A/N: I think Zelenka is the unsung hero of Atlantis...
Chapter 9
Chaya adjusted the focus on the stereoscopic microscope and made a pleased sound in the back of her throat that was borderline obscene. She was so engrossed in studying the play of muscles as she manipulated the eight inch long dragonfly wings she didn't hear Kolya enter her lab. When his large hands settled on her shoulders she smiled and glanced up at him. The smile quickly disappeared as his grip tightened and his fingers dug into her trapezii.
Kolya leaned in close, his lips nearly brushing her ear. "Tatiana, dear – what were you trying to pull this afternoon?" His voice was soft, smooth, and seductive.
"I, I wanted to see it," Chaya gasped out. "It is such a beautiful specimen. I couldn't wait …." Then she cried out as fingers dug in deeper.
"We discussed this all ready, did we not? You lost your chance this morning in the infirmary when you left to change clothes." There was actually a hint of amusement in his voice, but not in his face. "The full moon is in five days. You will have plenty of opportunities to study it after that, but until then – leave. It. Alone." Kolya gave her a faint shake with the last word and released her. He stepped back and ignored her soft whimpers of pain as he glanced slowly around her lab. The place always smelled like a zoo, and he disliked coming in here. "Your little visit has put it on edge, and I'm afraid any other contact between you two will put it over." He noted her specimen cages only held a few now, and what ones were left were curled up in the corners and listless, glazed eyes staring into space. "This one seems very adept at passing itself off as human, and has made friends already with a few of the staff. Try not to jeopardize that. Watching its social interactions is all part of this experiment, too. Or did you forget in your eagerness?"
"No, Acastus," Chaya hissed out, her arms up and her hands still massaging her shoulders. "I still think you are wasting our time and resources."
Kolya raised his eyebrows and actually chuckled. "My time, or yours?" Then his face became hard again. "I have patience, Tatiana. I suggest you practice some as well." He glanced over her shoulder at the dead specimen under the microscope. Its wings were dull, and its skin already taking on a gray pallor. "You have a habit of breaking your toys too soon."
Chaya looked down at the tiny humanoid. She honestly hadn't noticed it had quit making any noise or movement.
"Stay away from its room, or I will take it away as well," Kolya said. He took one last look around the lab and left before the smell gave him a headache.
Chaya flipped the small, limp body over, adjusted it positioning under the scope, and reached for her micro-dissection tools. It was going to be interesting to see how it differed internally from the one with the monarch wings that currently rested in the lab refrigerator.
-oOo-
John woke up with a start because of the unfamiliar scents and it took him a moment to remember where he was. Then it all came back and he just wanted to bury his head under the pillow and not come out. He glanced at his watch – just after five-thirty MST – so that put it four-thirty west coast. Crap. If he was home he'd be getting ready for his morning run. He laid there as long as he could until he couldn't stand it anymore and rolled out of bed. Still not quite five, local time. So he took his time in the shower and decided to hell with it and shaved.
That only wasted a half an hour.
"Crap," he muttered out loud this time. After he got dressed he tried the door controls out of pure stubbornness. And by God they opened. He was about as shocked as the two new guards on the other side. "Um, hey," he said and nodded at the men. "It is too early for breakfast?"
"Mess is serving," one replied. "Major Lorne wanted us to take you to him after you got up."
John felt a tiny bit of panic. "Can it wait until after I eat?" he asked cautiously.
"He's probably there right now," the other said. "Let me check." He stepped to the side, but still with John in sight, tapped his radio earpiece, and spoke softly. Then he said yes, sir. "He'll talk to you there."
"Cool," John replied. "Shall we?" He wound up leading the way, his two shadows only a few steps behind. This time he did encounter a few more people in the hall, and even rode the elevator down with a woman with long, curly dark hair and big blue eyes. She glanced curiously at the guards, but when she looked at him she gave him a shy smile. He gave his chin a little lift and smiled back, and damn if she didn't blush a little. But one of the guards cleared his throat and killed the moment, and when the doors opened she was the first one out and heading away from the mess. But she did glance briefly over her shoulder at him, and that had him grinning all the way to the mess.
He found the typical breakfast stuff and loaded up on eggs and bacon and toast, and when he joined Lorne and Ronon and the guy who gave him the Powerbar the day before he was still grinning. And it stayed even when the guards took up positions right next to the table.
"Well, you look chipper this morning," Lorne said over his cup of coffee.
John picked up his own cup and took a sip and sighed – this place was going to spoil him for some things. "Finding the door unlocked this morning helped my mood considerably," he said. "And the cute brunette in the elevator was a plus." The guy with the fly-away hair and glasses sitting across from him was studying him openly, but there was absolutely no hint of malice whatsoever in his watery blue eyes.
From John's right Ronon chuckled. "You're up bright an early."
"Yeah, well, I'm usually jogging down to the highway and back a couple times right about now." He took another sip of the wonderful coffee before he set the cup down. "So, my shadow told me you wanted to see me this morning?" John asked as he unwrapped his silverware. He was proud he kept the panic out of his voice; mentally, he was hyperventilating.
"Yes." Lorne sat his coffee cup down and pulled a badge out of his pocket. "You're going to be given limited access to parts of Atlantis. With escort, of course." He handed the piece of plastic on a clip over the table.
"Of course," John repeated with a grimace as he took the badge. It just said visitor and had a funky pixilated barcode on the bottom. He thought he should feel some relief at the semi-freedom, but instead it just upped the paranoia level even more. He clipped it to his front pants pocket.
"You'll be able to visit the mess, library, and gymnasium at any time – all on this level. That will get you into the library and gym between midnight and five, and it's also set up with some credit at the commissary in case you need anything. I'll show you around after breakfast."
"Thanks," John replied, his tone a tiny bit overwhelmed. Then he finally focused on the scientist. "By the way, thank you for that Powerbar yesterday – it saved me from having to gnaw on my own arm."
The guy flinched a little, but then he shrugged. "It was nothing. I've become so accustomed to hearing Rodney whine about hunger that it is Pavlovian to offer Powerbar when I hear cries for food." His voice was heavily accented. "Like Boy Scout, always prepared." He smiled and offered his hand. "Radek Zelenka."
"John Sheppard." They shook hands briefly. "Pleased to meetcha."
"Stejně." Zelenka nodded and went back to his own breakfast.
"Were you able to sleep?" Lorne asked.
John had to swallow the mouthful he had before he could answer. "Not really, but it was mostly my own damn fault. I didn't know they did a remake of Battlestar Galactica – I got sucked into a marathon that lasted until two. Was lost at first, then just couldn't quit."
"Which season?" Ronon asked, his attention not leaving his own food.
"I don't know," John drawled out. "They were on New Caprica?" he offered.
"Ah, third season," Zelenka said. "Lucy Lawless." He made a little growly noise and bobbed his eyebrows. "They can make many copies of her any day."
John couldn't stop the chuckle. "Yeah, I hear ya. Took me awhile to get used to her being blonde, though."
"What did you think of Starbuck being a woman?" Lorne asked.
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one," John replied.
"She's hot," Ronon said and smirked.
John shrugged. "Eh. Now Boomer…." He was tempted to make a little growl, too, but … no, would not be wise. He saw Lorne nodding in agreement out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, man – when the Galactica jumped into the atmosphere to release the Vipers, then jumped out again …. That was so frakkin' cool."
That received a chorus of happy noises.
"I have man crush on Adama," Zelenka said without looking up. "Edward James Olmos is, is God." Then he found Zelenka and Ronon staring at him. "What? Wouldn't you follow him to end of universe?"
Lorne got a rather introspective frown on his face as he picked up his coffee. "Yeah, I would," he finally said then took a drink.
A dark cloud settled over the table as everyone suddenly focused on their breakfasts, and they all ate in silence for several minutes before Ronon broke the gloom. "I think the president is hot, too."
John glanced at him and could see the smirk trying to break free. Then he had to hide his own grin because, yeah, he kind of felt the same way. But he had an awful hard time not thinking of her as President Stands With A Fist….
Zelenka snorted. "You have hots for any woman who could potentially kick your ass." He pushed his glasses up, drew his chin back, and shook his head. "I think there is something fundamentally wrong with that."
"Hey, you like Xena," Ronon countered. "She could wipe the floor with your ass."
"That, that is not why …."
"It's the leather," Lorne said matter-of-factly.
Zelenka's mouth hung open for a moment, then he began mumbling under his breath, and it wasn't in English. Lorne and Ronon were soon laughing at him, and he grew even more verbose.
John sat and grinned, and for a very brief moment forgot he was prisoner.
-oOo-
Carson wandered into the infirmary bright and early and headed immediately for the coffee. They didn't have any current patients so he went straight to his office. He left the door open as he booted up his laptop and shuffled a few files around and got ready to actually do some of his backlog of paperwork. That lasted all of half an hour before he was calling up the information from John's blood and DNA work-ups. Carson may be the CMO of the Project, but he was also a geneticist, and what he was seeing had him absolutely fascinated. He called up copies from a couple of the others he had secretly copied and began to run side by side comparisons. He was so engrossed in the data, and jotting notes, that he actually let out a startled yell when someone knocked on his office door.
Rodney let out a surprised yelp as well. "Jesus Christ, Carson – are you trying to give me a heart attack now?" he said as he came into the office, his hand on his chest.
"Sorry, Rodney – I was concentrating," Carson said rather guiltily. "Didn't hear yae."
"Obviously. Put that away, we're going to breakfast."
"I'm not hungry," Carson said and picked up his coffee cup. He grimaced when he noticed it was empty.
"I don't care if you're hungry or not." Rodney came around the other side of the desk and glanced at the computer screen. "You're coming. Oh, hey – what's that?" Then he was peering over Carson's shoulder. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Aye." Carson called up some highlighted areas for Rodney to show side by side. "He shares some characteristics with the others here and here, but these base pairs are completely different. And there are variations here that are in common with the woman they brought in a few weeks ago."
"Really?" Rodney said. "So, what in the hell is he?"
"I have no idea," Carson said and leaned back in his chair. "He's something completely new. Part of me does not want to share this; she'll just want to sink her claws into him that much sooner."
Rodney visibly cringed. "Speaking of the witch, when do you think she will be, um …."
"Trying to dissect him?" Carson said disgustedly. "I'm not privy to that information. I only get to see and clean up the end results."
"So, when are you supposed to send the file to her?"
"I should have last night."
"Well, let's go get breakfast – you can send it after." Rodney grinned evilly and made let's-go motions towards the door.
"You know, Rodney, now that you mention it – breakfast is an excellent idea." Carson started saving data and closing down files. "And I really have been neglecting myself lately." He patted his stomach. "Perhaps I should swing by the gymnasium, go for a little swim afterwards." He shut his computer off and stood.
"Oh, don't forget to wait an hour after you eat if you do," Rodney said. "Don't want you to get cramps and drown or anything." He managed to keep a straight face as he said that.
"Aye, that would be bad." Carson even turned the light off in his office and shut the door as they left.
End Note: Chaya needs to get it. I mean, disecting pixies... Jeez, she's evil. :)
