On second thought, maybe keeping busy would serve him for a bit longer. Carson had no desire to conjure up an image of his friends' bodies floating abandoned in space, nor did he need to recall the look in Colonel Sheppard's eyes when he'd at last conceded defeat.
Surely there were some supplies around here somewhere that were due for an inventory.
Seven shelves of medical tape and rubber gloves later, Carson heard the main doors to the infirmary slide open. Stepping out of the supply room, he found two science team members looking around with uncertainty and some trepidation. "How can I help you gentlemen?"
Radek Zelenka rubbed the back of his neck, ruffling unkempt hair as he hesitated. "My head aches," he finally admitted.
For a moment, Carson was oddly grateful to have someone to help, someone within his reach now that two others were beyond it. Instantly he shut down that line of thought. "When did you first notice the pain?"
"About a day."
"And the severity?"
Radek's shrug was muted, as if the motion might exacerbate his discomfort. All he said, though, was, "So far it has been manageable without aspirin."
A bit odd, that. Radek wasn't the squeaky-wheel type, but neither was he overly stoic. "At the risk of treating you like Rodney," asked Carson, "if it's manageable, what's got you concerned enough to come here?"
The Czech aimed a pointed glance at his companion-Dr. Wen, Carson recalled.
"I have noticed a slight headache ever since returning from P7L-418," said Wen.
"And you think there's a connection? Radek, I didn't realize you'd gone off-world with the team."
"I did not." Radek's demeanor was grave. "However, of anyone in the city, Wen and I have spent the most time in contact with the ore."
That was quite a wrinkle. "I see." Having no other response, Carson produced a penlight. Comprehending, Radek took off his glasses to submit to a cursory exami nation. "Pupils are a bit dilated, but not to an alarming degree," Carson noted. "I trust you've locked up the adarite sample?"
"It is in an airlock chamber in the energy lab," Wen assured him.
"Good. I'll want to run some tests of my own on it. Realize, of course, that two people are not enough to be considered much of a pattern." With a reassuring smile, he clapped a hand on Radek's shoulder. "This might be a simple coincidence."
"It might." Radek didn't look at all comforted. "But what was I doing three hours ago?"
"I couldn't begin to guess. Was it something significant?"
"I would not know. I cannot remember."
Carson felt the smile bleed away from his face. If Radek was serious-and he certainly looked serious-this had just escalated from a minor issue to a substantial concern. "Short-term memory loss in addition to the headache. Any other symptoms?" Radek shook his head miserably, and Carson turned to Wen. "And you?"
The engineer shifted from foot to foot. "My memory is intact, I think, but parts of the mission are…fuzzy. One would expect a hostage situation to have some clarity in hindsight."
"All right. Over here." Carson steered Radek over to the Ancient-designed full-body scanner and gestured for him to hop up on the bed. Once the scientist was settled, the machine began mapping him from head to toe. It wasn't long before Carson had enough data to be troubled.
He reached for his earpiece to call the control room. "As soon as all three of them are available, please have Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard, and Dr. McKay meet me in the infirmary. There's a potential new development they need to be aware of."
The image that greeted Rodney upon entering the infirmary was one of Radek and Wen, sitting on neighboring beds and being attended with far more solicitousness than Carson normally showed Rodney. "I'm afraid I'll need to keep you under observation for a while longer," the doctor was telling them. "Anything I can get you to help pass the time?"
With a wounded-puppy look-oh, give me a break, Rodney resisted saying-Radek asked, "Perhaps one of your mother's scones?"
Carson's gaze sharpened. "Don't push your luck."
"What's going on?" Rodney demanded. "Is something wrong with them? And where'd you two hide the adarite?"
Radek rolled his eyes. "Stop. Your heartwarming concern may cause me to weep."
"Well, you're evidently not dying, so excuse me for showing a little pragmatism." A beat later, Rodney glanced at Carson. Couldn't hurt to confirm it, considering the situation. "They're not, right?"
"No, Rodney, I'm fairly sure they'll be fine." Carson paused as the doors opened to admit Elizabeth and, a few strides behind, Sheppard. Both looked like the weight on their shoulders was getting to them. Rodney avoided the Colonel's gaze. Their discussion in the control room still bothered him, for reasons he didn't care to examine.
"What do you need to show us, Carson?" Elizabeth asked, her professional demeanor firmly in place.
"Nothing good, I'm afraid. It appears there may be some side effects caused by exposure to adarite."
"Side effects?" Sheppard's eyebrows climbed. "From a rock?"
"An exceptionally energetic rock," Rodney clarified, already occupied with a cursory self-exam. He'd had contact with the adarite sample. His breathing seemed all right; pulse was a little elevated-
"Relax, Rodney." Carson had noticed his surreptitious checks, or at least his understandable anxiety. "If you feel all right, you are all right. We believe the symptoms are temporary after such a short exposure."
"I'll consider relaxing after you tell me what kind of symptoms you're referring to," Rodney snapped.
"Neurological. Specifically, cognitive deficits." Carson crossed the room to a wall-mounted screen, which displayed a multicolored cross-section of a human brain. "The scanner works a bit like a magnetic resonance machine would on Earth. Among other things, it measures the blood flow and electrical activity in various regions of the brain. These are the hippocampus regions, which control the storage of memories." He pointed to the sides of the image, indicating two groups of bright red and orange splotches. "Here you see a typical level of activity. Neural pathways are being formed, creating memories. Now contrast that with this scan of Radek from this afternoon."
Another image appeared on the screen next to the first. The corresponding areas on the second image were darker, the warm colors replaced by a scattering of blue and green. The sight worried the hell out of Rodney. "I thought you said they were going to be fine! That looks like incremental brain death!"
"It's already beginning to resolve itself," replied Carson, unperturbed.
"Yes," Radek interjected. "For instance, I recall being denied baked goods a few minutes ago."
Elizabeth's forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"Not to worry-that's a perfectly rational statement." Carson sent Radek an exasperated look before continuing. "I've yet to isolate the specific cause, but it appears that some property of adarite inhibits the transition of information from short-term to long-term memory. I'm no manner of neurologist, so I'll need to read up on a few issues. The effects, though, remind me of some older case studies from medical school on electroconvulsive therapy."
"Shock treatment?" Sheppard asked. "That screwed with memory?"
"I've been told that ECT patients often lost a fair amount of time surrounding their sessions. In this case, the adarite may be emitting the equivalent of an electric charge. Not anywhere near as strong as an ECT treatment, I wouldn't think."
Remembering the not-quite-electromagnetic interference he'd detected on the planet, Rodney wasn't so sure. "It's a different type of energy, so comparisons aren't worth much. For all we know, it may spike when the adarite is pressurized," he suggested. "Such as when a whip is powered up. Damn it, there's always a catch, isn't there?"