A/N: I studied archaeology in college, and one of my favorite classes was Paleo-pathology. We studied the human skeleton and the different effects disease and trauma could produce on bones, and one slide I will never forget was of a skull from Peru. The fellow had been hit in the left eyebrow by a sling stone, and there was one crack that went over the top of his skull to halfway down the back, and two more through his eye socket that split his maxilary bone into two pieces. Nasty...
VIII: Black Sheep
One urtal screaming in the dead of night is bad enough. Multiply that by a couple dozen and I bet Freddy Kruger would probably shit his drawers at the sound. Every last one of us crouched down and brought our weapons up. Ronon started backing up towards me, his eyes scanning the jungle and searching for any movement to aim at.
"Oh, dear God," I heard Rodney breathe over the radio. "What is that noise?"
I had just opened my mouth to answer when the first arrow came sailing out of the jungle. Actually, no – it was way too long to be an arrow but too slender to be a spear. It arced high and came down between me and Lorne. "Fall back," I said as a several more followed. Their trajectory was easy to watch and avoid – they were obviously lofting them to get them clear of any blocking branches. I glanced back to see how far we were from the gate when something whistled past my ear. I snapped my head back around just in time to see a pale form step briefly from behind a tree trunk, arm spinning in a blur by its side before it snapped forward. Something impacted hard on my tac vest just over my stomach and knocked me back a step. A couple more figures darted out of the shadows, their arms spinning.
"They're attacking us with … slings?" Ronon said. The he suddenly jerked to the side and said something in Setadan that didn't need any translation. He held a hand briefly to the side of his neck, and when he pulled it away I saw blood. He growled and fired at a form before it ducked behind a tree. Charred splinters flew from the side of the trunk.
I glanced up at the wall quickly as a couple other Marines fired quick bursts into the jungle. Liang was with Pawlowski – the kid was a decent sniper. "Liang, you see anything so much as twitch, take the shot."
"Yes, sir." A second later I could hear the occasional single shot ring out.
"The rest of you, back. Now!" As I backed up my heel came down on something hard and my ankle threatened to fold as it shifted. A quick glance revealed it was Shadow's belt. Without a thought I scooped it up and draped it over my shoulder. I could hear a couple other Marines shout in pain as sling stones grazed or connected with unprotected arms and legs, and we were almost to the gate when I saw Lorne's head suddenly snap back. He went down in a boneless heap and I fired a long burst into the jungle. "Ronon!" I shouted, then something clipped my left arm. Blood started flowing instantly.
"I got him," Ronon said and just grabbed Lorne by the front of his vest and dragged him backwards one handed while firing back into the jungle.
I, along with Ferguson and Morales, laid down a cover fire to give Ronon time to get Lorne through the gate before the rest of us followed him. The heavy doors closed and we all heard a couple solid hits against the wood. I glanced up in time to see Liang suddenly jerk. He damn near went backwards off the narrow catwalk but Pawlowski managed to catch him in time and lower him onto the ledge. That action saved him from a head shot that only managed to take his cap off and not split his skull.
I knelt next to Lorne and checked his wound – it was a long gash that started just above his right temple and disappeared into his hair. It was just a glancing blow, but he was out cold and bleeding like a mother. Ronon already had a field dressing out and pressed it down hard to staunch the bleeding. Lorne made a noise and I took that as a good sign.
I glanced around and took stock. Every single one of us was bleeding from at least one hit from a sling stone, and Lorne seemed to be the worst. Liang was already back on his knees and I could see his right shoulder was dark with blood. He and Pawlowski were keeping their heads down but would pop up briefly to check over the wall.
Then I saw Shadow. He must have collapsed shortly after clearing the gate, and he was still lying on the ground, still gasping for breath. The hunter he had carried in was lying on the ground in front of him and unconscious. The man was alive, but had a nasty compound fracture of his lower right leg and numerous gashes. Beyond him I could see the other wounded hunter and his bird on the ground, too, and surrounded by several villagers. Someone had thrown a cloth over the Jubjub's head and the thing was only mildly squirming. I had to look away when two other men just simply pulled the hunter's leg off the broken shaft.
"Sheppard, what in the hell is happening?" Rodney's voice bellowed in my ear.
I realized it wasn't the first time he'd asked that question in the last few minutes – I had just tuned him out when the shit hit the fan. "We were attacked, Rodney, what dya think happened?" I snarled back. "Now shut up and tell me how many of those damn things are out there."
There was a pause, and I could just imagine Rodney's eyes getting huge and his mouth dipping down in a crooked grimace as he got ready to snark back. Then Zelenka cut in. "I see twenty-nine just inside jungle perimeter, and possibly eighteen more further back and closing in fast."
Shit. "Are they clustered, or spreading out?"
"Closer ones starting to spread out."
I glanced around and saw the Jumper about forty yards away. I shot to my feet and started running towards it. "Rodney, can you patch the scanners into the HUD in the Jumper?"
"As soon as you fire it up, I can," he replied succinctly.
"Good." Lorne had left the hatch down and I was powering up systems before I even sat down in the pilot's chair. I called up targeting, saw all the little blips that were the urtal's ten-times removed fugly cousins, popped the Jumper's pods, and launched a couple drones over the wall. Yeah, I was going to have to fill out a ton of paperwork for using the heavy ordinance once I got back to Atlantis, but you know what? Fuck it. It was worth it just to stop that damn screaming.
"Um, wasn't that a bit of an, oh, overkill, colonel?" Rodney said in the blessed silence that followed the explosions.
"Naw," I drawled. I doubt there were more than a dozen of the mangy bastards left, and they were scattering deeper into the jungle. I only watched a minute more before I powered the Jumper back down and jogged back over to the gate. On the way I found Shadow's belt again – I must have dropped it on the mad dash to the Jumper. I just scooped it up again. Shadow was just getting to his feet as I got there, and he grabbed my arm for support when I stopped next to him. I caught his upper arm in my free hand and found the fur wet. Now that I was closer I could see several gashes on his shoulders and sides that had been hidden in his thick black fur. That had me both concerned and pissed.
"We need to get the wounded to the Temple," he said between pants. He waved me back and when I let go of his arm, my hand was red.
"Yeah, we do," I said. "Carson, we have incoming."
"How many and how bad," he replied immediately.
"Three serious – one a head wound, another a compound leg fracture, and the third an arrow wound."
"Can they be moved?"
I repeated the question to Shadow and he nodded. "Tell him we'll get them stabilized here, then transport them to Atlantis if need be."
I nodded and relayed the message.
The next few minutes were absolutely amazing. The villagers pitched in and in just a very short time had three makeshift stretchers lashed together to transport Lorne and the two hunters to the Temple. Shadow left orders for lookouts atop the wall, and I sent those Marines who just had minor injuries to join them. We made for an interesting little ragged parade to the Temple, and en route I handed Shadow his belt. He looked at it for a moment, and when he took it he chuffed. "Not much good without the rest," he said, his voice tired but amused, and flopped it over his shoulder. He hissed faintly when it connected with four particularly nasty gashes across his shoulder blade. They weren't bleeding, but the fur around them was thick with clotted blood. He saw me frowning and chuffed again. "The others first."
Okay, now I understood why Carson found me so God damned infuriating ….
Carson was waiting for us when the lift doors opened. He took one look at the hunter with the broken leg and sent me back to the 'gate to request a full medical team. When I returned a very short time later, I brought the Jumper down right by the Temple steps.
Teyla, Ronon, and I stayed out in the hall while Shadow, Carson, and his people worked. Ronon had a bandage on his neck and another around his left forearm. I slapped a field dressing on my arm while I waited on top of the pyramid - the sling stone took quite a chunk out, but it didn't burn nearly as bad as a bullet graze and it could wait. Liang and Carpenter were currently sitting on the floor in the hall, big goofy smiles on their faces. Each took a sling stone – Liang in the shoulder and Carpenter in the thigh – and they were going to have to have them surgically removed. Carson packed their wounds and Shadow apparently slipped them some of the good stuff while they awaited transport back to Atlantis.
"How's the Major?" I asked Teyla as I rubbed my neck.
"He has a hairline skull fracture and a subdural hematoma," she replied. Her eyebrows were furrowed slightly as she glanced towards the med bay door. "Dr. Beckett has scanned him and there isn't any brain swelling, but he's concerned that the major hasn't regained consciousness yet."
"Crap," I muttered. "And Shadow?" I had a feeling I knew the answer to that one.
"He helped with Poc, the hunter with the arrow wound, and got the others pain medication, but that was about all he could do. And he hasn't allowed anyone near him yet." Teyla sounded very … irritated. "Kintu has tried to get him to cooperate, but he is being stubborn." She gave me the faintest of knowing little smirks, and I could just hear her unvoiced remind you of anyone?
Yeah, I had to snort as I shook my head and grimaced a bit sheepishly. I nodded to Ronon. "C'mon, let's run interference." He followed me into one of the Temple's larger medical facilities and the first thing I saw was Lorne. He was strapped into a basket stretcher, ready for transport, his head wrapped in a heavy layer of bandages, and looked too still to be merely asleep. The second was Poc, the hunter with the perfed leg. He was lying on a table, his leg wrapped and elevated, and judging by the grin on his face he'd sampled the good stuff, too. Kintu was sitting up on the table with him, his arm splinted and in a sling, and had the most disgusted frown I'd ever seen on him. He gave me a nod and a grunt. Carson had been a busy boy during my short jaunt to the 'gate and back, and currently he and his team were busy getting the other hunter stabilized and ready for transport. They didn't even notice us come in.
But Shadow did. He was still in his half form and was slumped against the back wall, his butt setting on his heels and his arms just lying limply in his lap. He turned his head toward me and I could see it slightly bobbing with every rapid breath, and as I got closer I could see his eyes were slightly dilated and caught a whiff of birthday cake. So, he'd sampled some of the good stuff, too. I stopped right in front of him and frowned down at him. His ears flattened and his eyes narrowed.
"It's nice to know the attitude copied over," I drawled. "And here Carson thought you were a good patient."
Carson heard me and glanced our way. "Finally! Colonel, please slap some sense into the lad."
"I am fine," Shadow growled. He didn't sound fine, and he sure as hell didn't look fine.
Carson rolled his eyes. He gave his team a few quiet orders then backed away and snapped his stained gloves off. He pulled a fresh pair from the field kit and as he stomped our way he pulled them on. "All right – your people have been taken care of, so as of this second that excuse is now officially crap. Your turn." He frowned and gave Shadow a little wave to move away from the wall. When he didn't, Carson sighed. "Don't make me have these two gentlemen drag you to a table." After a really sad attempt at a chuff Shadow pushed away from the wall and tried to stand but couldn't. Ronon and I wound up each taking an elbow and hauled him to his feet, and I couldn't help noticing the stiff fur under my hand or the large dark imprint he left behind. Carson led us over to the last empty exam table in the large room.
We let go of Shadow next to the table and he leaned back against the edge for support. Carson sighed impatiently. "Contrary to what Rodney likes to tell everyone one at every possible opportunity, I am not a vet." His voice softened considerably. "I'm going tae have to ask you change, lad. Sorry."
Shadow looked at him, blinked a few times, then nodded faintly. He closed his eyes and his forehead and nose wrinkled in concentration. The change was slower than in the Jumper the day before, but it still only took a few seconds. The moment he was human, however, his legs gave out. Carson and I barely caught him under the arms and just kept his knees from cracking down hard on the floor.
"Bloidy hell," Carson muttered and it wasn't too far from the truth. The kid had a dozen wounds, the worst being the four across his right shoulder blade, one long one across his ribs on his left side, and another nasty one on his upper right arm, and there was very little skin from his neck to his knees that wasn't stained red. The minor cuts were already healed to the point of new red scars, but the deeper ones were still raw. The gash on his arm was the worst, and it started bleeding again. Shadow's eyes were fluttering and he was growling faintly. "Get his feet," Carson said to me and we hoisted him up onto the table.
Once he was prone it only took a moment for Shadow's eyes to open again. He let out a deep, shuddering breath. "That … hurt," he said in a surprisingly normal tone.
"Bloidy hell, lad," Carson repeated. "You're worse than him."
I didn't argue.
Carson started to examine the gash across his arm, which had already stopped bleeding in the first minute after the change. Each gentle touch brought a quiet snarl. "This is already closing," Carson said in a half whisper.
"I heal fast when I need to," Shadow replied with a bit of a smirk.
"Don't you be getting cheeky with me, son," Carson warned. He quickly returned to his team, said a few soft words, then came back with a squeeze bottle and some gauze pads and proceeded to clean the wound. "So, this healin' ability – do, did … do all the Guardians possess it?" Once that was clean, he concentrated on the one on his ribs. It already had the appearance of a cut several days old. Carson snorted in surprise.
Shadow closed his eyes and nodded. "I can heal my own injuries, but others …. It will be years yet before I am proficient at that skill."
"And Xili?" Carson asked skeptically.
"Luck." Shadow's voice was starting to wind down.
"How do you do it?" I couldn't help but asking.
"Healing is nothing but a change," he replied sleepily, then smirked again. "And I'm quite good at that."
"I warned you about that cheeky stuff," Carson growled. I had a feeling the cheekiness was more a result of the good stuff as opposed to true attitude at this point. Made me wonder just how much Shadow took. "Roll on to your side – let me check your back." While he cleaned those gashes Shadow actually let out a soft snore then woke with a faint full body jerk. Carson gently rolled him onto his back once he was finished. "We need to get you cleaned up, son."
"Later," Shadow murmured. "I need sleep."
Carson sighed and looked at me, and I fought the urge to say what? "Let's find him a blanket." We wound up using one of the foil things in the emergency field kit and just left him there while we ferried wounded to the Jumper. Carson was going to allow Kintu and Poc to stay – their injuries looked worse than they actually were, and Carson was pretty sure all Poc needed over the next few days were some antibiotics to keep any infection at bay. He would be back later to put a proper cast on Kintu's arm; right now his concern was for Lorne and the hunter with the compound fracture.
Not quite an hour later Ronon and I were climbing the steps of the Temple and it was clouding up. I brought back another team of Marines and set them up with the others. The sentries on the wall hadn't reported any new movement from the jungle, and a quick check in with Zelenka proved the whatever-they-were were keeping their distance, but they were still out there.
When we exited on the med level there was quite the little crowd in the hall. Rodney, Katie and her two people, and Teyla were all sitting on the floor along with Kintu and a handful of villagers. Katie and the tiny Japanese woman still looked a little freaked from the morning's events, and everyone was talking quietly. Rodney was chewing away on a Powerbar – if it had been a tinu I would have smacked him – and Kintu was laying with his head in the lap of a woman who was stroking his forehead and murmuring quietly to him. I got the impression the villagers were all his and Poc's immediate family. I peeked into the room just long enough to see that Shadow and Poc were asleep, then I found an open spot and sat down. Ronon just leaned against the wall and rubbed at the bandage on his neck.
I was feeling tired after the initial adrenaline rush of the morning, but as long as those things were still out there the day was a long ways from being over. I pulled a Powerbar out of my own vest. "How are you guys doing?" I asked Katie and the two botanists with her as I tore open my snack.
"Okay," Katie replied. "We've been trying to figure out what those things were."
"Radek and I are searching the data base," Rodney said around a mouthful. "We haven't found anything yet."
"The villagers haven't seen anything like them," Teyla replied.
I grunted and looked at Rodney. "You haven't found anything?"
Rodney waved impatiently. "The data base is huge, and typing in 'fugly mutant cat demon thing' doesn't bring up a whole hell of a lot. My blood sugar was low so I came up to take a break." Then he shrugged. "And see how Sha … everyone is doing. I heard Major Lorne got hit pretty hard. Any word?"
"Carson said he'd let us know if there were any changes," I said. "And he'll call when the little guy with the broken leg is out of surgery."
We were suddenly distracted by a heavy thump from the med bay followed by a low, rumbling growl. I was on my feet in an instant and got to the door in time to see Shadow on the floor and fighting his way free of the space blanket. He blinked at the silvery material then shoved it aside and started to get to his feet.
"Hey hey hey! Where do you think you're going?" I said, but not so loud as to wake up the other occupant of the room.
Shadow was on his feet now and swaying ever so faintly. The blood that covered him earlier was all dried to a uniform brown, and when he scratched his right arm what looked like a scab flaked away to reveal dark pink scar tissue. He blinked at me a few times when I stopped right in front of him and blocked his way, then he just grabbed me by the arms, picked me up and set me aside like I didn't weigh any more than Kintu and stomped for the door. Ronon was standing there. The big guy crossed his arms and planted his feet and Shadow came to a halt. "Please move," Shadow said, voice low and almost more growl than spoken word. Ronon just cocked his head back and set his mouth in a half smirk.
"Somebody wakes up cranky," I muttered as I rubbed the graze on my arm – it was singing now. "You really need to rest …." I stopped when I heard the low rumbling growl, then Shadow moved so fast I wasn't sure I saw it. I think he shoved Ronon – all I know is that Ronon just flew backwards into the hall and bounced off the opposite wall. He was out the door to several startled exclamations a second later, and I was hot on his heels. I glanced briefly to my right as I entered the hall and saw more open mouths than an aquarium full of gold fish. Ronon was sitting up and shaking his head, dreds whipping with the motion. Yup, he had his bell rung.
I caught up to him a dozen feet from the lift and grabbed his arm. "Hey," I said and started to turn him around. "What do you …." Next thing I know I'm looking up at the ceiling and having a flashback to my encounter with the uber-Wraith back on wherever the hell that was, and what I thought were alien fireflies at first were just little sparklies in my vision.
Teyla suddenly appeared in my line of sight, her forehead creased in worry. "Colonel, are you all right?" she asked.
"Guh-wha huh?" I said and blinked. I lifted my head and looked between my splayed feet to see I was back where I started. Jeez, did I slide all that way?
"Well, he doesn't sound like he has any brain damage beyond the normal amount, at least," Rodney snarked. "He's fine."
Then hands were helping me up into a sitting position and I noticed the center of my chest was really sore. I pressed a hand there and grimaced. "Where'd he go?" I croaked out. "'Cuz I'm gonna kill him." I saw Ronon out of the corner of my eye. Looks like I wasn't the only one who wanted to kill him.
"Your guess is as good as ours," Rodney said. "I mean, how hard is it going to be to track a naked, mutant clone covered in, ah, was that blood?" he finished in a rush. "Because it looked an awful lot like dried blood. And a lot of it."
"Yeah, it was," I said. "Help me up, here." Teyla and Rodney each got under an arm and I was on my feet and only mildly swaying. I glanced at the rest of the folks in the hall and saw both concern and shock registering there. Even Kintu was awake and sitting up, his own eyes wide. I was about to call out to the Marines on guard duty and ask if the kid went that way when Zelenka solved our mystery.
"Uh, Rodney? You need to get down here. Quickly."
I tapped my ear. "We're on our way." I glanced at Katie. "You folks stay here. We'll handle this." I got a very vigorous nod in reply. As me and my team barreled down the hall I saw Ronon check his gun. "That better be set on stun," I said through the side of my mouth. Ronon grunted and changed the setting.
We fanned out into control a minute later and all of us came to a surprised stop. The lighting was maybe at fifty per cent, and Zelenka was standing behind a console, his mouth open. Shadow was standing in the center of the room on a lighted section of floor, his shoulders slightly hunched and his hands flexing open and closed and intent as if stalking prey and not information. His face was set in a snarl as he slowly turned, his eyes scanning one holographic HUD after another. The Ancient text was scrolling across them at an alarming pace, and every once in awhile he'd lift a hand and dismiss one screen only to call up another.
"Holy crap," Rodney muttered. He glanced at Zelenka. "Did you know this could …." He twitched and shrugged towards the displays.
Zelenka drew his chin back and shook his head, his fine hair threatening to flip into his face with the motion. "No. He just barreled in and …." He went pfft and made a gesture like he was trying to get something to rise from the ground. Then he smoothed his hair back since he couldn't seem to think of anything else to do with his hands. "Is that … blood?" he asked. "And where are his clothes? Not that he wears much to begin with, but this is … very disturbing. Disturbing that requires hours of psychotherapy disturbing. Disturbing that creates ….."
I glowered at Zelenka briefly and he shut up. I stepped forward through a layer of green holographic data. "What the hell are you doing?" I said through my teeth.
"I had a … memory," Shadow replied in the same tone. As he turned my way briefly his dilated eyes reflected green light. Suddenly he froze. "There," he growled. All but one display winked out, and the new data expanded to surround him completely.
Rodney stepped forward, his own mouth open in a crooked grimace of awe. "That looks encrypted," he muttered as he stepped through the wall of Ancient text. He reached behind him and with practiced ease pulled his computer from his back in a rip of Velcro. He pulled the leads from a pocket in his tac vest. "I should have this in no time."
Shadow leaned his head back, eyes closed and mouth open. The images grew too bright to look at and we all had to turn away for a moment. Then the data was back, only now it was in a recognizable format.
I'd spent enough time in the infirmary to recognize medical diagrams and charts when I see them.
Rodney glowered at Shadow, his computer leads still in his hands. "Show off," he said.
We all stepped into the center of the room, and when the first simple line image of a half-cat, half-urtal thing popped up I felt like growling myself, just like Shadow was currently doing. "What the hell are those?"
"The First Ones," Shadow replied. "The first Guardian mentioned them but once, how they were a failed experiment and were destroyed. The name came to me while I was sleeping."
With all the data in his head from the download, no wonder it took awhile for it to surface, I thought. And here I thought my subconscious was messed up. Made me glad I just had nightmares.
"Why in the hell couldn't the Ancients just leave things well enough alone?" Rodney muttered as he read data. "Instead they had to go and fuck with the natural order of things. Couldn't just settle with kick-ass technology and stick with the 'gates. No, instead they had to go and play Frankenstein." His hand suddenly fluttered up. "Wait, wait – go back." Rodney read for a moment then made a strangled noise. "Son of a bitch," he muttered.
Zelenka was peering at the same bit of data, and let out a string of what I knew just had to be cuss words.
"What?" I asked worriedly.
"The Ancients tried for years to perfect a hybrid," Shadow said, his voice incredibly soft and calm. That made me nervous. "They used the urtal as the stock race, but the results were too unpredictable in nature, too … volatile."
"Why do people go and use the meanest thing around when they try something like this? Huh?" Rodney grumbled to himself. "Why couldn't they have used, say, sheep? Or cows? What, did a were-cow with cud chewing abilities not appeal to them? They think going straight to a mutant killer would be easier in the long run?" He let out a disgusted sigh as he continued reading. "Oh, gee – now this makes a whole hell of a lot of sense. Instead of destroying the base experiment and starting over, they just dumped them and let them fend for themselves after giving them the barest information needed for survival," Rodney continued. "They decided to use them for a different experiment altogether. Jesus – it's, it's, it's like they turned them into their own little game of Civilization, with a bit of 'Island of Dr. Moreau' and 'Lord of the Flies' mixed in for color."
Okay, now I was really getting pissed at the Ancients. "Where were they dropped?"
Shadow called up a map of the continent. A section quite a ways to the north lit up. "Here. The area is an isolated plateau with a cloud forest ecology."
The display switched to a topographical one and I recognized the mountain range to its south from my flyover the other day. Oh, hell …. "I found a fairly recent volcano in the area. Here. This entire section of shield wall was gone."
"That would explain why they moved from their territory," Teyla said. "And if the population has been there for the last ten thousand years …."
"Then they've all probably become an inbred batch of insane, tool wielding mega-predators with thumbs," Rodney said, his shoulders slumping in utter disgust. "Great. Just great."
"Yup, leave it to you, McKay, to put such a cheerful spin on things," I drawled. "So, how many of these things did the Ancients create?" I asked, my gut cold and my aches and pains forgotten for the moment.
"Just over three hundred," Shadow replied. His breath was coming fast again, the anger he was just barely keeping in check causing little ripples of fur to rise from his forehead all the way down to his feet. Even I knew with my limited knowledge of genetics that that number wasn't nearly large enough to create a stable population for that long of a time period. "And now the, the remnants are hunting down and killing my people," he snarled. His eyes met mine, and I noticed a thin trickle of blood was running from one of his nostrils. "Did your weapon kill them all?"
"No, there are some left."
"Then we must hunt them down and destroy them. All of them." Shadow flicked his chin up and the holographic displays disappeared, much to Rodney and Zelenka's dismay.
"I'm good with that," Ronon rumbled.
The lights came up to full power. "Now!" Shadow growled and started for the door. He went about three steps before his hands went to his head and he let out a short strangled cry of pain. He veered into a console and I barely caught him as he went down.
"Whoa, hey, slow down," I said as I lowered him to the floor. Then I said, "Shit!" as he started to seize.
oOo
I was sitting in the Jumper just outside of the Temple, the HUD showing an Ancient equivalent of an EEG, which in turn was currently being broadcast to Atlantis through the 'gate.
"I cannot see anything wrong," Dr. Vandenheiden, one of our neurologists, said. The display changed. "Physiology, good. No deviation in brain wave activity – everything is well within the norm. He is fine and healthy and in no immediate danger."
"Then why did he have the seizure?" I asked.
"There are several things that could have triggered it – exhaustion, reaction to medication, even a brief drop in the oxygen supply to the brain. It is my opinion that this may have just been an isolated event." The display switched again. "How are you feeling right now, young man?" she asked.
"I have a headache, and am very hungry," Shadow answered.
"That could have done it, too," she said. "Take it easy, get something to eat."
"Thanks, doc," I said.
"You are welcome, Colonel." She signed off.
Elizabeth came on the line. "I just heard from Carson – Tlaxul is in recovery and doing fine. He had to put a plate and several pins in his leg and expects a full recovery."
"That is good," Shadow replied, and sounded very relieved.
"Did you get the data burst?" Rodney cut in.
"Yes, we've just finished decompressing the file." We all heard Chuck let out a startled cuss word in the background, and a second later Elizabeth said, "Oh, dear God. How many of those … things are there?"
"There were over forty," I replied. "Now, not so many."
"Keep me appraised of any new developments," Elizabeth said. "And if you need any more resources."
"Will do. Rodney, got anything to add?"
"I'd request a nuke, but you already got things covered in the overkill department today."
"I meant something useful," I added.
"I would like some food," came Shadow's voice faintly from the background.
I heard Elizabeth snort. I sighed. "We'll check in at twenty-two hundred. Sheppard out." I powered the Jumper down right away and headed back into the Temple. In a few hours I was going to start rotating Marines off the wall so they could get dinner, too. The First Ones were staying in the deeper jungle for now, and that suited me just fine. I got back downstairs just in time to see Shadow leaving the med bay. He had the space blanket wrapped around him, thank God, and a worried entourage following in his wake. "Just where do you think you're going?"
"To my quarters to bathe and eat," he growled back. He glanced behind him at Teyla and Kintu. "I will be fine."
Teyla flashed me a frown and a raised eyebrow.
"And I have asked my people to set up a meal on the third level; you are all welcome to retire there." He continued on down the hall, head down. I nodded to Teyla and fell into step next to Shadow. It wasn't until we were in the lift again before he spoke. "I don't need a keeper."
"Just think of me as a concerned bystander," I drawled.
Shadow studied me out of the corner of his eye, then shook his head and chuffed. When we exited the lift this concerned bystander followed him to his quarters and camped in the hallway.
