Chapter 9: Bad News.
When Teyla exited the wormhole onto the Henperian homeworld, she was greeted by driving rain pelting her face and body. The sky was dark and foreboding, which reflected her mood perfectly. A minute later Lorne, Ronon and a team of Marines stepped through the gate behind her. Teyla wondered if Lorne was going to order them back through the wormhole, but she was relieved when he was willing to continue. She knew that there was no way that Ronon would go back even if Lorne gave him a direct order to do so.
Half of the marines took up position near the gate before Lorne ordered," Let's go," before heading down the narrow path that was in front of them.
Teyla very quickly followed, enjoying the rain on her face and the wind in her hair, she suspected that the storm that was brewing was going to be a big one, so they had better get to the village quickly and depending on the severity of the storm they may even need to stay the night.
To many people it was strange, but as a child, Teyla had always enjoyed the fierce storms that came up suddenly on Athos. In fact, she used to stand outside and watch the lighting light up the world around her, until her father or Charin demanded that she came inside. Although as soon as they were distracted, she'd carefully peer through the opening of the tent, until she was forced to go into a storm shelter or the nearby caves.
They walked along in silence, as there was no way they would be able to hear each other over the storm anyway. The village was half an hour walk from the gate, so they had decided that they wouldn't bring a jumper, as it was exceedingly difficult to get the jumper through the gate, because of the trees that were in close proximity to it.
Arriving on the outskirts of the village twenty minutes later, Lorne, Ronon and Teyla approached the village. The storm hadn't let up, in fact, Teyla sensed that it was actually getting worse. She began to worry that something may have happened to the Henperians, but her fears were alleviated a few minutes later when Friall stepped out to meet them.
"Teyla, please come inside, as the storm is becoming more severe," he suggested, before turning to Lorne, "Major Lorne you should contact your soldiers and have them come inside. Perhaps you should send your men near the gate back to Atlantis as well."
Teyla was astounded by the fact that Friall knew what was going on, "Councillor Friall, how is it you know about the soldiers surrounding your village?"
"We send scouts out before one of these intense storms. Our scouts saw you approaching the settlement fifteen minutes ago." Friall answered.
A minute later one of the Henperians approached with the rest of the soldiers, "we have contacted Lt Smith and sent him back to Atlantis," Lt Stevens informed them.
A flash of lightning lit up the sky and a few seconds later a clap of thunder roared through the air. The temperature dropped, the rain turned to hail, and the wind became much stronger.
"I think it's time we headed to the storm shelter," Friall suggested with urgency.
Teyla knew that if they didn't get to shelter soon anything could happen, so she looked at Friall, "I could not agree more, please lead the way."
Friall went inside one of the wooden buildings and Teyla and the others very quickly followed, once inside Friall opened a trapdoor on the floor and urged them inside. Teyla very quickly complied, Lorne and the Marines followed after her, but Ronon stood up top with a look of fury on his face.
"Ronon what is wrong?" She called from the room below.
"I refuse to be stopped by a storm; we have to find Sheppard!" Ronon growled.
"And we will, but please come inside and talk? We are willing to share whatever information we have with you." Friall pleaded.
Teyla was still worried that Ronon would insist on going out into the storm to look for John, but they were here for information only and they really didn't have any idea whether John and Dave were on this planet anyway.
She was relieved when he nodded his head and followed Friall down the stairs. Once she was sure that Ronon was at the bottom, she walked along a narrow corridor which led to a large underground space, which was as big as the control room in Atlantis. There were very few people in the room and Teyla had to wonder why. "Excuse me councillor, where is everyone else?"
"We have many underground shelters throughout the area," a young woman told them, as she came up alongside Teyla and introduced herself, "My name is councillor Amel and I am head of the Henperian council. I am sorry that we were not more willing to speak with you, but we have had a few problems with a group of rogue Genii over recent months, so we have been very wary of outsiders."
Teyla bowed her head towards Amel, "thank you for meeting with us?"
"Some refreshments have been prepared for us to share, if Ronon, Lorne, along with yourself would like to join me at the table by the left wall." Amel said, before turning to Lt Stevens, "there are refreshments for you and the others at the table in the far-right corner."
Once Lt Stevens had left Teyla, Lorne and Ronon went and sat down at the table that was along the left side of the cavern, Councillor Amel and Councillor Friall joined them. There was already food on the table, which consisted of some kind of fruit and a large pitcher of water.
Amel held out her hands towards to food, "Please take some food and then we can get down to business."
Teyla took a small piece of fruit and poured herself a glass of water before she began, "Councillors we understand that you have had problems with a man named Klull recently, well he has infiltrated Atlantis and taken a friend of mine and we were wondering if you knew of any places that he might go to hide?"
She didn't know how much these people knew about Atlantis, so she was careful not to give too many details away.
Friall frowned and took a large sip of his water before he answered, "well, we can give you a list of gate addresses that he has been spotted on recently, but it has been two months since he left the settlement. We tried to help him, but he insisted that he would be better off on his own. When he left, he took five others with him and they all wanted revenge for what these rogue Genii did to their families."
Given the number of people that infiltrated the gate room he must have picked up a few more men to fight for his cause, Teyla thought.
"What makes you think that these people who attacked you are Genii?" Ronon asked succinctly.
"Well, they were wearing Genii uniforms, carried Genii weapons and claimed that they were working for the new Genii empire."
"Well, we certainly haven't come across them as yet, but I assure you we will speak with Ladon Radim, the leader of the Genii people and see if he has any information on their whereabouts. Perhaps we can help track them down so that they won't do it to anyone else."
Teyla watched as Friall nodded at Lorne and smiled, "I thank you for your offer Major Lorne and I assure you that we have already spoken with Radim about it, as we have traded with the Genii for over a year now."
Amel turned to Teyla and took her hand, "I will have one of my people give you a list of gate addresses before you leave, but I ask that if you find Klull you return him to us so that we can deal with him according to our customs?"
"We will have to discuss that with our leader first, but at this point, I do not see any problems with your request." Teyla agreed.
"I would very much like to set up trade negotiations with Atlantis in the near future and we wish to continue our trade with the Athosian people," Amel told them with a smile that looked completely genuine.
Teyla nodded her head and smiled at the young woman, "I believe that can be arranged, but now we must go."
Friall's warning sounded ominous, as he spoke, "You will have to stay here for now, as the storm is still raging outside. If you go outside, I cannot guarantee your survival. We lost many to the extreme storms in the early days of settlement on this planet, so now we do not go out until the storm is finished."
"And how long do they last?" Ronon asked suspiciously and Teyla could sense his frustration.
"It varies, on occasion, they have lasted more than a week," Amel replied looking a little sheepish.
That piece of news worried Teyla immensely, she had no idea what had happened to John and Dave and she had no idea how the ancient device that had malfunctioned was affecting his DNA. At the moment she was angry with Lorne and Woolsey for not allowing the Henperians to come to Atlantis, but most of all she was angry at herself for pushing John away.
Filling her glass again and grabbing a piece of fruit she walked away from the table to find a quiet place to sit and meditate, by herself.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rodney arrived in Woolsey's office almost an hour after he had contacted him. After contacting Woolsey, he had gone to leave his lab when Radek had rushed into his lab speaking gibberish to him, but when he'd finally managed to figure out what the little scientist was talking about, he had decided that it was nothing that Radek couldn't figure out himself.
He walked into the office just as Lt Smith was leaving, "are Teyla and Ronon back already?" Rodney asked Woolsey as he sat down.
"No, apparently there's a storm on the planet, so they have gone to an underground shelter with the Henperians until it is over."
Rodney annoyance showed when he spoke with a cold controlled voice, "Why the hell couldn't the Henperians come to Atlantis!?"
Woolsey sighed, "after what happened with Klull it was decided that we couldn't risk another attack. Once Colonel Sheppard is back we will need to re-evaluate security protocols.
Rodney run his hands through his hair and furrowed his brow, "well I hope that storm doesn't last long because from what I have found out Sheppard needs to be in the infirmary under Beckett's supervision as soon as possible."
"Why don't you tell me what you have found," Woolsey suggested, and Rodney could sense his impatience.
"Well, the good news is that he will grow up."
"And what's the bad news, Dr McKay?"
"In my research, I came across four times when the device wasn't used to reverse the effects of the device. In one case the person grew up within a month without any problems, in one case the person died a painful death," Rodney took a breath before continuing, "and in the other two, the reversion process was extremely painful and both individuals suffered seizures and fell into comas. It happened amazingly fast and in less than a week they were beginning to experience extreme pain."
"Thank you, Dr McKay, now perhaps you should go and get some rest. I know that you have spent most of your day in the lab again because Dr Keller was in here earlier and she seemed worried about your health."
"But I need to continue to research the database to see if I can find anything to help Sheppard."
"Dr Keller told me to inform you that if you didn't go to your quarters, she would come to my office and drag you to the infirmary and sedate you," Woolsey said and Rodney thought he saw a slight smirk on his face.
"Alright, alright I'm going," Rodney said when Woolsey put his hand up to his earpiece.
When he left Woolsey's office, he wasn't happy. All he wanted to do was go back to his lab and find a way to fix Sheppard, there had to be a way to reverse his condition without it causing intense pain.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The room was dark and cold when John awoke, and it didn't take him too long to realise that he was shivering all over to the point where his teeth were chattering. Every muscle and bone in his body ached and the pain invaded his entire body. Trying to look around the room took an enormous amount of effort, so for now, he decided to remain still. He felt and heard Puss' soft purring and felt comforted by the fact that the cat very seldom left his side these days.
A sound from the other side of the time room startled him and he managed to turn his head to the side just in time to see Dave waking up. "Da…d…," he said with chattering teeth, "wh..y's it…s….o…co…ld…in…he…re?"
"I'm sorry John, but you were burning up last night, so I let the fire burn down, but if you like I will stoke it up again."
"I…do….n't….fe…el….to…good," he said his teeth still chattering.
Despite the fact that he was cold, John felt sweat beading on his brow, and he was finding it hard to concentrate on what was going on around him.
"Da…d…I…rea…lly…hurt."
"I tried to get someone's attention last night when you had a fever, but no one would come. Hopefully, Klull will bring us some food this morning and I will try and appeal to his humanity."
John was feeling a little warmer now that Dave had stoked the fire up a little, but he still felt absolutely terrible and all he wanted right now was to be in the infirmary under Carson and Jennifer's care.
"Can you…see…what…it's…like…outside?" He asked and was relieved to find that his teeth weren't chattering anywhere near as much.
"I will stand on the table and see if I can look out of that tiny window," Dave scratched his head before continuing and John knew that he was thinking about something, "I wonder if you could fit through that window John, you certainly look small enough?"
"I'll give it a go," John offered, although his small body was racked with pain.
He watched, holding his breath as Dave climbed on the table, he really hoped that there was a way out of here because there was no doubt that there was something seriously wrong with him, other than being a child of course.
"What's… it… look… like?" John asked and he was appalled to find that he was still shaking, despite the fact he felt warmer.
"The sun is just beginning to rise over the horizon, so daylight is approaching fast. The only problem is that there is deep snow outside, so even if we were able to escape, we would have to walk in deep snow to get off this planet and I have no idea what direction the stargate is."
That's really disappointing, John thought as he continued to tremble and shake.
He watched with unfocused eyes as Dave climbed down from the table, he had no idea what was happening with his eyes, but things were really beginning to look blurry.
The minute Dave's feet touched the floor again, the door opened and two of Klull's buddies delivered their breakfast.
"I really need to speak to Klull now!" Dave demanded.
"What is it you wish to talk to me about Mr Sheppard?" Klull asked entering the room.
"John isn't well and he needs a doctor as soon as possible, I suggest you take us home so that he can get the help he needs."
Krull smiled a sickly smile and John shivered, "I cannot allow you to leave, as I still require something from Atlantis. There is a healer in the nearby village though, so I will send for him right away."
John looked in Klull's direction a pleaded with him, "please…let…me…go…home?"
"Sorry kid, but I can't. I will be back later with a healer," Klull told them.
"And how do you intend to get in contact with Atlantis?" Dave asked before Klull had a chance to leave the room.
If John's brain was working properly he probably would have asked that question before now, but did these guys have Atlantis' gate address, or had they managed to obtain some security codes. He knew that his own would have been deactivated the minute he was captured so that they didn't fall into enemy hands.
"Don't worry Mr Sheppard, we have transportation to the great ring and when we get there you will be speaking with your boss and if he doesn't give us what we want we may need to harm the kid further."
John lay on the small bed barely awake watching and listening to what was happening and right now he was proud of his brother, "so, you're going to get him a healer and then harm him if you can't get your own way that doesn't sound very logical does it?"
"You know what I've had enough of this conversation, in twenty-four hours I will be contacting Atlantis again and you will be helping me Mr Sheppard, if not I will harm the child!" Klull said angrily before leaving the room and his two friends very quickly followed.
"I'm sorry John, I tried to get us out of here."
"Thanks…for…trying…"
John closed his eyes, everything was beginning to look blurry anyway, so why bother to keep them open. Perhaps, he'd be better off asleep since there was nothing he could do about his situation right now, so he cuddled up to puss and willed sleep to come and hopefully the next time he woke up his team would be there to take him home. If not he had no idea what would happen to him, but one thing he knew for sure was that his condition was getting worse.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Teyla sat in silence watching what was going on around her, she had no idea how long the storm had been raging outside, or if she'd been asleep. Looking to the centre of the room she noticed that Ronon was pacing and Lorne appeared to be trying to get him to sit down.
Standing up she walked to the centre of the room to see what was going on. At a glance, she realised that everyone else appeared to be asleep on mattresses that had been placed around the shelter.
"Ronon, Major Lorne, what appears to be the problem?" She asked approaching the two men.
"Ronon wants to go out in the storm at first light to head back to Atlantis and although I understand where he is coming from, I can't allow it." Major Lorne told her without taking his eyes off of Ronon.
Lorne's face looked serious, "why not?" She asked.
"I have just finished talking with Councillor Friall and he had a quick look outside fifteen minutes ago. Apparently, the storm is still raging, large tree branches are flying through the air and half of their buildings have been flattened."
"Does Friall have any idea how much longer the storm will last?" Teyla asked, hoping that they could get back to Atlantis as soon as possible.
"He has no idea at this point, it could let up in an hour from now, or a week from now," Lorne told her.
"I Can't sit around here for a week and do nothing, while Klull's doing who knows what with Sheppard and his brother!" Ronon yelled and looking around the room it was clear that it took quite a few people by surprise.
Teyla placed her hand on Ronon's arm to stop him pacing, "I am sorry Ronon, but I would have to agree with Major Lorne and Friall. As unfortunate as it is we will need to wait until the storm dies down."
Ronon turned to look at Teyla and she saw the pain in his eyes, "I need to do something to help Sheppard. You know how much I hate sitting around."
Teyla spoke to him in a soothing voice, "I know Ronon, but it will not help John if you get yourself killed, will it?"
Ronon nodded, walked across the room and sat on one of the mattresses, that was laying on the floor. Teyla followed him over and sat next to him. The mattresses were stuffed with some kind of straw and were quite comfortable, "how about you try and get some sleep Ronon. Perhaps the storm may have passed by them."
Teyla watched as Ronon lay down on his mattress and she was surprised at how exhausted he looked. She sat next to him and watched him until he fell asleep. Once she was sure that he was asleep, she went and looked for a mattress of her own and tried to get some sleep herself.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rodney awoke to his door chime being activated, he had no idea how long he'd been asleep, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that it was probably far too long.
He stumbled out of bed and went across to the door, swiped his hand over the door panel to open it and was surprised to find that Jennifer was standing there with a pot of coffee and some sandwiches, "What time is it?" He asked her still feeling groggy from having just woken up.
"It's a little after midday and I thought that you might want to share lunch with me?"
"Thanks, Jenn, but I really need to be getting back to my lab. I need to find something to help Sheppard, so that he doesn't have to endure days of agony and before you say anything I'm not really sure that you'll be able to give him any pain medication. I would need to research that as well."
"But Rodney you need to eat. Not to mention the fact that you should put on some clothes."
He looked down and realised that he was only wearing an old t-shirt and his boxer shorts, "Umm… I guess I've got time for a quick coffee and some sandwiches and then I'll get dressed before heading to my lab."
"I'll join you and then I will come with you to your lab and help you with your research."
He looked at her suspiciously, "really, how can you help me?"
"Rodney!" Jennifer admonished, "I can research what John's medical needs may be when he comes back." She looked at him and he could see the hurt in her face, "and this way we can spend some time together."
Perhaps it would be a good chance to spend some time with Jenn, "I'd really appreciate your help Jenn, maybe together we can find a way to help Sheppard."
"Aright, then let's eat and then we can head straight to your lab."
Rodney sat next to her on his bed and grabbed a sandwich and a cup of coffee. He looked at his girlfriend and wondered if it was time to ask her to become his wife.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Dave pulled up his chair next to John's bed, Klull had left about an hour ago and John seemed to be getting worse. He had sweat pouring down his face and his tiny body was trembling. He was obviously in pain because he was writhing in the bed and moaning constantly.
"John please hold on, next time Klull comes in I'm going to try and get him to let us go home."
Suddenly the door opened and Klull walked in with an old man who had brown beady eyes, long grey hair, and a long grey beard. He must be a hundred at least, Dave thought staring at him.
The strange man approached the bed and felt John's forehead, "he has a fever," the old man croaked. "I will give you some herbs to try to and bring his temperature down. Try and keep him as cool as possible as well."
Dave was incredulous at his diagnosis, "yes we know he has a temperature, but the question is why!"
The healer ignored Dave and turned to Klull, "see how he is tomorrow, if he still has a fever then let me know."
The healer put some strange herbs in Dave's hand and said, "mix these with water and make him drink it every two hours that should bring his temperature down."
The healer turned his back on Dave and Klull led him out of the door and all he could do was watch them leave.
Once he was sure they were gone he turned to John, just to see him sit up in bed and scream in agony. It was the most high-pitched ear-splitting scream he had ever heard and when it was over, John flopped back on the bed again.
Slowly Dave approached John's bed. Looking down at his brother, he was shocked to see that John's face was covered in spots and what was worse was that John seemed to have grown by at least two inches.
TBC…