John exhaled and rubbed his neck. Teyla had given him a good beating, and he was gonna pay for it in the morning. 'I dunno how the hell I'm manage to run flat out for 30 minutes', he groaned to himself. 'I can barely walk right now.'
He rounded the corner of the hallway and came to the door of his living quarters. He waved his hand over the illuminated panel on the wall, and the door slid smoothly open with a hiss. John walked into his room, dumped his P-90 on his bed and flung his rucksack and towel on the floor, as the door hissed shut behind him. It was well into the morning now, and the light from the window made his room glow. He was still rather hot and sweaty from his sparring session, so he pulled off his t-shirt and put on a new one, tossing the worn one on the floor next to his towel. John sat on the end of his bed and picked up the book that was lying on his chair: "War and Peace". He opened it, read a few lines and screwed up his face, before chucking back on the chair. He rubbed his neck again, and was just about to lie back when his radio crackled, making him jump slightly.
"Colonel Sheppard?" came Zelenka's voice in his ear.
He tapped his receiver. "Yeah?"
"Um, it's Dr. Zelenka. Are you busy at the moment?" the Czech scientist asked in his usual polite tone.
"Not really," John said into his microphone, suppressing a yawn. "There something I can do for you?"
"Uh, yes. I was wondering if you could perhaps come down to the Jumper bay for a few moments. I'm running diagnostics on one of ships and I need you to activate some of the controls."
"Can't Beckett do it?" John replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"He is on the mainland with Teyla and Ronon. It will only take a few moments."
"Yeah, alright, I'll be right there." John said, heaving himself up off the bed.
He waved his hand across the door panel and made his way down to the hanger. He spotted Zelenka inside one of the Puddle Jumpers, who looked up and greeted him with a slight wave. John walked towards it and made his way up the ramp. Zelenka was surrounded by wires and control crystals from the open panel above one of the seats.
"So, what d'you need me to turn on?" John asked the scientist.
"If you could just raise the cloaking device for a few moments, Colonel…" He looked down and pressed a key on his laptop.
John walked over to the main controls, navigating through the equipment on the floor, and sat in the pilot's seat. He touched the panel in front of him, which sprang to life. Almost instantly, the Jumper read his thoughts and went into cloak mode, turning completely invisible. John turned to look at Zelenka.
"How's that?"
"That's good, thank you. If you could just continue that for a few more moments…" He pulled another crystal from the open panel and typed something on his laptop, which beeped. Zelenka smiled, and replaced the crystal, along with two others. He looked up. "Thank you, Colonel. That will be all."
John stood up, and the lights on the control panel went out. He smiled and started to walk away, then turned back to face the scientist.
"What exactly are you doing, anyway?"
"Dr. McKay and I are running a diagnostics program on the Jumper's main functional controls." Zelenka replied, gesturing to the panel on the wall. "You see, Rodney came up with a theory about integrating the control crystals which regulate power output to the cloaking device with the main shield generator to–"
"Uh, yeah, okay." John said, backing away and grinning. "Sorry I asked."
Zelenka smiled and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Well, you did say exactly."
"Yeah, well, remind me not mention the word 'exactly' to a scientist ever again." John called over his shoulder as he walked back towards the door. Zelenka chuckled and returned his gaze to his laptop.