A/N: Sorry, I know I said this chapter'd be up in a couple days like 2 weeks ago, but we had final exams, and then I didn't have access to my computer for a few days, and then, well…you get the picture. I'll be updating MUCH more frequently now that's its summer, I PROMISE! Same deal with the translations as last chapter. Kinda short chapter, I know, but this one's a little more interesting than the last.
Klenotka- I'm very sorry for any inaccuracies! I only have one dictionary, and it's not a very good one. I'm absolutely terrible at other languages, so thanks for the help! I got someone who speaks Czech to help me in this chap!
Aria-hannah- Shh! You're giving away my plot points, lol!
Chapter 11: Still Meanwhile…
"Tohle je fakt špatnej den!" Zelenka screamed at the life signs detector. "Zatracený!" he swore as the cable he was trying to hook the Ancient device up to slipped. The sharp end of the wire made a thin slice across his finger. He pointed at the piece of technology and yelled more obscenities at it, until Dr. Weir entered his lab.
"No luck, I gather?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Radek hissed with forced calmness. "Our attempts at recalibrating the life signs detector to only pick up specific energy signatures appear to be misguided." He looked at his finger and sucked on the cut, irritably glaring at the machine sitting innocently on the table. He took his finger out of his mouth and viciously slammed the laptop on the desk shut.
Weir was nonplussed. Zelenka had gone down to his lab shortly after their meeting on her orders to try to make the life signs detector pick up the major and McKay's signs in the low hopes they could find something they missed in their searches. He had told her it would be a long shot; that these things weren't meant to single out specific people. But there really wasn't much else she could do. There was nothing she hated more than only being able to stand by helplessly as the rest of her team was frantically doing everything they could to find John and Rodney. And the real reason why she was down in the lab didn't make her feel any better about the situation.
"Bates just returned from the mainland," she reported uneasily.
"Oh? And did he find anything this time?" Zelenka turned his gaze from the life signs detector to her. She shook her head 'no.' He looked down again, his expression clearly reading, "So what else is new?" This had been the third search, and it was nearing noon. Half a day with no word.
Radek began rummaging around the room, looking for a first-aid kit for his cut. Elizabeth stood awkwardly in the doorway, not sure how to break the news to Zelenka.
"Ah!" he interjected as he pulled a small plastic case out of a satchel. As he rummaged through the contents of the kit, he asked, "Was there anything else you wanted?"
She sighed. Now or never. "I've told Sergeant Bates to stop searching."
Zelenka dropped the band-aid he was holding and looked up at her, confusion in his eyes. "What?"
"I don't like it either, Radek," she said defensively. "If I didn't have to run the city, I would keep looking until we found something. But that's not the case. We can't put this whole operation on suspension waiting for McKay and the major to return."
"So we're just giving up on them?" Zelenka asked dejectedly.
"By no means. But it's time to keep Atlantis running. I know better than anyone how important John and Rodney are to the city. But as vital an asset as they both are, I have two hundred-odd other people here who we can't forget about." She paused and a silence passed between them. When he didn't acknowledge her comments, she added, "You know as well as I do that Major Sheppard and Dr. McKay are perfectly capable of defending themselves against almost anything."
Radek frowned and fiddled with the bow of his glasses. He sighed. "You're right."
Elizabeth was slightly surprised by this reaction. She had been expecting an angry defense of McKay and Sheppard, saying, "We shouldn't leave them out there, for all we know they could be stuck somewhere and not able to contact us." At the very least she had expected him to suggest keeping a few teams off-duty to continue searching.
Then she realized: she had been envisioning how John and Rodney would have reacted to her decision had they been searching for someone. The two of them absolutely hated the idea leaving people behind, and would have given her endless hell. She smiled inwardly. You know you're spending too much time around those two when you expect everyone to argue your decisions, she thought, mildly amused.
However, she believed that both Sheppard and McKay would not want her to expend all of Atlantis' energy looking for them.
She just hoped dearly that, wherever they were, they could handle themselves.
Elizabeth was brought out of her musings by Zelenka suggesting, "Grodin is still experimenting with the biometric sensor array, maybe we could somehow-"
Suddenly, a Russian scientist burst in breathing heavily, accompanied shortly after by a sergeant.
"Dr. Weir…Dr. Zelenka," he gasped, "Down…in the…"
The military officer decided to give the poor scientist a hand, and finished, "You have to see this!"
Translations:
Tohle je fakt špatnej den – "This is turning into a very bad day"
zatracený- damn
