I hope that this will be a fun, insightful story into what I think probably, could have, should have, happened in between episodes with HG.
Of course, I own nothing but a few artifacts. ;)
Major thanks to my beta-ers. Kendralynora for constantly poking and bothering me to keep creating, Marie-Rene for reminding me to add heart, and InuGhost for friendship and fun!
"Oh NOW you want to know that I think!" Artie yelled.
"I THINK that I'm going to regret not letting her freeze to death!" He paused to let the sting pass from his split lip.
"But by then it'll be too late, for all of us."
Artie stormed away from a stunned Myka, leaving her to throw a worried look at her partner.
Artie let his frustration out on the outer door to the warehouse. It flung open violently into the late afternoon air. He stomped outside and turned in a circle running his fingers through his salty curls and breathing heavy with emotion. He knew that the regents never changed their minds. Having Wells as an agent was out of his control, the decision was made above him. He growled in frustration. How was he supposed to keep his team together and safe while working with bronzed snakes? Why didn't they listen to him? What did Myka tell them! Artie caught himself and hitched up in annoyance. He stopped pacing and closed his eyes trying to focus and regain control of his racing heart beat. Then, quickly he opened his eyes and dug into his pocket for his car keys.
Artie's red jaguar stopped in a deserted area of the South Dakota badlands. Stone rose up from the ground almost in unnatural formations. Yellow-white sheets of rock stood on edge rising above his head in deep, delicate patterns that extended to Artie's left and right.
Stepping out of his car, he marched towards the rocks, hardly noticing them in his distracted state. His dark blue shirt stood out against the lighter sand colored environment as he marched uphill to the first wall of rock and slipped behind it, disappearing into the maze of canyons.
After a few turns between towering rock walls, Artie pulled up short, finally letting the serenity of the place get to him. Sharp blades of stone towered over him, preventing any electrical signals from penetrating. He could almost feel the electronic ties being severed, at least temporarily. More than his perception of being freed from his nearly constant electrical bondage, the total silence of the place got to him. His ears buzzed in the absolute quite, still subconsciously on alert for a Farnsworth ring. The supervisor took a deep breath and took in the peace of the place. It was the perfect place to not be found.
As he walked, he pulled out a cigar from its metal travel holder and cut off the tip with his knife between his thumb and middle finger, pocketing the end. He flipped the cutter in his pocket and fished out a box of wooden matches. Artie paused and deftly struck a match, lighting his cigar with practiced skill. He diverted his eyes just enough from the flame to try to save his night vision as it lit up his face in the fading light. He rotated the cigar to get an even burn, then shook out the match, cooled it and stowed it in his pocket.
Artie paused and puffed on the cigar to get the burn established. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the taste of the smoke and feel of the skillfully wrapped cigar. It had been a while since he last felt the need to think so deeply that it warranted a cigar. Letting the relaxing benefits of the smoke and the place effect him, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck to try to let out some of the tension built up there. He pressed forward, taking up his hike again.
A few memorized turns later and the Warehouse supervisor came upon a look out over a ravine formed by the ragged crop of rock that he was climbing on and the next one. Just beyond that was a distance of craggy rocks that went out towards the horizon, each one slight smaller in size than the one before which gave Artie a spectacular view. He found that just staring at the different sized mountains seemed to give him perspective on things in his own life.
Artie settled into his familiar thinking area. He sat himself down on a slightly horizontal rock and took a long draw from his cigar, relishing the taste. He let himself enjoy the pleasure of slowly blowing out the smoke, and took a deep breath of the quickly cooling badlands air.
He shook his head. What was he going to do? How could he possibly manage the Warehouse when he was being disregarded by Myka going over his head to the regents. His authority was being undermined and everyone knew it. Regent Kassan sided with Myka instead of him. That fact burned more than the cigar between his fingers. He momentarily forgot about his cigar and looked out over the canyon. The sun was setting and turning the hills orange. Further out, the distant hills beckoned Artie to expand his thoughts to work through his issues.
The supervisor allowed the hills' calm silence to influence him. He took a deep breath and tried to lower his shoulders that had managed to creep up again with stress. He started playing "what if". What if he just didn't give any assignments to Wells? Perhaps he could limit the danger to Pete and Myka if he kept her under his eye at the Warehouse. But, if he did keep her there, that would give her access to at least most of the artifacts in the Warehouse. God knows what she could do with some of them. Not to mention the danger to Claudia and Leena. He couldn't watch her all of the time. Perhaps the best idea would be to get her out of the Warehouse after all.
What if he went to the regents? He could explain how dangerous Wells is. Artie shook his head. That would never work. Mrs. Fredric? Could she be of any help? No. The regents wouldn't be receptive to that kind of tactic and he had never heard of them changing their minds on a decision since… well ever. He ran through several other thoughts and ended up shaking his head at the end of each one. He was stuck with her, at least for now.
He took a draw from the cigar, mostly to keep it from going out.
But- didn't HG Wells show promise in Russia? Hadn't she tried to save his life? She was nearly frozen to death in the process, but didn't seem to mind too much in the end. She was able to track him down before Pete and Myka found him. Wasn't that type of talent worth developing? There was no doubt to Artie that she was intelligent. But, she was also 100 years removed from her time. That would be a big handicap in the field to her partners at the very least. But the effects of being bronzed! How can she not be half way to insanity after an experience like that? She was most of the way there before they put her in, that's why she was bronzed in the first place! Artie stuck the cigar in his mouth and angrily chewed the end.
The sun had slipped under the horizon without his notice, plunging the badlands into dusk. Artie stood and leaned against the side of a vertical rock to help burn off some emotion. He knew that he couldn't get the regents to reverse their decision. He also knew that the safest place for everyone would be for HG Wells to be out in the field and away from the Warehouse and the artifacts within, not to mention the Warehouse computers and data bases. Not that someone from the past could even use a computer, he thought, but Artie didn't put anything past someone like Wells. She was smart. Too smart. And it didn't help matters that she was also beautiful, in any age. He sighed. He would have to keep an eye on Pete; Myka too for that matter. She had put her neck out several times for that woman already.
Artie wondered why. What did Myka see that he didn't? Artie casually rolled the cigar between his fingers in between a few puffs. He mentally went over what he knew of Myka's contact with HG Wells. He would need to see her report that she gave to the regents on Wells to help figure that one out.
His eye was drawn to the smoke rising out of the cigar in the still air. He suppressed a shiver from the cool evening. He allowed himself to contemplate the loveliness of the smoke. It weaved upon itself in a long tendril upwards. He knew that there was inspiration in it. It reminded him how everything is connected. The wind blew up from the canyon and softly dissipated the smoke before it settled again rising up in its intricate pattern. Everything is connected. Everything touches everything. Artie searched the corners of his brain for something just out of sight. He was slightly light headed from the tobacco, and he used the lowering of his defenses to get to the parts of his brain usually kept in reserve. He knew that there was a solution somewhere; he just had to find it.
Something on the edge of his memory tickled his brain again. He looked over the darkening hills as they disappeared into darkness and the thought faded. Looking back at the smoke, the elusive thought was closer. It was the smoke. How it turned in on its self; the elegant curves, how it rose from the heat of the smoldering fire. It was all related, all influenced. Artie physically flinched. "Related, influenced…." He mumbled out loud. It was there, on the edge of his brain…. He had heard that somewhere recently. His eyes subconsciously narrowed. It was a newspaper article: "Everything is influenced by everything else. It is all inter-related." It was said by a scientist who just put forth a theory on the construction of the universe. "One must simply think things through thoroughly to be able to see the universe around them."
Artie's face went slack and his eyes went out of focus with shock as his thoughts formed. The scientist had revised Einstein's theory of space time. "Einstein." He muttered out loud. The quote echoed in his head. "think things through… to see the universe" His eye twitched.
"Einstein's fiddle…." He whispered, "He found Einstein's fiddle."
