DOWN CAME A SPIDER
By TIPPER
———————————————————————————————-
CHAPTER TEN: THE DEATH OF THE SPIDER
Sheppard and another doctor reached in, holding the screaming man in place as a bright white light flashed on McKay's shoulder, removing the tracking device. As soon as it faded, they allowed McKay to collapse forward towards the ground, and Sheppard took over completely, arms wrapped tightly around his best friend as Rodney fought blindly against the hold and just screamed and screamed. The scientist's shaking hands dug at his own skin and hair, trying to get to the metal spider on his head, his legs writhing against the cool, marble floor. Beckett leapt to their side, not the least bit daunted by the constant pain-filled screaming, moving with the fluid efficiency of someone expertly doing his job. Twisting around, the doctor grabbed the morphine shot from a nearby nurse's hand and turned to inject it.
And then it happened.
The metal spikes all swiftly retracted, and the spider lifted off McKay's head in an eye-blink, rising to about Carson's eye level and hovering before the startled physician. Blood dripped from the wires sticking out of it and from the central ball itself, its metallic surface modulating with multiple colors of red and black and blue. Beckett's eyes were wide, his body frozen as it seemed to look straight at him.
And then it took off.
Everyone ducked as it sped out of the room, skidding out of sight in less time it took a person to flip a switch. Elizabeth shouted into her radio to Zelenka and the others that the spider was on the move while Carter and the marines ran after it, just managing to catch sight of the tiny object as it disappeared around the end of the long corridor. Carter swore softly, lowering the 9MM gripped in her hands, disappointed to not even be able to get a shot off. Behind her, she heard similar grunts of frustration from the two marines that had followed her.
Inside, McKay had finally stopped screaming, changing instead to a harsh sobbing.
"Shh, shh," Sheppard still held on, pulling a crying McKay up off the floor and letting other hands take him away. "It's okay; it's okay." Carson had Rodney on the gurney in seconds, injecting the sedative into him, while his people hooked the scientist up to a number of different portable devices designed to keep his vitals in check. Others held cloths to Rodney's head and neck—McKay was bleeding...a lot. Soon, they were bustling the still softly crying man out of the room and taking him to the infirmary, Sheppard running along next to the gurney as it left.
The whole affair had probably only taken minutes, and, when they were gone, leaving just Carter and Elizabeth behind staring at the mess in the room, it felt like the aftermath of a small war.
Weir shut her eyes, then opened them again, looking to the colonel. Carter was staring down at a blood stained cloth on the floor as she holstered her gun.
There had been a lot of blood. She hadn't expected that much blood.
"You okay?" Elizabeth asked.
Carter nodded, then sighed and shook her head. She glanced across at the expedition leader. "Are you?"
Weir sighed, then shook her head as well. "Come on," she said, turning to leave and head to the infirmary. As she did so, she reached up to tap her radio. "Teyla? Ronon? What's happening?"
———————————————————————————————-
The Asgard beam had deposited the tracking device into a small, spongy mass the kitchens called "salmon mousse." (Although the fact that there wasn't any salmon anywhere on this planet suggested it might...possibly...be a misnomer). It sat in a small container atop a thigh high pedestal in one of the side rooms along the deserted southeast pier, a half dozen very bright lights shining down on it.
Teyla, Ronon, Major Lorne and a couple of other marines waited in a sort of semi circle around the pedestal, armed with stunners, P90s and 9MMs. They wore safety goggles, goggles and helmets, as if armed for a riot. Silently, they all watched the door, weapons raised.
"It's coming down the corridor," Doctor Zelenka informed them coolly over the radio. "Should be there...right about now."
As if on cue, the metal spider burst through the open doorway and aimed straight for the pedestal.
And was hit by three sets of Wraith stunners and Ronon's weapon set on stun.
It shuddered, paused and spun in place for a second.
Ronon flipped the switch and shot an angry red pulse at the now "confused" metal spider.
The blast sent it backwards a couple of feet, but it managed to stay aloft, swaying now as it spun.
"Tough little bastard," Lorne noted coldly. Four stun weapons could kill a man twice over if shot at the same time. This thing was barely bobbling.
Ronon shot it again, and this time about a third of it blew off in a mass of sparks and light. A high keening wail emitted from the now busted metal ball, and more of the "legs" emerged from the sides, waving like a dazed insect's antennae.
"Let me," Teyla said, walking forward, 9MM raised and held steady in both hands.
She started to fire, slowly, methodically, bullet after bullet after bullet. The metal spider flinched and keened as every shot hit its mark, leaving dents and, finally, holes.
At some point, it fell, hitting the ground with an ugly clang.
She kept firing, leaving smoking black holes in the now plain, dead surface, sparks and chunks of metal flying up in all directions.
Ronon came up next to her and pointed his gun at it. Teyla stopped firing, waiting for him.
The red pulse exploded what was left of the spider, bits of metal and goo spreading out across the metal floor. Something pale and soft looking wiggled in the still partially intact central core.
Teyla sneered...and crushed it under her heel, digging deep.
After a moment, she lifted her foot up again, and scraped it on a clean part of the floor.
The metal spider was nothing but bits of scrap and slime now, like an exploded child's wind-up toy.
Ronon shot it one more time.
Teyla looked at him, her eyebrow arched at the unneeded action. He just shrugged, smiling wolfishly.
"I feel better now," he told her.
She matched the dark smile, looked down, and shot one last quarter sized piece into smithereens.
"Me too," she said, nodding back at him.
Behind them, Lorne tapped his radio, glancing vaguely up in the direction of the Central Tower. "It's done. The spider is dead." He snorted, glancing at Teyla and Ronon, "Actually, the better word might be obliterated."
———————————————————————————————-
Carter and Elizabeth reached the infirmary in time to see Sheppard being shoved back out into the "waiting room" by a strong, determined nurse. Beckett's voice echoed from the other room, calling for a series of scans that, undoubtedly, were supposed to check McKay's brain and spine for damage. The nurse retreated back through the door and it shut, cutting them off.
Sheppard's hands gripped into fists, and he sighed heavily. Turning, he saw them looking at him. He nodded, then spun around and stomped over to a chair, sitting down heavily into it.
The same nurse appeared a moment later with a towel, walking over and holding it out to the colonel.
Sheppard stared at it a moment in confusion, then apparently noticed for the first time that his hands were covered in blood. Looking down, he swallowed harshly at the sight of his shirt and arms covered in even more blood, and hastily took the towel, wiping his hands and face and shirt as best he could.
Carter grimaced.
Walking over to his side, she sat down on the chair next to his.
Weir moved to stand in front of them, but she didn't sit. She just stood and waited, arms clasped tightly across her chest, fingers digging into the skin of her bare arms.
A few moments later, Teyla and Ronon joined them.
"How is he?" Ronon asked, moving to stand on the far side from Weir. Teyla ended up in the middle, and grimaced down at all the blood on Sheppard's clothes.
"We don't know yet," Carter replied.
"There was a lot of blood," Weir said, sounding a little numb. Her eyes were fixed on the closed doorway separating them from the rest of the infirmary.
"We can see that," Teyla noted. She looked at Sheppard with worried eyes, "Too much?"
He just shrugged.
"The spider's dead, right?" Sheppard asked then.
"Very," Ronon grunted, turning and walking to a different part of the room to start pacing.
"I crushed it," Teyla said.
Sheppard gave her an appreciative nod. "Good."
Zelenka arrived next, still talking to Caldwell up in the Control Room over his radio. They all heard Caldwell's request for news as soon as Zelenka had it, and Radek's answer in agreement. The Czech nodded to them and moved to sit next to Carter.
And, as a group, they settled in to wait.
———————————————————————————————-
TBC...
Just one chapter left!