"Dr. Wier, Col. Sheppard, welcome back." A woman was walking down an impressive staircase from what appeared to be the control room.
"It's good to be back, Teyla. This is Taryn Smith, our newest resident doctor. Taryn, this is Teyla Emmagan."
"It is very nice to meet you." Teyla said, smiling.
"Likewise." Taryn smiled softly, still looking around in wonder. It was surreal, standing in a room that had been described to her in her mother's stories for years. It was a room that her mother and father had stood in together over 10,000 years ago. It was home.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Sheppard walked up behind her, grinning.
"You have no idea. My mother described this city, this room to me so many times, I feel like I've been here before. It's incredible." She said, barely whispering.
"Well then, shall we? I'll show you where you're going to be staying. It's close to the infirmary, so it will be convenient for you. And, according to your grandmother, it was your mother's quarters for several years." Dr. Wier said, smiling.
"Seriously? Wow…that's, well, awesome." She said, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
"You'll meet Dr. Keller, our chief of medicine a little later. First let's get you settled and show you around a little." Dr. Wier motioned to a hallway to their left and Taryn, still looking around in awe, followed mutely.
Moments later, they stood before her new quarters, and Dr. Wier punched in a sequence of numbers into the console beside the door.
"Go ahead and wave your hand in front of this part of the console. It will key your signature, and only you can open the door unless there is an emergency situation."
Taryn waved her hand in front of the wall-mounted sensor, and the doors slid open. As she walked in, the lights came on, revealing a room that looked familiar. Taryn looked around in shock, then knelt by one of her suitcases and pulled out her on of her mother's sketchpads. She flipped through the book until she found the pages where her mother had drawn her old room on Atlantis. Every tapestry on the wall, the designs of the bed coverings, nearly every detail was the same.
"How in the world did this happen?" Elizabeth asked, looking around with the same look of shock and awe.
"It was me." A light voice sounded, and Penny appeared before them, looking more like a hologram than a solid human. "It is exactly as your mother had it. Welcome home, Taryn." She smiled, then disappeared.
"Woah, was that what I think it was?" A new voice sounded at the doorway.
"Hello Rodney, and yes, it probably was what you think it was." Elizabeth said, smiling.
"Oh yes, welcome back, good trip I hope? Is this her?" Taryn turned to see a man carrying what looked like a flat touch-screen computer.
"Yes Rodney, this is Dr. Taryn Smith. Taryn, meet Dr. Rodney McKay…"
"Head of the Science department, yes yes, nice to meet you." He cut of Elizabeth's introduction brusquely, and held a scanner up to Taryn's head, slowly moving it downward.
"Rodney!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" Taryn asked, glaring at him.
"It's incredible, the amount of the ancient gene that you have. There's less than a .5% difference in your genetic makeup and the ancients."
"Maybe that's because my parents were ancients. And if you don't stop scanning me now, I'll blow up your computer." She said, glaring at him.
"Huh?" Rodney looked up to find himself staring into a pair of multi-colored eyes. "Oh, I heard your eyes do that when you're about to…Oh!" He backed up slightly.
"Look, , I understand you're curious, and I promise I'll let you run some tests, eventually. However, I just got here and all I really want to do is sleep at the moment." Her eyes were both green again, and he took a step back. Rodney looked rather dazed.
"Uh, yes, perfectly understandable. Nice to meet you." He said, then turned and walked out of the room.
"I'm sorry about that. Rodney means well, although sometimes he doesn't have the best people skills. He is our resident genius, as well as a member of Col. Sheppard's team. You'll get used to him…hopefully" The last work was muttered as Elizabeth turned away, and Taryn laughed.
"I'm sure I will. So, when do I start? I mean, when should I report to the infirmary? Actually, where is the infirmary? You don't happen to have a map of this place do you?" Taryn asked. Elizabeth smiled, and handed her a tablet just identical to the one Rodney had.
"Actually, this has a complete directory of the city in it. It will also be your database for work, so take care of it. You won't be working today, but you can report to the infirmary whenever you are ready to meet Dr. Keller and get your work schedule. However, as we told you, it doesn't always stick to schedule around here. Also, here is your ear piece. Keep it with you at all times if possible. If you need to call someone, just tap the button and say the person's name, it will connect you to them immediately. If you're paged, just tap the button to answer." Elizabeth paused and smiled.
"And don't stress, at least not yet. Just enjoy yourself. Whenever you feel like it, just head over to the infirmary, I believe Dr. Keller is working tonight."
"Thank you Dr. Wier, I appreciate it. I think I'll crash for a few hours, then head over." By this time, the soldiers had dropped her bags in the room and she was ready to crash.
"If you need me, just call me over the ear piece." Elizabeth said, walking towards the door. "And Taryn, just one more thing. Just so you know, the only people here that know about your abilities are myself, Col. Shepherd, Rodney, and Dr. Keller. And even then the details known are limited. While we haven't classified that your parents were Ancients, we've pretty much left it at that and tried not to broadcast even that fact. Your privacy and your safety are incredibly important, so we have decided that people will know on a need-to-know basis, and they will be asked to keep it confidential. And please, if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to come to me."
"Thank you Dr. Wier." Taryn said, trying to hide a yawn as she did. Elizabeth smiled and walked out. The door closed behind her, and for the first time a 2 days, Taryn was alone and she was exhausted. She set her new technological toys down on a chair, and then fell face first onto the bed.
"I think I'm reading this upside-down." She muttered to herself a few hours later. She was starving, and trying to find the dining hall using the map function of the computer tablet. Now she was completely turned around.
"You're looking just slightly confused. Have you managed to get lost your first couple hours here?" A voice startled her from behind. She turned to see John Sheppard and another man she hadn't yet met standing behind her.
"Ya think? This place is slightly confusing." She said, "And I'm still trying to figure this thing out. I'm pretty sure I'm walking in circles." She referred to the tablet.
"Where are you trying to get to?" Sheppard asked
"The dining hall, or anywhere else with food."
"Well, you're in luck. We're on our way to the dining hall ourselves. Care to join?" He motioned for her to keep going down the same hallway.
"That would be great, thanks. I don't know if I'd have ever found it. Honestly I just need to grab something and head over to the infirmary to check in." She said, sliding the computer tablet into her black messenger bag and snuck another glance and Shepherd's silent companion. He was tall, probably around 6'2-6'3, and ripped. Not the bulky, 'I can bench more than you can bench' ripped, but more the 'I can kill you with my bare hands and not break a sweat, AND look good doing it' ripped. He had long dreadlocks that were held back with a strip of leather. And he still hasn't said a word. He was merely observing her.
'Observing me checking him out!' She realized, sensing his amusement. Flushing, she looked back to John. "So, lead me to the food."
(a little while later)
He hadn't said a word. Col. Shepherd, or John as he has instructed her to call him, had introduced her to Ronan, and he had merely shook her hand and nodded. No "Hi," no "How you doing?,' nothing. And stranger yet, she'd had a hard time reading his emotions. Most people were easy to read, their emotions just running wild. Him? Barely anything. No anger, no excitement, no specific emotions. Either he was from a planet where emotions didn't exist, or he just had excellent control. He was a mystery. I like mysteries…..
Taryn had just grabbed an apple and sandwich, and was now headed towards the infirmary to meet her new boss, and this time she had gotten directions from John before trying to find her own way there.
It was quiet, a few patients in beds sleeping. There was an office to the left, and a woman probably a few years older than her was filling out paper work. She had headphones on and didn't seem to realize that there was someone standing at her door.
Taryn knocked a little louder on the open door. "Hello? Are you Dr. Keller?" Still no response.
I don't wasn't to startle her… She twitched her finger, and the little pen holder on the corner of the knocked over, causing the doctor to look up. She stood quickly, scattering the pens even more, and taking out her head phones.
"Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't hear you come in. I'm just trying to catch up on paperwork here." She came out from behind the desk with a flustered laugh. "I'm Dr. Jennifer Keller, you must be Taryn." She held out her hand. Taryn shook it, immediately liking her friendly personality.
"It's nice to meet you." Taryn said, smiling softly. She had the feeling that this chief of medicine would be a lot more personable than the grumpy 60 year old man had been at the hospital she had worked at.
"It must be so exciting for you to come back here. I can't imagine what's it's like to have heard about this place and then actually come back to where your ancestors are from." Dr. Keller looked genuinely interested.
"Yeah, it's been awesome. Dr. Wier even found the room my mother had, and I'm staying there. It's amazing to me."
"Well, there's always something going on around here, hardly a dull moment, and it's a relief to have another capable doctor here. We have been short for the last few months, and it's not easy to get people to sign up for a mission like this one."
Taryn laughed. "Well, it's going to be harder to get me away from this place than anything else. I'm really looking forward to working with you. Do you go with teams on missions a lot?"
"Sometimes, depends on the mission, or sometimes I go on the rescue missions when they know there are wounded incoming. Depends. But you'll be trained with the soldiers before they ask you to go, for your safety and theirs." Jennifer said
"That sounds awesome. I really can't believe these missions are to other worlds. Even though I've known about them my whole life, it's a little surreal that it's actually possible to go."
"Incredible, isn't it? Oh, here is your schedule for this week. We usually do them weekly, as we never know who may be needed off world, and it's always subject to change. We're pretty flexible around here, and will fill in when needed. Also, while you'll have 2 days off a week, we're all unofficially on call all the time, in case of emergencies. Dr. Wier should have your uniforms to you by the day's end. Did you bring your own scrubs?" at Taryn's nod, she continued. "You'll only need them for surgeries, but you can wear them whenever you need them."
Taryn quickly glanced over her schedule. "I'm on with you in the morning shift?"
"Yes, I figured I could show you where everything is, and our procedures with paperwork. It should be pretty quiet tomorrow, barring any unexpected surprises. There is only one team coming back through, so they'll need their clearance checkups and that's very routine." Dr. Keller said.
"Sounds good. How long have you been in Atlantis?" Taryn asked.
"I've been here for 2 years. Dr. Carson Beckett was the initial chief of Medicine, but he was killed just before I came here in an explosion. There was a soldier with an explosive embedded in his chest, and refused to give up. He's been a tough act to follow; he was an incredible man from what I hear."
"I've heard nothing but the best about you, and I can't wait to start working." Taryn smiled.
"Well, you'll get your chance first thing. We'll see you around 7:00, and just call me if you need anything." Dr. Keller said, smiling and sitting back down at her desk.
Taking that as her que to leave, Taryn backed out and pulled out her computer.
Now to find my way back to my room. This should be fun.