Word Count:
17,048
Rating:
PG13.
Category:
AU. Angst. Teen-fic.
Story Status:
Complete
Summary:
Seasons 1
& 2. Basically, they arrive on Atlantis and there's
this
genius, pain in the neck teenager who's already laid claim to the place
prior to their arrival!
Author's Notes:
Where full names are known, I have used
them. Where full names are not known (in canon), I have
refrained
from making them up.
Thanks:
Thank you to Jayne Perry for the beta-reading and to Helix Nebula for the wonderful cover art.
Gifted Castaway
By Leesa Perrie
Chapter One,
Chapter Two,
Chapter Three,
Addendum
Cover art by Helix Nebula, check out her LiveJournal for
more art.
----------------
“I'm a
nightmare, a disaster
That's what they'd
always say
I'm a lost cause, not a
hero
But I'll make it on my
own
I've gotta prove them
wrong”
Lyrics from
‘Me Against the World’ by Simple Plan
----------------
Chapter One – The
Genius Misfit
The Atlantis Expedition, headed by Dr Elizabeth Weir, and with Colonel
Marshall Sumner as Chief Military Officer, Dr Carson Beckett as Chief
Medical Officer and Dr Radek Zelenka as Chief Science Officer, entered
the lost city of Atlantis, to find that it was powered up and sitting
on the surface of a great ocean.
A matter of minutes after entering the city, it became evident that the
place had been inhabited until recently, possibly even still
was.
Excitement at the possibility of meeting Ancients soon turned to
puzzlement as a handful of Earth computers were discovered patched into
Atlantis’ systems. However, no sign of the people
responsible was immediately obvious.
Colonel Sumner organised security teams to work out from the control
room and check for life, and ordered the scientific staff to remain in
the gate room until areas were secured.
Dr Zelenka, along with Dr Peter Grodin, studied the laptops, trying to
get a grasp on what each one was linked into, and learning how things
were set up in this alien city, and what wonders it held.
Three hours passed, and no sign of inhabitants had been found by the
security teams, but a lot of other things had been. Such as
ships
that were clearly designed to go through the stargate, and information
including the fact that the power levels in the city were extremely
low. It was clear that the ZPM was depleted, and that the
central
tower was being powered by a single naquadah generator. The
rest
of the city was in darkness.
They also found evidence that the city had at one time been under the
surface of the ocean, and that the shield had been failing, causing at
least two areas to be flooded. And then they discovered the
life
sign detector. Unfortunately, it only covered the central
tower,
and there were no life signs unaccounted for by expedition members.
It was certainly a puzzle, and one that would not be explained for
several hours.
----------------
Colonel Sumner and his teams had checked out the level that the control
room was on, and the two levels below, and temporary quarters were set
up within these areas, as well as a temporary mess hall and small
infirmary. Guards were posted at the entrances to each level,
and
people were split up into teams and shifts. Supplies were
moved
into surrounding corridors and rooms, and the gate room started to look
less cluttered.
Peter had found the gate shield, which had caused several sighs of
relief, and Radek and his team were beginning to understand how the
database was set up.
Seven hours after arriving in Atlantis, the personnel were still coming
to terms with the fact that they were in an alien city in another
galaxy, with no immediate way home, when the stargate activated and a
wormhole formed.
Peter, who was still in the control room, attempted to bring up the
shield, and found to his dismay that it was no longer
responding.
Colonel Sumner was called to the gateroom, and the security team
stationed there quickly took up positions to defend against any
potential hostiles that came through.
But what came through was definitely unexpected. Just one
person,
a teenager, exited the wormhole carrying a sack, which he put down as
soon as he was through. The wormhole disengaged behind him as
he
looked around. Elizabeth saw fear and surprise flit across his face, to
be swiftly replaced with annoyance.
“Who are you?” the kid demanded, jittering
nervously whilst managing to sound irritated at the same time.
“We could ask the same of you,” Elizabeth said,
looking at
him closely. He was human, with short brown hair and piercing
blue eyes. About fourteen to sixteen at a guess.
Pale and
on the skinny side, he wore blue jeans that had seen better days, and a
ratty looking blue t-shirt with the faded words ‘I have
nothing
to declare except my genius’ on it, along with a pair of
scuffed
and dirty sneakers. Definitely from Earth, though how he had
come
to be in the Pegasus Galaxy was anyone’s guess.
“I’m Rodney McKay, genius,” he said
smugly, though
Elizabeth could still see a glimmer of fear underneath. He
narrowed his eyes at them. “You’re from
Earth,”
he stated. “SGC?”
“Yes, we’re from Earth. So are you, by
the looks of
things,” Elizabeth came down the stairs to the gate room
floor. “We’re a multi-national
expedition, to find
the city of Atlantis, the lost city of the Ancients.”
“Not lost anymore,” the boy said, tilting his head
slightly, and seemingly judging whether she was to be trusted or
not. “A military expedition? Because,
forgive me, but
you don’t look military to me.”
“A civilian expedition, with a military escort,”
Elizabeth
confirmed. “I’m Dr Elizabeth Weir, leader
of the
expedition. How did you come to be here?”
The kid folded his arms across his chest, and glowered at the guns
still aimed in his direction, before turning his gaze back to
Elizabeth, with a raised eyebrow.
“Colonel Sumner, I think your men can stand down. I
doubt he’s much threat to us.”
“We don’t know that, ma’am,”
the Colonel responded uneasily.
“No, we don’t, not for certain,” she
looked round,
noting which military people were in the room, and made a
decision. “Colonel, Major, shall we step into the
meeting
room we found a short while ago? I’m sure the two of you
would be
sufficient to defend me, should that be necessary.”
Sumner nodded.
“Rodney,” she indicated the stairs.
“I think we should take this talk somewhere
quieter.”
“Fine,” Rodney watched the two military men warily,
but
followed them to the meeting room. Elizabeth asked Radek and
Carson to join them as well.
----------------
Rodney sat on a chair furthest away from everyone else, crossing his
arms over his chest again, and watching them through narrowed and wary
eyes. Elizabeth made introductions, hoping to try and put him
more at ease.
“We’d like to know how you came to be
here,” Elizabeth said, watching him closely.
“Okay,” he paused, clearly thinking.
“Well,
there were these people, Rogue NID I think. They turned up
about
four years back, when I was twelve, and took me through a
stargate. Only they lost access to it after that, and
couldn’t go back to Earth. The group split up, went
to
different worlds, but kept in contact with Earth through a
Goa’uld communicator. The other group were found
out, sent
back to Earth and arrested. They said it was something to do
with
SG-1,” the kid’s eyes lit up.
“Did you ever
meet them? I heard stories about them, they
sounded…cool. Wish I could have met
them,” he lost
his enthusiasm slightly. “But then I
wouldn’t have
ended up here, so it’s probably as well the group I was with
was
never found.”
“Why they take you?” Sheppard looked the kid
over.
“Hate to break it to you, but you don’t look
anything
special.”
The glare aimed his way was withering, but only made the Major smirk,
much to the boy’s annoyance.
“I’m a genius,” he said smugly, raising
his chin up
haughtily. “I built a nuclear bomb for my science
fair when
I was eleven. A working model, but without the
uranium. Of
course, it caught the attention of several agencies, including your
CIA, and NID as well, apparently. Thought I was some sort of
pre-teen terrorist or something equally as stupid. Got me out
into a school for ‘gifted’ children, which was far
better
than ordinary school.”
“That sounds…enterprising,” Elizabeth
said
cautiously, silently amused at the kid’s attitude.
“What did your parents think about it?”
“Not got any, not anymore. Died when I was nine in
a car
accident, along with my sister. I got shoved around the
system,
‘cause no one wanted me.” He rolled his eyes.
“My
foster parents at the time soon handed me back after that little
stunt. Heller, that’s the guy in charge of the
group I got
stuck with, he found a machine off world that was supposed to make a
person smarter than they already were. He wanted to try it
out,
but Maybourne said to wait. Then they grabbed me.
Guess
they wanted to try it out on a genius and make a super-genius, and
being a kid, they figured they could keep control of me. Of
course, being an unwanted orphan, no one would miss me much.
Probably think I ran away or something.”
“They used this machine on you?” Sumner asked.
“Yeah, but it shorted out. It didn’t make
me smarter
than I already was, probably because it stopped working,”
Rodney
paused, a haunted look passed though his eyes and he admitted
quietly. “It hurt. A lot.”
“And you were twelve when they did this?” Elizabeth
felt sick at the thought.
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I
survived.”
“What happened to Heller and his group? And you
still
haven’t told us how you come to be here,” Sumner
reminded
him somewhat impatiently.
Rodney looked at him sharply, and seemed to draw himself back together,
starting on his explanation with a rapid-fire delivery that left them
stunned, expressing himself with his hands at the same time.
“They found a ship, like the other ships here, and decided to
use
it to move some of their finds to another planet. So they
filled
it with things, including a naquadah generator they’d stolen
from
somewhere, and computer equipment, and some supplies, food and such
like. Then half the group piled in, including Heller and
me. Only something weird happened with the ship, and the next
thing we know we’re in the gateroom of this city. I
worked
out later that it had moved us in time and space. Only a few
weeks forward in time, according to the program I found, but also into
another galaxy. The city lit up for us, but we were
underwater,
and running out of power for the city’s shield.
Heller took
Jacques with him to try and find a safe planet. They
didn’t
come back,” the kid paused, very briefly, before
continuing.
“The city’s shield failed before the others and I
could get
the gate dialled, but it rose to the surface before flooding, so
everything was okay. We patched the naquadah generator in so
as
to power the control tower, and then Morrison went to find out what had
happened to the others. He never came back either.
So there
was just Samuels, Levenson and me left here. After a week or
so,
we found an address in the database that was flagged as friendly, and
we went through, all three of us, and met the natives, the
Athosians. Of course, those two Neanderthals nearly messed
things
up,” there was another brief pause, before returning to his
tale.
“They went there pretending to trade for food, but Teyla,
she’s the Athosians’ leader, she knew they
weren’t
being truthful and so told them she wasn’t interested in
trading
with them, and we left. But the ext day, Samuels and Levenson
went back and somehow managed to grab Teyla and a kid called Jinto and
brought them back here as hostages. Halling, he’s
Jinto’s dad, and he leads whenever Teyla is off world, he
sent
through the food they demanded, but they said it wasn’t
enough. They wanted more. I tried to argue with
them…” he paused, the haunted look returning to
his
eyes. “Usually, I get away with that.
Arguing, so
long as I do what they say in the end. But now and then,
they…didn’t like it and
would…” he was
shaking slightly, but trying hard to hide it from them.
“Teyla had got free of the ropes binding her, and whilst they
were…distracted…she attacked them. She
had no
choice but to kill them, or they would have killed Jinto and
herself. I let them go back to Athos, of course.
She let me
keep the food that had been sent through,” a brief smile
crossed
his face. “She even tried to get me to go with her,
back to
Athos. But I wanted, needed to stay here.”
“What did they do to you, Rodney,” Elizabeth asked
gently,
“When they didn’t like you arguing with
them?”
He kept his eyes down, wrapping his arms around himself again, but
protectively this time. He didn’t answer.
“Rodney, please. We only want to help
you,” she pushed carefully.
“They had…” he stopped, his eyes darting
around the
room before returning to the table top. “They had
one of
those Goa’uld torture sticks. Used it on me
sometimes
But it’s okay,” he looked her in the eyes, pushing
the pain
down. “It’s okay, really. You
kind of get used
to it after a while, and it’s not so bad then.”
“Bloody hell,” she heard Carson mutter, and knew he
wasn’t the only one shocked by Rodney’s
admission.
Elizabeth didn’t believe that anyone really got used to one
of
those things, despite what Rodney said. She could plainly see
the
lie on his face, but decided not to call him on it.
“No one should have to,” she said to him instead.
“I don’t want or need your pity,” Rodney
bit back, anger hiding his discomfort.
“No, I guess not,” she moved on quickly.
“So, the Athosians trade with you?”
“Well, not exactly. I mean, I offer them
information if I
find something in the database that might help them with their farming
or whatever, but…” he shrugged.
“It’s
more charity than trade. Teyla, she keeps asking me to join
them
on Athos. I don’t think she likes the idea of me
being
alone here, but this is my home now,” he looked
thoughtful.
“You know, I think she…likes me,” he
shrugged.
“Don’t know why. She’s the
first person to give
a damn about me, I mean for me, not for what I can do for
them…for…for probably as long as I can
remember,”
his said this in such a matter of fact fashion, as though it was just a
normal part of life that no one would care about him. And then he was
off again, as another thought obviously struck him.
“You’re not going to send me back to Earth, are
you?
This place is amazing and I want to stay,” he stared at them,
a
mix of defiance and desperation on his face. “You need me to
stay. I know more about this city than you do…Do you have
one of
those crystals that power this place? The ones here are out
of
power and I haven’t found out how to recharge them
yet…they work by generating power from the vacuum energy
derived
from a self contained region of subspace…it’s
really quite
fascinating…”
“We call them Zero Point Modules,” Radek informed
him. “And yes, we know how they work, and it is
most
interesting.”
“But we don’t have one,” Elizabeth
added.
“We were hoping to find one here, but at the same time knew
this
could be a one way journey. Though we’re hopeful of
finding
a way home somehow.”
“So, you won’t be sending me back to
Earth.
That’s good. Well, not about you being stuck
here…but…I won’t go back to Earth, even
if there
was a way to send me back. This is my home now…and
I won’t
leave it. Not like there’s anything for me back
there
anyway, certainly not compared to this,” he waved his hands
to
encompass the room and beyond.
“Well, it’s a moot point at the moment
anyway,” Elizabeth said in her best diplomatic voice.
“Yes, well, so long as you know. If a way to return
is
found, I won’t be going,” he sat, glaring in
defiance. Elizabeth found herself having to quash a smile at
the
image of a typical rebellious teenager before her, knowing there was
more to him than that. She suspected he used his attitude to
hide
his fears and insecurities, and his pain; after all, he’d
been
physically abused, mentally as well. She just hoped they
could
gain his trust, and that he could be trusted in return.
“Okay, so we know where you stand on that,” she
said.
“I’m sure we have more questions, but for
now…I
think Dr Beckett should give you a physical, and then maybe you could
show Dr Zelenka some of your work here?”
“Don’t need a physical,” he muttered
darkly, casting a hostile look Carson’s way.
“I’m sorry, but every member of this expedition is
required
to have a regular physical. If you intend to stay
here,
then that applies to you as well,” there was no room for
argument
in her voice.
“Fine,” he said unhappily.
“Major Sheppard, you’re his escort for
now,” Sumner
ordered, turning to Elizabeth. “I think it would be
prudent
to keep at least one guard on him for the time being.”
Elizabeth looked like she would argue, but then changed her mind.
“Alright, for the time being, just to be safe. I
hope you understand our need for caution, Rodney.”
“Sure,” but his tone of voice showed his
displeasure.
“Right, well, if you’ll come this way,
I’ll take a
quick look at you,” Carson said, standing and indicating the
way
out of the room. Sheppard and Rodney both stood and followed
him
out to the makeshift infirmary a level down.
----------------
When they arrived at the infirmary, Carson asked Sheppard to step
outside during his exam. Rodney looked a little freaked out,
pulling away and watching Carson with wary eyes.
“Ach, lad, I’m not going to hurt you,”
Beckett said
in his most reassuring voice. Rodney seemed to be weighing up
whether or not to trust him. Carson maintained eye contact,
trying to look as unthreatening as possible, which wasn’t
that
hard a thing for him to do, and refrained from pushing the boy further,
letting Rodney set the pace of things. A few moments passed,
and
Rodney looked away, before sighing and nodding.
“Okay.”
Carson made sure the exam was quick and efficient, and was pleased to
find that, other than needing to put on a few pounds, the kid was
healthy and unharmed. He picked up a chart to make notations,
and
allowed Sheppard to return.
“Well, I’m glad to say everything looks okay,
though I still need to see the results from the blood tests.”
Rodney nodded, his legs swinging from side to side as he sat on the bed.
“Can I go now?”
“Do you have any medical conditions that you know
of?” Carson asked first.
“Um…deathly allergic to citrus, and I reacted
badly to a
bee sting when I was a kid. And Jacques, she was a medical
doctor, diagnosed me with hypoglycaemia. Though she
couldn’t find a reason for it,” he
scowled.
“But then I don’t think she was much of a doctor
really. Her bedside manner certainly sucked, big
time.”
“Hmm, I’ll have to do some tests later to confirm
the
hypoglycaemia, but it can wait. Just make sure you eat
regularly
in the meantime. Aye, you can go now.”
Rodney slipped from the bed and quickly headed away from the makeshift
infirmary, the Major following him closely.
----------------
“You hungry?” Sheppard asked.
“Hungry and tired,” Rodney admitted in a brief
moment of candour.
“Let’s find some food, then.”
It didn’t take long for Sheppard to track down some food
supplies, and armed with a couple of PowerBars and bottles of water, he
let Rodney lead him out onto a nearby balcony.
“Cool,” he said, awed by the view.
“It is nice, isn’t it?” Rodney said,
around a
mouthful of PowerBar. “There’s whales out
there,
well, not whales really. They’re fish, not
mammals. I
see one quite often passing by, they’re really quite
interesting. I looked them up in the database.
There’s all sorts of things out there, in the
water. And on
the mainland. Just one continent, but it’s
huge,” he
flung his arms out wide at this, before tearing into the second
PowerBar.
“Yeah. Where d’you get the
t-shirt?”
“What?” the kid looked down at his shirt.
“Oh,
this. My foster parents at the time gave me some money to get
some t-shirts with. They weren’t too pleased when I
came
back with this, especially as it was too large for me back
then.
Still wore it though, even though it was too big.
It’s the
only thing I have that’s mine. Got a couple of
plain shirts
that Heller got for me before we ended up here. They still
had a
contact on Earth, you see, and someone at the SGC who smuggled things
in and out. Including clothes for the brat, as they called
me.”
“Can’t imagine why they’d call you
that,” Sheppard said with a smirk.
“Probably ‘cause that’s what I
am,” he said
with a shrug, and then suddenly grinned.
“Look!
There’s one of the whales…”
Sure enough, a whale like creature could be seen swimming along a few
hundred metres from the balcony. They watched it in silence
for a
few minutes before it swam away. Sheppard was amazed at the
transformation. The arrogant, defiant and desperately
insecure
teenager suddenly became an overexcited kid. It was nice to
see.
“Sometimes, if you wait a minute or two, there’ll
be
another one,” Rodney said, watching the waves
intently.
“The Ancients called them Flagecallus, which is a terrible
name
if you ask me. I prefer whale, even if they are really big
fish,
not mammals.”
“You spend a lot of time whale watching?”
“No, usually I’m too busy trying to get things
working, or
reading the database. But sometimes I just like to get
outside
and…yeah, watch any passing whales.”
“Must get lonely. I know I’d get lonely
here on my
own, for…how long have you been here for, anyway?”
“About two months now. And I spend a few hours with
Teyla
and the Athosians now and then. It’s not so
bad.
Quiet.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” Sheppard said.
Rodney scowled at him, and the Major decided to change
topics.
Sure, the boy was lonely, he had no doubt of that, but if Rodney wanted
to pretend otherwise, who was he to argue? Just so long as
the
kid knew he wasn’t really fooling anyone.
“You said the city lit up for you when you got
here.”
“Yeah, that was…cool. There’s
some things here
that the others couldn’t get to work for them, at least, not
until I’d got them to switch on. And there were
other
things that wouldn’t work for them even then, like the ship
that
brought us here. That’s gone, by the way.
It sort of
just…vanished. I think it had been pre-programmed
to bring
people here and then leave, or something. Wish I knew
who’d
programmed it and why.”
“Yeah, that ship could have been useful. So, you
have the Ancient gene, like I do.”
“Is that what it is? A gene from the
Ancients?”
“Apparently they interbred with humans, and so some of us
have
the gene, though most of us don’t. You’re
one of the
lucky few.”
“It would have been a lot harder to survive here without
it,” Rodney sighed. “I’m
supposed to
show…Dr Zeloona…or whatever his name is, some of
the
things I’ve done here.”
“It’s Dr Zelenka,” Sheppard corrected
him.
“And I’m sure he’ll be glad for any
information you
can give him. Like why the shield didn’t activate
when you
dialled in.”
“Oh that’s easy, I programmed it to recognise a
signal I
sent through and disable the shield. Didn’t want to
go
splat by accident or anything.”
“No, I can imagine not.”
They headed to back to the control room, where Radek and Peter were
waiting for them.
----------------
Chapter
Two – Trying To Fit The Misfit In
Five days passed and the expedition was beginning to settle into
Atlantis. They had five naquadah generators operating and
powering more of the city. Labs and a permanent infirmary
were
being set up, along with crew quarters, a mess hall, an armoury, a
firing range and a gym.
Dr Beckett had corralled a reluctant Rodney a couple of days earlier
and confirmed the diagnosis of hypoglycaemia with tests, doing further
tests to check for a cause. So far, all the results had come
back
negative, and Carson was of the opinion that Rodney’s
condition
was one of those few percent whose cause was unknown to medical science.
Elizabeth had asked Colonel Sumner to call off the guard detail after
three days, which he did against his better judgement.
However,
he ordered Major Sheppard to keep an eye on the kid, making sure he
spent time with Rodney every day, and to report any suspicious
behaviour immediately.
They had provided Rodney with clothing from their supplies, but
although he was happy to wear the new shoes and the beige trousers that
were part of the uniform worn by the civilians, he continued to wear
his own ratty t-shirts, and when needed, a well-worn, faded and fraying
denim jacket. He had also packed up the room he’d
been
using as his quarters when he’d discovered that he had
neighbours, and found a room a few levels down, and far away from
everyone else, to claim as his. Elizabeth was concerned that
he
was separating himself from them rather than integrating, as she had
hoped he would.
Radek and Peter worked with Rodney, learning about the city, the
database, and some of the devices that he had discovered over the two
months he had been there, but it was an uneasy relationship at
best. Radek complained to Elizabeth that Rodney was arrogant,
condescending and sarcastic, though there was little doubt as to his
high IQ. Most annoying to Radek was Rodney’s
insistence on
working on his own projects whenever he wasn’t helping them
out,
and being ‘a law unto himself’.
Of course, Elizabeth merely pointed out that Rodney had been living
here for two months, alone for most of that time, and so was used to
doing pretty much what he wanted and when he wanted, though she also
understood Radek’s concerns. As Chief Science
Officer, he
was accountable for the work the science staff did, and although Rodney
was not officially a member of the expedition, Radek was unable to do
his job properly when he didn’t know what Rodney was working
on
half the time. Elizabeth hoped that they might be able to
work
out a compromise in time, and encouraged Radek to try and work
something out with Rodney himself, though she was ready to step in if
necessary.
This had been the day before, but today Rodney had infuriated Radek to
such an extent that he had banned the boy from the labs and the control
room. Rodney had said he didn’t have the right to
do that,
which had only made things worse, and eventually the argument had ended
in Rodney storming off.
Sheppard had heard about the argument, and gone looking for Rodney, not
surprised to find him on a balcony in a little used area of the city,
sulking.
“Hey,” he said, walking over to the boy, and
leaning against the balcony railing.
“Go away.”
“Nope,” he said, receiving a ‘death
glare’ in response. He smirked back.
“Why won’t you just leave me alone?”
Rodney muttered
darkly. “Oh, of course, I know why.
Sumner ordered
you to keep an eye on me, that’s why.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I know about that. Overheard two marines
muttering
how it was a lousy job but someone had to do it, and they were glad it
was you and not one of them. You know, having to make nice
with
the horrid brat.”
“Look, okay, I was ordered to keep an eye on you, but you
know what? I’d be doing this anyway.”
“Because you don’t trust me?”
“No, because I think you need a friend,” Sheppard
said,
before sighing. “Look, I’m not good at
this,
but…I like you, okay? Sure, you can be a pain in
the neck,
but you’re basically a good person, and I want to make sure
you’re doing okay. It’s got to be hard,
handling this
change. One moment being the only one living here, and the
next
having to share with a bunch of strangers. I figured you
might
need someone to talk to now and then.”
“You think I’m…a good person?”
he sounded incredulous.
“Yeah, I do. Had a tough life by the sounds of
things, but you’re an okay guy.”
“What if you’re wrong about me?”
Sheppard shrugged.
“Not saying it’s not possible, but my gut feelings
about
people tend to be right, well, most of the time. Figure that
I’m right about you anyway,” he watched the kid
closely,
hoping that he was getting through Rodney’s defences,
connecting
a little. He couldn’t explain it, but he wanted to
help the
boy. Perhaps because he was so lost and alone. It
reminded
him of himself. Though, fortunately, his childhood
hadn’t
involved any abuse, but he had moved about a lot, due to his
father’s military career, and was used to starting new
schools
and being the new boy. The lost and lonely feelings
he’d
had as a child had been replaced with a confident persona over time,
the one who was friends with all the cool guys.
“Listen,” Sheppard continued after a few moments of
silence. “I know this must be hard for you,
overwhelming
even. And I know you don’t have a lot of reasons to
trust
us, or anyone for that matter. But give us a
chance. I know
there are people here who want to help you, not to mention quite like
you too. Elizabeth and Beckett for example. Even Dr
Z,
despite his complaints about you.” He gave Rodney a quick
grin at
that, and was pleased to see a tentative grin in response.
“Talking of Dr Z, maybe you could cut the guy some
slack?
He is
supposed to be in
charge of the science division, and therefore responsible for any
projects or experiments going on here. Going it alone
isn’t
helping him to do his job.”
“I’m not going to be told what I can or
can’t do,” Rodney said petulantly.
“No, but surely the two of you can figure out some way of
working
together? I mean, you’re both smart guys.”
“Maybe.”
“Just think about it, okay? And ignore those idiot
marines
that you overheard; you’re not a horrid brat.
They’re
just too stupid or shallow to understand you, that’s
all.”
“I guess it’s not their fault they’re
intellectually
deficient. After all, not everyone can be even half as smart
as
me,” Rodney said, his ego apparently kicking back in.
“That’s the spirit,” the Major grinned,
slapping the
kid on the shoulder in a friendly manner. “So, see
you at
dinner?” he asked, smiling when Rodney nodded, before heading
off
to a training session he was supposed to be giving in a few minutes
time.
----------------
After Sheppard had left, Rodney went back to leaning on the railing,
looking out to sea.
He was scared.
There was no way he was going to admit it out loud, but he was really,
truly scared.
He didn’t know these people, and couldn’t risk
trusting
them too much. They seemed okay, seemed like good people, but
what did he know? There had been precious few people in his
life
that were truly concerned about him, and not what he could do for
them. Maybe Sheppard was right, and they just wanted to help
him;
that some of them actually liked him, despite his less than stellar
behaviour and his bad attitude.
He just didn’t know, though, and that scared him.
He couldn’t get them to leave Atlantis. Well, he
might be
able to figure something out, but…one day, someone could
come
looking for them from Earth, and what would he do then, if
he’d
managed to send these people away? And what would happen to
them
if he did? Would the Wraith get them? He
hadn’t told
them about the Wraith yet, was afraid they wouldn’t believe
him.
No, they were here, and they were staying. He had to accept
that. So, if he found he couldn’t live with them,
he’d have to be the one to leave, and that scared him more
than
he could imagine. Atlantis might not be the safest place in
this
galaxy, if the Wraith came there was no shield to protect him, but the
fact that no one had lived here for over ten thousand years meant it
was unlikely the Wraith would ever come here. So it was
relatively safe, and certainly safer than places like Athos.
He leaned his head down onto his hands. What was worse was
that
he liked Sheppard, and Elizabeth. Radek and Peter
too. Even
the doctor, Carson, seemed nice. He didn’t want to
like
them, didn’t want to care about them. It was too
dangerous. Too…scary. What if they were
lying, and
only wanted him around for what he could do? What if they
hated
him really? What if they suddenly turned against him?
This was why he never stayed more than a few hours on Athos, and why he
visited only as often as he had to. Well, that and not
wanting to
leave the city empty for too long. Teyla seemed to like him,
despite what had happened with Samuels and Levenson; the whole hostage
thing. The Athosians seemed to have accepted him, to some
extent. But he couldn’t, wouldn’t let
them too close,
in case it all changed.
Though a part of him wished they would come and live here, so that they
would be safe, well safer, from the Wraith. Because despite
his
attempts to distance himself, he did care what happened to
them.
Especially Teyla.
And now there were new people he felt himself starting to care about,
and it scared him. He didn’t know how to handle
this, and
was trying to distance himself. Not become a member of the
expedition, not fully. Keep himself separate.
He sighed, and lifted his head back up, staring out over the
ocean. He knew he needed to talk to Radek and find some
compromise about his work. There was no way he was going to
be
bossed about; told what he could or couldn’t work on, could
or
couldn’t do. Maybe they could figure something out,
though.
Tomorrow, he’d tell Elizabeth about the Wraith.
They needed to know what was waiting for them out there.
And maybe, a few weeks or months from now, he’d tell them
about his secret.
Well, maybe.
----------------
Tracking down Radek wasn’t that hard. Rodney had
gone down
to the labs, being careful not to enter them but stand in the doorway,
so that he couldn’t be accused of defying Radek’s
ban, and
had been told the Czech was in the control room.
Not wanting to irritate the guy more than he already had done that day,
he stayed at the edge of the control area, and waited to be
noticed. It was that English guy, Peter, who noticed him
first,
and he didn’t look too happy to see him. Radek
looked even
less happy. He decided to beat a retreat for now, maybe try
again
later.
He didn’t get far before Radek caught up with him, hustling
him into a side room.
“What are you up to now?” Radek demanded.
“I told you to stay away from control
room.”
“I know,” he replied, not meeting the
Czech’s
eyes. “I just…I just wanted to try and
work things
out…but…” he looked up then, arrogance
emerging to
hide his uncertainty. “But it doesn’t
matter.
You obviously don’t need me right now, so I’ll
just…go find something to do elsewhere. Away from
you and
your people.” He turned to leave the room.
“Ah, Rodney, what am I to do with you?”
Rodney paused at the doorway, looking back in annoyance.
“Nothing,” he said. “You
don’t need to do
anything with me. In fact, maybe you should just leave me the
hell alone. Maybe you all should. It’s
not like
I’m a member of this expedition or anything. Not
like I
want to be, so you can just all leave me the hell alone.”
“Is that what you want?” Radek asked, forcing
himself to keep calm.
“Does it matter?”
“It does. You may not be part of us, at least not
yet, but
you have to work with us. That means with me as
well.”
“You can’t tell me what to do!”
“No, perhaps that is asking too much of you,” Radek
looked
thoughtful. “A compromise; you continue to work on
what you
wish, but
you tell me what
you are working on and keep me up to date on it. Also, if I
need
you to work on something that is urgent or vital to our survival, you
will do so, and work on your own projects at another time.”
Rodney thought about what he was being offered, and then nodded.
“Okay. That sounds…doable.”
“Good. I know this must be hard for you to adjust
to;
having people here. You have been able to do as you
wish.
Be responsible only for yourself. This has to
change.”
“It’d be easier if people didn’t treat me
like a
kid,” Rodney complained. “I’m
not, not
anymore. I had to grow up, take responsibility for myself and
my
actions, but people here still treat me like I’m some stupid
kid
who doesn’t know what life is like, or doesn’t know
what
dangers lie in a place like this. Well, I’m not a
normal teenager. I’m a genius for a start, and
I’ve
been through and seen more crap than most people go through or see in
their entire lives!”
“Perhaps, but you are still only sixteen. And we
are
responsible for you now. However, I will try to treat you
like
adult. Though I am not guaranteeing I will not forget at
times.”
“Fine. Just don’t be surprised if I pull
you up on it whenever you treat me like a kid.”
“I am sure I will not be,” Radek said with a shake
of his
head and a wry smile. “You are most headstrong and
stubborn
person, I have no doubt you will make your displeasure known.”
“Right. So…can I go back to the labs
now?”
“Help Peter and myself with long range scanners, and then you
can
show me what you are working on, yes?” Radek suggested.
“Fine.”
----------------
Although he had intended to tell Elizabeth and Colonel Sumner about the
Wraith the following day, he didn’t. Fear of not
being
believed, especially as there was no evidence in the Ancient database
to back him up, (and how weird was that, that there was no data on
their greatest enemy?), had made him decide to wait. He knew
he
would have to say something, preferably before they started going
through the gate to explore this galaxy, but right now, he really
didn’t think they’d believe either him or his
source for
the information; the Athosians.
Three days passed, and he found himself starting to integrate with
these people, even though he didn’t want to. Well,
wanted
to, but was afraid to. But Radek and he had worked out their
problems, and were working together as best as he could hope to ever
work with someone else. Sheppard was spending more time with
him,
and he found himself liking the guy. Relaxing around him,
even.
He’d given in to wearing the uniform shirts now, but still
refused to wear the jacket, preferring his own disreputable
one.
He was still nervous of most of the people here, and knew that some of
them viewed him with suspicion, especially Colonel Sumner and that
Bates person, but he didn’t care about that. Or at
least,
he wasn’t going to let it bother him. He was used
to not
being liked, or trusted, and he supposed he couldn’t really
blame
them for being cautious, no matter how much he wanted to.
Now, he was back in the control room, not really doing anything, just
people watching from the sidelines. He’d found a
place
where he could stand and watch without drawing a great deal of
attention, though he knew the people working there were perfectly aware
of him. However, they tended to ignore him and even forget he
was
there after a while, well, most of them. Grodin never did,
but
that was okay. He’d figured the Brit was an okay
guy, even
if he didn’t seem to like Rodney much. No, it was
the
others he was unsure of.
No one ever picked him up for it, whenever he found a place to people
watch. He had a feeling Elizabeth had told them to leave him
be. Maybe she realised that gaining his trust
wasn’t going
to be easy, and she was willing to let him do whatever he needed to, to
work this out for himself.
So he was well placed when a ship was picked up on the short range
sensors, heading for Atlantis and coming in from the sun, which was why
it had not been picked up sooner. It landed on the North Pier
a
few minutes later.
Rodney had immediately used the sensors to identify the ship as a
Wraith dart, and had started shunting power down to where it landed.
“Rodney, what are you doing?” Elizabeth asked,
arriving moments before Sumner and Sheppard.
“Routing power to that section,” he said
distractedly,
concentrating on his work. “It’s a Wraith
dart, which
is bad. Very bad. But fortunately, I set up a few
booby
traps around Atlantis in case of attack. I just need to power
them up.”
“What the hell are Wraith, and why are we only finding out
about them now?” demanded Sumner angrily.
“They’re the bad guys in this galaxy, and I
didn’t
think you’d believe me about them. In fact, I
hardly
believe it myself, but I know the Athosians weren’t lying to
me,
or that it was just some sort of mythical monster,” he
snapped
back. “They feed on humans. Rip your life
force out
of you, leaving an aged and withered husk behind. And
they’re damned hard to kill, being able to regenerate faster
than
any Goa’uld symbiote! Damn it!” he
stopped typing, a
look of panic on his face. “They’re
avoiding the
traps.”
“Major Sheppard, gather a team and meet me in the
armoury,”
Sumner ordered. Sheppard immediately went out, calling on his
radio for four marines to join him at the armoury.
“Maybe we could talk to them…” Elizabeth
suggested.
“As far as the Wraith are concerned, we’re food,
nothing
else,” Rodney said. “You try to talk to
them, and
they’ll kill you and everyone here.”
“Okay.” She turned to Sumner.
“Go.”
Rodney moved to follow, but Elizabeth grabbed his arm.
“No, stay here. Let them handle this.”
He pulled away from her.
“They don’t know what they’re up
against.
Teyla’s told me about them, I can help,” he said,
running
out before she could stop him again.
“Rodney!”
She activated her comm and warned Sumner that Rodney was heading out to
the North Pier. He swore, apologised for swearing, and agreed
to
keep an eye out for him, and try to keep him safe.
When this was over, supposing he survived, she’d have to have
a
long talk with Rodney. Not only about risking his life, but
also
about holding back on important information, regardless of whether he
thought they’d believe him or not. Though mainly
she was
just hoping that he, and the security team, survived.
She’d
deal with his recklessness later.
----------------
Rodney had arrived outside the area being used as an armoury, but
waited until Sumner, Sheppard and team had left before overriding the
lock and slipping inside. Okay, so he’d never
actually
fired a projectile weapon before, but he’d watched Heller and
the
others when they practised, and knew where the safety was and how to
engage and disengage it. Picking up a P90, he checked to see
if
it was loaded, and finding it wasn’t, quickly rifled through
the
clips until he found one that fitted. He grabbed another
couple
of them, and made his way down to the North Pier.
----------------
Three Wraith, at least what they assumed were Wraith, and a human
rounded a corner and ran straight into Sumner, Sheppard and their team
of four marines. All hell broke loose.
Shots were fired repeatedly, but the enemy wouldn’t
die.
Instead, one of the Wraith, with a humanoid face, grabbed the human
that had been with them…put its hand on the man’s
chest
and…the man aged before their eyes, screaming.
More shots, but the second Wraith, one with what looked like a bone
mask instead of a face, grabbed Sumner, pinning him down and starting
to feed. The third grabbed one of the marines, attempting to
do
the same, whilst firing at the remaining humans. Another
marine
fell, having been shot.
Sheppard and the two remaining marines fell back, taking cover in a
doorway, returning fire.
One of the bone-faced Wraith fell under the barrage and
didn’t
get back up, but during the exchange of fire, another marine was hit,
leaving just Sheppard and one marine.
There was more gunfire, each group attempting to find cover, but as the
second bone-faced Wraith tried to change its position, it was hit by
multiple rounds.
The third Wraith, the one with a humanoid face, was not so easy to hit,
but the last marine was not so lucky and fell. Sheppard was
alone, and this Wraith wasn’t about to make itself a target.
It didn’t look hopeful.
----------------
Hearing gunfire and checking the life signs detector, Rodney figured
out where the battle was taking place, and circled round.
Coming
up from behind the fight might be dangerous, but hopefully
he’d
be able to take the Wraith by surprise. Watching life signs
disappear, he hurried, afraid for Sheppard…and the others.
He slowed when he realised the life signs were around the corner, and
took a quick peek, noticing that there was one Wraith hiding in a
doorway, on the opposite side of the corridor. Which meant he
had
it in his sights.
Taking a deep breath, he aimed the P90 and opened fire, shocked by the
recoil of the weapon, and missing abysmally with every shot.
However, it distracted the Wraith, which turned to face the new threat,
and offered Sheppard an opportunity to take it down with a hail of
bullets.
An opportunity that he took. The Wraith fell, and
didn’t get back up.
Sheppard moved in quickly, checking that the Wraith were dead, and
checking on those that had fallen. Three of the marines were
alive but unconscious, presumably stunned. Colonel Sumner and
the
other marine that had been fed on were dead. He grimaced as
he
looked at the husks left behind.
The man who had been with the Wraith was still alive.
Just.
Aged to the point of death, but still living. Rodney had been
silent during all of this, but now he approached Sheppard nervously.
“You okay?” Sheppard asked.
Rodney shrugged, but didn’t answer.
“Rod…ney,” the man stirred, opening pain
filled eyes. “It’s
me…Morrison.”
Rodney dropped to his knees by the man, looking surprised, and then
sickened by the sight of the aged and clearly dying man.
“Morrison? I thought…I thought you were
dead.”
“No. Wraith caught us,” Morrison hissed
in pain,
before continuing. “Tortured us… fed on
Jacques…then Heller…we couldn’t stop
them…read our thoughts…”
“They know about Atlantis?” Rodney asked, and then
snorted
at himself and added dryly. “Well, obviously they
do.”
“They are awakening…all of them…they
want
Earth.” Morrison’s eyes closed.
“They know
Atlantis will lead them to Earth…a new, rich feeding
ground…”
“Oh crap,” Sheppard murmured.
“Sent a dart…I was to show
them…information in
database…how to find Earth… how to upgrade their
hyperdrives…to intergalactic… They came from a
stargate… weeks from here…heading in from
behind…the sun… But they know there are
more…more
people here than expected…sent message back to
hiveship…
If this failed…they said they would regroup…wait
until
their numbers are stronger…then come.”
“This is bad,” Rodney said, panic edging his
voice. “Really, really bad.”
“Sorry…everything we did…was to save
Earth…not endanger it… I don’t know
who…these people are…but you have to stop
them…stop Wraith from reaching Earth…
You’re
Earth’s best hope…you’ll work something
out…I
have…faith in that.”
Morrison’s breathing
hitched and then stopped.
“We’ll stop them,” Rodney said quietly.
Sheppard nodded, and radioed for a med team with a military escort to
come down. Rodney stood, looking around at the bodies of the
dead
and stunned, an unreadable look on his face. Then he turned
and
ran.
“Rodney…” Sheppard shouted, following
after him for
a few metres, but he couldn’t leave the scene, just in case
the
Wraith weren’t as dead as they seemed. He radioed
Elizabeth
to let her know the situation, and ordered the military escort and med
team to keep an eye out for the kid.
Then he stood guard and waited.
----------------
Chapter Three – The
Misfit Starts To Fit In
Three hours later, and the marines had recovered from being stunned and
released back to their quarters, and autopsies were being carried out
on the Wraith and their victims.
Elizabeth had called a meeting. Sheppard, Ford, Bates,
Zelenka,
Grodin and Beckett were present for it. Rodney was still
missing.
Major Sheppard gave a debriefing on the events in the North Pier, and
Beckett confirmed that the Wraith were able to regenerate their
tissues, and that they appeared to be very old. He believed
that
they were unlikely to die of old age, so long as they were properly
nourished, and, as Major Sheppard had said, they would be very
difficult to kill, but not impossibly so.
Radek briefed them on the battle readiness, or lack of battle readiness
more like, of Atlantis. Basically, the city needed at least
one
ZPM, which would give them the shield and, hopefully, the control chair
as well. Though until they gained a ZPM he couldn’t
guarantee that one would be enough to power both of them, nor was he
able to tell how many, if any, drones they had at their
disposal.
Without a ZPM, they were sitting ducks; with one, they stood a chance.
Elizabeth asked him to put in place a self-destruct. They
needed
to be able to destroy Atlantis and the information it held in a worst
case scenario.
She then asked Grodin if he would be in charge of looking for addresses
within the database that might lead to Ancient facilities; outposts for
example. This was their best chance of finding a ZPM, and
possibly other artefacts that could be useful to defend
themselves.
They needed to organise gate teams, which she would leave to Major
Sheppard to do. Some teams would primarily be used to search
the
city, others to go in as second contact teams were friendly locals were
found, and one or two would be first contact teams, and would also deal
with gathering Intel. They needed allies in this galaxy, not
least because their food supplies were limited. At present,
they
were okay for food, but the sooner they established trade, the longer
their rations would last.
At this point Elizabeth received a message over her radio that Rodney
had been sighted near to the control room, and she asked that he be
directed to the meeting room by whoever was closest to him.
There were sighs of relief from many present that he was back,
apparently unharmed.
When Rodney entered the room, he looked…nervous and
unsure. Though he quickly hid this, trying to look in
control. He was also wearing a full Atlantis uniform, jacket
with
patches included. He ducked his head in embarrassment when he
spotted the look of surprise on her face, which she quickly
hid.
“I’m glad to see you’re okay,”
Elizabeth said
with a tone of censor in her voice at him for running off on his own.
“Yeah.” He took the seat nearest the
exit. “Sorry I ran off…I just needed
some time.”
“You had us worried.”
“Not used to people worrying about me much,” he
admitted,
before stealing himself. “Look,
I…ah…the
Wraith are coming, and, well, we need to work together if we hope to
defeat them, or at least stop them from reaching Earth. So, I
need to…” He looked up at Elizabeth, fear and
uncertainty
warring in his eyes. “I need to trust
you. And I need
to become part of the expedition. I mean, fully part of
it.
No holding back. But I should warn you, I’m not
good at
following orders.” He gave a nervous laugh.
“Heller
and the others couldn’t get me to follow orders a lot of the
time, at least not without a lot of arguing beforehand. And
you
know how they handled disobedience.” He looked away,
nervously
clasping his hands together on the table. “I know
you
wouldn’t hurt me like that. What I’m
trying to say is
that I will try
to…to follow your orders. Try not to go off on my
own, but work as part of a…a team.”
“Thank you.” Elizabeth smiled at his surprised
glance at
her reaction. “I know this is hard for you,
Rodney. I
appreciate that you want to try and be a part of us, a team
player.”
“It would help if you didn’t keep thinking of me as
a
kid. I mean, I know I’m sixteen, but please,
I’m not
a normal teenager, and I don’t need to be treated like
one.
I’ve been in dangerous situations before, lots of times
thanks to
Heller and his team. I’ve even saved their butts
with last
minute repairs, or working out how something works. So
don’t think of me as just a kid. I grew up a long
time
ago. I had to, to survive.”
Elizabeth realised that she really didn’t know what kind of
life
he had lived the last four years or so. Hadn’t
really
thought about what he might have been through, how it might have
changed him. She knew full well about child soldiers on
Earth,
and how they had to grow up quickly. Suddenly, she
knew he
was more like one of them than a normal teenager, and treating him like
a kid wouldn’t help.
“Okay,” she sighed, and then said with a slight
tease. “We’ll try to treat you
like an adult.”
A small smile crossed his face at her throwing his own line back at
him, before he turned serious once more, returning his attention to his
hands.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the
Wraith.
I really didn’t think that you’d believe me, or at
the very
least, wouldn’t have believed the Athosians who’d
told me
about them. I mean, they sound like some kind of fictional
monster, don’t they? A native myth. I
know I
didn’t believe them at first. But I was wrong, and
I should
have told you anyway. Maybe then you’d know what
you were
up against when they came here. Maybe Sumner and that marine
wouldn’t be dead…”
“You can’t think like that,” Sheppard
interrupted
him. “Even if we had known, I doubt we’d
have done
anything differently, and they would still have died.”
“But if you’d known how hard they were to
kill…”
”Stop it, McKay,” he ordered.
“You’re not to blame for their deaths.”
Rodney didn’t look entirely convinced, but didn’t
argue further.
“Rodney, no one here is blaming you,” Elizabeth
soothed. “And Major Sheppard is right, what
happened would
most likely still have happened.”
“I…” he stopped, looking at
her, and then to Sheppard.
“Okay, maybe. But I’m not going to hold
anything back
anymore. I want you to know that.”
“That’s good to know,” she said with a
smile.
“We need to find a Zero Point Module,” he said,
changing topic.
“We know. Major Sheppard is going to organise gate
teams,
and then we’ll start looking for Ancient technology,
specifically
a ZPM, as well as organise trade for food. I’m
hoping the
Athosians would be willing to help us with the latter.”
“I’m sure Teyla will, once she knows
you’re
okay. And you need me on one of your teams. I know
more
about Ancient technology than anyone here, so you need me out
there.”
“I don’t think that would be such a good
idea,” Sheppard started.
“You need me out there,” Rodney said
stubbornly.
“You know you’re going to need a scientist on
whichever
team goes ZedPM hunting. In fact, you should have one anyway,
like SG-1. I’ve heard stories about how Carter
pulled their
asses out of the fire on more than one occasion. Okay, she
was
military, and all the scientists here are civilian, but you still need
someone. And that someone should be me. No one here
knows
as much as I do about Ancient tech.”
“Okay, granted, we need a scientist. But not
you,” Sheppard said firmly.
“Why? Because I’m a kid?
Didn’t we just
have this conversation? I’ve already been in more
dangerous
situations than any of your non-SGC scientists here. And with
what the machine did to me…” he trailed off, a
worried
look passing over his face.
“Hold on, what machine? I thought you said the one
they used on you didn’t work,” Elizabeth said.
Rodney crossed his arms over his chest defensively, looking frightened
and trapped.
“You said you wouldn’t hold back information from
us,” Sheppard cajoled.
“I…was going to tell you.” He looked at
Bates sharply, who had snorted derisively. “I was. I
just… This isn’t easy for me.”
Both John and Elizabeth shot annoyed looks at Bates, and Rodney took a
deep breath, trying to calm himself.
“The machine didn’t work like they thought it
would, but it
did do something to me before it…sort of shorted
out. You
see, I’ve always had a reasonably photographic memory, but
after
the machine…it was different. I have total and
perfect
recall on anything I read, or any static picture or diagram that I
see. Moving pictures, you know, like real life for instance,
is
the normal recall you’d expect anyone to have, but static
pictures or anything I read…I never forget.
Never.
When I’m studying a new piece of technology, I make diagrams
and
take photos as I work, and then I never forget what it looks like, how
it works.”
“That explains much,” Radek said quietly.
“Yes. I’m naturally a genius, high IQ and
all that,
but add this enhanced photographic memory, and…well, it
doesn’t make me smarter in the conventional sense, but it
certainly makes me better.”
“Any idea how this happened?” Carson asked, clearly
fascinated by the concept.
“Not entirely. I know it’s partly a
physical
alteration of my mind. But there’s another element
involved
in it.” He licked his lips nervously. “I
don’t
have the ATA gene. I tried to activate the machine but it
didn’t respond to me. Fortunately, or unfortunately
depending on your point of view, one of the group had the
gene.
Michaels, he died a couple of months later. Anyway, he
activated
the machine that changed me, and I couldn’t. But
afterwards, I could activate Ancient devices.”
“It gave you an artificial gene, like the gene therapy
I’m working on, perhaps?”
“No. Not a gene. Nanites.”
“Nanites?” Elizabeth asked.
“Microscopic machines or robots, in this case about the size
of a
single blood cell,” Rodney explained.
“They are keyed
directly into my DNA, so they won’t work for anyone
else.
And they become inactive and start to decay once they leave my body,
after about four or five minutes. They’re
harmless.”
“Fascinating,” Radek said, intrigued.
“Yeah, well, you and Carson can fight over how fascinating my
nanites and I am later,” he said, scowling.
“Sounds creepy to me, tiny robots running round in your
blood.” Ford shivered at the thought.
“I’ve had four years to get used to it, but
I’ll
admit, the thought freaked me out at first,” Rodney
agreed.
“But you see why you need me out there. I know
more,
remember more, not just about what I’ve read or seen since
this
happened to me, but out there, I can do the same.
I’d be
like a…a laptop. Storing up information,
images.” He
turned determined eyes to Elizabeth. “If I was
older, would
you have such a problem with this? Because you said
you’d
try not to hold my age against me, try not to treat me like a
kid.”
Elizabeth knew he was right. She didn’t like the
idea of
sending anyone out into potentially dangerous situations, but her
hesitation with Rodney was largely to do with how young he was.
“Okay,” she sighed. “Major,
what do you think?”
“I think we need him on a gate team, as much as I
don’t
like the idea,” Sheppard answered her.
“I’ll
take him onto my team. I don’t want to offload the
responsibility to anyone else.” He smiled at
Rodney’s huff
of annoyance at his terminology. “Mine will be a
first
contact team, and like SG-1, I will need the best. McKay is
the
best,” he said, looking Rodney in the
eyes. “But there are
conditions. I’m in charge when off world.”
“Understood.” Rodney nodded.
“Though I
can’t guarantee I won’t argue or complain, when
we’re
not in a life or death situation, of course.”
Sheppard shook his head.
“Of course,” he added dryly.
“I’ll need
to train you, teach you how to shoot for a start. I have to
say I
was impressed.”
Rodney looked pleased at that, until John continued.
“Not a single bullet hit the intended target, and you were,
what,
five metres away at most? Very impressive.” John
smirked.
“I underestimated the recoil, that’s
all,” Rodney
exclaimed. “I’ve fired a Zat before and
hit the
target!”
“Yeah, but let me guess, on your…twentieth
attempt?”
“No, my fourth…” he stopped, seeing the
triumphant
smile on Sheppard’s face, and he scowled again, having fallen
into the Major’s trap of admitting to his less than perfect
aim. “Fine, but I did hit the
target,” he grumbled.
“Okay, we know what our assignments are. I think
your
team’s first mission should be to Athos, to see if they would
be
willing to trade with us,” Elizabeth interrupted their banter.
“Teyla could probably tell you more about the Wraith as
well. Her people have lived with their cullings for
centuries.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to meeting
her.”
The meeting ended, and Major Sheppard asked McKay to come with him to
the firing range, to show him how to use a 9mm. Rodney argued
that he should learn how to use a P90, but John merely told him
‘one step at a time’, and insisted on starting out
with the
handgun.
----------------
Two days passed, and Rodney was trying to integrate with the
expedition, though he still had a tendency to withdraw from everyone
and go off on his own. At least now he told them where he
would
be, and stayed within areas that had been explored and labelled as
safe.
Major Sheppard was still finalising who would be on his team.
Rodney, of course, and Lieutenant Ford. But he
hadn’t made
a decision on the fourth member as yet. Their first mission
was
scheduled two days from then, so he needed to make a decision quickly,
and he was beginning to think he should just choose one of the
Sergeants, but not Bates as he didn’t like Rodney, and see
how
things went out in the field. He could always change the
composition of his team until he found a set of people that had the
right team dynamic.
The first mission was supposed to be to Athos, but that changed when
the gate was activated from off world.
“Rodney, this is Teyla Emmagen. The Wraith are
here.”
Fortunately Rodney had been in Elizabeth’s office with Radek,
discussing their latest discovery. They had left the office
when
the alarms had sounded, and he now opened a channel to Teyla.
“Teyla, this is Rodney.”
“Rodney, the Wraith, they have taken many more than
normal.
All that are left are with me. Please, lower the
shield.”
Rodney shot an agonised look to Elizabeth, who nodded, much to his
relief.
“The shield is down,” he told Teyla after the gate
tech had shut it off. “Come on through.”
He rushed down to the area in front of the gate to wait, Elizabeth and
Sheppard by his side.
As the first Athosians came through, they looked frightened and wary of
the people waiting for them. Elizabeth told the security team
to
stand down, not wanting to frighten these potential allies more than
they already were.
Several more groups came through, about two hundred people at
most. In the last group that came through a woman
came
forward, warily eyeing the strangers. The gate shut down
behind
them.
“Teyla.” Rodney rushed to meet the woman, who
smiled.
“Rodney. You are well?” she asked,
glancing round the gate room, and raising an eyebrow in query.
“Yes, I’m fine. Is this all?”
he asked, shocked at how few had come through.
“It would seem so,” Teyla said sadly.
“They
took many hundreds this time. I have never heard of such a
number
being taken before. You have new friends, I see.”
“Yes, yes, this is Elizabeth…Dr Elizabeth Weir,
and this
is Major John Sheppard. They came here when I was last with
you
on Athos, but it’s okay. They’re from
Earth, but
they’re not like the others I was with. These
people are
okay,” he reassured her.
“Hello,” Elizabeth said, approaching the Athosian
leader. “You are welcome to stay here, though I
wish it was
under better circumstances.”
“Thank you. I am Teyla Emmagen, daughter of
Tughan.”
“Major, is there somewhere that the Athosians could
rest?”
“We have opened up another level of accommodations, it might
be a bit cosy, but it would do in the short term.”
“Are we to be your prisoners?” Teyla asked, looking
pointedly at the military in the room.
“No, no, that’s the last thing I want,”
Elizabeth was
quick to reassure her. “Please, after what Rodney
has told
us about you, we would like to be friends, allies. But this
place
is…large and we’re still exploring areas that
could be
used for living space. We don’t want people
wandering
outside of these areas unescorted, as we don’t know what
dangers
lie out there.”
Telya nodded her understanding.
“Very well. I will go with my people to see them
settled
in. Then I believe we need to talk, to discuss my
people’s
future.”
“I’ll come with you,” Rodney
said. “Tell you about what’s been
happening here.”
Elizabeth watched as the Athosians were guided out, with Rodney talking
to Teyla as they left.
“She said the Wraith had never taken so many
before,”
Sheppard said quietly to Elizabeth. “Could it be
due to
them awakening? Rodney has told us that they sleep between
cullings, leaving only a few awake during this time. Morrison
said that they were all awakening, and if that is the
case…”
“Then they will need more food than normal, hence the larger
culling.” Elizabeth looked troubled.
“Yeah. Not looking forward to explaining that, even
if we’re not to blame for it ourselves.”
----------------
The Athosians were settled, and an alliance formed between them and the
expedition. Information on the Wraith and on potential
trading
partners was shared, along with the fact that the Wraith had awakened
early and in larger numbers due to Heller, Jacques and Morrison.
After a week, during which a black energy beast had been released by
accident, but fortunately persuaded to leave, and Rodney had learned
the dangers of using a personal shield when you were nervous, but had
ultimately proved himself a hero by pulling a Hail Mary, Teyla
approached Elizabeth to say that her people wanted to move to the
mainland.
As she pointed out, her people were hunters and farmers, and they found
the city to be overwhelming. Also, it would be beneficial to
the
expedition to have a source of food so close by, once they had enough
to share. Elizabeth agreed to let them access the gate for
trading purposes, and offered aid whenever needed, be it medical or
other.
Telya herself, and four other Athosians, agreed to stay on Atlantis to
help them with their fight against the Wraith, and to act as native
guides.
The last of the Athosians were ready to board a jumper and go to the
mainland, and Teyla was saying her farewells. This included a
gesture; hands on each others’ shoulders and a touching of
foreheads. Rodney referred to it as a sort of hug, though it
was
also used in less hug-like ways as well. It was rarely
offered to
those outside of friends or family, though occasionally it was used to
cement new partnerships or alliances.
Elizabeth was waiting with him as Teyla said her goodbyes, and could
see the wistful look in his eyes when he talked about the gesture,
though it was quickly hidden. It saddened her to think that
he
probably hadn’t been hugged for many years, and now felt
himself
to be above that sort of thing. Or possibly felt himself
unworthy. She knew she wasn’t the only one to
notice how he
liked his personal space, though John had breached it several times
with friendly shoulder slaps, or leaning over Rodney’s
shoulder
to see what he was working on. Rodney seemed to tolerate
these
breaches, and perhaps even like them, though he would never admit to
that, she was sure.
Once the Athosians were safely on there way, Teyla walked over to them,
taking Elizabeth’s shoulders and inclining her
head. Taken
by surprise, Elizabeth nevertheless responded, knowing how important
this was.
“I and my people thank you, Dr Weir,” Teyla said,
pulling
away. “I hope that this will be a beneficial
partnership
for all involved.”
“Thank you. I’m sure it will
be,” Elizabeth responded.
Teyla smiled, and then turned to Rodney, placing her hands on his
shoulders and inclining her head again. He, in turn, looked
stunned, and awkwardly placed his on hands on her shoulder and returned
the gesture, very much flustered.
“I and my people thank you too for all you have done for
us,” Teyla intoned solemnly, before moving back.
“But…I haven’t really done
anything,” he stammered in denial.
“You spoke highly of us to Dr Weir, and saved us from the
energy beast.”
“Oh, well.”
It was amusing to see him almost speechless, but Elizabeth was sure he
had been touched by Teyla’s gesture and words, and she was
grateful to the Athosian leader for doing this.
“Major Sheppard has asked me to join his team. I
must find
him to give him my answer,” Teyla said with a gracious smile,
turning to leave.
“Um, what is you answer?” Rodney asked.
She turned to look back at them.
“I believe I should tell him first,” she said with
another smile, leaving.
----------------
Two more days passed, and Major Sheppard and his team of Ford, Teyla
and McKay, were about to go on their first mission through the
gate. It was to be a nice, easy mission to start off with, to
broker trade with a group of people the Athosians had been trading with
for many, many years. Simple and straightforward.
Teyla believed the Genii would be happy to trade with any who she
called friends. As Sheppard said, they’d be home
for
dinner, no problems.
Not Quite The End (!)
Author’s Notes:
1) The t-shirt quote
‘I have nothing to declare except my genius’ is by
Oscar Wilde.
2) The rogue NID under
Maybourne
gained access to the second stargate on Earth for a while, but lost
access to it in ‘Touchstone’, Season 2.
Jack
O’Neill, working with the Asgard and Tollens, shut down a
group
of NID off world in ‘Shades of Grey’, Season
3. I
have made these events later in time (i.e. 2000 for the first ep and
2001 for the second, not 1998 And 1999 respectively), so that Rodney is
kidnapped when he is 12 and on Atlantis 4 years later aged 16.
3) The bit were teen
Rodney explains
how a ZPM works comes from the transcript for
‘Rising’, as
if you hadn’t already guessed that. Just altered
the
wording very, very slightly. From “it generates
it's power
from vacuum energy derived from a self contained region of subspace
time.” (‘Rising’) – to
“they work by
generating power from the vacuum energy derived from a self contained
region of subspace.” (my story)
4) The Ancient name for
whale, and the fact it is a big fish not a mammal, comes from
‘Echoes’.
5) The bit where Carson
reports on
the Wraith autopsy is heavily based on what he says to Elizabeth in
‘Rising’ when he studies the Wraith arm brought
back from
Athos.
6) Season One
– well,
‘Suspicion’, ‘Home’ and
‘Before I
Sleep’ have been wiped out from my universe. Other
episodes
could follow the same plots, broadly speaking. However, there
would be differences due to Radek and Rodney’s positions
being
reversed, Rodney having no family or friends on Earth, and Rodney being
sixteen (eg, Allina in The Brotherhood wouldn’t have a crush
on a
teenager, unless she was a teenager herself!). Anyway,
I’ll
leave these up to your own imagination to work out.
7) Oh, and yes, the
Genii are the double-crossing bad guys that we all know and love!
----------------
Gifted Castaway: Addendum
A/N – Set
after
‘Siege’. In my universe
‘Letters from
Pegasus’ up to and including ‘Siege, Part
Three’ are
mainly the same as in canon, just with Radek being in charge and Rodney
as second in command. Main differences, Radek develops the
compression code, but Rodney improves on it. Rodney
doesn’t
send a message back to Earth. He still goes to the Lagrange
Weapons Base with Grodin, and takes the space walk and all that follows
that. Everett views him with suspicion at first, but soon
realises his usefulness. Some dialogue would have to be
different
as well to fit into my universe, but I leave that up to your
imagination. Ford still goes weird on the enzyme and leaves.
After ‘Siege,
Part Three’, Elizabeth, John, Carson, Radek and Rodney return
to Earth for debriefings etc.
One:
Elizabeth’s POV
Daedalus, five days out
from Earth
Returning to Earth had been…interesting. Not to
mention
devastating. She hadn’t expected Simon to have
moved on,
and yet she knew she should have considered that possibility.
After all, she had told him to do so in her message that
she’d
sent back just prior to the siege, though she had a feeling he had
already done so by the time he received that.
She had made two mistakes; she had assumed things were the same between
them, and she had taken his love and the fact that he would wait for
her for granted. Two very bad mistakes. And he had
led her
on, let her think things were fine, until he’d had no choice
but
to admit to the truth. She hadn’t deserved that
from him,
and yet had she given him a chance to tell her? He had broken
her
heart, but had she broken his first?
It still didn’t excuse the way he’d handled things,
but as
much as she hated what he had done, she hated herself for leaving him
like she had. But she didn’t regret it.
She would
never regret going to Atlantis, and if this was the price she had to
pay, then as painful as it was, she was willing to pay it.
Perhaps she hadn’t loved Simon as much as she’d
thought. It was obvious he hadn’t loved her as much
as she
had hoped.
Now, it was time to move on. Try to bury the pain.
No matter how hard.
She sighed, knowing that sleep wouldn’t be coming any time
soon,
and left the small room on the vast ship that was assigned to her, and
wandered the decks, not heading in any particular direction.
There were some good things to come out of the trip home. She
had
discovered that Atlantis was her home every bit as much as
Earth.
And she had faced down the Generals and powers that be, that wanted to
wrest the military command from John, and wanted to keep Rodney on
Earth. She had stood firm, and now John was a Lieutenant
Colonel,
and still her Chief Military Officer, and Rodney was returning with
them, now officially a part of the expedition, with pay, and back pay
as well. The look on his face when he’d seen how
much back
pay he had, and later when he’d seen his wage, had been
priceless.
She had been uncertain whether bringing Rodney back to Earth would be a
good idea or not, but the IOA wanted to meet him, and she
hadn’t
really been given much choice. When they first arrived, she
had
been worried that she had made a terrible mistake. Rodney had
retreated into himself. As wary, uncertain and scared as
he’d been when he’d first met them, he’d
never been
like this. Even at his most insecure with them,
he’d still
been abrasive, arrogant and talkative, but on Earth, he became
withdrawn and far, far too quiet.
It had been six weeks of debriefings, meetings, interviewing for new
staff, visiting grieving relatives of some that they had lost, and
dealing with bureaucracy. The last week was spent
preparing
to return to Atlantis, purchasing items that she had missed and could
fit into her luggage, and relaxing, or trying to. And being
relieved that after a week’s vacation with John, Rodney had
returned to himself. Helped in no small part by the fact he
wasn’t being forced to remain on Earth.
She realised she was outside the rec room, and entered it, expecting it
to be deserted at this time of night. Even in space, a day
and
night schedule was kept to, and although there were people on night
shifts throughout the ship, the rec room tended to be empty at this
hour.
Only it wasn’t. Sitting at a table was Rodney,
deeply
engrossed in a book. She smiled at the sight, and shook her
head. Most likely a physics book, probably on some esoteric
concept that she couldn’t hope to understand.
She grabbed a bottle of water from the ‘bar’ that
had been
set up on one side of the room, a non-alcoholic bar, of course, and sat
opposite him. It took him a few moments to come up for air
and
realise he wasn’t alone, and it made her smile. She
truly
believed that when he was engrossed in something, the whole universe
could implode around him and he wouldn’t notice.
Okay, that might be a little unfair, she thought to herself.
“Hey,” he said, putting the book down.
“You’re up late.”
“I could say the same to you,” she pointed out.
“Huh, yeah.”
“Good book?” she asked, taking a guess at why he
was still up.
“Hmm. Oh, yes, very good book.” He looked
a little
bit embarrassed, but then shrugged and grinned, showing her the
cover. She raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Yeah,
I… ah…I always wanted to read it when I was a
kid, but
never got the chance. Don’t normally read fiction,
prefer
to watch films and the like instead. Doesn’t
clutter up my
brain so much that way.”
“No, I guess not. But you made an exception for
that. Good choice.”
“Yes, well…Sheppard seems to think I’m
Gandalf, but
I think I’d prefer to be…” he stopped,
obviously
embarrassed again.
“Let me guess,” she said with a soft
smile. “Not Frodo, perhaps Samwise?”
He coloured slightly, and she knew she’d hit the
mark. And
she understood. Samwise was loyal to his friend, Frodo, and
brave
despite his fear. Just like Rodney was loyal to them, and
brave
even whilst seeming to panic.
“Um, maybe…” he stuttered out.
“So what else have you smuggled in with your
luggage?”
“Oh, loads of DVDs, CDs, an i-Pod, a really, really cool
digital
camera…and a holdall full of speciality coffee and all my
favourite candy,” he said, grinning triumphantly over the
last
item. “And if people are really, really nice to me,
I might
consider sharing the candy. Well, possibly.
Maybe.”
“But not the coffee?” she teased.
“Of course not,” he said in mock outrage at the
thought,
and then he grinned again. “Oh, and
you’re gonna love
one of my new t-shirts. It says ‘I’m with
genius’ on it, and has an arrow pointing up to me.”
She laughed, and he grinned proudly.
“And I’m going to make sure I wear it next time I
see
Kavanagh. He’ll have kittens, and I’ve
always wanted
a pet cat.”
“You’re incorrigible,” she said, laughing
at the
thought of Kavanagh’s face when he saw Rodney’s new
t-shirt. “Sheppard’s a bad influence on
you. Or
in this case, maybe Radek is to blame?”
“He likes Kavanagh about as much as I do,” he
agreed
sagely, and then, as was he wont sometimes, he changed tacks
completely. “So, have I said thanks for standing
your
ground with the idiots who wanted to keep me on Earth?
‘Cos
I am grateful. Really. And I’m sure
Sheppard is too,
I’m sure his promotion is down to you, and don’t
bother to
deny it.”
“I’ll take the fifth,” she
said.
“Thought you would. But thanks, anyway,”
he said,
looking a little awkward. “And with that, I think I
should
try and get some sleep, as should you.”
He stood, and then looked down at her.
“Well? Aren’t you going to take my
advice? I am a genius after all, so you should listen to
me.”
“In a bit,” she said, shaking her head.
Oh yes, he was back to normal.
“Okay.”
He left, and she found herself smiling to herself.
He’d
come a long way this last year. Yes, he was still an
arrogant,
egotistical pain in the neck at times, but he had another, softer side
to him. He just rarely showed it.
She sat in silence for a few more minutes before deciding to take his
advice and head for bed. Maybe she would be able to sleep
this
time.
Entering her room, she noticed something on the small table next to her
bed. It was a chocolate bar. A Hershey’s
Extra Dark
chocolate bar, with cranberries, blueberries and almonds, her
favourite, and on it a post it note with the words ‘thank
you’ written on it. It wasn’t signed, but
she
recognised Rodney’s handwriting.
How had he found out that it was her favourite? Someone
somewhere
had tattled on her, clearly. She was touched by the
thoughtfulness, and also the simplicity, behind the gift.
Yes, he
was still an annoying pain in the neck, but every now and then, he had
his moments.
She slept well that night.
Two: Carson’s
POV
Earth, four weeks after
returning from Atlantis
Ach, this was murder. All these people, and all of them more
qualified than he was, no matter what Elizabeth might say.
Well,
he’d given her his shortlist, probably the longest shortlist
ever, and it was in her hands now. Which was a huge relief to
him.
Coming back to Earth was strange. He’d thought it
would be
wonderful, and that he’d never want to leave again, after
being
cut off for so long. And it was wonderful, in a
way. It
would certainly be so when he visited his mum and family in Scotland
next week. But it wasn’t as wonderful as he had
thought it
would be. And he certainly did want to go back
to Atlantis, despite the dangers.
Atlantis was his home every bit as much as Earth. A feeling
he
was sure he’d seen reflected in the eyes of the others as
well. More so for Rodney, who really didn’t seem to
think
of Earth as home at all.
Maybe it wasn’t, after everything he’d been through.
He was worried about the lad, and oh how Rodney would sputter and spark
at being called that. He’d never seen the lad so
quiet or
subdued, and he suspected he knew why. It wasn’t
just the
fear that the IOA, and other interested parties, might keep him here on
Earth and away from his beloved city, but there was a fear deep inside
that maybe they were going to dump him. Even after this last
year, Rodney was still insecure about his place on Atlantis, and
despite the way he had proven himself to be trustworthy, brave even,
and certainly a valuable asset to the expedition, the boy’s
background of foster parents who passed him on, dumped him basically,
on a regular basis was bound to working against him, and them.
He knew that Elizabeth was not going to let anyone keep Rodney on Earth
against his wishes, but it would seem that Rodney wasn’t so
sure
of that. They still had a way to go before they gained his
full
trust, but that wasn’t a big surprise. The lad had
had the
worst possible time as a child and teenager, and from hints and dropped
comments here and there, he knew that Rodney’s family
hadn’t been that good to him either. Mental abuse
was every
bit as damaging as physical, and he had suffered both for most of his
life prior to meeting them.
It would take time to overcome that past, if it was even
possible. Carson was actually impressed by how far Rodney had
come in such a short time. Though less impressed by his, and
Radek’s, recent walk on the edge of exhaustion. He
understood that they didn’t have much choice if they were to
save
the city, but the lack of sleep, as well as the stimulants
he’d
been forced to give them, had landed them both in the infirmary once
the siege was finally ended, causing him grey hairs, of that he was
sure.
Still, Elizabeth was in the final meetings with the IOA about
Rodney’s future, so by the time he returned from his vacation
with the newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard, and Carson smiled
at the way the man had mentioned his promotion in every conversation
since, things would be sorted out and at least Rodney would know they
weren’t going to dump him. In fact, far from it;
that they
would fight to keep him.
He suddenly grinned, remembering Rodney’s protests as John
had
dragged him off. He’d complained of being
kidnapped, again,
stating that John’s promotion had obviously unhinged the
man. He’d muttered and moaned about the enforced
vacation,
but underneath it all, he was grateful, Carson was certain.
Still, it had been a sight to see, and hear, as the Colonel dragged the
lad off. He only wished he could have gone with them, but he
couldn’t do that and see his own family as well.
One day, he’d have to introduce his new friends to his
mum.
Especially Rodney. She’d love him, he was sure of
that. She’d always had a thing for waif and strays,
whether
animal or human. It would be interesting to see.
Maybe next time.
Three: John’s
POV
Earth, five weeks after
returning from Atlantis
Returning to Earth had been a big thing, or so he had thought, even
though he had his worries. One of them being who would
replace
him as CMO. He’d had no doubt he would return to
Atlantis,
just no longer in charge of the military. The other
had
been McKay. The physicist, and just because he
didn’t have
any formal diplomas or degrees didn’t make him any less of a
physicist than if he had, was very unhappy about this return.
Everyone had noticed his subdued behaviour, but Sheppard had decided on
doing something about it.
The enforced vacation, as McKay referred to it, had worked
wonders. Though it had also brought home to him the fact that
Atlantis was his home every bit as much as Earth. And more so
for
Rodney, who seemed out of place here.
Still, the vacation had been interesting.
He’d dragged McKay onto a plane, and took him to Toronto,
Canada. After all, the guy was Canadian, so if there was
anywhere
on Earth he might feel even the slightest bit comfortable, it would be
his own country. It had been a good idea, though McKay viewed
it
more as a place to visit than his home country, but that was okay.
Sheppard smiled as he remembered the first time they’d
entered a
mall. Oh, the look on Rodney’s face was
amazing.
He’d forgotten just how much choice there was,
and how many things
were on sale. Sheppard himself had to admit to feeling a
little
overwhelmed after a year of rationing their supplies, and trading with
Pegasus natives, but Rodney…he went crazy.
Bouncing from
one store to another, exclaiming over things, and generally going
nuts. It took all of his military know how to rein the big
kid
in, and get him to settle down to a more normal level of
excitement.
First stop was a clothes store, which had been vastly
entertaining. McKay sorely needed some casual clothes, and he
went through the store like a mini-hurricane, before settling on an
array of short-sleeved shirts, long-sleeved t-shirts, which he wore
together in a very un-cool manner, as well as a few long-sleeved shirts
and ordinary t-shirts, and jeans. And shoes, trainers, socks,
underwear…the less said about some of his choices the
better;
his taste in casual clothing was abysmal. Sheppard did try to
steer him right, but he’d only succeeded to a small
extent.
Then it was a music store, with McKay grabbing a whole load of CDs, not
really knowing what music he liked and therefore just buying
randomly. As he put it, any he didn’t like he could
pass on
to someone else back home. It was the same with the DVDs,
randomly chosen films and TV programmes. Sheppard ensured
that he
had all of the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings films in his collection,
and slipped in some Star Trek films, as well as The Back to the Future
ones.
McKay seemed determined to spend a large amount of the back pay he had
been given for his time on Atlantis, even though he didn’t
know
at that time if he’d be allowed to return, or collect a
paycheque. But who was he to argue? It was
McKay’s
money. The electronics shop had been a lot of fun too, with
McKay
being scornful about most of the contents, but buying an i-Pod, an
expensive digital camera, a laptop, and some computer games to play on
it.
They took a couple of trips back to the hire car to dump things when
they got too much to carry, but McKay seemed determined to shop
until he dropped.
As they were passing a shop that sold a mix of carved wooden items and
ethnic art, Rodney had pulled to an abrupt stop. It seemed
that a
wooden bowl with carved maple leaves around the rim, and nature scenes
carved into the sides had caught his attention.
He’d said
that Teyla would love it. So Sheppard had suggested that he
introduced her to the concept of vacation gifts, and buy it her.
He had done so, and then went on to buy a carved chess set and case for
Radek, a wooden African-style figurine for Elizabeth and, in the shop
next door, a specialist fishing rod and case for Carson.
McKay had then gone furtive, a sure sign he was up to something, and
suggested meeting him in the food hall a short while later.
Sheppard had agreed, and on his way there went into a shop that sold
specialist coffees and teas, buying some for Elizabeth, Teyla, Beckett,
Zelenka, as well as McKay. He’d also picked up a
holdall
for McKay and placed the coffee into it, filling the remaining space
with candy.
He’d felt a twinge of sadness. There was one person
missing
from his list of people to buy vacation gifts for, and that was
Ford. It had still stung, the way he’d
left. In the
end, he decided to buy some of the coffee to keep to one side for if,
no, when
they got Ford back and cured his addiction.
He’d then gone to meet up with McKay in the food hall, where
there was another burst of wonder at the array of food on offer, before
a settling on what to eat. Sheppard was pleased to see McKay
so
full of excitement, so energetic, and normal. It was a rare
glimpse into the kid that still lurked under the surface.
Food shopping was yet another experience, and he had to rein McKay in
again. The guy would have brought one of just about all the
non-citrus food and drink in the place to try. Sheppard
managed
to calm him down, although they still ended up with more food than they
really needed.
That night when he’d gone to his room, he’d found
two
packages on his bed with a hastily scrawled note ‘To
John’
on one of them in McKay’s writing. Glad that he had
left
the holdall with its goodies in McKay’s room earlier, he
carefully unwrapped the gifts, intrigued to see what the kid had
brought him.
He grinned. The first one was a set of football DVDs, and the
second was a mug with ‘Instant Lieutenant Colonel: Just add
bragging’ on it. Yeah, he remembered there was a
store at
the mall that personalised t-shirts, mugs and such like. He
was,
of course, going to have to kill McKay, which was such a damned shame,
as the kid had definitely been growing on him.
In the end, he didn’t kill him. Instead, over the
following
days, they did some sightseeing, both in the city and the surrounding
countryside, and even took a trip out to Niagara Falls. It
had
been a good vacation, very relaxing, and had brought the real Rodney
McKay back to the surface.
When they returned to the SGC, the Atlantis personnel had all sighed in
relief at the return of their Rodney, but the SGC personnel
hadn’t know what hit them. Especially when it was
confirmed
that he was an official member of the expedition, and was going
back. McKay snapped, snarled, and proved his genius on a
daily
basis.
It was one hell of a show, and a wonder to behold.
Four: Radek’s
POV
Earth, the day prior to
boarding the Daedalus
Radek had enjoyed being back on Earth, and especially his visit to his
family back home. It had been nice to be somewhere he did not
have to speak English for a change. To see his beloved
country of
birth, and enjoy the local food, and the alcohol.
It had been good, but he had also realised that he had changed, and
that Atlantis was his home every bit as much as Earth. That
had
surprised him at first, but not now. Despite the danger,
despite
the problems, the thrill of discovery and achievement was intoxicating,
and he found he loved the city for its mystery, as well as for its
beauty.
And it was beautiful, enticing, addictive. Even without the
ATA
gene, it sang a song to him, in his heart. He was a lucky
man, he
had more than one place to call home now.
Not like Rodney, he suspected. Not judging by his reactions
when
they first arrived here. It had been unsettling, seeing him
so
quiet, so withdrawn. So unlike the Rodney he was now used to,
foibles and all.
He was pleased when the Colonel had dragged him away on
holiday.
It had made a world of difference to the boy, and yes, although he
tried to treat him as an adult, Rodney was still a boy as far as he was
concerned. A rebellious, strong headed and at times impetuous
boy, who had saved Atlantis more than once with his brilliant plans,
and had saved his team more often than that, but still a boy.
Though his social blunders had endangered his team more than once as
well. Rodney had a talent for upsetting the locals, and even
Teyla’s diplomacy was not always enough to smooth things
over. But apparently he was learning to keep his mouth shut,
keep
his opinions, if not to himself, at least confined to his team.
Radek shook his head. Rodney truly was an unique individual;
thankfully.
When he had returned from the vacation, he had shown his true
colours. Not just with the return of his sarcastic ways, but
with
the gifts he had awkwardly given them, embarrassment colouring his
cheeks and nervousness causing him to jitter in place, ready to bolt.
Each gift had been thoughtfully considered, and he knew he was not the
only one to appreciate the time spent on choosing them.
Colonel
Sheppard had surprised them by giving gifts as well, stating that he
was merely following tradition, and being even more embarrassed and
awkward about it than Rodney had been.
He was dark horse, Sheppard, and for all his surface friendliness, as
every bit wary about friendship as Rodney was. They were good
for
each other. Sheppard had the big brother thing going, and
Rodney
seemed happy to play the part of the younger sibling.
After much negotiating, or threats he suspected, by Elizabeth, Rodney
was officially a part of the expedition. More than that,
Elizabeth and himself had fought for Rodney to be officially recognised
as Radek’s second in command, to use a military
term. But
there was a condition to it. Rodney would have to do a
degree,
followed by a masters and then a doctorate. The IOA would
arrange
for him to do this via distance learning, though he might have to
return to Earth on occasion to take exams, though these would be kept
down to a minimum, and they would try to arrange them so that he did
not have to return frequently.
Rodney had been pleased to hear he was Radek’s second in
command,
less pleased about the degree. He had huffed that it was a
complete waste of his time. Elizabeth had said it was a
non-negotiable condition, but if he wanted to return to Atlantis as
‘just another member of the science staff’, then
that was
fine with her. He had scowled, he had ranted, and he had
huffed,
eventually agreeing that he would do it.
Radek was pleased. After all, anything could happen, and if
Rodney ended up back on Earth permanently for whatever reason, such as
they lost Atlantis, than having a doctorate would be more than just
useful, it would be a requirement.
Also, in the American system, at the bachelor stage, Rodney would
probably have to study a range of subjects, including some of the
‘squishy’ sciences and ‘touchy
feely’
subjects. Rodney would not be pleased about that, but Radek
thought it was a good thing. Not that he thought the boy
would be
likely to develop an appreciation for these subjects, but maybe he
would be a little more tolerant of them.
Probably wishful thinking, but even if not, it was a good thing that
Rodney learnt about other subjects, being entirely too focussed on
physics, engineering and Ancient technology for his own good.
Maybe he should introduce him to philosophy? He laughed at
the
thought. Then again, perhaps not.
Five: Rodney’s
POV
Daedalus, five days out
from Earth, just after talking with Elizabeth
Rodney returned to his quarters, and settled down to sleep.
However, his thoughts had a different idea about that.
Returning to Earth had been…scary. No, scratch
that, it
had been terrifying. Truly terrifying. All his own
insecurities reared their ugly heads, and he was convinced that he
would not be allowed to return to Atlantis, and that Elizabeth and the
others would be relieved about that. That they would be happy
to
get rid of the problematic genius, even if it meant going without said
genius.
He knew he wasn’t being fair to them. They had
shown over
the past year that they liked him, not just for what he could do for
them, but for himself. And yet, there was a part of him that
still worried that it was all an act. That they only put up
with
him for his knowledge and intellect. He was sure that part of
him
was wrong, but he couldn’t seem to put it to rest, not
entirely. The trip back to Earth had stirred all these fears
back
up, and he’d retreated into himself.
There had been debriefings, and he had sat through them all,
contributing only when necessary. He’d hated every
minute
of it, and felt like he was being analysed by those in charge, which he
really didn’t like. Especially as he feared he was
being
found wanting.
Four weeks of it had been hellish. And then Sheppard had
kidnapped him, no other word for it, and taken him to Canada.
That had been great fun, though it also highlighted what he already
knew. Sure, the place was nice, familiar even, but it
wasn’t home. He’d forgotten how beautiful
the country
was, in fact, how beautiful the whole planet was, and being able to buy
just about anything was so very, very cool, but it wasn’t
home. A part of him felt connected to the place, to Earth,
but he
didn’t feel comfortable there. He didn’t
want to stay
for very long.
Atlantis was his home. Earth was a place he would visit, and
would love in his own way, but it wasn’t home, and never
would
be. His home was in another galaxy now, with his new family.
And they were his family, in all but blood. He’d
found a
place to fit in, and people to fit in with. Despite the fears
that still plagued him from time to time, he had no doubts now that
they wanted him on Atlantis. Elizabeth had fought for
him.
Radek too, and he knew the others would have as well if
they’d
felt it would have helped any. They wanted him around, and
although there was still that little niggling worry that it was only
for his skills, he was sure it was more than that. Much, much
more.
Which was good, if still scary. He’d lost members
of his
family, like Peter. It had taken a while for Peter and
himself to
become friends, and it wasn’t until he’d died that
Rodney
had realised how much he’d cared about him. It
still hurt,
badly.
Peter had been the one to let slip what Elizabeth’s favourite
candy was. There had been a group of them discussing candy
and
other things that they missed, and apparently, it was a similar
conversation with Elizabeth that had revealed her favourite.
Peter preferred Cadbury’s chocolate to Hershey’s
himself,
and Rodney had brought a few bars of that to try, sort of in memory for
his friend. It was stupid and sentimental, but it had seemed
right at the time. Still did.
And then there was Ford. At least he was still alive, hooked
up
on enzyme and not thinking straight, but alive. Well,
hopefully. There was still a chance that maybe they could
find
him, maybe they could bring him back, and maybe they could cure the
addiction, but to Rodney, that seemed like a lot of maybes.
And
whilst he might not have been as close to Aiden as to others on
Atlantis, he’d been a part of the team, and Rodney missed him.
He didn’t know how he’d survive if he lost
Sheppard, Teyla,
Elizabeth, Carson or Radek. It would hurt. It would
hurt
more than losing Ford or Peter hurt, and he would do everything in his
power to stop it from happening.
They were his family now, and Atlantis was his home.
He’d
do whatever it took to protect them and the city. Because it
would be just too painful if he failed.
On a brighter note, everyone had seemed to like the gifts
he’d
brought them, and he couldn’t wait to see Teyla’s
response
to the bowl. He was sure she’d like it.
And he had the ‘I’m with genius’ t-shirt
to annoy
Kavanagh with. He’d also found one with the
‘nothing
to declare’ quote to replace his old ratty one.
Kavanagh
was so going to fume. Especially the third t-shirt, that he
hadn’t mentioned to Elizabeth. The one that said
‘Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have
film’. Oh, that one was really going to cause some
ructions
with the guy, who was so clearly jealous of Rodney’s enhanced
memory.
It was going to be so, so sweet.
----------------
“I was little
boy lost, and I was little boy blue
I am little Jack Frost
but I am warm through and through
It's not easy to hide
when your heart's on full view
Oh, tonight, cruel world
be forgiving
Oh, for once in my life
I am living”
Lyrics from
‘Little Jack Frost’ by Kate Rusby
----------------
The End
Author's Notes:
1) The ‘Instant Lieutenant
Colonel: Just add bragging’ slogan is my own Rodney-fied
version
of ‘Instant human: Just add coffee’ slogan I saw on
the
internet, and which I believe is anonymous.
2) ‘Everyone has a photographic
memory. Some just don't have film’ quote is from the
internet,
and again, as far as I know, it is anonymous.
