looked down at his bandaged hand. Blood had soaked through the heavy layers of gauze and was dripping onto the pristine floor of the infirmary. "Oh dear," he mumbled, sinking bonelessly to the floor. "Tha's an awful lot o'blood."
John looked at him quizzically, "Don't you see more than that all the time?"
"Och, aye, but not ma oon blood. I don't mind someone else's, but..." Carson's eyes rolled up and he dropped the rest of the way to the floor in a faint.
(1)Words and music Jim Mclean,
(2)