Author's notes: Okay, I have finals tomorrow (giving them, not taking them…ah, the joys of being a teacher!) :) but I'm a terrible procrastinator, so I decided to write the next chapter. Here goes…
oOo
Rodney stepped out of the bathroom to find Sam stretched out on his bed with a few of the various "Atlantean doodads" that he had brought home from the lab scattered around her. She had obviously let curiosity get the best of her, since several of the ones that didn't require a gene to activate were blinking and humming contentedly, and she had even managed to get the egg-shaped thing to open. He didn't even know it could open!
She had his laptop booted up, and was happily typing away. She didn't even acknowledge him as he entered, or as he began shutting down the numerous devices without bothering to hide his anger. "Make yourself at home," McKay commented, sarcasm heavy.
When Sam spoke, she didn't take her eyes off the screen, and her impassive tone was belied only by the slight curve of her lips. "These are some pretty risqué pictures, Rodney. I thought you preferred blondes. Do you think Agent Scully is a natural redhead?"
Rodney snatched the laptop out of her snooping grasp as fast as humanly possible. "Do you mind?" he shouted, indignant. "No respect for a man's privacy," he mumbled, sitting down on the end of his bed and preparing to close out his very personal files. He was surprised when he saw that the screen actually displayed the Atlantis database files. "Wha— How did you get past my encrypted password?"
Sam tapped her temple with an index finger as she came to kneel next to him on the bed. "Mind reader, remember? And do you really have pictures like that? I was hoping I was wrong about that particular insight."
"Yes, well, that disturbing penchant of yours to find out my most mortifying and personal secrets aside, I'm curious as to what you were looking for. This just looks like listing of the zoology of other planets in the Pegasus Galaxy. Yes!" He pointed to one of the files on the screen. It bore a vague resemblance to a fanged frog. "Yes, I definitely recognize this one. Ravenous little monsters." He shuddered.
Sam looked at him askew. "Okay, while I'm sure there's a world of entertainment behind that comment, I don't really want to go there right now. This," she leaned over McKay and tapped a few keys on the laptop, "is more what I had in mind."
Rodney immediately identified the image on the screen as that of the alien whales. He quickly skimmed some of the information in the database. "They have an entire file on you!"
"Well, not me personally…"
"Of course not. This entry is over 10,000 years old," he answered with a haughty eye roll. "Plus, I didn't see anything about sadistic pranksters with an unhealthy fondness for the color pink."
"Ha ha," Sam mocked, rolling her eyes right back. "Seriously, McKay, read it. Does it say anything about an illness in there, or a sudden drop in numbers, anything?"
Rodney quickly read the file, then shook his head. "No, sorry."
Letting out an exhausted breath, Sam leaned back with her elbows on the bed. "That's what I thought. That means that it must be something that's happened recently. Or at least in the last 10,000 years, so I suppose maybe not that recently…"
"What are you talking about?"
"The plague!" she sat forward and answered impatiently, as if he should already know all about it. At his blank and mildly frustrated look, she paused. "Uh, I didn't tell you about that part yet, did I?" He shook his head with an expression of supreme condescension. "Oh…well…see, there's this plague…"
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Look, we don't know all that much about it! Some of us can go our whole lives without getting it, and then some of us seem to be born with it. Then there's others, like Mwaya that you saw, who get it when they're very old. She's the oldest of our kind, Rodney, and I know there's not much we can do for her, but she's our leader, and…" She trailed off, her eyes intense and pleading. "We don't know what's causing it, how to treat it, anything…all we know is that it's killing us."
Rodney wanted to help her, he really did, but this sort of thing really didn't fall under his area of expertise. "Look, maybe we should talk to some of the marine biologists, or even Beckett, he could—"
"No!" she interrupted. "This has to stay between us. The only reason the others are even letting me talk to you is because you already know about us, so they figure I can't do any more damage."
"Well I'm not saying we have to have all the whale avatars manifest themselves and do the can-can for the senior staff! I'm sure we can get somebody to check you out while avoiding the whole 'telepathic talking whale in human form' routine."
Sam eyed him narrowly. "I see your point. Okay, if we can be discreet. I'll talk to the others, make them see that it's necessary."
"Good. I'll get things set up on this end."
"Okay. I'll give you an update in a few hours." Sam nodded, then headed for the door. She paused and turned around just as the doors slid open. "And Rodney? Thanks."
He glanced up from his laptop just in time to see her smile, then walk out the door. On a whim, he got up and followed her. Poking his head out into the hallway, he wasn't surprised to find the hall empty. Stifling a half-grin of amusement, he heard his radio chirp. "McKay," he responded.
"Rodney?" The thick Scottish brogue could only be one man.
"Carson! Just the voo-doo medicine man I wanted to see."
There was a pause in which McKay was sure Carson was mentally cataloguing his collection of sheep-shearers in order to get his temper under control. When his voice came over the com again, however, there was still a slight edge to it. "Rodney, can I see you in Dr. Balaena's lab, please?"
"I'm on my way."
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A/N (2): Yes, I stole the fanged frogs. Bonus points to anyone who can guess where I got them:D This was really short, so the next part is coming right up!
