APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING part 4
"Colonel!" hissed Rodney in what he thought was a whisper. "According to this," he proffered the lifesigns detector, "We we should be right on top of him." He became aware that Sheppard had come to a standstill.
"What? What? What is it?" he asked, then he too looked up. In front, and slightly above them, was a web. Beautiful, scintillating rainbow coloured in the dim light, but a web nonetheless." Do you think that Beckett's caught in that?" he whispered, horrified.
"I don't think he's caught in it, Rodney, I think he made it." At McKay's horrified stare, he pointed upwards. "Look."
Rodney followed the line of light that the flashlight of Sheppard's P90 caused, sucking in his breath at what he saw. Behind him, he could hear Hudson and Rowley do the same. There, suspended from the ceiling, poised on the web was Carson Beckett. Or something that looked like Beckett anyway. He was looking down at them as if they were a tasty treat. Rodney backed away, hurriedly, colliding with Rowley as he did so.
"Well, that would explain why Carson didn't show up on the normal scans," said Sheppard still focusing his light on the Beckett creature.
For a few moments there was a kind of standoff while Sheppard and his team looked at Beckett, and Beckett returned their stares unwaveringly, then the thing on the web started down at an amazing speed. Sheppard looked quickly around, realising that this corridor was not the best place to defend. He decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and that they would find somewhere further back where they could hold the creature off until a medical team and some tranquillizer darts could get here.
"Rodney, RUN!" he shouted urgently."
McKay needed no further encouragement, turning and sprinting back the way they had come, as fast as he could.
oOo
The gate loomed out of the deepening twilight like a beacon of hope. "Oh, thank God," whispered Carson gratefully, sliding to his knees at the base of the DHD. He dialled Atlantis as quickly as his trembling hands and increasingly fading vision would let him, then sent his IDC as soon as the wormhole established.
In the control room, the tech who was currently taking over Peter Grodin's duties was startled into shouting, "We have unscheduled offworld activation."
Elizabeth came out of her office, and peered over the tech's shoulder at the console, lit up like a Christmas tree
She felt like saying, "What now?", but contented herself with a calm, "Any idea who it is?"
"Ma'am," the tech said, looking worried, "It's Dr. Beckett's IDC."
Elizabeth paused, stunned. Then- "Security detail to the Gateroom! Charlie," she turned to the tech., "Let down the shield."
Soldiers bristling with weapons ran into the Gateroom. The shield disengaged with a snap, and a bedraggled figure stumbled through the wormhole, which shut down immediately after he was through.
The figure stood, hands braced on knees as if trying to keep himself upright. He saw all the soldiers, guns pointed at him. "Oh, crap," he muttered, then hit the floor, where he lay unmoving.
For a long moment, no- one moved, then Elizabeth called, "Medical team to the gateroom!" Running down to the collapsed figure that bore a remarkable resemblance to Dr. Beckett, she called into her comm. "Colonel Sheppard, we have a - situation - in the gateroom."
Colonel Sheppard, currently running from the-whatever it was - that looked like Beckett, risked a look back. He could see nothing, so he took the a chance and stopped, the others taking their own chance opportunity to get their breath back.
"Elizabeth?" he questioned, peering back at the darkened corridor from whence they had run.
Dr. Weir's voice crackled in his ear. "Something, or someone, who looks like Dr. Beckett, has just come through the gate. Meet me at the infirmary."
"What?" he asked to the empty air, "What the hell is going on here?" Still breathing hard, he motioned to the two Marines. "You two, go to the entrance to this tunnel. Stay on watch, and if you see anything unusual, call me. Rodney, you come with me. We're going to see a doctor."
oOo
Elizabeth Weir met them at the entrance to the infirmary. Over her shoulder, Sheppard could see Doctor Lawrence working on someone who looked very like Beckett, and shouting for things Sheppard hoped he would never have to find out what they were.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Elizabeth took in his dishevelled appearance. "I could ask you the same question," she said, then indicated with her head the figure lying on the bed. "This person who looks very like Carson Beckett came through the gate a little while ago."
"But that's impossible," broke in Rodney. "We were running from Beckett just as you called."
"What?" she asked, raising her eyebrows incredulously.
"We were running from something that looked like Beckett," Sheppard amended, "But no doctor I've ever seen is capable of building a web like that."
Dr. Weir looked at them as if they'd been out in the sun for too long. "I think you'd better come back to my office, and tell me just exactly what has been going on." She moved over to the doctor caring for the sick man on the bed. "Dr. Lawrence?" she asked, "How's he doing?"
The doctor looked over at her briefly. "Not too well currently. It looks like he's been bitten by something, and the envenomation is causing his systems to go haywire."
As she watched, Beckett's, (she couldn't help but call him that, he looked so similar to their own doctor), Beckett's body arched off the bed in a particularly strong muscle spasm, and a horrible noise was wrenched from the man's throat. Dr. Lawrence immediately focussed his attention back on his patient. She let him be, informing him that she would be in her office, and to keep her updated. Lawrence nodded briefly, acknowledging her comment, then went right back to what he was doing.
Sheppard and McKay followed her back to the control room, where Zelenka was still monitoring the main lifesigns detector. The red dot was still there, but now it looked…fuzzy, indistinct. Fortunately it was still some distance from the two marines Sheppard had left on watch, and was continuing the rapid back and forth movement that Sheppard realised was web-building. He said as much.
Rodney put forward a theory that he'd been contemplating for a while, as they regarded the activity going on in the deep tunnel.
"I think," he said, . "That the man in the infirmary is Carson Beckett. I think that the Beckett we saw in the tunnel copied our Beckett so we would bring it back to Atlantis."
Weir and Sheppard looked at him.
"What?" he said. "Think about it. We go to an uninhabited planet, Carson disappears, comes back acting all weird, doesn't show up on the normal lifesigns monitor, but does on the abnormal setting, and builds webs. Not Beckett's usual activities. Then, someone else, looking like Carson arrives through the gate, from the same planet I might add, and looks like he's been bitten by something. Makes sense?" he stopped looking at them both.
"He could be right," from Sheppard.
Rodney huffed. "Of course I'm right."
Elizabeth was just about to speak when a panicked voice came over their intercoms. "Colonel Sheppard! We need help!"
The sound of a P90 could be heard firing, and shouting in the background. Sheppard looked to Elizabeth.
"Go!" she commanded.
Sheppard nodded in return, and ran from the room, calling for security details to meet him as he went, and to bring a flame thrower. Rodney ran after, close on Sheppard's heels.
oOo
In the infirmary, Dr. Lawrence was looking at the readouts from the various monitors attached to Beckett's body when Elizabeth arrived. He looked up, but his expression gave her no comfort.
"How is he?" she asked.
"He's not so good." The doctor stepped back from Beckett's bed, and motioned for Dr. Weir to follow. "Whoever he is, he's been bitten by something pretty big, and the poison is having a deleterious effect on him. It was left too long without medical attention."
"Rodney is pretty sure he is Carson," Elizabeth said.
"I have to say I agree with him," responded Dr. Lawrence. This blood picture is human. The last one wasn't." He started at Elizabeth's look of surprise. "Colonel Sheppard didn't tell you?"
She shook her head.
"He had concerns about Carson from the moment they found him, and asked me to let him know if anything turned up on the post mission check up. Carson's blood screening at that point didn't appear normal. I told him then, but by that time, the person we thought was Carson had disappeared."
"I see," said Elizabeth, in a tone that brooked no good for the Colonel when she finally caught up with him.
"I'm sure he would have told you as soon as it was feasible," replied Dr. Lawrence wondering uneasily if he'd inadvertently landed Sheppard right in it. "Things have been a little hectic."
"You could say that. So, how is Dr. Beckett?"
"He could be doing better. We're giving him morphine and benzodiazepines to help with the symptoms, but he's still deteriorating. If this continues we'll have to give him anti-venin."
"Why not give it now?"
"We don't know if he's allergic to it. We're testing him for that right now, but it takes a little time."
Elizabeth nodded, and wandered back to Carson's side. He looked awful. Beads of perspiration rolled down his face, he was pale with dark shadows beneath his eyes. He was constantly trembling, and every now and then a more powerful muscle spasm would shudder through him. His shoulder was heavily bandaged, but even so it looked alarmingly red and swollen. She took his hand, and held it for a moment, looking troubled.
Carson was in a nightmare world of pain. His muscles trembled and shuddered, spasming out of his control. His abdomen was agony, he had the worst headache he could ever remember having, even worse than the time he'd sustained a hairline skull fracture while playing rugby, and hot fire consumed his shoulder. He became aware of a cool hand holding his, and squinted an eye open. Elizabeth Weir was standing right by him. He had to tell her- let her know about the other him. Shakily he tried to pull the oxygen mask from his face.
"Eliz-Elizabeth," he wheezed, dismayed at the sound of his own voice. " I have to tell… you-"
"Shhh, Carson, don't try to talk just now. Save your strength."
He made a noise that sounded something like an annoyed clucking.
"No…listen, there's…another me,"
"We know, Carson. John's chasing it down now. Don't worry about it."
"But it's not human…it's a-spider-thing."
"And that's what bit you?" She looked horrified.
He nodded and laid back, too exhausted to speak anymore. Dr. Weir, and Dr. Lawrence exchanged glances, expressions speaking volumes, then she turned her attention back to their sick medical officer.
"Don't you worry. We'll catch it, and send it back."
She was talking to thin air. Beckett had finally succumbed to the arms of morpheus.
TBC