STARGATE ATLANTIS

PRIMIS : THE MISSING

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THE PAST

JOHN

"Do you think the wraith know we are here?" Arla shouted through the piercing wind as they walked fast; instantly turning her head away from looking at John to protect her eyes.

John risked taking his hand away from his mouth for a moment, not wanting a mouthful of the course sand that was swirling now into dangerous looking mini tornados around them on the ground.

"There's a chance, but they certainly won't be able to search for me now that the tracker was destroyed." John tried to reassure Arla. Of course, the thought always remained that the substance that had been injected into him could be another way of tracking him. John refused to think down these lines and concentrated on what he did know.

One: they were lost on an unknown; barely habitable, planet. Two: he worried for their survival on the desert land. Three: he more than worried that the water in the lake was full of poisonous microbes that could bring them down fast with an illness. Four: they had some provisions; some utensils and bedding - always a plus. Five: He was feeling stronger and his arm was healing nicely – knuckle not so much! And, six: there definitely was a good chance they were stuck here for good!

A dodgy, terrifying, seven, was that Torren would deteriorate fast on this world. John hugged him closer to his chest at the thought, and adjusted his body weight across hip. He must be over two years old now if time in this system and the last planet were the same. His trousers were starting to get short, and even though John knew he was strong enough to walk in the biting wind, he wanted to hang onto his childhood a little longer and act as his carer – like only his father would do for him. Perhaps he was even wanting to pause this infant time, so Teyla could enjoy his early years also. But there was no chance. He hung his head at times with despair over this.

But, Torren was resilient. He took everything in his stride. He had sat in that dart with John and gazed at the stars in silent wonder, but remained focused enough to know to remain still in the cockpit so as not to distract John so much. Then they had crashed, John kept the whirling and distorted scene from his vision as they went down, but had he been terrified? … no! Then he managed to rise from the depth of the lake with hardly a complaint. Awe. John was in awe of him. In fact, so were Arla, Vari and Blu. John studied each of them in turn, and was pleased with his small company. It wasn't his team, but they were more than capable of looking after each other. Again, John hoped for the idea of inviting them to join him when he got back onto Atlantis. He knew he would one day. He just hoped against hoped it would be very soon.

They dodged the strongest of the gusts between the tall spires of sandstone, breathing heavily and drawing in air when they found a clearer pocket of air. In one of these respites, John suddenly stilled.

"What is it?" Vari whispered low, copying John's body language. Blu reached for the wraiths blaster he liked to keep on him.

John raised a hand and then flapped it gently. Remain still.

Vari looked towards where he was looking intently. A large snake the colour of burgundy, slithered into view between the cracks. It was broad and looked like tubing, but John had noticed a forked tongue slip out, testing the air. He licked his lips, and held tight the small knife, one of his cave friends had given him as a parting gift.

"Arla." John said quietly. Arla understood and kept the small boy entertained.

John struck. He dived over it so it could not move further and grabbed its thick neck, just at the base of its head before it could bite him. He slashed fast to decapitate it, but the blade wasn't very sharp and he had to repeat the strokes a few times until the head was off, and he stood there panting, and looking down at it with hands on his hips.

"Do you suggest we eat that?" Blu asked, clearly not fancying the idea. Torren looked over curiously at last.

"Amongst other things." John replied, eyeing up best how to carry the thing. It wasn't long; but fat and heavy with meat, and the skin could have a few uses.

Vari also grimaced, but punched John's shoulder none the less. "Well done. Once again you possibly have saved us – from hunger this time."

"Don't thank me yet. Who knows if it's poisonous, and we need to be able to start a fire. I don't see much driftwood here yet."

"We could always walk back to where you dropped us off. Definitely wood there."

"Nah." John picked up one of the buckets they still had on them and popped the dead snake into it. "It's the other direction from this dwelling you spied. I think its best we get out if this storm first and take it from there."

"You are correct, John. Little Torren needs a sleep, I think."

John looked up and noticed him start to sway on his feet.

"Okay, let's go." He reached out for the boy once again, but Torren just took his hand instead; wanting to walk by himself.

"Okay!" John blew out. "Lead on, Torren."

For now, at least, the storm seemed to have passed over and they were left with a biting cold settling in. Then it got darker, so they picked up their speed and the small dwelling became all too visible at last.

Sandwiched, and sheltered between a knarled, old, and impossibly wide tree, and a pillar of old sand, it was almost derelict.

"Great!" Exclaimed, John. "Just great."

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It took work. Work they didn't really need; given their tired and hungry bodily conditions. But once inside the sloped roofed part of the abandoned property, they set to work getting the one large, open plan room into some semblance of order; with Vari and Blu helping John to move some large pieces of furniture against the far wall to fill a gap from the ever present biting cold wind, and the sand that followed on its tails.

Small peaks of sand had formed inside the abandoned dwelling into miniature towers, and if they were not careful, they found themselves tripping over them constantly.

"It's weird in here, daddy." Torren stuttered out, clearly none too happy with the lodgings.

John stopped plugging the hole and left Vari and Blu to stuff what they could on top of the large wooden dresser until the hole was filled up to meet the low, slanted ceiling at one end.

"Better in here than outside, TJ."

Arla had gotten to work putting a fire together with some pieces of wood from the old occupants meagre supply stack. "It's not much, young man. But I'll soon have hot water enough to wash and cook this…this meat your father has provided us with." She said with barely a concealed grimace.

John laughed. "Better than nothing!"

"You are correct. Forgive me, I should be more thankful." Arla laughed back. "And…John. After that, your wounds will need attended to."

Knowing there was no getting away from her inspection, John just nodded in agreement. She was correct after all. No sense making himself worse.

Blu came forward. "What happened here? It's like it was abandoned. Also looked like it had previously been lived in for years, given all the stuff here."

Blu was correct, John reckoned. Everywhere were object that were of the kind that had been loved. Fiercely carved figurines of unrecognisable animals…and snakes…adorned the high shelving. A massive stone circle was at the centre of the room, and John understood the large pieces of furniture they had rearranged, were that of their sleeping arrangements. Old clothes were strewn everywhere, as if the wind had been fighting for ages to get in and had taken delight in having a tantrum; swirling them around the room in a haphazard fashion. Collecting them into one pile, was Torrens allocated work by John, and he was relishing having a part in making this dwelling comfortable. John was content to leave him to his duty, smiling softly as he watched him. Realisation was that the wraith has probably wiped out this world years, if not decades earlier, throw in Mother Nature, and this was a dead planet, John thought.

Almost silently, they gathered for the cooked meal. Almost noisily they tucked into what turned out to be a fantastic flavour. "Just don't blame me if you all fall ill!" John said. It was a shame when the next day, John's words came back to haunt them.

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Blu fell ill first. It was violent vomiting the next morning that woke them all up from their uneasy slumbers. John had taken first watch, so he was asleep when Vari came shaking his shoulder.

"Quick, John. Please. Wake up. You must help me?"

"Whaa…?"

He didn't know if it was the smell of the sickness that had come upon them, and expelled by Blu; or the worried face of Vari's as he ran towards his wife. But, John was up and running to help before he could even think on the previous day's fortunes and misfortunes.

"Oh no. What can I do?" John grasped the older man's shoulder.

"See to Blu. Please. I must help Arla."

Torren slept on and for now John was glad. He helped Blu through the next hours that left the young man shaking with exhaustion having expelled the contents of their meagre meal and dry heaving for hours when nothing was left to come out. His face blazed with head and he alternated between being extremely hot, to having severe shivers that threatened to rattle his bones. The pot over the fire was on constantly to keep a good heat going and to boil water for drinking. It was not hygienic at all. John feared it was the water making them ill, as both he and Torren, and Vari seemed okay from eating the snake caught and cooked through.

Then Vari fell ill, and John was left with three patients.

John hoped he was doing everything right for them. He cleaned them up; Arla crying in humiliation, but too weak and ill to complain too much. He fetched water several times a day from the lake; to boil to drink, and to wipe them down when their periods of illness left them battling a fever. It took days out of their time on the planet for them to get only slightly better. During this time, John hardly slept. He would have preferred to have scouted the area; just get an idea of the land that they resided, but his time was spent all day and every day caring for his friends. Torren kept himself to himself during this time. Sometimes he would curl up beside Arla and put a small hand on her stomach, which she clutched like a life line. It was sweet. It was a bloody emotional time, and John would be forever thankful to the young boy looking after himself at that time, only needing his father to hug him when it was bedtime, and until he fell asleep.

Soon, John could hardly see in front of himself he was that exhausted. He knew his body would drop soon if he did not get some more food into himself. So, reluctantly, telling a slowly recovering Blu he would be back in two hours, John left their dwelling in search of food.

Along the lake shore, he had found empty shells of sea creatures similar to molluscs and prawns. But were they edible? Were there more in the lake? How deep would he have to go? He decided to leave the lake for another day.

Then there was the question - had the snake meat caused the illness? It was not like food poisoning at all. Still, extreme caution was needed; so, seeing as Blu was turning a corner, John would test any food he found on himself first and leave it a day to see if there were any ill effects. Occasionally, John would find some small dry bushes that had a fruit on it similar in looks to olives; so he decided to just go ahead and try one – which he did whilst closing his eyes quickly. They may have looked similar to olives but they were sweet, like honey with a smoky taste to them. He added two more to his stomach, collected loads of them in a small bowl and waited for the results with nervousness.

Two hours later, John walked into their home and declared himself free of any nasty after effects, so he gave the others some to tuck into their mouths, and waited….nothing happened.

John sat down and sighed, closing his eyes in relief. Finally, could they get a break?

It took two more days, though, of fetching and carrying. Hunting, fishing and cooking. Retrieving water and helping his friends wash, when John started to notice his friends had turned the corner and looked almost human again.

He didn't realise he was listing where he sat watching over them, until Blu and Vari took an arm each and started to walk him over to the fresh pallet by the fire he had made up earlier with the abandoned blankets, for one of them to get a good night's sleep on. He weakly protested and started to break away.

Blu reluctantly tapped his healing knuckle. The only thing he could think of to get his full attention. It seemed to be the only thing that still made him wince occasionally.

"John. John? You are beyond exhausted, we need you to lie down now. You have looked after us well. Please, let us care for you now."

John mumbled incoherent words and weakly jerked his arm away again. "No…must get…food, um…wat…"

"No, you must sleep instead. I am better now, thanks to you. I will see where the food is you talk about and collect it. Rest up."

"Yes, John. You deserve it. You will kill yourself if you carry on like this with no rest."

"Daddy?" Torren started to cry, worried by this turn of events and not understanding why his daddy was being aided over to the bed. "Are you ill? You going to die?" He hiccupped.

Arla, from her bed raised herself up on her elbows after hearing the conversation. "No, Torren. Goodness no. Your daddy has just worked himself into exhaustion caring for us. He needs to sleep. Possibly for a long time uninterrupted, so I am going to ask you to be a good boy and watch over him with us. Can you do that?"

Torren, thumb in mouth, nodded and went into her outstretched arms. "Good boy." She mumbled into his ear.

Arla and Torren proceeded to watch as Vari and Blu now guided a surrendered John over to the bed where they lowered him gently onto the clean sheets.

"Sleep, John." Vari smiled, whilst Blu looked worried.

"I hope he will not get ill now too. I wouldn't want that on anyone."

"Don't think he will, Blu. He's just bone tired looking after us. Come on. Let's have a walk to this 'olive' bush he keeps telling us about. I think he will be out for quite a while." Arla looked over to his wife for confirmation. "Possibly into the next day. Go. Torren will look after me." Torren nodded, but his eyes were on John out to the world.

"Torren?"

The young boy nodded, but went over to his dad and snuggled into his side.

"Okay, I'll watch over them, then." Arla half laughed.

"Shout if you need us." Vari said.

"I won't need to. But hurry back all the same."

Vari and Blu left and Arla hunkered down under her covers again. Sleep did not come. She just watched the slow rise and fall of John's chest, taking comfort in the fact that he was asleep at last, and that they were alive thanks to him…again!

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John slept the sleep of the dead for two days. During that time, he had been unware of Blu and Vari helping him with anything he needed. The moment they were motionless with him again, he just nodded off, probably not remembering a thing.

Early on the third day, however, in which a week overall had passed since they had landed on the planet, John cracked a bleary eye open, and heard a scream that he knew only too well.

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To be continued….