"Oh, peach cobbler." Lee made a sharp turn away from the apple pie he'd been reaching for, setting a large bowl of the warm dessert on his tray.
Chip shook his head, picking up a plate of apple pie along with a slice of cheddar cheese and a large mug of coffee; not as good as Cookie's and certainly not as strong but adequate, adequate.
"Apple pie without a slice of cheese…" Lee began.
"Is like a hug without a squeeze," Chip finished one of his mom's favorite sayings with a laugh.
"Oh, oh," Lee motioned to the far corner of the mess where a familiar red head was bent deep in discussion with Colonel Carter. The table was littered with eating utensils and various salt and pepper shakers, all arranged into something that vaguely resembled a giant circuit, if, that is, giant circuits had long strings of what appeared to be licorice vines woven through them.
"That does not bode well," Chip eyed the duo, one eyebrow raised in concern.
"Does that look like a DNA strand to you?" Lee cocked his head, hoping he was simply looking at the construct from the wrong angle.
"I don't want to know and yet, for the sake of humanity," Chip trailed off.
"Yeah," Lee sighed.
"Randomness would only arise because we don't know the complete state of this particular system." Carter shifted two salt shakers and a fork over, creating an odd triangular pattern in the matrix of the circuit.
"Well the information is obviously contained in the wave function," Nelson added a spoon to the design causing Carter to exclaim, "Of course, the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox!"
"But how to integrate the Ctenophore DNA into the circuitry" Nelson tapped the table.
"And have it withstand the time dilation," Carter added. Neither commanding officer had noticed Chip and Lee standing next to the table.
The command duo exchanged a look; thank God these two were separated not only by service but distance most of the time.
"May we join you Admiral? Colonel" Lee inquired politely.
"Of course Captain, Commander," Colonel Carter gave the duo a cheery smile before turning back to the Admiral who hadn't even looked up from contemplating the table design. "Armor might help." Carter offered.
Nelson 'hmmmed' and nodded: "We need something flexible yet strong enough to withstand the trip, perhaps something mesh like, or webbing?"
Lee did not like the light that suddenly lit the OOM's eyes; that look of little boy glee never boded well. He and Chip referred to it as the Admiral's Frankenstein look; it meant that the wild scientist inside had overridden the staid Naval officer and anything could happen and probably would.
"Biomechanics," Nelson exclaimed! "Ships which are grown, ergo"
"Of course," Carter threw up her hands, "webbing," she finished.
Okay, Chip thought as he watched the two scientists finish each other's sentences; that was disturbing.
"What did you say his name was?" Nelson flipped out his every ready notebook and started jotting down figures and sketching the table top plan.
"Todd," Carter supplied, "although he can be very devious like the entire Wraith species. I'm not sure he'll give you a straight answer"
Lee gave a start at the mention of 'Wraith' and Chip simply shook his head, no, this did not bode well, at all.
Nelson waved a hand and gave the comely Colonel a shark-like smile, "So can I, my dear, so can I."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"The next person who mentions Herculite within my hearing will be acting as my personal lab assistant for the next month!" Rodney glared at the roomful of scientists until they appeared suitably cowed before turning grumpily back to his simulation. So the man had put windows in a sub, big deal; Rodney had raised an entire Ancient city from the bottom of an ocean. Nelson, Nelson, Nelson, no one would shut up about him; stupid sailor and his stupid sub and stupid Nobel Prize for biology. Why even give Nobel's for Marine biology? The subjects did most of the work for their scientists anyway: oh look, I've figured out how a jelly fish lights up, Rodney sneered. It wasn't like physics where you had to actually think and imagine and use your brain and come up with ideas that could change space and time.
So what if Nelson had saved the world a few times? Rodney had saved the world, well, maybe not Earth but he'd saved some other world or well, the City, he'd definitely saved Atlantis a few times. Ha! Take that Harriman Nelson!
Rodney tallied a point on his mental scoreboard; Rodney McKay – 1, Harriman Nelson – 0.
Zelenka watched his friend grumble to himself, about Admiral Nelson he was sure, and shook his head. He wondered if the City would survive the meeting.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"You want me to what?" John Sheppard was sure he couldn't have heard the Expedition Leader correctly, which was odd because he was standing right next to Woolsey and his hearing was generally pretty darn good.
"Well not literally of course," Richard swallowed hard, realizing how his request must have sounded.
"That's good because I think tackling the expedition's Head Scientist and treating him like a live grenade in the middle of the gateroom might not be the best first impression to make with our guests. "
"I simply meant, that considering Dr. McKay's, sometime, excitable…" John snorted, Woolsey frowned, "personality, that if the meeting became too…" Woolsey flailed.
"Volatile," John supplied a little too helpfully. Richard Woolsey gritted his teeth, "fine, volatile, perhaps you could direct Dr. McKay and Admiral Nelson…"
"Back to their respective corners," John suggested, and then shook his head. "It might work out better if I just tackled Rodney."
Richard massaged the bridge of his nose; this visit could not end soon enough.