Authors Note: I hope everyone enjoyed the previous chapter, let me know what you think of this one. Special thanks to jasminesmommy for the review!
Chapter 3
Rodney winced as he shifted to try and make himself more comfortable. He'd been released from the infirmary a few days ago but he was still in a lot of pain, it was making him irritable. He'd rather be back there now, waiting for word on Elizabeth's condition but he'd had to come here instead. Special Agent Gavorn sat opposite him, his interrogation had started an hour ago and didn't look like it would be finishing anytime soon.
He shifted again, it was impossible to get into a comfortable position and now his head was starting to hurt again, he was going to need his pain meds soon. Gavorn gave him a sympathetic look, Rodney didn't want sympathy, he wanted answers. If this interrogation was going to help get them, then he'd prefer to just get on with it.
"Do you need a break, Dr McKay?" Gavorn asked.
"I'm fine," Rodney replied, forcing himself to sit up a little straighter.
"Very well, what can you tell me about Dr Harper?"
"She's a medical doctor and a scientist, she's been on Atlantis for almost a year," Rodney told him.
"You've had some issues with her over the last few months though, why don't you tell me what happened?" Gavorn suggested, Rodney ignored the pounding in his head as he tried to remember when the issue with her had first begun. Carson would probably have known more about it but he was still in the operating room.
xXx
Rodney flexed the fingers of his hand several times as the tingling began to decrease. He'd been zapped when his hand had brushed an exposed wire, the shock had been pretty minimal but the tingling in his fingers had started to annoy him, better safe than sorry.
"You're fine," Carson declared after checking him over. "You can wait here for the tingling to stop if you want to or you can just let me know if you experience any other symptoms. The choice is yours, we're having a pleasantly slow day in here today."
"How nice for you," Rodney replied.
"Dr Beckett," one of the doctors said as she entered the infirmary, Dr Harper. "I'd like permission to access the files from the Hoffan drug research."
"Whatever do you want to see those for?" Carson questioned.
"I've had a few thoughts about the drug, more specifically about the issue of the death rate, I'd like to look into it a little. I may have thought of a way we could reduce it," Harper told him, she looked very excited by whatever breakthrough she was expecting to make.
"You'll have to give me a little more than that if you want access to those files, we classified them for a reason, that drug is dangerous," Carson replied, a haunted look in his eyes as he spoke. Rodney knew he'd blamed himself for what had happened to the Hoffan people, even though he had to know it wasn't his fault, he'd warned them they were moving too fast.
"I understand why it's off-limits without authorization, what happened before was terrible," Harper explained, "I have some thoughts about how we could make the drug less fatal, either by altering the drug or changing our ability to cope with it."
There was a pause, Carson looked conflicted, "Put together a detailed proposal, I'll speak with Dr Weir but I'm not making any promises."
Harper grinned with excitement, "Thank you Dr Beckett, you won't regret it."
"This isn't a yes, it's a maybe," Carson reiterated but Harper was already walking out of the room, a smile on her face.
"She thinks it'll be a yes," Rodney pointed out as he flexed his fingers again, the tingling was already beginning to subside. "You think she actually has anything?"
"She's brilliant," Carson said with a shrug, "but she's young and eager. She's less interested in being a doctor and more interested in being a scientist these days. I think she wants to find something she can use to make a name for herself. You never know, maybe she does have something useful."
"Something you didn't already think of?" Rodney asked.
"Aye, maybe, I'm not all-knowing," Carson replied with a faraway look, probably thinking back to when they had worked on the virus with the Hoffans, maybe thinking back to the scientist who had worked on it with him. She'd seemed nice, determined, maybe a little reckless given how everything turned out but she wasn't entirely at fault for that, the Hoffan people had been desperate and willing to sacrifice so many to stop the Wraith.
"She's excited about it at least," Rodney said as he looked at the door Harper had left through. "I'd be careful, once some people get ideas in their heads they don't always let it go."
Carson snorted, "I've spent enough time around you to know that Rodney."
"I didn't mean me," Rodney replied, grumbling to himself as Carson walked away laughing.
xXx
"Was she given access to the files?" Gavorn asked.
Rodney shook his head, regretted the pain it caused, "No, she put her proposal together but there wasn't anything new in there. It was mostly just ideas that had already been considered, things that didn't work. Her request was denied."
"How did she react to that?"
"I wasn't there when she was told but I know she wasn't happy about it, she complained for a few days and then she seemed to get over it. She never mentioned it again and no one thought anything of it," Rodney explained. In hindsight, maybe he should have known, he'd said it to Carson, scientists don't always let their ideas go.
Gavorn moved on, he jumped from topic to topic, like he was trying to keep him on his toes. Rodney answered all of his questions with a patience he didn't even know he had, after what felt like forever, Gavorn told him he could go.
"I will have more questions," Gavorn said as he was leaving.
Rodney made his way to the infirmary, followed by his armed guard for the day. He found John, Teyla and Ronon all sat together in a huddle. They were quiet, all of them staring into the distance, absorbed in their own thoughts as they waited to hear the outcome of Elizabeth's surgery.
"You have been questioned?" Teyla asked when she saw him.
"Just finished," Rodney replied, resisting the urge to shrug, knowing it would hurt. Ronon grabbed a chair for him without speaking, setting it next to Teyla. "It wasn't too bad. It didn't take as long as I thought it would but he said he wasn't done with me yet."
"He's trying to get through some initial interviews today, he's putting together a timeline," John told him, tearing his gaze from the door. "He's been going through the reports from the last few months."
Rodney nodded slightly, "There's a lot to go through."
The doors in front of them opened, pulling everyone's attention instantly as Carson walked through them. His eyes found them quickly and he walked over to join them, he had some blood on his clothes, Elizabeth's blood. Everyone stood up, then it was like time froze for a moment, no one but Carson moved, no one spoke.
"She came through the surgery," Carson told them as soon as he reached them. "It was touch and go but we were able to repair all of the damage, two centimetres to the side and we'd be having a different conversation. As it is she might well be walking out of here in a few days, we expect a full recovery."
There was a collective sigh of relief, Rodney didn't think he'd ever felt as relieved as he did in that moment. John looked like he was going to collapse back into his chair, Ronon and Teyla were both smiling in relief. Rodney looked over at the man who had been assigned to guard him for the day, he'd joined the two armed guards John had put on the infirmary when Elizabeth had been rushed in here. They all looked genuinely happy to hear the news. The rest of Atlantis would be waiting as well, wanting to know what had happened to their leader.
"Thank you, Carson," Teyla finally said and the doctor smiled tiredly.
"When can we see her?" John questioned.
"Soon," Carson replied, "We need to get her situated, then you'll be able to sit with her for a little while, as long as you promise to get some rest yourself."
John didn't respond to that and Carson sighed, giving the man a knowing look
Ronon was called to the briefing room then, he gave John a distinctly displeased look but complied anyway. He left the infirmary, Teyla was smiling about something but didn't seem inclined to share it. Rodney sat back down in his chair, releasing a deep breath and realising how exhausted he actually was.
"You should go and get some rest," John told him, he seemed much calmer now, much brighter.
"So should you," Rodney shot back, John just raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine," he said, standing up again. "Let me know when she wakes up."
"You'll be my first call," John promised him.
Rodney gave a nod to his guard who followed him back through the city to his quarters, taking up a position outside the door. Rodney collapsed onto his bed as soon as he was close enough, he just laid there for a minute before forcing himself to sit up again. He needed to take his pain killers or he was never going to get any sleep. The pain had been improving over the last few days, he hoped it wouldn't be long before he was able to move without wincing.
Gavorn putting together a timeline made sense given everything that had happened over the last few months, all of it had seemed so innocuous at the start. Harper wasn't the only person Gavorn had asked him about in his initial interview, he'd asked about Rodney's confrontation with Dr Winters regarding the device AR3 had found three months ago. He'd used the word confrontation but that's not how Rodney had viewed it. It had simply been someone in his department failing to follow instructions and Rodney having to deal with the consequences, at least that was how he'd viewed it at the time. It wasn't the last time he'd had a problem with the scientist.
xXx
"I just don't think it's a good idea," Winters said for what must have been the sixth time. "We shouldn't have brought this device back to Atlantis."
"It's a little late for that now don't you think?" Rodney replied as he examined the device in question. It had definitely begun powering itself up after Lieutenant Jenson had touched it but they still had no idea what it had done to him. They didn't even know what it was, one of the science teams had found it and brought it back with them but it had been inert at the time. Then Jenson had touched it, he'd collapsed the second his fingers had come in contact with it, Carson was still trying to figure out what had happened.
"We should get rid of it," Winters said, his voice filled with fear.
"We have time," Rodney said, the power in the device was continuing to build and they couldn't figure out how to stop it. He tried shutting it down but the thing was self-sustaining at this point. It seemed to be some kind of malfunction. It wasn't ancient technology, if it was it probably would have had a failsafe built-in, most of their technology did, they weren't that lucky this time. Instead, they'd put the device in a jumper and taken it away from the city, if it came down to it they could toss it out and get away from the explosion.
"You don't know that for certain, that thing could explode any second," Winters continued, he was supposed to be running the scans but he was becoming more of a hindrance than a help.
"It's not going to explode any second, the power conduits in the device can handle this level of power, we've got another half an hour at least," Rodney told him, trying hard to concentrate on what he was doing. If they threw this thing out now they may never find out what it had done to Jenson and they might not be able to help him.
"You're guessing," Winters shouted, "You're guessing and hoping that you're right. If this thing explodes it will kill everyone in this jumper."
"That's why there are only four of us in the jumper," Rodney replied as he stood up to look at the scientist directly. "We have around 30 minutes to figure out what the device did to Jenson, 30 minutes that might save his life. We're going to use every one of them before we throw this thing away, that's why Radek is monitoring the power levels."
He gestured to Radek who was actually getting on with his work, "We're still safe, relatively."
"Now, you can either run the scans and shut up so I can concentrate or go and sit up front with Sheppard and stay out of the way!" Rodney shouted back, they didn't have the time for this, they were wasting minutes.
The scientist huffed but turned back to his tablet to run the scans. Rodney focused his attention back on the device.
xXx
They hadn't been able to save Jenson but they had at least figured out what the device had done to him. It had used his body's energy to jump-start itself, leaving Jenkins without enough to sustain his own life. They'd never figured out what the actual purpose of the device had been or where it had come from, only that it was very old, as old as Atlantis at least. The knowledge they'd gained may not have saved Jenson but it meant they knew how to handle the devices, or at least how not to, if they encountered one again. It might well save lives in the future.
Rodney felt himself drifting off to sleep as he thought back over that confrontation. Winters had been in the wrong but he hadn't taken Rodney shouting at him well, things between them hadn't gotten any better from there.
TBC
