Chapter 9- A Scientist's Day is Never Dull

It was the morning of Dr. Belacu's thirteenth day in Atlantis, lucky thirteen, or unlucky depending on how you view it. Teyla and Anirul were down in the gymnasium having their training session. Anirul was wearing what can be compared to black athletic pants on Earth and a blue straight-necked tank top with wide straps. She also had her hair tied up. Teyla was wearing her usual sparring outfit, the leather-type skirt and short top, hair down. They certainly looked like they were from different planets.

"We will start with some basic blocking moves." She threw Anirul one of those stick/staffs. Teyla kept one for herself. Anirul caught it easily, only a little bit clumsily.

"You're the teacher."

"We'll start slow at first, using the one staff, then progress to two and more hand-to-hand. Ready?" Teyla took a fighting stance. Anirul nodded and as soon as she did Teyla advanced swiftly and aimed for Anirul's left shoulder with the staff, Anirul attempted to move out of the way and block, but Teyla lightly hit her shoulder.

Anirul felt a little discouraged, "You know I've never even hit anyone seriously before."

"You'll be perfectly fine. You're a beginner. I want you to try and read my actions, what I'm going to do next and block me."

"That sounds easier then it is I imagine."

Teyla moved to Anirul's right, and she moved to the left, keeping the circle and the same distance between them. Teyla advanced and whipped the staff at Anirul's right leg, but she blocked it with the staff. Teyla kept advancing, pushing Anirul back towards the wall and attacking with the staff. Anirul blocked the next two moves at her shoulder and side, but missed the third and Teyla swept her off her feet onto her back.

"You're doing better." Teyla encouraged Anirul as she helped her up.

"It's a slow progression, but a progression nonetheless." Anirul was standing now, and picked up her staff.

"We'll begin again."

Dr. Weir was in the usual Department Head morning meeting with Major Sheppard, Dr. McKay, and Dr. Beckett. John and Rodney were bickering about something to do with Dr. Anirul Belacu. Rodney had arrived late and yawning, giving John plenty of material to play with. Rodney replied by saying he was in the lab most of the night. As hilarious as it was to watch the two, Elizabeth just had to stop it.

"Gentlemen please, this is a morning meeting not a rumor mill."

"He started it." John said.

"I did not." Rodney defended himself.

Carson jumped in, "Actually, I think you did Major."

"Whose side are you on here Doc?"

Elizabeth sighed, "Gentlemen we are going to get started." Sometimes she wondered how she managed to keep these men in check. "As I'm sure you realized Major, your team will be back on active duty once Dr. Beckett signs off on Lt. Ford's medical clearance and Rodney's cast comes off."

John nodded.

"This cast is really driving me crazy Carson." He was desperately trying to scratch.

"I'll change it later if it's really that bad, would that satisfy you?"

"Yes it would."

"Carson, what is the status of your research on the Tialysians?"

"I've asked Dr. Belacu to come to the infirmary at ten o'clock for a P.E.T. of her brain to see if I can map the part that controls her healing ability. It's my theory that she uses a part that lies dormant in us, but the whole area needed to have the full healing ability is not activated, due to the fact she doesn't have all the Ancient genes. It is a possibility that the other dormant neural pathways could be triggered some way down the line. As for their Ancient ancestry and genetic memory, I'm working on it."

"Any progress on the compound?"

"From what I can decipher from the Ancients' work, the compound is activated by the specific Wraith gene that allows them to feed. It then progresses to shut down the neural connections in the Wraith body and brain. It is unlike what the Hoffans developed, much more advanced and obviously harmless to humans and the like."

"The Ancients were the ones to create it after all. This could be huge Carson, a true biological weapon against the Wraith. Focus your efforts on the duplication of the compound."

"Honestly, I've never anything like it. Even that nanovirus was completely different, that was a machine, this is biological."

"I understand. Rodney, what about the Z.P.M. lab?"

"The computer is independent of the database. There's enough information there to keep my whole team busy for a year."

"Is it possible the Ancients kept it independent so it would be hidden?"

"From what? Themselves?" Rodney snarked at John.

"No, from infiltrators into the city, the Wraith perhaps. They hid Z.P.M.s in the galaxy."

"It's a possibility." Then Rodney started going off on a rant, "What we've discovered is that the Ancients designed the ZedPM so that in order to construct one you need to structure the formation of the crystallization in a very specific order, that in itself is crucial to containing the field-"

Elizabeth stopped him, "All I need to know is can you construct a working one and how soon?"

"Yes, and not anytime soon."

"How long?"

"A year."

"A year!" That is not what she wanted to hear.

"You see the problem is that the element we need to actually form the ZedPM is found only in the smallest quantities in scarce places in the galaxy, and then on top of that we need special equipment which is nowhere to be found."

"Then keep the main focus on the Tialysian maquial generators."

"Already have Zelenka and a few others on it full time."

John jumped in, "Am I the only one wondering why they don't just give us a generator to start out with?"

Elizabeth replied, "They have none to spare. The ones they possess are needed to keep their cities cloaked from the Wraith. Our best bet is to keep the Tialysians a secret from them or they will attack Tialys. They made a mistake thousands of years ago by missing a few. I'm sure the Wraith will not mistakenly leave survivors this time around. Especially after the Tialysians have started research on the compound after all these years."

Rodney added, "And the generators themselves take a while to construct. But it will be worth it, one maquial generator will equal three naquadah generators. Hopefully we will have time before the Wraith attack or we're in huge trouble."

"I will also be sending teams to the five planets with Z.P.M.s I- the other me gave us. Major Sheppard, anything to report?"

"The military is running smoothly, everyone's carrying out their assignments, there's no disciplinary problems, no court marshals…"

"Sounds good. I think we're done here. Thank you gentlemen, have a good day."

Elizabeth and Carson got up and left the room, listening to John and Rodney who immediately got back into the bickering session.

Anirul nodded. She was determined not to get swept this time. She took a defensive stance. Teyla twirled her staff, spun around, and aimed for Anirul's back, but only caught air. Anirul had ducked out of the way and was now behind Teyla. Teyla turned around to face her. They danced in a circle until Teyla again aimed for her left shoulder, and made contact. They separated.

Teyla was surprised how quickly Anirul was picking up, but glad also. Of course she was going immensely easy on Anirul, but perhaps with more training, she would be able to stave off another attack if need be. Anirul was equally as surprised, but then remembered the play-fights she would always get into with her brothers when they were young children. She remembered winning, frequently, due to waiting for them to go on the offensive. Interesting.

She waited for another attack by Teyla, and got it. But Teyla had been going easy on her before, and now she stepped it up a slight amount and hit the back of Anirul's legs, causing her to collapse on her knees. She was clutching the staff in front of her, not watching as Teyla moved behind her.

"You're forgetting to watch me."

Anirul stood up slowly, listening closely to Teyla's movements and breathing behind her. She waited. Teyla swung the staff at her arm; Anirul dodged and swung her staff at Teyla's side, making good contact.

"You have had much improvement."

Anirul smiled, "Thank you." They were standing facing each other, breathing heavily. "Are we done with these things?" Anirul asked, referring to the staffs.

"If you would like, yes." They both threw them down off to the side. As defense against Makina agents was the reason Teyla had offered to train Anirul, she asked, "How did the agents capture you exactly?"

Anirul thought a moment, "Basically they caught us by surprise. One man grabbed me from behind as the others grabbed Hawat."

"Show me."

"Alright." Anirul moved to behind Teyla, "He put his right arm around my neck, and his other around my stomach." She demonstrated and Teyla grabbed Anirul's arm around her neck, bent her knees and back, and flipped Anirul on her back, so as she was staring at Teyla standing over her.

"I should have done that I suppose." Anirul commented as Teyla once again helped her up.

"It would have been beneficial. I want to see if you can do that to me."

"I'll try." She was unsure of herself, but it was a training session. They got back into the same position, but Teyla in place as the attacker. Anirul correctly executed the move and flipped Teyla, with effort, "Ha! I did it!" She helped Teyla up.

"You are doing well. This seems to be fairly natural for you."

Anirul nodded, "But you are about my size, I don't know if I could flip someone larger."

Teyla brushed herself off, "We'll find someone willing to participate."

"Stealing my instructor Dr. Belacu?"

Anirul and Teyla turned their heads to the door to see John walk in. They looked back at each other and grinned.

"Only for a while Major."

"Would you like to join us?" Teyla innocently asked.

"And get my butt kicked by two women instead of just the one? I'll pass."

"You'll be training with Dr. Belacu. I will instruct you both."

He thought about it, "Sure, why not."

"I'm teaching her self-defense, so if you could take a hold of you from behind, one arm around her neck."

"Sure." He followed instructions. Anirul then proceeded to grab his arm and flip him square on his back.

"Ow! That wasn't in the brochure!"

Anirul and Teyla grinned widely at each other, holding back some laughter.

Teyla helped him up, "Thank you Major. That will be all for today." Her and Anirul gathered up their things, and headed out the door. As soon as they did, they cracked up laughing.

John watched them leave and thought he just participated in the making of an interesting duo.

Anirul walked into the infirmary hurriedly, after they had left the gymnasium, she and Teyla walked around the city. It was well past 9:30am by the time she had gotten to her quarters to clean up and change. Dr. Beckett was waiting, patiently, in his lab coat with two nurses. He had that doctor's glare in his eyes though.

"I'm late aren't I?"

"Only by a few minutes. Let's get started, I need you to have a seat." He motioned at the infirmary bed.

Anirul sat down, wondering what she had gotten herself into. "So… what exactly is this P.E.T. scan?"

Carson took a syringe from one of the nurses, "It is a diagnostic examination that involves the acquisition of physiologic images based on the detection of radiation from the emission of positrons. So I have to inject you with this." He wiped her arm down in preparation for the injection.

She understood what he had said, except for the last part, "And what is that?"

"A radioactive isotope that will emit the positrons." He moved the needle to her arm, but she pulled back.

"I don't like the sound of that Doctor."

"It's harmless. The radioactivity localizes in the areas of the body, this instance your brain, and is detected by the P.E.T. scanner." He tried again, and again she pulled away.

"How does it localize?"

"The isotope is tagged to glucose, tissue uses the glucose for energy," He moved again to inject her, and he succeeded, she winced a little bit, "so where more energy is used, the different or brighter the color on the scan."

"Alright, you're the medical doctor."

"That I am. We'll have to wait a few minutes for it to go through your system, but I'll show you the scanner."

He led her to a separate room at the far back of the infirmary; he doubted many people even knew it was there. After Anirul saw the scanner, she got nervous.

"I'm supposed to go into that?" The scanner consisted of a patient sled that moves the patient into the center of the wall-like structure. It actually looked somewhat like a huge donut.

Carson nodded, "Aye, first we'll have to strap you down so you won't move and disturb the-"

"No, no, you don't understand." She shook her head and started backing out, "I can't go into that, small spaces frighten me, even being around crowds of people scares me."

He was trying to calm her down, "It'll be alright, no worries. It won't take but a couple of minutes."

But she kept shaking her head and turned to leave, "I apologize, but I can't, I just… no I'm not doing this." She left the room.

Carson called after her, "Dr. Belacu!" and followed her.

She hurriedly crossed through the infirmary, Carson right behind her trailed by the two nurses. She then moved out into the hallway, looking to the right as she turned left and ran right into Rodney.

"Hey! Where are you running off to?"

"Nowhere, I just have to go." She tried to get around him on his right side, but he saw Carson chasing out after her and moved to stop her.

"I don't think so. Carson, what the hell is going on!"

"Let me pass Rodney…" She was clearly upset, the thought of going through the scanner really frightened her, it was just so close and tight…

"I showed her the P.E.T. scanner and I just found out she's claustrophobic."

"Rodney, let me pass or I'll…"

"You'll what?"

She continued to try to get by him, but he kept moving back and forth stopping her, and finally just grabbed her arm. "I don't know… I'll kick you or something…"

"Carson, what do we do?" He was a little claustrophobic himself, but not to the extent that he couldn't even look at a scanner.

"We need to calm her down, give her space." He put his arm on her shoulder and turned her around, "Dr. Belacu, come with me, we'll sit you down, and give you some time."

She gave in and took a breath, "Alright."

Carson let Anirul walk ahead of him, Rodney, and the nurses through the infirmary. She then sat down on the same bed she was on when Carson injected her with the radioactive isotope, sighed, crossed her arms, and started tapping her feet in the air. She didn't like the thought of this scan at all, but she trusted Dr. Beckett.

"We still have a few minutes before we can start, so take deep breaths and think of something pleasant, calming." Carson was standing a few feet in front of her, Rodney next to him.

"Alright Dr. Beckett." She closed her eyes and blocked out the whispers. Then she found herself standing on the shore of a small cove formed by a waterfall. Lush green foliage and tall trees surrounded the body of water. She breathed the crisp, clean smell in deep. It was beautiful. She could feel the mist from the waterfall on her skin. It was her favorite place in world, her world Tialys, a small, unfrequented cove she had found as a teenager escaping the city for some freedom. No one knew about it but her, she had kept it her secret for years. At least she thought no one knew about it, she never found any evidence of people there. It was where she went to get away; to really get away when something went wrong in her life. She heard the wind rustle through the leaves, and felt it blow her hair.

"Dr. Belacu, we're ready."

She opened her eyes to see Carson and Rodney standing in almost the same places. She stood calmly and walked with them back to the P.E.T. scan room.

A/N: One last chapter coming up, so if you have any questions you have to ask them now! Even if you dont have a question, you may feel free to still say something. Thanks for the continued reading...