Chapter 2, part 1.
The next day Alice was permitted to step through the Stargate to Atlantis one last time—at least for a while. Her old teammates—Will Cooper and Commandant Perrault—were waiting for her at the other side, accompanied by her brother, Jake. Cooper and Perrault had a general understanding of what had happened to her; she had told them before they had gone hunting for Jareth. Jake, however, was unaware of her trip to the future and so he didn't fully grasp why the brass made the decision to pull her back to Earth. He followed Alice back to her old quarters in the North Inner Tower to help her pack up, and complained all the way.
"Look, I feel you, Jake, I'm not exactly pleased myself, but it's not my decision, so can we please get past it?" She finally snapped at him as they got to the room.
He sighed. "Yeah. Sorry—it's just that I'm gonna miss you. I've gotten used to having you so close," he admitted, sitting down on her bed. He patted the place next to him and she joined him.
"I know, I'm gonna miss you too." She looked around. "And I'm gonna miss this place. These people…" Her voice trailed off as, suddenly but not unexpectedly, the memory of Karim hit her, pulling at her heartstrings, bringing the grief and guilt that she'd been working so hard to push to the edges of her mind—back to the forefront.
He didn't say anything for a moment and they sat in silence. Then he reached out and enveloped her in his arms, cuddling her like a child.
"I'm sorry, Allie," he murmured. "I'm so, so sorry."
She couldn't respond; there was a lump in her throat that prevented her from speaking, or even breathing properly, and soon she was gasping for air—or was it sobbing?
Jake didn't say anything more, just held her for a long time, allowing her to cry herself out.
"I'm sorry," she managed to croak into his shoulder eventually, after what seemed like at least half an hour, but couldn't really be more than ten minutes. "I don't know what came over me…"
"I do." He pulled back a little to look at her. "Been there, remember?"
She almost laughed, though tears were still welling up in her eyes. "So you knew?"
"Yeah, you're not really that hard to read, sis."
"You think… others knew…?"
"Yeah. Pretty sure at least Sheppard knew, or guessed. Ronon and Teyla, too. Probably Doctor Keller. You were lucky the protocol here is so relaxed, and Sheppard is… well, Sheppard. As long as you did a good job and were discreet, he wasn't really going to interfere."
Alice extricated herself from his arms and wiped the tears off her face. Without looking at him, she stated: "You didn't like him."
"He was a good guy, but… these rules are there for a reason.." He hesitated. "You probably think, who am I to judge? I broke the rules, too, in a similar way." He shook his head. "But it's different, and you know it. Robert was not my direct report, and he wasn't an officer." He sighed, seeing her look away. "I don't want to hurt you anymore than you're already hurt, sis—let's just get to work."
Alice nodded and they both got up to start packing. They didn't mention Karim anymore.
Having packed up her personal possessions—it surprised her how much stuff she'd accumulated over the years—she moved on to her lab. It wasn't so easy there—some of the things she had been studying had to stay on Atlantis, others she could take with her, and everything needed to be catalogued and signed off by the Head of Department—and that meant Doctor McKay. He also complained a bit about her leaving—which actually flattered her a little—but he was easily distracted, and so they passed the hour discussing a range of topics, mostly circling around him and how brilliant he was.
Eventually, when all of her private and work stuff was packed neatly into boxes and waiting for her by the Gate, Alice was ready to go; but she took time to take one last walk around the City, collecting memories before she had to give it up, and saying goodbye to everyone. They all expressed regret at her leaving—she couldn't tell how genuinely, of course, but it touched her, nevertheless. Some of them she'd be seeing at her pinning-on and decoration ceremony, of course, and it wasn't like she'd never see the others again—unless something happened, and in their job, that was always a high probability—but it did feel overwhelmingly sad to be leaving this family that she had built. The feeling of belonging that she had found here was blunted by the grief and guilt she felt, but it was still there; she wasn't sure if she would ever find it again elsewhere.
Finally, she stood in front of the open Gate. Jake and Cooper were going to help her with her boxes, and they went ahead—but Alice stopped for a moment for one last look at Atlantis—and then, with a heavy heart, she stepped through.
Jake and Will went back to Atlantis immediately, and a couple of airmen helped Alice carry the boxes to her lab. She spent the remainder of the day unpacking and arranging all her stuff. She also took a few things into her on-base quarters—some clothes and a few photos—and the rest went home with her that night.
The next day Alice spent mostly doing paperwork—she was already annoyed with how much of it she had to do, being a team leader, especially that she hadn't even met her team yet. She signed off early, though, and drove straight to the airport.
The flight from LAX had already landed when she entered the arrival terminal, but the passengers still weren't there. It only took five minutes, though, for them to start appearing at the doors. Alice was standing a little to the side and looking away when a familiar voice called her name. She turned around and smiled.
"Mom!" She called out. "Aaron!" And then she noticed a small figure toddling towards her at great speed. "Ikey!"
She crouched down and opened her arms, and the boy jumped into them with reckless abandon, laughing. "Auntie Allie!" He exclaimed with excitement.
Alice scooped him up and stood up. "How's my favorite godson doing?" She asked him with a warm smile.
"Plane!" He informed her happily and she chuckled. At that moment, Alice's mom and Aaron caught up with them and Alice hugged each of them, without letting go of Ike.
"How was the flight?" She asked, nodding towards the exit and they started moving that way.
"Long," her mom exhaled. She didn't like flying, Alice knew. That was why she'd asked Aaron to accompany her to Colorado and back. "But very comfortable." Aaron had insisted on paying for the tickets—and booked first class for the three of them.
"We had a bit of a situation, taking off," Aaron added, pointing at his son in Alice's arms. "His ears popped, and there was a bit of crying and screaming…"
"Oh, poor boy, that was not nice, was it?" Alice hugged Ike closer to her. "My car's just over there."
They got to it, Alice handed Ike to her mom and popped the trunk. They put mom's and Aaron's suitcases inside, and they were about to take their seats when a couple young girls ran up to them and stood in front of Aaron.
"Hi!" One of them said breathlessly. "You're Aaron Starr, aren't you?"
Alice looked at him, interested. She'd rarely seen him interacting with fans outside of a music gig, and was curious to see his reaction.
He smiled politely and then winked at the girl. "Last I checked," he quipped and both teenagers squealed in delight.
"Oh, would you mind if we took a photo with you? Please?" The other girl asked pleadingly.
"Not at all," Aaron agreed immediately.
"I'll take it," Alice offered and went around the car. One of the girls handed her a phone and the two moved to pose with Aaron.
Alice took a couple photos.
"Thank you so much!" One of the teenagers gushed.
"I love your music," the other one added. "You're one of my favorite musicians ever!"
Alice smirked and returned the phone.
"Thanks," Aaron replied magnanimously. "Have a great day, girls."
"Thank you! Love you!" They both replied and trotted off, looking back every two seconds and giggling to themselves.
"That must happen a lot," Alice commented, getting in the car.
"You have no idea." Aaron sighed and got in the back. Alice's mom passed Ike to him and took the front passenger seat herself.
"Do you want to come by my house?" Alice asked as the car lurched forward.
"I'd love to, but I need to get some food into Ike and then put him to sleep," Aaron replied. "The travel really tired him out, and I want him to be on his best behavior tomorrow."
"Right," Alice agreed.
"So how's it going, Allie? How is your new team?"
"Oh, I don't know yet." Alice laughed. "They're away currently and I won't meet them until next week. Talk about irony."
"Maybe that's for the best," her mom offered. "At least, when they meet you, you'll already be a major to them. Less confusion."
"Maybe." Alice nodded and then asked something unrelated to get the conversation into a safer territory. She had told mom and Aaron that the move to Colorado Springs was going to be permanent, at least for a while—they had been ecstatic both, for it meant it would be much easier to reach her; and she shared the news that she was going to be a team leader now. But she couldn't tell them what her team was doing or why here, and despite her repeated requests not to, they never ceased asking about it, so it was easier to steer away from the subject altogether.
She dropped Aaron and Ike off at their hotel—a grand 5-star place on a shore of the Cheyenne Lake that was more of a spa resort—and then drove back home just with her mom. Aaron had offered to pay for a room for Eileen, but she preferred to stay with Alice. She was excited to see her daughter's new place—Alice didn't really have anything of her own since she left home; all of her apartments up till now were on the premises of her bases, even the one she had lived in with her mom for the three years of her PhD studies at the AFIT.
It was almost twilight when they got to the house. Alice parked in the garage and they entered the house from there. As soon as they did, they heard music playing and as Alice looked into the kitchen, she saw Deanna dancing around it; the table was set and the smell of cooking was prevalent in the air.
"Hey, Beyoncé, we're home," Alice said with a chuckle.
"Oh!" Deanna exclaimed and ran to the stereo to lower the volume. "Good timing! Food's almost ready!"
Alice shook her head. "I told you, you don't need to cook for me."
"But I like to cook, and it's better to cook for two—or three—than for one!" Deanna replied brightly.
Alice rolled her eyes and then stepped back out of the kitchen, followed by her roommate.
"Mom, this is Deanna Taylor. Dee—my mom, Eileen Boyd."
They shook hands and exchanged smiles.
"It's very kind of you to prepare a meal for us," mom said politely.
"Oh, it's nothing, Mrs. Boyd! It's great to meet you, I wondered where Alice got her good looks from!"
Eileen chuckled and Alice rolled her eyes again.
"I'll show you the guest room, mom, you'll probably want to freshen up."
"Oh, yes, that would be great."
Deanna went back to the kitchen and Alice led the way upstairs to the spare room. She left her mom there for a moment and went to her own bedroom to change into something more comfortable. Then, when mom was ready, she showed her around the house, and finally they ended up back in the kitchen.
"This is a really nice house," mom told them as the three of them sat down to dinner. "But I still think you should buy something for yourself, honey. There's nothing like owning property that's gonna give you stability."
Alice smiled indulgently. "I told you, mom, it's too much of a commitment. I may just as well be reassigned somewhere else in a year or two." Or so she hoped—back to Atlantis, as soon as they find and eliminate Jareth.
"You're not going to be in the Air Force forever, honey," mom cautioned.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'll emulate Uncle Simon," Alice quipped.
"I don't see you in Washington, too much politics. You're not like Simon or Alastar."
Alice only smiled, thinking of the time that never was, in which she ended up a president of the whole country… though that only meant that she presided over its downfall.
"Who's Simon and Alastar?" Dee asked curiously, injecting herself into the conversation without a second thought.
"Alastar's my younger brother," Eileen explained with a touch of a warm smile. "He's a Congressman, been what, six years now? Since he was first elected. And Simon is my late husband's brother, he is a general in the Army, works at the Pentagon."
"Wow." Dee exhaled loudly. "Your family all sound so… grand."
"You wouldn't be saying that if you've actually met them," Alice said with a smirk.
"Oh, don't be like that." Her mom made a dismissive gesture. "We may not look eye-to-eye on politics, but they're both good men who care about their family."
"I have to concede that point," Alice agreed.
"And what about you, Deanna? What's your family doing?"
"Oh," Dee's eyes darted away. "Um, my mom is a school bus driver, and her boyfriend works in construction. Nothing fancy, see… and my dad's gone."
"I'm sorry to hear that, honey." Eileen reached out and patted Deanna's palm with her hand.
"Thank you, Mrs. Boyd."
"And Alice tells me you're a tailor?" Mom changed the subject deftly. Deanna's countenance immediately shifted to her usual brightness.
"A seamstress, actually. I've only started here, like, a month ago, but it's great. We've got loads of clients, and some of them don't just want corrections but tailored clothes, you know—that's my favorite part, when I get to create something from the scratch."
"Deanna's dream is to become a fashion designer," Alice added with a smile.
"Oh really? That's nice. It explains where you get that impeccable taste from," her mom complimented the young girl and Deanna beamed. "Did you always want to work in fashion?"
"Not at first, no—but, you know, I'm so freakishly tall, there's hardly any clothes that really fit me well, so I've been doing smaller and bigger corrections all my life. If something is long enough for me, it's always baggy and ill-fitting, but when I manage to make it into something that looks great on me, it's such a joy! So I decided that's what I want to do for a living."
"Sounds like you're on the right track, then, my darling." Eileen sent her an encouraging smile and Deanna replied with another sunny one of hers.
"I love your mom," Deanna told Alice later, when Eileen had retired to her room and the two roommates were clearing the table and doing the dishes. "And you're so much like her, it's eerie."
"Am I?" Alice was surprised. She didn't see it—aside from the obvious physical similarities: they were both small, red-headed and with green eyes. But Alice's hair was coppery-orange, while her mom's was lighter red, almost strawberry blonde; and Alice's eyes were bright green, while her mom's were darker shade. Their features were different, too: Alice's face was elfin, small with prominent cheeks, a triangular chin and an upturned nose, whereas her mother's was longer and with smoother lines; Alice always thought her mom was really beautiful, despite the wrinkles that now lined her once clear skin.
"Yeah—and I don't mean just that you look similar. It's in your voice, your movements—and in your attitude. You both have this amazing empathy and kindness, I feel so safe around you…"
Alice was at a loss for words for a moment—she didn't expect such compliments.
"Well, you are," she answered eventually. She looked at Dee and smiled. "You are safe."
Despite the cheery mood the arrival of her mom and friend put Alice into, she didn't escape the repercussions of her trip to Atlantis: she paid the price in tears and sleepless nights. Going there for the first time since she had given the order that snuffed her lover's life was hard, and it was a minor miracle that she managed to keep it together during the day—but when the night came, with its accusing darkness and lonely emptiness, Alice could no longer hold back the grief and guilt.
The morning was fair but cool. Alice got up very early, after a mere two hours of fitful sleep. She put on some sweats and went for a long run, going farther and pushing herself harder than ever since she had moved there. It was easier to focus on taking one step after the other when all of her body screamed out in pain. When she arrived back at the house, it was still quiet and sleepy; she washed the sweat and any remainder of tears off in the shower and then, dressed and looking as well as one could after such a night, she went downstairs and started on the breakfast. The pile of pancakes was already five inches high when her mom came down, followed not long after by Deanna, still in her pajamas.
"God, you're such an early bird," she observed sleepily, sitting down at the kitchen island next to Eileen.
"She's always been like this," the older woman replied, throwing Alice a smile. "Though she claims she likes to sleep in."
"I do," Alice affirmed and made a face at her mom. "But I'm in a business that doesn't really allow for it."
"You've already gone for a run, haven't you?" Deanna accused, stabbing the air with a forkful of pancake in Alice's direction.
The captain shrugged. "It's my morning routine." She thought it was a good moment to change the subject. "Anyhow, I need to get some work done before the thing later today—you okay to hang out around the house, mom?"
"Of course, honey. Not a problem."
"Good. I'll come pick you up at around eleven thirty. Dee, what about you? Do you think you can come, after all?"
"I'll do all that's humanly possible to be there," Deanna promised. "But it'll depend if I can finish this one dress I'm doing. The lady is supposed to come collect it in the afternoon, so I absolutely have to get it done today. But, I'm gonna employ all of my considerable sewing skills to make it!"
Alice smiled. "I'm sure you will. You've got the address?" She waited for Dee to nod, her mouth occupied with chewing for the moment. "And don't forget your license, or another photo ID. Otherwise you won't be allowed on the premises."
Deanna swallowed hard. "I won't forget. Don't worry. I'll text you if I can't make it, but if you don't hear from me, that means I'm coming!"
"Great. Alright, ladies, I think it's time for me to go, gotta get some work done before this whole affair."
"Oh, Allie, but you haven't eaten anything!" Her mom scolded her.
Alice smiled, bent over the island, kissed her mom on the forehead, and then she was off.
By seven in the morning, she was already in her lab. She worked diligently until eleven; focusing on her research was blissfully engrossing—didn't allow her to think about anything else. She then changed from the green BDU she wore on the base into her service dress uniform and left the SGC to go get her mom. She then swung by Aaron's hotel and drove them all to where the ceremony was going to take place—the Peterson Air Force Base. They couldn't exactly invite civilians into Cheyenne, so General Landry got the Air and Space Museum at Peterson to host the event instead. Alice didn't really have to do anything—acting on instructions from Landry, and seeming well used to unconventional tasks by now, Sergeant Harriman took care of everything for her, including ordering a cake and refreshments.
Everyone was already waiting when Alice got there with her mom, Aaron and Ike: Jake, Perrault, Cooper, Amelia Banks, Alison Porter, Doctor McKay, Doctor Keller, Sheppard, and even Ronon and Teyla. But, aside from the Atlantians, there were also a few people she'd known from elsewhere: Deanna (beaming at her and showing her thumbs up any time Alice looked at her), Doctor Lee, and, to Alice's surprise—and delight—even Colonel Carter made it, though Alice had been so sure she wouldn't.
"Been in the area," Carter explained with a wink and Alice knew it meant that the Hammond must have been back for resupply or maintenance and Carter took the opportunity for a little shore leave.
The ceremony itself wasn't long. General Landry said a few kind words, though by necessity quite vague, about Alice's service up till then, and then Carter and Sheppard pinned the new insignia to her lapels. This was immediately followed by the presentation of her new awards: the second Bronze Star and the third Purple Heart.
Once the official part of the ceremony was done, they were led off to another room where the cake (decorated with a big inscription Congratulations! and the likeness of an oak leaf on one side and a star—more yellow than bronze—on the other) and other refreshments waited for them. Subtle music came from the speakers and everyone dispersed into small groups to talk. Alice, feeling obligated to exchange at least a few words with everybody, flew from group to group until, eventually, she came to a stop next to Aaron and Dee, engaged in a conversation with Carter, Sheppard and Teyla. Ike was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did you lose my godson, Aaron?" Alice asked with mock censure in her voice as she joined them.
"Your mother kidnapped him for a walk," Aaron replied with a twinkle in his eye. "I think she needed some fresh air, and it'll do him good, too. Been a little overexcited, I'm afraid."
Alice smiled and nodded, but something of her uneasiness must have registered on her face, because Aaron added: "Jake is with them, with that tall guy with the dreadlocks…"
"Ronon," Alice and Teyla said in unison.
"He's really hot, that guy," Deanna confessed with the brightest of smiles.
"You're in no luck, he's taken. And too old for you," Alice warned her.
"Aw, shucks. I don't mind old—all of the guys here are on the older side except for this white boy—" she waved at Aaron "—and your even whiter brother, and yet all of them are absolute—"
"Yes, we get it, Dee, thank you!" Alice cut her off, but she was laughing, and so were the others.
"Where did you find this little gem, Major?" Carter asked with a broad smile, and Alice blinked quickly. It was the first time anyone addressed her with her new rank and it felt odd—wrong somehow. She had been a captain for such a long time—nearly six years—and now suddenly she had to get used to this new honorific.
"Oh… on the side of the road," Alice quipped and Deanna roared with laughter.
"Well, you're not wrong!" She slapped her own thigh with mirth. "I was hitchhiking to get from Denver to the Springs, and Alice was kind enough to give me a lift. We bonded over having to move over to the Springs, though I was quite keen to do so, whereas Alice hoped not to!"
"Really?" Aaron picked up on it. "And why wouldn't you want to, Allie?"
Alice forced a smile and hoped it looked at least a little genuine. "It's not that I don't like Colorado Springs, but I would've preferred to have stayed where I was."
"I would've preferred that, too," Sheppard threw lightheartedly. "We could really use you over there."
"Not more than we can use her here," Carter disagreed good-naturedly. "Major Boyd's unique expertise and, ah, abilities are quite indispensable here right now."
"Either way, we're going to miss you, Major," Teyla cut Sheppard off, who was already getting ready to rebuke Carter.
"Thank you, Teyla. I'm going to miss you, too," Alice replied, and this time there was not an ounce of affectation in her voice—just genuine warmth.
"I wish there was someone who fought like this over me!" Deanna commented cheerfully, eliciting another burst of laughter and chuckling from the group.
"Seriously, though, it was kinda impressive," Aaron told Alice later that day, after the official part of the event was over and she, her mom, Aaron, Ike, Deanna and Jake went back to her and Dee's house for a bit of quality time together. "More even than the promotion and the decorations, the way everyone seemed to want to work with you—I mean, these were some important people, from the way you acted around them, weren't they?"
"Sheppard and Carter?" Alice was sitting on the couch wedged between Jake and Deanna, and Aaron was resting in an armchair, with Ike toddling around barefoot on the carpet. Mom had gone to bed early, suffering from a headache. "Yeah, they are. Colonel Sheppard had been my CO for a long while, and Colonel Carter… well, you could say she was my mentor. I have great respect for both of them, though you couldn't find two people more different in how they approach almost anything…"
"Face it, Aaron, you're no longer the only superstar in the joint!" Jake joked and both Alice and Aaron rolled their eyes, chuckling.
"It's weird, though. All those people working with you, but they're such an odd bunch—I don't just mean that some are civilian and some military, but there's a French guy, a Canadian, and when I asked that hottie Ronon where he was from, he said something weird, I've never heard of such a place…" Deanna said wonderingly, demonstrating shrewdness that Alice wouldn't suspect she'd have. "How can they all be working with you, Alice?"
The newly promoted major put on an inscrutable smile. "I get around," she replied briefly.
"They seemed to have known you, too," Deanna noted, nodding towards Jake.
Jake grinned at her a bit derisively. "I get around, too."
"But…"
"Drop it, Dee," Aaron advised with an annoyed expression. "I've been trying to get something out of either of them for years and nada." It wasn't exactly true, since both Alice and Jake told Aaron much more than they were supposed to—it was pretty general, but still, not the official cover story.
Deanna sighed, but didn't press. Alice thought the younger girl was still a bit intimidated—she had said to Alice on the side that she had found it hard to believe to be even talking to a celebrity of Aaron's stature, much less hanging around like he was just a normal guy. Alice had assured her that Aaron was just a normal guy, at least to her, but it didn't seem to convince Dee.
Soon after, Aaron called a cab to take him and Ike back to the hotel—the boy was getting insufferable, and Aaron claimed it was because he was too tired. Deanna hung around for maybe half an hour still, and then retired to her room, tactfully letting Alice and Jake catch up. Neither of them mentioned Karim—they talked around him—but Jake tried to push her to reveal where she was for that week in March when she had seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth, and where she got such good information on Jareth's whereabouts that they were able to get to him. Alice squirmed a little but then had to categorically demand he stopped asking, because she wasn't going to tell.
"It's not even that I was ordered to," she explained to him. "It's just that—it's better if you don't know."
"Better for whom?" He asked doubtfully.
"Better for you," she replied gently.
"I thought we were past keeping secrets from each other," he complained.
Alice only smiled and looked away.
They stayed up half the night, talking about Atlantis and Stargate Command in hushed voices, sharing hopes and fears. They went to bed after two in the morning—Alice to her bedroom, and Jake slept on the couch. In the morning, after a common breakfast with Dee and mom, the siblings drove to the SGC together. All the Atlantians were already there and, after saying a final goodbye, they all stepped through the Gate to get back to their city. Alice, with a heavy heart, straggled to her lab to get back to her research, but a surprise was waiting for her there.
"Colonel Carter!" She exclaimed, walking into the room. The older officer was standing in the middle of the lab, looking at a whiteboard Alice had covered in calculations the previous day. She turned around and smiled as Alice entered.
"Major Boyd, good morning. How are you feeling with the new rank?" She asked kindly.
"It'll take some getting used to," Alice confessed. "I wanted to thank you for coming yesterday—I didn't really expect you to be there, so it was a great surprise."
"The Hammond took some fire in our recent skirmish with the Wraith in Pegasus," Carter explained lightheartedly. "We patched it up okay, but it needs some more extensive repairs. It's in the dry-dock in Nevada. And it was my pleasure."
Alice smiled and nodded. "So what brings you around here today, ma'am?"
"I have a briefing with General Landry later today, thought I'd visit my old haunts," Carter laughed. "This used to be my lab."
"I know. Still can be if you want it—I'd be happy to vacate it and go back to Atlantis," Alice said half-jokingly.
"Yes, I heard that you weren't too keen on this reassignment." Carter nodded. "Nothing quite seems exciting after Atlantis, does it?"
Alice didn't see the need to reply, as it was quite obviously a rhetorical question.
"Still, it should be a good challenge for you," Carter continued after a beat. "Your first official command—and about time, don't you think?"
Alice shrugged. "Here in the Program it's not uncommon to get command pretty late," she observed.
"So you're not looking forward to leading a team, then?"
"I am," Alice assured her. "It's just that… I'm not too good with people. Kinda makes the whole thing a bit more stressful."
"It shouldn't, I know you'll do great." Carter smiled encouragingly. "The most important thing is to know yourself, and be confident in your decisions. You've done this before, you've led people into battle—this will be no different. Only more paperwork," she quipped and Alice laughed.
"Don't I know it! My team isn't even here and I've had a ton of it to do already!"
"Doesn't get better, I'm afraid," Carter noted with a smirk. "But you'll get used to that, too." She turned around and waved towards the whiteboard. "What are you working on?"
"Oh, it's just one of my pet projects." Alice shrugged and stepped closer to the board to swing it around and reveal the other side where there was a rough drawing. "I'm trying to design a satellite with an Asgard transporter. With a network of such satellites, we could transport people all around the world without having to count on the presence of a battlecruiser in the orbit—it would always be available, of course just for the Program's needs, at least for now."
"Very interesting!" Carter took a long, careful look of the sketch. "Although, one of the battlecruisers is always in orbit nowadays, so you might find it difficult to secure funding for an alternative."
"Oh, I know, but I figured I might as well try. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work, but the design will be there if need be." Alice looked away quickly, her voice faltering just for a second as she thought back to her trip into future and the circumstances under which a similar idea came into life there. "Of course, I need to figure out how to miniaturize the technology—it's quite a big unit on the battlecruiser, but then again it needs a lot more range and power there. Power source is another problem—putting a Naquadah reactor on each satellite is not a viable solution, but standard solar panels won't provide anywhere near the required amount of energy, so I have to figure out an alternative."
"It's an interesting problem," Carter agreed. "Is that the only thing you're working on now?"
"Oh, goodness, of course not!" Alice chuckled nervously. "I have my nanite programming project, a theoretical zero-point energy problem I'm trying to decipher, I'm attempting to retrofit an Ancient personal force shield generator, build a new live ammo energy combination weapon and I'm looking into neutronium energy…"
"That's quite ambitious, Major." Carter smiled indulgently.
"Oh, well, I like to rotate my projects around, helps me keep a fresh mind. Actually, I learned that from you," Alice added with a twinkle in her eye.
"Oh?"
"It's been ages. Remember that trip on the Prometheus, years ago, you measured the cosmic microwave background on the fringes of our galaxy? You let me help you with your research, and it was the first time I did anything like this. I learned a lot on that trip."
"Wow, it has been ages," Carter agreed with a chuckle. "See, even back then, I knew you had tremendous potential. I'm very glad to see how right I was."
"Well, thank you, ma'am." Alice bowed a little with an impish smile, eliciting another little chuckle, but then grew more serious. "I am incredibly grateful to you, Colonel. You got me into this Program in the first place—you inspired me, you were my mentor. Your belief in my abilities gave me such confidence—and I really needed that."
Carter nodded. "Yes, you needed a little nudge in the right direction. I'm glad I could be of service. You seem plenty confident now—you've really grown into your position and rank very nicely."
"I had lots of help," Alice acknowledged. "The opportunity to learn from so many excellent scientists and leaders, and, you know, just all these smart people—it cannot be overstated how much I gained from just being exposed to all that." Her voice sounded a bit wistful at the end; all that was now over, after all. Granted, SGC had its own share of excellence, but Alice doubted it could quite compare with Atlantis.
"Good," Carter said with a lenient smile. "I'm sure it all helped—but don't forget to give a bit of credit to yourself, too. And continue to be amazing—I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, of all people, but we'll need your expertise and abilities now more than ever."
"Yes, ma'am."
The colonel checked her watch and sighed. "Well, it's been great talking to you, Major, but it's time for me to go, I can't keep General Landry waiting."
"Of course, ma'am. Thank you for stopping by."
"Always a pleasure, Major. I'm sure we'll talk again soon." Carter extended her arm to Alice and they shook hands. She then left the room and Alice, feeling a little better now, sat down to her work.