"So, where to next?" John asked looking over at the three silent figures. They seemed to be stunned. Who wouldn't be?
"Is there a way to see the city, I mean like the outside of it?" Danielle finally asked, taking her eyes away from the gate to look at him.
"We could take a jumper."
"Really?" Genna looked over at him to see if he was being sarcastic. He seemed sincere.
"Yeah. Come on."
"Oh, we're up high. R-r-really high." Danielle stuttered as she looked out of the windshield of Jumper 1. They were about a hundred feet above the top spire of the city. It may have been up high, but she had to admit. It was spectacular.
"It's beautiful." Genna whispered.
"Way better than I imagined it to be." Anita said, looking at the others. They flew around the city a few more times, and then they headed for the mainland. John parked the jumper and got up.
"Now, ladies, for test number one." He smiled at their look of confusion. "You," he pointed at Genna, "are first."
"What do I have to do?" she looked a little nervous.
"Start up the jumper." he said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"But, you have to have the gene for that."
"Exactly," he smiled, "this will make it easier on Beckett. He won't have to do any blood work." he gave a nod. "Go on, it won't bite." She just shook her head, got up and sat in the driver's seat. She put her hands on the console. Nothing happened.
"I don't have it." she sounded a little disappointed.
"You have to think about it. The less of the gene you have, the harder it is to make it work. Try again." She looked at him like he was crazy.
"Fine." she tried again, this time with success. When the console glowed blue she jumped up and clapped. "Yay! I've got it! Wait, how do I have it? I'm from a different reality."
"Well," Danielle began.
"Great," Anita whispered to Genna." No you've got her started."
"Since the theory is that there are an infinite number of different realities for every choice you make, we could have never found the Stargate in our's. Or maybe the Ancient's took it with them or maybe it was destroyed, or maybe there wasn't even one there, oh may-"
"Maybe someone should dig it up and put in you large mouth. There would be a fifty- fifty chance that it would shut you up." Anita interrupted. They all laughed.
"Let me guess," John said looking at Danielle, "you are a scientist."
"Solar and Stellar Astrophysicist to be exact."
"Right. Anita?
"Archeologist."
"Last, but most certainly not lest, Genna?"
"Paleontologist, but my second degree is in combat and flight." He looked really surprised.
"Military?"
"No, it was more exciting than digging up bones. Kind of fun to kick someone's butt for a grade!"
"Don't I know. Now, back to the task at hand. Anita, it's your turn." She walked up to the console and put her hands on it. After a minute or two, it came to life. She just turned around to face them, a smug smile on her face.
"I knew I could do it."
"Congratulations." Danielle looked at John. "Is it my turn now?"
"Yes, give it a go." She placed her hands on it and it clicked on almost instantly. She just turned around and stuck her tongue out at Anita.
"Very mature Danny, very mature."
On the way back to Atlantis, John decided to test their reflexes and give them a crash course in Jumper driving. They were about a thousand or so feet in the air when he got up from his seat and went to sit in the back. There wasn't anybody driving.
Anita looked at him like he was a madman. He'd left her up front all alone.
"John, whatcha doin'?"
"Taking a break." They were decelerating - fast.
"Aren't you gonna drive?"
"No. you take a shot at it."
"WHAT?"
"The ocean's pretty close don't you think?"
"Fine." She grabbed the controls. She tried but couldn't get it to pull up.
"Genna!" she yelled over her shoulder.
"Coming!" She ran up to the front and grabbed the controls. It took about three seconds for her to figure them out. She pulled them up and kicked Anita out of the driver's seat. She drove them for about ten more minutes before John had to take over again.
They had to undergo a full medical examination when they got back. This, unfortunately, meant a billion questions. Beckett was the one doing Danielle's examination. She gratefully noted that he wasn't as boring as the doctor that was doing Anita's examination.
"What's you full name?"
"Danielle Aurora Summers." He looked up from his clipboard.
"Aurora?"
"Yes. Don't poke fun. My mom loved fairly tales. Next question."
"Okay, age?"
"Twenty-eight."
"Any surgeries or broken bones?"
"I had my tonsils taken out when I was three and I broke my left arm when I was twelve, Other than those nothing." The questions went on and on. Carson dutifully noting everything on his clipboard. When they were finished up they were shown to their quarters and where the dining hall was. They were told that they could roam, just not to get into anyone's way. They were followed by a constant guard though. After awhile of walking they ended up in McKay's lab. Anita decided that she'd catch up with them later, she claimed that she wanted to see if he'd found out how they got there. They just shook their heads and kept walking. Anita peeked in the door to see Rodney looking at some kind of ancient machine. It was displaying some kind of holographic message written in ancient. He had his brow furrowed and was muttering. He looked up and jumped, startled.
"Don't sneak up on me like that would you?"
"What do you got there?"
"Not really sure. I think it might be the reason that you three are here, Anita is it?"
"Yes. Why do you think it's behind this?"
"Because I don't know what it does." She almost laughed, but on second thought, kept it to herself. She herself had, on occasion, made this kind of judgment.
"That doesn't sound like you at all. You're Rodney McKay, Head scientist of Atlantis. You know all and fear all."
"Oh thank..wait. What did you say?" She could hardly keep a straight face.
"That you know all."
"No, after that."
"You fear all. I was trying to see if you were actually paying attention to me. You passed."
"Huh. Well of course I was listening. So what are you?"
"Human. You?" He couldn't help but laugh.
"I mean your job. What do you do?"
"Oh, I'm an Archeologist."
"Really? Have you been on many digs?"
"Tons. Back in my reality I found a Mayan temple."
"That's cool I guess."
"The cool part is that I found it in Egypt."
"That's weird." He looked down and started pushing buttons on his keypad. Something caught Anita's eye.
"Uh, Rodney? Was that button blinking before?" He looked up sharply.
"No." he tried to figure out what was going on, but as much as his ego hated to admit it, he hadn't a clue. He kept typing things in on his keypad. "It looks like it's admitting energy waves of some sort."
"Any clue as to what kind?"
"They're almost like the ones that admit from the jumpers. More like what admits from the Stargate though. I think that it opened a wormhole to let you two in."
"Okay, we're already here. What's happening now?"
"I did the same thing before you three arrived. Maybe someone else is coming."
"Hmmm, maybe it's from our reality. I wonder who it is."
They were to soon find out.
