Disclaimer see Chapter 1

„You said in your own report that Major Sheppard has no prospects of recovery." Dr. Weir reminded Carson.

„I'm not denying what I wrote. All I'm asking you is that you give us more time. Dr. Zelenka has found a possible way to use Ancient technology to help the major. There is nothing to lose and we owe it to the major to try. If there is even a small chance that Radek's theory works, we have to try it." Carson pleaded. Even though he was not convinced that the Czech scientists theory would hold up in practise he had been convinced that it had theoretical value. And as he had just told Elizabeth, John had nothing to lose. His condition being beyond the scope of Earth based medicine, all they could do was try and use Ancient technology.

„I think at this point we have to look at ethical considerations as well. What is the humane thing to do? We know very little about medical uses of the Ancient technology. As far as I know aside from the gene therapy that you developed yourself there has been no medical use of Ancient technology."

„No there hasn't been."

„I cannot decide this right now. I will let you know my decision in a few hours." Dr, Weir declared.

Carson slumped in defeat. It wasn't a loss yet, but he had little hope. If Dr. Weir was taking time to consider the case, she hadn't understood the importance of his case.

He was already half-way out the door when she called him back.

„Carson?"

„Yes?" he turned back to her.

„I know this means a lot to you. He means a lot to all of us. Nobody wants to see him die. But I have to see all sides. I have to see what happened the last time Dr. Zelenka and you tried something like this. People were hurt. You were hurt."

Carson eyed Rodney, waiting for him to wake from his drugged sleep. He had been fighting with himself, unsure whether it was a good idea to rouse Rodney. But in the end he had decided that Rodney deserved to know and deserved a chance to say good-bye to John in case they couldn't save him. He just hoped that Rodney was going to be lucid enough to process the news. The infection had been holding steady over the last twelve hours, luckily it hadn't gained any more ground, but still it didn't look too good for Rodney or Bates, but at the moment, neither man was in immediate danger of dying.

Rodney twitched and moaned faintly, trying to turn away from the light. Carson mentally dimmed the lights and put a hand and Rodney's shoulder.

„Come on Rodney. Wake up." Carson gently urged.

„No, no. John…"

„Yes, I know you're there. You have to wake up, this is important." Carson nudged Rodney more forcefully this time.

Rodney grunted and opened his eyes. His gaze was unfocussed.

„John?" he mumbled.

„No, it's Carson. How are you feeling?"

„I hurt. Thirsty."

Carson guided a cup to Rodney's mouth and let him take a sip.

„Don't overdo it, you'll only get sick. There, that's enough." he withdrew the cup.

„I had to cut back on your medication for the pain, so that I could talk to you."

„You already said that before." Rodney said, flashing back to the last time he had been awake. „It was a nightmare. A bad dream. You said…"

„No, it wasn't a dream. Rodney listen to me. This is about John."

That got Rodney's full attention. His eyes focussed on Carson.

„I tried a treatment on John while you were gone. It didn't work." Carson paused, unsure how to phrase the rest. He hated this part of his profession.

„John is dying. There is no chance if him recovering. We are going to terminate life support in a few hours. I brought him down here to give you a chance to say good bye."

Rodney didn't make a sound. Carson would have expected him to scream, to rage, to say something, anything, but he remained silent. The only visible reaction was his face twisting in horror as he listened to what Carson had to say. He then opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but closed it again without making a sound.

The drink tasted vaguely like watermelon. Dr. Garber had been afraid to drink from the cup that one of the Chief's many wives had offered her, but Teyla had told her that the Chief would not dare to poison them.

After they had rested, the Chief had invited them to share his meal. Their status had changed from being captives to being honoured guests. From what Teyla had been able to translate, the tribe had encountered the Ancients at some point in their history and, with their advanced technology, they had developed a mixture of fear and awe for the Ancients. The tribal lore described visions of the Ancients as glowing bodies of light. While the implications of that were fascinating and this planet definitely was worthy of further visits, the team was itching to return to Atlantis. The jungle climate was wearing them down, they hadn't had decent food for days before their arrival in the tribal village and they were now two days overdue. Teyla was trying to diplomatically communicate that they had to leave, but would very much like to become allies and return in the future. The Chief took the news fairly well. The Ancients had business that the mere mortals understood nothing off. He even sent of two of his sons to arrange for farewell gifts for the travellers.

„We very much enjoyed the meal and we appreciate that your people shared it with you. But it is time to leave now." Teyla got up seeing that everyone had finished.

„May we have many more meals together. I understand that your companions have to leave now."

Teyla frowned at his words. She had presumed that she was included in the party that was leaving. She turned to the Chief.

„I have to leave with them. I will be missed by my people, if I don't return with my companions." Teyla tried to make her situation clear.

„Our marriage will be the sign of the union between our people." the Chief declared.

„I understand." Teyla nodded, knowing when to give in. She had dealt with enough leaders in her time trading with other worlds.

„And I am honoured that you have chosen me." Teyla hated herself for speaking those words, but that was the position women were in this tribal society. The Chief got the choice of any woman he wanted to marry. The number of young and beautiful wives he had was testimony to that.

„Still, let me return to my people and bring them the good news." She pleaded. It was not in her nature, but in the end, she would rather bend then be subjected to force.

The Chief considered. He wanted to show himself in the best positive light possible in front of his new allies how were already eyeing him suspiciously.

„You shall do so. Go and inform your people of the good news before you return here."

Carson didn't actually have time to be down in the chair room with Radek. He was supposed to be in the infirmary watching Rodney or if he wasn't doing that he should be in that lab working on a way to beat the alien bacteria that was eating away at Rodney and Bates. Those were important things. The research into the bacteria might even be vital. Yet, he had elected to spend his time with Radek working on the potential treatment for the major. A treatment that they had not gotten approval for. Elizabeth was still deciding. Carson was pessimistic about the chances of her deciding in their favour. If she really believed that they should give Sheppard that chance then she would have ruled to give them more time long ago.

„I have tested all the connection and can confirm that this chair is in full working order, as far as we understand the Ancient technology of course. There won't be any surprises."

„That's good. There were too many of those the last time around." Carson paced around the room. He was not sure whether he should give the go ahead to this. In the end it depended on him if Elizabeth didn't okay this. Radek was willing to do this one way or another, he had made this clear.

„What is it, Carson? Are you having doubts?" Radek had appeared besides him.

„Yes, frankly I do. Aren't we just experimenting with John?"

„Ah no. We are helping friend. He had got nothing to lose. Stop blaming yourself. You couldn't know what would happen. We owe it to him to do all we can."

„Perhaps you are right. Still, I feel responsible for the state he is in. I pushed the idea and told Dr. Weir it was safe enough to try. I should not have made the recommendation."

„If you feel responsible, should you not also feel responsible to try and help John now?" Radek asked with a smile.

„I guess so. I'm just afraid I'll mess up again."

„We won't. Now we need someone to guide the interface during the procedure and sit in the other chair." Radek looked pointedly at Carson.

„No, I had my share of bad luck sitting in those chairs."

„Who else would it be? I'm sure Rodney would love to do it, but he is very ill, you said so yourself. It has to be someone with the ATA gene who has sufficient control over it. You are a doctor, you'd know what you're doing."

Before Carson could respond, his com unit chirped. It was Elizabeth, requesting that he come to her office.

John looked like John if one overlooked the respirator. Rodney didn't care. John was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't think he could properly process it yet with his drug addled mind. But there was John. Still and pale, dressed in infirmary scrubs just like him. A wave of sadness rolled through him and underneath he felt red hot anger directed at Beckett for taking John away from him. He had said it himself, it had been his treatment that had caused John's state. Rodney frantically tried to think how he could live without John, how he could live with the guilt of having been the ultimate cause of the slow death of a friend. Living with the loss everyday would be his punishment. But why John, he had done nothing to deserve this fate. Why did he have to die like this?

Rodney lost track of time as he mumbled apology after apology to John.

Less than two hours. Carson could feel the second ticking by one after another. Elizabeth had decided against giving them more time. He hadn't expected it any different really. He had sensed that she didn't believe in what Radek and he were doing when he had spoken to her in the morning.

The dice had fallen. There was no turning back now. He too had made his decision. He was going along with Radek's plan. Even though it meant going against Elizabeth's orders. He was going to face up to that later. For now, only the next two hours mattered. Two hours could be awfully short. Radek was waiting for him and John in the chair room.

It was his task to get John there. He didn't anticipate any problems with that, but he still felt nervous. Carson was normally one to play by the rules. Earlier, right after he had made his choice, he had given Dr. Woods the rest of the day off and he had told Dr. Hendricks to take care of the daily tasks in the infirmary while he was taking care of the patients still kept in the lower levels.

Carson entered the former quarantine zone to find Sergeant Bates dozing in bed, Stackhouse listening to music on his Ipod. Rodney was half sitting, half lying at John's bedside. He must have fallen asleep, refusing to leave his friend's side even as he grew more and more tired. Carson smiled grimly. It would be hardest on Rodney if they couldn't save John. He hadn't told Rodney about the possibility of a treatment because he didn't think that he could handle getting his hopes up on the shaky chance that John might be saved in his present condition. Even Carson had to remind himself that even if they saved John's life, there was no telling in what state he was going to be afterwards.

Gently, he removed Rodney from John's side. Rodney faintly protested but didn't seem to wake fully as Carson wheeled him back to his own bed and lifted him back on it. He took the time to quickly check on Rodney's wound. He didn't like what he saw. While the wound had looked no worse this morning, the discoloration was now spreading further towards Rodney's knee. Concerned, he checked Rodney's temperature and wasn't surprised to find that his fever had risen again. Sighing, he drew blood for another test, hoping that the infection hadn't reached Rodney's system yet.

Everything just seemed to come together that night. He didn't think that Rodney could stand to wait until morning. Waiting the night might kill him if the infection reached his blood, if it hadn't already. He hated that he couldn't do more for his friend. He should have spent more time doing research into a cure for the bacteria. Instead he had been busy working with Radek. There simply hadn't been enough time to do it all. The blood test was going to be done in a bit less than an hour, and then he would know more.

Until then he could still hope. He was about to walk over to the lab, handing in the sample for immediate analysis, when he recalled that the doctor who did the bulk of the lab work on Atlantis was missing off word. What was her name again? Another person who probably didn't deserve what was happened to her, Carson thought grimly. He activated his com and called Dr. Viro down to the lab, asking her to run the tests, as he was busy himself. Radek was probably already asking himself what was taking him so long.

TBC