Samantha Carter's Wonderful Life
by
AstraPerAspera
A/N: Thanks, as always, to my two fabulous betas, JenniferJF and mara-anni, who always keep me on right track and cheer me on to the finish line.
For some reason she couldn't get John Denver out of her head.
Rather than take the transporter she had decided that morning to walk to the main tower from the habitation wing. Atlantis was beautiful and vast and in many ways superior in setting to the subterranean environment of the SGC, yet there was still something claustrophobic about being surrounded by miles and miles of ocean and there were days when she longed to feel solid ground beneath her feet. Walking the distance to her office from her quarters was one of the strategies she'd found that helped keep the sense of being constantly at-sea at bay, and as she'd strode through the austere, Frank Lloyd Wright-esque hallways she'd caught the sound of a high tenor voice drifting out from behind one of the closed doors.
Some days are diamonds
Some days are stone
Thinking about it now, hours later, Sam gave a humorless laugh. If some days were stone then today was nothing less than a full-sized boulder--quite possibly even a small mountain—hanging around her neck and pulling her down to the murky and unfathomable bottom of the ocean on which the city rested. Well…perhaps that was a little melodramatic, upon reflection, but still, she felt the weight of the day—of the entire past few weeks—as wearying as if she were indeed wearing a solid naquadah necklace.
Or maybe it was a noose.
It certainly felt that way, considering the intergalactic conference call she'd just gotten done with. The pinched face of Richard Woolsey had told her everything she'd needed to know before he or any of the other anal-retentive representatives had even uttered a word. And where the hell was Jack? Landry had been in on the call, but there was no sign of the one person she'd been counting on at least for moral support. And Landry's "General O'Neill is unavailable at this time" in response to her query had been entirely uninformative if not downright evasive. It had all gone downhill from there, which was saying a lot, considering.
Granted, the loss of the intergalactic bridge was not inconsequential. A great deal of effort and manpower—not to mention a whole lot of money ponied up by the IOA's member countries—had gone into developing and building Midway Station. Needless to say they had not been exactly thrilled by the news of all those billions floating around as so much space dust. The whole project had been a hard-sell in the first place. There were still more than a few who questioned the long-term viability of the Atlantis expedition and were loathe to spend any more resources on it than were absolutely necessary. It had taken a great deal of campaigning by those committed to Atlantis to finally win its approval. The fact that it had a half-life of less than a year did not make for happy campers back home.
Then there was, of course, the little matter of the Wraith, literally, at Earth's door. Which, she couldn't deny, if one followed the trail of events backward, clearly stemmed from her decision to grant Todd access to the Atlantis database. Of course if she hadn't, Atlantis might be only so much space dust by now, but she had the distinct feeling that the IOA wouldn't have been half as concerned over that as they were with Wraith running through the halls of the SGC. And, to be honest, she couldn't blame them. Had she known the danger she was placing Earth in, she may very well have chosen to sacrifice the ancient city as well. The fact that it had all worked out...miraculously somehow…made her feel only slightly better. Miracles, however, did not carry much weight with the IOA, and they had not been inclined, in any way whatsoever, to scale back their criticism.
Sam leaned back from her desk and sighed.
Well. It wasn't the first time she'd been under scrutiny, and it wouldn't be the last, she was sure. Still. For some reason today's inquisition had been especially difficult. Jack's absence, she knew, was part of it. But it was more than that. For the first time in many months…since those first, lonely weeks she'd spent missing everyone she knew and loved…she found herself doubting her decision to come to Atlantis. Wondering whether it had been the right choice or not. Whether she was really up to the task…or not.
At the moment, it was coming down on the "not" side.
"Colonel?"
Her head snapped up. Chuck had somehow managed to appear in her doorway without her even realizing it. He looked apologetic.
"Sorry to disturb you…but I just got a call from one of the research labs and there's been an incident…."
"What kind of incident?" She had schooled herself over these many months to ignore the impulse to jump to her feet and run fix whatever was wrong when reports like this would come to her attention. Even so, she felt her leg muscles tighten, ready to propel her into action.
"They're not sure, actually…it's one of McKay's teams. They're working on one of the Ancient devices. Whatever they did triggered some kind of lockdown. They're trapped in the lab and can't get out."
Sam was on her feet by now.
"Are they in danger?"
Chuck shrugged and shook his head, "Sorry…we really don't know."
Sam slipped past him across the bridge, activating her headset as she hurried through the Control Room.
"McKay? This is Colonel Carter…come in."
"Uh…Colonel?" The hesitant tone of Chuck's voice brought her up short. "Dr. McKay went off-world with Colonel Sheppard this morning…they're not due back until this evening."
Damn. She'd known that. And she should have remembered it. She could feel a dozen pairs of eyes on her and she hoped the room was dark enough to hide the flush she knew had crept into her cheeks. Good job, Sam. Forgetting that your flagship team is on a mission.
"Get Zelenka on it then," she requested. "Tell him I'll…."
"Dr Zelenka is on the team that's trapped. He's the one asking for help."
Sam took a deep breath. Beyond McKay and Zelenka she didn't know the next tier of scientists well enough to choose who to send. Besides…if Zelenka couldn't figure it out, there wasn't much sense sending someone less qualified. She really had no choice but to go herself.
"Tell Dr. Zelenka I'll be there shortly. Contact Dr. Keller and have her meet me at the lab. Oh…and get a hold of the engineers, please. Tell them we're going to need a torch."