Transposed Part 3
Atlantis Infirmary:
Nestled comfortably and resting peacefully, the miniaturized Travelers leader's condition only served to puzzle Jenifer as she checked on her only patient. Resigning herself to the inconclusive examination, she took what little information she possessed to the group waiting in her office. As she entered the space she began, "Well, there appears to be nothing physically wrong with her, other than an intense migraine. Right now I've given her some pain medication and she'll hopefully sleep it off."
"That's it?" asked Ronon gruffly, "She began to shake and didn't stop for several minutes."
"Well," began Keller thoughtfully considering his point, "It is possible she had a seizure, but by the time you brought her here, there was little I could do because she seemed completely fine."
"Other than the fact she was unconscious," commented John unconvinced. Something about the way she looked at him, just before she passed out bothered him, so he asked, "What about her brain activity? Did you check that when she was brought in?"
Jenifer looked up sharply at the astute question posed by the Colonel. Pondering the possible implications she said, "Yes, she did show signs on some increased mental activity, but that soon faded after she settled into a deep sleep. Why?"
Unsure whether or not to voice his suspicions, John said, "Well, she looked at me strangely before passing out. She called me 'Sheppard' and only in the way the adult Larrin ever did."
"What? Are you saying she was channeling some of adult memories?" queried Keller skeptically raising her eyebrows.
Sheppard looked at Ronon, who shot him a questioning look, and replied, "Look, I'm not sure what's going on, but she was really odd before she passed out completely and I didn't know if it might be from complications of that device thingy."
Nodding, Keller said completely in doctor mode, "Well then, I guess that's something you need to take up with McKay. I can only tell you what's going on right now, and all I know is that the little girl out there is resting peacefully now, sleeping off what appears to be a migraine."
Ronon stood up and said, "I guess we need to go visit McKay."
Standing up as well, John replied, "Thanks doc. Keep us posted on when she wakes up."
Jenifer watched the two men leave her office, leaning back in her chair once they were gone. She was as puzzled as they were towards the child's peculiar behavior and could attribute very little cause to it.
Still she found it rather cute that two of the city's "toughest" guys were concerned with the wellbeing of a little five year old girl!
Atlantis Corridor:
"But you're sure she's going to be fine?" came Sam's concerned voice over the com unit. She had been unavoidably detained in a mission briefing when Ronon and John delivered the unconscious Larrin to the infirmary.
"Yeah," replied John as he walked with Ronon in the general direction of McKay's lab, "Keller said she probably experienced a really bad migraine or something and now she's just sleeping it off."
"Alright," said Sam, somewhat mollified, "Still, checking with Rodney is a good idea. He and Radek might have uncovered more information about the side-effects of such a process. I'll check in with Jenifer to see how she's progressing, though."
"Sounds like a plan," answered John before signing off. They had just reached McKay's lab anyway.
Entering the lair of the two scientists', John asked abruptly, "So what have you found out?"
The result was priceless as Radek visibly jumped, and Rodney smacked his head against the table as he stood up. He had apparently been searching for something in the various boxes on the bottom shelf.
"Geeze Colonel," barked McKay, "Must you always do that?"
"Well," began Sheppard smugly leaning against a lab table, "You could avoid the whole thing by installing a doorbell if your paranoia is that severe."
"Or you could just train more with me," added Ronon equally as smug, "Then you'd be more aware of someone approaching you."
"Oh, very funny," shot back McKay as he reached down to pull out the connector cables he had been seeking prior to the current disruption, "Perhaps I just won't tell either of you anything now."
"McKay," growled Ronon impatiently folding his arms to take up a more threatening stance.
Sighing Rodney replied waving them off, "FINE! Radek tell them what we've discovered."
The Czech pushed his glasses up into a better position on his nose and began academically, "Well we've managed to sift through the research done by the Travelers."
"And?" questioned John impatiently wanting to get to the important information.
"They determined the device was used to turn adults back into children, but there seems to be more to it that we haven't deciphered yet," continued the scientist.
"Basically," cut in McKay as he reached to attach some cables to the device, "We already knew that by what happened to Larrin."
"Whoa, wait!" cried John moving to grab Rodney's hand.
"WHAT?" McKay exclaimed in confusion.
"If it turns adults into kids what in the world are you going to touch it?" asked John vehemently.
"Well," replied Rodney angrily pushing aside the Colonel's hand to attach the cords, "It is inactive, okay? See touch!"
Rolling his eyes in frustration, John replied, "Well you could have mentioned that earlier!"
"Great, so you don't know anything important yet?" asked Ronon adequately summing up the conversation.
"No," replied Radek honestly, pausing momentarily to answer the question before resuming his furious typing on his laptop.
"Well, not technically," began Rodney, but faltered under the glares of John and Ronon, "Okay, no nothing important. So just shoo and let us work. Go be Mr. Mom or something."
Atlantis Infirmary:
Meanwhile, Keller's youngest patient had awoken and was presently attempting to convince the Doctor she was fine, while driving Jenifer to the point in which she wanted to rip out her hair.
"But Auntie Jen," whined Larrin as she spun on a stool next to the workstation Keller was presently typing away at, "I'm bored sitting here. Can't I leave?"
Trying to reign in her annoyance, Jenifer had never been a very good babysitter, "No I can't just let you roam around the city. You'll get into far too much trouble."
"But I'm fine!" pleaded the girl, putting out her most convincing display yet.
Keller swore she had seen those puppy dog eyes before, and sighed exasperatedly, "You are worse than Colonel Sheppard when he is confined to the infirmary! Now young lady you are going to sit next to me and draw quietly so I can get some work done. Please."
Larrin stopped spinning on the stool and picked up her pencil so she could draw again. Jenifer basked in the silence before delving back into her work. However, the golden peace lasted for all of three minutes before the young girl asked inquisitively, "Who is Colonel Sheppard?"
Larrin started as the woman seated next to her began to giggle. "Auntie Jen what is so funny?"
Still smiling, Keller replied, "Sorry, but his full name is Colonel 'John' Sheppard, and he is by far the worst patient to have in the infirmary."
Recognition dawned in the girl's eyes, "Oh. That's funny Auntie Jen. Why is Uncle John the worst patient?"
"Well for starters, I always try to escape at least once or twice," drawled a familiar voice behind the two, spooking both at the appearance of the newcomer.
"Colonel," stressed Keller, "Don't give her ideas! Besides, you shouldn't lie to her. Truthfully, you attempt to escape at every chance that presents itself."
Smiling impishly at the obviously stressed out Doctor, John asked playfully, "So then I guess you don't want me assisting Larrin in escaping the infirmary now? Okay, then I'll leave you two alone. See you later Doc."
Realizing the full meaning of the Colonel's proposition Jenifer hastily amended, "No. No it's fine. I'll look the other way this time."
John looked down to the little girl who beamed up at him, "Well then, Larrin would you like to go for a little ride?"
If it was at all possible, Larrin's smile grew even wider as she cried, "I'd LOVE to go. Can we leave now? Please Auntie Jen? What are we riding in? Does it go fast?"
The bombardment caught Keller of guard for a moment, but Sheppard took it in stride due to his immunity built up from Rodney McKay's legendary inquisitive rants.
Recovering herself Keller shooed the pair out of the infirmary, "Now go both of you. I don't want to see you back here unless absolutely necessary!"
John nodded in agreement, "Believe me Doctor, I feel the same way all the time."
Atlantis Jumper Bay:
After only a few minor detours to look at some of the city's finer windows, the pair finally made it to the Bay and seated themselves in a Jumper. Well, John was seated as he ran through his pre-flight checks, while Larrin, on the other hand, stood on tiptoe as she gazed out of the Jumper's main window in anticipation.
"When are we leaving Uncle John? We're not moving yet? Is it broken? Are we going to go really fast? I'm bored, can't we leave already?" came the rapid-fire questions from the impatient little girl.
"Yes, we are leaving," answered John after receiving final clearance from Flight. "Now sit down, before you fall down. You don't want to end up back in the infirmary with Dr. Keller so soon do you?"
"Nope," replied the girl in agreement as she plopped down into the co-pilot's seat.
Opening the Bay roof door, the pilot easily maneuvered the Jumper out into the sky. Setting a loping course, John brought the little craft in a wide sweeping circle around the city in order for his passenger the best possible views.
From the sounds of utter amazement coming from next to him, John relished in the fact that he achieved his intent. After all, he promised to show the little girl more of the city, this way just involved a lot less walking.
"Would you like to go fly over the mainland too?" John asked once he sensed his passenger's waning enthusiasm; little children had such short attention spans after all. He, on the other hand, could have spent hours flying around the city, basking in its architectural beauty.
Not long after the ship zoomed off towards the mainland, the pilot noticed a shift in the girl's behavior. She was more subdued and quiet. However the exterior change hardly reflected the one taking place inside the girl's mind.
Images, no memories, flooded into the foreground of Larrin's mind making her head spin. Suddenly, everything stopped, and Larrin viewed the situation around her. The last thing she remembered occurring was being rushed somewhere with Sheppard next to her, communicating with someone.
Sheppard! What was he doing next to her? She warily surveyed her surroundings, and came up with no possible explanation. Voicing her confusion she asked coolly, "Sheppard, what am I doing here? And why am I in your puny little ship?"
Shocked at this strange, for there was indeed no other way to describe it, turn of events John whipped around to face the little girl next to him. However, the eyes staring haughtily back at him little resembled those of a child. They were not filled with youthful curiosity, but rather hardened suspicion.
"For the last time, my ship is NOT puny," defended the pilot passionately, "Wait, since when do you think it's puny?"
Rolling her eyes, Larrin spat smugly, "Since when I first captured your little "ship" with you in it, hardly difficult to manage after all."
"Oh really," John drawled before voicing the nagging suspicion at the back of his mind, "What do you mean the first time? You remember that?"
"Of course I remember that! How could I forget?" Larrin countered sarcastically slouching back in the copilot's chair, completely uncharacteristic of a five year old girl. Something, John noted, was horribly amiss.
"Larrin, what's the last thing you remember?"
The Traveler Leader shot him a quizzical look before indulging him, "What do you mean? Fine, I was trading at one of the friendly markets we have contacts on for more ancestral technology. I touched something and everything blacked out. The next thing I remembered was waking up in someone's arm with you talking next to me. That brings me to the here and now," here Larrin's tone turned deadly sweet, "I'm going to ask you one more time, WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING HERE? Where is MY ship?"
Getting fed up with her antagonistic nature, John snorted, "Hate to break it to you, but take a good look at yourself."
"What?" Larrin asked stopping to look down at her body. Realization set in moments later when she realized she lacked certain things, like height, normal female body parts, and height.
"It was the device wasn't it?" Larrin queried as she attempted to process her current situation. This was NOT good.
Rubbing his temples as the city started to come back into view, he had subtlety turned the craft around the second he realized something was deeply wrong, "Look you were reversed to a five year old version of yourself. Your people couldn't figure out what to do, so they dumped you off on our doorstop."
"Oh," said Larrin quietly before turning angry again as she burst out passionately. "They left me? How could Cauls do such a thing?"
John waved his hand, dismissing her comment saying, "Look if it's any comfort they'll be back. Eventually; Cauls said your people were having issues and he needed to take the ship back to work them out. Your really don't remember any of this?"
Still puzzled, and pretty angry, Larrin huffed, "Of course I don't remember this, weren't you listening? Where are we going anyway?"
Pausing to lick his lips, John stated, "Well while you were still nice and acting like an annoying five year old girl, I took you out for a ride to get you out of everyone's hair. A huge mistake obviously." He slowly lowered the Jumper back into the bay, "Now we are going to go visit Keller to try and find out why the heck you suddenly have all of your adult memories back!"
"Great," drawled Larrin sarcastically as she moved to the back of the jumper towards the open ramp, "Let's get this over with. I want some answers anyway."
Atlantis:
Finally, Carter managed to dot all her "I's" and cross all her "t's" so that she had time to pay McKay and Zelenka a visit. Walking down to the lab area, she found the two scientists holed up in McKay's lab—arguing of course, over the best way to handle the research on the device.
"How's it coming?" she asked interestedly as she entered the lab, walking over to the device resting on the table. It was roughly the size of a shoe box, silver, and very smooth. In the middle on top, two buttons were embedded into the surface.
"Well," replied Radek, "So far all we have been able to determine is that its primary function is to serve as almost a 'fountain of youth'.
"Yes, yes, yes," added McKay distractedly from where he intently worked away at his pad, "Touch it, and regain your childhood. Obviously it has particular settings, we just haven't figured out what those are exactly."
"Oh, how did you get it out and hooked up without touching it?" Sam asked curiously as they were obviously still their proper age, and had attached a plethora of sensors and cables to gather readings.
"it's just not working anymore," replied Radek, "Perhaps it only works once and must be recalibrated or lacks enough power, we do not know."
"However, the Travelers' scientists mention trying to activate it too, and it didn't work for anyone other than Larrin," added Rodney, "Which is weird, because she doesn't have an extra special ancient gene or anything. She doesn't even have the ancient gene."
"So, do you know anything that will help us right now?" asked Sam moving closer to the table. She ran her finger over the device tracing the two controls with her finger. Suddenly a white light enveloped her, causing her two companions to yell, "SAM!"
Both immediately searched for answers on their data pads to no avail. The light dissipated leaving in its wake a small blonde form, prone on the floor, the spitting image of Samantha Carter, still dressed in her Atlantis uniform which had conveniently shrunk along with its owner to protect her modesty.
Rodney rushed over to the small form and turned it over, staring horrorstruck at a five year old version of his boss, while Radek stood frozen gaping like a fish out of water.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" He exclaimed shaking his head.
--tbc--
And then there were two.
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