STARGATE SG-1: Do No Harm (34 page)

“Please ensure General Hammond receives this as soon as he returns from Washington.”

“I’ll hand it to him personally,” Harriman promised. “And if he calls in I’ll read it to him over the phone.”

He nodded. “Thank you. Is Doctor Zola in his laboratory?”

“I don’t know,” said Harriman with an apologetic shrug. “You know what it’s like, Teal’c. I don’t get out of here much. But I’m pretty sure he’s on the base, if that’s any help.”

“Thank you,” he said again, and went in search of the SGC’s second-best physicist.

Marcel Zola was in his lab, poring over a long strip of computer printout. He looked up distractedly when he realized he
wasn’t alone, his green eyes bleary behind their glasses. “Teal’c!
Can I help you?”

Teal’c shrugged himself out of the back-pack and dumped it on the desk. “These are samples of Adjoan naquadah. I require them to be tested for quality immediately. General Hammond urgently requires the information.”

Zola’s puffy, stubbled face lit up. “Adjoan naquadah?” he breathed. “So the mission’s a success? That’s fantastic, Teal’c. Congratulations.”

“The mission has yet to be completed, Doctor,” he pointed out. “Congratulations at this point are premature.” When Zola’s face fell, he relented. “But I believe this naquadah to be of excellent quality. It is my hope the mission will succeed in due course. Please. Commence your testing.”

“You got it, Teal’c,” said Zola, and promptly forgot he wasn’t alone.

Leaving the scientist to his work he made his way to the infirmary, where he found Doctor Fraiser examining the partially-healed wound in Captain Ariel Lee’s thigh.

“Hey, Teal’c,” the doctor greeted him. “Back so soon?”

“I have brought samples of raw naquadah for testing,” he explained. “Now I must return to Adjo, but I wished to take more medical supplies with me.” He nodded to Lee. “Captain. It would appear you are healing satisfactorily.”

Captain Lee nodded, smiling. “Yeah. I’m not doing too bad.”

“I’ll just be a few minutes here, Teal’c,” said Doctor Fraiser. “You can wait in my office.”

“Of course. Captain Lee.”

Doctor Fraiser joined him a short time later. Perching on the edge of her cluttered desk, hands shoved into her lab coat pockets, she raised her eyebrows. “You need more medical supplies? Why? Is there a situation I should know about?”

He shook his head. “No, Doctor. Although Major Carter has sustained some minor injuries in a fall.”

Doctor Fraiser straightened. “What do you mean
minor
?”

“She has some contusions, abrasions and a mild concussion.”

“
What
? Teal’c, there’s no such thing as mild concussion! All concussions are
brain damage
. Why didn’t she come back here with you so I could examine her?”

“She did not wish to,” he said simply. “She assured Colonel O’Neill she was competent to continue her duties.”

“Yeah, like she’d know. Or
he
would,” Doctor Fraiser muttered. “Idiots, the pair of them. You tell them from me that I want to see Sam in my infirmary if she’s not one hundred percent okay by this time tomorrow. Clear?”

“I shall inform them. But it is not for Major Carter that I require the medical supplies. The people of Adjo have no medicines of their own. Colonel O’Neill believes — ”

“Don’t tell me, let me guess. He wants to use our medical expertise as a bargaining tool?” She blew out a sharp breath. “Oh, boy. He and I are going to — ” Then her expression shifted from anger to puzzlement. “No medicines, did you say? How is that possible? Even the most primitive cultures develop rudimentary — ”

“Yes,” he replied. “Daniel Jackson was equally surprised. Perhaps it is a mystery you can solve together. However, for now — ”

“Yes, yes, you want to get back,” she said. “Come on. Let’s raid the supply room.”

She helped him fill a fresh back-pack with testing kits, antiobiotics, bandages, antibiotic cream, analgesics and antiseptic wipes, then walked with him to the gate room. As Sergeant Harriman opened a wormhole to Adjo she stood by his side at the base of the ramp.

“Remember what I said, okay? I want Sam back here the minute it looks like the concussion was more than
mild
.”

“You have my word, Doctor, if I have to carry her here myself.”

She grinned at him. “And you would, too. Safe journey.”

“Thank you, Doctor Fraiser.”

He walked into the wormhole.

The moment he stepped back through to Adjo he saw Lotar, crumpled on the ground beside the DHD. He was beside her in four swift strides.

“Lotar! Lotar, what has happened? Are you ill?”

As gently as he could he took the girl by the shoulders and rolled her over. When he saw her face he recoiled in horror. It was thickly covered in weeping boils. They marred her forehead, her cheeks, her throat, and disappearing beneath the neck of her linen dress. Her eyelids were crusted with yellow matter, her nostrils clotted with old dried blood. A hint of fresh blood glinted and the warm air rattled in her throat.

“Lotar!” he said again. “Lotar, can you not hear me?”

With a painful effort she opened her eyes. “Teal’c,” she whispered, her voice raw. “Flee. Flee. Tell Bhuiku I love him. Tell him I am sorry.”

Her eyes closed again. Appalled, Teal’c rested her gently on the ground and opened another wormhole to Earth.

“This is Teal’c,” he said through his radio. “I must speak with Doctor Fraiser immediately.”

“
Stand by
,” said Sergeant Harriman. “
I’m paging her to the control room now
.”

It seemed longer than an age before he heard Janet Fraiser’s voice. “
Teal’c, what’s wrong? What’s happened
?”

“Doctor Fraiser, I have a medical emergency. A young Adjoan
woman. She is covered in a noxious rash. I request a medical team stand by as I bring her — ”

“
No, Teal’c! You can’t bring her through to the SGC
.
New protocols, remember? No unidentified and potentially untreatable pathogen or its carrie
r may be brought to Earth from any offworld location
.”

He had forgotten. But surely, in this case… “Doctor Fraiser, this young woman assisted SG-1. I must assist her. She is suffering. Possibly dying.”

“
Teal’c, I’m sorry, but my hands are tied. The orders
come from General Hammond via the White House
.”

“Then can you not come here? If you wore a Hazmat suit — ”

“
No, the ban extends both ways until the pathogen’s been identified, remember? Look. Have you got a camera? Can you film her and send me the footage?
Maybe I can advise some kind of temporary treatment while I work something out with General Hammond
.”

It was an excellent suggestion. Unfortunately… “No. Daniel Jackson has our camera.”

“
Then we’
ll send you through a MALP. Get her in front of it and activate the video feed
.”

Of course. Distress had robbed his mind of clarity. Bra’tac would be sternly disapproving if he knew.

“Yes, Doctor Fraiser.” Slumped at his feet, the girl Lotar moaned softly. “Please. Do not make me wait for long.”

He knelt to gather her in his arms. At his touch she moaned again, almost weeping. In its pouch his symbiote writhed, as though sensing the illness that ravaged the young woman.

Ignoring it, ignoring everything but the need to give what little comfort he could, Teal’c held Lotar lightly, frightened that even a gentle touch might cause her pain.

“Be brave, Lotar,” he whispered. “We will not abandon you.”

The outgoing wormhole collapsed. Nearly twenty minutes later, an eternity of time, an incoming wormhole erupted into life… and soon after that the SGC sent him a MALP.

“Okay,” said Sergeant Harriman, still damp from his decontamination scrubdown. “Now that’s just gross.”

Janet, equally damp, repressed the urge to smack him as she stared at the MALP footage of the sick girl feeding back to them from Adjo.

Teal’c’s right. This Lotar is in serious trouble.

“My first thought is that it looks like one of the poxes,” she said into the mike. “Chickenpox. Smallpox. Some kind of systemic viral infection. Who’s she been in contact with in the last four to five days, Teal’c?”

“
To the best of my knowledge, Doctor, she has seen no-one but us,”
Teal’c replied over his radio.
“Lotar has been alone, carrying out a pre-marriage ritual
.”

So if he was right that meant whatever disease this was, it had an extended incubation period. Or was it airborne? Her belly churned queasily.

“Teal’c, you said this girl assisted you. How long did SG-1 spend in her company?”

“
Doctor Fraiser, are you suggesting they have been infected and will succumb to the same disease
?”

Please no, please no. “I’m suggesting it’s a possibility.”

“
Lotar guided us back to her village from the
Stargate. It was a journey of some nine hours in total, but we were forced to stop at nightfall and sleep in the woods
.”

Oh, wonderful. “Teal’c, I’m going to send you through a blood kit and some skin swabs. Take a blood sample first, then swab her lesions so we can test them for viral and bacterial infections. Three different sites. Once you’re done send everything back to me. I’ll analyze it and hopefully identify her illness.”

“And if you cannot?”

“Yeah, well, let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Hold on.” She hit the gate room intercom and looked down at her chief nurse, waiting at the foot of the gate ramp. “Go ahead, Liz. Teal’c?” she added, turning back to the MALP’s microphone. “The equipment’s coming through now. As soon as you’ve got it we’ll disengage from our end.”

Waiting while Liz sent Teal’c what he needed, Janet chewed at her bottom lip and focused on not letting her imagination run away with her.

I used to be a whole lot better at keeping the damned thing under control. It’s this place
. It breeds medical nightmares
.

“Doctor Fraiser…” said Walter. He sounded as worried as she felt. “Teal’c may be immune to whatever this is, but the rest of SG-1 is human.”

And today’s award for stating the blindingly obvious goes to
…
“Sergeant, we don’t know what’s going on yet so please — let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“No, ma’am,” said Walter, chastened. “Sorry.”

She patted his shoulder. “It’s okay.”

Eventually the Stargate engaged again. First they received SG-1’s iris code, then the blood sample and skin swabs. As Liz rushed them to the lab, Janet radioed Teal’c. “Got them. Thanks.”

“
Doctor Fraiser, how long will it take to identify the pathogen that is making Lotar sick
?”

“I don’t know, Teal’c.”

“Then what should I do? There is nowhere near the Sta
rgate for Lotar to be housed. If you could advise me which of the medical supplies you gave me might ease her immediate discomfort I can assist her, but she cannot remain here and neither can I. I must ascertain the status of SG-1.”

Of course. “Can you radio them?”

“Mennufer is out of range.”

“And it’s the closest village to your location?”

“Yes.”

Dammit. What the hell were the Goa’uld thinking, setting up a Stargate in the middle of nowhere?
Oh well. It could be worse. At least Teal’c’
s a competent field medic
.
But if someone had only listened to me they’d have a doctor on the team and
…

No. No. She didn’t have time to think about that. Washington’s
refusal to consider her proposal would, in due course, be the subject of a pointed memo. But right now…

“Okay, Teal’c,” she said. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll send you a camp bed and a portable awning so you can keep the patient comfortable and out of direct sunlight. Then you’ll give her one 5mg ampoule of morphine, into the upper arm. You’ll also need to set up an i/v with saline, I’ll send that to you and talk you through the procedure. Then we’ll get her onto penicillin, after you’ve done an allergy scratch test. Don’t worry, I’ll talk you through that too. And while the lab’s testing the blood and skin swabs I’ll get a hold of General Hammond and see what we can do about bringing her through to the SGC or at least letting a medical team onto Adjo. That way you’ll be free to find SG-1 and bring them up to speed.”

“Thank you, Doctor Fraiser.
I shall now disengage the wormhole and await those further supplies.”