Evelyn POV
I was in the ass end of the ship when Sheppard came to check on our progress at getting Cadman out of the materialiser. Someone was above me, on the ladder scanning the cockpit of the ship and one of the german scientists I hadn't learned the name of yet was unplugging the materialiser via it's long and slimy cable. There was another person directly behind me, holding a torch to provide us with light and covering his mouth with his free hand to combat the smell.
"Ugh!" I heard the German woman exclaim, before tugging it free completely and muttering something in her native tongue.
"How's it coming?" I heard John yell from outside and I ducked out from inside the engine and walked round the ship to see him speaking with Zelenka.
"You know, I didn't realise when I signed up for this, that working on all this Alien tech would be so gross," I commented and he chuckled.
"Well, the good news is we were able to stabilize her life sign signature. Now it's just a question of getting the machine online again," Zelenka explained, climbing down the ladder and no longer supervising the woman in the ship's cockpit.
"Great. How do we power it up?" Sheppard asked and I sighed. What I'd been doing when I was inside the ship's engine, was trying to learn as much as I could about where our broken piece.
"Well, that's the bad news," Zelenka told him. "The machine uses a very specialised transformer to convert raw power into highly stable, very specific steam of power. Now, the transformer's crucial in operating the machine safely and, uh.. it's been damaged."
He picked up the box with all the broken pieces I'd salvaged. At the moment it was just twisted, charred metal and not much use of any kind. I'd been double checking I hadn't missed anything and learning as much as I could about where and how it connects to the device.
"I don't suppose there are any spares in the trunk?" Sheppard said and I sighed.
"O'Neill's working on reverse engineering one," he told him and Sheppard perked up immediately.
"Good," he said and then patted my shoulder. "Let me know the second you have something."
I was perched on a benchtop typing away on my tablet a good half hour later when Dr Weir, Dr Beckett and Colonel Sheppard came back in with an incredibly pissed off looking McKay. Great. What had we done wrong now? Keeping my head down I hurriedly scribble more designs for each piece of the part I was going to print hoping at least if I got this done I wouldn't be in the firing line for one of his bouts of verbal abuse.
"Oh nice work," McKay said when he was shown the box full of broken transformer pieces. He picked up one of the broken pieces and glared at it.
"We were running out of power. I knew hardly anything about the machine. Who would have thought this could be one of the side effects?" Zelenka asked and he was right. We'd never seen in our history before the melding of two different consciousnesses. Or at least not outside of fiction.
"So instead of waiting to understand what it was that you were doing you just sort of mashed on the keyboard, hoping something would happen?" McKay scolded and I leapt off the bench, marching over. The longer I worked here the more tired I grew of McKay verbally abusing people he didn't find useful.
"Now hang on just a second, McKay, we didn't have the time," I argued. "We'd been out there for a couple hours, how long were we supposed to mess around out there like sitting ducks for the next Wraith Dart to coming to find out where his buddy went?"
"The point, O'Neill, is you weren't supposed to be messing around at all!" He lectured and I scowled at him. "You brought the Dart back here, after you got me out, you could have done that before."
"We didn't know we could still save you if we didn't try then," I crossed my arms over my chest. "If we didn't do something then we could have had neither of you come out of that thing. One is better than none."
"You're alive aren't you?" Zelenka added in.
"You're here. That's the three of us plus your wonderful team behind you all working to figure this out. Just be grateful you're not the one in Cadman's position," I said, turning the lecture around on him.
"They don't know how to fix it," McKay said and Zelenka and I exchanged a look.
"What?" Zelenka asked.
"Talking to her," he said, pointing to his head.
"We've got this, Cadman, just hold tight," I assured her, hoping that she was asking if we knew what to do.
"So you can hear her thoughts?" Dr Weir asked.
"No, no, not here thoughts, thank God. I can hear when she's speaking, or when, I suppose, she's trying to speak," McKay explained and I nodded, at least they weren't dealing with each other's intrusive thoughts, it was just two people battling for the right to speak.
"Are you sure he should have been discharged from the infirmary, Carson?" Weir asked in follow up.
"According to the MRI, he's as healthy as he ever was," Beckett replied.
"Well, we can't all be track stars, now, can we?" McKay said indignantly and I smirked, raining an amused eyebrow. He pointed to his head again. "It was her again."
"Maybe there's something wrong an MRI wouldn't pick up, if you know what I mean," Sheppard suggested in a low voice.
"I'm not crazy, I just have another consciousness in my brain," McKay argued and I laughed.
"Sounds exactly like something a crazy person would say," I said and Zelenka smiled at me. John covered his mouth with his hand, hiding a laugh.
"So he just looks crazy?" John asked, still grinning.
"I'm sure I do, but only because Dr Fumbles McStupid and his trusty sidekick Trigger Happy the Fake Scientist over here were in way over their heads," McKay said and I bit back a snarl. I heard Zelenka let out a deep exhale.
"Yes. Yes! I made a mistake trying to save your life! Now, do you want to try and fix it or do you want to continue to berate me some more?" Zelenka said, finally standing up for himself.
"I am perfectly capable of doing both at the same time. Now, I assume you've tried to run one of our own generators…"
"It's not as simple as that," Zelenka said. "The trick is having to interface with the Wraith machine in real time. The power fluctuations are, are huge. If we overshoot just a little… we're screwed up."
"Okay, okay. I'm sure if maybe we can write an interface program that can take care of all…" McKay said and then paused like he had a headache. "Here's what I want us to try… We'll take a, um… a naquadah generator… and um… and uh…" he said and I stepped forward, a little concerned my friend was clutching his forehead and couldn't finish a sentence.
"YES! WHAT?" He roared and I jumped. The room seemed just as startled as I was. I think I heard someone drop a tool in the background as well. "Well stop asking stupid questions."
"Rodney?" Beckett tried.
"I will get you out of here, okay? But just be a good little girlie and keep quiet," McKay said and I was back to being angry. I stepped forward again, I hated the way he talked to people.
"Don't you talk to her like that!" I pointed a finger aggressively out at him, he paid me no mind and went back to arguing with himself.
"And do you have a degree in physics? Hmm? Well what about mechanical engineering?" he snapped and I folded my arms back over my middle.
"Rodney?" Dr Weir interected, trying to calm things down.
"Yes?!" He roared and Dr Weir jerked back in shock, folding her arms over her chest she looked back at him unimpressed. She raised an eyebrow in challenge.
"Sorry. I'm sorry. What? Please?" He said, calming down a little.
"Why don't we let Zelenka and O'Neill handle this?" Weir said.
"I, I'm fine," McKay tried to argue.
"No, you're not," Sheppard told him.
"And I'd like you to talk to Dr. Heightmeyer," Weir said.
"I think it would be more useful if I was to…" he started but was cut off.
"Rodney, I'm not asking you," she told him. He looked around the room at all the disgruntled subordinates and paused on my 'if looks could kill' face. He looked back at her and then relented.
"Fine," he agreed. He marched quickly out of the hanger we were in and I was glad to see the back of him. I looked at Zelenka. He still looked a little upset.
"Are you alright?" I asked him.
"Yes, yes I'm fine," he agreed.
"Alright, well I'm going to take five and come back," I told him and he nodded, waving a hand at me dismissively. Then I also marched very quickly out of the room.
I just didn't understand how he could go from that asshole on the ship to the awkward but friendly nerd who came to visit me in the medbay. He kept switching between the two and it was giving me whiplash. I might have to request more time on away missions so my time in the lab wouldn't feel so heavy.
I went back to my quarters and slumped down staring up at the ceiling. I understood how Rodney must be feeling. It couldn't be easy having someone else inside his head with him, especially some he didn't get along with, if earlier this afternoon was anything to go off of. But he was being such an asshole to everyone that was trying to help him. And worse, he was being so rude to Cadman who had no choice but to take it.
I ran my hands over my face and decided I should get some dinner, maybe hit the gym and work some of this off. I could probably find someone to spar with. Or maybe I should do that in the opposite order. I changed into some active wear and sneakers before heading to the gym where I found Sheppard watching Ronon beat the crap out of some marines. I watched for a little while, watching as time and time again, Ronon came out on top, and various soldiers ended up on the floor.
"Alright, let's try that again," Sheppard said and the guys on the floor looked up frustratedly at him.
"How about you try that again.. Sir?" One said. I smiled to myself.
"Come on, that's quitter talk," Sheppard said. "You don't want to be seen giving up in front of Captain O'Neill, do you? Don't you want to impress her?"
"Uh uh,'' another guy on the floor said.
"No more," a third agreed.
"Sorry O'Neill, I guess even your good looks and charm isn't enough to spur these guys on," Sheppard said, teasing the soldiers farther. I laughed. "Alright, maybe that's enough for today," he said to them.
"What're you here for?" Ronon asked, gesturing to me.
"McKay's winding me up, came to blow off steam, find a sparring partner," I said and he smirked.
"I'll fight you," he said. I smirked.
"I'm sure you will," I replied. "But I have no desire to wind up like those guys," I gestured to the sweaty and wounded marines.
"I'll go easy," he offered.
"Not too easy, I hope," I replied and took a position in front of him on the mat.
"Just enough," he said and launched himself forward.
I threw up a block and he smiled, excited even. He swung an arm at me and I blocked that too. He pushed forward, using his superior weight and strength to push me back. I hooked a foot around his ankle and pulled it out from under. He caught himself, taking a step back rather than falling and then chuckled. I continued on the offensive and threw up a hit of my own, which he quickly and easily blocked.
He grabbed me and slammed me into the ground, luckily, the wind wasn't knocked out of me, meaning I was able to grab his ankle as he was changing positions. With what was admittedly, some feat of strength, I managed to yank him off balance and onto the mat. I leapt up off the ground and took two steps back. He was quickly up after me and threw out a hit.
Before I knew it he had a grip on my chest and was slamming me into the mat again, this time with the air escaping my lungs I thrust a fist forward and slammed it into his windpipe before he had opportunity to pull away. He coughed and clutched at his throat and I used my legs to pull his out from under him. He dropped forward on top of me and I wrapped my legs around his waist, using my hips to flip us. I leapt off him and scurried back a few steps, still gasping for breath.
Easily, he was up off the ground and grinning at me. He stepped forward throwing a hit out at me, I blocked. I moved forward and launched a hit of my own which he also blocked. And just like that, we were in a never ending dance, neither gaining or lowing any territory. Every hit he threw I blocked every hit I threw he blocked. He was clearly bigger and stronger than me, and much more skilled. I held my own, but I couldn't for much longer. I was lucky I'd lasted this long. I was impressed with myself, that I'd managed to resist him beating me into a small puddle on the ground. Maybe I hadn't lost as much of myself as I thought.
"See guys, that's how it's done," Sheppard commented and I laughed, shaking my head. Ronon seemed to be enjoying himself as well. Using the momentary distraction, he tossed me over his shoulder and onto the mat. I stared up at the ceiling for a moment before tapping lightly on his arm.
"I'm done," I said, coughing lightly. He stood up off of me and then offered me a hand up. I took it gratefully and he hoisted me up.
"You're good," he told me and I nodded out of breath.
"Thanks," I said. "But I know you went easy."
"Not much," he shrugged. "A few more sessions and I could have you kicking some serious ass."
"I'll bet," I replied. "Until then, I'm headed to the mess."
"See ya, O'Neill," Sheppard waved at me as I headed out the door and I smiled at him.