The lights in Nick's quarters blinked to life as the door to the room slid open. Nick entered, holding his right side as his ribs throbbed with pain. He gingerly lowered himself to a seating position on his bed and slowly raised the right side of his t-shirt which exposed a large purple bruise.
"Great."
Nick probed the area with his left hand until a sharp pain shot through his side.
"Ow.", he groaned as he grew more certain of the probable cause. "Just what I needed."
"Lieutenant Commander.", Syndi's voice sounded through the small cabin, "It appears you have broken your sixth and seventh ribs on your right side, along with some minor internal hemorrhaging."
The A.I.'s voice startled Nick.
"Yes Syndi, that is what it appears. What did you do, scan me when I entered the room?"
"No Lieutenant Commander, I'm simply observing the location of the severe bruising at the same location as your sixth and seventh ribs."
"You require medical attention.", Syndi added. "There is a first aid kit and other medical supplies in Lab 2."
While his ribs were more than a little uncomfortable, Nick had been through much worse in his career.
"Thanks Syndi, I'm alright. This is nothing."
"Lieutenant Commander Sheppard,", the A.I. interjected. "The injury may be more serious than you have determined. I can perform a much more detailed scan if you just go to Lab 2."
If Nick didn't know better, he'd swear there was more than hint of concern in Syndi's tone. The thought that Syndi was worried about him put a slight smile on his face.
"Syndi, really -- I'm good."
"No you're not.", she replied more forcefully. "Severe internal bleeding is considered a leading cause of trauma-associated mortality in humans. If untreated, severe hemorrhaging might lead to organ failure, seizures..."
"Syndi.", Nick interrupted. "Fine, I'll go. But only on the condition that you keep this between you and me."
The last thing he needed was for Jordan to find out he'd broken some ribs during their ride.
There was actually a noticeable pause before the A.I. responded.
"I fail to see why I am making concessions for something that benefits you -- but I agree to the terms."
"Good. Let me check one thing first.", Nick said as he turned slightly toward the computer puck resting on the nearby desk, causing more than a twinge of pain in his side. "Computer. Call Nathan Strong."
Nick knew it was a long shot, standard protocol dictated that Nathan or anyone from the ship would contact Deep Blue the moment they were in communication range and he hadn't heard a word. But with all the recent events, he had to try.
"Come on buddy. Pick up."
After several moments of unanswered communication beeps, the computer responded, "Commander Nathan Strong is unavailable for contact. Would you like to leave a message that would be transmitted as soon as communications are established?"
"No."
The Lieutenant Commander rose from the bed and slowly straightened himself to full height. Nick found it funny that he was conceding to the request of an A.I., a computer. That was something he very rarely ever did, but in this case the constant pounding in his side convinced him that she was probably right.
"Okay doc.", Nick said. "Let's head to lab 2."
"I am not the doctor.", Syndi replied with a hint of confusion in her artificial voice. "Doctor Marshal is in his quarters. Are you certain you didn't hit your head?"
"No Syndi, I didn't hit my head.", Nick chuckled as he headed for Lab 2. "I'll see you in the Lab.", Nick remarked knowing he didn't have a choice. He knew Syndi would be there waiting for him.
Nick entered the darkened observation lab and instantly commanded, "Syndi, give me some light."
But the room remained in its darkened state. Other than dim running lights that illuminated the bottom of the desks and cabinets the room's main source of light remained the crystal resting on the table, still encased in its clear sphere.
"I'm sorry Lieutenant Commander, but Doctor Marshal has requested that the lights in Lab 2 remain off, due to Eugene's sensitivity to light."
"Perfect.", Nick muttered. "I guess we'll do this in the dark then."
Nick peered slowly around the room, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the environment. Even in the room's darkened state, Nick could make out the two lab tables in the center of the room. One of which held the crystal and a variety of apparatus currently attached to it. He could see the forms of the cabinets lining the walls even if the details were obscured. On the far side of the room, along the exterior wall, was the observation tube that held Eugene. There was no motion in the tube, just a large dark silhouette collapsed at the bottom. The only movement came from a small stream of bubbles that aerated the water inside the tube.
"The medical supplies are in cabinet F to your left.", Syndi instructed. "It's the cabinet above the sink."
But Syndi's statement went unheard by Nick, whose attention was focused directly on the tall clear tube and its motionless occupant. The Lieutenant Commander slowly made his way across the room toward the enclosure. He felt somehow drawn toward it, pulled by more than just mere curiosity.
"The sink is to your left, Lieutenant Commander.", the A.I. prodded noting that he was still very much off course.
Before Nick even realized it, he found himself standing in front of the observation tube, a mere foot or two away from the clear enclosure. The tube's guest, it's prisoner, was collapsed at the bottom in a semi-spiraled mass as it's tail curved around the outer diameter of the glass. Both of his arms appeared to be protecting his right side and area darkened by a massive bruise-like mass beneath them. The discoloration was larger than Nick remembered the last time he saw it.
The creature stared at Nick with huge reflective eyes, but his gaze held no anger or animosity. They studied Nick, observing his every move. But he seemed weaker than before. Exhausted.
"According to the doc, you're not an alien.", Nick said still unsure that he believed that himself. "He's got some crazy theory that we're basically related somehow. Maybe not 'long lost Uncle Charlie' related, but from a genetic standpoint."
Nick studied the creature's oversized eyes and face. The bumpy ridges that encircled his head. His sharp jaw line. He would swear there was a hint of a smile on his lips.
The Lieutenant Commander shook his head, "I don't know if I buy that. But I think I would have liked to have met under difference circumstances."
Getting a closer look at Eugene's damaged ribs Nick gently prodded the area around his own, which still throbbed with pain that Nick was trying his best to ignore.
"I know how you feel.", Nick said placing his hand over his side. "It hurts like Hell doesn't it."
Eugene noticed Nick's hand movement and tilted his head slightly to the side. With a swish of his tail, he attempted to raise himself from the bottom of the tube, causing Nick to take a small step backward.
"Whoa now. No need to get excited."
Eugene winced during the move and didn't quite reach his full upright height, but he was now tall enough to meet Nick face-to-face. He stared at Nick's side and gave a slight nod to the location as if to ask, "What's up?", before returning his gaze back to Nick's face.
Nick nodded and smiled. "Yeah. We're in the same boat.", he said as he gingerly raised his shirt to expose a large purple bruise. "Only I didn't crash my boat to get mine."
Truth be told, pulling off the tandem dive with Jordan probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, and he wondered if it was all worth it. At least Eugene was defending his territory his home.
"But there was no need to defend it.", Nick thought to himself. "I wasn't acting aggressively, I hadn't fired a shot. As it turned out, I couldn't fire a shot if I wanted to."
"What were you doing down there?", Nick finally asked aloud. "Why did you have to go and shoot at me?"
Eugene's head made an immediate move back and to the side as he gave a very confused look. It was almost as if the creature had some understanding of what Nick was saying, and thinking.
"Why did you shoot?", Nick repeated.
The creature very clearly shook his head from side to side motioning a negative response.
"No?", Nick said in disbelief. "No?! Then what do you call all those big rock disintegrating bubbles?", Nick asked holding his hands out in a spherical shape.
The creature then quickly raised his left hand in a tightly clinched fist.
Nick thought for at moment that he was going to try to throw a punch or pound on the clear tube to break his way out.
But instead, Eugene wrapped his other hand securely around his fist. The webbing on his right hand fingers virtually obscuring the entire fist from view. He paused, only for an instant, as if thinking of how to best illustrate his point, before explosively expanding his hands apart for a moment, then slamming them back together.
"Right. Boom.", Nick said before mimicking the exploding gesture with his own hands. "Why the boom?"
"Lieutenant Commander Sheppard, you still need to be scanned for possible internal hemorrhaging.", Syndi reminded him.
"In a minute Syndi.", Nick snapped as he had a very sudden realization. "Wait a minute.", the motions Eugene was making weren't random, they were specific, they were choreographed.
Eugene then moved his hands in unison quickly to his side, but an obvious stab of pain ended the pantomime as both the creature's hands clutched his darkened side as he fell back to the bottom of the tube.
"Wait a minute! What the Hell was that?!", Nick said shocked at what had just occurred. Frozen motionless with what he had just witnessed, and what it could possibly mean. "Can you understand me?"
"Most likely better than you can understand him.", Doctor Marshal said as he entered the darkened lab.
Nick whirled around, the stab of pain caused by the twisting motion made Nick quickly regret the move. But he tried his best not to let it show.
"Doc, can he understand us?!"
The Doctor smiled, "I'm pretty sure he gets the basics of whatever we're trying to say. Most of the time. As far as I can tell, we're the ones coming up short in the conversation department."
"How?", Nick asked in disbelief.
"Well, I've got a theory that there seems to be some kind of --mental connection he's able to pick up on."
"You mean he can read our minds?!"
"That's probably taking things a little far.", the Doctor replied. "It's more like he can deduce the general meaning of whatever it is you're trying to say. It's like someone who just barely speaks another language."
"He can read our minds.", Nick reiterated with a look of shear disbelief.
The doctor stared at Nick briefly, "You just don't listen to a word I say do you?"
"Syndi, give me an update on our guest here.", the Doctor requested as he tapped on the clear surface of the tube activating a display of data to be projected on the exterior of the tube.
"Eugene's breathing is getting shallower and more erratic.", the A.I. reported. "His heart rate and blood pressure are slowly, but steadily increasing."
"He's getting worse.", stated the doctor.
"I thought he was fine.", Nick said. "Other than the busted ribs. Yesterday you said he was fine."
"Yeah well, apparently the ribs did more damage that we initially thought. There appears to be internal hemorrhaging that's making things worse. It's slow, but bad enough. Look at his side.", the doctor said motioning to the large dark area around Eugene's ribs.
"Bad enough?", Nick echoed. "Bad enough for what?"
"We can't treat it.", the doctor said as he finished reviewing the readout on the tube exterior. "He's dying."
The doctor then tapped the clear surface one last time causing the readout to flicker away.
Nick stood motionless as the doctor turned and made his way to the lab table holding the crystal where he began checking various readouts on the surrounding devices.
Syndi then chimed in, "Yes, internal hemorrhaging can be severe enough to cause death if not treated properly."
"Yes. I see that.", Nick replied knowing her comment was directed at him. "Thanks Syndi."
"Even from something as simple as broken ribs.", the A.I. added.
"Syndi.", Nick cut her off. "Thank you."
"What are you two carrying on about?", the doctor asked without pulling his attention away from his apparatus.
"Nothing.", Nick said before changing the topic. "So you can't operate on him?"
"We can't get him out of that container.", the doctor clarified. "We wouldn't survive ten seconds at his pressure, and he wouldn't survive ten at ours. We live in incompatible worlds."
Nick stared down at Eugene who lay curled at the bottom of the containment tube.
"So what's the plan then?"
"The plan?", the Doctor scoffed.
"Yeah, there's got to be something we can do.", Nick declared.
"Sure.", the Doctor nodded. "We can do our best to keep him alive until the rescue party gets here."
"But we don't even know for sure that anyone is coming."
The doctor was busy studying the data that had been collected from the crystal over the past several hours. The crystal showed no signs of degradation. The containment sphere was doing it's job and the energy readings were off the charts.
"Fascinating.", the doctor remarked.
But the doctor's interest in the crystal only grew the Lieutenant Commander's frustration.
"Doc.", Nick said more forcefully. "What if nobody comes?"
"Calm down Sheppard.", the doctor replied. "Lets review. He crashed. We get a visit from a -- drone or scout or whatever it was. He has a full on conversation with somebody, then the drone disappears back the way it came."
The doctor smiled, "Trust me Sheppard. Somebody's on their way. The only question is, when will they get here."
The doc continued adjusting settings on the various pieces of equipment hooked up to the crystal. "There's really no way to tell how long it will take. I imagine they'll need to gather resources, maybe a special ship or team of -- well them. There's so much we don't know. But if I had to make a blind guess, I'd say we're probably looking at tomorrow before we have to be too concerned."
"Doc -- has that ever happened before?", Nick asked motioning to the tank.
Doctor Marshal turned around to find the necklace around Eugene's neck had once again started flashing. Eugene held the necklace in his hand and smiled.
"Or, it could be sooner.", the Doctor replied.
"Syndi...", the doctor called out, but the A.I. had already begun her report.
"Doctor there is a very large object approaching the station from below. It's currently 1,000 meters out and headed directly toward us. It will ascend above Deep Blue's location in approximately 50 seconds."
"How big are we talkin'?", asked the doctor.
"According to the sonar image the object appears to be approximately the size of the station itself."
"The size of the station?!", Nick repeated in disbelief.
The doctor tapped the lab tabletop closing any open interfaces and quickly made his way toward the door.
"Syndi, have the Commander meet us in the Moon Pool, immediately."
"Yes, Doctor."
Nick still hadn't moved from his position in front of the observation tube.
"Sheppard, are you comin'?", the doctor called without so much as turning his way.