Disclaimer see Prologue

Chapter 3

Dr. Alley followed Velig down a flight of stairs. They entered a small room.

"These are my assistants. Also two very qualified healers, Kwarom and Rujven. They will be working with me today."

The two men bowed in the traditional Ymanhin greeting. Dr. Alley returned the greeting, not sure what else was expected of him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." he said.

"We are always pleased to have guests." Kwarom replied with a smile.

Velig handed a bundle of clothes over to him.

"You can change into these in the room over there."

Dr. Alley did as he was asked. He dressed in the Ymanhin versions of scrubs, a tunic like blue clothing, like Velig and her assistants were wearing. He stepped out of the changing room and the other three healers were already waiting for him.

"It's this way." Velig gestured towards a corridor branching off to their left.

Dr. Alley followed the Ymanhin through a blue-ish force field that separated the corridor from the room. He could feel the burn on his skin as he walked through it.

Velig answered his unspoken question.

"The field is used for disinfection. We will pass more on our way to the treatment suite. I;m sure you use means of disinfection as well."

"Of course we do. But we use chemical disinfectants. I'm curious as to how this disinfectant field works." Dr. Alley said.

"I'm sure something can be arranged with your engineers." Velig replied as they stepped into an open room. "Here we are." She indicated two gurneys at the far side of the room. On them were bulky constructions, reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi.

"They are in the process of being brought out of stasis. It's automated." She walked over to the gurneys and checked computerized panels giving the vital stats of the occupants.

"All is going well. They should be revived in fifteen minutes. We took the liberty of removing any foreign objects while they were still in stasis. This leads to far speedier recovery."

"Foreign objects?" Dr. Alley was puzzled.

"Yes, this one." Velig indicated one of the stasis chambers. They were closed, so Dr. Alley could not see which of his colleagues occupied it. "Had a bullet imbedded in his back. We removed it yesterday and temporarily fixed the wound with a web material that will decay naturally within the next few days."

Noting Dr. Alley's blank expression, she explained further. "It provides a support for the work of the nano bots and prevents most of the further blood loss when we revive him today. We used a similar technique in treating shrapnel injuries from the blast."

Rodney's tension was growing as he waited impatiently for something, anything to happen in the room below. Finally, after what had seemed like hours, Velig and another Ymanhin, followed by Dr. Alley were wheeling a gurney into the room. The body on it was covered by a light blue sheet, but the pale, almost milky white face virtually leapt up at him. John. He had not dared to hope to see this face again and yet it had haunted him in his dreams for the past two months.

John's face was still, mask like and unmoving. The beautiful features were marred by the signs of injury, purplish bruises shone through the pale skin on the left side of his face, a long cut traced from his right temple down to his jaw. The cut looked raw and open, but there was no blood, someone had cleaned up his face.

Rodney felt sick as he watched in horrid fascination as Carson was also brought into the room. He was in a similar state, sporting bruises and cuts to his face.

When Velig and Dr. Alley turned John over on his stomach. Rodney instinctively took a step back. Squarely on his back, was a wound, covered in an off-white fibre. Blood stained the edges of the fibre.

It came all rushing back at him. John collapsing to the ground, a bloodstain spreading over his back. Spreading far too fast. The helplessness over not being able to do anything to stop it. The feeling of the warm sticky substance on his hand. Then the explosion and the wall coming down.

Rodney tumbled backwards and stormed from the room. He could not do it anymore, watching was too much. The stark images of John's injured body brought back the memories he had sought so hard to bury. Rodney leaned against the next wall and sank to the floor, back against the wall. Head in his hand, he tried to get his breathing under control. John was going to be all right, he told himself. He and Carson were going to be all right and soon they would be able to leave this planet, never to go back again. Things would be the way they used to be. A small voice inside his head warned him, that there was something wrong, that things would not be all right, but he ignored it, too emotionally exhausted to care.

Two hours later, the healers had finished their job. Carson and John were resting in a room in the medical centre, their injuries treated as far as possible. More work was left to the nano bots that were used extensively by the Ymanhin healers to repair injuries quickly.

"Is there anything else I should know?" Dr. Alley asked Velig and her assistants as they were finishing up.

"You know most already, the shrapnel injuries and the gunshot injury were the most serious wounds. Both have suffered concussions, but luckily not more severe head injuries. We'll let the concussions heal on their own. The nano bots in their blood will speed up the process a bit and the pain medication I've given them will leave them in not too much discomfort. You should be able to take them back to your planet in a few days." Velig answered his question.

Dr. Alley nodded, glad at the good news. His initial impression of the Ymanhin healer hadn't been too good, but now working with her, had been a rather positive experience. She seemed to know what she was doing and the advanced medical technology was truly a blessing. The gunshot wound that Major Sheppard had suffered to the back could have been very problematic had he been in the Atlantis infirmary, not the mention the large blast fragment that had struck Dr. Beckett in the lower abdomen. If he wouldn't have bled to death on Atlantis, he would have had a least a lengthy and painful recovery, but thanks to their allies, both men would be mobile again within a few days.

Lost in thought, he lingered before following Rujven and Kwarom back down the corridor they had come from. Before walking through the blue disinfecting field he hesitated for a moment, idly wondering how the technology behind it worked. That was when he heard Rujven and Kwarom talking.

"Remember to tell the Atlantian about their memory, otherwise they are going to get suspicious right away."

"I will, but back me up. You think they are up to it?"

"Sure. Velig is one of the best."

Once they were silent again, Dr. Alley stepped through the blue field, the buzzing sound announcing his arrival.

Rujven turned to him, smiling.

"Dr. Alley, one more thing that I forgot to mention earlier. The long stasis period sometimes causes memory loss in the first few days. It could take your men a few days to get their memories back in order. Don't be alarmed if that happens."

"No. Thank you for telling me." Dr. Alley returned to smile, wondering what the two aliens had meant in their earlier conversation and what their reason was for lying to him. What were they hiding? What reason did they have to hide something? There was nothing they had to gain from Atlantis that they couldn't get.

"Are you all right?" A female voice intruded on his dark thoughts.

Rodney looked up and saw a Ymanhin woman dressed in a style similar to Velig standing above him.

"You must be one of the Atlantians. Are you worried about your friends?" She asked sweetly.

Rodney nodded.

"I understand, but you need not be. Velig is an excellent healer and the prospects of recovery from your friends' injuries are good. But it must have been hard not having known for such a long time." She said.

Rodney took a closer look at her for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Gotria, I was with your group when you were observing the procedure. When you suddenly left, I followed you. I wanted to give some time, but I was concerned that something was wrong."

"That's nice of you." Rodney found himself saying, too worn out to even snark at the girl. "But I don't need any help, I'm all right. It has just been a long day." He scrambled to his feet.

"It's this way." Gotria held him by the arm, pointing him in the direction he had come from.

"Thank you." Rodney said, not really meaning it. He felt tired beyond belief. He needed a coffee. Was there coffee on Yamin? Considering his luck, there probably wasn't. Another one of these damn tea planets.

As soon as Gotria was out of sight, Rodney walked into the opposite direction. Following the exit signs, he reached the outside of the building fairly quickly. From there to the next underground transports station, it was literally only a few steps. Rodney had a plan. His inner suspicion would not rest until he had more information about what had happened. Ever since his arrival, something had felt odd. Velig, Wam Vter, they all had said a lot and at the same time had told him nothing. Now he was going back. Wam Vter had said he was there to answer their questions while they were on the planet. The sun was still well up in the sky, and even though Rodney had no idea what the local time was, he was sure that Wam Vter was still in his office.

The subway car softly set into motion and Rodney relaxed a bit, for the first time since leaving the medical centre. He wasn't sure what he was doing himself. It wasn't anything tangible that he was after, more like a phantom that haunted his own memories, made manifest by his suspicions which continued to be fuelled by the strange behaviour by everyone around him. He didn't trust Wam Vter, but he was his only port of call on this world, he had access to information, to reports about the attack and the investigation into it. If Rodney had any chance of getting closer to the truth, whatever it was, he had to go through the Ymanhin liaison officer.

Rodney was lost in thought as the subway car moved through the city, which was far from dead underground. Not blessed with a big landmass, the Ymanhin had populated every inhabitable square mile of land, stretching high into the sky, as well as under the ground.

Rodney nearly missed the stop in the ministerial district, which was where Wam Vter's office was. The car stopped and he left the subway. Climbing the stairs up to the surface, he caught a familiar face out of the corner of his eye. The blue tinged face and the slanted eyes looked familiar, triggering his memory. The face struck something in him, but the synapses fired into nothing. He turned to get a closer look, but she was gone. He shook his head and proceeded to the surface. A minute later he had forgotten to odd encounter and was trying to find the foreign ministry, a building which he had never visited by foot, always by shuttle. As he made his way through the busy streets that were owned by the pedestrians, he was aware of the looks he was drawing. His hair and skin colour were immediately identifying him as a foreigner.

"There you go. I said you'd be walking out of here on the leg. Come back if it still hurts in two days." Deakon injected some of his home-made pain killer into his patient's outstretched arm.

"You are good the go. Payment as discussed. Close the door on your way out." The man rolled his partially torn sleeve back down and handed a paper bag to Deakon. Deakon took a quick look at the contents, and then nodded. His patient looked relieved, then hastily limped towards the dented metal door that led outside.

The metal door slammed shut. Deakon leaned back and relaxed. Amber light flooded in through the window. He opened the paper back that his last patient had left behind. A bottle of fruit juice, siyih. Siyih was very rich in vitamins, a rare item here on Shukur.

He shouldn't be here, Deakon thought. He had never claimed that he was innocent. Those five patients did die, there was no denying that. But Deakon thought of himself as merely ahead of his time, not as a criminal that belonged on a prison planet - moon, he corrected himself - for the rest of his life. Deakon knew success. Before he had convicted and sentenced to life on Shukur , he had been a highly respected healer, heralded for his spectacular results even in severe cases. He had pioneered several new approaches to treating common ailments more effectively. It had been his inventive methods that had broken his neck in the end when patients had started to die. An unfortunate mistake.

Banging and screaming on the metal door caught at his attention.

"Deakon, Deakon, open up!" A ragged voice he didn't know demanded from outside.

Deakon wondered who it might be, he had seen his last patient for the day, unless there had been some emergency. With the many gang wars that raged on Shukur, there were often emergencies during the night. Reluctantly, he moved towards the door.

"Deakon! Hurry up, it's getting heavy outside here!" The voice was back, more angry this time.

Deakon quickly unlocked the door, carefully sliding it open an inch.

"You Deakon?" A rough looking man, matching his voice was standing in front of his door. Four others were with him, carrying two crates shaped like coffins. Deakon felt for his side arm.

"Yes, I'm Deakon." He answered wondering who didn't know him. Everyone in five sectors knew him. Not that his reputation was always a good one.

"We have a delivery for you." The man in charge motioned in the coffin like crates. "Open up."

"I'm not an undertaker. Burry your dead yourself or throw them down a ditch like everyone else around here, I don't care." He shouted.

"They're not dead, they are live ones and they're for you." The man, at least twice the weight of Deakon, leaned against the door from the outside, pushing Deakon back inside. The other four men with the crates followed, setting them down in the main room, with a stunned Deakon looking on.

Inside one of the crates, something started to beep alarmingly.

TBC