Flying Lessons, Chapter 3
"No signs of other humans or Wraith?"
"None, ma'am."
Elizabeth is sitting in the conference room with Sgt. Bates, Major Sheppard, and their teams. In front of them, on the table, is a stone tablet carved with Ancient writing. Bates had found some ruins on a planet called Calla and reported back to make sure he was right about the carvings being Ancient.
"Teyla, what do you know about this planet?" asks Elizabeth.
"I have never visited it myself, but I remember my father's father speaking of its people." Teyla looks sad as she continues. "However it is possible that they were wiped out in the last culling. We have not had contact with them in several generations because the Callans were not interested in trade."
The room is quiet as Elizabeth thinks. The tablet is definitely in Ancient, but there's so little decipherable text that it's difficult to make any sense of it. Bates and his team were on the planet for almost 3 days and made no contact with anything hostile or otherwise. Everything is pointing at an easy mission to learn more about the ruins and maybe find a ZPM. But something about this isn't sitting right with her. Nothing has been easy on this expedition.
She looks up at Sheppard who doesn't look too sure of this himself. When he speaks up, his thoughts seem to mirror her own.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?"
Elizabeth rolls her eyes. She swears that John continues to use these kind of sayings just to see how people try and explain them to Teyla. Before Teyla can ask, Elizabeth turns to McKay.
"You've been working on a way to sweep a large area for a ZPM?"
"Yeah," McKay responds. "Peter and I have been working with one of the jumper handheld trackers and the ZPMs we have here."
"How soon will it be ready?"
"Uh...end of the day?"
"Okay." Elizabeth places her hands on table and looks at the two team leads. "Major Sheppard, Sgt. Bates. Your teams have a go to return to Calla once Dr. McKay completes the ZPM tracker. Be ready to go at 07:00 tomorrow."
She stands and everyone else follows suit. The teams start to file out of the conference room and she tries not to laugh when she hears Teyla ask Ford what a gift horse is. Elizabeth isn't too surprised when John doesn't follow the rest out of the room.
"You don't like the feel of this, do you?"
"No." She responds. "It seems too easy."
"Maybe we're due an easy mission."
"Maybe." She doesn't add that he's usually on the receiving end of bad luck when things move south of easy on these missions.
"So." One corner of his mouth lifts in a smile that's full of mischief. "You ready to try out the chairs?"
"Won't McKay want to be a witness to the first try?"
"Eh." Sheppard shrugs. "He's busy."
Elizabeth bites her lip, then nods. "Okay."
The two of them walk down to the chair room and it takes all of her willpower not to stop just outside the doors.
"Um...you first." Elizabeth allows John to choose a chair.
He sits in the left hand chair. It powers up in response to his presence. She walks up to the remaining chair, takes a deep breath, and sits. The chair responds as quickly as Sheppard's. A 3d image of Atlantis appears above them. Elizabeth can't help but appreciate the power she feels at her fingertips.
Wow.
Pretty cool.
Uh...did I say that out loud?
Now that you mention it, no.
You can hear what I'm thinking?
Way cool.
Let's focus, shall we? She could feel him trying to probe deeper into her thoughts.
You're no fun.
It's amazing how you can pout with just your thoughts.
Come on, let me ask you a question.
No.
What? Afraid of what you'll think?
Focus, Major.
Fine.
Let's see if we can find this defensive weapon of yours.
As she thinks it, several areas on the image in front of them are highlighted in an orange-red. A grid is displayed around the outside of Atlantis.
I don't think this chair can control them.
Let me try.
At Sheppard's thoughts, the previously highlighted areas start to glow green and blink.
Okay, so my chair controls the weapon. What does yours do?
Weir focuses her thoughts on a portion of the grid around Atlantis and a small square also starts to glow green.
Oh. It must be some sort of pin-point shield. Anything you might miss...
You can block. Very cool.
I wonder what else the chairs can control.
John and Elizabeth spend another hour or so exploring Atlantis from the command chairs. They find that they can control the entire city from these chairs, including a type of close circuit video system which covers most of the main areas. Much to John's disappointment, Weir's fairly equal control of the Ancient technology means she can override some of his commands. So when they find two Atlantis team members in a compromising position in one of the more secluded public areas, she is able to quickly steer them away.
Hey!
No John.
I just wanted to see who that was.
No John.
I bet I could figure it out.
You know all the women that well, do you?
No...but there are always distinguishing features.
I'm sure.
For one, her legs aren't nearly as long as yours.
Let's go look at the medical area.
Elizabeth knew she's blushing. John had this amazing ability to say things in a way that would make her blush. She glances to her left and catches him looking at her. At his wink, she focuses her thoughts on Beckett's infirmary.
The video shows Beckett standing next to one of the infirmary beds. It looks like he's treating an arm burn on the patient sitting on the bed. The bed is pushed up against the wall, in front of a blank panel. They found the beds like this when they arrived in Atlantis, but have never gotten them working.
I've always wondered what those...oops!
Sheppard's thought activates the panel behind Beckett's patient. Weir cringes when Beckett drops the basin and syringe he was using to clean the wound. Kevin Mason, the patient sitting on the bed, tries to move, lets out a yelp of pain when he puts pressure on his arm, and nearly falls off the bed onto Beckett. Elizabeth speaks up before any more damage can be done.
"Weir to Dr. Beckett."
"Elizabeth! My God. You won't believe..."
"I know Carson. Major Sheppard apologizes for startling you." She looks pointedly at the man in the other chair.
"Sheppard?"
"Yes. We were able to start them up using the command chairs."
"Are you keeping them operational now?"
Sheppard shakes his head.
"No. They probably just needed to be activated for use."
The panel behind the bed now seems to be displaying Mason's vitals. His heartbeat has come back down to normal levels after that little scare. Beckett looks up and around assuming, correctly, that they are somehow able to see into the infirmary.
"I guess no harm done."
"Thanks Carson. Weir out."
Sheppard sit up and Weir follows suit. They look at each other and start laughing.
"Beckett looked like he was going to have a heart attack." Weir says as she wipes a tear from the corner of her eye.
"Mason just about jumped into his arms. Classic!"
"That's probably enough damage for now."
Elizabeth swings her legs to the side of the chair to stand, but has to catch herself when her legs buckle underneath her.
"Hey are you – whoa!"
John's legs have also gone out from under him. They are barely standing, using the chairs for support.
"Apparently long term use of the chairs is not good idea."
"Uh-huh."
Both of them are extremely tired. It takes a few minutes before they feel strong enough to try walking out of the room.
"I feel like I've just run a marathon."
"Or been hit by a truck."
They walk slowly down the hallways wishing they could just go to bed and get some sleep. But they have responsibilities, so they separate at one intersection - Weir to check on Beckett and Sheppard to check on McKay.
Elizabeth isn't forced to stay awake too long because Dr. Beckett immediately notices her lack of energy. He orders her to her quarters while shaking his head at what he considers foolish experimentation. Sheppard lasts less than an hour and drags himself to his own quarters before he could fall asleep in McKay's lab.
The next morning, Elizabeth still finds herself extremely tired. But even her fatigue can't suppress the dread she feels watching the two teams walk through the Stargate. John gives her a cocky smile and a sloppy salute as he walks into the event horizon. If anything, that makes the knot in the pit of her stomach tighter.
She sits through her morning briefings still unable to throw off the black cloud hanging over her. When Peter's voice rings out a mere 4 hours after the teams left Atlantis, the fear which grips her is almost paralyzing.
"Unscheduled off-world activation!"