The Bad Luck Charm – Chapter 9

Beckett walked out of the tent to see Teyla hurrying toward him. "Teyla, is something wrong?"

"No," she said. "I have been talking about Colonel Sheppard's problem with Sani. She was one of Charin's closest friends and she believes she remembers such a curse as what Karyan has placed on the colonel. She does not remember the specific treatment, but she told me where to go to find out more."

"There's a treatment for a curse?" Beckett asked, amazed.

"There is a treatment for removing the mark that has been placed on the colonel. It is as you have said, a chemical in the mark seeps into the body and poisons it."

"And this Sani has told you where to go to find the treatment?"

Teyla nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, but I need access to the stargate to get there."

Beckett nodded as he looked at his watch. "Okay, let me contact Colonel Sheppard. He said he'd be back by ten minutes ago and I'm starting to get worried. Once we determine he's all right, we'll contact Atlantis to send a jumper for you." He tapped his radio button. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Dr. Beckett again. Where are you, lad?"

Receiving no answer, he glanced anxiously at Teyla. "Colonel Sheppard, please come in." After a few seconds of silence, he looked at Teyla. "The colonel's with Jinto. Do you know where they went?"

"No, but Halling might." Teyla led the way across the settlement to where Halling and Ronon sat outside his tent, scaling the fish they had caught earlier.

"Halling, Jinto took Colonel Sheppard on a walk to show him something this afternoon. Do you know where they went?" asked Beckett.

Ronon stood immediately, sensing something was wrong from both Teyla and the doctor. "What's happened?"

Beckett swallowed hard as he looked from Ronon to Halling. "They were due back several minutes ago and now I can't raise them on the radio."

Halling stood to join Ronon. "Jinto wanted to show the colonel the herd of calani."

Beckett nodded. "Yes, that would be right. When I talked to him a little over an hour ago, he said they had been watching a herd of animals. He must have been talking about these calani. Can you show me where they went to see them?"

"Yes, of course. Jinto and I have been many times. We should take some people with us in case they are injured."

"Aye, I'll grab some of my medical equipment and call Atlantis. They'll want to send a jumper and maybe some help for us as well." Beckett sighed heavily. "I knew things were too bloody calm."

oOo

Someone was crying and that stuck John as odd. He'd awakened to many sounds since coming to Atlantis, but crying was not one he was used to. Who could be crying? He struggled to open his eyes as he brought his left hand up to his head and was rewarded with a face full of falling dirt. Spitting and sputtering, he wiped the dirt from his face and tried to sit up. When he tensed the muscles in his legs, he yelped at the sudden stabbing pain in his upper right leg and collapsed back to the ground.

"Colonel Sheppard?"

He almost didn't hear his name. His head was spinning and he'd broken out in a cold sweat as he fought back the climbing nausea. A hand touched his shoulder and he realized the crying had stopped. He opened his eyes to see Jinto's dirty, tear-streaked face looking down at him.

"Jinto?" he whispered, because he didn't have the energy to talk louder.

"Colonel Sheppard, you finally woke up. I've been so scared."

Awareness was beginning to come back with some speed now, and he looked Jinto over. The boy was covered with dirt and stray pieces of dried grass. He was cradling his right arm against his body, but otherwise seemed unhurt. John could see the sky above them . . . way above them. They were in a deep hole, eight feet across at the bottom and slightly wider at the top. He estimated they were approximately thirty feet deep. No wonder he hurt.

"Jinto, what happened? Where are we?" He thought he remembered walking across a field, but how had they ended up here?

"I don't know, the ground just opened up into this big pit."

John looked around for signs of an abandoned mine or underground structure, but saw none. "Sinkhole?"

"What is a sinkhole?" asked the frightened boy.

"Well, where I come from, the ground isn't very stable in some places, but you can't always tell. One day a big hole just sinks down in the ground, taking anything with it that happens to be around at the time, houses, people, anything." He distinctly remembered reading some articles about just this type of thing.

Jinto was doing his best to be brave, but his arm hurt worse than any injury he'd ever had before and he was terrified. He had no idea why the ground would open up into a big hole like this, but he wanted out. He could feel the tears coming again and he tried to wipe them away with his good hand.

Seeing the fear and pain in the boy's face, John reached up for his radio, only to find it gone. He looked around at the piles of loose dirt and realized the chances of finding it were pretty much nil. "Hey, Jinto, it's going to be okay. Dr. Beckett is expecting us and as soon as I'm a minute late, they'll come looking for us." He tried to grin at the boy. "You know how much Dr. Beckett hovers. Does your dad know where we went?"

Jinto stopped crying and lifted his head, his expression brightening a little. "Yes, he does. My father and I have come to look at the calani many times together, so he knows the way well."

John tried to smile for the boy. "Well, there you go. Carson will go tell your dad and the two of them will bring a rescue party in no time." John looked at his watch to see if he could estimate how long that would be, but as he should have expected, the watch was broken. He glanced back at Jinto, noticing the way he held his arm carefully against his body. "Is your arm broken?"

Jinto looked at him blankly. "I do not know. I've never had a broken arm before."

"I should probably take a look, but I can't do it lying down. Let me try to sit up again." John grit his teeth against the pain in his leg, and slowly dragged himself into a sitting position next to the wall. His eyes were watering by the time he finished and he had to swallow convulsively to keep from hurling. He must have banged his broken arm in the fall because it was throbbing relentlessly along with the stabbing pain in his leg. He almost cried out as he ran his good hand along his right thigh. So much for the lull in his bad luck; he was pretty sure it was broken.

When he could breathe again without fear of tossing his lunch, he turned to Jinto. "Okay, let's look at that arm." He just had to keep Jinto calm and himself conscious for a little while and his team would be here to get them out. He could do that.

oOo

"How much farther?" asked Ronon as they trekked through the woods.

"Not far," replied Halling, worry edging his voice. "We must cross this clearing and then it is about ten or fifteen minutes from . . . " Halling stopped short a few steps into the clearing. "What is that?" He pointed to an obvious disturbance in the ground just about dead center of the field.

They cautiously approached the area in the fading light, wishing they could see better. Coming up to the edge, they realized what it was. Halling began to move forward, but stopped as they heard dirt falling from the edge into the hole, followed by coughing. Halling smiled back at Beckett, Teyla, and Ronon. "I hear them." He got down on his belly and crawled the last few feet to peer over the edge of the hole.

"Jinto?"

John and Jinto looked up to see Halling peeking over the edge, relief flooding them both.

"Father! We are here"

"I know son. We have brought help with us and a jumper from Atlantis should arrive soon." He could hear Teyla on the radio, relaying instructions to the field to the jumper pilot. Beckett crawled up next to him.

"Colonel Sheppard?"

John saw Carson pop his head over the side and thought he'd never been so happy to see the doctor. "Hey, Doc. We ran into a bit of a problem."

"So it would seem. Are you and Jinto injured?"

"I think Jinto broke his arm and, as luck would have it, I've broken my leg."

Carson winced. Just what the man needed on top of everything else, a broken leg. "Just hang on colonel, we'll get you out of there in a jiffy." Turning at a bump to his arm, Carson took the flashlight Teyla had extended to him. Hitting the switch, he shined the light down the hole and illuminated the two trapped people. They were sitting side by side, propped up against the wall of the hole, both of them so dirty they could barely see their faces.

"Doctor, the jumper is here." At Teyla's announcement, Beckett looked up to see the jumper hovering above the hole for a second before moving over to land at the edge of the field.

"A jumper just arrived with help, colonel. We should have you out shortly and then I'm not letting you out of my sight again." Beckett got up and joined the other Lanteans walking over to meet the soldiers descending on the hatch door.

Major Lorne emerged last and made his way quickly over to Beckett and the members of Sheppard's team. "Dr. Beckett, what have we got?"

"I guess you saw the sinkhole that opened up. Jinto and Colonel Sheppard are at the bottom of that thing and they're both injured. The sides seem unstable, so I imagine it will be difficult getting them out."

John shivered, the uncontrolled movement sending shards of pain through his leg. He'd been getting colder and colder the last hour and could no longer control the tremors running through him. Jinto edged closer and looked up at him.

"You're cold."

John smiled down at the boy, who was obviously trying to help. "I'm getting a little cold. How about you?"

Jinto shook his head. "No, I'm not cold, but my arm hurts. Does your leg hurt very bad?"

"I'll be okay," John said, purposely evading the question. He didn't feel up to lying believably but he didn't want to tell the boy just how much his leg did hurt. "You know, Dr. Beckett will put a cast on your arm, like mine, and people you know can sign it and write messages. I'll find you a Sharpie before you go back home."

Jinto's face lit up. "A cast like yours? Cool. What's a Sharpie?"

John grinned, feeling silly for having brought it up. "It's a special pen people can write on your cast with so that it doesn't rub off. Signing someone's cast is a tradition where I come from. I guess it's kind of a way for your friends to let you know they're there for you."

Jinto looked down at the part of Sheppard's cast visible around the sling. "You don't have many names on yours."

John sighed and looked down at the cracked, dirty cast. "I've already had this thing replaced once and then I was sick for a while, so not many people were able to sign it."

"And then you came here."

John nodded. "Yeah. Guess now I'll need another new cast. Carson's going to love this." A spray of dirt caught them in the face. When the mini-avalanche was finished, John wiped the dirt from his face and looked up to see a tarp had been thrown over the edge of the hole. Three faces peered over the edge.

"Colonel Sheppard?"

John brushed another round of dirt from his face, blinking his eyes rapidly to clear them. "Major Lorne, is that you?" He thought he could see Lorne along with Halling and Beckett.

"Yes, sir, it's Lorne. I heard you had fallen into some trouble and might need a hand out."

John snorted loudly. "Funny. I wouldn't quit my day job just yet. Piece of advice, Major. If you're ever tempted to wish for the world to open up and swallow you, don't. Now, how long til you get us out of here?"

"We're working on it, sir. The sides are unstable and we're making sure it's not going to collapse on you during the rescue."

"Humph, that would be just my luck," muttered Sheppard to himself. He looked up to see Jinto watching him and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, moment of whining there."

"How are you two holding up, colonel?" yelled Beckett.

"We're okay for now. Just hurry every chance you get."

He bit his lip in an effort not to moan as he shifted his weight, sending waves of pain through his leg. When he caught his breath, he exhaled slowly and turned back to the boy. "We'll be out of here in no time."

The three men crawled back several feet before standing and were then joined by Teyla and Ronon. "I think we need to have the medic repel down and check them out," said Lorne. "Then we can lift them out one at a time. We'll need a litter for the colonel if his leg's broken."

"Do you think the sides are stable enough for that?" asked Ronon.

"I hope so," the major replied. "We should make sure they are on the opposite side before we start, just in case. I've got a couple of men trying to determine the most stable spot to work from."

"I'm going down," said Carson insistently. "The colonel's not going to be in very good shape with this piled on top of everything else."

Lorne shook his head. "Not happening, Doc, unless you can convince me you're an expert at repelling in dangerous situations. I've got a medic that is such an expert. That's why I brought him."

Carson opened his mouth, but thought better of his protest and closed it again. As much as he wanted to get to Sheppard, he knew Lorne was right. "All right, Major, we'll do it your way. But the light is gone and it's getting chilly out here. We need to get them out soon."

Lorne nodded. "I know, Doc, so let me get to it." Lorne turned and went back to his men, leaving Carson and the others to stand nervously and worry about the trapped pair.

It was another thirty minutes before Lorne's man was ready to go. They had shifted their work area around to what appeared to be the most stable spot and secured a line for the medic. Beckett and Lorne crawled over to the edge and peered down in the hole with the flashlight. Sheppard's head was leaned back against the wall and his eyes were closed. Jinto was huddled up next to him, his head bowed as he held his arm still. When the light hit them, Jinto looked up at them, blinking against the bright light at first.

"Jinto," called Lorne. "Can you wake the colonel?'

They watched as Jinto gently prodded Sheppard. "Colonel Sheppard, they need you to wake up." Jinto reached up to Sheppard's shoulder and shook it a little more vigorously. Sheppard responded by lifting his head and bringing his hand up to rub his face and then shield his eyes.

"Yeah?" he called. His voice was rough and hoarse and they barely heard him.

"Colonel," called Lorne. "We need you to move over until you are as far away from us as possible. We're ready to send the medic down, but we still aren't sure how stable the sides are."

John gave Lorne the thumbs up sign because it seemed to require less energy than yelling. His energy had faded significantly while they waited and he was shivering uncontrollably, his teeth chattering every so often. "Come on Jinto, we've got to move over a few feet. Think you can manage?"

Jinto nodded. John thought the boy had grown pale and his expression looked pained. The light from the flashlight was showing him what he'd suspected, but not really known. John put his good hand on the ground and scooted sideways a few inches, discovering two things. His butt was completely numb and his leg definitely wasn't. He grit his teeth and worked hard not to yell at the agony that gripped his leg. Taking a deep breath, he pulled himself sideways again, this time emitting a small yelp when he let himself down.

"Colonel Sheppard . . . are you okay?"

John focused on Jinto's voice as he waited on the spinning to stop. When he could finally see enough to make out the boy's face, he breathed a sigh of relief. Jinto had moved over to sit next to him again. "Yeah," he said softly. "I'm good."

"Okay, colonel, that's probably far enough," Lorne called from the top. "Sgt. Clements is coming down now." Lorne got up and walked over to the young, black medic who was checking his repelling gear.

"Major, I'll take the medical pack with me and then you can lower the litter for the colonel."

"We can lower that after we get Jinto out," said Lorne.

The medic stopped and looked up at Lorne and then Beckett. "But I thought Colonel Sheppard was injured the most seriously."

Beckett sighed and nodded. "Aye, he is, but I can already tell you he won't leave until Jinto is outta that hole."

The medic looked at Lorne for confirmation. "He's right, Sgt., the colonel won't budge until everyone else is okay, so there's no use arguing with him. Let's just get the boy out as quickly as possible and then we'll worry about Colonel Sheppard."

The medic just nodded and began backing toward the hole, medical supplies in the backpack he carried on his back. Lorne watched as Clements repelled down the side of the hole, kicking dirt loose as he went and sending a shower of dirt raining down on the two trapped people.

Jinto bent over in an effort to avoid the falling soil and Sheppard leaned over him as best he could, trying to ignore what it was doing to his leg. When the spray stopped, he straightened, panting slightly as he leaned back against the wall, pushing his head into the soft dirt as he held his breath for a few seconds.

"Colonel? Are you still with me?"

John opened his eyes to see the medic kneeling beside him. "I'm good, Sgt. You need to tend to the boy first. I think his arm is broken, but I didn't have anything to immobilize it with."

"I'll check his arm and then we'll have a look at that leg," said Clements, still trying to get a look at Sheppard.

"Negative. Get Jinto out first and then you can deal with me. That's an order, Sgt." John was hoping his voice tone told the man he was serious, even if the volume didn't.

"Yes, sir." Accepting that Lorne and Beckett had told him the truth, Clements turned to Jinto and removed the pack from his back. Several minutes later, he had boy's arm splinted and had checked him over for other injuries. Finding none, he looked Jinto in the eyes. "I'm going to put you in a harness and they're going to lift you to the top. I believe your dad is waiting up there, along with Dr. Beckett."

Jinto nodded, the pain taking a bit of a backseat to the excitement. "I can do it," he said firmly. "I'm not scared. What about Colonel Sheppard, is he going to be okay?"

"Yes, he'll be fine. As soon as we get you out, I'll get him all fixed up and we'll get him out as well. I hear he has an appointment with the good doctor himself."

"Bunch of comedians," mumbled Sheppard as he cracked his eyes open and gave a half smile to Jinto. "Just do what he says and you'll be fine. I'll join you in just a few minutes."

"Okay, colonel." He stood with Clements' help, but then turned back to Sheppard. "Thanks for telling me the stories while we waited . . . you know, so I wouldn't be scared."

"Actually that was so I wouldn't be scared," said Sheppard, winking at Jinto.

Jinto grinned and turned back to join the medic near the far wall. Clements hooked Jinto up to the harness and then touched his radio. "Okay, Jinto is ready. Take it slow and easy, his arm is broken."

John watched through half-lidded eyes as Jinto rose farther and farther. When he was a little over halfway, he bumped the wall of the hole, sending a cascade of dirt pouring into the hole. John winced as he bent over and covered his head with his hands. When the dirt and small pebbles quit pounding him in the head, he pushed the dirt off his upper body and looked up. He could just see Jinto being hauled over the top, lights from many flashlights or possibly the jumper illuminating the area.

Sgt. Clements responded to something on the radio and then turned back to Sheppard. "Jinto made it to the top okay and Dr. Beckett is with him. Now let's have a look at you."

Clements was surprised at how cold Sheppard's skin felt when he took his wrist for a pulse. When he finished, he reached in the pack for the blood pressure cuff. "How long have you been cold?"

John was fighting to keep his eyes open, but it felt like a loosing battle. "Don't know . . . a while."

After checking his pressure, Clements got up and went to the opposite side to get the litter they were lowering down to him. Dirt once again rained down on the medic as he grabbed the stretcher and unhooked it. Carrying over to Sheppard, he lay it down beside the man. "Okay, let's see if we can get that leg splinted so we can move you. This may hurt a bit."

John nodded. "Just do it and . . . let's get out of here."

It was several minutes before Sheppard was splinted and ready for transport. He had to work with Clements to get himself moved into the litter. The medic then hit his radio button. "I've got the colonel ready to be lifted out. I'll need to get the litter moved over to the far wall before you can lift it out, but I'll need your help. Pull very slowly when I say go." He quickly double checked to be sure Sheppard was secured. "Okay, go."

Clements lifted as the people above pulled on the ropes to the litter, dragging it lightly across the ground to the wall of the hole.

"Okay, we're going up now." He held onto the moving stretcher until he could no longer reach it and watched carefully as it slowly bumped up the side. He thought he heard a low moan as the litter took a particularly hard jolt. It seemed to take forever, but it was just a few minutes until the people at the top were pulling the litter over the edge and moving away from the hole.

Beckett came up along side the litter as the marines carried it away from the hole. "Take it directly to the jumper and I'll see to the colonel on the way to Atlantis," he said. Leaning over and looking at Sheppard's pale face, he noticed the man shivering. "Take it easy colonel. I'll get you some blankets when we get on the jumper."

"Jinto?" He could barely get it out between spells of chattering teeth.

"He's fine, colonel, just the broken arm. He and Halling are already on the ship and waiting to go."

The marines loaded the litter on the jumper and left. A second jumper was on the way to pick up the remaining soldiers. Lorne stopped beside Sheppard on the way to the cockpit. "Glad to see you'll be joining us for the return trip, sir."

John's eyes were barely open. "Thanks, Major. Good job."

Lorne smiled and saluted. "Any time, sir. I just hate it you'll be back in the infirmary."

"Better than the alternative," slurred Sheppard. He looked up at Beckett as he peered worriedly down at him. "Carson . . . get this mark off me, even if you have to cut it out. I can't do this any more."

Beckett smiled tightly as he tucked a blanket in around Sheppard's shivering body and prepared to start an IV. "That won't be necessary."

Teyla smiled down at Sheppard over Beckett's shoulder. "I may have the answer, colonel. I will be seeing to it as soon as we get back to Atlantis."

"Hope so," said John as his eyes slid closed and he lost the battle to stay conscious.

TBC