Title: Never Mind
Author: Illman
Beta: Jen, who deserves great thanks for putting up with me
Date: 01/04/2005
Warnings: some violence, torture, mild language
Disclaimer: It's their universe, not mine.
Rating: 12+ for language and content
Summary: An encounter with an alien race leaves the Atlantians, especially Dr. McKay, with an unprecedented problem.
Author's Notes: Written for the lantisficathon on livejournal.
Carson looked once more around the infirmary before returning to his quarters for the night. For the first time since the out break of the nano-virus, the infirmary was filled to capacity. It was late. He should be in bed by now; it had been a long and exhausting day with six patients to treat at the same time. It was one of the many times that a mission into unknown territory had led them into danger. This time, Major Sheppard's team had been accompanied by two scientists who were to collect plant samples of potential medicinal value. It had been a low risk, non-military mission. Carson hadn't worried too much.
Once or twice a week, Rodney stepped through the Gate, leaving him behind to imagine all the violent possibilities. It had been worse in the beginning, with time he had gotten used to the off-world mission being part of Rodney's job. But every time the team was overdue or there was an unscheduled off-world activation, Carson couldn't help but think this might be it. That they would bring back Rodney severely hurt or worse.
The nightmare he was currently trapped in had begun two days earlier when Rodney and his team became overdue by twelve hours , failing to respond to the several attempts to contact them. Their mission had been a simple one. M2S-639 was an uninhabited world with the Gate located in the middle of what resembled a tropical rainforest. The Athosians had been visiting the planet for decades because several medicinal herbs grew there in great abundance. But they had never been able to stray far from the Gate, as the air on the planet quickly became hard to breath, leaving anyone who dared to come , coughing and breathless. As the Atlantians desperately needed to replenish their medical supplies, they were very eager to explore the planet themselves. They had analyzed the atmosphere and found it to contain high levels of pollen and several unknown compounds, which were probably responsible for the adverse reaction that the Teyla's people had described.
It was supposed to be a short one day mission. Before Carson and Rodney were to meet for dinner. But the team didn't come back. The first few hours, the physician managed to keep his worries at bay. Anything could have gotten them delayed. But as time passed and several communication attempts failed, it became harder and harder to banish the thoughts of what might have happened. Eventually, he went to bed, doubting he would actually be able to sleep, but needing to at least try to get some rest, as he had another full workday in just a few hours. At the moment, he didn't have any patients in the infirmary he was using the time to work on his research into Ancient genetics. To his surprise, he eventually fell asleep. His worry only deepened when by the time he got up the next morning; there still had been no word from his friend.
By then Elizabeth had decided to dispatch another team to the planet to check out the situation. It couldn't happen fast enough for Carson, but procedure had to be adhered to. First a MALP had to be sent through to gate. When no threat was detected, Sergeant Bates and his team went next. Within a few hours, the second team had made contact with the city again, relaying their situation.
Not that Carson was not immensely relieved to hear that the remainder of the mission participants were alive, but the fact that Rodney was missing sent a chill through him. All sorts of possibilities raced through his mind. Aliens having dragged off Rodney, intent in killing and torturing him, or he was lost and hurt somewhere on the planet, away from help in the harmful atmosphere of the alien world. Dozens of bleak scenarios flashed through the Scot's mind as he listened to what they had learned from the team on the planet. He and several other members of the medical staff with off-world experiences were going to meet Lieutenant Devan from Bates' team at the Gate on the planet.
"What's the situation exactly?" Beckett asked the lieutenant.
"We found everyone, except Dr. McKay, at a clearing about two clicks west from here. They were all unconscious and their hazmat gear was missing. Captain Roiz sent out two men to search the area for Dr. McKay. He and Lieutenant Morgan are waiting for as at the clearing." The young man explained as they picked up the pace. Unfortunately the forest was thick and the path, although it seemed to be used on occasion, was not very well travelled. The soil was wet and slippery. It would take to time to carry five unconscious people back to the gate. They were already slowed down by the equipment they were carrying.. Given the harsh atmospheric conditions of the planet and the reports of possible respiratory problems with the missing team, the rescuers had no choice but to bring oxygen with them. It seemed to take hours to reach the clearing where Captain Roiz and Lieutenant Morgan were waiting , relieved to see help arrive.
"Dr. Beckett! Finally. They're having a difficult time breathing and I think they're getting worse." Exasperated, the captain stood helpless, "We couldn't do anything."
Beckett just nodded briefly before turning his attention to his patients.
"You paged me?" Elizabeth more stated than asked as she sat down in Beckett's office.
"Yes, I have your reports and I might be able to tell you something more about what happened on the planet."
"Good. What do you have?"
"Both Major Sheppard and Lieutenant Ford have blood on their jackets and hands. At first I thought it was theirs, but there were no matching injuries. Preliminary tests show that it's not human blood. I'll know more soon. Major Sheppard also has some first and second degree burns to his neck and upper chest that I can't explain yet. Aside from that everyone's lungs are a bit strained from the heavy pollen content of the atmosphere on M2S-639. I have everyone on oxygen and that seems to be working. There have been some cases of allergic reactions to some elements of the atmosphere that we hadn't picked up on in our earlier assessments, but they're nothing too serious."
"Thank you. Keep me informed if you find out more. We need to find out more about what happened. When anyone wakes up, I want to know about it immediately." Rising from her seat and heading towards the doorway, she paused, " If Rodney is still on the planet, how long can he survive in the atmosphere without hazmat gear?"
Carson had already thought of that, once the shock of Rodney missing from the group had worn off. He sighed," Assuming that he doesn't have an allergic reaction to anything in the atmosphere, he has another eight hours, twelve if he's very lucky. But he won't be on his feet for long anymore. The atmosphere doesn't explain why the others were unconscious. I'll let you know as soon as I have more."
He busied himself for another hour in the infirmary, once more checking over his patients before deciding to call it a day. On his way out, he turned to the duty nurse for the night, "Please page me if any of them wake up during the night. At any time." He told her.
"Yes, doctor." The nurse replied. Word had spread fast, and like everyone in the city, she knew that chief scientist was still missing and infirmary's current occupants might hold the clue to his whereabouts.
Rodney paced the small room that served as his cell, while mentally going over what had happened since his arrival. His captors must have drugged him, as he could feel his mind starting to go fuzzy. The recent events threatening to sink into the murky darkness. Panicky that he might not remember if he let them slip away, he struggled against urge to lie down on the cot that was to his right in the room. The rest of the room was bare with an adjacent bathroom, and it was clean and warm inside. The cot had a comfortable mattress and a blanket was provided. Eyeing the cot longingly, Rodney shook his head and started another round of pacing.
They had been at the clearing on the planet. It had been quite tedious, working in the uncomfortable hazmat suits, watching the two scientists gathering their sample. He didn't think he had ever seen two men work any slower and wondered how they had ever been accepted onto the expedition. He vowed to check their work thoroughly for the next evaluation when he got back to Atlantis.
He had been pacing around, trying to ease to stiffness in his lower back, when suddenly the ground under his feet had vanished, Then it became far less clear in his mind. He recalled distorted faces, screams, and gun fire. His only cognizant memory was of him being shoved towards the mesmerizing clear blue event horizon illuminating a dark room.
The next memory was of being in a bright a room with large, dark claw-like hands that had pressed him down onto a bed of sorts and he had been powerless. He tried to at least find some sort of escape route with his eyes but the bright whiteness had stretched forever. He had tried to turn his head and at least get a look at who or what was holding him down, but even after the claw-like hands were gone, he still couldn't move. Tight straps were holding him down on the unyielding mattress of the bed. All he had been able to do was stare to his left and wait. An eternity seemed to pass while he attempted to calm himself down and slow his frantic heartbeat. He told himself that panic wasn't going to help him no matter what was going to happen. Hours seemed to pass without anything happening.
Then suddenly without any warning, without him hearing anyone approach, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. His head turned to his left side; he couldn't see what was going on. The pain started out as only a twinge then deepened to a sharp, deep cutting agony. Rodney winced, biting his lip not to cry out. But as suddenly as the pain had come it was gone again. Numbness started spreading from his arms, and before he even realized what was going on, it had spread over his right side. It scared him, as he knew it would completely overpower him and render him even more powerless than he already was, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Within seconds the sensation overwhelmed him and he sank into unconsciousness.
The next thing he knew was waking up in that small square room that he was in now. He felt fuzzy and disoriented, but not uncomfortable. The urge to lie down was starting to become overwhelming. Rodney sat down on the bed, scared of what was going to happen if he allowed himself to sleep, but his fear was won over by the fatigue that was tugging at every fibre of his body begging him to rest.
Carson couldn't sleep. He was tired, but his mind insisted on keeping its own hours. It was the helplessness that he hated the most. There was nothing he could do for Rodney. He couldn't help him because he had no idea where and in what condition he was. He didn't even know whether he was even alive anymore. It was only a small comfort that there were still people on M2S-639 searching for Rodney, but Carson knew that their chances of finding him where small. How far could he have gotten from the group? Rolling over once again, trying to clear his mind of the horrible images that rose in front of his inner eye, he tried to fall asleep.
When the shrill sound of his beeper violently interrupted the quiet of the night, his eyes flew open. He must have drifted off at some point. Carson wasted no time hurriedly getting dressed and almost ran to the infirmary. He pushed open the doors and barrelled in, almost knocking over Amy, the duty nurse for the night.
"Sorry." He mumbled, his eyes searching the infirmary for the cause of the wake-up call.
"Good that you are here." Amy said. "Major Sheppard just woke up. He's pretty tired, but you wanted to be called as soon as one of them became conscious."
Beckett nodded and strode towards the major's bed, the nurse following close behind. When he approached the major, the man appeared asleep, his eyes closed, but when tapped on his shoulder, he opened his eyes.
"Doc, what's going on? The nurse told me something about questions you wanted to ask." John frowned, raising a hand to his head. "What happened?"
"Does your head hurt?" Carson asked, concerned that John seemed disoriented and confused. He hadn't found any sign of an injury when he had examined him, but then he had no idea what other effects the weapon which had produced the burns on his chest and neck had had on him.
"Yeah." the major answered softly.
Carson turned towards Amy who understood and left to get the medication before he got a chance to say a word.
"Does anything else hurt?"
"My chest, breathing hurts." John admitted grudgingly. He really felt like he had been hit by a bulldozer.
"That will pass. Can you breathe all right for now or do you have the feeling that you are not getting enough air? I can give you something to help you breathe easier but I'd rather not add more drugs to your system."
"No, it's all right. I can manage." John said drowsily, his eyes closing again. He just wanted to go back to sleep where nothing hurt. But someone was shaking him as he was about to drift of. He opened his eyes and looked up to see Beckett hovering over him.
"Here." Carson handed him two pills and a glass of water. "It will help the pain."
"Now listen to me. It's important. Can you remember anything about what happened on the mission? Rodney is missing and we need to find out what happened to you." Carson hoped that John would remember something, anything that might help them. He watched John closely for his reaction.
At first, John stared blankly and Carson wasn't even sure that between the headache and fatigue, the major had even understood what he had said, even though he had seemed to be able to respond coherently to his questions earlier. But then John frowned and spoke.
"It must have been some sort of transportation thing, like the Wraith, but it wasn't them. We were on the planet and suddenly we were on a ship." John paused.
"Was Rodney with you on the ship?" Carson asked.
"Yeah. It's all a bit blurry. I remember stabbing one of the aliens. There were aliens, you know." John shrugged helplessly. "There was just us left. They didn't like me stabbing one of them."
Carson wasn't sure he followed as John's account got less coherent.
"Stay awake major. Please try to remember. What happened after you got on the ship?"
"Hard to remember." John mumbled. He was losing ground in his fight against the fatigue and pain.
Carson could see that it was getting harder and harder for him to focus. He was starting to sweat and having more difficulty breathing. He was torn between giving it a rest and leaving it there and having one last go it at, prodding John one last time to try and remember what had happened.
"Please, try again. We need to find Rodney."
"Mhhm, Rodney is a friend." John mumbled to himself." They sent everyone back, but he and me. They wanted us, said we were com-, comm.., can't remember. They wanted to send us away. Through the Gate. I like going through the Gate. But I didn't want to go then. Rodney was scared. He screamed. So sorry I couldn't help him."
Rodney woke up again and immediately panicked. He couldn't move! Not even turn his head. All he could do was see the bright white ceiling above him. Probably he was tied down again. Like the day before. He tried not to panic, but when he heard footsteps and clattering in the distance he couldn't help but fear what was going to happen. He tried to twist, but the restraints held him down securely. Footsteps came closer and he could feel his heart beating faster. He could feel the presence of someone close to him as the footsteps stopped. He waited for something, anything to happen. There, for a brief moment, the dark, lizardfish-human face of an alien appeared in his field of vision, but was gone an instant later. Rodney could hear scratching and watch sounded like something being moved across the floor. A click and something started humming faintly on his left side. The alien let out a chirp. Rodney tensed. The hum couldn't be good. It was bad, very bad. All he wanted was to be somewhere else, anywhere else. The unbearable tension came to an end when pain seared through him like lightning. It felt like something was cutting through his left temple. He screamed and twisted, balling his hands into fists, tugging at the tight metal restraints, not even noticing how they cut into his skin. The pain blanked out all other sensations, enveloping him totally.
He didn't hear the alien chirping and shrieking in surprise as its test subject screamed and writhed. This was not normal. The others had screamed as well, but never as badly as this one. But the others had been very different from this one. The alien scientists had never seen one like this. As the test subject started to gag, the scientist checked his instruments. Another two second until the procedure was complete. He was going to keep a close eye on this one. He doubted that this particular subject would produce the results they were after, but it might prove interesting none the less. The scientists freely injected the test subject with a generous dose of a sedative, adding a pain killer as an after thought. He had learned to be careful. A subject they had recently captured had killed several of his fellow researchers. It had just sucked the life out of them. Ever since then all scientists carried weapons. He shuddered and eyed his current test subject. He had heard the story of what had happened when it was captured. Who knew what it was capable of?
Carson's heart filled with sadness. Rodney was truly lost then. Captured by unknown, obviously powerful and hostile aliens and sent to an unknown planet somewhere in this galaxy. They would never find him. It was more painful than he had ever expected to let go of the hope that he had been clinging to ever since this had started. What had been a possibility was now harsh reality. Although he had been prepared for it, the reality that he was never going to see Rodney again still hit him with full force.
"Dr Beckett!" A loud yell and an almost violent tug at his sleeve were what finally got his attention. Amy was next to him, calling his name ."Dr. Beckett, Major Sheppard is having increased trouble breathing."
Carson snapped back into a professional mode when he turned to the man in the bed next to him. John was wide awake; blinking at him in what was clearly panic, as he gasped for breath.
"Damn, I didn't even notice, I thought he was doing fine." Beckett stammered, just realizing what he had let happen.
"Now isn't the time, doctor." Amy snapped. "Sorry."
"Just get me a standard dose of epinephrine." Carson yelled. "Hold on, major, you are going to be fine." He whispered to John, hoping that he was telling the truth.
Half an hour later, John was resting in bed, breathing easier, Carson was sitting in a chair near his bedside, not sure why himself. He had sent Amy to her quarters for the rest of the night. He was angry with himself for not catching John's condition earlier because he was absorbed with his personal problems. But how could he ignore the loss he had suffered, the thought of Rodney kept sneaking into his mind, sending a new wave of hurt through him each time.
"The symbols." John muttered suddenly. He had been hovering between waking and sleep and his mind had taken him back to the alien ship.
"When they dialled the Gate, I saw the symbols."
At first Carson didn't realize the significance of what John had just said, but then it hit him.
"You saw the symbols of the planet where Rodney was taken to?"
"Still all fragmented, but I saw them."
"Wait a second; I'll get you a piece of paper to draw them on." Carson was excited and disappeared into his office.
Returning quickly to the infirmary, he raised the back of John's bed a bit, allowing the man to write more easily. He could tell that John was having a hard time drawing out the symbols, but he knew that the major would do everything to get one of his team members back home safely.
Once done, he lowered the bed again and patted John's shoulder. "You can rest now major. You have been a great help."
TBC
