Chapter 12 - A Long-Distance Call

Psychologist's Office
Level 19
SGC

Meanwhile

Dr Zane Goldstone was an elderly gentleman with a head full of pure white hair and a pair of green eyes that sparkled behind gold-rimmed glasses. Sheppard knew that Dr Goldstone was a recent addition to the SGC, that he hadn't even been around for two months. But the people who had already had sessions with him had nothing but good things to say about him.

He knocked and went in after a soft voice called him to enter.

The office was decorated to put anyone who entered at ease. It was painted in a light shade of green, with a few paintings of rainforests and beaches. There was a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf to Sheppard's left, filled with thick volumes, a few colourfully painted trinkets and other exotic knick-knacks. To his right, at the far corner, was Dr Goldstone's desk, uncluttered and neatly organised. The doctor was jotting down notes on a writing pad next to a desktop monitor that had the SGC's official emblem bouncing all over its sleeping screen.

In the middle of the room was the counselling area, Sheppard guessed. It was arranged like a lounge, with two comfy button couches and a long sofa arranged around a low table. There was a pot of coffee with two empty mugs already waiting on the table, presumably for Sheppard and the doc for their session.

The man looked up from his writing and smiled at Sheppard, noticing him lingering by the entrance. He closed the pad shut and stood up with a warm smile.

The moment Sheppard made eye contact with the therapist, he felt something cold and heavy bloom somewhere deep in his gut, like he had just swallowed a bunch of rocks and they had settled painfully in there. It was not a good feeling. He had learned over the past year, since his…transition, to trust these strange forewarnings, weirdly accurate instincts about things and gut feelings. They had saved his life countless times.

Yup. This guy wasn't going to get shit out of him.

"Colonel Sheppard," Goldstone walked around the desk with his hand extended. He had a very soft, soothing voice, something he probably had practised over the years to get his patients comfortable with him. "Please come in."

Sheppard shook his hand and took a few steps inside, feeling like a deer inside a lion's den.

"Take a seat," Goldstone kept smiling as he settled himself on the couch on the right and pointed the sofa to Sheppard. "Help yourself to some coffee. I was informed you prefer it black."

"I do," Sheppard muttered with a thin smile of his own and took a seat, already knowing full well this session was not going to help him in the least. "Thanks."

"How are you doing?" he asked while Sheppard poured some coffee into his mug. He stopped what he was doing and looked up, trying to gauge exactly what the doctor meant.

"It's just a simple question, Colonel," Goldstone chuckled. "I just meant, how do you like your life at SGC so far? It's only been a few days, I understand."

Sheppard finished pouring his coffee and sat back, letting his head rest on the back of the sofa and extending his legs fully to cross them at ankles.

"Uh, yeah," he shrugged.

"So, do you like it here?" The doctor reminded him to answer the question in a patient tone.

Sheppard drank some coffee and looked around. He had a feeling that old Goldie wasn't as patient as he tried to pretend. "Yeah, I mean, it's fine," he drawled after taking half a minute to examine what looked like a frog-shaped paperweight resting on the middle layer of the bookshelf. He caught Goldstone tapping a finger on his left knee in a slow rhythm, waiting for him to continue.

"Better than most of the bases I've served," he shrugged again.

"Where have you served? Before your official transfer to SGC, that is."

"Uh, I did tours in Afghanistan and Iraq," Sheppard mumbled. "A short, three-month stint in Haiti…"

Goldstone didn't take notes. He looked like everyone's favourite grandpa giving you the time of his day to listen to your life stories. There was something wrong about his demeanour that Sheppard couldn't quite put his finger on.

It bothered him.

"Ah," Goldstone said, nodding. "This was before you met Colonel O'Neill and signed up with the SGC."

"Yeah."

"It was then, as I understand, that you signed up to go deep undercover behind enemy lines, as you say, for over a year until you broke cover during the Battle of Antarctica?"

"Uh-huh." Sheppard made an agreeing sound and drank more coffee, letting his body signals convey that he didn't want to delve into that topic just yet.

"Don't worry, Colonel, we're not going to talk about anything you don't want to," Goldstone assured him amiably. "Not today, at least. I only want to understand the timeline of the significant life events you've been through before you came back if it's okay?"

"It's fine," Sheppard lied.

"According to your record, the Jaffa who invaded Earth captured you and kept you a prisoner for a fortnight before an SGC/Tok'ra joint operation successfully carried out your rescue..."

There was a very subtle change in the good doctor's tone when he spoke about the Jaffa and Tok'ra. Sheppard wasn't exactly sure what it was about. But there was a certain gleam in those bright green eyes that were trying to pierce through him from behind those oversized glasses - a certain gleam that felt…malicious.

"That's what I was told." Sheppard gave another non-answer and finished the last bit of coffee. He also noticed that Goldstone hadn't touched the beverage.

"What do you mean?" There definitely was a frown scrunching up those two bushy white eyebrows.

"I don't remember much of that week," Sheppard lied again, softly, keeping his own gaze fixed on his hands that were resting on his laps. "All I remember is, waking up in some beach house in Tok'ra homeworld, and going through numerous healing sessions to fix broken bones," he made sure to twist his expression as if he was recalling something unpleasant. It wasn't that hard. It had been very unpleasant. Just as being here, being scrutinised by this doctor was unpleasant.

"That sounds terrible," Goldstone murmured sympathetically.

"It was not fun."

"How was your trip to the Outpost?" Goldstone, like a good, sensitive therapist, changed the subject to an easier topic.

"Alright."

"I understand the Outpost and Area 51 are fighting for your time," Goldstone chuckled softly, beaming at him like a proud father. Sheppard hid a grimace by turning his face towards the coffee pot which he grabbed for a refill. "Have you had any trouble interacting with the Ancient tech?"

"Not really, no," he said, letting his gaze wander over to the paintings. "It's kinda instinctive, I suppose."

"Colonel, the stories I've heard are fascinating," Goldstone said excitedly. "Surely you can indulge a curious old man with some–"

Before he could cajole Sheppard into talking about initialising Ancient gadgets, there was a sudden, urgent knock on the door.

Goldstone frowned. He contemplated for a few seconds before deciding to let the unexpected visitor enter. "Come in."

The door opened halfway and Mitchell stuck his head in. Sheppard instantly noticed that he was worried about something. He placed his half-finished mug on the table and turned his attention to the other Colonel.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt," Mitchell said, hurriedly. "But something's come up. Sheppard–"

"Is it an emergency?"

Sheppard could just tell that the doctor wanted to snap, and he only barely held back.

"Looks that way."

"You need me." Sheppard wasn't asking. He stood up from the sofa and Goldstone followed suit.

"Yeah, now," Mitchell said. "It's the Ancient thingie."

Sheppard knew he was talking about the dome-shaped gadget that was supposed to be a communication device.

He turned to the doctor and said apologetically, "Sorry, doc, reschedule?"

"Of course." Goldstone nodded with a forced smile.

Sheppard quickly left the office, closing the door behind him. He felt his entire body relax the moment he started striding towards the left end of the corridor at Mitchell's side. He still didn't know why he had felt so uncomfortable in Goldstone's company.

"Sorry man."

"Don't bother," Sheppard muttered. "If you hadn't showed up I'd have bailed out anyway."

"You don't like therapy?" Mitchell aimed him a look as they entered the elevator. Sheppard watched him push the button to take them down to the infirmary level.

"Therapy is fine," he said while the car was on the move. "It's the doc I don't like–"

"Hey, old Goldstone's harmless," Mitchell said, grinning. "A bit all over the place, but gets you talking without you even noticing."

"Been visiting him?"

"Yeah, mandatory sessions," Mitchell shrugged. "Why don't you like him?"

"Don't know. Just a feeling." Sheppard looked away, grimacing. Mitchell didn't say anything to that, but Sheppard felt him watching him intently. "So what's the problem?"

The elevator door opened to deposit them on level 21. Mitchell led them both towards the isolation area.

"It'll be easier to show you. They're both in there."

Isolation Room - Observation
Infirmary
Level 21
SGC

The sight that greeted them when they entered the observation area was not an encouraging one.

Jackson and Vala were lying flat on gurneys in hospital gowns, connected to medical equipment. The Ancient communication device with its glowing crystal was also there, backed into a corner with Lee's scanners and sensors still attached to it. Both Lee and Lam were in full hazmat suits, as were the staff who were down there checking on the two unconscious figures. They met Teal'c who had returned from Dakara from his council session, already there, watching the scene below him with a sombre expression.

"Blood pressure and heart rate are normal. Pupils are slightly dilated. Now, we're sure this is because of the device?" Lam's voice was heard through the speaker as she spoke to Dr Lee who was studying his monitors. "They also passed out before when they were separated because of the bracelets."

"The reaction was virtually instantaneous after the device was activated," Lee explained. "Anyway, there's no discernable energy rays and no measurable radiation being emitted, so…"

"And we've found no contagions. All right."

She removed her head cover, a universal sign that whatever was happening in the area below was not contagious or radioactive. Mitchell, Sheppard and Teal'c headed down to join them.

"I want to get an EEG going," Lam said, turning to face them. "But my first impression here is that they're in some kind of sleep state."

"Maybe we should disconnect the stones?" Mitchell asked, eyeing the device. He saw Sheppard was careful not to get too close to the device, content to study it a good three metres away from it as if he was concerned the damned thing would jump at him or something.

"Uh, for all we know, this could be perfectly normal," Lee shrugged, glancing back and forth between his own scans and Sheppard. "I mean this could be the way the device actually works."

"I'd appreciate it if you give me some time here before we go messing around with that thing anymore," Lam pinned them all with a narrow-eyed look.

"I wouldn't call it 'messing around'..." Lee shrugged.

"Look, for all we know, disconnecting the stones could put them in further jeopardy–"

"Yeah," Sheppard, who had been quiet until then, muttered distractedly, his gaze fixed on the device. "I wouldn't recommend that."

"What do you mean?"

"The communicator is active," Sheppard said. "Once it's activated from this side, it needs to be deactivated from the other side to disconnect their minds safely."

"How would you possibly know that!?" Lee frowned suspiciously.

"I, uh–"

Sheppard looked decidedly uncomfortable then. Mitchell waited. He was also curious as to how Sheppard would know that just by staring at it.

"Colonel, you can't just say things because it sounds plausible–" Lee started to say in a patronising tone when Sheppard cut him off.

"I can hear it, alright?" he snapped.

Mitchell felt his eyebrows climb to his hairline at that. Lam narrowed her eyes and Teal'c cocked his head to the side.

"Look," Sheppard said awkwardly under the attention he had gathered. "I think I can find out what is going on. To a degree–"

"Colonel–"

Sheppard ignored Lee and gazed at Mitchell, silently asking him to give him a chance. Mitchell nodded once. Trusting Sheppard had always come easy. That hadn't changed over the years.

Another compartment of the device, the one that was directly opposite to the two slots that had the stones, started to glow when Sheppard moved closer. That compartment didn't have a slot for a stone, just a smooth surface. When Sheppard swiped his hand over it, however, it changed into something that looked like a palm reader or an interface. Sheppard placed his hand on it gingerly, almost reluctantly, softly murmuring, "I need a moment."

When nothing changed in Vala or Jackson's conditions, Lam let out a sigh of relief. Lee did the same when he realised Sheppard was not going to break his newest toy. A few pop-ups came to life on his monitors, grabbing his attention, while Sheppard worked. Mitchell relaxed when it became clear to him that Sheppard was not going to end up like the other two on the beds.

"Oh, I never got this information before…" Lee muttered excitedly after a few seconds, flipping through the windows he had open on his monitor.

"What's it saying?"

"The Colonel is accessing the connection remotely," Lee explained. "I think he's requesting viewing rights."

"This had better not take long," Lam said, shaking her head. "I don't want another one ending up like them."

"No, no, this is different, the Colonel is only viewing, not connecting," Lee said. "It's like he's picking up a receiver on the second phone of the house to listen to a call came in through to the other–"

Explained like that, it didn't sound that bad. Mitchell relaxed a bit more. Sheppard just stood there, his hand on the device, eyes closed and the rest of his body upright and still. He didn't seem to be in any distress. Lam went to stand by next to him, just in case.

"So, how are things on Dakara?" Mitchell asked Teal'c without taking his eyes off of Sheppard.

"About as well as here." The big Jaffa replied gravely.