Evelyn POV
I sighed, scribbling down some more notes on my project. I knew I probably didn't have to work this hard on my proposal and the idea I came up with was just a distraction from my arm nightmare, but the problem was, it was a good distraction. I was throwing all of myself into it. I checked the clock. I'd set a timer on my tablet to send myself to bed at a decent time. I had to be strict with myself lest I end up in the infirmary again.
I wasn't always this bad, as far as I could remember. I liked tinkering, it was a hobby and the rest of the time I followed my daily routine of whatever was required of me on my Air Force base. I only became so hyper focused after my Blackhawk went down. And even then, it was only after I'd actually gotten out of bed and stopped sulking. I'd felt bad my dad had taken all his leave and spent it talking through my bedroom door at me.
"You're up late," John commented, sitting beside me with a coffee cup.
"Yeah yeah, I set myself a bedtime," I said and he let out a breathy laugh.
"Still working on that power proposal?" he asked and I nodded.
"I kind of threw myself in head first to avoid doing what I was actually sent here for," I explained and put the pen down.
"Did they give you a deadline?" John said and I shook my head. "Well then I wouldn't worry about it. You've been her little over a month. And stop worrying about the proposal. Weir's going to be all for it."
"You think so?" I asked. I wasn't so sure. With the naquadah generators and the ZPM what use would extra power really be? But you couldn't always be sure that you'd have those.
"Yeah, I think at the very least she'll be interested in what you have to say," John nodded.
"Maybe I'll stop by and see her before I turn in, she never sleeps either," I suggested.
We chatted for a little while before my timer went off on my tablet and he laughed, not releasing I was serious about setting a bedtime. I wished him goodnight and then went up to the gateroom, deciding on checking in on Weir afterall. I walked through the control room towards her office and saw the lights on and her sitting at her desk with her tablet out. I knocked on the doorframe and she looked up.
"Dr O'Neill, I didn't think I'd see you up so late," she said with a smile. "Don't let Beckett catch you."
"Yeah everyone's been pretty firm on the going to bed thing," I laughed. "I hope I'm not disturbing you.."
"Not at all, would you like to sit?" She asked, offering me a chair across from her. I entered and sat down and she gave me her full attention putting down her tablet. I noticed she'd been playing solitaire. "What's on your mind?"
"So, I think Atlantis has some unreached potential in relation to power. Yes, we have the ZPM and should anything happen we've got the naquadah backups but I'm concerned that's not enough," I explained. "We've got systems we've never even turned on in Atlantis, parts of the city never explored because we have to be really conscious about conserving power and what we use. We've also got the Alpha site to think about and the other settlements under our protection."
"Right," Weir nodded. "So what do you propose?"
"Well, we're a floating city in the middle of an ocean with a tonne of natural resources just floating around us," I replied. I pulled up my tablet and showed her the designs of the actual generators and turbines I'd designed.
"I'm thinking solar panels, wind generators, wave powered turbines. I don't want to worry you about aesthetics or disrespecting the Ancients, it won't be obtrusive or an eyesore in any way. I've actually got some designs you can look over if you'd like," I flicked through my tablet to the sketches of what the generators and solar panels would look like actually on Atlantis. "It'd mostly be on the city's edges, tops of buildings. Nothing that would take away from the city. We can store the excess energy in batteries and have power whenever we need."
"Sounds good," she said, looking up from my tablet.
"What?"
"I said that sounds good," she replied. I stared at her in shock. I'm not really sure why but I'd been expecting some resistance. Maybe not for to outright reject the idea but I wasn't expecting it to be this easy. "You can design and even manage the install, if you'd like, so long as once the project on home soil is a success you design systems for the Alpha site and our settlements."
"That easy?" I asked.
"Were you expecting me to say no?" Weir responded, looking amused. I shrugged. "O'Neill one of our constant issues in the city is managing power, as you identified. Our ZPM isn't going to last forever. If you can find an alternative, especially with clean energy, I don't have a problem with that. I am a little surprised however, that you're suggesting this. I thought your interests aligned more with robotic and mechanical systems."
"Well I mean these are mechanical… but I see your point," I agreed. "I wanted to design robots with saw blades and lazers or mechanical limbs like I'd seen on TV when I was a teenager. But I'm older now, and I know that those kind of things aren't always a reality, and hardly practical."
Weir's face softened when I brought up my old dreams. I loved the idea of cool technological advancements, fun robots and machines that helped people and did wild stuff. But we hadn't come that far.
"How is your other assignment coming?" Weir asked me and I sighed.
"It's not," I explained. "I've been able to use our 3D printer to make a much lighter weight prosthetic so I can wear it for longer but in terms of technological advancements? I'm at a stalemate. The hunk of junk the Air Force sent me here with is impossible and yet, I can't make any changes to it that would actually be fruitful. I don't even know where to start or what to do. I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out how to modify it and I'm getting nowhere."
"Maybe that's your problem," Weir suggested. I looked up at her and cocked my head in confusion. She leaned over the desk at me a little, resting her crossed arms on the desk. "Instead of trying to improve upon someone else's work, you could start from scratch. At the very least designing your own might spark some idea on how to improve the one you've been given."
I nodded thoughtfully. I had been thinking about how to track muscle movement and using it to artificially control a limb. Effectively using the robot to learn different flexes and interpret them as various signals, similar to the one the brain would send if it was your biological arm. The robotic nightmare I'd been sent with attempted to do this, but it was slow, clunky, it's power input wasn't great enough for what it wanted to do and it couldn't really interpret movement well. If I was to start from scratch maybe I could get it to do what I wanted.
"I know that look," Weir said. "You've got a lot of ideas circling around in that head of yours. Don't let me keep you, head to bed and start working on them first thing."
"Of course, it's taking all my self control not to go to the lab now," I said and she chuckled.
I hurried down the hallway and just at the junction between my corridor and the one leading towards the lab I skidded to a halt. I should really be going to bed, I'd told everyone I would. But this was such a good idea. I needed to get these thoughts written down while I had the opportunity. You never knew when something was going to happen in the Pegasus galaxy.
"Couldn't go to bed, could you?" I heard as soon as I skated through the door and I found John sitting in my office chair reading a copy of War and Peace, he'd barely even looked up from it.
"Guilty," I laughed nervously. "Weir said something to me and I had to write it down.."
"Yeah, I figured things with her would go well. Alright, write it down," he gestured to the notepad beside him.
"You're not going to send me out?" I laughed.
"Nope," he said, turning his page. "When I get tired, you're going to bed and you're not going to argue. Now hurry up, this book is really boring."
I chuckled and grabbed a spare chair and pulled it over, hurriedly scribbling down my musings. I was rather surprised at how quickly I'd picked up writing with my non-dominant hand. Although you tend to learn to use both hands as good as each other and at the same time in the Air Force.
I worked away for about an hour before John nudged me. I shot him a pleading look and he smiled, shaking his head.
"You're smart, even if you forget everything you've thought up today, you'll figure it out again," he told me. "So come on, you're getting some sleep even if I have to stun you and lock you in the brig."
"Fine," I sighed.
I flopped down face first into my pillow and it's not like I wasn't tired, I was, I was just also used to fighting it. I had a lot of conversation going on upstairs, and it was hard to shut up. I sighed and thought about one of the techniques I'd been taught in basic.
It was difficult sometimes when touring or out on a forreign base, to get some sleep when shifts rotated, you were out on night missions or simply something loud was happening. So the military had developed a few techniques to get around this. A couple surefire ways to get to sleep in under 5 minutes.
I started by relaxing the muscles in my face, letting my jaw, tongue, eyelids, everything go slack. I dropped my shoulders as low as they'd go while I lay face down in my pillow, next my arms, starting at the top and following down to my hand. I breathed out deeply, and relaxed my torso muscles and then my legs down to my toes. Whole process took about a minute, minute and a half. I cleared my head of everything occupying it, which was more difficult than it sounded.
Now, the hammock or the canoe? I always went hammock. Who could do the canoe? As if anyone could fall asleep knowing they were relaxing in a canoe with clear blue skies above them and even more pure waters beneath. No, the hammock made much more sense.
I relaxed into the deep black, velvet hammock in the pitch black room. There wasn't an ounce of light but I was weightless, surrounded by soft fabric. And with one last deep sigh, I was out. I know this, because the next thing I heard was my radio going off and John trying to get my attention.
"O'Neill are you dead?" he asked. I reached for my radio and brought it over to my pillow, holding the button down.
"Huh? What?" I asked.
"Finally," John said and I groaned.
"Is somebody dying?" I asked.
"I thought you might of, I've been trying to get a hold of you for five minutes now," he replied. "We're going off world, you wanna come? I could use a copilot."
"Sure," I groaned. "I'm on my way."
I pushed myself up out of bed and changed quickly into a new uniform and headed out to meet John to get geared up. He and the rest of the team were still zipping up their vests when I arrived so I sighed in relief.
"Have you considered scheduling me in advance instead of inviting me at random?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck when I arrived.
"Where's the fun in that?" he grinned. "No, I like to give you the right to refuse if you think you can't do something."
"Well that's nice, where's that offer for me?" McKay sneered and I giggled.
"If he did that for you, cranky, you'd never go along," I told him and he started muttering to himself about he would, just not ones that were dangerous or boring.
I followed the team to the Jumper bay and they took their usual spots in the jumper, leaving me to sit in the back. I hopped up onto one of the semi-plush benches and leaned back on my elbows. I could hear John going through the usual checks and speaking with the control room and I pulled out some reading material from my bag. Might as well hang out till I'm needed. Usually takes a while to get where we're going even in the Jumper.
I felt a surge as we jetted through the gate and we were launched out onto the latest planet in our database. I turned my page listening to the idle chatter of McKay and the others, not really bothering to keep up with the conversation, or engage any. It wasn't often I flew somewhere where I wasn't the one piloting. It was almost nice.
"Look familiar?" I heard John ask.
"No," Ronon replied simply.
"Me either. I do not believe I have been to this planet before," Teyla said.
"There's no sign of any settlements, at least, nothing recent," McKay said.
"Other than the smoke from that campfire," Ronon said and I snorted. McKay looked back, glaring at me.
"Oh, yes, well, other than that," he said. "Is that a magazine?"
"No, it's a puppy," I said, rolling my eyes.
"I'll land within a few hundred yards," Sheppard said.
"Awww, I was hoping for a mile long trek up hill in the rain," I replied sarcastically and I heard him grumbling from the front.
I closed my magazine and put it away in my bag, gearing up and preparing to leave when we landed. McKay came over to do the same and we smoothly landed in a small clearing by the many trees littering the area by the settlement.
We headed up towards the settlement, finding mostly shacks and rubble. There were tents and thatched huts and a smoking fire but no people. It actually looked like a warzone with bits of scrap metal just hanging around and it didn't smell particularly great either. Yet another settlement destroyed by the Wraith I guess.
"It's primitive, definitely primitive. Probably not even worth making contact. What is that smell?" McKay said.
"Hello?" I heard Sheppard call out. "Hello?"
"It appears they left in a hurry," Teyla commented. Judging by the still burning fire and pot of food sitting on it, I'd say she was correct.
"Just not used to friendlies coming out of the gate," John said. I watched Ronon head for the fire, I assumed to see if there was any way to tell how long it was burning or something. I shook my head as he reached for the spoon and brought it to his lips.
"What are you.." McKay started, watching him as I was. He grinned up at us from his spot squatting beside it. "Oh, my God, he's tasting it! You don't know what that is. That could be their laundry!"
"Yeah, I often find myself washing my clothes alongside potatoes," I muttered and squatted beside Ronon.
"It's pretty good," Ronon said as he scooped up some more. He offered me some and I put the spoon to my lips, nodding as he was right. It wasn't bad. Definitely better than anything Teyla had cooked for me.
"Oh, yes, good idea. And when you're finished with their porridge, why don't we try their beds, hmm?" McKay grumbled and I giggled.
"Want some?" He offered McKay.
"How good is it," he asked, doing a 180 and hurrying over.
"Leave it be, Goldilocks," Sheppard scolded and I stood up, smiling back at him sheepishly. I heard the sound of firing
"Get down!" Ronon called and shoved me into the dirt. A rush of arrows littered down on the ground around us and luckily no one seemed to be it. "Ah!" spoke too soon.
"Take cover!" McKay yelled and we ducked behind some boulders and metal pieces.
From our hiding spots we could see attackers, some had slingshots and were firing something explosive at us. We returned fire and I managed to hit a few. My spot at the far end of the boulders we were hiding behind gave me a clear vantage point and I didn't have to duck as much as the others did. I didn't know if the enemy attackers just couldn't see me or were going for the group as a whole.
"What the hell's in those slingshots?" Sheppard said through gritted teeth.
"Are you alright?" McKay asked as Ronon used my cover fire to inspect the arrow in his leg.
"I'm fine," Ronon insisted and then snapped the back off the arrow so he could pull it out of his leg. How he had the strength to do that I'll never know. "Ohh!"
"You n=know, this is not the way to make new friends!" Sheppard yelled out at the enemies. "But we'll leave if you want us to!" There was a dull in the fighting, they'd silenced. "Let's take that as a yes. Let's go back to the Jumper. Teyla, you're on point. I'll take the six. McKay, help Ronon."
"Don't worry about me," Ronon said and I used the site on my P90 to help scan for any movement and found nothing.
"I'm a worrier, let the man give you a hand," Sheppard ordered. McKay ducked under Ronon's armpit and helped him limp towards the Jumper.
"Fire!" Someone yelled and we were hit with a barrage of slingshot fire. We fired back until the sound of low flying aircraft sounded overhead. I raised an eyebrow and looked up. There was a large white craft hovering above us. The jetwash from the downward facing nozzles was blowing wildly around us. It knocked back a group of attackers and Sheppard used that as cover for us to escape.
"All right, move! Move!" He ordered and McKay and I helped Ronon into the jumper. I took Teyla's spot in the copilot's seat beside John to help get us out of there, while Teyla threw Ronon down in his. "Is everyone in one piece?"
"Yes, thanks to that ship," Ronon said, trying to get up.
"Be still," Teyla ordered and reached into the back for emergency field dressings.
"Yeah, I like their timing," Sheppard said.
"No kidding. Did you see that thing?" McKay asked.
"Yeah, I saw that thing," Sheppard agreed. It was impressive to have found another culture with technology comparable to ours. As if speaking about it made it appear, the other ship appeared in front of us.
"Unidentified ship, this is security vessel Poros," they said over our radios. "Follow us immediately, and we will lead you to the city."
"Understood, Poros. And thanks for the help back there," Sheppard replied. He turned to us. "See, that's how you make new friends."