The infinity constellations: chapter 10

Recap:

Once again the device was flickering in bright flashing red, while the IV was still running. Why did it have to stop working now! "Tucker, you need to get Sam right now. We need more IV bags and…" I stared at his pained expression…no. No it couldn't be! "No, Tuck. Don't you dare say it…" Tucker shook his head. "The specter speeder gave in. We can't open the compartments anymore. We can't even open the specter speeders doors."

Jazz's pov:

Tucker bit his lip. "Sam brought a few bags out and gave them to you before it shut down." I trembled. No. I stared at the empty IV bag. "that was the last one, we need a next bag. He's going through them faster. He barely had the last one!" Tucker groaned, leaning his head into his hands. "It doesn't make sense. Something was blocking me from finding the source. According to the diagram, the energy was still in this room, but no scan can pick up where it goes. The ship is closing down as well. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't access it now." The beeping continued stabbing me in the heart. His last energy reserves depleting visible to my eyes. Sh*t. Danny's body tensed. "Oh Ancients, Tucker get Sam a defibrillator or a cable charger, something close. Danny's having a seizure!" Tucker jumped up from his seat. I held Danny's arms down as Sam and Johansen ran into the room. The shouted to keep him down as Sam started de defibrillator. Danny's body fought hard, but had lost most of its strength. "Clear!" The shock reactivated his core temporary. The beeping of the measurement device was a painful reminder that it wasn't over yet. "Again, Clear!" The seizure stopped as Johansen took Danny's pulse.

She was still wheezing from the sudden exertion. "He's clear for now. Guard his vitals, call if anything happens. Sam, keep watch over him and shock him again if necessary." The three of remained in the room. Danny's reserve of his weather-core was emptied out just as fast as it had been added. The device started blinking and beeping again. Tuckers legs buckled. "It can't be, please Danny… don't die on us now? Why!" Sam readied the defibrillator, adding another shock, hearing the device beep in protest. It was useless. The meagre amount of electricity speed out. Danny's body started seizing again. His arms and legs trembling and moving out of protest. Tears filled my eyes as I stared at Sam in fear. Please don't let him end like this? Yet Sam her eyes started to tear as well. Nonono. Danny please. "Danny wake up, please just wake up!" All the bars on the measurement device blinked in red, before even the device void of power gave up. Danny's body stopped it's seizure, lying motionless like a corpse. No, please just…no.

Suddenly all the lights went off. Sam jumped in shock. "Tucker what is happening!" Tucker tried to stand despite his shaking. He stumbled into the hall, before coming back. "The emergency lights are on in the hall. The Destiny just lost its FTL! The ship is now powerless." So not only Danny, but all four of us would leave this world. Sam cursed and ranted, kicking and punching the walls. "Why, why Danny, you disgusting Clock! You knew! You knew and you still…ARG!" I could feel my hands shake as I glanced at the peacefully sleeping Danny, glowing softly in the dark. The ethereal glow you could only see in true darkness… wait a moment. "Sam, check his vitals!" Sam jumped on Danny's arm like a jaguar, before focusing on the light blue glow coming from said hand. "He's glowing…that can't be… is it still reacting…Tucker get the power measurement device!" Tucker stepped closer, attaching his own PDA to the small device that gave up. The screen blinked on. The bars on his ectoplasm and electricity were both slowly rising. His generating bar was softly declining back into safer areas. Stopping at 175%. Still too high for comfort, but with his reserves growing it meant that the massive drainage was momentarily gone. This should allow his body to heal a little.

I glanced at the peaceful expression on Danny's face. "Why is he suddenly recovering? Just now he was almost..." Tucker took his PDA back, typing on it. His brow burrowed further. "Sam, did Danny's vitals stop at exactly this time?" Sam glared at him, making her seems extra scary with only Danny's glow as background. "Why do you ask? You were there?" Tucker gritted his teeth. "Stupid, so stupid. How could I be so stupid! It was right in front of me dammit!" The both of us glanced in worry at Tucker who seemed to follow Rush's footsteps. Raging through the room. Danny had returned to the stability before needing IV's. Breathing at a very low pace, making me shudder in worry if it would stop again. Sam seemed annoyed at Tuckers sudden fit. "Tucker, tell us. What's happening?" He was truly raging mad. "This, this cursed ship! It was so simple, yet Danny almost died before the f*king ship realised! I should have…" Sam kicked him hard, making his rant stop to initiate a whine. She threatened him in a low voice. " .Wrong?"

Tucker took a deep breath, before focusing. "I found the drainage of Danny's energy and there is a big problem." Sam grinned, readying her fist. "Tell me and I'll solve our problem right away." Tucker shook his head, glancing at Danny's sleeping form. "Danny's volunteering his energy out of free will. That's just it guys.. I mean girls. He's supplying this ship! He's being treated like a reserve battery." I stared at him in utter surprise. "This ship? You mean the whole…ship?" Tucker nodded with a grave expression. "Yes, right now…No since the moment we arrived 'Destiny' has been using Danny as its last reserves. That's why he isn't healing or regenerating. He needed every bit of energy to keep this ship functioning, to keep us alive." Silence fell between the three of us. I sat down defeated at the side of Danny's bed. A false smile on my face. Danny had been protecting us this entire time, even while unconscious. Silly, stupid little brother. Sam snarled. "That idiotic herocomplex of his almost killed him, again!" She took a deep breath, kicking loudly against the wall to get her temper back down. Tucker jumped back from her gaze. "So he's keeping this ancient rust bucket alive?"

Tucker typed in an even faster speed, his eyes shrinking in anxiety. "To be exact, the last bit of this ships energy was wasted on dialling the stargate to the Destiny. This ship was immediately reactivate once Danny appeared. If not for our arrival, this ship would have ceased its functions, leaving them all for dead. The ship activated what we needed, lights, control-panels, stargate and life-support." Something didn't feel right. "So why did Danny's condition suddenly deteriorate? He was fine the first 24 hours.. well not 'fine' per se?" Tucker nodded an sighed. "According to the energy-logs that the specter speeder kept… which is still at only 5% in power, Danny has been supplying a lot of energy. I never suspected that he could supply enough energy for this giant and massive ship. Even my calculations couldn't find that… And there is the fact that many ancient symbols can't be translated, which causes probabilities. This made the outcome even more…auch. Sam quit hitting me!" Sam snorted. "English you techdork! Give us the conclusion!"

Tucker glared at her, but winched once she raised her fist. "Simply speaking, Danny should be able to provide this ship with enough energy to function." Sam shook her head. "That can't be right. Most things and consoles don't work." Tucker coughed. "Let me finish. Sadly there are many variables. First off, Danny's badly injured. Secondly Danny overused both his healing and regeneration, probably to protect his very core. Third, those idiotic soldiers dialled the gate to Earth, which drains enormous amounts of power the further we are from the destination and continued to dial a closer gate multiple times. Remember how much energy it took to power the stargate that brought us here? It was feeding of an explosion. Those Icarus-people were on a planet much closer than us. Fourth, people are now activating all kinds of consoles and things in the ship."

I groaned, while glancing at the still glowing Danny. He was glowing despite being in human form. His ashen complexion seemed to slightly withdraw. He was starting to feel better, right? Meanwhile Sam was still stomping about, walking in circles. She growled. "So your saying that our completely drained and mangled Danny had to continuously keep up the enormous drainage of this ship. That he lost any reserves he had, because they kept dialling the gate. And to make it worse, those military dogs have been activating all kinds of things on the ship for their own needs. Thus draining any reserve Danny managed to build up and causing his seizure. Rush was right all along, but instead of draining the ship, they were draining Danny's reserves. That's it, the military made my hit list. Let's start out by killing them one by one…" I glanced at Tucker who made an attempt to keep Sam from murdering people. He failed holding her back, getting kicked painfully. Luckily it eased Sam's bloodlust a little. She wasn't walking out of the door with her knife…yet.

My hand grasped Danny's. "The emergency lights… is this the ships way of easing the burden on Danny?" Tucker murmured to himself. Seemingly undecided. "I have no clue how sophisticated this ship truly is. But I have a theory. When Danny fell into a serious seizure, the ship noticed the anomaly of its energy reserves. Thus as its external energy source started to dwindle, it had to act. It shut off the excess energy consummation to give Danny a break. According to my current observations, the ship might be monitoring Danny's output as external source. So it can accurately keep him working at full power." This threw Sam into another fit of rage. "Keep him working, KEEP him working! I'm so done with this ship. It has no right to kill Danny or use him as a spare battery. Get him in the Spector speeder. We are leaving now!" I stood up and hugged her from behind. Locking the struggling Sam in my arms. "Easy, it will be okay." Sam screeched. "Nothing is okay! Danny almost died, he died! Because these f*ckers couldn't hold in their curiosity." Danny would have snickered at the comparison. Telling me that dying of curiosity was actually a real thing. He loved his silly jokes.

"Sam, easy. I know your angry, I'm angry too and frustrated. Just think. What is Danny? What does he wants the most? Would he let these people die? Once he leaves this ship, all these people will die!" Tucker had come closer. I stared at him to back me up. He scratched his dark hair. "Sam, Jazz is right. Don't get me wrong. I hate them just as much for hurting Danny. However they didn't know. Even we didn't know! And in contrast to your thoughts, the ship will be destroyed the moment Danny leaves it. They won't need to wait for the air to thin out or their food and water to empty. No, they'll die instantly. I can't read most of the energy outputs, but I do know about a shield. That shield has been keeping this ship from falling apart. A ship that's full of holes and scrapped parts. Because of the speed, the ship will rip itself apart, leaving no survivors. Yes, Danny will wake up when he leaves the ship. Can you however tell him honestly that all these people died, because he had to live? No, he would be petrified by guilt, knowing that he had been protecting them with all his might."

I could feel Sam's tension loosen. Tears from her purple eyes dripped on my shoulder as she leaned on me. "Danny was… he was almost dead. These people don't deserve him. This F*king place doesn't deserve him." Tucker coughed, turning his head in sympathy. "Uhm, I think you might be wrong about that Sam. Destiny may desperately want him to life. It's diverting energy to its manoeuvring trusters. I'm uncertain why, but it started after almost losing Danny. This ship is smarter then we think. It could be searching for an energy source to aid Danny. Just think about it. It this ship used him regardless of the cost, it wouldn't have stopped draining him. It wouldn't have found a planet with ingredients to cleanse our life-support. It's thinking in solutions and right now its searching for a new answer. What could sustain a ghost if there's no natural ectoplasm?" Sam answered with her raw voice. "The energy that's released upon death of species. The ship is looking for planets with life? Where life is, is death. Danny wouldn't need to leave the ship if we remained in orbit. He naturally attracts death energy."

Death energy. A natural occurring phenomenon with the death of species. Not as thick as ectoplasm, but its main ingredient. The reason that ghost could form outside the infinite realms. However, could an alien ship make such calculations? It clearly had no idea what Danny's species was. Or it wouldn't have drained him to such an extent. Tucker hummed. "The language is still gibberish, but the map of planets show potential. We just need to be careful that no one steps in this room while it happens." We all glanced at the glowing light surrounding my brother. He wasn't laying on the bed right now. He was floating just a cm or two above. His longer black hair twirling on an invisible breeze. Even the most rational person wouldn't recognize him as human. And this ship currently didn't have fully rational people. We had no need for the lights since his flow had been strengthening, making his whole ghostliness even more obvious.

Sam released her hug to wipe her eyes. Gulping to regain her steady voice. "Alright, so we need to keep guard at the door. As long as the light are off, we can't have anyone close to Danny. Or we'll have to solve another problem." When you're talking about the devil… We heard footsteps in the hallway. The steps were hurried. Sam paled, staring at the defibrillator. "Sh*t. Johansen. She'll check up on Danny. Stay. I'll talk her out of it." She sprinted to the door. I could hear her convince, whine and complain until the medical officer turned back. In the end both footsteps disappeared. We sighed in relief. Tucker evaded my eyes. Wait… "What are you hiding from Sam?" And me, was left unsaid. Tucker tapped the measurement device, making it operate on his PDA again. It wasn't showing different signs. "This ship is barley operating right now, that means… Danny is barely…" We fell silent. His energy regeneration was slowly dropping.

"He's been overusing his core so much, that it's giving in. As soon as it drops below 50%, he won't be able to keep this ship functioning. That's the next problem. He needs it to keep himself and us alive. Below 50% his body will need all his energy to preserve himself. In turn the ship will be shut down including life-support and the shield. We might not make it until the ships solution." My eyes were attracted to the 145%, it was declining at a visible rate. This gauze was dangerous at both ends. Overusing its regeneration could break his core, having it decline beneath 50% might cause his body to break down, eating at his own cells to remain alive. I clenched my hand around Danny's. "Once it reaches 60% we'll move him into the spector speeder, glowing or not." Tucker nodded. We heard another pair of footsteps. Tucker ran for the door. I could hear Colonel Young talking to Tucker. "Foley, I need you in the control room. Rush has fainted and we needs solutions. Follow me!" Tucker agreed. "Please let me inform Jazz. Danny had a seizure, so she can't leave his bedside." The Colonel clearly agreed. Tucker walked back to the room, putting his head around the corner. "Jazz, I'm heading out to solve the ships problem. Can you keep guard on Danny? I'll check after the briefing."

I nodded at him as he left the room in a hurry. I walked away from the bed, glancing into the hallway to keep guard. Danny was still floating and glowing like a night light. A light that was growing even brighter. It was great that his glow returned, but how was I going to explain the light source once it grows even stronger?

Tuckers pov:

Young led me into the main control-room with Eli, Volker and Brody as Young called him. Both Brody and Volker told us that Rush had been right. There was no power left. Colonel Young didn't seem convinced. "Why now?" They mentioned the stargate that had been on all day, hogging power. I could only agree with them. Yesterday Danny's situation took a turn for the worst. I should have known that the continuous dialling of the stargate had been the cause. Damn Telford. I will ruin you if you dare to try another act like that. The adults admitted that they needed Rush to estimate how long we could live. Well, that wouldn't be completely accurate. Since the power was external and Danny was the source. Once the bar reaches 50%, the shield and life-support were null and void. Colonel Young approached them. "Rush won't be up for a while so where does that lead us?" I groaned at the simultaneous answer of both scientist. "Death." Ancients, what great minds do we have. Should I offer some explanation on the ships current movements? No, they would want to know my source. There were no stargates in range, so we could have a few days left. According to them at least. Brody sighed. "So it's a race between food, water and life-support."