Chapter Fourteen
Atlantis
Ten Minutes Later
Doctor Elizabeth Weir settled down in her office chair with a soft sigh of relief, though she wouldn't do any work today just being able to sit here and enjoy the peace and quiet was heaven. Especially as she knew Atlantis would be back to its normal pandemonium self again from tomorrow morning. Thank goodness the memorial service went off without a hitch, she thought, it was bad enough going through it, I don't know how we would have managed if something had gone wrong.
One thing did have her concerned though, and that was Carson. Rodney had filled her in on what was wrong with him, that he had some sort of headache caused by his empathic telepathy picking up so many strong emotions in such close proximity. She was worried for the kind hearted Scottish doctor who even in the most dire circumstances always had a caring smile and was always willing to listen if you wished to talk to him. I hope he'll be alright, she thought inwardly flinching as she imagined how disabling a telepathic headache could be, Rodney had said that Carson had described them to him a few days ago as being like 'a migraine mixed with the worst aspects of a hangover'.
The very thought of feeling that kind of pain was enough to make her cringe. She knew she wouldn't be able to withstand such a thing, if it were to hit her. Though it kind of makes sense that a power like Carson's would have a side effect from prolonged use, and he did say the other day that he can't block out emotion when he's right next to the source, she thought. I wonder do all superpowers have side effects. It made her think of Major Lorne – the only other active metahuman in Atlantis, if all superpowers had negative side effects from prolonged use then what side effects would his super speed have on him.
A knock on the sheet crystal window next to the door caught her attention and she looked over. To see Major Lorne – still in dress uniform – standing there waiting for admittance. Talk of the devil, she thought as she waved for him to come inside her office.
"Doctor Weir," Lorne asked. "May I have a word with you?"
"Of course, major," Elizabeth answered. "Take a seat. How is Carson? Rodney told me you were going to take him out to the south pier."
"He's sleeping at the moment," Lorne replied. "It's the only thing he can do when he gets a telepathic headache like the one he's got right now. After a couple hours out on the pier sleeping, with no one else around so he can keep his shields down, he'll be fine."
Elizabeth sighed slightly in relief. "That's good to hear," she said. "I was worried about him."
"So was I, though I've seen him with telepathic headaches before, thankfully he doesn't get them all that often, emotions have to really be strong, really raw, to penetrate his shields enough to cause one."
"And there was a hell of a lot of strong emotion out there today," Elizabeth agreed. "I'm glad he'll be alright. Now then major, what can I do for you?"
Lorne sighed. "I need your help ma'am," he said. "For the last few days ever since I revealed what I can do, I've been having a bit of a problem with a number of the scientific staff."
"There not leaving you alone?" Elizabeth asked already knowing what the answer would be, she knew every scientist in the city from Rodney on down would be intrigued as hell by what Evan Lorne could do. Especially as he hadn't been artificially evolved to a higher level as was the case with someone like an Ori Prior.
Lorne shook his head. "No ma'am," he confirmed. "There constantly pestering me with questions and some of them want me to get on a treadmill and run for them, while I've got sensors attached to me. I can understand why there curious, after all its not everyday you find out that seemingly ordinary people can have superpowers. But at the same time its getting somewhat… annoying. And its starting to make me feel a bit like a Human lab rat."
"I can imagine," Elizabeth replied, inwardly wincing at the Human lab rat comment. "Have you talked to John or Rodney about this?"
"I can't Colonel Sheppard anywhere," Lorne admitted. "And to tell you the truth ma'am, I'm not sure Colonel Sheppard would be able to do a lot as he has no authority to really give orders to the scientific staff."
"Point," Elizabeth conceded knowing full well that while John Sheppard could ask the civilian members of the expedition to do something he couldn't really give them an order, unless she was away from Atlantis at the time.
"I have spoken with Rodney; he's tried to get them to back off and has refrained from asking any questions of me himself. But he's not been having much luck I'm afraid."
"I see. Alright major, I'll bring this matter up with Rodney myself. No one in Atlantis should be constantly harassed like you are currently experiencing. Since Rodney's request to the other scientists is not making any headway then I will make it a direct order."
"Thank you, ma'am," Lorne replied inwardly relaxing, knowing that none of the scientific staff would disobey a direct order from Elizabeth Weir.
"Its no problem," Elizabeth assured him. "Is there anything else?"
Lorne paused for a moment. "There is one other related thing, ma'am," he said. "Hermiod has asked to scan me to get some information on my DNA. He wants to transmit that information back to the Asgard homeworld."
"Why does he want that?"
"I talked about it with Carson and we figured that he wants it to see if will help with the genetic problems that are slowly destroying the Asgard."
"Very possible," Elizabeth agreed. "So what are you going to do, if you don't mind my asking?"
"I'll be going to see, Hermiod. I'm going to let him do the scan of me that he wants to do. If my DNA goes someway towards saving the Asgard, perhaps the greatest ally that our world has, from extinction then it will be well worth it."
Elizabeth smiled. "I'm sure the Asgard will appreciate you helping them like this," she said. "I might let them have a sample of my DNA as well."
Lorne frowned and looked at Elizabeth in confusion for a moment, wondering why her DNA would be of interest to the Asgard. Then he remembered what Carson had told him a few days ago the same day he'd saved Dr Weir from certain death. That there were others of their kind here in Atlantis, albeit most without developed powers, yet, and his eyes widened in realisation.
"You're a metahuman like me and Carson," he said.
"Yes," Elizabeth confirmed. "Though I don't have any powers, not at the moment anyway, and I doubt I'll ever develop any."
"Don't be so sure," Lorne answered with a smile. "Powers can activate without warning and for no apparent reason."
"That's what's Carson said."
"Well he's right and Carson knows quite a bit about metahuman genetics. Plus no one really knows what causes our powers to become active, just because you have no powers now doesn't mean you wont get them at some point."
"I know. And I have to admit there is this little part of me that relishes the idea," Elizabeth replied. Lorne laughed softly at that comment, though he understood it as deep inside him was a giddy little boy who loved the fact that he had a superhuman ability. Elizabeth smiled back then sighed. "We'll see what will happen with me and the others here in Atlantis. But in the meantime I should get on with my paperwork."
Accepting the dismissal for what it was Evan Lorne stood up. "I'll leave you to it then, ma'am," he said. "Thank you for seeing me."
"You're welcome," Elizabeth replied. "And major don't worry I will talk to Rodney about getting the scientists off your back."
"Thank you," Lorne answered before quietly leaving the room. Elizabeth watched him go before tapping the communicator on her ear.
"Rodney," she called out. For a moment there was no reply, and then the communicator came to life.
"Yes, Elizabeth," Rodney responded.
"Can you come to my office please? There is something that we need to discuss."
"I'll be right there," Rodney answered and signed off. Elizabeth sighed and leaned back in her chair and began working out just how she was going to phrase the order that she would have to give to Rodney to relay to the rest of the science staff. The order to leave Major Evan Lorne alone, it would not be easy to get the scientists to back off, though she was confident that with her support behind him Rodney would be able to do it.
After leaving Dr Weirs office Evan Lorne felt a bit like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He knew that the head of the expedition meant what she said and that she would find away to get the scientists off his back. I just better stay away from the labs for a bit if I can, he thought, as Rodney will probably really let rip at the science staff. Better to stay away from there, for now.
Walking down the steps between the control room and the main part of Stargate Operations he considered where he was going to find Hermiod to allow the sometimes condescending Asgard engineer to take a DNA sample. He knew that the Daedalus was scheduled to begin a return journey to Earth midday tomorrow, and take with them some scientists and military personnel whose tours here in Atlantis were over. With departure only a day away Hermiod could either be in the chambers he had been assigned here in Atlantis or he could be on the Daedalus assisting Dr Novak in getting the ship ready for the long hyperspace flight back to Earth.
I'll go get out of dress uniform first. Then I'll go find Hermiod, he thought leaving Stargate Operations behind and making a beeline for the stairwell that ran down the core of the main tower. His quarters like most of the senior staff were two levels below the control room and he preferred taking the stairs to using one of the internal transporters/lifts to get there. Awkwardly fingering the collar of his stiff dress uniform he smiled, soon he would be out of this thing and into something a bit more comfortable as he was supposed to be off duty for the rest of the day. Maybe after I've seen Hermiod I'll dig my arts stuff out of storage and paint, he thought smiling, it would be a nice and pleasant way to end what had been an emotionally tiring day.
The Network Headquarters
London, England
That Same Time
Laura Hamilton-Ward cautiously opened the door to the room where she had left Peter Petrelli, Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi in deep discussion. She wanted to check on them before she went off to join Claude in the canteen for something to eat, and if they were hungry she would ask them if they wanted to come.
Poking her head into the room she found the three men deep in discussion, snaps of their dialogue indicating they were still considering what to do but were leaning towards accepting the offered help.
"Excuse me," she said bringing the attention of all three men instantly upon her. "Am I disturbing you?"
Peter paused in what he was about to say to Hiro and Ando before turning in place to look at the still somewhat mysterious woman. He didn't know quite what to make of The Network, though he was tempted to accept their offer of help. "You are but it doesn't matter," he replied. "We're still discussing our options if that's what you're here about."
"No its not but I am glad to here your giving my proposal serious thought. I just came by to see how the three of you were doing," Laura explained to them. "And to ask if you want anything to eat, the canteen is open if anyone is hungry."
Peter, Hiro and Ando exchanged an identical look of hunger, they hadn't eaten in hours and all of them were hungry. "Yeah we could do with something to eat," Peter said at last.
Laura smiled. "Okay then come with me," she said. "We'll leave talk about what your going to do until after we're done, alright?"
"Alright," Peter replied.
"You should find dinner interesting, as there are a number of other metahumans here today, and everyone gathers in the canteen at this time of day."
Peter frowned slightly, while it would be nice to talk to others like him and Hiro here and sound them out about the Network he was concerned. He was having enough difficulty controlling his existing powers, Claude's mental file card trick only going so far, he didn't really need to absorb any more abilities. Something must have shown on his face for Laura looked at him in sympathy.
"Don't worry, Mr Petrelli," Laura assured him. "You won't absorb any abilities while you're in the canteen."
"But I can't stop myself absorbing powers," Peter objected.
"I know because I won't let you," Laura told him with a smile. "Two of the permanent admin staff we passed on the way in here have powers, yet you didn't immediately manifest them. The reason is I stopped you."
"You have power," Hiro asked.
"Of course," Laura replied smiling sweetly. "Mine is I can create a sort of null power field, preventing powers from working."
"Like the Haitian guy who works for The Company?" Peter said.
"Similar, though I cannot manipulate memory the way the Haitian does. Plus the effect of my ability is one I can consciously direct, he cannot, almost any metahuman that gets within a few metres of him finds their power neutralised."
"So if we wanted to leave you wouldn't make us stay?" Peter asked.
"No. You three are not prisoners. You are perfectly free to leave here anytime that you want to, though I would ask you this; where would you go? You three are in a very awkward, very unenviable position." Peter, Hiro and Ando all winced slightly at the reminder that the United States government would be looking hard for them now that they knew about the Odyssey.
"But we are getting off track here," Laura continued. "Are you three going to come with me to the canteen?"
"Oh why not," Peter said, his empty stomach prompting him to trust that Laura would not allow him to absorb anymore abilities. Slowly he stood up and looked over at Hiro and Ando. The two Japanese men sat still for a few moments before hunger compelled them to stand up as well.
"Good this way please," Laura told them before ducking back out of the room. Slowly, nervously – still very unsure about this place and Laura Hamilton-Ward – Hiro, Ando and Peter followed her out of the room. Once out in the corridor Laura gave them a reassuring smile, before leading them out of the interview area and back towards the main room and the steps that led deeper down into the virtual labyrinth of the high tech headquarters of The Network.
Ba'al's Secret Base
A Few Minutes Later
Ba'al leaned back on his throne, a thoughtful look on his face as he studied the kneeling form of Issac Mendez. Under the influence of the nishta organism infecting every single cell in his body the Human had told him everything about his precognitive ability. An ability that apparently worked through paintings, though Ba'al had already suspected that would be the case. Though it was mildly disappointing that Issac had to paint to see the future, and that he had no control over what he would paint while in a precognitive trance, it was still a very interesting power.
Though what was even more interesting from his point of view was what Issac had said about there being other Humans with powers. Powers that in many cases would be very useful to Ba'al, he was especially intrigued by what Issac had said about two Humans the ones called Peter Petrelli and Gabriel Grey or Sylar as he now called himself. They both sounded to be extremely powerful and would make the perfect advanced hosts.
"How do you know so much about Mr Petrelli and this Sylar," he asked at last.
"I have spoken to Peter Petrelli on a number of occasions my lord," Issac answered. "And I was informed about Sylar by The Company. If I ever painted him I was to contact them immediately."
Ba'al frowned. "What is The Company?" he asked.
"The Company was created by an individual unknown to me a number of years ago my lord," Issac told his master. "They exist to locate, tag and train people such as myself. On occasion they have been tasked to eliminate someone whose abilities are too dangerous to themselves, to Company interests, or to the world. I was helped by The Company with a problem I had with drugs, they helped me refine my talent and since then I have worked for them."
"Excellent," Ba'al said smiling evilly as an idea occurred to him, an idea that if it worked would give him the best resources imaginable, resources that would go along way towards realising his plans for the Tau'ri. "You have been most informative, Mr Mendez. I will possibly have further use for your services. In the meantime I would like for you to demonstrate your ability to paint the future to me. I will have the appropriate art materials brought here."
Issac bowed his head. "As my lord commands," he said reverently.
Atlantis
That Same Time
Major Evan Lorne paused outside the quarters that had been assigned to Hermiod, butterflies of nerves fluttering around in his stomach. He hadn't really dealt with Hermiod much over the last year and a half since his assignment to Atlantis after the Wraith laid siege to the city. But the few meetings he had had with the Asgard had not always been pleasant, Hermiod was unusually cocky for one of his normally unfailingly polite race, and could be very condescending to non-Asgard. Though to be fair he'd heard from Dr Novak that Hermiod had mellowed a bit in recent months.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he got the butterflies under control. Before he could change his mind about doing this he reached out and ran a hand down the door control, setting off a chime inside. For a moment nothing happened, and then the door opened in a clear invitation to come inside. Evan carefully stepped inside and suddenly it felt like he wasn't in Atlantis anymore. The architecture of the room was completely different to the alien yet at the same time comfortingly Human style of the rest of the city, instead it had been remodelled to Asgard style. The techno Norse yet distinctively alien architecture was slightly unsettling to his already nervous mind, but at the same time comfortable and beautiful to look at.
"Ah Major Lorne welcome," Hermiod said standing up from one of the throne-like Asgard chairs. Evan hadn't even seen him, which was no surprise given the fact that like all Asgard Hermiod was not much bigger than a ten-year-old Human. "I am pleased that you were able to come. The information I gather here today could be vital to the very survival of my species."
"Anything I can do to help Hermiod," Lorne replied. "Hey if my DNA helps to save your entire race, well no harm no foul just let me know if you need me again."
"Indeed," Hermiod agreed. "But just so you understand I will only do a basic physiological and genetic scan of your body Major Lorne. I like the equipment here to get more in depth readings."
Lorne nodded. "So how do we do this?"
Hermiod gestured to a large red circle that stood on a slightly raised dais, with an Asgard computer set up facing it. "Please step onto the circle, Major Lorne," he instructed. "I assure you the scan will not harm you in any way."
Evan nodded and did as Hermiod instructed. The moment he stopped dead centre in the middle of the circle a glowing column of energy came into existence around him. For a moment all he could hear was the soft humming of the energy field, and then his sharp ears faintly picked up the sound of Hermiod manipulating the controls on the Asgard console. A circle of translucent blue light appeared over his head and slowly swept up and down his body several times. Then it shut off and the energy field around him vanished as if it had never been present at all.
"Scan is complete," Hermiod said manipulating his controls so he could forward his results to his people via a subspace burst transmission that he knew from experience that the Wraith would not detect. "Thank you, Major Lorne," Hermiod said inclining his head so he could look up into the Humans eyes. He was long used to doing it now, given that even a short adult Human was far taller than any Asgard had been in thirty thousand years.
"You're welcome," Evan replied stepping down off the disc. "Hopefully something good comes of it."
"I believe it will," Hermiod answered studying the super powered Human in front of him with his large, pure black eyes. Though he was more of an engineer than a scientist he couldn't help but be intrigued by the Humans ability to move at such impossible speeds when his DNA showed no sign of external manipulation by a more advanced race like his own or the Ori. Hopefully in unravelling the mystery of Lorne's power Asgard scientists would find the solution to the genetic degeneration that was destroying them.
"Now I must ask that you excuse me, Major Lorne," Hermiod continued. "I must go aboard the Daedalus and run pre-flight diagnostics on the hyperdrive ready for tomorrow."
"Fair enough," Evan replied. Hermiod nodded gently and manipulated the control stone on his console. A moment later he vanished in the white flash and almost musical tone of an Asgard transporter beam. Evan stared at the point where the little grey alien had been standing for a few moments before leaving the quarters and hearing the door automatically lock behind him. I wonder if my DNA will be of any use to the Asgard, he thought as he started walking down the hallways of Atlantis, I suppose only time will tell.