Woe to thee - part ten

[ansostuff]

I am going to speed up the update of this story. I need to finish it so I can get started on my next project. Although I'm not part of Nano this story is so long that it probably could have been, lol. I'm about to write the final chapters now.

PART TEN

Janet Fraiser was prepared. As soon as Daniel was on the gurney, she was at his side.

Daniel curled up as tight as he possibly could, long legs bent almost up to his chest, eyes tightly shut, face red with exertion and pain, arms wrapped around his middle, breathing harshly, now and again inadvertently letting out a low moan.

“Keep me informed,” Hammond said as Janet, with the help of two medics, started to wheel Daniel out of the Gateroom.

“Yes, sir,” Janet said, already occupied with assessing her patient from what she could see as they moved. As soon as they entered the infirmary, Janet stood out of the way of the medics while they loaded Daniel off the gurney and onto a bed. Taking one of his wrists in her hand, Janet rattled off the symptoms to herself, noticing the hot skin under her fingers, doing an initial triage in her head: Fast breathing, fever and a medium to severe pain level. Janet woefully wished she’d held him back that morning instead of releasing him. She couldn’t do anything about that now, though, and she quickly turned her mind to the task at hand.

Quickly, the two medics helped strip him of his vest, gun holster and clothing, pulling the sheet up to his waist. Shutting the drapes as they went, the medics disappeared, only for a nurse to take their place at Janet’s side with a hospital gown and an empty chart. “Thanks,” Janet said, taking the chart and starting to fill it in while the nurse took Daniel’s pressure, pulse and temperature, giving the results aloud to Janet as she worked. “BP 150/102, pulse 95, temp 102.3, respiration 31, VAS 8.”

“Hey, Daniel,” Janet said when the nurse was done. She leaned over Daniel who had curled up on the bed as the nurse worked, making sure she was in his direct line of vision. “I know you’re in pain. Can you tell me how are you feeling?”

“Janet,” Daniel said in greeting, not managing to talk much, blinking up at Janet. As the pain for a moment became more bearable, he uncurled a little, realising where he was. He’d worked with the medics and the nurse as they’d done their initial exam, familiar with the procedures and knowing it would only delay his being able to get some rest if he fought them. However, the movement had triggered his nausea again and he was feeling completely exhausted. A shiver ran first down and then up his spine before his stomach started to cramp again. Instinctively knowing what was going to happen, Daniel lunged for the emesis basin standing on the rollaway table by his bed, not caring what it might contain as he quickly turned it upside down sending various items flying. Curling up tighter again, pinning a nurse’s hand in the process as she was trying to adjust the sheets, he violently threw up, barely being able to hold onto the basin, gasping in shock when he saw that it wasn’t all bile but some blood as well, sobbing with the increased pain.

“Make that VAS 10,” Janet muttered to herself as she tried to soothe Daniel through the heaving. Through the haze of pain, fever and nausea, Daniel’s mind vaguely registered that Janet had noticed the blood too, as her voice became tight and her words clipped as she talked, rattling off orders to the nurse, her movements a tad more frantic than usual while she took the basin away and wiped his face with a cloth. Drained to the core, Daniel grabbed a pillow from beneath his head and curled up around its softness. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to breathe through the pain, but it was getting harder and harder for each time the cramps increased. Not being able to take it any more, knowing it was okay to let go, he let out a low keen and wrapped himself tighter around the pillow, trying to find distraction in listening to Janet order the nurses to get an IV started and fetch the lab people so they could draw some blood STAT.

Thinking that the small amount of blood Daniel had thrown up was caused by the violent upheaval and not by something being torn inside him, Janet ordered the nurses to watch for more blood if he threw up again and decided to wait to do a gastroscopy. Daniel was in a lot of pain, and since he wasn’t injured, the gallstones were a more than likely reason. That meant that with this much pain, Daniel would need some heavy-duty pain relievers and most likely surgery. The gastroscopy could wait till she’d opened him up and seen what was going on.

“Daniel?” Janet sat down on the side of Daniel’s bed, rubbing circles on his back as he continued to heave. When it was evident he had nothing more to bring up, and he didn’t throw up more blood, she let the nurse start the IV. Waiting a few moments to let the painkillers get a chance to work, Janet once again tried to get Daniel’s attention. “How are you doing?”

“Tired,” he answered. “Bit nauseous still, and my stomach hurts.”

“I bet. I’ve given you something to help with the nausea as well as the pain,” Janet said, smiling encouragingly while watching as Daniel tried to find a comfortable position on the bed, moving her hands from his wrist to his cheek, then his forehead as he moved, feeling the nurse’s findings with her own hands as the meds flowed through his veins, making it possible for Daniel to lie more or less straight on the bed and slow his breathing. In Janet’s book, when Daniel actually told her how he was feeling, it meant that he was in too much pain to try to fool her, clearly needing the “good stuff.” “Is it okay if I take a look?” Janet added when Daniel finally had found a position that wasn’t making his aching insides hurt worse or aggravate the still present nausea. Getting a nod of acceptance from Daniel, Janet set to work examining him.

&&&&&

“Thor, welcome back to Earth,” Hammond said in greeting as soon as Jack, Sam and Teal’c and their two guests had walked down the ramp.

“Daniel?” Jack asked once the introductions were made.

“He is in the infirmary, resting comfortably,” Hammond said. “Dr. Fraiser is still conducting her exams, but she has given him some strong medication to deal with the pain, and he is currently sleeping. Let’s continue this in the briefing room.” Hammond motioned for the others to follow him there.

“So that is why Dr. Jackson couldn’t join the negotiations?” Cully asked curiously. “He is ill?”

“Yes,” Sam nodded. “But he is receiving medical care as we speak. We have one of the best medical facilities on the planet on this base. Our doctors are the best.”

Cully nodded. “I am glad he is receiving help. I assume he is not contagious?”

“No, no. Not that we know of,” Hammond said.

“What about those scans you mentioned? Could he be harmed by the Circulus?”

“We didn’t detect anything, and if there’s something in his system, I’m sure our doctors will find it. Not to worry,” Sam explained. “From what I can tell, I don’t think being around that thing aggravated Daniel’s condition any. As I’m sure you know, no one is of exactly the same genetic makeup. Teal’c is Jaffa. I was for a short while a host to a Tok’ra and that left a marker within my blood that makes me less susceptible to alien influences than General Hammond, Colonel O’Neill or Daniel. How are you feeling, sir?”

“Me ‘n Daniel ‘n General Hammond, we’re just humans,” Jack said mockingly, putting air quotes around ‘just.’ “And I feel fine, thanks for asking.”

“Teal’c?”

“I am well.”

“I am well too,” Hammond said, forestalling Sam’s inevitable question.

“There is also the fact that Daniel probably was sick before he started to work on the Circulus,” Sam continued. “He started showing symptoms the day we started working on it, but he probably had them before that as well.”

“What do you mean?” Cully asked.

“Just that I think that the Circulus isn’t doing anything harmful to Daniel,” Sam tried to explain. She continued to talk about the difference in human makeup for a while, but the glazed over expression in Jack’s eyes quickly steered her back on track again.

“Speaking of that device, there is one thing I want to finally get some answers to before we get down to the nitty-gritty of this alliance,” Jack said. “What exactly is this Circulus and what does it do?” Taking Daniel’s pack, he placed the cylinder on the table between them.

“It cannot be used to contact you,” Cully nodded his head at Thor. “It fits into some sort of apparatus in a temple on Trusla. It had to be activated.” Thor nodded his agreement.

“It is an ancient thing. It is an object both feared and treasured,” Cully continued. “If it became common knowledge that we possess the Circulus once again, a riot like we have never seen before would occur. It was considered lost to us many, many years ago, and because of this fact, our people have lived in peace and harmony, something that is crucial to our very existence, since we have been on the run our entire lives.

“The device itself,” he picked the Circulus up and studied it for a moment before putting it back down, “is not the object of desire, but rather the Circulation, which the Circulus opens up when placed into its holder. It was believed that once connected, the Circulation would release a bio-toxin that would start the regress of the development of our special gene. Although you are human, you are not completely like us. It can react to one of our genetic makeup allowing it to be turned on, but as you’ve seen yourselves it did not react to your presence.”

“What is this Circle?” Jack asked.

“The room in which the Circulus is placed. It’s where the murals are.” Cully said, smiling at Jack before continuing. “The murals tell our history and also what will happen when the Circulation is activated.”

“You are saying that we cannot know for sure what this Circulus does unless we return to Tubris?” Thor asked.

“No,” Cully said. “The murals tell of a happy people, living in harmony, tending crops and animals without sickness or fear.”

“But that place was a ruin when we were there,” Jack protested. “Where this thing was supposed to fit, in, ah, the Circle,” he waved his hand at the still glowing Circulus on the table, “was somewhat intact, but there was nothing looking even remotely like a weapon or technology of any kind. And the room itself was mostly destroyed.”

“Except for the rings, sir,” Sam said.

“Yes, except for those. But those were probably put there by Anubis.” Jack turned to Cully. “You didn’t use rings did you?”

Cully looked from one to the other in confusion. “What are these rings?”

Teal’c explained.

“No, we have no use for those,” Cully confirmed. “However, if the holder for the Circulus is still intact there is hope that the Circulation will work. According to legend, it is placed somewhere outside the ruins. We could never find it when we lived in the caves, but that does not exclude the possibility that it is still there.”

“So, you put the Circulus in the Circle to get the Circulation to work?” Jack asked, confused as the topic of conversation jumped from one thing to the other. “But what the Circulation does it a guess at this point.”

“Until we return to Trusla, yes,” Cully smiled. “Historical texts guess that the Circulation releases a bio-toxin that will make the gene present in our people regress and also prevent the next generations from developing the gene that Anubis evidently made, but no text explains exactly how this will be done. It is believed that this way he will stop hunting us and leave us be.”

“You live for a very long time. How much time is it believed that you require for this toxin to have the desired affect?” Teal’c asked.

“That is not known, which also leads me to believe that it is not what the Circulus actually does. It would take too much time before we saw any results, mostly because of our long life, while Anubis could destroy us in a day. I personally believe that what this does will have an immediate result.”

“There wasn’t anything in Daniel’s translations about this,” Sam said. “He translated the entire scroll and the outside and it didn’t say anything about being a secret weapon or something else powerful.”

“I suppose that Tamram intended for it to be vague so that it wasn’t immediately clear to those who found either the Circulus what it would do unless they were of our people.”

“Isn’t there some sort of record explaining what the Circulation does?” Jack asked.

“I don’t believe so. It was a secret, and potentially very dangerous at that. A lot of time has passed. I do not think the Circulus was lost intentionally.”

“Yet your people know about the Circulus and the Circle,” Sam said. “From what Daniel gathered, it looked like part of a temple.”

“Indeed. We once, before the fall-out with the Asgard, worshipped the goddess Idunn.”

“Yes,” Thor said. “Idunn was the protector of Tubris and Tuberous.”

“Where is she now?” Cully asked.

“She is not longer among us,” Thor said. “I will do the negotiations on her behalf.”

Cully nodded, clearly having a lot on his mind, what with learning of the Asgard and Earth and finding the Circulus.

“There weren’t any more murals,” Sam said, leafing through Daniel’s field notes in lieu of him being there to explain. “According to Daniel’s and SG-13’s findings—that’s the team we sent on reconnaissance,” she explained to Cully, “there was only the one wall with the tale of how you got there. Everything else was destroyed. There was nothing there to hint at what would happen when the Circulus was connected to the Circulation. I’m sorry we couldn’t figure it out for you.”

“That’s all right,” Cully said. “You have helped us a great deal by bringing us the Circulus and bringing the Asgard to our aid.”

“Why don’t you come with us to check it out?” Jack asked. “Thor can help you get in touch with Tallis again and you can see for yourself.”

Hammond nodded, and Thor and Cully followed him and Jack into the Gateroom.

“We will contact the Tuberous,” Thor said. “If it is agreed to continue the negotiations here, I will return with Cully to Earth on my ship, and we can talk further then. In the meantime, I will contact some of our engineers so that we may help repair the damage to the Tuberous’ ship. If all is agreed upon, Cully and I will return within two days.”

“That long, eh?” Jack said.

Thor sighed. “As I have explained before, O’Neill, the hyperdrive on my ship does not function as well as I would like. Most of our more advanced vessels are occupied with the war with the Replicators.”

“Okay,” Hammond said. “Have a safe trip.” The Stargate activated and Thor and Cully left. Hammond and Jack walked back to the briefing room and sat down again. “Anything else I need to be informed of?” Hammond asked when they were seated again.

“I can’t think of anything, sir,” Sam said.

“All right, dismissed. Go get yourselves checked out. We’ll continue this when we hear from Thor again.”

&&&&&

Daniel drifted as Janet worked. Just being home felt great, and now that he could think past the pain, he was almost happy. Janet would soon make him feel better, and then he could get some sleep. Waiting patiently while Janet listened to his chest, Daniel wondered how his team was faring with the negotiations. Lying down again at Janet’s instruction, he decided he’d sleep first and ask questions later.

“Let’s have a look at this stomach of yours and see what’s going on, shall we?” Janet said when she had Daniel where she wanted him again, waking him up from his half-sleeping state. The initial exam didn’t take long, and once she finished, she let him put on the gown. “Get some rest. I’ll be back with the ultrasound in a little while.” Janet tucked the blankets in around an already almost asleep Daniel. She would have to wait for the labs to come back before she could decide on what to do, but in the meantime she could do an ultrasound to get a better look at what was going on inside Daniel’s stomach.

Walking over to the nurse’s station, Janet found that she had to wait more than a few minutes for the ultrasound to be available as it currently was being used somewhere else. Daniel needed the rest. Watching from where she now stood, Janet was happy to see Daniel burrowing his head in the pillow, curling up on his side, his body clearly remembering the pain it recently had been in and wanting to shield itself from further discomfort. He was not in any immediate danger and the meds she’d given him was doing a good job of healing him. He did need that ultrasound though, and Janet tapped her fingers against a convenient table, wanting for it to be ready. At that moment the doors opened and the rest of SG-1 entered and she focused her attention on their exams.

&&&&&

Post-mission exams over, Sam, Teal’c and Jack all gathered around the bed of their sleeping teammate. Daniel was sleeping quietly. “I suggest you follow his example,” Janet said as she found the three of them sitting where she knew they’d be, around Daniel’s bed. “He’ll be sleeping for quite a while.”

“How is he?” Sam asked.

“He was in a lot of pain and feeling very sick to his stomach when he returned, but I’ve given him some strong painkillers and he is resting now. I haven’t got his labs back yet, but it looks like there is an infection in his system in addition to the gallstones. I’ve put him on antibiotics as well as pain relievers and am just waiting for the ultrasound to be available to have a better look at what’s going on.”

“I’ll sit with him; you go get some rest,” Jack said.

“Sir, if you don’t mind, I’d like to sit with him,” Sam argued. “If I may say so, you look exhausted.”

“She’s right, sir. You look tired,” Janet said.

“Okay,” Jack relented. “Carter, you keep an eye on Daniel and T and I will be back later.”

&&&&&

Daniel blinked his eyes open and groaned. Not immediately realising where he was, he stretched a little but immediately curled up again as the stretching caused the pain in his stomach to flare. Rubbing at the painful area, he turned onto his side and blinked at Sam. “Hey.” Clearing his throat, he looked around for something to drink.

“Hey,” Sam said, squeezing his hand in greeting. “How are you feeling?”

“Thirsty,” Daniel replied.

“I’ll see if I can find some water. Hold on.”

A moment later, she was back. “I’m sorry, Daniel. Doc says you can’t have any. You threw up blood earlier, and they don’t want you to take anything by mouth in case you’d throw up again.”

“Mmm,” Daniel sighed, closing his eyes again.

“I guess you’re not in too much pain right now?” Sam said, smiling. Daniel was humming softly and appeared to be doped to the gills.

“Nah, not so much.”

“Feel like talking for a bit?” Sam asked, wanting to bring Daniel up to speed.

“Sure,” Daniel scooted back on the bed, putting the pillows behind his back and bending his legs. “How’d Jack manage the negotiations?”

“It went well. Cully, that’s Tallis’ second in command, came back with us to continue the negotiations here. He and Thor are contacting his people as we speak and Thor are sending some engineers to help fix the Tuberous’ ship.”

“That’s good,” Daniel mumbled, sleepy again.

“Get some sleep,” Sam said, “We’ll talk more later.”

In answer Daniel turned onto his side, burrowed down and slept. Sam smiled and looked around for something to read while she kept watch.

Part eleven