NIGHT DWELLER, Part 2
by Becky S.
Julia examined her diaglove and the sample of blood that she had taken from him. "It will most likely last from about four to five days," she finally concluded.
"Four to five *days*?" Morgan squeeked. He didn't like the prospect of hanging around a large man of six foot three who wouldn't be getting enough sleep... and would probably be in a particularly bad mood.
"Can he even survive that long without sleep?" Alonzo, the resident professional sleeper, inquired.
"The majority of humans can survive from two weeks to five days without sleep," Yale supplied.
"And what happens after that?" Baines asked. "After that, you don't have much of a choice. You'll halucinate, you won't be able to function properly, and eventually, you *will* fall asleep." Then the doctor addressed the mechanic, "How do you feel? Nothing unusual besides being drowsy? Do you feel confused or disoriented?"
"Nah," he replied, "should I?"
Julia smiled, "I would hope not. I just want to make sure that there aren't any other side affects." Danziger nodded and leaned all of his weight against against the side of the crate behind him. He couldn't help yawning. "Don't worry," Julia assured him, "I can give you stimulants for the first two days to help you stay awake, but after that it would probably be too dangerous to your health."
"Why is that?" Danziger asked absently, trying to stifle another yawn. "I don't want to alter your system any more than I have to," the doctor explained. "Too much of *any* substance can be damaging." Morgan rolled his eyes and thought, *who didn't know THAT all ready?*
"Dad! Dad! Guess what!" True exclaimed, running up to her father and jumping into his lap.
A breathless Bess ran up from behind her, "True! True! I told you to wait for me, True!" she cried.
"Dad! Bess and I were getting fire wood on our walk and... What's wrong?" she asked, suddenly noticing the solemn faces on the other adults.
Danziger's reply started with a question, "You know how Devon and I went to get water from that lake that's a about a five minute walk that way?" He indicated the direction to his right by waving his hand. True nodded. "Well, there was this little critter there who apparently didn't want us hanging around, so he nipped me."
"Why?" True asked, "What kind of critter was it?" "We don't know, True," Devon told her, "It was too small and too fast. It wasn't exactly a 'critter' though. The majority of 'critters' I've seen aren't furry," Devon gave Danziger a scolding glance before continuing.
Julia picked up where Devon had left off, "When it bit your father, he got infected with its saliva, and know he has to stay awake for a few days."
"Why is everyone so upset? Why would the animal bite Dad? What's going *on*??" True demanded, close to histeria.
Bess apologized to Devon under her breath, "I'm sorry. I tried to keep her away from camp, but she found this rock that she wanted to show her dad and..."
"I know, Bess, it's all right," Devon assured her, "True would have to find out sooner or later, right?"
Danziger laughed, "Calm down, True-girl, it's nothing serious. Your dad's just gonna be grumpy for a few days."
Julia sighed in relief when True accepted this brief explanation. Rememebering her discovery, True began to give her tired father an excited recount of her busy day.
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"Danziger?" Devon called, addressing the pair of legs sticking out from behind the Transrover.
BAM! "Ow!" Danziger complained. "Geez, Adair, don't startle people like that!" Danziger crawled out from his comfortable position, rubbing his forehead, to give his boss a withering look. Devon didn't respond. He noted with some disgust that she looked as if she were trying to keep from laughing. "Can I help you, Adair? Or do you just enjoy making a fool outta me?" he grumbled.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I was just thinking..." Danziger forced himself not to make any snarky comments, "...should you be working on the vehicles? You've been infected by a wild animal; I hardly see how your mind can stay completely focused on your work."
*Yeah, but somehow you don't have any porblems staying focused on...* *Shut up!* Danziger snarled at the voice from the back of his mind. John's eyes widened a bit, *Geez, maybe this serum is getting to me more than I thought.*
"Danziger?" Devon repeated when he didn't answer her. He snapped to attention. "Adair, I can put this thing together with my eyes closed," he said.
Devon gingerly placed her hand on the sore area of Danziger's head. "Looks to me like your eyes probably *were* closed," she tilted her head expectantly.
Danziger pulled away from her hand and mumbled, "I was just taking a break..."
Now Devon seemed truly concerned, "*John*" she warned, "Coma-tose, do you know what that means?"
" 'Course I know what it means," he replied, almost indignantly. "Do you want to *be* comatose, John?" He gave an exasperated sigh. "We can't take those kinds of risks here! We don't have the medical equipment..."
"We can't take risks!?" he exclaimed in disbelief. "You drag your son 22 light years across the galaxy and dump us on this planet filled with all these weirdos, and you don't call that *risky*???" He knew that he wasn't being fair, that there was no way that Devon could have known about the natives or penal colonists or Council plans... but he was angry, and he was tired.
"John, there *are* risks on this trip. *You knew that* when you signed up! We don't need people endangering themselves further... *especially* not our only mechanic." *Especially not John...* she thought, briefly. Devon ignored those thoughts comepletely, as she always had... except with Uly's father and with Sheppard, and where had that gotten her? She continued, "We don't have the medical equipment here necessary to care for someone who's coma-tose... not for an undetermined period of time. We don't have the equipment we had on the Stations."
"Back on the Stations, I didn't have the money to *pay* for the use of the equipment we had..." Devon felt a glimmer of sympathy for the Ops Chief. The sympathy immediately faded, however, when he growled and added, "...and I got by, didn't I?"
"All right, John, if that's what you want... I'm sure that True will enjoy having a brain-dead parent," she replied cooly and stormed away.
The painful memory of Elle jolted through his mind, "Make that *two* brain-dead parents, Adair..." he mumbled to her receding back. Reluctantly, he put his equipment away and wandered away from the 'Rover. He had a long night ahead of him; he needed to find something to do.
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"Dad?" True asked gingerly, not wanting to disturb her father. "Mmmm?" he mumbled, not moving from his position or looking up. "Are you all right?" she inquired, concern apparant in her voice. "I'm fine, True. You get to bed now, it's late," he said sleepily. His voice was muffled by his sleeve, which was where he was resting his head.
True couldn't help smiling, "Dad, it's morning," she told him. "Huh? What?" he asked groggily. He finally raised his head from the crook of his arm in order to look around.
True gave him a suspicious glare, "Dad, you weren't trying to sleep, were you?"
He mumbled a reply, "No, True-girl, I was just resting... sorry, but I got a little confused.. being up all night..."
"Danziger, how are you feeling?" Devon asked, interrupting him. "Uuhhh..." Danziger started, still trying to orient himself. "I'm okay. For the first night, it wasn't so bad . . . I don't think I would have made it if you hadn't assigned alternating baby-sitters for me, though," he muttered sarcastically. Devon had put one extra person on guard for every shift that night, to keep an eye on him.
"Yes, well, I'm on duty tonight," she said, pretending not to notice his tone.
"*Anyway*, what can I do for you, True-girl?" he asked his daughter, who had been waiting for the chance to finish talking.
"Nothing, I just wanted to see if you were okay," she said, turning to leave. Danziger smiled after her. *I'm so lucky to have a kid like her* he thought.
"You survived without the stimulants?" Devon asked critically. "Yeah. I told you, I'm fine," he insisted. "All right," she sighed and walked off. Danziger slowly pulled himself to his feet. He was so tired! It was going to be slow going for him today. He had insisted to Devon that they keep moving, at least for the first day. John hated slowing people down and he hated being looked after... most of the time, anyways. He found himself following Devon with his eyes, before he caught himself and looked away.
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Danziger gazed up at the stars. It was a beautiful night. The sedative part of the toxin had finally worn off, and he now found it easier to stay awake. Well, as easy as a person would normally find it to stay awake after they hadn't had any sleep for almost two days. His mind drifted back to his life on the stations, to True, to their arrival on this planet. Soon, he wasn't really thinking, just caught in a reverie, staring up at the sky. When the image of Devon pushed its way into his thoughts, he quickly shoved it aside and looked over at his current "baby-sitter."
Morgan Martin fiddled with the controls of the magpro nervously. He jumped when he accidentally activated it, and quickly powered it down. He felt his face grow hot under John's scolding glare. He cursed that animal and this planet for robbing him of his much needed sleep. *He* wasn't the one with the toxin in his brain, why did *he* have to stay up? He just wanted to back to his tent with Bess. He kept glancing towards the other tents, when was the next person going to come and relieve his shift?
John saw how uncomfortable Morgan was, but couldn't bring himself to apologize. He checked his watch, the next "baby-sitter" was late. John couldn't wait until someone came to replace Morgan... he'd settle for *anyone*... well, that is, anyone but...
"Sorry I'm late, I had to be quiet to keep from waking Uly." John just barely stopped himself from groaning when the farmiliar female voice called out from behind him. Devon Adair appeared before them, accepting the magpro that Morgan had eagerly given up, and asssuming his position on the crate.
"It's gonna be a long night," John thought as he turned away from the light of the fire. He pulled a piece of machinery out of his pocket and pretended to fiddle with it.
"So, how are you holding up? Did you take a stimulant?" she asked. She shifted her position and fixed up the fire with a stick.
Danziger shook his head, "I'm doing fine," he assured her. He gave her a grim smile, " 'Sides, what do I need a drug for when I have all of you wonderful baby-sitters to look after me?" Devon looked at him but didn't reply. "Thanks," he added as sincerly as he could. "I feel like dead wood here taking up everybody's time like this," he admitted.
Devon finally gave him a sympathetic smile. "That's all right, John. We all have to look after everyone here."
Danziger noted with some disgust that she was giving him her, "Let's all stick together," speech. "Is there a hidden message there, Adair?" he asked in an accusing tone.
Devon tried her best to keep her temper, "No, Danziger, I was trying to be sincere. Why can't you just accept that? I'm not a monster, John."
Danz almost snickered when an image of Devon as the Wicked Witch of the West flashed through his mind. But he shook it off. He *was* being unfair to her, he realised. He mumbled an apology, which she accepted. He stared into space, and realised that, for some reason unknown to him, he felt angry. He was angry at Devon, or maybe at himself. Maybe this was one of those "side effects" that Julia was worried about. Should he tell her in the morning? He looked up at Devon again, and couldn't help noticing how the fire reflected off her face. Then he looked away again, frustrated with himself. He hadn't been any sleep, he told himself, so he couldn't possibly be thinking straight. He needed to get out there to collect his thoughts. "Adair, I think I need to take a walk," he told her. He immediately understood her reluctance to let him leave, and assured her that he wouldn't fall asleep.
"All right, just, be careful," she repeated the phrase that she often said when granting him "permission" to do something.
"Don't worry, I will," he said, quickly rising to his feet. He immediately staggered and he felt the world around him spin. In panic, he grabbed onto the edge of the the crate nearest to him.
Devon sprang to her feet, "Are you all right? What's wrong?" She rushed over to him, and helped steady him by grabbing his arm. He was still too dizzy to take a step, and stood, waiting for the spinning to stop. When the feeling didn't go away, he sat back down and closed his eyes. "Are you all right?" Devon repeated when he opened them again.
"Yeah, but I don't think I'll be walking very far tonight," he said. His rested his head against the side of crate behind him. For a few minutes they simply sat in silence.
"So, what do you usually do all night?" Devon asked, glancing over at Baines, who was on guard duty that night.
"Anything to keep busy," he replied. He showed her the piece of machinery, "I build stuff and then take it apart again." Devon stared at the object, she obviously expected him to continue. "Whenever 'Lonz, Magus, or Walman's out here we..." a fiendish grin spread across his face, "Hey, Adair, have you ever played poker?" he asked.
Author's Chapter Notes:
All right, I've made this installment over eight screenfulls... can anyone tell me what the "limit" is before AOLers have to download?