Chapter 18: He's not gonna shoot me, are you Major?
I let the breakfast dream banter continue on around me as I thought about what Teyla hadn't said. When Rodney and Ronon got up to leave I held John back, wanting to talk without the others overhearing.
"Does this seem a little too coincidental to you?" I asked worriedly.
"The dreams?" John clarified.
"Not just dreams John," I insisted. "First I have a very detailed nightmare involving you as the villain. I didn't get a chance to tell you that I couldn't sleep afterwards so I went for a run ... and bumped into Teyla. She must have gone from there to bed and had her own scary dream, again involving you as the villain."
"That does sound a bit out there," John admitted. "But like I said, I'm not in control of what people dream."
"I know," I put a hand over his reassuringly, "and so does Teyla. Still, surely there's something to explain it."
"Maybe you should talk to Doctor Heightmeyer," John suggested reluctantly.
"Let's hold off for now," I decided, not wanting to make more of it than the situation warranted. "Maybe I set Teyla off telling her about my dream."
"Maybe," John agreed, less than confidently.
oOo
"Now Keller's acting strange," John complained to me, returning late to our quarters from sparring with Ronon.
"You saw Doctor Keller?" I asked curiously, pushing aside the laptop I'd been tapping away at and straightening up in the bed..
"Yeah, I got in a lucky shot," John admitted. "Cut Ronon's forehead bad enough to need stitches. Keller looked distracted ... practically glared at me when we told her what happened."
"Maybe she was just mad she had to fix Ronon up after yet another sparring incident?" I suggested.
"Maybe," John agreed, moving over to sit beside me. "But you know those instincts I get sometimes? Well, they're starting to kick in big time."
"You think she had one of these dreams too?" I asked worriedly.
"I don't want to think that," John admitted with a frown, "but ... there was just something in the way she looked at me. She was ... she looked scared of me Sabina."
"John," I put a hand on his arm in comfort, "Jennifer knows you ... she might have been scared by the experience, but she'd never be scared of you personally!"
"Yeah, well you didn't see her expression when she looked at me," John refused to be reassured.
"What should we do about it then?" I demanded impatiently ... not that I was impatient with John, just with the mystery that continued to unfold negatively around him.
"Nothing," John replied grimly. "I am not going in to Carter complaining that people are dreaming about me and acting strange!"
"Yeah I can see why you wouldn't want to do that," I agreed reluctantly.
"Just ... let me know if you hear anything else that's outside of normal," John asked. "We'll work out something ... if we have to."
"Okay," I replied reluctantly, unhappy with the whole situation and the fact that John was clearly uncomfortable and maybe even a little hurt over how Teyla and Jennifer were behaving towards him.
oOo
Like any situation on Atlantis, things were bound to get a lot worse before they got better. I was walking with John to the Commissary the next morning when we were literally accosted by Major Lorne – barefoot and out of uniform and behaving very strangely.
"Step away from him Sabina," Lorne said urgently, motioning with his hand for me to come to him. "He's not Colonel Sheppard."
"What are you talking about Major?" I took a step forward, stopping abruptly when he pointed his gun at John. It was a wide section of the corridor and we already had quite a few people frozen in place watching the drama unfold.
"Security detail to section 5," John tapped his earpiece and requested in a low voice, keeping his eyes watchfully on Evan the whole time and his hands fully visible.
"He's a Replicator!" Lorne yelled. "I don't know when they made the switch, I just know that's not Sheppard."
"Don't be ridiculous," I almost laughed. "You know I can detect Ancient genes right?" Lorne nodded, watching me carefully, gun still waving menacingly in front of John. "Well then I can tell you one hundred percent that this is Colonel Sheppard." Proving my point I put a hand on John's arm, smiling as I registered the familiar jolt. "Yep – definitely Ancient genes present."
"Then they've found a way to replicate that too," Lorne insisted. "Now step aside! Someone get me an ARG – then I can prove it to you."
John's call to security was answered quickly, a team of Marines arriving at that moment and surrounding us, guns pointed at Major Lorne. Obviously if he made too threatening a move towards John they were going to shoot him to stop anything from happening. This was really, really bad!
"Evan -," I began, stepping forward again and trying to make a personal connection. I was taking it seriously now, quaking inside because clearly something was very wrong with my team leader.
"Sabina," John put a hand on my shoulder, cautioning me not to get too close.
"John, it's Evan," I pointed out incredulously. "He's not gonna shoot me, are you Major?"
"Ah," Major Lorne frowned in confusion momentarily before his face got that same resolute expression he'd been wearing the whole time. "Just let me prove it to you and no one will have to get shot."
"Just put down the gun, Major," John held his hands up in an open way, taking a step closer to Lorne himself. "Let's talk this out."
"Someone get an ARG now!" Lorne turned to the Marines pleadingly. "Shoot him with it!"
Teyla and Kate Heightmeyer arrived next, Kate looking at Evan carefully as if she could diagnose what was making him like that just with a glance.
"Major, talk to me," she invited in that soft soothing voice no one would ever consider threatening. "Tell me what's going on."
"Just do it!" Lorne insisted, starting to get aggitated. "OK, wh-wh-what's the harm? I-I-If he's human, it won't hurt him, right?"
"John, what is he talking about?" Teyla asked, keeping her eyes on Major Lorne the whole time.
"Don't talk to him!" Lorne commanded her. "Colonel Sheppard is a Replicator."
Teyla and Kate looked at John as though they were actually considering whether that could be true or not. Major Lorne was still aiming his pistol at John with a look that said he was actually scared of him.
"John's not a Replicator!" I told the others insistently. "Replicators can't manufacture the presence of Ancient genes. I just checked and John definitely still has his. I tried to tell the Major that but he doesn't seem to be listening."
"Look, Lorne, I don't know what's gotten into you ..." John tried again to talk Major Lorne down.
"Me?!" Lorne asked in disbelief. "No-no-no-no-no, it's not me."
Before any of us could respond to that Colonel Carter and Doctor Keller arrived to join the sideshow we had going, Carter taking command of the situation immediately.
"Major. How 'bout you lower your weapon?" she asked in a pleasant friendly tone.
"He's a Replicator!" Lorne insisted again. When Carter looked at him in confusion Evan started to get frustrated. "What, you don't believe me?" And then he cocked his pistol. "OK, I'll shoot him, you'll see."
"No!" I stepped between John and Evan determinedly. "You won't be shooting anyone because I already told you John isn't a Replicator."
"Sabina!" John put a hand on my shoulder, trying to move me aside but I dug my heels in, stubbornly deciding I'd maintain my position no matter what. "Move aside!" he ordered grimly, still trying to shift me.
"No," I returned stubbornly. "Evan doesn't have a problem with me ... but clearly he does with you. I'm not gonna stand aside so he can shoot you!"
John was forced to concede for the moment or subject the two of us to a public shoving match ... practically growling in my ear in frustration he kept his hands on my shoulders, squeezing firmly as he speared Evan with a fierce look.
"You shoot me, maybe I forgive you," John told Major Lorne in a low tone. "You shoot Sabina and there'll be nowhere in this galaxy or back on Earth remote enough for you to hide."
"John!' I admonished, turning to glare at him before I looked back to Major Lorne. "Evan," I tried again. "You have to trust me .... John's not a replicator ... I can prove it to you ... without having to shoot anyone ... just let me help you."
Evan looked torn, frowning in confusion as what I was saying didn't jell with his own perceptions. Maybe I was getting through to him, maybe not ... the fact that he kept his gun pointed firmly in John's direction suggested the later.
"Call for an A.R.G," Colonel Carter told one of the marines. When I registered what her words were implying it brought me up short ... how could she think there was any truth to what the Major was saying?
"You're not seriously buying into this are you?" I asked incredulously.
"Of course not," Colonel Carter said quietly, "but it won't hurt John and it might help Lorne to lower his gun."
"You're one of them too," Lorne accused, obviously not liking what her comment implied. Pointing his gun at Carter too he turned towards the marines again. "Well, don't just stand there! Shoot them! Shoot both of them!"
Lorne was getting desperate now, edgy and frustrated because he couldn't get us to do what seemed to make perfect sense to him. When he turned his pistol back to John this time I was convinced he really would fire, even if he had to go through me first. Thankfully I didn't have to find out if I was right – the red glow of Ronon's stunner arced from the balcony above us, hitting Lorne squarely in the chest and dropping him to the floor.
The Marines converged on the unconscious Major Lorne, quickly taking his gun and then checking to make sure he was really out for the count. Doctor Keller had obviously already called for a med team because they arrived soon after Lorne had been stunned and were already loading him up on a gurney.
Teyla took an ARG from the returning Marine, motioning towards John and Colonel Carter but not actually pointing it at them. "I take it I don't have to shoot either of you with this?" She asked with a raised brow.
"I know it's not supposed to hurt but I'd rather not find out one way or the other," John said with just a hint of pleading in his voice.
"Of course," Teyla smiled, letting us know she really hadn't intended to use the weapon.
"This is too much of a coincidence," Doctor Keller said worriedly.
"What is?" Ronon made it down from the upper level, completing the impromptu meeting in the corridor.
"The similarity between these incidents," Keller replied. "Admittedly they were all nightmares prior to Major Lorne but the general pattern is the same. All of them featured Colonel Sheppard as a significant negative presence. And then there's the sequence this has been taking. Ronon, did you come into physical contact with Major Lorne after I stitched you up last night?"
"Ah, I guess," Ronon said uncertainly. "I bumped into him in the hallway on my way back to quarters."
"So it was Teyla first, then me, then Ronon, and now Major Lorne," Doctor Keller continued. "We've all had disturbing dreams featuring Colonel Sheppard." It was the first John or I knew about Ronon having had a nightmare too ... we hadn't spent that much time with him that day - not enough to notice if he'd treated John any differently.
"Ah, actually it was me first," I spoke up reluctantly when John raised an eyebrow, letting me know he expected me to own up to that. "I had a nightmare the night John's team came back from M3X-387. I ran into Teyla in the corridor a couple of hours later. I didn't think anything of it because it was just a nightmare ... and ah ... maybe not exactly unexpected."
"But John was not himself inside your dream?" Teyla sought to clarify what had happened.
"No," I agreed. "And the feel of the dream was very strange ... like it wasn't really a dream at all. Usually I get the sense that my subconscious is in control and I can take the dream wherever I want – this time it felt like nothing was in my control, like the whole thing was being forced on me."
"Exactly," Teyla agreed. "That is the feeling I had as well. I believe that is what made the dream so disturbing."
Kate Heightmeyer had been silent during the entire exchange, something I'd noticed previously that she did a lot. Maybe it was an occupational hazard – the need to observe people without influencing them.
"For now I suggest we talk with Major Lorne because his experience was different from the others," she suggested. "Ronon, how long does it take to recover from a stun blast like that?"
"I had it on the lowest setting," Ronon replied. "He could be waking up right now."
"Observation room?" Colonel Carter suggested to everyone, getting nods and sounds of ascent in reply.
John held me back as the others moved away, his hands still on my shoulders as he leaned down to speak close to my ear. "The next time I order you to step aside in a situation like that you do it, no argument."
Turning so I could look into John's eyes I smiled, watching the puzzled frown appear because my reaction wasn't what he'd expected. "There will never be a time when I step aside and just watch you get shot," I said firmly. "Now ... since you're officially stuck with me you'll just have to find a way to deal with that." Leaning up, I placed a quick kiss on his cheek and then turned to follow the others to the Observation Room.
I hadn't actually been specifically invited but this thing was affecting me too, not just because I'd had the first dream, but because I could see how much this was bothering John, regardless of the bland face he was putting on. No one wanted to be the evil presence in someone's dreams, made much worse by the fact that people's feelings from inside the dreams were being carried over into waking life.
In the Isolation Room, Major Lorne was sitting at a small table looking lost and then relieved as John filled him in on what had happened. Turns out he had been sleepwalking, making this another nightmare just like all the others.
"And you don't remember anything?" Kate asked.
"No," Lorne said with some embarrassment. "Honestly, I haven't had a sleepwalking incident since I was, like, ten."
"It's quite common for someone suffering from somnambulism to perform complex activities in their sleep and remember nothing upon waking," Kate told us.
"And you think this has something to do with the crystal I touched?" John asked Doctor Keller uncertainly.
"That's when it seemed to start," Jennifer pointed out. "And it's you, your image that's appearing in all these dreams."
"Well, I can't control that!" John let some of his frustration show.
"No, but maybe something is," Colonel Carter mused.
"What, you think someone's impersonating me in everyone's dreams?!," John shook his head in disbelief at that idea.
"Look, I've seen more than my share of alien entities that are capable of this," Colonel Carter explained. "Colonel O'Neill was once knocked unconscious by an energy being that lived in crystal form. It took on his appearance for a while."
"Yeah well I'm one hundred percent me," John quipped, "Jennifer can run a whole bunch of tests if you have any doubts."
"That won't be necessary Colonel," Carter replied. "We would have known as soon as you returned from M3X-387 if you weren't yourself."
"But what would be the point?" John cut to the bottom line impatiently. "What could this thing hope to gain from running around being me in everyone's dreams?"
"Maybe it's feeding on our fear," Jennifer suggested thoughtfully.
"That's actually not that big a leap," Colonel Carter replied. "It's just we don't have any proof."
"And how come I haven't had any dreams?" John asked suddenly. "I'm the one who touched the crystal."
"Because it's impersonating you - it can't appear in your dreams because you'd know it wasn't really you," I said weakly, realising all at once that an actual entity really was responsible. That was a scary thought because how did you combat something that you could only interact with in dreams?
"Whatever's doing this imprinted your image onto itself," Kate agreed.
"And then it transfers itself to the next person by touch," Jennifer concluded.
"OK, anyone who's had contact with Major Lorne since the incident needs to be isolated," Colonel Carter said briskly. "If this is some sort of alien influence, we have to find a way to detect it."
Her words sparked a flurry of activity - Teyla, Ronon and John going to track down people Major Lorne might have spoken to since the previous evening, Colonel Carter, Jennifer and Kate following up the tracking option. I remained standing at the glass for a moment, looking down at Major Lorne still stilling at the table looking troubled. Lifting a hand when he glanced up, I smiled and waved.
"You okay?" I asked through the intercom.
"I just held a gun on my commanding officer," Evan pointed out grimly "so I'd have to say no!"
"Wasn't your fault," I told him firmly. "John knows that. When they release you, talk to him - see for yourself."
"How's he doing?" Evan asked in concern.
"Being the villan might sound like fun in a comic book, but in real life it's pretty disturbing," I went for the implied response, knowing Evan would be able to work out the implications.
"Yeah, well tell him I've got his back," Lorne returned. "Just as soon as they let me out of here."
"Thanks Evan," I smiled gratefully because with those words alone he'd made it clear he at least wouldn't be treating John any differently. "I better go ... see what the plan is ... if there is one." Lifting a hand to wave at Major Lorne again I turned and headed off to find John.
Author's Note:
Next Up? Fortunate Journey Season 4 Chapter 19