Welcome to the Night Shift
Rating: All Ages
Category: Humor
Season: Atlantis Season One
Summary: The HOG science team has no luck…they got the night shift.
Author's note: I created the HOG Team because I am a hydrologist and kept getting annoyed by the fact there seems to be hydrologists at Atlantis but no one has ever seen them. Here is my explanation why.
Atlantis, the great city of the Ancients, is located far away from earth somewhere in the Pegasus Galaxy. Some of the world's brightest scientists were chosen to travel there. It is so filled with technology that even brainy-acts like Dr. Mckay can't understand everything we find.
The scientists were split into teams like chemistry, physics, biology, but I think my science team got the short end of the stick. Let me back up a little bit. My name's Dr. Rebecca Thomson, but most people just call me Bec. I am the team leader of the Hydrology, Oceanography, and Geology team, otherwise known as the HOG team. I would like to strangle the person who started calling us that at the SGC because now everyone calls us that.
As the second smallest science team, we tend to get ignored until we are absolutely needed so it stands to reason that when there was not enough time to get all of the earth computers and stuff activated for the labs, the HOG team was volunteered to share space with Biology. Of course, Biology got to use the lab during the day shift and most of the swing shift, so HOG got the lab at night.
Work shifts are about eight hours long and most scientists work, at least, a shift-and-a-half. Team leaders usually pull two shifts at a time, but if we are working on a big project it is not abnormal to work two-and-a-half or three shifts in a row… with lots of coffee. People like Drs. Mckay, Zelenka, and Beckett appear not to need any sleep at all, and they can often be seen wandering the halls at odd hours.
So what is it like being in charge of one of the night teams? Normally my days begin by rolling out of bed at 15:00 hours and grabbing some breakfast before I head to the lab. I always like getting there early, that way I can see if the biology department wants some entomology advice before I start daily checks of the desalinization systems.
Larry Allred is usually the next person to arrive. He comes in at 16:00 hours, because he also pulls double shifts. As the resident ichthyologist – someone who studies fish-- he helps the biology department during the swings. Larry is a nice guy, a great oceanographer, and has an ear like a boomer. He seems to have the ability to tell the sound of every blip that comes up on the sonar. My only problem with him is he is hydrophobic and terrified of water. He can't even look out the windows of Atlantis without nearly having a panic attack. He just sits there in his little corner of the lab, happily cutting away at his specimens, naming new species, finding new fish toxins and pouring over scans of the sea floor. Once he's in his studying mode, we don't see him a whole lot.
Midnight rolls around, and if there are no dives going on, it means lunchtime. As the swing shift ends, I go up the long way to check to see if Drs. Mckay and Zelenka are in their offices. I generally end up bringing half a dozen empty coffee mugs from the physics and engineering departments to the mess hall. After grabbing lunch, I drop off fresh coffee to Mckay and Zelenka if they're working on a project. Mckay usually nods his approval and laments the fact that I can't drink coffee. He ignores the fact I can't drink coffee because caffeine interferes with my meds. It also smells gross. Zelenka usually thanks me for the cup, and we have a little chat about what is a happening in the departments. I usually don't stay long since most of my team is probably in the lab by this time.
As you enter the lab, you will typically find Timothy Hendricks and Eric Cooper, two ex-Navy SEALS sitting left of the door at their computers. They are trained divers. With experience in underwater rescue, they were our first line of defense when it comes to exploring. Sometimes, though, they act like overgrown four-year-olds; angry about the fact the Marines got the cool guns and most of the action with the Wraith.
Next to them sits Celia Krauss. She is tall, thin, and has black hair that cascades over the back of her chair. She has such a bad habit of bending close to the screens that we had her eye sight checked out before leaving SGC to see if she needed reading glasses. Her eyes were fine, she just likes to get up and personal with the computers. I guess as the computer specialist and chief controller for the ROS (Remote Operated Submersible), she feels like she needs to intimidate electronics.
On my right side is the geology crew is Albert Johnston, who specializes in vulcanology, glaciology, and has made paleontology a hobby. His job is to look at the seismic data which has been collected from other planets and determine if it is safe. Jason Wage, on the other hand, specializes in finding deposits of useful minerals and speleology. Last, but not least, in the line up is Yoko Tsukishiro, who is also a member of the Hydrology sub-team. She studies fluidic morphology.
Twenty minutes into each shift, Linda Volk usually shuffles in, peering through her big, owl-like glasses. She is another one of our team that usually works double shifts. During the swing she works with the botany team, identifying algae species. When she's with us... well, she does the same thing.
Most of the time, all you can hear is the clicking of keys on the laptops and an occasional curse when someone screws up on their simulations. Finally, around 05:00 hours, the silence is broken. Someone has found some piece of data which is worth the whole group exploring. We continue the discussion until the sun starts to rise across Atlantis, and I start sending members of my team to bed.
By 08:00 hours, as the bleary-eyed Biologists wander back into the lab, I am the only person left in the lab. Kate Junger and Mark Stevens, our day dive team, have the responsibility to prepare information about everything that has happened during the dayshift for our use during the nightshift.
Now, it is my bedtime. After grabbing a pastry at the mess hall, I drench my tired body in the showers and curl up in bed, knowing that I will be repeating everything again at 15:00 later today.