Another one! It's short; my apologies. I'm still working on expanding the next chapter so it might be a while.
"Michelangelo," Zelenka stated, hands on his hips.
"No I'm telling you, Radek, DaVinci," McKay retorted, nostrils flared.
"Michelangelo was a man of many talents! He painted, he sculpted – I mean look at the David for goodness sakes! The Sistine Chapel!" Zelenka argued.
"Yeah well was one of his many talents drawing women who look like they've been juicing up on some serious steroids?" McKay interrupted, "Because he was certainly gifted at that! DaVinci, now DaVinci on the other hand, he was a scientist, a doctor, an inventor!"
"Are you guys seriously arguing about Renaissance artists right now?" Emma interjected with frustration, unable to put up with their incessant bickering any longer. "Don't we have more important things to be doing than debate the virtues and flaws of Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci?" she asked incredulously. "Honestly, how did we even end up on that top … DaVinci," she murmured to herself.
"See, even Emma agrees," McKay sneered with an air of satisfaction.
"Kretén," Zelenka muttered under his breath.
"Hey Alan," she called to the junior linguist, "where's that screenshot of the Wraith warning?" she asked, rummaging through piles and piles of paper and notes.
"Oh, I've got it right here," he answered, handing her the piece of paper he was studying with a magnifying glass.
"Thanks," she said distractedly as she took the paper from him. Zelenka and McKay had stopped arguing and observed her with interest. She turned the paper around in her hands. "Of course," she whispered.
"What – what is it?" McKay spat out quickly.
"Have you read The DaVinci Code – no! Angels and Demons," she corrected, "by any chance?" she asked them with a gleam in her eyes.
"Yes," Zelenka nodded eagerly.
"Once, I think maybe," McKay answered, avoiding her gaze. Zelenka frowned at him. "All right, all right, three times," he admitted.
"Why?" Zelenka asked.
"I think there's another message hidden in here," she revealed, eyes wide, "We'd better get it to cryptology just in case, but I think I can read it! It was just upside down. You can read the separate messages both ways. The Wraith alphabet lends perfectly to that! I didn't think of it because I didn't have the screenshot! Just the handwritten copy which lost the shape and symmetry of the warning!" she exclaimed.
"Well, what does it say?" Zelenka asked.
"Not much," she grimaced, tilting her head to the side, "that's the unfortunate part. It just says 'We are always watching.'"
"Oh how doom saying and fatalistic of them," McKay commented, rolling his eyes.
Emma raised her eyebrow. "Rodney…Radek, I think they're still keeping tabs on this base," she proposed.
"Nonsense," McKay started, shutting her down, "It's probably just normal Wraith scare tactics."
"Yeah, but like Col. Carter said: the Wraith's biggest downfall is their over confidence," she argued.
"No, the Wraith's biggest downfall is their lack of superior power sources that are necessary for hyperspace travel," he countered. "We have done repeated sweeps of the Atlantis network," he defended, "We found absolutely no traces of the Wraith still hanging around in our systems."
"Still, I think she should tell Col. Carter," Zelenka interposed, looking worried.
Emma nodded. "I think I will," she finally said after giving it some thought.
"I'm telling you," McKay started.
"Just let her go," Zelenka interrupted, "Every bit of information is useful," he said more for Emma's benefit than Rodney's.
"Alan, I'm borrowing this," she announced, waving the piece of paper over her head as she headed out of her lab and into the corridors.
"I told you it was DaVinci," McKay muttered to Zelenka, turning back to his tablet.
Zelenka sighed loudly, falling onto his stool.
Emma was close to Col. Carter's office when she felt two hands encircle her hips from behind. She immediately flinched and pulled away. She turned around to see Ronon looking down at her, perplexed.
"Sorry, you startled me is all," she said quietly, keeping her distance.
"Are we still on for tonight? Seven?" he asked with his usual smirk.
She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. "I uh I don't think so," she began, her eyes darting back and forth, "I think we'll have to cut back at least for a while. This whole database hacking has been really time consuming," she stated, looking down at the floor.
Ronon shook his head. "Okay," he said simply, "I understand."
She looked back up at him, afraid of the expression that would meet her eyes. It was like looking into the sun as a kid – blinding but too tempting not to. They stood in silence.
"Are you okay?" he finally asked her with a furrowed brow.
"Yeah," she nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, trying to smile. "I have to keep going," she squeaked, gesturing to Carter's office before he could lean in to kiss her or touch her again.
He nodded slowly.
She left him standing alone and looking confused.
Again, reviews are ALWAYS appreciated! Thank you to everyone who does! :)