The wind blew through the trees, making a delightful whistling noise that all the chiclets attempted to copy when they first learned to speak. Leman allowed herself to listen to it for a moment, before she attended to the feeling of wrongness that had settled over her like a cloud. It wasn't the feeling she got when there was impending doom--like when storms ravaged the land--but more of something changing, something that just wasn't quite right.
Leman, an impatient voice inside her head called, The Council is meeting. They're going to decide what to do with our humans. It was Segan, her partner. He was two centuries younger than she was, but never treated her with the respect she deserved as the elder and wiser.
Leman fluffed her feathers in annoyance and simply chittered at him, not giving him the dignity of a coherent response. 'Our humans' indeed. He hadn't wanted anything to do with them, except to observe. She on the other hand, had spent time in their company, traveling to and from the cit of the Creators to visit her two favorites. Rodney and Elizabeth.
She had a simple mental bond with the both of them--their minds just not capable of handling anything but that just yet--and loved analyzing the mixed emotions she always sensed from them. Her humans were quite amusing, and she was quite willing to testify that to the council. Every one of them should get one.
They often ate things that tasted good, but didn't work very well with their body chemistry. Like a fruit that the Creators had made specifically for the Phoenix population to eat during the mating season. It did seem to make the humans want to mate, but only for a brief second or two. Then, they stopped and acted all upset and embarrassed over it. She had felt very bad for Elizabeth and Rodney, but still wondered what the problem was. Didn't humans need to procreate too?
Thinking of her pets, made her realize that that's what was wrong. Something was happening to them, changing them. Had already changed them. She shivered slightly, and took off in a flurry of feathers, ignoring Segan's panicked calls.
She was at the city in less time than even she had ever been able to make, and flew easily through an open door, just as a human walked through, making him stumble in surprise. She ignored him though, and followed her senses until she was at the place she knew her humans were at.
The one called Major Sheppard saw her, and started to step in front of her, but she was too quick for him. She landed and darted around his legs, then fluttered up so that she could see Elizabeth. Her mind was suddenly bombarded with images of things and events that she couldn't quite understand. They were so jumbled and unclear. She did however, understand that it was something shared between them. A common memory. And it didn't belong there, in either one of them. Stupid people, didn't they realize humans couldn't handle this kind of mental strain?
Changing her perspective a little, she let herself see the images from Elizabeth's point of view, since they weren't quite as strong as Rodney's. They showed some sort of building, then it showed the Wraith--Leman had to fight back her sudden urge to attack...her kind hadn't been made for that--and after that it showed some strange feline creatures attacking and driving the Wraith back, in perfect attack formation.
Then, the sequence of images started over, still jumbled and confused. Leman realized that perhaps they were made that way so that the humans wouldn't be overloaded with information and had to grudgingly accept that whoever had done this had known what they were doing. However, that did not excuse the fact that they had done it to her humans.
She ignored the Dr. Beckett's attempts at shooing her away, and the threatening gestures she got from the men who surrounded Rodney, and settled herself at Elizabeth's head, wanting to send out soothing messages, but unable to because something was blocking her attempts. She could see the shared image, but nothing else. She couldn't even tell what they were feeling.
Giving a sad little chirp, she laid her head down and waited to see what was going on.
Rodney stirred restlessly, then slowly opened his eyes. His head ached something awful, worse than any hangover he'd ever had. He closed his eyes again, even the dim lighting of the infirmary hurting them. Wow, what had he done? He vaguely remembered 'gating to some planet, but everything after that was a blur. Had there been some kind of crash?
He struggled to piece together the puzzle, but his brain refused to aknowledge his attempts and all he ended up with was a worse headache. He groaned and put his hands over his eyes, though he knew that wouldn't help. Where was that damn Scot when you needed him?
"Help," he muttered raspily, "Can't anyone tell I'm in pain here? What's a guy got to do to get some service, huh?"
He heard a rustling noise from somewhere nearby, and instantly he was on the alert. It was small, and feathered. Some kind of bird? He sat up, turned towards the sound, ready to pounce if it was a threat. His gaze was met by unfathomable black beady eyes set in a red and gold plumaged face. Rodney blinked, and then settled back on the bed.
"Don't scare me like that, Leman," he scolded her, but only half-heartedly. The beautifully feathered phoenix was his best friend, aside from Elizabeth, and he'd never do anything to push either one of them away.
You were not frightened, she answered simply, almost curiously, And you are now receptive to my mind.
Rodney blinked and then shook his head slightly, as though trying to clear it. "You...just talked to me, didn't you?"
The bird gave an annoyed little sound and then tilted her head to the side. It was about then that he realized he had been able to smell her from the time he had woken up, and that there was another, familiar scent in the room. He started to look around, to identify it, but Leman's next words gave him pause.
I made your guards go to sleep, because I did not like the way they were looking at you when you woke up. They are just humans, but I have learned that humans have more intelligence than the Creators led us to believe, and I do not like to harm sentient beings.
"My guards?" He questioned. She sounded a lot like the way he had read the Asgard acted. "Why would I need guards? What happened?"
She gave him a mental shrug and then looked back over to a bed that was very near his own. He looked over as well. That was where the scent was strongest at. He could almost, but not quite identify it; it was on the tip of his tongue. He couldn't tell who was beneath the bundle of blankets however, so that didn't help him out any.
Leman gave a soft little whistle, and then looked up at him sadly. He winced at the sound. It was pleasant enough, but it was so loud...Something has happened to you, and your mate she said softly, but we will figure it out, and find a way to save you.
"Me and my...I don't have a mate," he protested quickly, ignoring the image of Elizabeth that had suddenly popped up in his mind at the bird's words.
Leman tilted her head again. I still do not understand that part of your culture. You humans are odd creatures.
"Yeah well..."
"What the devil is goin' on here?" Carson interrupted before Rodney could finish his retort. He rather figured Leman knew exactly what he was going to say though, from the way she ruffled her feathers so huffily.
Then Rodney blinked. The Scot had said that from the door to his office, which was a ways from his bed. He frowned. Leman had said something happened. But what? And what the hell did she mean by mate?
It was then, that the smell came to him. Only, it wasn't just a single smell. It was a specific mixture of smells that all came together, and that were associated with one person. Elizabeth. He looked back over at the bed, and sure enough, he saw her face, eyes closed as she slept blissfully unaware of what was going on.
Carson sat in his office, and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He had been right to check Dr. Weir over. The horns had secreted some kind of substance that had affected her brain. At the moment, he wasn't quite sure how, but he was certain that when she finally woke up from the stupor she'd fallen into, they'd know.
He rubbed his eyes again, and reached for his coffee mug, only to find it empty. He sighed and rose from his desk, stretching to ease the kinks out of his muscles. Then, he walked out of his office and stopped dead in his tracks.
Rodney was sitting up on his bed, chatting easily with the damn bird thing he'd made friends with at that fiasco of a Thanksgiving, and his guards lying unconscious around the bed. Carson frowned. Had Rodney done that? Was that why the people who had changed him let him go? To release some kind of virus on the population of another world?
It really wouldn't surprise him, not after the kind of people they'd met already in the Pegasus galaxy. Children who committed ritual suicide, people who poisoned their own just to keep the Wraith away..not to mention the Genii.
Not wanting to get too close, just in case, Carson, put his hand on the intercom, leaving it open so that Major Sheppard or anyone else could hear. "What the devil is goin' on here?"
Rodney blinked and looked over at him. Then he frowned and looked over at the bed where Dr. Weir was still unconscious. His face cleared, and a gentle smile graced his lips before that strange and sudden transformation took place, making the bird squawk in surprise. Carson sighed again and punched the alarm as the cat padded silently over to Weir's bed and then leaped up on top of it, settling himself in at the foot, and then going straight to sleep.
tbc....