Shadows of Fear - Part 13
It was like grappling with fog, but Fraiser kept trying, tugging and pulling and wrestling with creatures that flowed away and reformed, constantly returning to their meal. She couldn't reach the colonel, couldn't get to him no matter how hard she tried, for each step she took toward him was blocked by ghostly hands that gripped and restrained her. Where she could do nothing, they could do far too much - holding her back while the constant screech of the monitor made a mockery of her efforts, showing her that she had failed her patient, failed her friend.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
He was almost gone, only stubborn pride and tenacity keeping some part of him holding on with grim determination as the awful wrenching pain assailed him. They pawed at him, those demons he had lived with for so many days, but he couldn't flinch, held immobile by them. He fought them even when Ba'al smiled straight into his eyes and whispered, "You've lost. You'll never be free of me now." But each whisper added to the rest until the pile grew to mountainous height, and when Akmar leaned in and drew his tongue down his chest, draining him, the pile gave way.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
"Where?" Sam looked up from the dialing computer and shouted down at them. "The planet we found it on?"
Daniel didn't hesitate. This was something he had already thought of as he ran with Teal'c into the Gate Room. "No. PX7-561," he called to her, and saw her immediately turn back to the keyboard. Sure enough, the gate began to spin, chevrons locking into place with loud thumps.
"Chevron Seven, locked."
The sudden plume of liquid rushing from the now open wormhole completely failed to capture Daniel's attention. For once he didn't feel the rush of excitement that had become so familiar over the past seven years, instead he glared at the vortex waiting for it to settle so he could complete his task.
The liquid fell inward, leaving the iridescent blue of the phenomenon shimmering in readiness and Daniel drew back his arm and threw the alien device as hard as he could.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Between one blink of an eye and the next they had disappeared. The sudden removal of the pressure holding her back had Janet stumbling to right herself as she crashed into the side of O'Neill's bed, her hip connecting with the metal with a jarring force, hard enough to bruise
She didn't hesitate, not allowing herself time to look around and make sure the beings were truly gone, but leaping forward immediately, her elation at being able to treat her patient tempered by the knowledge that his laboring heart had finally given in.
Other hands joined hers as her staff entered the fray and soon they were once again acting like the well-oiled team they were.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Sam glanced down at the reader on the desk beside her and saw the distinctive energy signature was weaker, but still there.
"Shut it down!"
Daniel's yell was redundant. As soon as she saw the line still dancing across her equipment's small screen she slammed her hand on the pad, shutting the gate off.
"Major?" General Hammond's puzzled voice interrupted her train of thought, snapping her from her almost panicked focus.
"We think we may have found a cause, General. There was an artifact in Daniel's office that seemed to be the source of the problem." She nodded with satisfaction at the now empty screen. "Daniel threw it through the gate and as soon as the wormhole shut down its emissions stopped."
Feet clattered on the stairs and before her teammates had even reached the Control Room level Teal'c was shouting out a question, his usually unemotional voice strained.
"Did it work? . . .O'Neill?"
"I don't know." Sam was about to pick up the phone, but the general beat her to it.
"Hammond here. What is the situation there? What's Colonel O'Neill's condition?"
His face went from animated to still in a few seconds as he listened to the reply. He put down the receiver and Sam held her breath, waiting.
"The aliens have gone, but the colonel arrested just before they left. Doctor Fraiser is working on him now."
"With your permission, sir . . .?"
Hammond nodded. "I'm coming with you."
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Janet reached for the paddles with a sense of fatalism, knowing there was little chance of success now the colonel had flatlined. She gave the order and waited a second for her nurses to step back.
O'Neill convulsed, his limbs twitching as his body rose from the bed and slammed back down so hard the instruments on the tray beside it shook. His mouth opened wide and he gasped in a long, shuddering breath.
"Hell!" The doctor stared from the unused paddles to her patient and then up at the ECG.
It shows normal sinus rhythm - just for a moment - then it changed, slowing.
An IV line had already been inserted and she pushed a dose of adrenaline into it and looked back at the monitor, barely aware of several other people joining her staff clustered around the bed.
"Janet?"
Fraiser waited for a few more moments before giving Daniel a quick nod. "He's stable." She didn't say the 'for now' that was on the tip of her tongue.
"Major Carter, Doctor Jackson, I want to know exactly what happened and whether the situation is now under control. Teal'c can keep you apprised of the colonel's condition."
"General. . ."
"No arguments, Doctor Jackson. The priority now is to ensure the safety of this base."
Janet allowed herself a small sense of satisfaction as Colonel O'Neill's heart rate further stabilized. She took the time to give her friends a reassuring smile. "Teal'c can stay," she gestured to a chair nearby, but not too close to be in the way, "but I need to run some tests before I know anything definite."
"But he's okay?"
"I can't say anything for sure, Daniel." Much though she wanted to tell him everything was fine, she couldn't - not yet.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
He woke gradually, far too familiar with the sensation of foreign objects inserted in various parts of his body to be startled.
But there sure seemed to be a lot of them this time.
At least one tube was missing - the one down his throat that always made him feel like he was choking.
Just the thought of it made his throat contract and he coughed, the motion setting his chest on fire.
"Here, Colonel . . ."
There was the touch of a straw against his lips and he opened them eagerly, but for some reason he couldn't summon the energy to suck.
"Try this, sir. Some ice."
He managed to hold the tiny shards in his mouth and felt some of the tickling in his throat ease as the cool water from the melting ice slid down without too much effort on his part.
"Can you open your eyes for me, Colonel?" The nurse's voice had been replaced by Janet's.
He tried, but failed, falling instead into a dreamless sleep.
TBC
