"Get this damn thing off me." John growled, as he leaned on the jumper´s cargo door unable to move.
"We can´t." Teyla told him, kneeling by by his side.
John looked at Camilla." Cut it off."
Rodney looked towards the front of the jumper." As soon as a connection is established, radio back that we got a medical emergency!"
"There must be something we can do for him." Teyla said.
"There´s an emergency first aid kit behind the pilot´s seat. Go get it." Rodney told her. Teyla nodded her head and rushed to the front compartment.
Camilla laid her hand on his arm." John everything we try to do to remove it makes the pain worse. Just try to be still."
John nodded his head. Camilla moved closer to his neck to get a better look at the creature. She sees it has four legs and a yellowish underbelly and a long tail. It has a death grip on Sheppard´s throat.
Teyla comes back and hands Rodney the kit, before kneeling back down. Rodney opened the kit and starts to go through everything that´s inside." What am I expecting to find in here that can get rid of that thing?"
"Something for the pain." Teyla suggested.
"I don´t think Tylenol´s going to do it. He need´s a doctor!... How much longer!" Camilla shouted as she turned towards the front compartement.
"Almost there?" Ford told her.
Camilla turned back to John when she felt him grasp her hand and she lets him squeeze out the pain. Once his body started to relax again. Camilla leaned closer to John´s neck, and her eyes widened when she sees the creature´s pinchers had gone deeper into John´s throat.
"How much..."
"Here we go." Ford yelled out and a second later there is a loud screeching sound. And she feels a sharp pain to her head and next she´s out cold.
Camilla opened her eyes and she was on her side against the cargo doors. She sees Sheppard was out cold with the creature still attached. She groaned as she sits up, her back against the door. What she sees in front of her has her rasing to her knees.
"Oh, that can´t be good." She said to herself as she stared at at the blue water-like substance that was right behind the bulkhead doorway that separates the back and front compartments.
"What happened?" Teyla asked as she sit up.
"The drive pods." Rodney explained."The wing things that stuck out when we´re flying must have failed to retract. That´s the only thing it can be. It´s that, or the gate shrunk, which i highly doubt." This is a big problem."
"Okay." Teyla said as she stood." What can we do?"
"I don´t know if there´s anything we can do. I mean, this is a very, very big problem." He said as he continued to star at the gate and he sees an arm sticking out from it." Give me a hand."
Teyla rushed towards Rodney before Camilla could and they grapped the arm and started to pull it away from the worm hole. Ford´s body emerges.
"What the hell was that?" He asked as he stand up and facing the gate." That was strange."
"Yes, it is." Rodney agreed.
Ford pointed his finger at the blue-water like substance." That is..."
"Yes, it is."
Ford continued to star at the event horzion." That scraping sound...We´re stuck?"
"Yes, we are. The engine pods failed to retract in time." Rodney made a cirkel with his hand." It´s a square page. Round hole." He moved his finger from his other hand around the cirkel.
" Can we pulle the others out?" Ford asked.
Rodney shaked his head." Our hands would dematerialise as soon as we crossed the event horzion. It´s...There´s no way to reach them."
The shutter sound from out side got louder. The four of them turned to Sheppard. Camilla and Teyla rushed towards him and they knelt down beside him.
"The Major?" Ford asked as he stands over them.
"He must have been knocked unconscious by the impact." Camilla told him.
" Jumper one. This is Weir, what´s your status?"
"This is Ford. Good to hear your voice. The five of us are still here, but Markham and Stackhouse are inside the event horzion."
"Say again?"
Ford stood up and crossed his arms, still staring at the event horizon." Jumper one is lodged in the stargate. Teyla, Doctor McKay, Camilla and I are in the rear compartment with the major. He´s in bad shape. Markham and Stackhouse are in the front section."
"How did that happen?"
"Engine pods." Rodeny said.
Ford turned to Rodney." We think it was one of the engine pods, but there´s no way to be sure."
"It´s the only viable possibility." Rodney said.
" If i understand correctly, you won´t be able to access the flight controls."
"Yes, Elisabeth." Rodney said as he passed the gauze to Teyla before he stands up." An intriguing conundrum, one i would love to discuss in details until the stargate shuts down and this ship is cut in two..."
"Rodney calm down."
"At which point..."
"Rodney! If I´m going to be any help to you at all, i need to catch up. Lieutenant Ford, back it up for me."
"We couldn´t I.D. the Wraith base of operation from space, like we did last time we where there, so we went to the same landing coordinates as before to get a better look."
" She hardly meant at the beginning." Rodney said as he turned to face Ford.
"This is intel she needs to know." Ford said as he turned to faced Rodney.
"We have less than 38 minutes to fix this." Rodney said as he stood up to get into Ford´s face.
"Hold on. Why Thirty-Eight minutes?" Elisabeth questioned.
Camilla´s eye widened as she remembered the conversation she once had with Sam. Oh, god." She said as her heart dropped to her stomach in horror.
"Bceause that´s the maximun amount of time the stargate can remain open. It´s one of the more immutable laws of wormholes physics." Rodney said as he looked down at his watch." And would you look at the time, now we have about Thirty-five minutes left until the ship is cut into two and we all die. Are we all caught up now?"
"I get it. What do you need?"
"Help." Rodney said as he grabbed one of his bags from the overhead carrier.
"Let me put Kavanagh, Grodin and Simpson in a room. See what they come up with."
"That´s good. And the Czech whose name i never could remember." Rodney said.
"Doctor Zelenka?"
"Yeah, him. We will work it out on our end."
"What else?"
"We will call you. Thank you." Rodney turned his com off and started to look through his bag and pulled out his tablet, and got to work.
Rodney moved to the left side of the jumper and began to remove parts of the wall coverings, and Ford stands behind watching him." What´re you doing?"
"I´m trying to access some of the rear compartment circuits to see what i can work with. If you would..."
"Hi, Camilla." John said interupting Rodney. Ford, Rodney turned towards Sheppard." Are you both all right?" John asked as he turned to Teyla.
Teyla nodded to them and continued going through the med kit." I´m fine, major Sheppard.
John turned back to Camilla." You?"
"I´m fine." She told him as she ran her fingers across his forehead." You should try and relax."
"Something tells me we haven´t made it to Atlantis yet." John asked as he turned to Teyla.
"No." Teyla shaked her head.
John sighed and looked forward and he sees Ford and Rodney standing in front of the event horizon with worried looks on their faces.
"What is that?" John asked.
"We´re stuck." Camilla told him.
"We´re what?" John questioned as he turned to Camilla.
"In the gate." Ford told him.
"You mean my day just got worse?" John said, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back against the jumper cargo door.
"We´re going to assumption that it´s one or both of the drive pods. There´s no way of knowing, but if you know a way of retracting the mechanism..."
"Cockpit to the left." John said cutting him off.
"The cockpit is demolecularised." Rodney said as he pointed his finger at the event horizon." How about somewhere back here?" Rodney asked as he turned towards Sheppard.
"No."
"I didn´t think so. I will be a food and a half over there taking some readings. Feel free to talk amongest yourselves."
A few minutes when by and Rodney were now sitting on the bench, looking at a schematic on his tablet. Ford sits down on the other bench. After a few minutes of working on the schematic, Rodney comes up with a short term solution. He quickly stood and moved to the wall in front of him. He pressed a button on the panel and the bulkhead doors closed.
"What are you doing?" Ford moved his flashligh towards Rodney.
"Jumper one, this is Atlantis." Peter´s voice could be heard over the radio.
"We´re still here." Rodney said.
"We recommend you close the bulkhead doors."
"Good think." Rodney said as he looked at the closed doors." What else?"
"We´re still working on the problem. We will get back to you. Atlantis base out."
"Thanks for calling." Rodeny called out irritated.
"Why you close the doors?"
Rodney turned to Ford. "So when the gate shuts down, we´re not directly exposed to space. Rodney moving his flashlight over to shine the light on Ford, making him turn his head away as he asked if it would hold.
"I just prefer hypoxia to decompression. It´s a personal thing."
"If the air is going to be thin in here, you need to calm down." Camilla told him.
"Wait till you see how thin it´s going to get in twenty-seven minutes!"
"MaKay."
"Vacuum!" Rodney yelled.
"Knock it off." John told him.
"Oh, I´m sorry! But no one seems to comprehend just how monumentally screwed we´re!"
"Don´t walk to me about screwed!" John paused before he continued." And let´s not give up on Markham and Stackhouse, either. There´s plenty of time left to solve this, but you got to stop using your mouth and start using your brain." John tells him.
"I´m sorry. I just react to certain doom a certain way. It´s a bad babit and..." Rodney took a deep breath of air before he said." Maybe there is a manually was too retract it."
"Yeah, maybe." John said.
"Right." Rodney nodded his head. She looked at the wall, she had already pulled apart and turned to face the other one. She pulled down an overhanging compartment filled with control crystals as he listen to Sheppard and the others talking.
"How´re you feeling?" Camilla questioned.
"You seems stronger." Teyla said as she moved her folded jacked behind his head to support it.
"No, the pain´s just not so bad anymore."
"That´s good." Ford said.
"No, it isn´t. I can´t feel my legs. Hands are numb. I can barely move them, and the feeling´s creeping up." John said as he turned to Ford. "What I´m trying to say is...If you don´t get that thing off me, I´m pretty sure i have less time than you do."
"You don´t know that." Camilla said as she squeezed his hand.
John turned back to Camilla." Yes, I do."
John turned his head back towards Ford."Lieutenant get your knife out and cut the damn thing off. I can´t as much at it did last time." John ordered.
"The last time we almost lost you." Camilla said.
"You´re going to lose me anyways." John said as he turned to Camilla.
"Sir." Ford cuts in before Sheppard can speak." We tried to get it off you when we were back on the planet."
"Everything ford did just hurt you more. The thing just heals itself." Camilla said looking up at the creature on his neck."
"It feed on your stenght like a wraith." Teyla said.
"You had to say that." John groaned.
"my father often told stories of crearure such at this. I though he was just trying to keep the children from straying from the camp."
Camilla turned to Teyla and questioned."Did he tell you how to kill it?"
"I´m not sure you can." Ford said.
"Well, i could use a second option. Get Beckett on the radio." John said.
"Atlantis, this is jumper one. Do you read?"
"Jumper one, this is Atlantis, we copy."
"Could you get doctor Beckett on the radio."
"This is Beckett. How´s our patient?"
"This is Ford. Major Sheppard is conscious, but the creature is still attached to him.
"How do you feel about house calls doc?" John asked.
" I would if i could major You just have to settle for long distance. I´m told ya have something of a ?"
"That´s funny doc...It´s like the ugliest damn tick you ever seen."
"How did it attach ifself?"
"We were on our way back to the jumper under fire from the wraith. I was given cover to the others when i backed into a giant spider web."
"Can you describe it?"
Ford takes over." It´s about two feet long, including tail. That´s wrapped under his armpit. It has two sharp spiny things in his neck."
"I well need more than that son."
"Four legs, i guess you can call them that. They´re wrapped around his throat. I can´t see any eyes." Ford said as he moved the flashlight towards the creature to get a better look. "It´s got a hard shell, but there´s a soft leechy part underneath."
"Major, what are your physical symptoms?"
"Well, at first it felt like a knife in the eye. Since then i have lost feelings in my extremities. I can´t move."
"So, it incapacitates first pain, then paralysis."
"I need to be able to move around to help McKay because Markham and Stackhouse are dead if i don´t."
"What have you tried?"
"I tried to cut it off, burn it off. Ford even tried shooting it off. There is not much more we can do with out killing him." Camilla said.
"I believe the creature is related to the wraith." Teyla sopke up.
Rodney turned to the four of them." Really?"
"How so?"
"It helaled itself by sapping life from the major, just as a wraith would." Teyla said.
"The wraith evolved from something. It´s probably some sort of prehistorric cousin." Rodney said before turned and looked back down at his tablet." Crap." He said as one of the test he had been running came back negative.
"Carson, he´s getting worse. We gotta do something!" Camilla said as she saw how much pain he was in.
"Ya said the creature had a underside of exposed soft tissue like a leech?"
"I tried to to cut it off. It pracally him to death." Camilla said.
"Lass, ya don´t cut leeches off. Ya pour salt on them."
"And if that doesn´t work?"
"Give me a moment to Set up everything we have in the jumper."
Camilla and Teyla started to pull out everything in the medkit and everything they could find in the shelves above their seats. They laid everything down. Rodney glanced towards them a few times as he continued to checking the control crystals.
Carson voice could be heard through the air about four minutes after he left the com. "All right we got everything from the jumpers manifest ready."
Camilla looked down at everything in front of them." Okay, so we got a swiss Army knife, some choclate, some water, matches. Emergency kit, we have alcohol, iodine, painkillers..."
"What´s this?" Camilla looked towards Teyla with a defibrillator."
"Teyla found a defibrillator in the ships store." Ford said.
"The major would receive the same electric shock. It would likely kill him."
"Right."
"Try everything, on item at a time."
Rodeny reads one of the crystal´s information on his laptop." Maybe." He pressed down on a key and the lights in the compartment come on." No."
"Jumper one, this is Weir. Doctor Zelenka come up with something.
"Zelenka.. Why can´t i never remember that name." Rodney said as he looked down at his labtop.
Grodin began talking." He´s positively identified the control system in the port side of the jumper that retract the drive pod. I´m relaying the schematics to your data-pad."
"Thank you. Now we´re getting somewhere."
"What?" Ford questioned.
"Zelenka have indentified the control pathways to the engine pod." Rodney said as he read the sent schematics." So that means i have increased my chance to fix this from one in a million to one in a thousand." The four of them looked at him like he was crazy." It´s better than what we had before. Elisabeth?"
"Yes?"
"I will only have seven to nine second to warn you if i accidentally trigger a castastrohic overload. So if i tell you to raise the shield. Don´t hesitate." Rodney told her.
"We´re aware of the risk Rodney. Do your best."
"Yeah, no pressure." Rodney mumbled as he turned back to the crystals.
Behind him the three others began working on trying to remove creature from Sheppard´s neck.
"Here." Ford said as he hold out the Iodine for her.
Camilla takes the bottle of Iodine and she turned back to Sheppard." You ready for this?"
John nodded his head.
"Okay." She said as she leaned towards him."Starting with Iodine." Camilla said as she placed a few drops onto the creature, and they hear a squelchy buzzing sound coming from it and they see nothing is happening.
"Scratch Iodine."
"What else have ya got there?"
"Do you have any food?" Rodney asked.
"Are you kidding me!" Camilla questioned as she turned around to face him.
"I have less then twenty minutes to save our lives and I´m on the brink of hypoglycaemic reactions so." Rodney said as Ford reached out for a candy-bar and threw it at him and he started to eat it right away.
"Here." Teyla said.
"We´re going to try alcohol now." Camilla said.
"Place a few drops on the soft tissue." Carson told her.
"Save some for me." John joked.
"Wrong type of alcohol." Camilla answered before she placed a few drops on the creature.
"What´s the good of that." John told her.
"No reaction on the alcohol."
"Right. What next?"
"Did the doctor not say to pour salt on the creature?" Teyla asked.
"I think that was a metaphor. But dose it matter. Try everything." Rodney told her.
Camilla open the packed of salt and poured a little onto the creature and once again nothing happened." Water, give me the water." Camilla said and Teyla reached her hand out to give her the flask of water. Camilla turned back to Sheppard and poured some water onto the creature and her eyes go wide as she sees the creature getting bigger. And she looked up as Sheppard staring to gasp for air.
"Sheppard!"
"Sir, are you all right?" Ford asked as he rushed towards them and knelt down in front of him." Sir? Major?" John begins to scream. One filled with agony." Sir, are you all right? Sir? Major? Major?"
John shoves Ford away. The shove is so powerful that Ford is sent crashing into the wall of the ship. Rodney accidently pushed one of the crystals. The sound of the engines going is heard briefly, and the only sound that can be heard inside the compartment is Sheppard´s heavy breathing.
"What´s going on?" Doctor Weir asked.
"It reacted to either the salt our the water." Ford said as he slowly moved from where he landed on the ground.
"Or both." Carson contemplates." Did it loosen it´s hold on Major Sheppard?"
"Negative."
"If anything, it dug in more." Teyla said.
"Please don´t do that again." John groaned.
"I won´t. I´m sorry." Camilla said.
"A primitive defensive reflext to the salt water."
"We moved." Rodney said as he turned to face the others." When you fall, I must have crossed one of the circuits, I think the engine fired for a microsecond. It stopped though." He said as he turned back to the cockpit and his eyes fall to the ground." Oh, no."
"What?" Ford questioned.
Rodney looked at the glowing blue of the stargate peeking out from next to the wall." So much for plan A."
"What?"
"When the stargate close now, every molecule of air in this compartment is going to rush out through there." Rodney said pointing to the ground.
"We slid in further." Teyla said.
Rodney sat down on the jumper seat, looking down at his laptop."Fifteen minutes."
"Ford, what can you tell me?" Elisabeth asked.
"The jumper has shifted. The rear compartment has breached the even horzion. Doctor McKay." Ford said as he turned to Rodney." Doctor McKay! Is still hopeful he can retract the drive pod in time."
Camilla turned to Rodney." You can do this." Rodney nodded his head and gets back to work.
"Understand. We haven´t come up with anything yet, but there´s still time."
"Yes, ma´am."
"How´s major Sheppard doing?"
"I´m still here." John grunts.
"Hang in there major. We´re working on the problem."
"I know you are. Uh...Listen, I would like to say something while i can."
"Don´t. You´re going to get through this."
"If i was...He wouldn´t have let me go."
"Who wouldn´t have let you go?" Elisabeth questioned.
"The wraith. I guess he just saw me as good as dead, cause he just walked away. So...What i wanted to say was..."
"Save your strenght, John. Tell me in person."
"This is important."
"I´m listening."
"We should send him through the event horizon." Ford said all of the sudden."If Doctor McKay figures it time we can fix the major up on the other side. If he doesn´t, we´re all dead anyways.
"No pressure." Rodney said.
"Major Sheppard would effectively be in suspended animation the entire time." Grodin added
"We cannot risk it." Carson said.
"Why not?" Camilla asked.
"If the creature reacted that violently to a few drops of water, how will it react to gate travel?"
"Are you telling me that Major Sheppard can´t come through with that thing on him!"
"Then we most do something now." Teyla said.
"Hit me with the defibrillator."
"ya my be onto something major!"
"You said it might kill him." Camilla reminded him.
"That´s the idea." John groaned out.
"I do not understand." Teyla said.
"Teyla, ya said that this creature is like a wraith."
"Yes."
"Then how do ya think it would respond if, god forbid, major Sheppard were to die right now?"
"It would stop feeding."
"Exactly, just like a wraith would.
"How is that an idea?" Elisabeth asked.
"We fool it into thinking it´s pray is dead by stopping the major´s heart. If I´m right, it should let go."
"And when the thing let´s go we give him another jolt." Ford said.
"If it doesn´t work, send him through the event horizon."
"John, are you sure you want to do this?"
"I want this damn thing off me."
"Lieutenant, do ya know how to do this?"
"Yes, sir." Ford said as he turned and grabbed the defibrillator." Camilla cut his shir open.
Camilla leaned down to grab the scissors and cut his shirt open and moved his dog tags to the side.
"Ready to go. Once the bug falls off, I´m going to have to kill it... McKay if we can´t restart his heart, I´m going to need the bulkhead doors open."
"Got it." Rodney said as he walked over to the consol, and opened the door. The blue glow from the stargate washed over the compartment.
"One of us will have to get him through." Ford cut in.
"I will." Teyla volunteered.
Ford holds the paddles up, charged and ready. But he hesitated.
"Just do it!" John shouted.
Ford pressed the paddles down on Sheppard´s chest. Sheppard´s body rised from the ground and drops back down. Ford throws the paddles away, and puts his fingers to Sheppard´s neck."No pulse!"
Teyla reaches for the bug and began to pull, but nothing happened." It won´t come off."
"Settle. It may take a moment." Carson said.
Teyla tried to pull it off again and this time it detaches, and she threw the bug onto the left seat. Rodney quickly moved to the other side. Ford stands up and pulled his gun and shot the bug until it started to leak a fluid like substance. It laid still as Teyla rushed over and wrapped up the bug in her jacket. Ford prepared the paddles and shocked Sheppard once more. His body jerked up and falls down. Ford checked for a pulse.
"Nothing?" Camilla asked.
"Nothing! Let´s get him through." Ford shouted.
Ford moved an arm around Sheppard to get him up alongside Teyla, who moved her arm around his waist.
"You got him?" Ford asked.
"Yes." Teyla said as she began to drag Sheppard backwards and as soon as they disappered into the event horizon, Rodney closed the bulkhead door.
"This is Ford. The creature has been removed from major Sheppard, but we were unable to revive him. Both him and Teyla are now on the other side of the event horzion."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Rodney, you have seven minutes."
Rodney turned back to the crystals." I´m only halfway through and the time is almost up. The two of you should consider stepping into the event horzion." Camilla glared at him." I´m serious. I will keep on trying...
"And leave you alone with that thing?" Ford said.
"You checked it was dead?" Rodney asked as he looked towards the bug that was wrapped up in the jacket.
"It´s dead." Camilla rescued him.
"Good because explosive decompression with that..."
"Work...Work!"
"Rodney, we´re down to two minutes." Elisabeth´s said over the com.
"I know the time! I still have two dozen circuits i haven´t tried."
"Just pick one!" Camilla told him.
"If i do that i risk of attempting to activate the same circuit twice!"
"Just try!"
"I´m telling you there´s no way..." The sound of whirling gears is heard." Wait!... I think i did it! Elisabeth i think the engine pods retracted."
"Then why haven´t you showed up?"
"She´s right." Ford said." Why aren´t we moving?"
"It´s inertia."Rodney realized." The drive shit down before we went through the stargate. We have shed all forward momentum."
Ford began to jump against the front wall.
"You´re wasting your time. For every action there is an equal and oppsite reaction."
"Then what´re we going to do!"
"Wait! The rear hatch. Blow the rear hatch! I should give you enough thrust to make it through." Kavanagh said.
"That could do it, but the only mechanism to blow the hatch is back here." Rodney said as he pointed his finger at the mechanism that was behind Ford.
Camilla rushed past Ford and opened the bulkhead door and moved to Rodney." You go through and i will do it."
"What! No, you will get blown into space."
Camilla grabbed him by the arm and pushed him towards the bulkead door." Just go." She shouted and pushed him through the event horzion. And before she realized what had happened, she stumbled into Rodney, who jumped in surprise by the force that came at him, and he pushed her away so hard that she slammed her head against the jumper wall and then everything wen´t dark.
Camilla found herself standing one of the many piers that was on Atlantis. She looked out over the ocean and for the first time since they had arrived, she felt a sense of relief rush over her.
"You should not have returned." A woman´s voice told her.
Camilla turned her head to see the woman from the hologram room standing beside her." What do you mean i should not have returned? I have never been in Atlantis before."
"You have. Many, many years ago."
"This is not real."
"Yes it is."
Camilla shaked her head." No. Because a few seconds ago..." Her eyes widened." Sheppard."
"Your friends are working on him as we speak."
"Is he going to be okay?" Camilla questioned.
The woman nodded her head before she turned back to the ocean. Camilla also turned back to the ocean and they stood there staring at the waves for a few minutes, before Camilla turned to look at the woman." Do i know you?" She questioned.
The woman turned her head towards her and smiled." You did."
"What´s your name?"
"We don´t have time." The woman said as she turned her head back towards the city. Camilla turned her head, wondering what she was looking at.
Before Camilla could open her mouth to ask what was going on. The woman quickly turned back and took her by the hands." You have changed the course of your future by returning. It´s important that you trust in the gift that you have been left with."
"What´re you talking about? What gift?" Camilla asked.
"He gave you the gift because you gave us hope in a time when there was none, and you..." All of the sudden she vanished in a bright light.
"Wait!"
Camilla gasped as she quickly sat up and looked around her surrounding carefully. When she realized she was inside the infirmary, she took a deep breath of relief.
"You okay Love?"
Camilla turned to see Carson walking towards her." I´m fine." She told him and laid back down on the bed and sighed as she closed her eyes.
"You sure? You hit your head really hard."
"I have a thick head."She said as she opened her eyes and smiled at him.
"The major has been asking about you." Carson said as he turned towards the bed behind him, where Sheppard was sleeping.
"How´s he doing?" Camilla asked.
"He´s going to be find."
"And Ford?"
"He´s also going to be fine." Carson reassured her.
"Good...So.." Camilla turned back to Carson." When can i leave?"
"Just over night and then i will check you over and if nothing shows up, you will be free to leave." He told her before he turned and walked back to his desk, he sat down and looked back down at his labtop. An half hour later, he turned towards the bed where Camilla lay sleeping, because he could not believe what he waas seeing in her blood work.
"Bloody hell.