Okay, back to the present! Yay! It's another shortish, experimental chapter. I hope it satisfies.
I'd like to take a moment to give special thanks to SGA-Seven and Hagfish-plushie for their thoughtful comments and continued support. At this time, I'd also like to acknowledge the exceptionally high number of hits from Thailand that my traffic profile says I've been getting. I didn't realize I'd find such a large audience there.
Thanks to everyone in Thailand who's taken an interest in my story!
Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I still don't own Stargate Atlantis, Steve, and/or any other SGA character. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and is strictly not-for-profit. The only things I own are: Dr. Mira Sheckle, The Glove, the plot, and other OC/plot-related bits.
Chapter Twelve: hiiissssssss…
(translation: … )
Present
Quiet…
…
Stillness…
…
The wraith sat, leather-clad arms braced upon the edge of his sleeping pallet, black boots planted carelessly, yet firmly, on the chitin floor. Air whispered shakily in his lungs, and imperceptible tremors shivered his limbs. Green, heavy-lidded eyes stared unseeing at an amorphous point slightly to the left of the doorframe's base…
The wraith sat…
…waiting…
…
…willing strength to come back…
…
…
…In…
…tremble…
…
…Out…
…tremble…
…
The universe had shifted. Had stopped shifting. And he lived… Priority was intact. Changed, but intact. Instinct survived. Redirected… Illuminating… Motivating… And, ultimately… Constant.
And he lived. Yet… What now…?
…patience…
…
…In…
…tremble…
…
…Out…
…tremble…
…
The wraith shut his eyes, feeling the weakness in his limbs. It washed through him, wave after wave of pervasive, unrelenting exhaustion… He had not expected this. When he'd first realized what the trapped panic meant. What it was… When reality proved undeniable. Acquiescence inescapable… He'd recognized the shift's first tremors. He'd welcomed them. Embraced them. Willed them to progress. He'd encouraged the change shamelessly, determined to get it over with…
He hadn't expected the transition to be so violent.
So… Extreme…
…
Or so utterly debilitating…
…
Muscles shook. Senses blurred… Exhaustion… A detached part of the wraith's dazed mind idly noted the sympathetic symptoms of mental shock…
Shock.
Pale fingers gripped the sleeping pallet, struggling under the illusionary effort of staying sitting up. Shock could not be cured by sustenance. He must wait it out. Recovery would bring strength… Patience. Wait…
The warmth of the organic cushion pressed reassuringly against his feeding slit. He relaxed his palm, letting the lips of the nourishing orifice slip open. Warmth invaded… Flesh quivered, and anchoring bristles blossomed, flexing. Probing. Tasting… A clean, living taste. Benign, inedible. Warm… His fingertips' injection hooks extended, gently prodding… Spongy, yet too firm to penetrate. Enzyme slicked the surface, sweetening it briefly before absorbing into its microscopic pores.
The warmth increased slightly…
The wraith drank it in, lifting his face, resisting the tantalizing urge to sleep… Memory unfurled. Another warmth. Different… Drugging heat in a bitter cold… Throbbing beneath his hand. Pulsing in time with his heart…
He remembered pulling it close. Knowing he should not. Sensing, if only unconsciously, the risk… Yet, at the time, the warmth had embodied his best chance of assuring his own survival. He'd pulled it closer. Entreating. Coaxing.
He remembered drowning in its response… Losing himself. Giving…
Closer still… Sharing. Nurturing…
Preserving.
…
It'd been the right decision.
…
It'd saved his life. Won his freedom…
…
…Yet, that same choice— A choice which had salvaged his existence. —Had also, ultimately… Doomed him…
There was no escape. Not then. Not ever.
…
…drugging heat in a bitter cold…
…he'd pulled it TOO close…
The wraith hissed, a shaky whisper, shocked mind basking in remembered warmth. He was holding it again. Drowning. Heat radiating against his palm. Delicious. Inaccessible. It invaded his senses, illuminated awareness. He could almost touch it… Almost taste—
…trapped…
Green eyes snapped open, focusing with difficulty. Black leather shivered as reality materialized. The cushion. Its benign warmth under his hand… That was the present. His attention drifted to the caged emotions. The fear was gone, vanquished by the neurochemical shift's successful completion. The trapped, panicky feelings remained. Glowing. Insistent. But bearable. Endurable…
For now…
…But how much longer?
He could already feel Priority stir. Responding. Urging. Quietly suggesting he act. Wheedling, insisting—
"Hiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssss!" The wraith thrust the growing compulsion down. He was in no condition to move. Any exploits undertaken now would end disastrously.
He must wait. Recover his strength…
…trapped…
Shaken, the wraith drove the disturbing panic back to its cage. Forcefully reinforced the mental walls… Priority protested. Clarity surged, crackling through his mind like electricity. The fog numbing his thoughts lifted…
He shook his head, blinking rapidly in surprise. The organic contours of his personal quarters swam into focus easily.
…The shock was dissipating.
Pale lips twitched with fleeting irony as amusement glimmered. One shock displaced by another… How unexpected.
…And yet… How ineffectively useless. His non-feeding hand hung by his face, stalled on an impromptu journey to brush errant strands of hair from view. The wraith stared at it. His thin fingers trembled erratically. The sleeve's black leather bracer quivered like a primitive combustion motor…
Eyes widening, he felt himself list. Toppling… Muscles buckled, struggling without extra support…
The wraith quickly dropped his hand and propped himself up, cursing his continued weakness with a disgusted hiss. Air still shook in his lungs. Tremors still wracked his limbs. Exhaustion assailed his awareness. It was maddening!
But his mind WAS clear now.
THAT was something, at least…
Or rather…
…it was a start.
The wraith sat, unsteady fingers gripping the edge of his sleeping pallet. Its warmth, a clean, living taste, bled reassuringly into his still-open feeding slit… He allowed the indulgence. Welcomed the temporary comfort it provided. Anything that might hasten the retreat of this debilitating shock was welcome.
He extended his injection hooks and released enzyme, raising the cushion's temperature once more. Then he waited…
…In…
…tremble…
…
…Out…
…tremble…
…
Restlessness infused his thoughts. Urging movement. Action. The wraith examined the phenomenon. Suspected its origins… Found he was right.
He hissed, bolstering his resolve with a determined blink. The dictates of Priority would be satisfied. MUST be satisfied. But they MUST also be satisfied in a way that ensured survival. That required thought. Planning. Foresight.
…Strength…
To attempt action without strength or mental exercise meant failure. Death.
Neither was acceptable.
Acknowledging the insistent drive of Priority, the wraith thrust aside the instinctual need and boxed it up. He was a rational, thinking being. Tolerating the growing impulse would eventually lead to potentially fatal distraction.
Instinct was his guide. Not his master.
He waited…
…Listening.
…
…In…
…tremble…
…
…Out…
…tremble…
…
No disturbance this time…
As it should be.
Sighing with satisfaction, the wraith pressed his palm closer to the soothing warmth and stilled his thoughts, preparing for the task at hand. His mind had always been his greatest weapon. Now that it was clear, he could use it.
He focused on his present dilemma. Visualized his obstacles. Calculated likely threats…
…In…
…tremble…
…
…Out…
…tremble…
…
Ivory strands swayed, quivering with each halting breath.
His goal sparkled with mental clarity. His purpose…
…was the satisfaction of Priority. Beyond that…?
Unknown.
"Hiiiissssss…"
…In…
…tremble…
…
…Out…
…tremble…
…
The wraith's green eyes drifted down, alighting on a point slightly left of the doorframe's chitin base. A myriad of paths slowly illuminated. Which was best?
He began to think…
-------------------------------------------------
Thank you for reading! Please review! Again, things I'm working on specifically are: 1. Maintaining a Season 1 feel in the flashback chapters. 2. Keeping the regulars in character.
As we're getting further into the plot, I'll now add a three to this list.
3. Making the new and different, (and/or bizarre), things that happen seem realistic and believable.