The Tegan Chronicles

Intuition and Lies 12

Tegan secured her helmet on her head. She knew she shouldn't be riding, but she didn't know why. It was that anvil in the pit of her stomach again. Don't go there. Don't do that. But she couldn't not go there, she couldn't not do that. Even if she wanted to, she needed to do this.

She revved the engine, feeling it rumble between her legs. She'd missed that feeling; the excitement, the exhilaration, all that power beneath her. It was nothing compared to gate travel, but it was still exciting in its own way.

She accelerated down the road, watching her speed. She knew the bike could easily open up to 130 without her even realizing it. The road was dry, the sun was out, the sky was a cloudless sea of cerulean blue. She checked her speed, 70. Not a mile over or under the posted limit. A Mack truck was heading in the opposite direction on the flat open road. She could make out the fire engine red paint job on the cab. It looked like it was hauling logs. The anvil grew with a shiver.

She'd heard the horror stories of log truck accidents in medical school; the logs rolling off and steam rolling a van with a car load of kids heading home after soccer practice. Or the log that bounced off the top and decapitated the newlywed driver of the car behind it. She'd been lucky and never seen the results of any such accidents.

The truck was closer now. Close enough she could see the silver dog on the hood, the wide open mouth of the chrome grill that was – "Shit!" It was drifting into her lane. They were both going the speed limit, racing towards each other. No time to think only react. She laid the bike down and felt the burning and tearing of flesh as the truck ran over her left arm. Her last thought before the pain completely engulfed her was; Janet's going to kill me.

"Doctor, her pressure and heart rate are rising."

Janet turned and looked at the monitor. "That's odd."

Dana nodded.

"Give her ten of morphine."

"What's odd?" Jack asked.

"That's definitely a pain response." Dana looked from the monitors to Jack. "But when we try, we can't get a response to pain."

"You think her arm just hurts so bad she can't feel anything else?" He questioned thoughtfully.

"Maybe, but it's almost like…"

"Like she's dreaming." Janet finished for Dana.

"Like when she yelled my name?"

"Yeah." Janet nodded at him. "But yours isn't the only time."

"So you think she's some how conscious of who's in the room?"

"It's possible."

"Well, that's hopeful right?"

Janet wanted to say yes, she wanted to believe it was a good sign.

Dana burst any bubbles of hope that were forming. "This is the first time she hasn't yelled out."

"Maybe there are too many people in here." Jack threw out before taking his leave.

He looked into the rearview mirror to see blue flashing lights on the dashboard. He checked his speed before moving to the right-hand lane. The typical Government Issue sedan followed and he pulled onto the shoulder slowing to a stop.

He pressed a button on the panel of the door and his widow rolled down. "I don't believe I was speeding officer."

"Dr. Gregory Raynes?"

"Yes." Greg looked out the side window for the first time and noticed two soldiers standing there in military fatigues.

"I need you to come with me sir."

"I can't just leave my car here."

"Airman Mitchell can follow us in your car."

"Air Force." He grinned. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"No sir, no joke."

"What's this about?" He glanced at his pager lying discarded and turned off on the passenger seat.

"If you'll come with me sir, someone will explain."

"Janet."

The tone of Dana's voice made her blood run cold.

"I need to show you something." Dana tapped the films she was holding against her leg.

"What is it?" Janet walked away from Tegan's bedside.

"I don't know for sure, but when we were doing the scans Sam needed I ran a PET scan of Tegan's brain on a whim; And well, what I do know is there is a fluid filled sac between the two hemispheres of Tegan's brain."

"A tumor?" The word stuck in Janet's throat like a dry cotton ball in a spider's web.

"Not exactly. If I were to guess I'd say it's filled with the same acid that took her arm off."

"How is that even possible?" Daniel asked in the briefing room after Janet had explained the newest discovery with Tegan's team and General Hammond.

"We deal with 'alien' stuff all the time. And there's the acid Ba'al used on Colonel O'Neill." Janet offered in way of explanation.

"Yeah, but I didn't end up with a sac full of it in my brain."

"Ba'al also gave you the antidote." Daniel reminded.

"So since we know Ba'al isn't going to be of any help;" General Hammond threw the question out. "What do you plan to do?"

"Well, Dr. Raynes is on a plane out from DC as we speak." Janet at least hoped that was the case, she hadn't heard otherwise. "He's being briefed on implanting the device in Tegan's brain. Frankly aside from being a personal friend of Major Kiser's he's the best neurosurgeon out there. I'm hoping he'll be able to remove it intact."

"And if it ruptures?" General Hammond asked the question on everyone's mind.

"There's zero chance of survival." Dana fielded the question for Janet as an over head page called for her to return to Tegan's side stat.

When Janet entered the isolation room Tegan was in the middle of her third full blown seizure since Dana had done the original scan.

"I understand as a general you don't get told no very often, but that's exactly what I'm telling you. I will not implant some microchip into Tegan's brain without her consent. And you will be hard pressed to find any surgeon who would. This surgery is experimental at best."

"Then do you mind telling me why you wasted government resources to fly out here if you had no intentions of doing the surgery?" General Hammond's bald head was turning red.

"Not to mention left your bride standing at the alter?" Jack added.

"Because she's my friend." Greg looked up as Janet entered.

"Sorry I'm late sir."

"Actually, you're right on time Doc." Jack responded earning him a look of disproval from General Hammond. "Tegan's good buddy Greg here is refusing to do the surgery."

"What?" She dropped the scans on the table.

"We haven't had a chance to talk to him about the newest developments, Dr. Fraiser." General Hammond informed before she could lose what little of her sanity remained.

Janet showed him the scans and explained what was going on as best she could. The man had just learned there were other inhabited planets out there, that his best friend helps to defend earth from unimaginable enemies, as a result she lost her arm and now her life hangs in the balance.

"We don't have a lot of time." Janet finished her spiel. "Her temperature continues to rise, and she's having uncontrollable seizures. In light of the scans I'm thinking the latter is related to the increased intracranial pressure and not the elevated body temperature."

"And increased pressure means increased risk of rupture." Greg studied the scans.

"And rupture means death."

"Why me?" He looked up at Janet.

"You're the best, and she trusts you."

"She's not even conscious."

"Like I said, you're the best. If you weren't…"

Greg looked at his watch. "I'd be standing in front of 250 people in a tuxedo."

"Exactly, so?"

"I can't promise anything." He flipped through the scans again. "I don't even know if I can remove it without it rupturing."

Janet nodded her understanding.

"There's only one way to find out." Jack stood up. "And the way I see it, you're her only option."