Chapter 12: The experiment
At that moment he heard it, a chirping, chattering sound that filled him with terror and it was a sound that he'd never wanted to hear again. He froze as the sound came closer and then with an almighty shriek something latched on to his throat.
If he weren't gagged, he would have screamed as the Iratus bug dug its pincers deeper into his throat. He was in agony as the bug injected its toxin into his system and then started to suck the life out of him.
He heard voices of to his left muttering about an experiment, but he really didn't want to know, because all he could focus on at the moment was the all-encompassing pain he was feeling right now. He knew it wouldn't last though; he knew that eventually his body would become numb. Then what? How the hell did Michael intend to get this giant tick off of him, or perhaps he had no intention of removing it? Last time Ford had to stop his heart before the dam thing would let go. He really didn't relish having to go through that again. Lost in his thoughts and Pain, he didn't realise when Michael spoke to him.
"Now Colonel, we're going to leave you for a while until you become, numb and then I'll be back to conduct, phase two of my little experiment."
"Take his blindfold of, so he can see what's going on?" Michael suggested to one of his hybrids.
His blindfold was removed, so that not only could he hear the bug still chirping away, but now he could see it as well. He felt sick, but he knew that vomiting wouldn't be a good idea right now, as he was still gagged.
Michael continued to give orders to his hybrids, "I need a blood sample."
His blood was taken and then he was left alone with his thoughts, he wondered what would happen next. Would he be rescued soon or would this enormous tick attached to his neck eventually kill him. The pain was lessoning now and could feel his limbs starting to go numb. He closed his eyes to the pain and drifted into a restless sleep.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tuart watched the new hybrids come out of stasis and he was shocked by what he saw, some of them were his friends and it terrified him. He wondered whether they would be better off dead, rather than to have to live in this state and it was then he decided that there was no way that he was going to be able to rescue them. Even if he could he had no idea how to change them back to normal, perhaps he would ask Carson and see what he thought.
His thoughts were interrupted a few minutes later when Carson started to speak to him, "are you alright Tuart?"
He took a deep breath and stared at the monsters in front of him before answering, "is there any way we're going to be able to return them to what they were before this all started?"
"I honestly don't know lad, but if we stay here, we'll never know."
Tuart continued to stare at the hybrids, who were just standing still and obviously waiting for instructions, "I know it sounds horrible, but perhaps they would be better off dead".
"I know this is a small comfort, but perhaps they won't last long."
Tuart nodded his head and finally turned to face Carson, "what I can't understand is why he succeeded 50,000 years ago and he can't make it work now?"
"I think it was DNA from Teyla and Kanaan's child that perfected them the last time and I think that is why he is after your child now."
"But why, what was so special about Teyla's child and why should Shalite's and my baby be special?" He asked feeling totally confused.
"Teyla and Kanaan both had Wraith DNA, which allowed them to connect with the wraith." He watched as Carson rubbed his face before continuing, "apparently the Wraith used the Athosian people for experimentation thousands of years before Kanaan and Teyla were born. At that point Wraith DNA was introduced to the test subjects and they became Kanaan and Teyla's ancestors. For some reason, their child had the exact genetics to solve the problems with his hybrids dying to early."
Tuart shuddered at the thought. "So, are you suggesting that Shalite and I have wraith DNA and our baby has the genetics that Michael needs?"
"Aye it's a distinct possibility."
"Well in that case we'd better blow this place up and get out of here!" Tuart shouted in frustration.
"Keep your voice down lad, we don't want Michael to hear us. He should be here in a moment to see his new hybrids, so for now just take it easy and when I take you back to your cell, we should be able to talk some more."
Tuart nodded and he was glad that he didn't say anything else on the matter, because at that moment Michael walked in the room.
"I see that my hybrids have awoken from stasis, I will be giving them some orders shortly," Michael turned to look at Carson before continuing, "I may need a doctor in my lab at some point in the near future, but for now take Tuart back to his cell and then go back to your lab."
"Yes Michael," Carson said as he grabbed Tuart's hand and led him towards his cell.
Tuart happily followed and it wasn't long before they reached his cell. And for the first time since he'd been in this cave system, he was happy to be there.
Once he was sitting on the floor he turned to Carson with a disturbed look on his face, "that was the grotesque face that I saw in my dream, he must have been connecting with my mind somehow. I'm fairly sure that Shalite saw it in her dream as well."
"Yeah that sounds like the kind of thing he'd do. Now about getting out of here, I have been trying to monitor Michael's movements over the last couple of days, so I have a pretty good idea of where he is at certain times and I'm fairly sure that he's got Colonel Sheppard in his lab and that's why he might need a doctor in the near future. I am going take the explosives to the cave where we placed Roget's body. When the time is right, you can give me some idea where we should place them to do the most damage and then before we detonate them we can get Colonel Sheppard and anyone else who's still human and get the hell out of here." Carson explained.
"Wow!" Tuart exclaimed, "you sound like a military strategist."
"I learnt from the best."
"Was that Colonel Sheppard?" Tuart asked feeling a bit sorry that Carson would never be able to go back in time with John.
Carson nodded, "I'm going to leave now, as I don't want to raise suspicion, but I will be back later, and we can continue our planning."
Tuart nodded and watched Carson leave the room, now all he had to do was wait for a signal before they could enact their plan.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
John awoke a short time later, to find that the gag had gone and that he was untied. The bug was still attached to his neck, but the pain was gone, and his limbs were numb, so even if he felt like escaping there was no way that he could move enough to attempt it.
He was startled from his musings when Michael entered the room with a few of his hybrids.
"Colonel Sheppard, it's good to see you're awake. I was hoping you'd be awake for the next part of the experiment."
"What the hell are you up to and why didn't the bug attack you?!" John asked, with as much anger as he could muster given his weakened condition.
"The bugs never attack me or my hybrids, because for some reason that I really don't care about, they only attack humans." Michael told him. "Are you feeling numb Colonel Sheppard?"
"What the hell do you think? I have an Iratus bug trying to feed on me, of course I'm numb!" He growled.
"It's time for phase two of my experiment. Can you feel pain through any injury I might inflict on you and will the bug help heal those injuries?" Michael told him with an evil glint in his eye
"You've got to be kidding me?" Sheppard mumbled.
Michael looked at one of his minions, "let's try and break his arm first?"
Before Sheppard had a chance to say anything, the hybrid came towards him with a hammer and then slammed it into his forearm. He heard the crack and felt the pressure as the bones broke.
John looked at his arm the best he could with the bug attached to his neck, the ulna and radius bones were snapped in two. The skin wasn't broken, but he could clearly see that the bones were broken. He swallowed trying to keep the bile down that was rising to the back of his throat. He had no idea what would happen if he vomited with a large bug attached to his neck.
"Are you feeling any pain?" Michael asked him.
John just glared at him. Surprisingly, he didn't feel any pain because he felt pretty much numb all over. He didn't deserve an answer, so he remained quiet.
"I take that as a no. I'll give it a few hours to see if the bug will help heal the bones." Michael told him,
"Why the hell are you doing this Michael!?"
"You made me what I am, so think of this as revenge, I have no need for the data I collect from this experiment it is just something that I have always wondered about, but you can rest assured that when my experiment is over you will get your wish and you will finally die!" Michael hissed.
John was angry that he'd ended up in this situation and he was happy to let Michael know exactly what he thought of him, "you know you're one narcissistic ego driven maniac and when I get out of here I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to travel back in time and kill you again!"
"I've had enough of the conversation. Lie still for a while and I will be back soon to conduct another phase of my experiment."
"I guess you don't intend to get this tick off of me then?" John asked, already knowing what the answer would be.
"No, eventually it will kill you and I hope that your death will be slow and painful." Michael told him and left the room.
John lay there in the silence thinking about Teyla wondering if he would ever see her again. He knew that she was long dead and if Rodney didn't bring back reinforcements soon then he knew he would probably die too. This wasn't really the way he wanted to go out, 50,000 years in the future and experimented on by a monster that should have died and turned to dust a long time ago. His best hope now was for Carson and Tuart to come up with a plan to try and get him out of there and he didn't really hold out any hope of that happening, as Carson was a doctor and Tuart didn't like him.
It wasn't long before he closed his eyes and fell into a deep numbing sleep.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
They had been sitting in the jumper for five straight hours and Shalite had finally had enough. Her bladder was constantly felt full, as her son kept bouncing on it and she was totally fed up with having to pee in a bottle. Rodney and Joe just wouldn't shut up talking about science and astrophysics, and she had the headache from hell. Their food was running short and if she didn't get something to eat soon, she was going to kill someone.
The enjoyment that she had felt initially had long since worn off and she really prayed that the Satedans had a star-gate so that she wouldn't have to go through this never-ending torture again. She was so tied up in negative thoughts that she didn't even realise that Joe was trying to talk to her, she looked up at him and could see that his mouth was moving, but she had absolutely no idea what he was saying.
"Can you please repeat that Joe, because I totally missed it?"
"I asked you if you're feeling alright, because you seem a little agitated?"
Was that what she seemed, she definitely wasn't a little agitated she was downright angry, and she needed to take a breath and calm down before she said something she'd regret.
She plastered a fake smile on her face before she spoke, "I will be fine once we reach our destination and I'm really hoping that they have a working stargate, because I don't know if I want to go through this again."
"You can stay on New Sateda it you want to; that is providing they're friendly, but I don't see why they shouldn't be." Rodney rambled.
She smiled at her holographic friend, he was quite endearing when he started to ramble and there was no way she wanted to shout at him, "thank you for the suggestion Rodney, but I will be accompanying you back to Atlantis, because I want to be there when the archaeological academy shows up."
"Are you sure they will, the coalition didn't believe you when you told then Michael was back, so how can you believe that they will keep their word about coming to Atlantis?" Rodney rambled again.
"They will come, because Atlantis is a prize, and they will do anything to make sure that it is claimed by the archaeological academy. The coalition is a different matter, it certainly isn't as strong as it used to be, and the number of planets involved is declining daily. I have no idea why, but some believe that these planets just want to exist on their own for a while."
"Of course, you know that could lead to war before too long." Rodney told her.
She sighed, knowing that Rodney was right. The coalition of planets had been crumbling for a long time now, but she'd refused to see it until now and it was at that moment that she suspected that much of what was recorded in their history books was a lie.
"I know Rodney and I hope that you are wrong, because the last thing I want is to live through a war."
Joe took her hand in his and she felt comforted by it, "I really hope that things don't get that bad." He told her.
"Me too Joe, me too." She replied.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
John awoke feeling even number than he was before; if that were possible and when he opened his eyes he saw that Michael was looking down at him.
Michael started poking and prodding his arm to see if there was any improvement.
"Your arm seems to be repairing itself, twenty percent quicker than a normal break would. This is incredible." He told John with the usual evil glint in his eye
"Let's try something different, shall we? How about, a gunshot wound?" He looked at one of his minions on the other side of the room and instructed him to pull out a weapon. He then proceeded to fire, shooting him in his lower leg.
John felt the impact and heard the crack of his bones shattering, but he felt no pain. He couldn't look down any longer, because he couldn't move his head and he was beginning to have difficulty in breathing.
Michael and his minions left the room telling him that they would be back to see him later to see how he was healing.
He lay there in tears knowing that this could very well be the end for him. He would die alone 50,000 years in the future without his friends and family, but just at the point where he was despairing, he heard the hum of ancient technology and that gave him some small comfort. If there was a ZPM lab down here, then Rodney would definitely come and try to find it and hopefully it would be soon.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
After leaving Tuart in his cell, Carson had managed to store a good stockpile of explosives in the back of the cave where they had stored Roget's body, he knew that Michael didn't bother to go in there, because he had no reason too and he suspected that he didn't really want to look at one of his failed hybrids.
Carson had wondered a few times if he should go and look for the ZPM lab that was supposedly here, as he could still feel the comforting hum of the ancient technology, but he knew that wasn't really the top on his list of priorities right now, so he finished what he was doing and headed back to his lab, because he knew that was where Michael would expect to find him.
He was relieved when he walked back into his lab to find that Michael wasn't there, he only hoped that Michael hadn't already been in looking for him and left. He immediately got to work on trying to refine the process of growing hybrids from cells and instantly felt repulsed by what he was doing, he knew that he really needed to get out of here soon, or he would never forgive himself for the work he was doing.
His thoughts were interrupted a few minutes later when Michael entered his lab, "Carson, I think Colonel Sheppard may need a doctor, so you may go and see him and look after his wounds. I don't want him to die just yet, so you will need to do whatever you can to keep him alive. He will die at a time of my choosing, but not before and if he is in pain you will give him nothing to ease that pain. Do you understand?!" Michael told him forcefully.
Carson sighed, he really hated his life at the moment, which made him more determined to get out of the mess he was in. "Aye, do you have any medical supplies?"
"There are some simple bandages and supplies in my lab. Don't let me catch you doing anything to ease his pain, or I may have to kill you." Michael said as he left the room.
"I'll be on my way then." He muttered, to himself.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rodney knew that he was a hologram, but even he was sick and tired of sitting in a jumper for seven straight hours and he couldn't possibly imagine how Joe and Shalite were feeling. Although his programming had been enhanced to feel aches and pains, he had no idea whether it was the same way humans felt or not. He knew that Shalite had been in a great deal of discomfort, but he assumed that was because she was pregnant; Teyla had always seemed uncomfortable when she was pregnant.
They had spotted New Sateda in the distance half an hour ago and it was steadily growing bigger in the window and he estimated that it would be around twenty minutes until they arrived. He wondered what was happening on the planet where he had left Sheppard, had he been captured by Michael or was he still free, he didn't even want to contemplate that his friend might be dead, because that would mean that short of a miracle there would be no way to change the timeline.
He turned to look at Shalite, who was now lying in the back of the jumper and to his relief she was fast asleep. Turning to look at Joe who was sitting next to him, he was happy to see that he had fallen asleep as well.
He wondered whether he could ask Joe to pull rank and ask Shalite to stay on New Sateda, because she was exhausted and if she could find a nice place to rest, he knew that she would be safe. Besides, he knew that Sheppard wouldn't want her coming on a rescue mission where she could endanger herself and her baby.
Sitting back, he enjoyed the view out of the window, the silence was eerie and refreshing all at the same time, he knew that he would have to wake the other two up in a few minutes, but for now he was enjoying some alone time.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
John slowly became aware of a muttering voice nearby. It was muttering about the experiment that was being performed. It took him a while to realise that he was the test subject. He felt no pain, so it took him a while for his foggy brain to register what had happened. He had a giant tick still attached to his neck, a broken left arm, a gunshot wound to his right leg, he knew he had a fever and to top it all off he was finding it hard to breath. Could this day get any worse?
Michael came over and started talking to him. "Colonel Sheppard, it's good to see you are awake, you'll be happy to know that you have helped my research immensely. Your wounds are regenerating at a much faster rate than they would have normally and you're obviously in no pain. It's really quite fascinating really.
"I'm…happy…your…. scientific…. curiosity…has...satisfied," He slurred, all the while struggling to breathe.
"I understand that there is a group of humans who are researching ways to remove the bug safely, not that it matters, and I don't really care anyway. Your injuries are healing slowly, but I don't know if they will heal before you die, so I'm going to let Carson sit with you and say his last goodbye."
Carson entered the cave at that moment, and he rushed over to John's side. "John, Michael said I could see you and attend to your wounds, but I have no idea how to get you out of here," he said and John didn't miss the wink that Carson gave him. He suspected that Carson had a plan, so he decided that he'd play along for now. Not that he could do anything else given the situation he was in.
"It's… Okay…. Carson…just…sit…. with….me?" He stammered, in between shallow breaths.
"Your left ulna and radius seem to have snapped, you have a gunshot wound to your right leg and it's a bloody mess," Carson grumbled, and John could sense his anger and frustration. "Can I get some clean bandages for his leg and arm!"
Michael brought them over and Carson started cleaning and bandaging his arm first. He then moved onto his leg; he was incredibly careful not wanting to cause John any pain; even though he wouldn't have felt anything anyway.
"I don't know why you're bothering. I have decided I don't need him anymore, so he's going to die anyway." Michael stated with cold indifference.
"That's what you do for the people you care about. That's what you'd do for anyone who was in his situation. It's called compassion; obviously, you know nothing about that." Carson stated plainly, looking at John with compassion in his eyes.
"You made me what I am Doctor, you and your Colleagues and their high and mighty ideals, wanting to make to galaxy to reflect them. For a short time, I felt anger and bitterness for what you did to me, but then I became strong. Compassion is a weakness for humans, and I don't have time for it, so do what you need to do and then get out!"
"I guess that's what makes us different. John is my friend and even if he dies at your hand, I will not seek revenge. I will seek justice and if that means killing you I won't hesitate." Carson turned to look at Michael before continuing, "I almost feel sorry for you, you had a choice to become something different, but whether you will admit it, or not you chose revenge and you have held a grudge for over 50,000 years, so don't you think it's time you quit?"
"I don't think so. Say your goodbyes and then you may leave. I will be back later to clean up the mess!" Michael hissed and left the room.
John looked up and spoked breathlessly. "Thanks…. for…. trying."
Carson just sat and held his John's hand and told him to go to sleep.
The darkness was encroaching, and John wondered if he would ever wake up again, he looked at Carson and felt comforted by his presence. He remembered all of the times when Carson had looked after him while he was sick, or recovering from the many horrendous injuries, he'd suffered over the years. Carson was there for him at the moment and that was all that mattered. His mission had failed and he had been unable to change the timeline, but at least he wasn't going to have to die alone, so he let the darkness claim him, maybe for the last time.
TBC…
Sorry another cliff-hanger.