I'm sorry! I'm really not keeping up with replying to reviews! Not enough time in the day, but I do read them as soon as I get up in the morning :D Thank you all for your comments and thoughts on the story. To put minds at ease, this isn't going to be a short story, and that's all I'm saying. We had no electricity today due to power line upgrades so I haven't been able to write. Therefore, I am a day behind at least. Even though the updates might slow a little as I return to work next week (trust me, I plan to spend these final days of annual leave in the blistering sun which is currently boiling Scotland!) I promise to continue to update when I can, and will not let this story die without an ending ;) Anyway, on with the story...

Chapter 14

Rodney was freaking out. He tried to hide it, kept on working while his heart broke and his mind tired. He was losing the battle and John was dying. This would normally hurt him on the egotistical level, but it was more than that. He just couldn't face losing John.

The place was transformed after John woke. Sama still wouldn't allow him to be moved into the village, but he did at least order a mattress and linen to be brought for him. He also sent for the village doctor to help in any way she could. John was hooked up to a saline drip, and a tube was passed through his nose and down into his stomach to feed him. The doctor said that nourishing him in this way after such malnutrition could be dangerous. Rodney asked why and was met with an explanation that only Carson Beckett would understand. Rodney just nodded. The infusion might keep John going a little longer and save more Goh from sacrificing themselves. That was all he was interested in.

John fell unconscious soon after he awoke. He'd mentioned Goh, Groten, war and species annihilation. The tiny creature's invasion of John happened without any malicious intent. It had simply been a make-do reaction to their captivity by danu. John mentioned that the Goh were dying, that he was dying. All he wanted was for the team to help the Goh survive. To what end? To die so that they could live?

Rodney wouldn't allow it.

With a new perspective on things, his mind churned over the scant facts John had told them.

Goh were the trivialities. They were able to control and communicate with a host in order to survive. From this Rodney surmised there would be some kind of synaptic and neuronal communication going on and thought perhaps this was something he could use. He'd asked Sama for help, knowing that now John had spoken, it had spurred the leader's interest. The people of Caronaa were peaceful, intelligent, and inquisitive. Their technological advances didn't pull them too far from their simple lives but rather supported it. At Rodney's request, Sama sent for the village scientists with an order for electronic essentials and one of their bio-suits.

As well as for defense, the Caronaa warriors used the bio-suits to work in the forest without fear of the creatures that resided there. Large mechanoid machines made of a blue metal, with strong arms, three-fingered hands and an array of weaponry. A hatch in the back allowed the users to enter, and a neuronal interface allowed the user to become one with the machine. It was this interface that Rodney needed.

Apparently, curiosity had allowed Sama to overcome his fear of what resided within John. He even offered to help Rodney, keen to watch what he was doing.

"Now that there is something in it for you, you want to help?" Rodney remarked scathingly.

"It makes sense to help, Fer McKay," Sama smiled unfazed. "What we discover today, will ultimately help us tomorrow."

Rodney sneered and took the bio-suit controller Sama offered. "Just, keep out of my way."

It took Rodney twenty minutes to extract the interface from the suit and enough cabling for what he wanted. He sat buddha-style on the floor beside John's bed. Cables and pieces of electronics lay before him. He pulled his tablet onto his knees and started testing the three cables from the interface. Happy with what he read on the screen, he proceeded to open the interface and solder a fourth cable to the processor. Lost in thought and deep in his work, Rodney waited for John to wake again so that he might communicate with the one Sheppard called Primus. Not to save it, but to save John.

It was a shock to Rodney that the creatures he'd seen pouring from the carcass at the lake were in any way intelligent. He'd believed them to be purely parasitic beings, living wherever life would sustain them. To discover there was intelligence there, and also vast, ancient knowledge meant they might know of a way to save Sheppard.

As he worked, Teyla cleansed and dressed John's wounds under the watchful eye of Rella, the village doctor. Rella explained that the wounds were worse and not healing due to the Goh feeding on his tissues and blood. They could not heal even though the Goh had stopped feeding, as John was so poorly there wasn't enough in his system to heal them. Therefore, Teyla attended to them to prevent infection while muttering prayers to the Ancestors. This thoroughly annoyed Rodney due to the fact her Gods were simply their long-dead ancestors. Maybe his irritation was because he was tired. The Caronaa version of coffee wasn't as stimulating as that back in Atlantis. And it tasted awful. He had to do without and his thought processes were paying for the lack of decent caffeine. Rodney rubbed his eyes, chose to put the cabling down and take a short break. He listened to Ronon instead, as he conversed with the village warriors about their bio-suits.

Without their mechanical suits, they were just ordinary men and women, scientists and soldiers combined. One was a woman named, Orna, just returned from patrol and still in her suit.

"Do you use the suits against the danu?" Ronon asked as Teyla joined him in the conversation.

"We do, yes," Orna replied. "But the danu are stronger even than the bio-suits. A few of us have died in twisted metal due to the denu strength."

The reply obviously left Ronon disheartened as he winced and sat on a haybale. "They didn't harm them at all?" he asked as he rubbed his broken arm.

Orna moved fractionally and the bio-suit raised its arms. The powerful hands opened and closed. The weapons came online one by one then powered down once the show of power was over. "Yes," she replied. "Of course we did, Fer Dex. The suit weapons were designed for use against the creatures of the forest, after all. This is why the denu don't enter the village. But, the denu have strange and fast-moving bodies, Fer Dex, which makes close combat impossible."

Ronon nodded thoughtfully.

So between prayer girl and muscle boy, the only one doing any real work is, me, Rodney thought. I seem to be the only one even remotely concerned about John himself.

He returned his attention to the job at hand. He finished soldiering the three cables, then connected the interface to the laptop. Rodney checked that both devices were communicating and proceeded to strip a fourth cable which was attached to the opposite side of the interface.

"Rodney…"

He saw John had awoken and dropped everything to lean closer. "Hey, how do you feel?"

"Perfectly peachy…"

Rodney shook his head. "Tough guy to the end, huh?"

"Have you come up with a plan?"

"You doubted me?" Rodney quipped but saw John's eyes fluttering heavily so hurried to speak before the man passed out again. "Okay. So I've taken an interface from one of the bio-suits and connected it to the laptop so that we can communicate with Primus itself. These cables will—"

"What are you doing?" John asked.

"If I can communicate with Primus, it might be able to help us save you."

John's face clouded with anger. "That's not what I asked you to do, Rod—"

"Did you really think I was going to give you up without a fight?! Huh?!" Rodney snapped furiously. The room around him fell silent. He looked and saw the eyes of all present watching him and found he didn't care.

John said nothing, just watched him as the others did. Rodney couldn't help himself and let loose all his pent-up frustrations and spoke from his breaking heart. "Now that there is some modicum of hope, do really think I will give up and let you die? You can't ask me to give up on you, John. You just… can't. And I won't. Don't tell me not to try this, don't tell me to let it go and lose you, for… for them!" Rodney's eyes welled with tears. "You're the only family I have here, John. You're my brother," he looked down at his hands and whispered, "how can I let you die?"

John coughed weakly and closed his eyes. He swallowed thickly and said, "Tell me the plan."

Rodney wiped his eyes and looked around, but everyone had either looked away and got on with their own work or left the barn. Rodney cleared his throat and pulled himself together. He lifted the interface he was working on and showed it to John. "You say this Primus is an all knowledgeable being. With this interface, I should be able to communicate with it and you can conserve energy. If this works the way I think it will, and it will because I made it—"
"Rodney…"

"—then while we formulate a plan to save Primus and its kind, it can help us to help you."

"If there was a way, don't you think Primus would have mentioned it?"

"Well, I don't know. I don't know it personally. I can only assume it hasn't thought of saving you because, like you, it thinks there is no way to do so."

John opened his eyes again. He stared at Rodney quietly, making him feel rather uncomfortable after a while.

"You can't fix everything, Rodney," he whispered. "You can't fix me."

Rodney looked away and to the pieces in his hands. "I know. But I have to try," he replied sadly.

John continued to stare at him until his eyelids slowly closed. "Yeah," he whispered. "I love you too, you big lemon."

Rodney chuckled and went to reply, only John was already losing consciousness. He hurriedly dropped everything, took hold of and gently shook John's shoulders. He felt none of the muscle John once possessed. The Goh had drained him so much he was almost just skin and bone.

"Tell Primus I'll insert a connection into your spine!" Rodney shouted despairingly. "Tell it to use it to communicate with us. John? John?!"

John's eyes were closed and there was no sign that he heard Rodney's desperate pleas. He released John's shoulders, sat back on the ground, and wept. He tried to hide his tears from everyone else in the barn, hoping his moment of weakness went unnoticed.

But someone did notice.

Rodney flinched when he felt a hand touch his arm. John's trembling hand gently tightened in reassurance and Rodney saw his eyes open once more.

"I told Primus your plan," he whispered. "It says to do it soon."

To be continued... Feed meh more cookies! :D