Previously: Adventures. Or something. But we just keep running into things.
Chapter 108. Jeopardy.
"Have you ever seen Jeopardy?"
Anna glanced up toward the door to the gym at Ronon's question. He only just arrived a few seconds ago, was still crossing the room to set down his bag. She pulled in her fists, wrapped up with cloth as a stand-in for puffy boxing gloves, and looked at him.
"The trivia gameshow?"
"What's a gameshow?" Ronon asked, and started putting on his own hand wraps. He paused. "Trivia?"
"Yeah. You know, facts that nobody needs to know?"
"How is it jeopardy if no one needs to know?"
"I guess if you're on Jeopardy, you need to know." Anna smiled, enjoying being on the side of playful ribbing to someone who didn't completely understand American English. Ronon's blank stare wasn't much fun, though. "It's a game… people on the show choose topics, and the host gives them a question. Like, I don't know… like, who was the first Holy Roman Emperor?"
"The first what?"
"It's just an example." Anna sighed and waved off that question. Should have asked another question not fraught with more questions. "And then everybody submits their answer. And the person who gets the most answers right wins."
Ronan thought about that for a few seconds, then scoffed. "Yeah, that sounds like something McKay would like."
They each went about their normal training for several minutes.
Anna was a little distracted by thinking about Charlemagne and the American television shows she'd watch. Not very many, and not with all of her attention. It was like eavesdropping on a conversation in a language she didn't understand. Dancing competition shows were fun to watch, though.
Ronon was clearly blowing off some steam… not that it was abundantly easy to tell when he was angry or when he was happy. He liked to punch stuff most of the time. These days, though… These days, he seemed to have taken all the stress of Atlantis on himself, and no one was offering any explanation as to why. Guys didn't have the same stuff with hormones that girls did, and—
"Do you watch the box?" Ronon had stopped and was looking at her.
Anna hesitated, letting her hands fall to her sides. "The box?"
"The one with Jeopardy."
"Oh. Television. Not here. I used to at home, though." She shrugged. "Comedies. Um. Situational comedies?" She never realized how strange a phrase that was, and decided to explain. "They're normally about people just living their normal lives and… things happen. But it's funny."
"And they're absurdly attractive," Ronon said.
"I guess. That's a weird way to put it. They aren't usually ugly, though." Anna used to think they were "absurdly attractive." Before meeting Ronon. Now, Ronon. Ronon was absurdly attractive. She didn't say that, though.
"I don't get it." Ronon was clearly not worried about his punching bag anymore. "Why would you want to watch a box telling about someone else's life?"
"Because." Anna sighed and shrugged a little again. "Life isn't funny or interesting most of the time. But it's good to laugh sometimes. It's good to not be bored."
Ronon grunted. It was hard to tell if he agreed or not. Anna doubted he did. She hadn't heard him laugh that she could remember. He was definitely one of those more inclined to action, but he might like an action film if he saw one. He might like Star Wars.
Or maybe not. Anna sometimes wondered if people from Earth liked Star Wars because it was outlandish and interesting. It might not be interesting to someone from space.
"It just seems like a waste of time," Ronon said finally.
"It is," Anna said. "Sometimes."
"If your life is boring, wouldn't it be better to go out and make your life interesting?"
Anna sighed. "I hope so."
That was the point of this, actually. Her lab in the lowest level of the central tower gave her something to do, but it made her remember she didn't want to live her life in a lab. She wanted to live part of it in a lab, yes. But not all of it. She figured Radek was lucky, getting in on an offworld team like that. He really should have spent most of his time in a lab, and he still did.
Anna didn't know what she wanted to do in her life. Whatever it was, she wanted a little of it to involve… jeopardy.
#
It was a perfectly vague message interrupting his otherwise normal day.
Elizabeth was incapacitated.
What the hell did that mean? No one seemed too upset, so that was promising. Maybe it was nothing. He slid into the infirmary, relieved to see her looking pretty much fine, but unconscious. Colonels Sheppard and Caldwell stood nearby while Doctor Beckett hovered over her like a concerned mother bird.
Radek approached Rodney. "What happened?" he asked, staring at Elizabeth. Willing her to wake up. It would go a long way to easing his worry.
"It isn't my fault," Rodney shot back.
"We were all there. Relax," Colonel Sheppard said.
Rodney pointed at Sheppard as though that was supposed to be confirmation. "See?"
"I believe you." Radek edged a step closer to Elizabeth. "You aren't the sort to just mash on a keyboard and hope something happens." Having been given his requisite eye-roll, Radek went on, "But not the question I asked."
Rodney sighed. "I don't know what happened. She just sort of… collapsed."
Radek's mind went in a million directions at once, and to all the worst places first. Why would someone as young as Elizabeth just collapse? She was healthy, wasn't she? Surely Carson would catch something like… the worst things. Brain tumor? Epilepsy? Stroke?
Then he remembered he heard something about someone bringing some piece of alien technology in and he immediately felt some measure of relief. "What was it? The machine that did this?"
Rodney gave a hand-wave. "It just looked like an escape pod."
"It looked like a coffin," Colonel Sheppard corrected with a terse smile.
"Yeah, no," Rodney snapped, and turned to Radek. "We're pretty sure it was an escape pod, but we have no idea why it would do… this." He looked back at Elizabeth, clearly concerned, but also a little interested to hear from Elizabeth exactly what happened so he could go back to poking around his probably-an-escape-pod.
"She's coming around," Doctor Beckett said softly.
Radek snapped his attention on Elizabeth. She stirred, her eyes flickered open. She looked at the faces around her and sat up.
"You okay?" Colonel Sheppard asked.
Elizabeth looked at her hands, turning them over, and sat straighter with a smile. "Doctor Weir is fine."
A chill raced down Radek's spine.
"Doctor Weir," Colonel Sheppard pointed out, "doesn't talk about herself in the third person."
"She was simply overcome by the effects of the imprinting," not-Elizabeth said.
Caldwell wasted no time in calling security to the infirmary—Radek wondered what they were going to do if something happened, though. They'd still be shooting Elizabeth if it came to that.
"That isn't necessary, Colonel… Caldwell." Not-Elizabeth seemed to search her memory for Caldwell's name… which meant she had access to Elizabeth's mind. Or else Elizabeth was giving her the information she needed willingly. It was impossible to tell. "She is merely harboring my consciousness."
Rodney groaned. "Here we go again."
"At least it's not my fault this time," Radek mumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
"It isn't mine, either," Rodney hissed.
"Guys," Sheppard snapped at them before looking back to not-Elizabeth. "And you are?"
"I am Phebus," not-Elizabeth said. "We are a race of explorers. On our journey home, our vessel was attacked."
"By the Wraith?" Colonel Caldwell asked.
"Yes," presumably-Phebus said. "We were forced to abandon ship and launch our life pods. If this has happened to me, then I've been adrift for some time and the pod has determined my body is beyond resuscitation."
Doctor Beckett nodded, sounding a bit sad. "You're quite correct."
Not-Elizabeth nodded, absorbing the somber truth. "Then, for all intents and purposes, I'm already dead."
"I'm sorry," Doctor Beckett offered.
"So am I," Phebus said quietly.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're all very sorry," Colonel Sheppard said. "Where's Elizabeth?"
Radek glanced from Sheppard to Elizabeth. No one, especially Colonel Caldwell, seemed upset at his lack of sensitivity. Not even Phebus. Radek didn't know if he'd face his own death with such tranquility… There was something eerily Elizabeth-like about this other consciousness, he didn't know whether to take what she said at face-value.
Probably not. This Phebus-person wasn't even using her own face.
"She is here, also," Phebus said.
Caldwell took a commanding stance next to Elizabeth. "I suppose you'd like us to take your word for it?"
"Would you like to speak with her?" Phebus asked.
"Yes," Colonel Sheppard said. "We would."
Elizabeth lowered her head. Radek was sure he'd seen that before. He'd seen enough video reports of Tok'ra hosts and symbionts interacting to shudder. Elizabeth dropped back against the pillow behind her—Radek stepped forward involuntarily, but Doctor Beckett was at her side almost immediately.
Elizabeth sat up just a second later without any help. She put a hand to her head and sighed.
"Elizabeth?" Radek ventured. He took a step toward the bed.
She gasped and looked around as though alarmed. "Oh, it's okay. I'm fine." She caught in some quick breaths and smiled ever so slightly.
"Elizabeth," Sheppard spoke up. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there's another, um…"
"I know," Elizabeth interrupted. "Her name is Phebus."
"You seem remarkably sanguine about all this," Rodney said.
Why did Rodney have to say things like that? Radek hadn't even gotten a chance to be relieved that Elizabeth was okay before Rodney started hacking away at that theory. Was she? Was she really okay? How could they possibly know for sure? This Phebus had already demonstrated the ability to gain whatever knowledge Elizabeth had when she was, as Phebus put it, overcome by the imprinting.
"Well, the imprinting only lasts a matter of hours." Elizabeth nodded like that explained everything.
But surely she had to recognize that explained nothing? How could they be sure? Radek glanced at Doctor Beckett to see if he had any thoughts on that, but his face betrayed no disagreement.
"The other pod," Elizabeth said suddenly. "Phebus urgently desires to be here when we bring the other pod back to Atlantis."
"Why?" Sheppard didn't bother to hide his skepticism.
Elizabeth smiled softly, almost looking embarrassed. "She believes… it's her husband. He escaped the ship. She's certain of it and, uh…" She laughed and took a deep breath as she looked at her hands. "The rush of emotion is… it's overwhelming."
"I can imagine," Sheppard said sarcastically.
Rodney apparently didn't catch that. "No. No, you can't," he corrected.
"No." Sheppard arched an eyebrow at Rodney. "I can't."
Radek's eyes stayed stuck on Elizabeth as she looked around the room. He was imagining it, but he could have sworn her eyes looked different. Elizabeth's eyes were normally clear and thoughtful. Now they were sharp. Still somehow thoughtful, but…
She looked at him for a long moment with a flicker of recognition. He had to be imagining it.
Elizabeth moved on to Colonel Sheppard, her eyes tracing over him carefully. She smiled, a spark… Radek didn't know what.
"John," she said. "I'd like you to try. Phebus has a favor she would like to ask of you."
Colonel Sheppard glanced around the room, hovering on Radek for a few seconds before looking back to Elizabeth in complete confusion. "Me?"
Radek would have liked to ask the same thing, but… well, he was afraid of the answer. Why Colonel Sheppard? Why not anyone else in the room?
Dare he ask it—why not him?
Maybe Colonel Sheppard looked like Phebus' beloved. That seemed as good a reason as any. Colonel Sheppard was more-or-less generic in appearance. Generically attractive. Radek figured his own brand of attractive was pretty niche.
"Well, it won't take long to get the other pod in here…" Rodney mumbled. He tapped Radek's shoulder and started walking away. Apparently Radek was supposed to follow.
Radek hurried away with Rodney, too stunned to do anything else.
Rodney turned down the hall toward the labs. "Help me with this."
Radek stood in the doorway, gazing at the empty pod. "Rodney, something is wrong."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Radek stayed quiet. He couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound delusional or possessive. What else was he supposed to say? Elizabeth wouldn't do that to him?
What was she doing? Nothing to him. Not precisely.
"What?" Rodney sniffed. "You're jealous?"
"No—if I am?" He shouldn't have denied that so quickly. He waved away his question and walked around to the other side of the pod to get Rodney's attention. As soon as he had it, Radek pointed in the direction of the infirmary. "I'm telling you, Rodney, that was not Elizabeth."
Rodney stared at him for several seconds, then looked back down at the pod. "I don't think that was her, either. It's too reckless, even for her. And why not you?"
Exactly, Radek wanted to say. He didn't want to risk sounding more jealous than Rodney already assumed. He settled for just nodding and saying, demurely as possible, "Yes; why not?"
"Right, I mean, if we were talking to Elizabeth, she wouldn't have wanted Sheppard to host the alien. She would have picked the most expendable person in the room."
"Proboha," * he muttered in exasperation. "Yeah, that's exactly what I meant."
Czech Things
* "For god's sake."
Next time: Surely there's something we can do?
