Last time: Radek might have freaked out a bit and snatched back whatever freedom he'd given Anna. Anna's pretty upset. Harsh words may have been said.


Chapter 42. Genes.

Anna slipped out early the next morning before Radek was out of his room. He might have been going to work again today. Judging by how he felt yesterday, though, he would be back at work again soon, regardless. The sooner the better.

In the meantime, Anna knew she could hide out in the infirmary without much chance of running into Radek. He hated the infirmary.

"Good morning, dear," Doctor Beckett said with a warm smile.

It was impossible to be in a bad mood around him, wasn't it? Anna smiled back, despite her originally toxic outlook. "Dobrý, Doctor Beckett. Jak se máš?" *

"Mám se dobře, děkuju." ** Doctor Beckett turned away from his work, chuckled. "And how are you this fine morning?"

She slid her tablet onto the table next to him and contemplated giving him a truthful answer, rather than the practical, usual American answer. Most people didn't actually want to know how she was when they asked the question.

Then again, this was Doctor Beckett. He always seemed to care.

He was way ahead of her, though. "Less than cheerful, I see."

"Am I so obvious?" Anna asked. His only answer was a small smile. "I wanted to go to Arkos, but Radek won't let me. So I'm here." Not that doing biology with Doctor Beckett was the worst thing in the world.

"I heard there was some excitement during the trip to Delbradia."

Anna sincerely doubted that, unless it was a particularly slow news day around the coffee machine. "I don't think a pack of dogs passes for 'excitement' offworld."

"Better not get too exciting, though," Doctor Beckett pointed out. "I'd rather fifty rabid dogs than a single Wraith." Picking up her tablet, he scrolled through a textbook he'd loaded on there about human anatomy and physiology, even though she'd begged him to include a Wraith diagram, too. "Let's see. Where were we, now?"

Anna didn't help. She wanted to put off their study of heredity for as long as possible, even if it was just a few minutes. On the other hand, there was something regarding genetics that Anna was very interested in knowing…

"Doctor Beckett?"

"Yes, Anna?" He was obviously distracted as he scrolled along through the book.

"You have the ATA gene, don't you?"

He looked up in surprise, setting the tablet aside. "I do."

"Naturally."

"I was born with it, aye." Some of the members of the Atlantis expedition had the gene from birth, like Colonel Sheppard. According to reports that she read, Doctor Beckett discovered the gene and thereafter developed gene therapy to give it to others, like Doctor McKay.

"But Doctor McKay wasn't."

"No, Rodney has the gene as a consequence of gene therapy," Doctor Beckett said. "Why the sudden interest?"

She thought it was probably obvious, but Doctor Beckett liked to hear people say what they meant. He was usually patient enough to get what he wanted. Her thoughts on the matter, though, she couldn't quite say. Not without expecting a well-deserved lecture anyway. But she couldn't get lectured for thoughts she didn't articulate.

"Well, on that note, let's get to talking about genes. Where were we? Dominant and recessive?"

Anna tried not to groan as she nodded. She was very familiar with this, thank you very much. "Yes. We were."

"Don't sound so excited," Doctor Beckett said sarcastically. "Much of who we are can be found in our DNA. For example…" He looked at her critically, zeroing in on her eyes.

Lots of people did that, actually, whether they were contemplating heredity or not. She got many compliments on them, usually by well-meaning adults trying to break the ice before a violin lesson or doctor's appointment. Even with all the attention they got, her eyes were one of her favorite things about herself.

"Your beautiful blue eyes," Doctor Beckett said. "Dominant or recessive?"

"Recessive," Anna answered.

"Correct. Mum or dad have blue eyes?"

"Radek. My mom used to say I have his eyes." Probably just in case Anna ever doubted this stranger in pictures was her father. She only needed to study the eyes to find their hue nearly identical, colored like the winter sky. Her mother had pale green eyes with a golden ring around the pupil that Anna thought were beautiful and she wished many times she'd gotten her eyes instead. Radek's seemed so commonplace. Or maybe that was just because she saw them in the mirror every day.

"There, you see?" Doctor Beckett said. "Our genes tie us to our families."

"Do you think I could ever get the gene therapy?" Anna interrupted whatever he was about to say. Probably rude. But it fit in with the conversation. Didn't it?

Doctor Beckett sighed, slapping the tablet back into her hands as he walked away toward a computer console nearby. "I don't know. It's quite expensive, and it's only effective in approximately forty-eight percent of those who receive the therapy."

"I know," Anna said, following to stand beside him as he pulled a few things around on the monitor with his stylus. "Radek's didn't take."

"No, it didn't, and he works fine with Ancient technology, doesn't he?"

Doctor Beckett might think that, as a natural carrier. It must have been nice to just think at the city and it would do something. That had to be what Radek thought, anyway.

She wondered if he was jealous. Anna was a little jealous. She'd never been jealous of anyone for their genes before, since she had to admit she had pretty good ones.

Doctor Beckett was right, though. There was little point in giving Anna the gene when she couldn't even handle the Human aspect of their technology. Like Doctor Beckett said, Radek got along just fine without it.

"Maybe someday, though," Doctor Beckett said. He offered an encouraging smile. "I said once that you'd be more qualified than all of us by the time you're done. Imagine all the things you'll learn if the Ancient gene takes."

"Why didn't it work for Radek?" Anna asked.

Radek was probably jealous of Doctor McKay… but that was probably in part because he was Doctor McKay. The universe did him several good turns and he capitalized on them. He reveled in them. Rumor had it that he was still shaky about flying puddle jumpers, though.

"I don't know," Doctor Beckett said with a sigh. "It would be nice if the therapy worked on a much higher percentage of those who received it. Ideally, everyone on Atlantis would have the gene."

"Doc."

Doctor Beckett looked up when Collins stood in the doorway. "Ah, hello, Doctor Collins. How are you?"

Collins shrugged and came into the room. "McKay is getting all of us with any degree of Ancient aptitude together to work on Project Arcturus."

"Oh, that bloody thing," Doctor Beckett sighed and rolled his eyes. "Rodney was making quite a fuss about it last night."

"Tell me." Collins glanced at Anna for a moment. "Your dad is feeling better, right?"

Anna nodded. "I think so." Downright good spirits while he lectured her on the need for safety in the Pegasus galaxy.

"Well, he's coming with us, then."

Offworld. Better give him a cloak of bubble wrap before he goes. Might go a long way in keeping him uninjured. "Is it safe?" Anna asked.

A familiar smirk colored Collins' eyes. "We think so, apart from all the skeletons on the planet."

"Skeletons," Doctor Beckett breathed. "Good lord."

Anna couldn't help smile, even past the macabre thought. She would have liked to see Radek around some skeletons.

"They'll be removing the skeletons here with the hope that you can determine cause of death." Collins apparently found that fairly funny, too. Maybe it was just Doctor Beckett's reaction.

"Lovely." Sarcasm fairly dripped from Doctor Beckett's tone.

"Do you think I'll be able to come see the planet sometime?" Anna asked hopefully.

"First, dogs. Next, skeletons." Collins nearly laughed. "I don't know if Zelenka is keen on letting you offworld again so soon. I'm not sure if you've ever seen him panic, but—"

"Isn't that all he does?" It seemed like even when he didn't look like he was panicking, he was.

"Then you've never seen him panic." Collins looked at her critically, seeming to have lost all his good humor. He sighed and shook his head. "I'll be pulling for you, Anna. It'd be a good experience to check it out."

Anna smiled apologetically. "I hope I get to."

"Don't be in too much of a hurry. This is going to take weeks." Collins finally looked at Doctor Beckett. "I'm here to be cleared for offworld travel."

"Oh, really?" Doctor Beckett gave him a tight grin as he rose. "First time, then?"

"I am, perhaps, the last remaining virgin of 'gate travel. Except, of course, the trip here," Collins answered. He followed Doctor Beckett to one of the gurneys and sat down while Doctor Beckett gathered his things.

"Oh, Anna," Doctor Beckett said. He beckoned her to join him next to Collins. "Do you want to see the ATA gene as a result of gene therapy?"

Anna hurried over. She tried not to give away how interested she was. Biology was among the worst things she could think of to study, and she could only think of a few things she would rank beneath medical doctor in terms of what she wanted to be when she grew up. Still, when it came to the Ancient Technology Activation gene there was room for debate.

Doctor Beckett activated the Ancient scanning device next to Collins and pulled the results on a nearby monitor. "Let's take a closer look at you then, hm?" Doctor Beckett said with a wink at Doctor Collins.

Collins chuckled. "I don't think I'm comfortable being a lab specimen."

"There he is." Doctor Beckett cycled through some screens until he arrived at a model of DNA's double helix. "Doctor Collins, as a strand of nucleotides that would fit on the head of a particularly small pin. There's so much we don't know," Doctor Beckett said with a tone of awe and reverence. "Here is where the gene is located. Doctor Collins's gene is, as I mentioned, artificial."

"Does it look any different if it's natural?" Anna asked.

Doctor Beckett smiled. "Only to geneticists."

Anna nodded. So, no. It would never look any different to her. "Do you think it will make any difference for me that Radek's gene therapy didn't take?"

Doctor Beckett paused for a moment, then looked at her with his eyebrows arched. "That's an excellent question. We haven't had the opportunity to test family members." He looked at Collins as though this was an interesting line of thought.

Collins looked back, amused, but certainly not interested.

"Does that mean my chances of gene therapy went up slightly?" Anna asked with a grin.

"Don't get your hopes up," Doctor Beckett warned. "But I'm curious if there's a common denominator in those who have rejected the gene. If you were to accept it or reject it would be an interesting point of data either way."

"Speaking of interesting data," Collins said. "I am just dying to get to work on Project Arcturus."

Doctor Beckett left off any more talk of the ATA gene. Anna tried not to get her hopes up, but she couldn't help it. It would mean that she could do things Radek couldn't—and he'd just have to accept that. So what if he was too afraid to go offworld and face wolves and other dangers? Anna wasn't.

The ATA gene wouldn't help with that. But it would be something she had that he didn't, and she didn't know why that appealed to her so much.


Czech Things

* Dobrý, Doctor Beckett. Jak se máš? = Hello, Doctor Beckett. How are you?

** Mám se dobře, děkuju. = I'm fine, thank you.


Next time: Um. Nice needles. Your hair smells nice. I mean—what?