I thought I heard…
She took a breath and straightened up.
Nothing. It was nothing…
Chapter Ten
“Jennifer?” Laaro held out a sample vial to her. “I was told to give this to you.”
She gave the young boy a quick smile. “Hey, thanks.” Keller turned the tube in her hand and read off the numbers written on the side. Another disappointment.
Her thoughts clearly showed on her face. “I’m sorry,” said Laaro, as if the failure of the test solution was his fault.
“It’s okay,” she told him. “We’ll just try again.”
He watched her work for a moment. “Why did you choose this path, Jennifer?”
“Why did I become a doctor, is that what you mean?” She sighed. “I guess because it’s what I’m best at. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you find a… A path that leads you where you need to go. And along the way you can help people.” Keller paused and gave a self-conscious smirk. “Does that make sense?
Laaro nodded solemnly. “It does. Do you think I could become a healer?”
“I don’t see why not.”
He nodded again, his eyes losing focus. “I… Want to help people. Like you do, like Kullid does.”
Keller realized where this was coming from; Errian’s condition had grown worse over the last day, and Laaro’s fears for his father’s wellbeing were bearing down on him. It was a lot for a child of his age to shoulder.
Kullid approached and the two healers shared a look. “Laaro,” he began, “it’s getting late. You should head home. Jaaya will worry about you.”
“I can help here,” insisted the boy, “at home I can do nothing.”
“You can help your mother,” came the reply. “Go on, go.”
“It’s okay,” Keller added. “We can talk more later.”
Laaro nodded dejectedly and left without another word.
Keller watched the youth go. “It can’t be easy on him,”
“It isn’t easy on anyone,” Kullid said, his kind eyes fatigued. “The sickness touches those who are well as much as those afflicted.”
“We will fix this,” Keller insisted.
“I know you believe that. But I wonder if it is time to seek out another resolution…”
There was a clattering sound from the sick lodge’s doorway, and the wooden slats came open awkwardly. Lieutenant Allan stood there, her face pale. “I, uh…” She took an unsteady step into the room.
Ronon rose quickly from the nearby sleeping pallet where he had been resting. “You all right?”
The officer blinked owlishly. “Not sure,” she slurred. “Everything’s all kinda… Colorful.” Without warning, her legs gave out from under her, and Allan tipped forward, her eyes rolling back into her head, her P90 dropping from her fingers. Ronon was there to grab her before she hit the deck. She gasped and went limp.
Keller was instantly at the woman’s side. “Give her some air,”
“The sickness —” began Kullid.
Jennifer shook her head. “She wasn’t taken.”
Ronon lay the lieutenant down on the pallet and swore beneath his breath. He turned her head and exposed a thin wooden blow dart in the flesh of her neck. “We got trouble.” He went for his weapons, grabbing his gun belt where it lay across a stool.
Kullid removed the dart and sniffed the tip. “Fermented venom from the tepkay serpent. I use it myself to ease the pain of those with severe injuries. It will make her sleep deeply for a few hours.”
Ronon came up with the particle magnum in his hand. “Get away from the doors and windows,” he snapped, blinking away a twinge of pain.
From out of the evening shadows came a hooded figure, advancing slowly on the sick lodge. Keller became aware of more shapes through the slatted windows all around. The patients who had come awake at the sudden commotion shrank back towards the walls.
Jennifer reached out toward Allan’s gun and a voice called out to her. “I wouldn’t do that, Doctor. We don’t want to fill this place any more, do we?”
“Soonir…” She recognized the intonation immediately.
The figure in the doorway glanced at Ronon and folded back the hood; the rebel leader gave him a cold look, as if daring him to shoot.
Keller placed a hand on the Satedan’s arm. “It’s okay.”
“I don’t think so,” Dex grated. “He attacked the lieutenant.”
“She will wake by dawn with an aching head but no other ill-effects,” Soonir replied. “It was necessary to silence your guardian. She would have raised the alarm.”
“What makes you think I won’t?” Ronon stifled a hollow cough.
Soonir studied him. “You have the sickness. You can barely aim that pistol. You’re more likely to injure yourself than me.”
A cold smile crossed Ronon’s lips. “I’m not that sick. But go ahead, try your luck. I could use something to break the boredom.”
“I won’t have violence here!” said Kullid. “This is a place of healing!”
“Quite so,” said Soonir. “And the sickness is what I have come to speak of.” He stepped inside, a pair of men emerging from the branches nearby to flank him.
With a scowl, Ronon let his gun drop away from a firing stance; but he did not return it to its holster.
Soonir glanced at Keller. “The truth is in short supply on Heruun, doctor. Takkol ensures that this is always so. I come to you because I believe you will not deceive me.”
She met his gaze. “You’ve changed your tune. Last time I saw you, you were calling Rodney and me liars.”
Soonir’s face clouded for a moment. “I have since had opportunity to reflect on what took place at the lake. Perhaps I was too quick to draw conclusions.”
“Or maybe you just realized that you’re running out of friends?” offered Ronon.
“The only matter of importance is the freedom of my people,” Soonir replied. “The events unfolding in the skies above our world have shifted the balance of our society and it is reeling! If we are to find any kind of stability, the full truth must be known!”
“And you are the man to tell it?” said Kullid.
The rebel leader shrugged off the cloak he wore. “Who else will do it? Aaren?” He snorted. “Takkol? Doctor Keller, let me ask you. Since the Returned were freed by your Colonel Sheppard, has Elder Takkol come to you, asked you to explain what happened up there?” He stabbed a finger toward the window and the night sky beyond. When Jennifer didn’t reply, he smiled grimly. “No, I thought not. He does not want to know! He is afraid that the threat of the Aegis that backs his rule may be gone!” Soonir came closer, and Ronon moved to interpose himself between them. “I want to know if the rumors are more than fantasy, Doctor! Is the great power in the sky really a falsehood? Is it true that the Aegis is merely a living being like us, not some god or demon?”
Keller gave a slow nod. “What you know as the Aegis is a being called an Asgard. He’s not like us, he’s from a world very far from this one. But his people were extremely advanced. Their science is thousands of years beyond ours.”
Soonir faltered for a moment, taking in her explanation; clearly he had not expected Keller to be so open, so quickly. “You Atlanteans are ranged far beyond the learning of all Heruun, and so if this Asgard dwarfs your knowledge, then it must be great indeed…”
“You said ‘were’ extremely advanced not ‘are’,” noted Kullid. “What happened to them?”
“He’s the last one left of his kind,” said Ronon, with a sneer. “And after what his Risar freaks tried to do to me, if I had my way he’d be as dead as all the rest of them.”
“The last…” echoed Kullid, musing.
“But why did this being take our people?” said one of the rebel guards. Keller thought he looked familiar; she was sure she had seen him at Takkol’s lodge. “Why did it blight us with the sickness?”
“Yes,” said Soonir. “The Taken are Returned and Takkol tells us it will never occur again, but the sickness remains! The curse of the night!” He gestured at the people in the sick lodge.