ACT 1 – DISCOVERY
Chapter 7 – New Conversations
It felt like it had been a really long day, not helped by the fact that she had already felt tired waking up this morning thanks to her day with Division yesterday, her late night, and then the nightmare.
Even gorging herself on an entire box of the cookies she'd won had not given her any more energy for the day. She never usually ate that sort of thing for First Meal, but she'd eaten a whole box full of the sweet treats and she wasn't overly sure why.
She suspected it had something to do with the nightmare, but decided not to think about it any further than that.
Stupid Oneakka.
She'd foolishly hoped that facing the little fish in the Facility's Spa Gym would have helped curb the old nightmares. But no, instead, now she actually knew what it felt like to have a fish touch her skin, her brain had added that new detail into a new hyper-realistic nightmare of falling through the ice; feeling the killer fish swimming around her as she struggled in the freezing water, desperately reaching up to find the edge of the hole in the ice. Last night, the new element of the rasp of fish skin sliding against her exposed sides and legs had added a whole new horror to it all.
She had to suppress a physical shudder at just remembering the nightmare.
It was all the oaf's fault.
He'd not even seemed sympathetic when she'd told him about it over Midday Meal. Instead it was apparently 'normal'. Well, that fact didn't help at all. Neither had his pleased smile.
Big oaf.
Of course she'd not shared with him the other new detail that had turned up in the dream– Nightmare. Definitely a nightmare.
Often in the panicked nightmares she'd be able to struggle her chin up out of the water enough to gasp a breath, sometimes even getting enough of a purchase on the slippery ice-sheet with her frosted fingernails to drag her body partly out of the water. Other times, she'd be unable to even find the hole in the ice, left scrabbling weakly on the unbreakable underside of the ice, knowing she was inevitably going to drown or be eaten alive by the fish.
Neither of those happened in last night's version. She'd gotten her hands on the edge of the ice, pulled her face and shoulders out of the water enough to breathe, and then he'd appeared from nowhere. Strong Elite hands had hauled her up out of the water, pulled her up against his blissfully warm comforting chest as he held her.
Honestly, she was frankly embarrassed at how unimaginative and obvious her subconscious had been in dreaming that part up!
So, while scoffing down the cookies when she'd woken up, she'd repeated all the valid and important reasons why these silly feelings were not appropriate regarding Oneakka. Since apparently her subconscious wasn't getting the message.
And it was just basic biology anyway. He was a literal heroic warrior, and currently looking all newly muscular and pleased with his recovery. That he was motivated to help push her to face her demons was obviously a sign he cared – as a friend - so it was somewhat understandable that some basic feminine part of her was reacting to all that.
But, she needed to remember the other, far more important, logical facts. Like that he was stubborn, irritating, pushy, and now overly smug about his nightmare-inducing fish antics. Plus, as soon as the idiot was able to get back battling monsters, he'd no doubt go get himself properly killed the next time he was hurt.
He was an Elite and that was a plain and simple fact.
And that wasn't even including the most important fact that he clearly didn't want anything more and she had no interest in that anyway.
She suddenly had a real craving for some more of the frosted-covered cookies. That he'd given her…
She shifted in her chair, annoyed again at her stupid self and that her backside felt like it had moulded itself to the flat cushion she'd been sat on for hours now. The day's long meetings for all members of the computer Project had been far from exciting. The project had reached the point to start considering how to physically construct the new, unique, and hopefully unhackable computer system for the Elite. She perfectly understood that the physical design was important, it just wasn't her area of expertise so she'd had barely anything to contribute to the discussions, which had been getting quite heated at times around the big meeting table.
She suspected much of the new antagonism in the team was due to four of their former members having been reassigned to the Skerti Drive project two weeks ago. Two new replacement members had almost immediately joined the project, and then a third last week and finally a female electrical engineer had arrived the day before Seeal had helped Division. The new female was not averse to speaking her mind, which Seeal had to respect, and appeared to really know her stuff. But, it had been the third new member who had caused the most upheaval. He was extremely argumentative and had a knack in always finding the downside of any suggestion.
Though, he had a very specific downside view of her, since Seeal had actually worked with him once before. She knew he had a proper name, but she refused to learn it, preferring to stick to the nickname she'd silently given him when they'd worked on the Toshka computer core. She'd been brought into the team by Oneakka to help break into Toshka's absurd computer system. 'Mr Angry Tech' had been sat next to her in the short-lived work and had not hidden his suspicion and dislike for her. That she'd then gone and solved the problem with breaking into Toshka's database by leading the Elite to the creator of the crazy code, had probably not further endeared her to Mr Angry Tech.
And now he was assigned here.
He'd brought his suspicion and dislike with him too.
The day with Division yesterday had given her time away from the irritating male at least, and it seemed that the latest new female team member liked Angry Tech even less. Currently the two were disagreeing across the table about something. Seeal realised she had not been listening for some time. She sat up a little straighter and focused as best she could with her tired brain.
"I still think we should look at the quantum prospects for the computer system," the new female stated from two seats down from Seeal.
"I agree," said another team member. "But it will mean greater power requirements to cool the system."
"Putting an already prototype coding system in with prototype tech seems stupid," Angry Tech stated.
"There have been considerable advances of lat-" the male on Seeal's immediate right tried to argue, but was cut off by Angry Tech.
"It would still be unreliable and we'd have to spend even more time developing the tech in the first place to run the new coding system."
"Why is that a problem?" The new female member asked. "The whole point of this project is to develop a brand new type of computer system, surely that includes new tech along with the new coding."
Seeal leaned forward a fraction to see the female two seats down from her. The woman was again wearing massive and garish pieces of jewellery. The necklace was made up of three large multi-coloured jewels, though their dull clear shine told Seeal they were made of glass and nothing more precious. Around the giant glass jewels were outlining rows of colour-clashing smaller glass beads, all bound together with excessive thin metal wirework. The necklace looked like a typical piece of jewellery from the planet Ridd-Ellma, but Seeal was pretty sure the female wasn't from there. As the female stated something forcefully back at Angry Tech, Seeal focused on the big chandelier earrings hanging from her earlobes. Again, they looked very Ridd-Ellman.
Seeal shifted her attention to the female's eyebrows. No way could she be from Ridd-Ellma, but then Seeal had never seen anyone wear that jewellery that wasn't from that planet originally. Seeal had seen numerous variations of cultural displays across the various planets, moons, and stations she'd visited in her life; some cultural fetishes were pretty interesting while others were downright disgusting or taboo on most other worlds. Still, the Ridd-Ellman eyebrow focus was exceptionally unique.
It had apparently been born from a genetic predisposition for their people's eyebrows to grow far larger than normal, but the Ridd-Ellmans had taken it to the extreme. Practically a religion on their world, the size, length and decoration of one's eyebrows was not only a sign of financial success but of societal status. Their brows, grown to the point where the term 'shrubbery' felt more appropriate, they then decorated them with masses of intricate tiny jewellery and colourful thread. The most successful Ridd-Ellmans had the most elaborate brows, though in truth they became one big brow, proudly joined in the middle. The ceremonial ruling couple of the planet actually had miniature scaffolding built up from their cheekbones to support the mass of hair and decoration.
But this new team member had very normal eyebrows, though were somewhat full, Seeal noticed. Still, she clearly couldn't be from Ridd-Ellma, could she? Maybe she had just lived there and had become strangely interested in the garish chunky jewellery?
"…put it closer to the air vent then," Mr Angry Tech's cutting voice barraged into Seeal's distracted awareness. She sat back in her chair again and tried to pay attention to the conversation.
"Doing so will make the system more open to physical hacks," the non-Ridd-Ellman female replied.
Seeal saw Angry Tech's eyes briefly shift to her, as he always did at the mere mention of hacking. He'd already been less than subtle about his belief that she was secretly here to learn how to hack into the new computer system and then sell the information once it was operational.
"Indeed," the Project Lead interjected from the head of the table. "However, we do need to decide on what systems will work most efficiently as well as be as tamperproof as possible."
"We can't go down the quantum route if we can't cool the system enough," someone stated again from further down the table. "I think we should look at the new organic circuitry. They're working well in select Elite systems so far."
"In small non-essential systems for now," Mr Angry Tech stated. "And I hardly think we want to risk the organic goo oozing out into our new prototype computer system."
"The circuitry pouches are designed to congeal in such events," the first voice argued.
"And if that happens, we'll have a non-working 'advanced' system," Angry Tech stated, arms folded.
"What about a mix of systems?" A calmer voice suggested from the far end of the table.
"Then we're creating a new complexity of systems and we are supposed to go for efficiency," Angry Tech argued.
"Unless we use the different systems as back-ups to each other," Seeal interjected; pretty sure it had been the first thing she'd said in a good hour.
Angry Tech turned his eyes on her again. "Then we'll still end up adding too much complexity. I feel like I keep repeating myself," he sighed.
"Why is complexity an issue for you?" The non-Ridd-Ellman asked. "The whole point of this system will be to make it complicated. Simplicity will only lend towards it being more easily compromised."
"I disagree," someone else put in. "Complexity leads to the greater chance of breakdowns halting the system and reduces the number of skilled technicians who will be able to fix the computer system."
"Seeal suggested layers of complexity backing each other up, one redundancy supporting another," the non-Ridd-Ellman stated. "Like layers of a cake."
"I like the idea, though I did actually suggest multiple back-ups weeks ago," someone voiced bitterly.
"And now we're discussing the different 'layers' possible," Angry Tech stated.
"A minute ago you only want one layer," Seeal pointed out to him.
"We can't have a cooled quantum system alongside organic circuitry that requires warmer homeostasis," he argued back.
"I'm not suggesting we use those two layers," Seeal frowned back at him.
"Why don't you stick to coding, after all that's why you're here isn't it? To work out how to hack into this system?" Honestly, she had to wonder what had happened to this male in his life that had made him so ridiculously negative and paranoid.
"Mr Iann," the Project Lead raised his hands. "As a reminder, we are all on the same side. Healthy counter-discussions are useful for brainstorming ideas, not nasty comments."
Seeal kept her eyes on Angry Tech and the male glared back. If he thought his aggressive looks made any impression on her he was massively mistaken. She just fixed him with her 'Security Lead look' and waited until he had to look away.
"I think we should investigate the new hyper-circuits," Angry Tech stated to recover from his telling off. "We installed them in some of the systems on the Sythus and the result was a fivefold processing speed improvement."
"What if we used them alongside the organic circuits, use them as layers together?" the non-Ridd-Ellman suggested.
"What about the new generation of standard circuits?" Someone else's voice added. "They are ripe for advancement, what if we looked at doing that ourselves? Set up a new advanced circuitry system for our advanced system?"
"I think there are plenty of ideas on the table," the Project Lead stated as he glanced at the time display above the meeting table. "I suggest that we break into groups, or individual research if you prefer, take two research days and then we reconvene to present all our findings. Then, with the most up-to-date research, we can start making some decisions. Agreed?"
Seeal nodded when the Lead's attention briefly stopped on her as he looked round the table. She was not going to complain as she'd been planning to talk to him about booking some of tomorrow off-rotation anyway for her and Oneakka's trip to see Jin Arezou tomorrow. This way, she didn't need to take any time off and it didn't matter what time she and Oneakka visited Jin.
"Good," the Project Lead declared, everyone having agreed to the plan, "then you are obviously all free to use this project room as you wish over the next two days, and then we'll meet for the presentations in the morning on the third day. Each person or group will have up to a quarter of an hour for presenting their findings. I shall see you all then."
Everyone burst into motion as they got up from their seats, the work day finally complete. Seeal reached for her electronic pad on the tabletop in front of her as she stood up, whilst also ignoring Angry Tech's suspicious look across the meeting table. She tapped awake the pad to find a text link from Oneakka. He'd labelled it for her to open as soon as possible. She eagerly opened it, guessing it would be the time of their visit to see Jin tomorrow. Unless, it had been cancelled?
However, an all too familiar test appeared on the pad's screen before she could see the text link. Damn the oaf.
These irritating little tests had started just after Halling and the Sythus had left. Oneakka had wanted her to memorise a specific Portal address that was apparently an emergency fallback position. It had started with him sending her the tests once a day, but had escalated into several a day at random times. That had gone on for a week, and now he'd started this new phase where passing the tests was the only way to read a text link he'd sent her.
Today he'd given her ten seconds to type in the portal address. She'd not had a test yesterday while she was with Division and had foolishly hoped the testing was now over. Clearly not.
She tapped in the portal address, easily able to remember it. She'd tried looking it up in the Elite database, but the address had come up as 'restricted', so was indeed some special secret Elite base.
The test passed, his text link opened up.
It was just him confirming he'd see her and Massa at Late Meal. Nothing about their trip to see Jin.
She sighed at his annoyingness.
Movement to her right drew her attention round. The non-Ridd-Ellman female was stood politely a foot or so away, the rest of the table abandoned as everyone else was packing up their workstations to head to Late Meal.
"Hello, we have not properly met," the female smiled brightly above a large stack of small electronic pads balanced in her arms.
"Pleased to meet you properly," Seeal replied politely.
"Several of the team mentioned to me yesterday that you devised a programme to adapt the work electronic pads that use System 3? I need to transfer my research work off all these pads and onto a workable system, but you know how clunky the System 3 can be," the female chuckled a little nervously.
"Sure," Seeal agreed, rather surprised to hear members of the team had been impressed with her system 3 workaround. "I can dig it out and let you have it tomorrow."
"That would be wonderful, thank you," the female replied with a grateful smile. "Thank you too for your support with that particular team member," she added with a faint nod of her head towards where Mr Angry Tech was sat at his workstation.
"Any time," Seeal replied with feeling as they both started away from the meeting table towards their workstations, only the female began to lose control of her stack of electronic pads.
Seeal reached out, managing to catch a few as they flew through the air, but most clattered down onto the floor.
"By the bright hairs," the female muttered.
Seeal crouched down with her to help pick up the pads. That had definitely been a Ridd-Ellman curse for sure!
"Sorry, I can be a bit clumsy," the female muttered as she started restacking the pads in her arm.
Seeal gathered a good handful and stood up, following the female the last couple of metres to her workstation and set them down on the table surface for her.
"Thank you, Seeal," the female smiled.
Seeal decided to just ask. "Are you from Ridd-Ellma?"
The female looked shocked as she looked up from her workstation and one hand shot up to cover her forehead. "It's the eyebrows isn't it? I do try to keep them under control, but my people's genetics-"
"No, no," Seeal interrupted her, trying not to find her reaction funny. "It was your jewellery," she pointed to the necklace and now a massive bracelet in view on the hand the female was using to conceal her eyebrows. "Your eyebrows are fine."
The female lowered her hand and reached to her chunky necklace. "Oh, whew," she grinned. "I might not like my people's eyebrow obsession, but I do still love the homeworld's jewellery."
Seeal couldn't quite understand why, but smiled and nodded. Each to their own.
"I've never seen anyone from Ridd-Ellma without the…," Seeal indicated her own eyebrows, wondering how to be polite about it, "the big eyebrows. And I thought females on Ridd-Ellma normally had to work leadership roles?"
"Yes, but I just fell in love with electrical engineering," she replied. "From a youngling I used to take apart all the machinery in my family's home. Used to drive my parents mad as it took years for me to start working out how to put everything back together again."
Seeal was starting to like this female.
"But, once I started the engineering courses, my family ended up with the most powerful oven and bread toasters anywhere on the homeworld."
Seeal chuckled only then noticed Mr Angry Tech passing close by, the male glancing at her and the Ridd-Ellman with a sideways hostile glare. Seeal kept her eyes on him as he headed towards the exit and disappeared outside.
"He does not like you," the Ridd-Ellman female uttered.
"The feeling is very mutual," Seeal looked back to her.
The female chuckled. "Do you have plans for Late Meal?"
Seeal frowned faintly. Was that a friendly invitation or something more here?
"Just so you know, I'm not interested in females," Seeal clarified.
"Me neither," the female replied. "Males all the way. It's just that I only know two people in the whole Facility…"
Oh, good it was friendship the female was after.
"I actually have plans for Late Meal, but I'll walk with you to the Canteen? We're eating in the one closest to the habitation sector," Seeal suggested.
"Great, I usually use that one too," the female grinned brightly. "My name is Anoush Amel Agapanthus Aedia."
"Wow, that's a lot of names," Seeal said without thinking.
"Just call me Amel," Amel smiled not insulted at all.
"Right, Amel," Seeal nodded.
Amel reached down and lifted a brightly coloured bag with more garish glass beads and tassels hanging all over it. She pushed half of her many electronic pads into it and then straightened up. "Let's go."
Seeal slid her single pad into her pocket, picked up her jacket from her workstation and headed towards the exit with Amel.
"So," Amel said eagerly as they reached the door and headed through to the corridor outside, "let's start with that very handsome male I saw you having Late Meal with the other day."
What?! Seeal was a tad thrown at that; she'd not heard anyone talk about Oneakka like that. Admittedly he was handsome in a passing rugged, oafish muscular way, but 'handsome' was not the primary description people usually used for him. Usually people would be too nervous of him to describe him as anything other than 'Honoured Elite'.
"I'm just friends with the Honoured Elite," she explained clearly.
"No, the security male," Amel corrected.
"Oh, Smee?" Seeal felt a strange burst of relief, which was a little weird. "No, we're friends as well."
"Really?" Amel asked doubtfully as they walked. "He seemed very interested in you over that meal."
"He was interested in more between us at first," Seeal found herself explaining. "But we talked about it, and he's fine with us being friends… " Why was she sharing this personal stuff with someone she'd only just met? "We have a lot in common, both having worked security."
"Ah, yes, you were Security Lead on Dreamstation?" Amel asked with a seemingly careful tone.
"Yes," Seeal said, feeling on firmer ground with this question. "And let me save you some time before you hear all the gossip and rumours about me. Yes, I was a Pit Fighter; no, I'm not an indentured servant to the Elite; Yes, I am a Glisi and yes, I am abnormally small for their giant race; and no, I was not the leader of a vicious gang outside the Alliance."
Amel chuckled. "I think that covers everything very effectively."
They had entered one of the main lobbies, which was currently flooded full with noisy Recruits all at the end of their training day and heading to the canteens to eat or to workout/socialise in the gyms.
"So, if that Security male is not yours, do you have another male?" Amel asked.
"No," Seeal stated firmly. Because any other dream-related thoughts were just silly. "How about you?" She asked, redirecting the focus off her and onto Amel. "No big-browed husband back on Ridd-Ellma?" She risked putting some teasing tone in the question.
"Oh no," Amel replied with feeling. "Though there is one male here that I noticed was very tasty," she added.
For a second Seeal felt a sudden flash of panic that she was going to say it was Oneakka who had drawn her fancy. "Oh?" She asked, keeping her tone level. There were hundreds of other people living and working in this Facility who could have caught Amel's eye.
"Have you seen the male joint Security Lead of this Facility?" Amel asked, leaning closer as they walked, her voice dropping to a lower tone.
"Edfu?" Seeal asked, relieved and amused at the same time.
"Yes," Amel looked round, "do you know him?"
"Yes, he's a nice male," Seeal answered honestly. "Not really my type, he's a bit obvious with his whole overt symmetrical features and big bright grin."
"Glad to hear I have no competition from you," Amel joked. "Not that I would know what to say to such a handsome male."
"I'd start with 'hello'," Seeal suggested. "He's very friendly."
They rounded a last corner and arrived at the entrance to the Canteen. As they entered, Seeal quickly scanned the busy room and spotted Oneakka and Massa already at their usual table.
"Oh, I see a friend of mine," Amel waved off towards the far end of the room and then turned to Seeal. "It was really nice to meet you properly, Seeal."
"You too, Amel," Seeal smiled back. "I'll dig out that programme for System 3 tomorrow, though I'm not sure what time as I'm out of the Facility at some point in the day."
"That's fine. Shall we perhaps meet up when you're free? We can even discuss the project research if you want to work together?"
"That would be great," Seeal agreed. "I'll text link you as soon as I know when I'm free."
"I shall see you then," Amel smiled and Seeal headed away through the busy tables towards the two big Elite and what looked like a very upset Aki crying against Massa's shoulder.
As she got closer, Aki clearly recognised her and paused in his tears to give her a small sad smile. She gave him a sympathetic smile back as she reached out to stroke his soft baby hair.
"What's wrong, Little Warrior?" She asked, having picked up the nickname from Massa.
"Apparently he doesn't like boiled berg vegetable," Oneakka supplied as she rounded the side end of the table and set her jacket and electronic pad down by her usual seat on Oneakka's left. "Took you two hours to open that test," he added.
"What?" She frowned at the comment. "Your text link? I was in a meeting."
"If your pad calls for your attention you should look at it," Oneakka argued.
"It was an important meeting and I had the pad on silent," Seeal explained. "Also, thank you for asking, I did have a good afternoon." She looked away to Massa and the now quietening Aki. "Hello, Massa, how has your day been?" Though the splatter of bright green vegetable across his pale shirt was clearly part of the answer.
"Good evening, Seeal," Massa smiled back. "I'm fine, if not a little covered in berg vegetable."
She leaned forward over the table to inspect the food splatters. "Not vomit today though," she noted. "That's an improvement surely?"
"True. He just shoved the spoon away and spat the rest out on me," Massa replied as he reached for a napkin. "He's in a lovely mood today."
"Are you talking about Aki or Oneakka?" She asked.
Massa grinned up from wiping his shirt. "Both."
"What's wrong with my mood?" Oneakka objected.
She looked round at him, always enjoying when Massa teamed up with her to tease him. "There's usually something wrong with it," she smiled.
He gave her a low level glare, but it wasn't all that convincing. He seemed in as good a mood this evening as he had been at Midday Meal. In fact, she was pretty sure his mood was improving the closer he got to his medical review date, which was the day after tomorrow. Clearly he was feeling very confident at the outcome. She peered at his face, doing her usual assessment for signs of tiredness and that he wasn't overdoing his rehab workouts. He clearly had to be, given the muscle mass he'd put back on so quickly, but this evening he looked annoyingly alert and healthy.
He was in a different shirt than the one he'd worn when they'd had Midday Meal. From the damp spikiness of his Mohawk styled hair, she guessed he had had rehab and then a shower afterwards.
Was it too much to ask that he look unattractive and exhausted after her annoying nightmare?
"I'm going get my food," she decided and looked back to Massa. Do you need anything for Aki?" She checked.
"Could you get me some more napkins?" Massa asked.
"Happy to," she agreed without looking at the fish-nightmare inducer again, and then headed off towards the food selection.
She timed her arrival at the food perfectly as there was no queue. She helped herself to some stew, two big chucks of sweet grain bread, her usual tall cup of Athosian tea, and then a big stack of napkins and a cup of water for Massa. Pudding would be waiting for her later in her quarters in the form of more cookies.
She headed back to her table, noticing that Amel was sat with two other females across the room, appearing to be having a good chat.
Back at the table, she sat down and moved the napkins and the cup of water to Massa's side.
"Thank you, Seeal," Massa smiled at her, setting Aki back in his tall chair.
"I've sent you a second test," Oneakka reported from her right.
"I'm busy," she indicated her tray full of food, ignoring her pad.
"The longer you wait to answer the test, the less time you'll have to complete the next one," Oneakka declared.
"I don't care," she told him and his bright blue eyes.
"It's important to be able to recall the portal address even in moments of high stress and with only seconds to spare," he pushed.
"Fine," she triggered awake her pad and the test appeared. She jabbed in the portal address and it lit up as correct. "Happy?" She asked him.
He smiled back. "Yes."
"Remind me," she asked his smug face, "once you pass your medical review, you'll be around less, right? You'll be busy and less free to annoy me?"
"Have you eaten all the cookies yet?" Oneakka asked.
"What cookies?" Massa asked from across the table.
"Have you spoken to Jin yet?" She asked Oneakka, ignoring Massa's subtly too interested tone. He'd been very good at keeping to his promise not to make any more insinuating remarks about her and Oneakka, but occasionally she heard a tone creeping in.
"Yes, I did," Oneakka replied. "He's free anytime in the morning, so I thought we'd leave after First Meal. If that's a good time for you?"
She frowned at his sudden polite question and tone. "Yes, that works for me," she replied suspiciously.
"Good," he smiled.
"Does he know I'm coming?" She checked.
"No, I think we should surprise him," Oneakka replied. "See if he recognises you."
She was starting to feel a little nervous about the visit, but excited too. She doubted Jin would remember her, but part of her kind of hoped he would despite the long years since she'd last seen him. To him surely she had just been one young face among many in his apparently long successful trading career. His intervention, in the form of introducing her to a source of currency in the pit fights, had transformed her life, but had probably been one tiny drop of interest in his life.
"I doubt he will," she found herself saying as she focused on her stew.
"What cookies?" Massa repeated his earlier question, his tone now more one of curiosity.
"I won them in a bet," she supplied.
"Not really a bet…" Oneakka disagreed.
"I won them," she clarified firmly to Massa.
After that nightmare, she damn well deserved all three of those boxes of cookies.
She focused down on her stew, which tasted a little too spicy today, but it was still good.
Her pad bleeped.
She sighed heavily as she saw the test appear on screen again. She glared at Oneakka. "I'm eating."
"You need to be able to remember it anytime, anywhere."
She sighed again and reached out with her hand holding her spoon and jabbed in the Portal address.
"See, took you all of five seconds," Oneakka said, definitely smugly this time.
"I've clearly remembered it," she told him, "so when do these tests stop?"
"They don't stop," Massa put in from the other side of the table. "I still get practice tests."
That wasn't good news.
"I've been getting them for years," Massa added as he dipped another napkin in the cup of water and dabbed at a stubborn patch of berg vegetable juice on his shirt.
"And you always pass the test in seconds," Oneakka pointed out. "So the system works."
Seeal sighed as her pad bleeped again – he was just being difficult now. It was this kind of thing her subconscious needed to remember.
"An Elite as a friend seemed a good idea," she muttered loud enough for him to hear as she jabbed at the screen.
00000
It had been a long first day back in Atlantis, but Daniel was thoroughly enjoying himself. Admittedly, he'd not been out of this small room set aside for him and Rodney to work, but he was still feeling the thrill at being back in the actual Lost City of Atlantis.
When he'd been younger, like many people, he'd been fascinated by the old Atlantis myths, back before the Stargate programme had found him and the line between myth and reality had been blurred beyond repair. Then when they'd realised that Atlantis was a city of the Ancients that had been exciting enough, but then to find it in another galaxy… And it wasn't just a city, but an actual spaceship full of Ancient artefacts and a vast knowledge database… It was these kinds of discoveries that Daniel lived for.
The only downside to the discovery had been Jack's initial refusal for Daniel to join the original expedition here. Then when Daniel had finally gotten here, it had been on a short rushed mission, during which he and Vala had spent their time researching in the city's holographic library interface. But now he was here and the SGC had put no end date on his visit.
Finding Janus' lab alone would hopefully turn out to be another wondrous discovery. Janus had already been considered a renegade scientist in the eyes of most of the Ancients, so Daniel was fascinated to find out what research Janus had been able to hide in his secret lab. Hopefully, that would include direct and useful information on the Skerti as an ascended Janus had seemingly promised Colonel Sheppard.
Daniel was still surprised that Janus had been so direct with that information. In Daniel's experience, an ascended Ancient had to be personally backed into an ethical corner to even try to give away tiny snippets of information, and they were usually stopped or severely punished by The Others. But, apparently Janus had become an ascended member of The Others, and had just turned up and basically said 'you'll find what you need in my lab'. Of course, it was never wise to look a gift horse in the mouth from an Ancient, but it still struck Daniel as strange. Or, was it possible that The Others had learnt from what had happened with the Ori? Daniel had hoped Merlin and Morgan Le Fay's actions might have impacted The Others. That Merlin's sacrifice had led to real change, but he'd had never really believed it. But then Janus had just walked up to Colonel Sheppard…
From the other table, Daniel heard Rodney's coffee mug bang lightly against the tabletop as he set it down. Daniel glanced round to see that Rodney was in pretty much the same position he'd been all day: hunched over his laptop that was interfaced into the Ancient database.
The only time Rodney had abandoned his seat had been when Sam and Jack had visited. Daniel had been pretty touched that they'd correctly guessed he'd want to keep working as late as possible, so they'd brought dinner to him. They'd sat together eating, updating each other on friends and colleagues, laughed over old mission memories and he'd heard what it was really like dealing with the Alliance and the Elite. Somewhere early in the reminiscing, Rodney had excused himself, probably fed up hearing all about the SGC days. After Sam and Jack and left, Rodney had returned with a full thermal jug of fresh coffee for them to share, and had resumed his intense focus on his Ancient log reading.
Somewhere during the day, the log reading had turned into a competition for Rodney. Daniel wasn't sure if it was just who would find the necessary clue first or just who could read through the most logs. It was typical Rodney and, quite frankly, Daniel really didn't care who found what. Still, a tiny part of him found it faintly amusing.
Though, his eyes were starting to feel a bit dry. Pulling off his glasses, he rubbed at his eyes a little. The Ancient screens were pretty gentle on the eyes, but he and Rodney been reading for hours… Sliding the specs back on, Daniel lifted his watch to work out just how long it had been. He'd changed his to match 'Atlantis time' since the days on this planet were slightly longer and there was some adjustment system they used in the city so that everyone could keep using their Earth watches. Daniel hadn't asked any follow up questions about it, just set his watch to the city's time. In the last five days he'd gone from Jaffa planet, the flight on the Al'kesh, a short trip through the SGC, a day on Midday, and now part of a day in Atlantis. Frankly it felt more like the middle of the night to him. On Atlantis it was apparently 21:36.
He reached for the legal pad. He and Rodney had already read through the personal logs of three of the names on the list. One of the Ancients had died in his 30s, killed during a battle with the Wraith. Though a horribly unfortunate fact for the Ancient in question, it had meant his log had been far quicker to read through. Three down and a ton more to go. Daniel had even added a new name to the list as he'd found a reference to a friend of Janus' he'd not had on the list before.
It felt like they weren't getting anywhere fast, but there was so much to read through… A moment of concern hit Daniel. Maybe Colonel Sheppard had been right, maybe they should fast-track the reading somehow. Maybe recruit in more people to help him and Rodney?
Except Janus has specifically named Daniel. Did that mean that Janus knew Daniel would be the one to find the telling clue? Or had it simply meant that Janus knew Daniel had already thought about looking into Janus logs in Atlantis, just hadn't had the chance to do it yet? Or was it that Janus knew Daniel's usual research methods were the best bet in finding the lab?
Maybe then he and Rodney should just plod on, give it a few days maybe and if they didn't find anything by then, then think about bringing in more help. Sam had offered to help with some reading, though Daniel doubted she had much free time. Jack had just looked uncomfortable at the prospect. Despite being able to read some Ancient, from apparently having been stuck in a time-loop once during which he and Teal'c had to learn it, Jack had something of an aversion to spending too much time dealing with "Ancient things". Given Jack's encounters with Ancient tech in the past, Daniel could understand his caution. Plus, Jack was never a person you called in when you needed hours of focused reading. When they found something that needed action, then Jack came into his own, especially now he – reluctantly - held so much sway back home.
Rodney sighed from the other table, and Daniel glanced round again to see that Rodney had one elbow on the table on which he was propping up his jaw. He was either bored or tired. Maybe both.
Rodney sighed again. "There's nothing here," he declared.
"Whose log are you reading again?" Daniel asked.
"Ancient woman called Flora," Rodney replied. "She just mostly goes on about plants."
"She was a botanist?" Daniel asked with interest.
"Sure," Rodney shrugged.
"Flora was the Roman Goddess of spring and flowers," Daniel noted as he focused his attention back on his own reading.
"There's not all that much about Janus here," Rodney muttered. "They were lovers for a spell, but after that it's just all her research, then how the Wraith siege stopped her work." Daniel heard Rodney jabbing a button on his laptop. "All of this last section is her packing up her things to leave Atlantis. She's clearly not happy about it, and this is her final entry, she'd getting excited about plants she could find on Earth."
"It was worth a try," Daniel reached for the legal pad. "Flora, done," he crossed off the name. "Next name is Salacia."
"Fine," Rodney agreed surprisingly willingly, the tapping of the laptop's keyboard confirming he was already searching for the new logs.
"Apparently," Daniel reported from his small shorthand notes next to the name, "she was one of Janus' lovers just before the siege of the city."
"Great," Rodney uttered, definitely sounding less enthusiastic now.
Daniel looked round to see Rodney quickly glance at his watch.
"If you want to call it a night, Rodney, its fine," Daniel offered. "It's getting late."
"I'm not tired, I can stay up all night," Rodney returned quickly.
"It's not a competition, Rodney" Daniel tried pointing out.
"I know," Rodney insisted.
Daniel gave him a doubtful look. "It's very possible it could take us weeks to find what we're looking for."
"We'll see," Rodney uttered as the new log appeared on his laptop screen. Daniel frowned at his tone, unsure it was just the competition talking or if Rodney was teasing him.
Daniel decided it was the competitiveness and returned his attention to own screen. This particular Ancient, Consus, had a long and involved personal log. He was now ninety seven in the logs and was recounting repairs being made to Atlantis, who was involved in the work, and adding some gossip about a council member. He'd not mentioned Janus all that much so far, just a passing reference to a big public argument Janus had had with the council about how to deal the Wraith.
Through the open door to the research room, Daniel picked up the sound of footsteps approaching. They weren't the heavy military boots of most of their visitors throughout the day. It could be Sam…
Daniel looked towards the open doorway with interest, only for a petite red-haired woman to enter. She looked vaguely familiar to Daniel.
"Hi," she said with a soft gentle voice, "I hope I'm not interrupting?" She asked as her gaze locked onto Rodney.
"Katie!" Rodney shot up from his seat. "No, of course not. No."
Katie? Had she worked in the SGC? Down in the science levels?
"I wanted to see if you are alright," Katie asked Rodney as she approached the other side of the table, "and whether you had had anything to eat this evening."
Well, this was interesting.
Daniel glanced sideways at Rodney. Rodney had a girlfriend?
"Um, yes, I did, I quickly popped to the Mess Hall earlier," Rodney replied, his voice softer and a touch anxious. "I'm sorry, I meant to message you, but I was caught up here."
"Its fine, Rodney," Katie told him. "I thought I'd come by to say hello to Dr Jackson too," her nice smile turned to Daniel.
The rest of her name popped into Daniel's head. "Dr Brown, right?" He asked as he stood up and reached out a hand. "You were working in the botany department in the SGC?"
"Yes, I'm surprised you remember," Katie said as she shook Daniel's hand.
"How could I forget you guys having to deal with that overgrowing monster plant," Daniel recalled as he sat back down.
Katie chuckled. "Poor Dr Lee," she shook her head. "That plant species' exponential growth was amazing," she said with the wide fascinated eyes of a true scientist, "but also destructive, obviously," she added hurriedly.
"Of course," Daniel nodded back.
"So, you two know each other?" Rodney asked, now stood a foot away from Daniel's elbow.
"I used to work in the SGC," Katie seemed to need to remind Rodney.
"Right," Rodney replied quickly.
"We had found a fascinating plant off-world," Katie began telling him, "brought it back to the SGC, but it started growing out of control. It practically took over half of the SGC."
"And it was General O'Neill's first week in charge of the SGC too," Daniel recalled sniggering.
"We felt so bad after that."
"The risks of being a xenobotanist," Daniel tried to reassure her. "I imagine you've had a lot of fun here in Atlantis with an entire new galaxy of plant-life to explore?" he asked, only to see Rodney glaring at him out the corner of his eye. He frowned round at Rodney.
"It is wonderful here in Pegasus," Dr Brown continued unaware, or probably used to Rodney's expressions. "I'm glad you're finally here to join us, Dr Jackson."
"Please call me Daniel," he told her quickly.
"Well, we should really be getting back to work here," Rodney cut in.
"Oh yes, of course," Katie said immediately.
"You're welcome to stay, Dr Brown," Daniel suggested. If the two of them wanted some time together, he could go top-up the coffee jug in the Mess…though he'd need to work out where it was and how to get there. The last time he was here, people had brought him and Vala food straight to the hologram room.
"Please Daniel, call me Katie," Katie corrected him. "Thank you, but I do not want to interrupt your important work," her attention moving back to Rodney. Her smile softened and her eyes all full of sweetness. She seemed pretty into Rodney.
"Oh, you're obviously welcome to stay," Rodney told her quickly. "But, we're just reading through endless Ancient logs, so its' not very interesting."
"I will leave you to it then," Katie replied as she started to back out of the room.
"But, we should be finished here in a couple of hours," Rodney volunteered. "I could come by….?"
"I'll see you then," Katie smiled at Rodney before her attention shifted back to Daniel. "It was lovely to see you again, Daniel. Welcome back to Atlantis."
"It's good to be here, Katie, thank you," Daniel smiled at her as she left.
He waited a beat as the sound of Katie's soft footfalls died away down the corridor. Then he looked round at Rodney and lifted an eyebrow.
"What?" Rodney demanded self-consciously from his seat.
"Nothing," Daniel teased as he turned back to his screen. "I'm just surprised."
"Surprised I have a girlfriend?" Rodney asked.
"No, no," Daniel pretended as he clicked on the console.
"I'll have you know that Katie and I have been seeing each other for quite some time."
He sounded rather defensive about it. "That's nice, Rodney," Daniel assured him honestly. "Katie is a lovely woman."
"Yes, she is," Rodney replied with a firm nod as he looked back to his laptop.
Daniel would have to ask Sam about all this. He couldn't believe she hadn't shared this gossip.
"I mean, I'm very lucky," Rodney added. "Especially considering how much I work and I've had to cancel a lot dates recently."
Daniel was pretty sure he'd heard some worried anxiety in that sentence. "I'm sure Katie understands you have a lot of responsibilities."
"Exactly," Rodney nodded, but Daniel got the impression Rodney wasn't all convinced himself. "Katie understands that my work is vital and ultimately for the betterment of all Humankind."
It was perhaps a rather grandiose way of describing his work here in Atlantis, but considering that Rodney really had been instrumental in saving lives and Atlantis itself from destruction on more than one occasion...
"You've got a lot to be proud of, Rodney," Daniel told him honestly.
"Especially now with the Elite tech we need to understand and copy, I have even less free time," Rodney continued on.
Daniel had no idea why Rodney had chosen him to vent to about all this, but given his own recent musings while on Midway, Daniel wasn't all that sure he was the right person to help Rodney in this area.
"You have a lot of pressure on you," Daniel considered, feeling rather sorry for Rodney. He knew what it was like to have impatient military eyes looking over your shoulder, waiting for you to solve a problem in the quickest time possible.
"Exactly," Rodney agreed. "Radek and I have only so much time and it's not like it's just one piece of alien tech to understand and copy. But, of course, the IOA and the Space Marines want it all done by last week," annoyance now replacing Rodney's former relationship anxiety.
"I sure everyone understands these things take time," Daniel assured him. "I mean it took years to refine and develop the naquadah generators."
"Yes," Rodney nodded, clearly pleased Daniel understood. "Katie understands that."
He still didn't look like he was all that convinced.
"Have you talked to her about it?" Daniel asked carefully.
"Yes, yes," Rodney answered. "Well, I made the point about the betterment of Humankind stuff."
Daniel couldn't really imagine that had been all that helpful for Katie to hear. It wasn't like the "betterment of Humankind" was something that was going to be completed anytime soon.
And that there came down to the crux of the matter for people like him and Rodney – there was always some new crisis that would turn up, some Ancient piece of a puzzle to solve, some new tech that needed developing. Finding time among that to share your life with someone was a big ask.
Still, he felt he should try to help. What would he do if he was in Rodney's position and Sha're was still alive?
"Maybe you could set aside one full evening every week with Katie, have a nice meal together?" Daniel suggested. "Show her that you care, you know, make a gesture."
"A gesture," Rodney repeated thoughtfully. "Something to show I'm serious about the relationship, it's just I don't have much time for it right now."
"Maybe don't phrase it quite that way to Katie," Daniel frowned, but Rodney was looking off to a high corner, clearly lost in thought.
Daniel waited a beat, but Rodney was still looking off thoughtfully.
"Rodney?"
"Um, what? Yes, a gesture," Rodney pointed at him. "You're right."
It was an unusual phrase from Rodney in Daniel's experience, but he happily took it. "For now though, let's crack on with the reading."
"Yes, yes, boring Ancient journals," Rodney uttered focusing back on his laptop.
"Great," Daniel nodded, hoping he'd helped.
Of course it in no way helped him resolve his own worries about life, work, and relationships.
He let out a breath and forcefully pulled his mind away from thoughts of Sha're, focusing back on the Ancient screen.
Where had he gotten to…?
00000
TBC