Disclaimer: I have no claim whatsoever to these characters.
Note: After being startled for a moment by how Time ended, I decided it made perfect sense. Watching a bunch of characters do A-B-C when you know what those things are, and how they're going to do them - what could be more boring?
This is that story.
Four People Nicholas Rush Found Himself Cheering Up (and One He Didn't)
by Helen W.
Immediately after Time…
Once the initial shock had passed, Nicholas realized that finding humanoid remains and a couple of kinos near the stargate should not have been a surprise. In both the Milky Way and in Pegasus, after all, many planets bore population centers near stargates. It was actually more a wonder that there'd been no local signs of humanity on the first two planets they'd visited.
Nicholas was more interested in looking for edible-looking fruits and nuts than in tinkering with a technology they already knew a good deal about. But of course Eli, who'd made kinos his special project, set to playing with them immediately; his "Holy shit! We're on these things!" had them retreating through the gate, a fresh puzzle to solve, before they'd done any exploring at all, more's the pity.
Not five minutes later, half the personnel in the gate room were peering over Eli's shoulder at the screen of one of the kinos, the other half over Lt. Scott's shoulder at the other.
There, indeed, was Lt. Scott, clearly in distress, using what were probably his final breaths to explain the hazards of the planet and the killer in their blood.
Nicholas stepped back to allow more people to see the recording of (this other?) Lt. Scott, then watched, somewhat surprised by the efficiency displayed, as a team was put together to retrieve some of the creatures, while Eli and Col. Young sped through the recording on the other kino, looking for anything of use. And finding quite a bit, most usefully, information on how to find the creatures' nests and how to kill them.
Then Greer, Scott, and Marsden were through the gate, and they could do nothing but wait.
Lt. Johansen joined them a few minutes into the vigil. "Matt was right," she said. "Our water's contaminated. If it's not bacteria it's something very similar."
"Well," he replied, "it's a happy coincidence that we'll be able to devise a treatment." Or was it a coincidence that Destiny had brought them to this planet? There was so much they still did not know about Destiny's systems!
"Yeah, right," she said. "If we had a team of medical researchers, we'd be able to devise something. But I'm just a medic! I don't even know where to start."
Nicholas thought about this for a moment. "Lt. Scott said that they somehow learned that the venom cured the disease. Given what we know about Lt. Scott, how do you suspect this knowledge was gained?"
"He got bit," said Johansen, slowly.
Nicholas nodded. "Dollars to doughnuts, that's what happened."
"So it's just a matter of extracting venom and injecting it." She gripped his arm in thanks, and was off.
A short time later, the gate activated, and the away team returned with bits and pieces of their quarry in several closed-top containers. Sgts. Greer and Marsden headed to the lab, while Lt. Scott stayed to brief Colonel Young and anyone else who cared to listen. "It's a nice-looking place, though the smell was horrible," he concluded. "Looked like there were some fruit trees. I guess going back to pick some would be a bad idea." He gestured at the two kinos still in the gateroom. "Are we going to blow up the universe, having those two so close together?"
"Well, the universe seems to be surviving so far," Nicholas replied. "As I understand it, these things, well, they happen sometimes, and it's never been a problem."
Col. Young, who'd been working with the stargate program for years, nodded, but the rest of the assembled looked at him like he was crazy. "It's true!" he said. "Were none of you briefed?"
Lt. Scott crossed to where he was sitting and sat down hard. "Seriously, Dr. Rush, these things happen? To other people, this has happened?"
"More times than I can count," he answered. "Literally, more times than I can count. It can get rather recursive."
"Shit," said the lieutenant. "What are we doing out here, messing with this stuff?"
"Protecting Earth. But not just that. Exploring the universe. Expanding human knowledge."
"Stuff worth dying for?"
"Yes," said Nicholas, "I believe it is."
"Okay," said Lt. Scott. "Okay."
Right on schedule, it was reported that Dale Volker had been sick and passed out; Chloe Armstrong collapsed shortly thereafter. Fortunately, having been warned, everyone was prepared, and Dale and Chloe were already in the infirmary when they became ill.
Unfortunately, doses of the antibiotic were not quite ready to be administered. Also unfortunately, Dale was in his department, and Col. Young was quite insistent that Nicholas visit his subordinate, 'for the good of moral.' Nicholas suspected that the colonel meant his own moral, since he had no idea what either he or Dale would get out of the exchange.
Dale looked horrid - worse, even, than Lt. Scott had looked on the kino. Nicholas forced a smile and asked, "Well, how are we doing here?"
Dale, surprisingly, looked happy to see him, if 'less dead' meant 'happy.' "I didn't know it would be this bad," he said. "I thought it would be no big deal, you know? That I could keep on working."
"Well, I'm sure whatever you're working on, it can wait."
Dale shook his head. "I found a hole in some code of Peter Kavanagh's I had on my PC. It should - it should get checked into Subversion, at least. So that someone can verify my fixes and tell Peter about them…"
"Don't worry about it," said Nicholas.
"I'm serious, Nick. Ask Lisa Park, she can do it."
"All right, I will," said Nicholas.
Dale looked relieved. "How are you feeling? You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Nicholas answered. "I don't drink water, after all, I drink whiskey. Fish fuck in water."
The most unusual noise started behind him; Nicholas turned and saw Chloe Armstrong, who'd been either asleep or unconscious when he'd entered, having some sort of fit…
No, she was giggling uncontrollably. Had he never heard her laugh before?
"W. C. Fields!" she said when she was able to speak.
"Why, yes, though I've paraphrased a bit," he replied.
"My father made me watch a bunch of his movies, said it was filling a hole in my cultural literacy. That some day I'd find myself in a room full of old men and I'd thank him. And he was right!"
She paused, now looking slightly horrified. "Not that you're old!" she said. "Not THAT old…"
Nicholas found himself smiling. "It's quite all right, Miss Armstrong," he said. "I think we can both agree it's a matter of perspective."
If he hadn't seen for himself how sick Dale and Chloe, and, later, the indomitable Lt. Vanessa James, had been, Nicholas would have said that the cure was worse than the disease. After getting his injection of venom, the room had spun, and he'd had to lay down for several hours.
Now he simply felt hung over. But after a quick check by Lt. Johansen, who, it seemed, was saving her own treatment for last, he'd been pronounced in the clear.
There were too many people in the infirmary, and Lt. Johansen seemed to have all the help she needed, so Nicholas headed to the observation deck.
The space was empty except for Sgt. Greer, whose posture was more pensive than usual, if that was possible. Odd, because he'd been one of the three who'd brought back the creatures from the planet; he was one of the heroes of the hour.
When Greer turned to see who was disturbing his peace, Nicholas smiled. "Good show, man," he said. "Looks like everyone's going to be fine."
"Heh," said Greer, "Took us three tries. We're not always going to get three tries."
"Well," said Nicholas, "you're just going to have to do better next time."
"Yeah, well, fuck you, man."
"Touchy," said Nicholas. Well, you couldn't win them all.
* * * THE END * * *
All feedback is, as usual, appreciated, here or to helenw at murphnet dot org.