Chapter Four – What is This Place?

"I'm sorry, sir," a female voice spoke up.

He clung to it, the lilting voice fleeting over from a small distance.

"It's too early to tell…" Another fragment of a sentence broke through the haze of his mind.

"…no ID…" This time a male voice, a steady, authority oriented one. "Military uniform…"

Sheppard slowly drifted back into the land of the living, picking up traces of the hushed conversation taking place nearby.

"…almost lost him," it was her again, reporting to someone. "Signs of infection, high fever…shallow breathing…"

It took a moment for his unfocused mind to piece everything together but he realised the conversation was about him. Deciding to keep his eyes closed he did a quick self-inventory, noticing with satisfaction that nothing seemed to hurt too much and that he felt comfortably warm.

"I expect that you can provide me with something more… shall we say, valuable in terms of information about the man when I get back," the male voice said sternly.

John waited for a reply from the woman to the statement but there was none and then he heard someone turn on their heels and walk away.

"You can open your eyes now," a stern, yet amused, female voice said as she moved to stand beside him. "He has left."

Having no choice but to comply, John slowly blinked his eyes open and squirmed at the bright light. His vision was blurred at first but then, when he put all his concentration into it, the haze began to clear.

The room was white, there were no exceptions. The walls, the ceiling, the floor tiles, everything was starkly white. The only thing that stood out was the sophisticated medical equipment surrounding him. Electrodes was attached to his chest, he had a clip on his finger and an IV sneaked into the back of his hand.

"Welcome back," the woman greeted kindly.

John tore his gaze away from the monitors, displaying his vitals, and tilted his head on the pillow to face the woman. She was dressed in white, in something that bore resemblance to the scrubs that Keller and her team on Atlantis usually liked to dress him in while being an honored guest.

She was lean, yet curved, her cheekbones high and her features one of an Earth model. Her hair stood in deep contrast to the white room, being dark brown, and kept in a bun. Her golden eyes burned into his own with a questioning look, yet they displayed concern.

He couldn't help but let an ironic chuckle escape his lips. Had McKay seen her, he would never have stopped his rant about good-looking aliens and Captain Kirk.

She frowned at the unexpected reaction to her greeting. "Do you understand me?" She asked carefully.

He nodded and tried to speak, then realised that his throat was aching for water. "Yeah," he managed to croak out.

"Good," the female doctor replied with a tight smile. "Can you tell me your name?"

"After you tell me yours," he quipped, secretly noticing the armed guards standing in the doorway to the private examination room he was currently occupying.

"I'm Lani Nadim, Medical Expert and Chief of staff at Hospital Section One," she answered.

"John Sheppard," he said in return, deliberately leaving out his title.

Lani pursed her lips into a thin line, probably in frustration as his name told her nothing. However, when she spoke it was with a soft voice with an undertone of curiosity. "It's a little unusual," she let on.

Atlantis' military commander reached up with his hand to rub his aching forehead.

She scrutinized him for a moment, folded her arms across her chest, and then cast a medically trained eye at the monitors relaying his condition.

"Do you know what happened?" The doctor asked.

"Nope," Sheppard scrunched his face. "I was hoping you could tell me?" He said quickly.

Not that it was an outright lie because he didn't know how he'd ended up in the hospital bed.

"You were brought in by a military scouting party," she explained casually. "You suffered from delusions caused by high fever…"

He froze, hoping he hadn't said anything that might have given him away.

"Are you still listening to me?" M.E Nadim asked, slightly annoyed at her patient drifting off.

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "Did I say something strange?"

"Nothing stranger than the elder's at their yearly council meeting after having the leaf of clear vison," she let on with a wry grin.

Sheppard made a face. "I'm not even going to ask," he returned.

She laughed now. "Something about a gate. Seemed like you were having trouble with it?" she stated with a twinkle in her eyes. "Didn't get out of the house? My lock is doing that to me too occasionally."

Sheppard let out a relieved breath. "Something like that," he said cryptically with a cautious smile. 'If she thought it was that kind of gate, then, let's keep it that way,' he thought.

"Anyway, they took you to the Medical Facility, Prime Tower, General Department," she added. "You caused a bit of a stir with Military Organizer Katan. No one normally strays that far out."

"That the guy who just left?" John asked curiously.

She confirmed his suspicions with a curt nod.

"Charming," he muttered before switching subject all together. "So, when can I get out of here?"

"Straight to the point," she returned sourly. "I take it you didn't listen very well before?"

He stared at her blankly, her smile vanishing as she turned into a steely doctor mode.

"You are lucky to be alive," Lani said truthfully. "I had my doubts about you earlier."

For a fleeting moment a look of annoyance, and something else that she couldn't quite make out, crossed Sheppard's face but it was gone in an instant. Before she could ask him anything more a nurse walked up to her and bent down to whisper in her ear.

John watched the concern and seriousness she'd displayed just a moment earlier morph into a look of annoyance. And he found himself wondering what it was all about.

As the nurse retreated, the doctor vacated the chair she'd pulled up next to him earlier. "I'm wanted elsewhere," she explained shortly, her mood darkening as she turned away.

"You never answered my question," John called after her.

OOOOOO

Medical Expert Nadim stomped out in the corridor where a man of authority waited patiently for her. His uniform spoke of someone high up in the military chain. His stance spoke of impatience but as he saw her coming his lips curled slightly upward.

"I said I would call you as soon as I knew anything more," she explained, not the least amused by his arrival.

"Now, now M.E Nadim," the officer returned stoically. "A reliable source whispered in my ear that you've been talking to the man."

"Yes, we had a little chat," she admitted, undeterred by his interrogative, demanding voice. "He told me his name."

The slender built, decorated man, in his early fifties stared down at the woman in front of him. His dark eyes were cold as he spoke up again. "What can you tell me about him?" He asked.

"There is no need for me to answer a question you already know the answer to, M.O Katan," Doctor Nadim said, her voice carefully neutral as she addressed the Military Organizer and Head of the military department.

They locked eyes for a moment, neither backing down.

"You've sent a copy of all the tests I have taken of my patient to the military facility and science lab," the doctor added pointedly. "You are able to get your hands on the same information that I am if not more."

"Very well," he returned with a dangerous smile. "What is your assessment of him then?"

"I could have given you one had you not called me away," she returned fiercely, the man had always managed to bring out the worst of her with his bullying style. A shame he was so good looking, the handsomeness was clearly wasted.

"Please understand, M.E Nadim," Katan began, regarding her seriously. "That information of this man cannot leave this hospital without my knowledge. He's to be kept separated from anyone else and never to be left alone by my guards."

The doctor's interest peaked at his words but she didn't say anything.

"I will be back later," Katan finished.

Nadim managed a nod which seemed to satisfy the military man as he turned on his heels to leave her alone once again in the corridor.

She stared after him, secretly wondering what John Sheppard had done that warranted that kind of interest from the military command.

Nadim jumped as a hand closed around her shoulder, giving it a comfortable squeeze. She turned to see a nurse with an apologetic smile. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you, Lani but I wanted you to see these lab results for yourself," she said handing over a folder.

The medical expert frowned as she opened the folder and then froze as she skimmed the results. Now she knew what had alerted the M.O - John Sheppard's vitals and antibodies didn't match any known set up in their entire population.

OOOOOO

To be continued

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