SPOILERS: For Rising. And only in the broadest sense.
A/N: Sorry this is a bit later than usual.
This is for you, Steph.
Just a wee insight into the beginning of something special… I might need to write a whole fic around this…no idea about canon…
Sebum – what your skin secretes to keep you waterproof, mainly oils, proteins, and other stuff.
Chapter 13
Dr Rodney McKay walked briskly through the chilly corridors of the Antarctica Outpost, drumming a tune with the fingers of one hand on his other fist.
"What did you want to see me for, Carson?" Rodney appeared in the medical area, and proceeded to fiddle with various vials of liquid that stood on Carson's desk.
Carson swiped at Rodney's hand, "Don't touch man, do I have to put a bloody sign up?" He stood up from where he was, behind the desk, and motioned for Rodney to take his place in front of the computer. "Sit down, Rodney, I want to show you something. I've got a wee theory."
Rodney seated himself and looked at the screen and then back at Carson. All he saw were weird lumps and craters; it looked like a greyscale image of Parmesan shavings on top of Bolognese, or something. He licked his lips. "What?"
"You're looking at an electron microscopic magnification of the surface of that piece of metal I took off you yesterday."
"The broken door panel? The one you confiscated from me before I used it to do serious damage to the scientist who stupidly ripped it off the wall?" Rodney was still clearly unhappy his revenge had been denied.
"Yes. When I protected Dr Kavanagh from your wrath, that's right. Anyway, just concentrate for a minute. I was bored. I fiddled with it, and put it in my microscope. I found…the surface of the panel…it has an organic appearance."
Rodney sensed the wonder in Carson's voice and eyes, but wasn't really getting it. "Should I know what comes next?"
"Not really, Rodney. This panel, it has what I am assuming are protein receptors, plus a lot of other interesting structures." Seeing Rodney's blank, strained look, he tried again, "Bottom line, man, and I'm thinking out loud here, this panel must respond to something that your skin is coated with, likely the proteins in sebum. If all the technology works like this, the Ancients built stuff that would activate when you touched it, not through pressure or anything we're used to, but because of your actual chemical presence." Carson's eyes were bright with revelation. "And I can guess why we can't make any of this stuff work – because our proteins aren't compatible. They were aliens, right? Their DNA would be different. Their skin sebum would work this panel, but yours doesn't!"
Rodney got it now. "Carson, you are hereby an honorary genius. But is this for real? We won't work any of this stuff properly unless we figure out how to make Ancient sweat? This cannot be happening." The thought depressed him. It was impossible, surely.
"Not sweat, probably, but essentially, yes, it would appear that way, Rodney. I'm sorry, pal. I mean, the Ancients were supposed to have come to earth how long ago? With genetic variation over the years, it's clear we humans just don't have the same oily skin like we used to."
Carson stepped over to the door at the rear of his medical area. It wasn't on the schedule for opening until the existing chambers had been investigated. For Carson's team it was just their back wall, with equipment piled up in front of it.
"Take this door, for example. If my sebum contained Ancient proteins…" Carson placed his hand firmly on the adjoining panel, and the door promptly opened, allowing some items to tumble out of view. "Holy Crap!"
Rodney leapt up and stared through the open door, then into Carson's terrified face. "Do you think you could do that again?"
There was then a loud bang as something exploded somewhere high up in the door's mechanism. A cloud of acrid smoke drifted down over the two men.
"Nice work Carson," coughed Rodney. "Can you run that sebum thing by me again?"
A/N: Last chapter up tomorrow sometime...Thanks for popping by everyone!