"Dr. Weir I think you should come down to the infirmary for a minute." Aria's heart skipped a beat, and for a moment the sweet scent of fear spiked as she watched the good doctor. "There's something I think you should see." Without thinking, Aria wrapped her arms protectively about her stomach.
Carefully Carson approached his newest patient. "Absolutely fascinating, may I?" But something was wrong, he didn't appear scared or frighten in the least. Instead he looked, happy, excited almost. That was when she realized the scent of fear was coming from her, not the humans. Confused, Aria shifted forward just slightly so the good doctor could reach her ears. She was stunned. No one, not even Ronon, had reacted so calmly to the less than human aspects of her appearance. The funny sounding man's touch was soft and comforting as he turned Aria's head this way and that.
When Aria could finally think straight again, she reached for the tablet. You not fear me?
"What do I have to be afraid of love? So far you have proven to be a far bigger danger to yourself then to anyone else around here." Carson picked up his ancient scanner, "Besides who could pass up the chance to come face to face with a brand-new race. What do you call yourself? Are there others?"
The doctor's excitement was almost contagious that she couldn't help the smile creeping across her lips. She felt so at ease she even let her fangs peek out from underneath her lips, which of course fascinated him even more. But the truth of the matter was she didn't have any answers for his questions. She knew some of her memories were missing, but as far as she could remember she'd been alone. That was before Ronon. When the kind doctor paused in his examination, she felt almost compelled to at least attempt to answer what she could. He'd, after all, been very kind and patient so far. Picking up the tablet, she began to scribble.
Only ever remember me. Before Ronon, use live empty planet. People not like me, call me monster. Lived in cave. Cave destroyed after Wraith track him to me.
Pausing for a moment, Aria crewed on her lower lip. Did she tell them about being hunted by the Wraith, or even that she believed the Wraith knew something about her origins? The strange metal collar belonged to them. It smelled like them. That was one of the reasons she'd made the leather cover to hid it. They might be kind now, but would it last? Would they be nice if she still decided latter she wanted to leave?
"Is everything alright love? If something's troubling you, I can try to help." There was kindness in the face that looked back at Aria in the darkness. No, she wasn't brave enough to give a voice to those fears yet. Instead she tried to smile, as she handed over the tablet. "Oh, you poor thing. No wonder you have been so skittish, it must have been rough."
Cocking her head to the side, Aria shrugged. If she was completely honest with herself, she had felt nothing being alone. It simply was the only thing she had known at the time. Even sometimes even traveling with Ronon, she felt he wasn't really there. She had chalked it up to he didn't talk, and she couldn't. Still, she could sometimes see it in his eyes, there was a great loss there. She hadn't quite understood what it was until she saw the pain on his face looking at his old dwelling. No, that wasn't right. He called it home, because he said it was the land of his people. Aria couldn't remember something like that. That was if she'd ever had it. A shiver ran down her spine. No, those thoughts would not help her here.
Doctor Becket didn't seem to notice she'd stopped paying attention. "Wait, does this mean you suffered memory loss in the past? I suspect between the physical trauma of fighting the Wraith coupled with the mental strain of constantly being hunted could cause memory loss. However, I'm not a 100% ready to rule out that your memory loss isn't tied to that thing connected to your spinal cord." Furrowing her brow, Aria twitched her ears and gently touched the leather that hid the metal collar. "With the way that thing is connected to you, if it malfunctioned at all there is a chance it could have caused a brain injury. With your healing ability, there's a chance that your body regenerated and reversed the damage allowing you to fully function again, but the memories affected could have been lost. Still, I'm only guessing. We still don't know what that scary looking thing is, let alone what kind of problems it might be causing you."
The rest of the exam went by fairly quickly. Rather then ask anymore questions, the good doctor simply chatted away. Aria didn't really understand what was going on, or what he went on about, but his voice was calming so she let him work. Eventually someone called a nurse came in and helped Doctor Becket take a ridiculous number of samples. They took blood, hair, and spit samples to start with, then moved to more body scans. They focused on her head, more specifically her animal like ears and strange shimmering eyes.
By the time they finally got to taking the bullet out of her shoulder, Aria felt like they'd taken enough samples and scans to allow the people of Atlantis to make a full scale replica of her. The woman called Dr. Weir even came down while they were testing the medicine Becket said would help her to sleep. She reacted in much the same way as the good doctor with a great deal of fascination and even a little respect. Though she didn't stay long, the leader of the humans did express an interest in chatting once Aria had settled in.
Although Aria didn't like being made to sleep, Doctor Becket's way appeared to be much gentler on the physical body. But that didn't keep the panic from welling up in her chest when the time came. Fortunately for Aria the funny sounding man had a kindness about him that kept her natural survival instincts in check, so several hours later when she awoke in a strange bed Aria noticed she didn't have to fight the groggy after effects of the medicine quite as hard as a stunner blast.
After her surgery, the people of Atlantis had placed her in a quiet room with another odd clear wall, and Aria marveled at how the last rays of sun were beginning to paint the sky in magnificent reds and golds, a breathtaking contrast to the pale blue she had seen on top of the metal tower she had climbed earlier. Pulling herself up, careful to avoid the arm that was still a bit tender from the surgery, Aria marveled at the sight before her. She had never seen anything like this. Before she even realized she'd moved, the silent woman found herself standing before the clear wall with her forehead pressed against the smooth surface. "Oh my goodness, what are you doing? You shouldn't be out of bed yet, you just woke up from surgery."
Aria waved off the nurses concern. She'd had her arm cut on. It didn't affect the way her legs worked. Even when the woman tried to make her go back to bed, Aria just couldn't take her eyes off the magnificent sight through the clear wall. It wasn't until she heard someone chuckle behind her, that her shimmering silver eyes returned there focus back to the room she was in. "I take it your feeling better." Major Lorne stood in the doorway, clearly amused by the wonder he saw on Aria's face. "If you don't want to lay back down, at least humor the medical staff and take a seat." This time as he talked, Aria's eyes lit up with excitement as she watched his hands move in what she assumed was his type of sign language. He then pushed two chairs next to the clear wall, and Aria took the offered seat with no hesitation. "Let's start over. Hi, my name is Major Lorne. It is very nice to meet you." Each sign was deliberate, but not over exaggerated, though Aria could tell he signed slow enough so she could see every move and gesture. She finally had someone who actually wanted to try and understand her, even if she had to learn a new language to do it. Someone was finally trying to communicate with her, not just talk at her.
End Chapter 10
