Put the Lime in the Coconut
Carson's head must have been having sympathy pains for the trio, because of the pulsating mass of organic and inorganic technology that had been in their heads. He squinted at the screen as Radek brought up all three of their implants' diagrams and rubbed his forehead methodically.
When the Colonel had started going south, he had Radek pull the others out of the program. He was not going to take a chance of losing the other two. They had been successful though and delivered messages that helped him to determine his course of action.
Then, after they had removed Sheppard's implant, the O.R. had been set up for Dr. Weir and Rodney. They had been wheeled back to the suites and prepped in under an hour. The removal had taken only minutes and Carson wished all his surgeries were so simple.
"This is Dr. Weir's," Radek said as he pointed to a wavy line on the monitor. "Is very nice rhythm to the brain waves, yes? This is Dr. McKay's; look same, just not as nice. However, this is Col. Sheppard's."
Carson let out a silent snort through his nose as he looked at the screen. Flat line. No wonderful little bumps and ridges flowing along to a rhythm, his was just a straight line doing what lines do, nothing.
"From what Inga and I have observed that wasn't always the case. Two patterns resided for a very long time. His device was a collection and storage vessel. Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay's devices weren't long term and only kept a few minutes of data. They are finished. They should be just fine now that octopus is safely stored in modified transmitter. Each retained the individual's last copy and once the implants were released the consciousness would pick up where it left off. Col. Sheppard's needs to be reactivated to previous wave activity. That is where chair from horrible Tara comes in. It has such a program and since both are Wraith in design and are parented from succubus as Rodney calls it, they should listen to each other." Radek took in a big breath because, for the last two minutes, he had not done so.
"How long for you to marry the programs?" Carson asked. His patient had all the mechanical time in the world; it was just wrong to see Sheppard so invasively involved.
"I'm not sure…Rodney's input would help. He has…and this is morbid…practical experience with both devices." Radek looked quickly at Carson and then back to the computer monitor. "Can he come to us?"
Carson hesitated. There was no reason Rodney could not. He was fine. He was sore; his muscles had a slight tremor; his chest was scabbing; and he still had mud encrusted in inconvenient areas; but he was fine.
"I'll send an orderly down with him. If he tires, make him stop."
"Once we finish, I'll call you."
Carson thanked him and left. He never thought he would be watching people reprogram a man's brain or re-uploading a man to his own body because a vindictive, vampire queen had shut him down. Hell, Carson never thought that people could be turned into bugs or vice versa, but that had happened as well. And kind of the reason he was having this utterly strange problem
Since she had flipped the off switch, when Sheppard's consciousness returned to the body, there was nothing to ignite the synapses into firing. The body had said, "Oh, well then, nitey, nite," and shut down. He was just glad that it had happened in the infirmary and not in the field.
When he returned to the infirmary, Ronon was sitting with Teyla and Rodney was transferring to a wheelchair.
"Thanks Carson. Of course, I would've made your life a living hell if you hadn't let me," Rodney said as he adjusted his bottom into the chair. "This time your chicken's feet need a little technological help from a Tandy and DOS. Which in computer terms, is about the same thing as rolling the bones and determining treatment that way." Rodney's eyes flashed to an empty bed area.
Sheppard was no longer in the infirmary's main ward. He had been moved to the observation suite. As much as his team wanted to be near him, they did not need to see him like that and Carson needed a secure area to monitor him. They saw a glimpse as they transferred him and it was distressful enough. Teyla and Elizabeth scowled and Rodney looked away. Ronon held up the wall in between their beds. Carson had to let Rodney help or Rodney would never forgive himself or Carson.
That was not necessarily true, but it would have been close.
He made his rounds as Rodney left. Elizabeth, just like Rodney, was fine, no ill effects. Teyla was mending well, with only a slight infection that had started. The antibiotics and analgesics were making quick work of it, though. Stackhouse and team had been released earlier with no ill effects at all. His luck was holding out.
He caught Ronon's eye as he checked Teyla and gave an appreciative nod. Maybe his mistakes had led to this, but he was in good company. Each had their role to play and now it was time to move on and try again. He would learn from this and continue to fight the good fight.
It was time for some self-forgiveness.
Ronon returned the nod and leaned the chair back onto two legs. His head rested against the wall and he closed his eyes to wait.
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"The way the device works is that-- it has a culling type beam that inserts the implant after a small incision is made. The implant does the rest of the work by attaching to the spinal column and inserting the ganglia into the appropriate brain tissue," Radek relayed to Carson.
"The implant in the transmitter/recall device is stored as data and not as a physical device. Just like humans in a dart," Rodney added.
Radek bobbed his head side to side impatiently waiting for Rodney to finish before he continued. "We have everything programmed on automatic. You just have to place device over upper back of Colonel and wa-la, reboot. We removed the queen's data and stored elsewhere. We'll study it later."
Carson held the transmitter in his hand. "I don't have to make the incision?"
"Yeah, you do, and it has to be like the ones we received when we were fitted with tracking devices." Rodney squirmed in his wheelchair while saying that. "Or the ones you made to remove our implants."
"Oh, that I fortunately know how to do all too well," replied Carson. He stepped over to the large viewing window and looked down at his last, remaining, critical patient. He couldn't hear the machines from up here, but he could see the monitors, and they said everything was fine.
When they moved the Colonel, they had to use a common hallway. He hated to have the man displayed for everyone to see, but it could not be helped. Prying eyes, pitying eyes made Carson very uncomfortable and, knowing John Sheppard as he did, he would have been too.
Rodney and Radek steered clear of the window.
"Well, my team is standing by. Let's bring him back, lads."
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The surgery was a success. Everything went as textbook as the Stargate program could allow. Their knowledge stretched and their skills increased as new arenas opened before them to expand their understanding of alien technologies. He wished he could feel prouder.
Carson readied himself as the last of the interventions was removed. It was all up to John Sheppard now. No drugs remained in his system. Nothing moved his blood or breathed for him. Nothing extra existed in his body that was not there originally. He was his own man for the first time in months. The brainwaves said so, but they had said that before, fooling them all.
Now, they were back to hurry up and wait.
"Col. Sheppard, wake up." Carson leaned over, but not too close. He had learned a few lessons in previous experiences with John Sheppard coming out of traumatic events. "Colonel, we need you to wake up."
What if the device was not programmed right? What if the queen had snuck into Sheppard's code?
Eyes opened half way and rolled back before straightening out and settling on Carson. Sheppard's mouth moved, but no sound came forth.
The lovely ice chips appeared as one of the nurses spooned one through his lips.
"What was that, Colonel?" Carson asked taking a chance and leaning over a little more.
Sheppard whispered again; this time just enough for Carson to hear, "What happened?"
Carson grimaced not wanting to answer, but the man deserved to know.
"The Wraith, Colonel."
Sheppard rolled away from Carson and mumbled, "Pains 'n d'ass," and promptly fell back asleep.
"Yes, they are that, Colonel," Carson quietly agreed with a relieved sigh.
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Carson watched as the others in the infirmary watched Sheppard. It was anticlimactic. He rolled over in his bed, mumbled a few words, and burrowed deep under the blankets. He looked like he was at summer camp and not recovering from brain death. Biro was having a field day with the all of the blood work and various other samples. His rebound was amazing and she delighted in the study. Radek's team and his team were all over the implants as well trying to discover anything and everything about them. They had months of research ahead of them.
Teyla lay in her bed directly across from Sheppard. Elizabeth was visiting with her and they both would stop talking anytime he made the slightest move. Carson did not envy the debriefing or scrutiny Sheppard was going to be under for the next week or so. Well-meaning friends and colleagues would hound him. The official report would probably astound him. His body's actions under the direction of the queen would upset him to a certain degree. John Sheppard was nothing, if not practical, and would take it all in, and store it for future use.
His bed creaked again as he shifted positions. The sheets drooped over the edge from under the blanket making him tug at the side of the sheet. The wires still monitoring him tangled in the linen as he unconsciously struggled to straighten it all out. Elizabeth smiled and went over to help only to stop halfway to the bed.
"Carson, I think he's awake," she called out softly.
She was right. Sheppard's eyes were open and he looked around slightly confused. He stopped their roving at Elizabeth.
"I hav…" Sheppard coughed and Elizabeth finished her journey to the other side of the room. She picked up the cup of water and gave it to him. Sheppard sat up, sipped, and finished his sentence, "I have a feeling we didn't get the fruit."
His eyes roamed the infirmary settling on Teyla with her bandaging. Teyla gave a snort and replied, "No Colonel, we didn't."
"I also have a feeling that I've missed something," he added as he pointedly looking between Teyla and Elizabeth.
"Just a little," Elizabeth answered. "We'll let you rest and fill you in when the circles under your eyes aren't quite that shade black."
Sheppard accepted the explanation, for the time being. "Is everyone all right?" he asked after he situated himself back into the bed and Elizabeth helped him to untangle the bed linens and wires.
"They are now," Elizabeth said with a smile. She looked over at Teyla who nodded in agreement.
He did a small double take and wanted to ask another question. He decided not to and let his eyes close one more time.
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Twenty four hours later, Lt. Col. John Sheppard, U.S.A.F. found out why the fruit mission was a bust. The infirmary became a makeshift conference room and the Colonel discovered why he could not remember anything past leaving Chieftain Morai's tent.
"Damn."
Carson noticed something registering on Dr. Weir's face. Something close to understanding of Sheppard's response, but it seemed to leave her as subtly as it had appeared.
"I have no memory of anything after we left the back of the tent. No, wait, we were in a dark hole or something and Teyla was…" He stopped and mock coughed into his hand. "Well, let's just say…"
"She was lying on top of you," Ronon said diabolically, yet, helpfully. "And I had McKay."
Rodney spewed coffee all over Sheppard's blanket. "Th…Th…That wasn't a dream…I mean nightmare?"
"No," replied Teyla kicking Ronon in the side of the leg. "Michael was torturing the Colonel and you, and the both of you were screaming. We were only trying to keep you from giving away our position."
"Oh," Rodney answered in a very, small voice. "Well, you did whatchya had to do…I guess."
"What he said," Sheppard added, studiously avoiding eye contact and dabbing a Kleenex at the saliva infused coffee on his blanket. "So…she pretty basically just used me-- to do what exactly? I mean besides Ginsu-ing Teyla."
"Live, love, hate again? Who knows?" Rodney shifted in his seat. "Tried to escape the doldrums of John Sheppard's life? Does it matter?"
"Yes," solemnly answered Zelenka. "As we've studied the little devices, there was one copy made of her imprint pattern. There were originally four implants made. One should have been left in the transmitter and according to the time code, a copy was downloaded into the fourth while you were on Michael's ship. Then it was removed. That's the bad news."
"Bad news?" Lorne asked. "Tell us there's good news and not worse."
Zelenka shook his head. "I'm sorry; I can't. It wasn't just her imprint that was copied. Col. Sheppard's was as well."
"Damn," Sheppard said again.
Carson watched as Sheppard slumped against the pillows as walls were erected with alacrity. The emotions were quickly stored away in the compartments of John Sheppard's mind, but the little things always gave him away: picking at the blanket, averting his eyes, and hiding anything other than aloofness. John Sheppard was a seasoned pro at walling himself into his own little prison.
However, this was an official meeting. Lorne, Zelenka and Elizabeth were present so the aloofness was understandable. Maybe later, when the meeting had ended and only his team remained, would the wall crumble. Carson hoped so.
After everyone left, Carson slipped over to check his patient one more time. He figured it was time to return a favor done for him.
"Colonel, as one friend to another, Ronon told me something that I thought didn't apply to me. I was wrong and feel as if I need to share." Carson steadied his gaze and pierced through Sheppard's lackadaisical stare. "You're not alone."
Carson finished up his examination and patted Sheppard's leg. If it was possible, Sheppard sank even farther into the bed.
He uttered only one word for the third time as Carson walked away--
"Damn."
--because old habits die hard.
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A/N: Well, this is the official one more to go. Oh, I really appreciate all the reviews. Titan, I've killed him three times including this. You, oh evil one, shot him in the head. I haven't done that! You guys want a cliffy; that's a cliffy!
Fat, dumb and happy from the Thanksgiving feast. Now let the Christmas frenzy begin!