"How long until you are able to isolate the toxin Commander?"
Together, Guide and Jennifer looked up to see Bonewhite walking into the room. There was a limp in his walk, but overall he seemed no worse for the wear. Evidently the barb's strike had not been direct enough to release the venom into his system. He was very lucky.
"That remains to be seen," Guide answered, righting himself so that he no longer hung over Jennifer's shoulder as she sat at the lab table. The window of the quarantine lab in the lower deck of the Hive revealed the same black monster they had retrieved, pacing in circles and every so often stopping to stare up at them with raging purple eyes. "Right now we are having difficulties even retrieving a sample of the venom from the creature at all. It appears it can only expend so much before it becomes ineffective. They must have been hunting just prior to our grand entrance."
Bonewhite glanced quickly down at his leg and then back up.
"That explains..."
"Why you're not dead yet? Yeah." Jennifer caught his eye and grinned. "Back on Earth that is what's known as good Karma. Somebody upstairs likes you."
Bonewhite curled his lip and bared his teeth at her, but the gesture was halfhearted.
"Since I am not dead yet," the Second sneered, "I came to warn the Commander that there is a ship of unknown origins approaching our position. What will you have me do?" Guide and his Second's eyes connected, and Jennifer suspected by the length of the contact that they were communicating by Wraith telepathy. Her suspicions were confirmed when Bonewhite nodded and quickly left the quarantine deck. Moments later the Hive shuddered. They were in motion.
"We aren't going to wait around to find out who that was," Guide declared, answering Jennifer's unspoken question. "But I will assure you it was much larger than a puddle jumper."
He watched as Jennifer's body sank back into the chair, and a pang of jealousy swept through him. Frowning, he swiped his hand through the air to pull a cover over the quarantine window, and then turned to the doctor.
"I will accompany you back to the upper decks now. There is something I wish to show you that I think you will find quite enjoyable."
Jennifer did as the scientist asked, and after several minutes of transporters and traveling through the dimly lit corridors, they had arrived back at the upper lab.
"I have been working on this for a few days now, and it is ready for your review."
He led her into the dining area and up to a door she had never seen before. Guide swiped his hand through the air as was typical, and the door retracted. Jennifer stumbled as they walked through the opening and her hand shot to cover her mouth.
Before her was an exact replica of the view from one of the Atlantean towers.
To the right was a small bed adorned in such a way as to replicate those in the Ancient city as well. The bookshelf from her quarters had been moved into this room, and she was astounded to see an additional feature she had not yet had the luxury of experiencing. A large, curvaceous pool of water dominated the western corner of the room, steam rising off its surface and gentle currents making the water lap at the stone edges. Incredulous, she turned to stare at the Wraith behind her.
"You...made this?"
Ever the staunch commander and scientist, Guide inclined his head.
"Your recent admissions regarding the loss of your home troubled me greatly. I do not understand all human emotions, but if there was anything I could do to make your place here more comfortable, I suspected this would be it."
Without thinking, Jennifer threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around the stiff black leather of his abdomen. Guide held his arms out to the side and stared down at her with wide eyes, before finally giving in and mimicking her actions. His arms cautiously encircled her and he found that the sensation of her body pressed against his was strangely invigorating. She pulled away suddenly, embarrassed, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I'm sorry," she stammered, backing away from him now. "I'm just...overwhelmed...and I forgot myself. It's beautiful, Guide. Thank you."
The Wraith grunted and then cleared his throat.
"If there should come a time when you wish for a change in scenery," he began, "You need only speak your wish into the console by the door. I've adapted the technology to your own language, so it should be able to handle anything you can ask of it."
Jennifer, excited by this prospect, nodded.
"I will leave you to your thoughts now, Doctor Kell-err. I have a few more calculations to run, but I will be just in my private quarters. I will know if you need me."
Brown eyes peered up at him from the surface of the bed, intrigued and very much alive. He went to her then, taking up residence at the edge of the mattress and reaching out a finger to trail it down the soft flesh of her jaw and neckline. She sucked in a breath when his sharp claw tugged at the blanket concealing her body from his view. Gripping the blanket more tightly in her hands, Jennifer strained to retain her dignity while the Wraith commander strived to undo it.
His body overcome with the need to take and dominate the delicate human female before him, Guide's motions became more intense, and he ripped the blanket from her grasp. But the milky white skin he had so longed to see was not there.
Blood surged from a wound in her chest, coating her body in crimson as her panicked brown eyes locked onto his own and her hand grabbed his wrist.
"Guide..." she choked, trails of blood now streaming from her eyes and nose. "Guide...help. Help me, Guide..."
He watched, horrified, as she paled and slumped back against the bed, her grip on his wrist slackened. The gaping hole in her chest pumped the last bits of blood out in swift, powerful waves while Guide's trembling hands tried uselessly to stop the inevitable. When the bleeding finally ceased, Jennifer Keller was dead.
Morning found Jennifer in the quarantine lab with Bonewhite, straining to focus on the task at hand. Even with the help of Guide's second-in-command, the doctor had not yet managed to retrieve any of the venom from the animal's barbed tail. It was as if the creature knew what she wanted and was deliberately withholding it. Every time it looked up at her, she saw an ever increasing intelligence in those strangely colored eyes.
"Someone's going to have to go down there and manually collect venom from that thing," Jennifer commented from the desk as she ran through the little data they had already gathered about the black beast. She chanced a look at Bonewhite, who seemed rather entranced by their captive, and quite inattentive to her words. Only when she got to her feet did he finally turn his eyes on her and speak.
"And how exactly do you propose to do that?" the Second asked her, sounding bored. Evidently he had been listening to her.
"Give me that mask and that cylinder," Jennifer commanded, ignoring his question. Bonewhite acquiesced. "Flood the room with the tranq gas. Think you can handle that?" The alien shot her a warning glare, but did as she asked. Within moments the room was screened in a blue mist, and the animal was down in another minute and a half. Once it had cleared, Jennifer slipped the Wraith equivalent to a gas mask over her mouth and nose.
Exiting the lab and taking the ramp to the quarantine room itself, Jennifer steeled herself before walking through the first of two doors into the room. When the second one opened, she could see the creature on the ground, breathing, but seeming thoroughly sedated. The muscles in its shoulders twitched slightly, but it was nothing out of the ordinary, and so she continued on. It was unlikely any of the Wraith would volunteer for the task—although they did not often have to fear the concept of death, those that did fear it never seemed to handle it well. At least she had an inkling of understanding of the creature's habits based on her recent observations from the lab, and she was used to the idea of dying, however unwanted.
She approached the barbed tail and knelt down beside it, reaching out to press the tip into the end of the cylinder, much like the fangs of a snake into a cup.
It happened too fast for her to anticipate.
A thousand pounds or more of furious muscle suddenly launched at her, knocking her away from the barb, spine-scales prickled and rattling. Its eyes bored into hers, and she knew in an instant this had been a setup. The animal was immune to the gas, and had taken the chance to attack and make a break for freedom.
Enormous claws ripped into Jennifer's Atlantean uniform, shredding it. The barbed tail struck once, twice, three times into her abdomen, puncturing a lung on the second try and shattering a rib on the third. Panicked and bleeding, Jennifer's hand shot out in a futile attempt to defend herself. The cylinder filled with venom flew from her grasp. The monster's jaws gaped open above her and it hissed like a serpent, tongue thrashing through the massive canines.
Gunfire from above her was a strangely welcome sound. All at once the beast was gone from her sight, the pained screeches of an animal shot ringing in her ears. Someone dragged her from the room, but the choking agony overwhelmed her before she could see who it was. She looked down at her abdomen and saw thick streams of red swelling from her wounds with every beat of her heart. Within seconds, the world around her went black.