Chapter 38: Well obviously not deliberately!

In the days that followed I expanded my experiments to include control of multiple subjects at once and became proficient in both quickly accessing the telepathic pool and in focusing rapid thoughts down the connections to enact whatever control protocols I'd devised.

Once I'd proven that I could use the TED for multi targeted telepathic control that became the backup defensive plan if the approaching Hive ship wasn't fooled by our cloak. What I'd be required to do would actually be easier than all my trials because I didn't necessarily have to control a specific Wraith which meant I could just take the connections the TED offered. I was still a little uncomfortable with the idea, not because I didn't want to help, but because I'd never controlled an actual Wraith before. The idea of waiting until it was 'do or die' to find out if I could seemed reckless even to me. But in the absence of a small group of Wraith to practice on there was little other choice.

My preference had always been to take telepathic control a step further and use the TED to access the Wraith technology directly. The beauty of that plan was that I did have a piece of Wraith technology I could practice on. We still had a week before the Hive ship arrived and I hadn't given up hope that I'd figure something out in time.

The TED relied on the information it contained about how Wraith brains worked in conjunction with measuring the quantum world to provide a means for telepathy to be used. I wondered, if I could input additional information about Wraith technology, whether the TED would be able to incorporate that into its measurements and therefore include the Wraith ships themselves as part of the telepathic pool. If it could, then conceivably I could dip into that pool for a Wraith ship just as easily as I had for a human test subject. To do that I needed Rodney's help and managed to get on the next Jumper headed up to the Orion.

"Have you got a minute?" I asked Rodney as soon as I'd located him. Typically he was stretched out on the floor under a console switching out control crystals.

"Do I look like I've got a minute?" Rodney looked up at me with an impatient expression.

"Looks like you're ripe for a break," I didn't take offense. I didn't envy the pressure he was under to fix the ship with so little time.

"Let me guess ... you want me to fix something!" Rodney complained, getting tiredly to his feet.

"I'm not joking Rodney," I said, worried about how exhausted he looked. "You really should squeeze in a break because you look like crap."

"Thanks for your concern," Rodney said irritably, "but let's just stick to why you're here."

"I don't want you to fix something," I denied slowly, "but I could use some ideas on how I might ... fix something."

"What?" Rodney gestured for me to hand over the data pad I'd brought with me.

"This is the access port for the TED," I said. "I need to find a way to connect it directly to the Wraith Dart ... since you did something similar on Aiden's planet I thought ..." I trailed off when I noticed Rodney rolling his eyes.

"Yes yes," he agreed impatiently. He looked intently at the data pad before getting that familiar look of discovery in his eyes. "Okay, here's what you need to do."

Ten minutes later, with Rodney's instructions ringing in my head, I went in search of a quick lift back to Atlantis.

"How'd it go? Major Lorne asked curiously. He'd flown me up to the Orion and was currently helping Dr Zelenka with tests of the control chair.

"Got my instructions up here," I tapped my forehead ruefully. "Now I just need to get back to Atlantis asap so I can put them into practice."

"You want a lift back now?" Lorne looked across at Dr Zelenka, who'd started muttering under his breath in Czech at the offer.

"If you can spare the time?" I looked from the Major across to Dr Zelenka with a hopeful smile. Dr Zelenak reluctantly agreed, making Major Lorne promise to come straight back after dropping me off.

"What does Colonel Sheppard thing about this TED thing?" Lorne asked curiously.

"He helped me with the whole 'mind control' aspect," I admitted, looking through the front view screen as we approached the planet. "I did end up getting John to follow one of my commands ... to be honest it was a little ... disturbing."

"You poking around in his head?" Lorne looked across at me with a sly grin. "The Colonel really is as brave as they say!"

"I didn't 'poke around' thank you very much," I protested. "I don't want to see what's going on in anyones head!"

"I don't know," Lorne mused thoughtfully. "The chance to find out what your partner really thinks of you ... that sounds hard to resist."

"I already know what John thinks of me," I glanced at Lorne quickly and just as quickly turned away when I realised he was studying me quite intently. "And he already knows what I think of him ... we don't need a machine to help us there."

"If you say so," Lorne agreed. "Although if you ask me you seem to be protesting just a little too much."

"Just shut up and fly," I ordered grumpily, knowing he wouldn't take offense.

Lorne laughed but did finally drop the subject. He dropped me off in the Jumper Bay before heading straight back up to the Orion. I went in search of Dr Weir to request that she let me take one of the remaining Puddle Jumpers over to the mainland by myself.

"Rodney showed me how to connect the TED directly to the Dart," I informed Dr Weir. "With any luck I'll be able to get the TED to register the Dart as a possible telepathic connection which could prove very useful if that Hive ship sends down an attack."

"So you want to go to the mainland now and try it out?" Dr Weir confirmed.

"Yes," I replied. "The only problem is that Major Lorne's already gone back to help Dr Zelenka on the Orion and John's on the Daedalus going over strategies with Colonel Caldwell. In fact, most of the people with any competence in the ATA gene are up on the Orion or Daedalus – including all the Jumper pilots."

"What about Carson?" Dr Weir suggested.

"No offense to Dr Beckett," I looked at Dr Weir apologetically, "but I'm a much better Jumper pilot than he is, and I'm sure he's got better things to do than play taxi driver to someone perfectly capable of flying themselves." I kept to myself the information that I'd never flown a Puddle Jumper solo before ... my last few lessons with John had all involved me completing all aspects of the trip while he just observed so I was pretty confident I wouldn't have a problem.

"And you need to do this right now?" Dr Weir questioned.

"The time I have left to get TED working on the Wraith technology directly may not be enough as it is," I admitted. "I really can't afford to waste an afternoon or more waiting for John or Evan or one of the other pilots to be available." I waited anxiously while Dr Weir thought about my request.

"Okay," Dr Weir agreed. "You'll check in once you get there, and again on the hour."

"Thanks Dr Weir," I said happily, jumping up and hurrying from the room before she could change her mind.

My excitement at flying solo lasted most of the trip and I was pretty proud of myself when I landed the Jumper a short distance from my Wraith Dart without incident. I reported in to Atlantis that I'd arrived safely and then unloaded my gear from the Jumper.

I was hopeful that the TED would incorporate Wraith technology information once I'd plugged the Dart directly into it. It took me over an hour to implement Rodney's instructions and get an active connection between three pieces of very different technology. That done I jumped into the Dart, powered it up, and took it for a very short looping flight that wouldn't draw the attention of anyone at the Athosian settlement. Hopefully that would be enough information to see if this was going to work.

Dart parked safely back in the clearing I checked my laptop readings to make sure the connection had actually transferred some data to the TED. The only thing left to do was to try to control the Dart remotely through the TED. I was due to report in with the Control Room back on Atlantis and did that first before steeling myself for the next step.

As with all my human trials I focussed my mind on a single objective before activating the TED. The same telepathic pool was made available to me and I dipped into it, waiting to see what the device would present to me. As before there were many connections available within the pool. Looking carefully at each thread I found one that looked more ... mechanical that the others. Grabbing it I followed the thread back to the Dart. "Yes!" I exclaimed at my success.

Okay, so I was connected but could I make the Dart actually do anything? That was trickier because I was back to being presented with too many options. I sifted through them looking for something familiar and finally found the hover command. Punching a strong sharp command at the Dart I could hardly contain my excitement when it slowly rose from the ground and hovered in front of me. The good thing about the technological angle which I'd only just realised was that I didn't have to worry about how strong I was making my commands – it wasn't like I could cause the Dart pain.

Considering that a very positive start, I broke the connection, forgetting that I hadn't actually brought the Dart back to the ground. "Oops," I winced as the Dart thumped down hard before settling back into position. I could still see all those other threads leading away from the telepathic pool and my curiosity got the better of me. Selecting one at random I grabbed it and followed it back to the source.

Big mistake! It wasn't an Athosian, it was a Wraith. And I was completely unprepared. I scrambled back to the pool to break the connection but an attack followed me back and hit me just as I was disconnecting.

Ah crap that hurt! The telepathic punch hit me hard ... it was lucky I'd already broken the connection or who knows what would have happened. Waking back to myself I realised I had fallen to the ground beside the now deactivated TED. Trying to get up too quickly was my second mistake – the intense pain in my head was the last thing I knew.

"

"Sabina?" I slowly came back to myself, wondering why I'd fallen asleep on the floor.

"Sabina, report?" John's voice echoed from my earpiece.

"John?" I mumbled, forcing my eyes open. What I saw made me close them again with a groan. I was still on the mainland, lying on the now very cold ground in a darkness broken only slightly by the light from the moon high overhead. Damn! I'd obviously been unconscious for hours.

"Finally!" John said in relief. "Elizabeth got worried when she realised you hadn't checked in after returning from the mainland."

"Where are you?" I asked, still feeling somewhat dazed. Everything that had happened had come back to me and I'd decided staying on the ground was probably the best idea for the time being.

"Still on the Daedalus," John said. "I think the more important question is where are you?"

"Don't get mad, okay?" I begged, already wincing at what I knew his reaction would be.

"Why would I get mad?" John asked suspiciously. "Where the hell are you?"

"Still on the mainland," I admitted softly.

"Its pitch black down there," John said heatedly. "What could you possibly be-" John broke off as he realised the most likely reason I was still on the mainland. "Did something go wrong?"

"I wouldn't say wrong ... exactly ..." I broke off miserably. I waited for his reaction but all I got was silence. Okay that was bad ... when John got all silent it was usually because he was trying not to lose his temper. "John?" I radioed him again.

A millisecond later my eyes were blinded by the brilliant white light of the Asgard transporters beaming someone down to my location. When the bright lights vanished Colonel John Sheppard was left in their place and he did not look happy ... even less so when he shone his torch around and realised I was stretched out on the ground.

"Where are you hurt?" John assessed the situation in a glance, dropping down to my side to get a better look at me.

"It's not as bad as it seems," I tried to gloss over what had happened.

"Do you have any injuries?" John completely ignored my comment, checking me over to look for visible injuries.

"Unless you count a headache as an injury, no," I replied, attempting to sit up.

"Stay there," John gently pressed me back down on the ground.

"But it's cold," I complained a bit childishly. "Can't we just go to the Jumper and fly back to Atlantis?"

"Doctor Beckett," John tapped his earpiece, still ignoring me. "I'm having Sabina beamed directly to the infirmary. Stand by."

"John, I really don't think that's necessary," I tried to sit up again but John just put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "HEY!" I yelled, wincing sharply at the resulting pain. I felt very close to tossing my cookies too and could only imagine how pale I'd gone – hopefully John wouldn't have noticed.

"Not necessary huh?" John commented ... okay so he had noticed.

"Sheppard to Colonel Caldwell," John stood up and looked away as he spoke. "I need Hermiod to lock on to Sabina's signal on the mainland and beam her directly to the infirmary on Atlantis."

"Give us a minute," Caldwell replied.

"Acknowledged," John returned, kneeling back next to me. "I'm gonna fly the Jumper and all your gear back to Atlantis now ... make sure you tell Carson everything that happened so he can work out if ..." John broke off and I realised for the first time that he actually was a little bothered to find me incapacitated like that.

"I'm pretty sure I haven't done any permanent damage," I reassured him, "apart from my ego which may never recover after the added humiliation of being beamed to the infirmary."

"We're ready to transport Sabina," Colonel Caldwell's voice came back from the Daedalus.

John put a gentle hand against my forehead, before stepping back. "See you in an hour," he said before radioing back to Caldwell, "go ahead."

He faded from my view and was replaced by Doctor Beckett looking down at my infirmary bed.

"Hi Doctor Beckett," I smiled innocently.

"What have you done to yourself this time?" Carson asked in concern.

"I took a telepathic blow from a Wraith," I admitted reluctantly. "Got a bitchin' headache and the overwhelming urge to vomit but apart from that I'm great."

"Let me be the judge of that," Carson said, moving quickly into Doctor mode. "We'll do a scan and give you something for the nausea."

Letting myself be subjected to every medical check Doctor Beckett could come up with, eventually he pronounced that I hadn't done any permanent damage. I did however have some swelling not dissimilar to a concussion – hence the nausea. The bad news was that I had to stay in the infirmary overnight for observation.

I was sulking in my infirmary bed about that when John returned from parking the Jumper. He paused to speak with Doctor Beckett before making his way over to me.

"Carson said you were lucky," John sat down and took one of my hands. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"I'm an idiot," I replied irritably. "That pretty much explains everything that happened."

"Details" John ordered.

"Okay," I grumbled. "But first you have to get me a couple of blankets – I'm really cold."

"It's not that cold in here," John looked at me in concern.

"Yes but you weren't stretched out on the icy ground for hours," I pointed out. I watched as John stole some blankets from one of the unoccupied beds – it gave me a sweet feeling when he brought them back and tucked me in instead of just giving them to me. Of course that feeling went out the window when he turned back to me with an all business look.

"Okay, talk," John ordered again.

"Everything went according to plan," I said. "I was actually finished but I just couldn't resist checking out one of the other telepathic connections I was getting. I thought it would be an Athosian since they were pretty close by."

"But it wasn't?" John encouraged me to keep speaking.

"No," I looked down at my lap as I admitted "it was one of the Wraith on the Hive ship that's on its way here."

"You made a telepathic connection with a Wraith?" John asked incredulously.

"Well obviously not deliberately," I said sarcastically. "Before I knew it I'd been punched ... telepathically ... my head felt like it was exploding and it was lucky I'd already closed off the connection and deactivated the TED before more hits could get through. It was only when I tried to get up that I passed out."

"Did the Wraith pick up where you were?" John asked the question I'd really been dreading.

"I don't think so," I said. "It's more likely he thought I was a Wraith on a rival Hive ... but in all honesty I can't tell you one hundred percent that I didn't give away our existence."

"There's been no change in the approaching Hive's course or speed," John revealed, "but that doesn't mean anything."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled sickly. "I just keep proving that I don't know what I'm doing, don't I?"

"There's no point in beating yourself up," John pointed out. "And if that Hive ship has been alerted, then we need your skills with the TED even more."

"I guess," I looked at him with a hopeful look. "Think you can convince Carson I don't need to stay overnight?"

"Not even gonna try," John drawled.

"They'll be waking me up every couple of hours," I complained, "and I won't get any real rest."

"Then maybe next time you'll be a little more cautious," John said seriously. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You're just gonna leave me here?" I asked in a pitiful voice.

"I'm sure Carson will look after you," John wasn't swayed at all.

"Fine," I grumbled, turning away with my arms folded across my chest and mumbling under my breath "and you say my bedside manner sucks!"

John laughed, patting my shoulder bracingly before strolling out of the infirmary.

Authors Note:

I'm not sure if it's believable that Sabina could be on the mainland for more than a couple of hours without anyone realising she hadn't checked in ... I was thinking that with many personal off on the Orion and the Daedalus preparing for the Hive ship arrival maybe there'd be enough confusion on Atlantis for someone to slip through the cracks for just a little while.