Chapter 2
About forty minutes later, Beckett raced into the lab with a gurney-pushing medical team hot on his heels. McKay immediately moved out of the way so the doctor could kneel beside the major's still figure. "Has there been any change?" he asked as he bent over Sheppard and began taking his pulse.
"Same as I told you on the radio. Pulse is very weak and very rapid. He hasn't moved so much as a muscle since it happened." McKay reported. "We couldn't find a blanket, so we covered him with our jackets."
"Ya did fine." Beckett swiftly began cutting Sheppard's shirt open and attaching the leads from the heart monitor to his chest, while one of the nurses started an IV. It seemed like only seconds before they had him hooked up and ready to transport. The blipping of the monitor was so fast, it reminded McKay of a runaway freight train. How could anyone's heart beat that fast for that long?
"All right, let's move him." McKay helped them lift Sheppard to the gurney. He then backed out of the way so Beckett could adjust the IV line and monitor wires. He watched as the doctor then made one last check on Sheppard's vital signs. Satisfied, he nodded toward the door of the lab.
McKay and Zelenka followed closely behind the team pushing the gurney to the door. As the gurney with Sheppard crossed over the threshold, all the panels, consoles, and lights in the room immediately went dark. McKay and Zelenka paused and looked back into the room and then at each other.
---------------------------------------
As Weir entered the infirmary, she saw McKay and Zelenka standing around the entrance to the treatment area. McKay was pacing nervously and wringing his hands, while Zelenka just stood with his eyes closed, rubbing his forehead.
"How is Major Sheppard?" she asked.
McKay just shook his head. "We don't know anything yet. Beckett's still with him. Elizabeth...it's my fault. I told him it was safe . . . I told him I was positive it was safe, when of course there was no way I could know if it was safe, but in my arrogant desire to find out - "
"Rodney!" Elizabeth interrupted. "We're not here to assign blame and you can give me the details later. I got the basics from your conversation with Beckett. I just want to know if Major Sheppard's going to be okay."
As if on cue, Carson Beckett joined them. Having overheard Weir's last statement, he began to address it. "I'm not sure I can answer that just yet. He's still unconscious . . . completely unresponsive, actually. His pulse and blood pressure are very high right now and that's got me quite concerned. Other than that, I can't find anythin' wrong. We're about to start running some tests . . . blood work, X-rays, CAT scan, MRI . . . basically, anything that might give us a hint as to what's goin' on. That'll take most of the day. You guys might as well run along and not be standin' here underfoot."
McKay looked at Zelenka. "We could go back to the lab and look around. Maybe we can find something helpful."
"No!" snapped Weir. "I don't want to risk this happening to anyone else. I don't think anyone needs to go near that place until we figure this out."
McKay shook his head. "Elizabeth, we have to go back. We may be able to find something that could help the major. Nothing will happen to us - Sheppard seems to be the only one that can activate anything in that room. Believe me, I tried repreatedly before we drug him down there." Elizabeth still looked uncertain. "Elizabeth, please let me do this. It may be his only chance. I can analyze the computer readings from . . . whatever it was that happened. That could help."
Weir looked at McKay's pleading expression. She glanced at Zelenka, who calmly nodded to her. Thank goodness at least one of them was in control. "All right Rodney, but you go slowly, be careful, and if anything so much as flickers, you hightail it out of there, is that clear?"
McKay nodded enthusiastically. "We'll let you know what we find." He turned and practically ran out of the room. Zelenka touched her arm briefly, but firmly and said, "I'll make sure he takes care." And then they were gone.
When McKay and Zelenka arrived back at the lab, they paused outside the door before going in. They were both trying to rid themselves of the image of Sheppard's pale, limp body on the floor of the room. McKay shuddered slightly. "Let's do this," he said. The doors were open. Apparently they never closed after the group left earlier. McKay stepped one foot into the room. No lights. He brought the other foot in and looked around expectantly. Still nothing.
"Face it Rodney. As much as it hurts to admit, Major Sheppard has it and you don't. If you'll actually let me in the room, we can start getting this stuff together." He began to mumble to himself in his native language as he stepped around McKay.
The two men began glumly disconnecting instruments and packing them into their cases. Once that task was complete, McKay searched the room for any inscriptions in Ancient that might shed some light on whatever had happened to Sheppard. He found a couple of panels in the contol consoles with writing and proceeded to take digital photos he could examine later. The two scientists looked at the pile of equipment to be carried back. McKay looked at Zelenka. "Do you want to call for a taxi or should I?"
Zelenka sighed. "I'll let you have the honors."
Twenty-four hours later, Beckett discovered Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard's team loitering around in the infirmary, waiting on news. Beckett looked exhausted. His eyes were weary and had dark circles underneath them. He sighed and held up his hand as they began to barrage him with question. When they had quieted down, he filled them in.
"I don't know much more than I did yesterday, I'm afraid. His pulse and blood pressure soar sky high for two to three hours and then plummet to near coma levels for two to three hours. Then we start all over. Blood work is all normal. CAT scan and MRI show nothing. The only other problem is the EEG. At first, the readings were all over the place, showing a lot more activity than normal and almost no perceivable pattern. Since yesterday, it has fallen in sync with his blood pressure and pulse. When they are high, his EEG looks a seismograph during amajor earthquake. Then, when they drop, the EEG levels drop off just as sharply. I've never seen anythin' like it. I've been through every medical book and journal that I brought with me . . . nothing even close. I just . . . don't know what to do."
They stood in silence for a few minutes. Weir turned to McKay. "Did you and Zelenka find anything in the lab yesterday?"
"I"m not sure yet. We found some Ancient writing, which we are still translating. We're still trying to anaylze the readings we took during . . . the event. There are some odd energy spikes and we're trying to isolate the source and cause. I think there may be some answers there, we just haven't got it all put together yet. Radek is working on it now. I told him I'd be back with a report on how the major is doing. He's . . . worried."
"As we all are," said Teyla.
------------------------------------------
Three days after Sheppard collapsed in the Ancient lab, Beckett left his office to find McMay staked out beside the major's bed. Sheppard had remained unconscious and unmoving the entire time. He lay perfectly still, IV line on the right side of his bed and heart monitor beeping away on the left side. In addition, electrodes connected Sheppard's head to an EEG machine sitting next to the IV pole. McKay sat in a chair just a few feet from the heart monitor, working feverishly on his laptop and muttering to himself. He looked almost as tired as Carson Beckett felt.
"Rodney?" McKay looked up at Beckett and rubbed the aching muscles in the back of his neck. "How long have you been here?"
McKay looked at his watch. "Oh, a couple of hours I think." He got up and set the laptop in the chair so he could stretch. Yawning, he walked over to where Beckett stood at the foot of the bed. "I don't suppose you know anything new?"
"No," Beckett sighed dejectedly. "Did you and Zelenka find anything?"
"Not yet. I still think the answer is there somewhere. Did you ever look at something so long that, after a while, you're don't feel like you're really seeing it any more? That's where I'm at. I thought I'd get out of the lab a while and see if I could clear my head."
Beckett glanced at the laptop on the chair and then back at McKay. "And yet you brought you're laptop."
"Different problem entirely. I have to work on something. You know I can't just . . . " McKay's voice trailed off and he appeared to be focusing on something past Beckett. "Is he . . . " McKay began walking toward Sheppard's bed.
When Beckett looked at the major, he noticed what McKay was excited about. Sheppard's eyes were definitely doing a fluttering act. Beckett moved to the other side of the bed. He looked over at the monitor to see that, for the first time since this whole thing began, Sheppard's vitals were actually close to being normal. They watched as the major struggled to open his eyes.
Beckett leaned in slightly. "Major Sheppard? It's Dr. Beckett. Can you hear me?"
As Sheppard's eyes finally opened, they moved around the room, trying to focus and take in his surroundings. He moved his mouth as if he was trying to say something, but nothing much came out. Beckett gently lifted his head a few inches and placed a straw to his lips. "Take a sip, major, but not much."
Sheppard drew in a few sips of water. Beckett pulled the cup away and eased his head back down to the pillow. "That's good, lad. Now how do you feel?"
Sheppard looked up at him and smiled. "I'm good." It came out scratchy and low, his voice still not back to normal. "How are you?" he asked.
Beckett looked a little suprised at the question. "I'm okay."
McKay gently put his hand on Sheppard's shoulder. "Look, major, I'm sorry about what happened. I really didn't think anyone would get hurt. I guess I . . .misjudged . . . the potential for danger."
Sheppard looked up at McKay and smiled. "That's okay. It was still kind of fun."
McKay and Beckett looked at one another in disbelief. They had both been waiting on a blast of insults and death threats from Sheppard, not immediate forgiveness. Something was very wrong.
Beckett looked down at Sheppard. "Lad, do you know who we are?"
Sheppard rolled his eyes. "Well, duh! You're Dr. Beckett and he's Dr. McKay. You ask silly questions."
McKay and Beckett were getting more nervous by the minute. Sheppard moved his hand and the IV line pulled slightly. "OW!" He looked at the IV line entering the back of his right hand, touching it gently and rubbing the tape. "This hurts! I want you to take it out." He held his hand out to Beckett and waited expectantly.
Beckett looked totally confused. "Well, lad, I . . .er . . . I wasn't going to - "
"Please take it out. I don't like it, it hurts. Please!" He kept thrusting his hand out to Beckett, waiting on him to remove the IV.
"Well, you're vitals are strong . . . and you're conscious now, so . . . I guess I could remove it." Beckett removed the tape anchoring the IV. Sheppard hollered, "Ouch!" each time he did. He then pulled the IV needle out and covered it with a small piece of gauze. "Hold this," he told Sheppard. "Put a little pressure on it. I'll get you a band-aid in a second."
Sheppard held the gauze in place for a couple of seconds and then lifted it to look underneath. He seemed to be amazed. He turned to McKay and showed him the small wound on his hand and the blood-spotted gauze peeled back above it. "Look. It's blood. My blood. " He replaced the gauze on the wound and grinned. McKay was too shocked to say anything. He just continued to stand there with his mouth open.
Beckett returned and took Sheppard's hand. He removed the gauze and checked the puncture wound. Satisfied that the bleeding was minimal, he placed a band-aid on the injury. Sheppard looked at it. "Cool! Look!" he proudly showed McKay. "I got a band-aid!" He tried to sit up, but the heart and EEG monitor wires pulled on him.. He looked frustrated. "I don't want these on me. Could you take these off too?" He began pulled on the electrodes attached to his scalp.
Beckett looked shell-shocked. He just couldn't take this weird turn of events in fast enough. He finally got himself together and took hold of the major's wrist. "I need you to stop doin' that. If you'll be good and sit still, I'll take all these things off you, lad. But you're goin' to have to sit still and quit pullin' on them." Sheppard nodded and put his hands down, so Beckett began to disconnect the EEG electrodes.
Sheppard looked strained. "Could you please go faster? I gotta pee," he said as heplayed nervously with the edge of the sheet.
"Okay," replied Beckett. And he did move faster. Soon, he had all the electrodes removed. They got an "Ouch," each time he pulled a heart monitor electrode from Sheppard's chest, since it pulled out a few chest hairs. "Major, we have to remove the catheter first." Beckett quickly pulled the privacy screens closed and removed the catheter from a squirming and complaining patient. He couldn't help but think this was getting weirder by the minute.
Beckett motioned for McKay, who hadn't uttered a word in several minutes, to help him get Sheppard up. Each one took an arm and helped the major get to his feet. As Beckett had expected, Sheppard's legs buckled almost immediately. "WOW! That's weird," commented Sheppard as the wave of dizziness washed over him. They continued to support him as he got his balance and some strength returned to his legs. The two men helped the major to the facilities. He was moving more on his own by the time they got to the door and began to enter the room.
"Do you need any help?" asked Beckett.
Sheppard looked offended. "No! I can do it by myself." And he closed the door.
McKay looked at Beckett. "Do you want to call Elizabeth, or shall I?"
"I don't want to call her at all." Beckett sighed heavily. "I guess I will." He hit the button to his headset. "Dr. Weir, this is Dr. Beckett. We need you in the infirmary."
Weir's voice answered almost immediately. "Carson, it's Elizabeth. Is John awake?"
Beckett looked at McKay and shrugged. "In a manner of speaking. You need to get down here. I think we may have a problem."
McKay just shook his head in amazement. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have a gift for the understatement? Jeez, we may have a problem? I think it's more like we are in the middle of a complete cataclysmic disaster!"
TBC