The Puppet Master
Chapter Twenty Four - Straitjacket
For nearly twenty minutes McKay had been in complete control of his body. He directed Zelenka with ease, the two falling into a regular pattern, a mix of banter and brainstorming. Between Rodney's directions and Zelenka's able fingers the device was slowly taking shape, now forming a half shell lying against the trolley top like a strange, metallic egg. Progress on its innards was proving slow, the pieces small and intricately linked. Elizabeth might have taken time to marvel at the technology, had she been watching. Instead she stood, resting one hip against a nearby bed, her arms folded, dividing her attention between Beckett and his patient. Her concern was mirrored by one, and pointedly ignored by the other.
"For crying out loud, Radek – not like that. It'll fall apart the minute a charge is sent through it."
Zelenka muttered under his breath. "Ah, I forget, Rodney, I have never before handled a computer. It is alien instrument to me. I am complete novice, amateur, child -"
"Sarcasm," McKay interrupted. "Not your forte. Now concentrate, I don't want a loose connection to be the thing that leaves me in a straitjacket."
"Ah!" A look of amusement spread across the Czech's face, a look he completely failed to hide by turning an intent gaze to the artefact's innards. "Now that is an idea, yes?"
Zelenka missed the brief look of fear that flitted across McKay's face – but Elizabeth didn't, and neither did Sheppard. The Major took a step closer to the bed, resting his hand loosely on the railing, a few inches from McKay's own wrist.
She took a closer look at the scientist. Fine lines of pain creased his eyes and mouth, and the tightly wound muscles in his shoulders and neck radiated tension. The pause between biting comments had lengthened, the scientist's speech had started to slur, and the colour was leeching from his face. His right hand fought the cuffs to direct Zelenka, his index finger pointing and waving enthusiastically at regular intervals. The other was clenched into a white knuckled fist that dug into the bed, forming a dint in the mattress. Over recent minutes that dint had grown increasingly pronounced.
"Not that I want to interrupt," Beckett said firmly, "but can I take a minute to check on my patient?"
"I'm fine," McKay retorted, without lifting his gaze from the device.
"No, you're not," Carson said, assuming his authoritative doctor's voice. For a gentle man, he could be surprisingly strong when it came to refusing the demands of a certain physicist. "I don't like these fluctuations in your EEG, Rodney."
"Don't panic, Carson. I can handle it."
Elizabeth frowned, her disquiet growing. "Is Kezan fighting back?"
"A little." Irritation tinged McKay's voice. "Like I said, I'll cope." He pointedly looked away from the medic. "Zelenka, I think we need to go back and look at –"
"Rodney," she interrupted, straightening, "we need to be certain Kezan doesn't realise what we're doing."
"In case he panics?" McKay snorted softly. "Because Kezan's normally so level headed."
"McKay –" Sheppard said, warningly.
"I'm f-fine. Dammit." He closed his eyes tightly, then opened them when Carson moved towards the bed. "I know we have to be careful, alright? But this isn't anything worse than the first night with him in my head."
Kate, sitting on a stool beside the wall, looked up. "What was that like?"
McKay's distraction prompted an usually candid reply, without the distain he had so far shown to Kate's advances. "Like someone constantly whispering. Feeling claustrophobic. Seeing…" his hand bobbed against the restraints, "shadows." He raised his head defiantly. "I know how close he can come, and this isn't it. Now if you'll all stop distracting me, then I can get back to –"
He cut off with a short gasp, leaning forward in the bed to press his weight onto his arms. Sheppard moved forward to place a hand on the scientist's back.
"McKay –"
"I'm…" Another gasp. "Dammit!" His head suddenly shot up, gaze fixing on Carson. "Zap me again."
Carson blinked, confused. "What?"
"Zap me. Do the, thingy, the Cuckoo's Nest!" His right hand tried to do his patented snap-pop finger movement, but was held back by the restraints. "Hit me with another shock."
Beckett was already shaking his head. "No. It's too dangerous. The treatments have to be staged, Rodney, it's not just like flipping a light switch –"
"I know that," McKay snapped back, his voice tinged with hysteria. "But I'm not finished! I need more time, you can give me –"
"No." Beckett swallowed, then continued determinedly: "Aside from the time needed for another dose of muscle relaxants to take effect, I don't know what that kind of repeated shock could do to your system! I don't know whether it would hold Kezan back – but I do know that there's a good likelihood it could do you permanent damage!"
"Listen to him, Rodney," Elizabeth urged, resting one hand on the mattress by McKay's feet. She shared his panic, and struggled with her own desire to simply say yes. "We can try again in a few hours."
"No, we can't –"
"Do you think he would hurt you?" Kate broke in, alarmed.
McKay glanced at her, looking helpless. "I don't know. I don't think so but, I –" He broke off with another gasp, bending over and touching his chin to his chest.
Beckett moved to his side, placing one hand on the back of McKay's neck, and beckoning Celia with the other. "Just bear with me, Rodney. I'll have to put you out for a little while –"
"No." His head shot up, and Elizabeth found herself the object of a desperately intense gaze. "Please, Elizabeth, don't –" He broke off, words dying unspoken.
Don't make me go back there.
She heard him through the silence. Placing her hand on his bare ankle she felt his fear, his skin cold and clammy to the touch. She caught his gaze and said, forcefully: "We'll get him out, Rodney. We won't leave you trapped."
"No way," Sheppard said, from the side, quietly. "Nobody gets left behind."
He stared into her eyes for a long moment, his breath coming in quick, frantic gulps. Standing beside the bed, Celia administered a new drug into the IV, a sedative that took quick effect. McKay's body started to slump, his head dropping, eyes glazing over. In less than a minute he was unconscious, resting awkwardly against the mattress.
Carson rearranged the physicist's limbs into a more comfortable position, lowering the bed and plumping the pillows. Then he took a step back, watching the monitors closely.
"EEG trace is rising." His voice bore a slight tremor, quickly hidden. "I want to do a PET scan before he wakes up. See if we can't discover why Kezan is always in control."
Elizabeth took a step away from the bed and glanced at Sheppard. John still had his hand on the scientist's shoulder, and his face was pale and drawn. "Major."
He looked up, his composure shaken. "That wasn't fun."
She sighed, deeply. "Not for any of us."
He glanced towards the Czech. "How far did you get?"
Zelenka frowned, laying down a tiny set of pliers on the trolley top. "I am beginning to see how this device functioned, but its inner workings are a thing of art. Alone, my progress will be slow. With Rodney able to remember its dismantling, it will go quicker. Two of these sessions, perhaps."
Elizabeth was aware of Beckett's grimace without needing to look. "Doctor?"
"My position hasn't changed, Doctor Weir. I don't like doing this. With repeated doses the risk of permanent damage only increases."
"So does our ability to help him," Sheppard pointed out.
The Scotsman nodded, his expression grim. "I realise that, Major. I'll continue the treatment, but there has to be a cooling off period between each one. In another twelve hours we can try again."
"And if Kezan realises what we're doing?" she asked. "Do we know what damage, if any, he can inflict on Rodney?"
The doctor spread his hands helplessly. "I wish I could tell you."
"Perhaps we should try talking to him," Kate suggested.
"Negotiate?" Sheppard scoffed.
The blonde glanced at him, pursing her lips. "Kezan is, essentially, a person like you or I, Major. His original body may have died but he still exhibits all the emotions any other person would." She glanced at Weir. "There are two lives at stake here, after all."
"Hardly," Sheppard shot back. "Like you said, Kezan's dead. This thing in McKay is just a computer program."
She tilted her head to one side, eyeing the Major carefully. "Do you truly believe that?"
Elizabeth stepped between the pair, her hands coming to rest on her hips. "Our first priority is to separate the two," she said, firmly. "I'm sorry, Dr Heightmeyer, but any conversation with Kezan puts this plan in jeopardy."
"I am aware of that," Kate began, "But I believe I can minimise the risk."
"Minimise is not the same as eliminate," she replied simply, then softened. "Without complete honesty with him, I'm not sure whether you would learn anything."
The psychologist hesitated, then sighed, admitting: "That's true. But I still don't want us to forget that essentially there is a sick and terrified young man's life at stake."
"McKay's life is at stake," Sheppard shot back, in a low hiss.
"I've not forgotten that," she replied, stiffly. "But things aren't as black and white as you might like to keep them, Major. Kezan is not an enemy, despite it being easy to think of him as one."
Sheppard pressed his mouth into a hard line and turned away, moving back to the bed.
Elizabeth sighed, placing a hand on Kate's arm. "He's concerned for Rodney."
"I know," Kate replied, and smiled sadly. "But he has a tendency to think he's the only one."
