Martha Wells - Entanglement

"That was your job, Lome." John was too tired and drugged and in pain to put this any other way but bluntly. "If you'd done anything else, I would've been really pissed off."

Lorne looked relieved. "Thanks, sir, I-"

Then Beckett stepped out of a cabin down the corridor, spotted them, and waved his PDA in exasperation. "Bloody hell, will you lot get back in your beds?"

Rodney turned toward him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was the sick bay, but obviously it's the brig."

While Rodney and Beckett were arguing, John decided lying down again wasn't such a bad idea. He was halfway to his room when he realized why Ronon was following him around. He stopped, looking up at him. "Ronon. You don't have to guard us here."

Ronon looked away, fixing his eyes on some invisible point down the corridor. "I've heard the others say the commander of this ship doesn't like you."

"Uh." John stared at him. The corridor was currently empty, but this wasn't a good place for this conversation, or to explain John and Caldwell's personal issues. And John wasn't thrilled to realize there were rumors about it. "That's kind of complicated. But it's not like-It doesn't mean you have to stand guard here. It doesn't work like that, with us."

Ronon shrugged a little. "I don't mind." He looked down at John finally, and he looked tired and young. "Even if you don't think there's a need."

"Look, just find somewhere to get some rest." This was a little too complicated for John to deal with right now, and he wasn't going to stand here and argue with Ronon until somebody overheard them. "We'll talk about it later, okay?"

Ronon shrugged again. Deciding to take that for an assent, John went down the corridor. He found his treatment room, and started the lengthy process of climbing back onto the narrow bed.

Rodney came in, dropping into the only chair and opening his laptop. He said briskly, "Carson wants a full debrief on the Eidolon when you're all more conscious."

"We don't have that much information." John eased down, propping his knee back up on the pillows. Yeah, this was a much better place to be. He had forgotten to hang the IV bag on the stand, and it was too much trouble to do it now, so he just left it on his chest.

Rodney huffed in annoyance, got up, hung the IV bag back on the hook, then sat down again. "I think he thinks that there's some kind of clue there for a weapon against the Wraith."

"Weapon?" John frowned at the metal ceiling. "Like what?"

"Something chemical, that stops them from being able to feed." Rodney made a vague gesture, frowning at the laptop's screen. "I have no idea. I don't listen to his medical babble."

"Yeah, but the Eidolon had been looking for that for years," John pointed out. "Centuries. And their technology was pretty good."

"Whatever. It's an area that needs further research anyway," Rodney said, or something like that. John was already falling asleep again.