Written for the 'laundry day' challenge at the LJ community sgu_challenge.
The three women rounded the corner to find Greer and Scott watching as Eli poked about in what appeared to be a large closet with a glass door. Their firearms had been left on a nearby bench top.
"Is it true?" Chloe exclaimed, "You guys found a laundry?"
"It looks like it. I haven't figured out exactly how it works yet, but it's basically an Ancient washer/dryer and press, how hard can it be?" Eli questioned as he accidentally pulled a coil free. He quickly tried to jam it back into place without anyone noticing.
"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm actually looking forward to doing laundry," Vanessa said "It will be so nice to have clothes that have been washed properly, rather than just being washed in a bucket of recycled water."
"Ironed clothes." Greer drawled "Sharp creases, just the way clothes are supposed to be."
"Guys, seriously?" Eli said incredulously, "I know that it will be nice to have clean clothes again but you are getting excited about doing laundry. Something that I have spent most of my adult life trying to avoid!"
"We know." Scott jokingly said offside to Chloe, who had joined him sitting on one of the benches that ran along two of the walls.
"Hey!" Eli replied with a grin "I am no worse than anyone else on Destiny."
"As strange as it sounds I think might be really good for morale." TJ offered. "The chance to do something normal and mundane could make people relax a little bit, make Destiny feel more like a home."
"It makes sense," Chloe agreed "I mean we're all excited about it, there's no reason why everyone else shouldn't be."
"We'll need to set up some sort of roster, at least for the first week or two, to make sure everyone gets a chance to use. But I think after the initial rush people should be able to use it whenever they need it." Scott said.
"As long as the women get first use of course." Vanessa said pointedly to Scott.
"Oh, no way! Guys, come on back me up?" Scott turned to Eli and Greer.
"You're on your own man," Eli said, holding his hands up in front of him.
"Ladies first." Greer offered, strolling around the room to look at something that was very similar to a top loader washing machine.
"So Eli, how soon do you think you can get it up and running?" TJ asked.
Eli stooped down to look at the mechanics at the base of the machine he was still standing near. "Not sure, a day or two maybe? Nothing looks broken but I'll need to work out how to turn it on. Unfortunately the Ancients didn't leave instructions on how to operate things like their washer/dryer." He said wryly.
"As long as it doesn't turn out like Corporal Kincaid's incident with the Ancient dishwasher." Greer reminded him.
"No. Nope. Definitely not going to being doing that." Eli said emphatically.
"Well, get to it Eli," Vanessa said, "The sooner you get this place working the sooner I have clean t-shirts."
"Yes ma'am" Eli responded throwing her a half hearted salute before turning back to the machine.
"Eli, why haven't you been answering your radio?" Rush demanded as he walked into the room, scribbling some final figures onto his notepad.
"Sorry. It's in my pack." Eli replied pointing across the room to the pile of packs. "But check this place out. We think that we've found the laundry for Destiny."
"Yeah, we're thinking that we'll draw up a roster, so everyone gets a chance to use it." Scott offered.
"That's wonderful. But do you know what the power requirements are for this room?" Rush asked Eli.
"Well no, not yet..." Eli stammered.
"Then I suggest that you find out." Rush interrupted "Destiny's power reserves are low and there are far more pressing needs then clean socks. Do the calculations, work out whether we can actually afford to use the power and then you can consider making rosters." he continued, glancing at Scott. "Eli, I need to you to help Dr Park with the CO2 scrubbers near hydroponics. And I don't have time to keep tracking you down." He finished, walking out of the room.
"Well he was his usual cheery self," Eli said with a grimace. "I'll try and get back to this later today, no promises though."
The mood in the room now considerably dampened, Scott patted Eli on the shoulder, "Don't worry about it, whenever you're able to get to it is fine."
"Yeah, washing our clothes in buckets really isn't that bad." Vanessa said with a slightly disappointed smile.
As Eli replaced the panels that he had taken off the machine, the others started to gather the packs and firearms before leaving the room to head back to the main living areas of the ship.
"I'll mention it to the colonel; I think the morale boost will make any power consumption worthwhile." TJ said as she walked out of the room behind Eli, the lights shutting off behind her.