Dawning
"What have they done to ya Rodney…"
Examining Rodney was something Carson Beckett would have gladly passed on to a member of his staff. It was a question of self-preservation akin to selfishness. He didn't want the memory, but Carson knew Rodney was not comfortable with other doctors and he was not a selfish man. Certainly not one to renege on his obligations; be they medical or moral. That is why he found himself describing the wounds and bruises that were scattered across the scientist's body.
"Note the contusion covering the patient's left bicep. A laceration inside the elbow…"
He kept it clinical, kept himself detached. He saw that something had breached the epidermis and dermis. Saw that it had not only breached it but taken it away completely. Realised that the something had most likely been teeth.
"…the laceration seems to have been disinfected. No need for stitches, it'll need to be dressed. A laceration on the forearm, the wrist and the hand will require the same treatment."
He examined one side of Rodney's body then the other. Along the way, he found many bruises and wounds. Although the wounds on his arms had obviously been made by teeth, the ones that covered the rest of his body left Carson perplexed as to their provenance. It seemed like the skin had been pulled away. Like Rodney had been…peeled. That was the closest Carson could come to making sense of it. It disturbed him greatly having eaten an orange, or some fruit similar to it, earlier. He pictured his hands taking away the layer of skin, carefully tearing it away from the fruit's flesh and he saw the missing skin on Rodney's flesh and...
"Oh dear…" he groaned, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes.
When it was determined that Rodney had suffered no life threatening injuries he was left to sleep off the sedative that had been administered in the Jumper.
Carson instructed a nurse to keep a close watch on the unconscious man. Giving the instruction was unnecessary, Rodney's condition would be closely monitored, but familiarity was too much of a solace not to make use of it. He left the infirmary and made his way towards the meeting room where he would have to relate his findings.
As he neared the room, he could hear voices raised in anger. He entered and was not surprised to find John pacing the room, as Ronon, Teyla, Lorne, and Zelenka looked on. Elizabeth stood, the chair behind her having seemingly rolled away when she pushed herself off. Carson sat beside Zelenka who offered him a small smile in acknowledgement.
"All the time we wasted, Elizabeth! It might be too late now! We might've really lost him!"
"It's not too late, John! We found him! He's here, and we'll do all we can for him. He will get better!"
All the anger, the fight, left John in a second. He visibly gave up, embodying defeat.
"You haven't seen him. You didn't hear him. He's…I don't think he's even there anymore."
No, Elizabeth had not really seen him. Only glimpsed at an unconscious form on a gurney before it was hurriedly taken to the infirmary. What she had seen were the faces of the people who had brought him back, and what a story they had been telling.
She had been surprised to see such dejection on the features of the primary search team. Rodney was back, albeit injured, but here with them, in Atlantis. Safe and sound.
She quickly came to realise that while he was safe he was not exactly sound. As John explained what had happened on the planet, she recognised that this outcome was much worse than what she had anticipated. Of course, they had assumed he would be injured in some shape or form but…
"He's crazy. He's lost his mind!" John gave a small mirthless laugh. "Rodney's lost his mind! No more genius…it's just…" He made a gesture to indicate something disappearing out of thin air. "It's just gone…do you know what that'll do to him? What it has done to him?"
"I do." It had been a rhetorical question but Elizabeth answered it just the same before silence fell upon the room, all contemplating the horror of the situation.
"It is not him. Not anymore. He is…in Rodney's body but…not Rodney…" Zelenka spoke in a soft voice and yet it was deafening. The myriad of emotion contained in that comment would have turned a sigh into a roar.
Her eyes settling on the Czech, Elizabeth noted Carson's presence. She hadn't even seen him come in, which indicated how deeply disturbed she was.
"Carson. How is he?"
The dreaded question. He didn't want to say. He wanted to run out of the room and hide. He couldn't sit there, in this conventional setting and tell them about such gruesome things. But all the eyes were trained on him and he knew he had to speak eventually.
"He's…still sedated. There seems to be no serious injuries, nothing broken, no internal bleeding. He wasn't dehydrated, not suffering from malnutrition. In fact, I would say he's healthier than he's ever been, his blood pressure is within normal range, he's lost weight…"
"He had blood all over his clothes!" It was not the first time any of them had seen a bloodied Rodney. The previous times were after he'd been chased by the Wraith or attacked by something or other. This was…different. Koyla and Atlantis takeover different.
Even after all that had happened on Taulouse, they still held to the belief that Rodney was fine, it was just shock. That if they only gave it a few days he would be back to his annoying self. John wanted to hear that Rodney had been doped, drugged out of his mind even though he knew it was not true. Rodney's eyes had been focused, his movements precise, his speech clear, before he became emotional.
"There was. He…there's…" Carson breathed in deeply and let it all out in one quick burst of words. "He's been bitten and scratched very deeply. There's a lot of skin missing but no infections. The wounds have been cleaned and properly treated."
"Do you mean to say that something on Taulouse attacked him?" Teyla's eyes shone with concern.
"I…well…this is only speculative but…I…due to the placement of the wounds it would be safe to say that…" He couldn't say it, couldn't voice his thoughts! It would only make it true. As long as it stayed in his head, it stayed in the realms of fantasy, sick and disturbing fantasy.
Elizabeth looked sympathetically at Carson but spoke with authority. "Carson? Say it, we need to know." They needed to hear this, to know what was causing the usually forthcoming and professional doctor to tergiversate in such a way.
"It would seem that the wounds were inflicted by Rodney himself."
Once again, silence fell upon the room only to be broken by a murmur originating from Elizabeth.
"My God…"