Despite the healing incision along his shoulder blade, Ronon insisted on carrying his unconscious friend from the jumper bay to the infirmary. Teyla looked at Ronon and the burden he carried. Aria hadn't moved since Ronon had laid her in the back of the Puddle Jumper next to the good doctor. Walking next to her former captor, Teyla looked up at Ronon's face. "What happened?"
"Got spooked," he glanced down at the sleeping form in his arms, then added "Didn't have time to argue."
"So … you stunned her."
Before Ronon could answer, the group reached their destination. With great care the ex-runner gently laid his small traveling companion down on an empty bed. "I guess it's too late to ask this, but she wouldn't happen to have a tracker in her as well?" Sheppard asked entering the infirmary. The giant simply shrugged. With an awkward smile the earth military man leaned heavily on the back wall.
On the other hand McKay took one of the other open beds, still blabbering on about other possible side effects from his stent in the forest with Ford. "Rodney, I checked you out in the Jumper there's absolutely nothing wrong with you."
"But what about this thing she put on my leg? Couldn't there be some dangerous side effects? What about allergic reactions?"
"If you were going to have a reaction, I'm very certain you would have had it by now."
The two doctors continued to argue until Cornel Sheppard interrupted. "Let's go ahead and get these two checked out Doctor Becket." When the savage looking man raised his eyebrow, the earth military leader John added "It's just a precaution."
Ronon's exam flew by with no complications. Finally the good doctor turned his attention to the unconscious woman. On the ride back to Atlantis, Becket had noticed the odd coloring of Aria's hair. The pale blue was a breath taking compliment to her light skin. Gently the Scott's man removed the strange fur cloak covering his patient. As it fell away, the first thing Carson noticed was the fresh bit of dried blood on the girl's shoulder. However as he began to clean the area, there was no sign of a wound at all. There wasn't so much as a scratch, or even a scar to explain the blood. Being unable to explain what happened, a full body scan was started.
Seeing no immediate danger to his newest patient the chief of the medical staff in Atlantis got a chance to observe Aria's appearance. For starters, she was considerably cleaner then the very large man sitting very impatiently on the other side of the bed. What also caught Beckets attention was by the looks of things, almost all of Aria's clothing appeared to be made from the skins of animals. From the tube top shirt ending just above her navel, to the wrap like skirt that barely covered the lower half of her body. Even the fingerless gloves and a thin brown choker resembled some kind of tanned leather. The only thing that didn't come from an animal was the very dark tinted goggles, and a piece of mud colored cloth used as a head band. Something else he noticed was the strange glyphs that covered the sleeping girl's skin. Weird bands and odd markings were tattooed all over her.
Suddenly the scanner beeped. "This can't be right," Carson muttered to himself after taking a look at the readings.
"I don't understand what exactly are we looking at Doctor Becket?" Dr. Weir asked. The good doctor stood in the briefing room talking to Dr. Weir, Rodney McKay, Teyla, and Cornel Sheppard. To the others in the room, the head of the medical department looked concerned.
On the briefing monitor behind Becket, an odd body scan was displayed. There were several strands of an unnatural material, originating from the neck that had wrapped themselves around the spinal column. There was also an object of some kind lodged in the shoulder, embedded in one of the bones in the shoulder. "This is Aria's scan Dr. Weir. Despite the fact that I have no idea what that thing is attached to the spinal column, nor do I know what purpose the device serves, what concerns me is the bullet lodged in her shoulder. This is located under where I found fresh blood, but as you can see on this scan it shows considerable remodeling."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning Cornel Sheppard, this image was taken only an hour ago but is consistent with an image of someone who's had a bullet embedded in there arm for several years."
"Is that even possible? Are you sure it's not just mechanical failure?"
"Rodney, I ran the tests three times with the same results. I also ran some tests on her blood work. It appears that she has some kind of gene mutation which allows her accelerated cell regeneration. Before you jump to conclusions I already compared it to some of our Wraith samples, and it's not a match. But look here," the Scottish healer pulled up a second body scan. He pointed to the same bone on each. "Look at the slight change in the image contrast. This means her bones are of a lighter density then ours. When she wakes up I'd like to run some more tests, but once the bullet is removed I'd give the lass a clean bill of health."
"Well that's some good news. However I'm a little concerned about that." Dr. Weir pointed to the oddity connected to Aria's spinal column. "Can you tell me anything about the device?" The Scottish Doctor shook his head. "What about you Rodney?"
"Not without running some tests."
Dr. Weir let out a heavy sigh. "Until we know more, let's keep them under watch. Rodney I want you to check and make sure that thing isn't transmitting any signals, and then let's wait till she wakes up to run any more tests. Maybe then she might be able to give us some information herself."
End Chapter 5
