Hey there, finally back in the UK, longish time since I posted but I now have several chapters ready to post! So, without further ado, Chapter 23...
Rush watched the console below him, kino feed of the repair crew, Eli, Brody, Atienza and Ramirez on one side of the screen and a control panel on the other.
"Okay," Brody's voice was slightly tinny from the Kino feed, "that's the last squingy connecting the power relay."
Rush watched as they all stepped away from the bank of large components. Brody slammed the cage door that housed the system.
"Are you ready Mr Brody, Chloe?" Rush asked.
Both agreed simultaneously, the team on the kino feed backing away further. Rush reached out and slid the power control, reconnecting the relay, watching the feed intently. Nothing happened.
"Mr Brody?"
"Nothing this end."
"Chloe?"
There was a pause from Chloe as she manipulated something on the screen.
"One second." She said. "Let me run the recording again."
Rush waited impatiently.
"Okay." She said. "The relay itself is fine, there's a surge in pressure along the preceding section as it comes online, but the sensors are not reporting anything the system isn't intended to handle." She tapped at the screen. "I'll watch the same point when they do the next one."
"Doctor Rush this is TJ." The voice echoed from two radios.
Rush pulled out his radio. "Lieutenant Johansen, this is Rush, what is it."
"Can I see you in the infirmary Doctor Rush?"
Rush scowled. "Is it important?"
"Yes." TJ's voice was firm.
"Fine." Rush snapped, "I'll see you in a few minutes." He put the radio down and depressed the key to speak through the kino. "Mr Brody?"
Brody looked up at the kino from where he and Eli were checking the connections on the valve. "Yeah?"
"I need to go see Lieutenant Johansen. You and Eli can do the next two valves and Chloe can keep taking measurements to see if the data replicates. I'll meet you back here in half an hour."
"Okay." Brody said affably.
Rush nodded to Chloe who smiled at him and went back to the console as he walked out.
xxxoooxxx
TJ watched from her desk as Rush walked into the room and up to where Susannah was examining Young's knee. He had not even spared a look for anything except the pair of them, walking up beside where Young was sitting, legs stretched out on a bed, and looking what Susannah was doing on the opposite side of the bed.
There was a brief exchange and Young and Rush swapped places, Rush sitting sideways on the bed, legs hanging down. Young leaned forward putting a hand on his shoulder leaning over his other shoulder to look
She could not hear their quiet voices from here, but she watched in interest as Rush tensed, words were said, and then relaxed. Rush shifted in his seat on the bed, his body leaning microscopically closer to Young. TJ did not think it was even a conscious act. Susannah was now talking to them both and Young was leaning round Rush to see what she was indicating and responding to her. From TJ's position it was evident he pretty much had his arm round Rush's shoulders.
Susannah was obviously discussing Rush's hands with both of them, as if they both had a personal stake in Rush's recovery. Whilst Rush appeared to be griping at what both Susannah and Young were saying, it did not appear that he was griping at Young's involvement, more about the specifics of his contribution. TJ doubted that either of them had noticed that either.
As they descended into a bickering match about something or other, Susannah looked over their shoulders and caught TJ's eye. The grin she gave TJ suggested that Susannah had noticed it though.
She stood, her chair scraping as she pushed it out. Young and Rush both jumped and as she walked over, and moved apart.
"What's the news?" She asked Susannah.
Susannah smiled. "Well the good news is that Nicholas' hands are looking very good." She redirected her look at Rush. "That doesn't mean you can start abusing them, and you should still avoid getting them cold." She said sternly.
TJ grinned and glanced at Young as Rush slipped off of the bed.
"And the Colonel?" She asked.
"Not so good." Susannah said. "Not bad, but you need to take it easy." She told him. "Use your cane and rest it whenever it begins to hurt, keep mobile, but don't overdo it."
Young nodded his agreement. "I'll do my best." He offered.
"Well, you know what the consequences are." Susannah warned him.
Young nodded again. "Yeah." He turned to Rush. "Come on Rush, show me what your team are doing before Telford catches up with me and starts talking at me."
She watched the pair walk out.
"They seem..." Susannah seemed to be seeking the right words for a moment, "comfortable together." She finished with a smile.
TJ nodded. "They appear to have settled their differences a bit." She said, cautious of her words.
Susannah chuckled. "It looks good on them."
xxxoooxxx
Young was pleased they did not meet Telford on their way back to the core interface room. The science team were all back in the room, clustered round a console.
"What did you find Brody?" Rush asked as they walked into the room.
Brody shot a look at Young.
"The colonel is interested in how the work in progressing." Rush said easily. "Now, are you going to tell me what you all found out about the valve or am I going to need to review the data myself from scratch?" He demanded with a heavy overtone of irritation.
The science team jumped to move back from the console and allow Rush in to look at the data. Young looked over Rush's shoulder as he bent towards the console.
"It's a surge in the flow as the valve comes open." Brody said insinuating a hand inbetween Rush and the console to pull up a diagram instead of the pane of ancient figures. "I can go into detail on the fluid dynamics if you want."
Young was certain Rush would have listened, but he could see Eli, Chloe and Volker were already beginning to look a little blank.
"Just tell us what it means Brody." Young said.
"The pressure increases quite a bit in the valve and along the conduit for a short time every time you open a valve."
"Fine." Rush said shortly. "So is it likely to be a problem?"
"It shouldn't be. We were able to strip down and examine the valve we took from the stairwell and it looks like the valve and connectors are more heavily built than the conduit itself, the pressure is well within tolerances, even in the central air conduits like this which are at high pressure. Chloe and I have run a few more tests on other valves in outlying areas and the same thing happens." He shrugged. "It looks like it's normal, that there's probably a reason for it, I just haven't worked out exactly what it is yet." Brody admitted. "I've got a few ideas though."
"Such as?" Young asked.
"Cleaning mechanism for venting gas or cleaning out dust in the lower pressure vents? I mean you have to think that there'd be some sort of way for cleaning the air system like there is the water. If you left the vents open and allowed the pressure surge to vent from the main conduit, it would blow through the vents pretty hard."
"Fine." Rush repeated. "As we have no evidence otherwise and Destiny isn't indicating it's a flaw in anyway, we'll treat it as normal then."
Young stepped back from the console to look at the science team. "So, how are we doing with the work plan?"
"The power relays and conduits are completely finished." Rush said.
Young looked up, noting the faint look of relief on his face.
"That was the most dangerous part right?"
Rush gave a nod. "Yeah. We could have electrocuted ourselves, melted components or blown up half the corridor." He said. "Presuming Mr Brody's final checks and the last set of diagnostics have all come up clear," Rush looked at Brody who nodded, "we're done with them for the moment."
"What's next?" Young asked. "Are you moving straight on to the ventilation systems as per the plan? That's what all this is right?"
"We're a couple of days ahead of schedule." Rush said. "I want to check the air scrubbers in the dome area. There's one that's not been set running, not refilled with the grey carbon sequestration material," he clarified, "but that's a quick job."
"Why don't you take a day off." Young said. "It's not like we can get any further than doing these bits until we drop out of FTL right?"
Young could see the hopeful looks on the faces of the science team clustered behind Rush.
Rush nodded thoughtfully, with an amused half smile that the team behind him couldn't see. "It would give the groups working on the bulkhead replacement a chance to catch up, and us a chance to look at a few of the smaller more personal projects. Brody has a project with Calvos he wants to work on, Eli and Chloe are still playing with the wi-fi in their spare time and Volker will no doubt want to spend time with Park." The last was a little disparaging.
"Hey," Volker said defensively, "we're translating medical data from the database and I'm faster at reading it to her than Doctor Adams."
Rush snorted without turning, but Young gave Volker an encouraging look.
"Good." Young said then. "Agreed, take the rest of today and tomorrow off and get back to work the morning after."
The science team all tensed, waiting to see if Rush would contradict Young or get angry.
"Well," Rush said, "it'll give me a chance to catch up on investigating about the manufactory won't it."
Young smiled at the broad grins that spread across the faces of the scientists, Rush reading their response on Youngs face and rolling his eyes.
"Right, well, I'll let you all get on with your time off." Rush said, going to move away.
"Err," Brody interrupted him before he could leave, "Calvos and I wanted to ask you a couple of things about carving wood..."
With a smile Young left.
xxxoooxxx
Young strode out of the conference room, fuming. Damn scientist, just would not let up. Notwithstanding the fact that his group were using almost all of the available stones time, with two of his staff actively participating in the work, and even without Telford here, he was still pushing.
"Everett!" O'Neill's voice rang out behind him. "My office, now."
Young turned and followed O'Neill into his office. O'Neill's secretary regarded them curiously as they walked past, getting up to stand in the doorway as they sat down.
"You have a meeting with the…" The secretary started.
"Stall him." O'Neill instructed. "An hour."
The secretary nodded, shutting the door after him. O'Neill sat down behind his desk and at his gesture Young took a chair opposite.
"So," O'Neill said, "what's the trouble with Gutierrez this time?"
Young shrugged. "He hasn't got what he wanted. He wants to be involved in the work on Destiny, wants access to the manufactory."
"I thought you'd compromised with David." O'Neill said with a frown.
Young shrugged. "I had, Rush has two of Gutierrez scientists working on the dome project with Eli rebuilding parts of the air system, and David's actually leading up the exploration of the seedship for me."
O'Neill raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. "That's a pretty big concession."
Young sat back in his chair. "David has the most experience on a seedship. He spent several weeks on one with the Ursini and he's smart enough not to take risks poking things or randomly opening hatches. He's also got the skills to manage the teams on the fly in potentially risky situations. He was the best choice for the job."
He tried to keep his face professional. He evidently succeeded as O'Neill tapped a finger on the table meditatively, considering Young.
"I'm surprised, considering your history and the complaints that have been leveled against you and Rush that you're blocking SGC access to technology."
Young sighed, looking away in irritation. "We're primarily concerned about our own survival." He admitted. "There's a good chance we're never coming back and everyone knows it. Our level of risk assessment is always going to come out more cautious than Gutierrez' and Telford's." Young paused to consider his response, be fair in his assessments, try and take the personal issues out of them. He squashed his personal reaction to David ruthlessly.
"Telford's pretty focussed on getting us back, and I don't always think he considers that we're making dual plans based on the fact that we might not get anyone back. We can't afford to ignore the fact that our return is not assured and every time we've tried it has failed. He's the only one who made it back and we're looking at long term survival on Destiny. David's whole focus is getting us home."
O'Neill nodded.
"Even if we could get some people back, some of us want to stay including most of the science team." Young continued. "So I'm reasonably confident that we're gonna maintain access to all the science Gutierrez is desperate to get his hands on."
Young's voice was irritated, even thinking about the scientist wound him up more than he had expected, Telford he knew he was pissed off with and why. Rush was obviously rubbing off on him more than he'd thought. Still he did not have a personal relationship or any history with Gutierrez and the guy still managed to annoy the hell out of him, so maybe he was justified in his negative reactions to Gutierrez. He could see O'Neill was waiting for him to explain.
"He's constantly pushing for access now, to work with things now, even when that conflicts with our survival plans. He's monopolised the stones time for himself and his two assistants and he's not willing to rein himself in and work at a reasonable pace, it's like managing a child."
"Gutierrez is a good scientist." O'Neill's voice was stern, his face implacable. "I'm more than aware of the conflicts that you and Rush have had with him and Telford, but you have to work with him. His team are the team working with all the data you're sending back and they're making good progress with it. Some of your findings from Destiny are already working their way into gear our scientists are creating here."
Young tried to stop the breath he was holding huff out in irritation. He failed.
"It's his manner," he said, "the others are more accepting of the tensions we've got on the ship, the pressures we've got to survive. Gutierrez acts like he doesn't care about the risks we're running just living there each day." Young shrugged. "And I'll be honest sir, I resent his constant suggestions that we're getting in the way of progress when w're living hand to mouth out there with the likelihood we'll never get home."
O'Neill gave him a look equally frustrated and sympathetic. "Look, the best I can do is have a word with Telford and see if I can get the team to actually pay attention to the pressures you're working under out there, but cutting Gutierrez out completely isn't gonna solve your problems Everett." He stood and Young copied. "It might help if you could get Rush back here again. The thing with the glass he shared last time impressed a lot of people. If you can get him to bring back more stuff like that there's a better chance of getting Gutierrez off your back." He walked out from behind the desk. "You've been around long enough Everett, you know the kind of political pressure there is to make these projects worthwhile in terms of costs."
Young frowned. "And the Destiny mission is a drain on their finances." He said flatly.
O'Neill paused a moment. "The dome glass went a long way to balancing that, it's going to solve a number of problems, not just for us. It's being deliberately leaked to NASA for use on their projects."
Young nodded. "I'll see what I can do about Rush." He said, as O'Neill took a step towards the door. "I'll see you next week, sir."
"Everett." O'Neill acknowledged, opening the door for him.
Everett departed.
He waited out the entirety of his appointed time at Homeworld Command, having deliberately exchanged with a food scientist who Inman had scheduled time with. He read up on the general news from the SGC, sent a couple of emails to colleagues and finished by reading up and trying to memorise as much sport news as possible to pass onto the crew. They could do with the boost.
The stones room on Destiny was busier than usual as he arrived, Telford in Stanford's body was waiting by the door, Eli was shifting from foot to foot next to him and Airman Dunning was looking distinctly nervous in the doorway. He looked them over.
"Eli, whatever it is, I'll see you in at my desk in thirty minutes."
Eli gave him a slight grin and left.
"Dunning, what's the problem?"
"Lieutenant Scott asked me to pass on that he needs to see you about the training schedule and then I've got my scheduled shore leave."
"Good, I'll catch him later. I'll get out of your way." He stood and walked over to Telford. "David? What can I do for you?"
He walked out, Telford dropping into step next to him.
"I think Rush is still giving me the run around." Telford said.
Young turned his head to glance at him. He looked quite calm.
"Rush does that just to stop himself getting bored." Young said. "I'm pretty damn certain from his reports, from your reports and from the rest of hte science team he's being pretty much upfront about everything on the seedship project with you. If he's jerking you about it's almost certainly just for the amusement value."
Telford huffed out a laugh. "You really think he's that unprofessional?"
Young gave him a sideways look. "He's stuck doing general maintenance, I think there's a good chance he's that bored."
Telford nodded as if he was at least partly agreeing with Young's point of view.
"If I were you I'd ignore it." Young advised him. "He'll probably get bored and start on me or Gutierrez."
Telford did let out a laugh on this. There was silence as they walked another half corridor, then turned into Young's room.
"So," Young paused as they walked over to the desk and turned to Telford, "where are you at with the seedship."
xxxoooxxx
"Young."
"One moment." Young continued to read the text in front of him, the final training plan from Scott and James and the outline of a series of basic science seminars from Eli and Park.
"This won't take long." Rush said impatiently.
"Give me a moment."
"Look…" Rush reached out and put a hand on Young's shoulder.
Young started and looked up. Rush was standing close to him, hand resting on his shoulder.
Rush went to step back, as if he was expecting Young to be annoyed, but Young tiredly put a hand over his where it resting on his shoulder, stopping him moving away.
"Sorry." Young said, gathering himself. "What is it?"
"We'll be ready to start work on the dome as soon as we drop out of FTL." Rush said, "The seed ship has stopped making dome panels and moved onto the struts for the dome. Based on what the manufactory is telling me, Brody says we'll have six more than we actually need of each. I've requested the manufactory move onto making conduit after that."
Young grinned broadly at him, squeezing Rush's hand reflexively. "Do we need conduit?"
"We need everything. But yes, it is on the priority list. It's used by a lot of the systems and we've been cannibalising from other areas. It's also something I can actually identify and we have the materials to make."
Young nodded. "How long till the life support is fixed around the dome?"
"If we don't close any of the bulkheads, there's sufficient in the surrounding area that's it's livable around the dome already, but Brody estimates four days work. Another two days, with the three working parties we have, to replace the damaged conduit and valves, then another half day for Brody and Volker to test and check the work."
"So, not long then."
"No." Rush said, sitting down on the edge of Young's desk.
"What did Telford want? Eli said he'd cornered you when you got back from Earth."
"To tell me he thinks you're jerking him about."
Rush snorted. "I am jerking him about."
Young chuckled as well. "Yeah, but not in the way he thinks."
"When did you last eat?" Rush asked him.
Young gave him an amused look. "You? You're asking me that?"
"Well I have to return the favour sometime." Rush said. "Come on, Becker's almost finished serving."
Young's knee cracked loudly as he stood. Rush gave him another look.
"I've got some data I need to work with on the laptop this evening." Rush said, his eyes flicking to the bed. "You want some company?"
Young nodded, stretching his leg cautiously before he started to walk. "Yeah, I'd like that." He looked at Rush, who looked a little uncomfortable, shifty even. "What's up, Rush?"
Rush paused and stuffed a hand into one of the back pockets of his jeans.
"Yours is dead." Rush said.
Young looked at him in confusion at the complete non-sequitur.
He held his hand out and when Young reciprocated, dropped a comb into his hand. Young looked up at him in surprise, not something he had expected, though he would admit he had coveted the comb Rush had made himself.
"Bone," Rush said a little gruffly, "from the plains planet herbivores."
Young turned it over in his hand. It had wide teeth, and to his slight surprise was decorated with a complex pattern of Celtic knot work in the form of what he assumed was dogs. It was beautiful.
He traced the pattern with a finger. "It's incredible." He said, looking up and smiling at Rush. "You put a lot of work into it."
Rush coloured. "I like carving, something to do with my hands while I'm thinking."
Young nodded, not pushing the issue. "Hey, you want a game of chess after dinner?"
Rush nodded. "I could be persuaded."
Young gave him a broad smile. "What do I have to do to persuade you?"