Chapter 21: Minor Inconveniences
The screen crackled as Sheppard leaned down in front of the camera, static cutting the video feed on and off. His hair whipped every which way in the wind, with little pellets of rain beating down on him and making a very… pathetic sight. "—taken a turn for the worse. Going to have to shelter in the outpost while Rodney fixes the—"
"You and your stupid super-powered gene!" Rodney yelled in the background and Alex choked back a laugh at Sheppard's affronted expression.
"Look, the point is, we're going to be stuck here a little bit longer than anticipated. Once things are stabilized Rodney says we can come back through. Until then…"
"We'll keep a team on standby," Mr. Woolsey said, looking rather grave.
Though if Alex were to believe the reports he had read – this was actually rather expected behavior from the premier AR-1 team. If something was going to go wrong, it usually happened on their missions. Alternatively, if someone else was going to get rescued, it was usually by AR-1. A conundrum.
"Tell Rodney we will run simulations from here," Dr. Z pressed a couple of buttons on his laptop, and Alex peered over his shoulder trying to figure out what, exactly, he was doing. That was, after all, his entire excuse for being up in the control center. That had earned a hard look from Woolsey.
"Will do—" There was an increase in the background noise on Sheppard's side and sheets of rain seemed to be coming down now. "Gotta go, Sheppard out." The connection clicked off and a moment later, the gate shut off as well.
Woolsey's lips pressed into a thin line, before he turned to Dr. Z. "You will keep us appraised if you find anything."
"Ano, am not jealous bride like some scientists. Need to reduce power outputs…" Dr. Z input a few more commands into the computer, mouth turning down in a frown. "Not so simple, but I have a few tricks." He motioned for Alex to follow him – and in turn, Private Diver, the replacement for Greg while he was off world.
Alex could almost feel Woolsey's dissatisfaction at Alex being included in the troubleshooting. He wasn't entirely sure what had twigged wrong with that man, but he had definitely been against his presence from the very start. There were also a few side glances toward him whenever they crossed paths in the mess.
The thing was, Alex didn't have any gut feeling that the man was bad. He just didn't like Alex. And Alex didn't know why.
Hopefully whatever came through in the dial-in from Earth the next day would finally satisfy Woolsey.
"You will start calculating power thresholds for generators three, seven, and eight," Dr. Z broke into his thoughts, already rambling at full speed as they made their way to the transporter. "Include differential constants that are available on main server, or all will be for naught when Rodney blows himself up." There was a faint grin at that.
"Me?" After all, he was learning. But it had only been a couple of weeks. He was nowhere near the level of any of the actual scientists.
"Is not emergency." Dr. Z waved it off. "Rodney will most likely figure out the solution before they dial back in. But if we can show a teenager has started the process of finding same solution—" Dr. Z's grin was almost evil. "—is good to bring down ego of genius every now and then."
Calculating power thresholds was boring work – it mainly involved making sure that different simulations had the correct variables input and then left the computer to crunch all the numbers. A lot of numbers.
A lot of variables.
And just for the fun of it, Alex had tried one without the differential constants – and the projected thresholds were high enough even Alex knew it would cause the generators to overload and possibly explode. It was promising that he could even start comprehending some of the terms and outputs.
By the time evening rolled around, Dr. Z shooed him out of the lab, thanking him for the progress and clearly intending to stay the entire night if needed. Alex had offered to stick around but… it seemed that teenagers were still getting a curfew in these places, because any suggestion had been met with absolute refusal.
Hopefully if there was a real emergency, they wouldn't try to stick to their rules.
So, Alex had grabbed a quiet dinner in the mess – Private Diver wasn't exactly talkative like Greg, but he at least didn't seem to outright hate Alex, so that was a plus – and then escaped back into the privacy of his own room. Martins – because he didn't deserve the respect attributed to him by his title – could switch out with little fanfare and Alex could just… relax for once.
Though it hadn't seemed like rather dire straits, and certainly not an emergency, Alex couldn't help the fission of unease at the fact that the people who knew him best were all off world. Well, except for Dr. Z, but Alex hadn't quite figured out what story he knew or believed.
Alex paced the room for a moment, before pulling his base uniform off and slipping into his sweatshirt. There were certain things about blending in that he had learned over the years, and whenever he was on duty he made sure to try to look the part as much as possible. Even if he would have much rather spent his days in his sweatshirts and jeans.
No one else did it though, unless they were off duty.
He scrubbed a hand through his hair and decided that the day's activities hadn't quite earned him an evening shower – something to do in the morning – then flopped down onto his bed. The room was rather sparse, but he had gotten the impression that most of the rooms were. The communal rooms had more furniture – and of course, those in the first wave had more opportunity to collect belongings from the surrounding planets.
Alex let his eyes shut for a long moment, running through the security protocols surrounding his room. Atlantis had been rather helpful in letting him satisfy his neuroses – namely, warnings that told him whenever someone approached his room in particular, anti-listening devices, and a tight lock down on his door that only allowed someone with command authority through. He probably could've locked it even tighter than that, but knew that there were some limits he shouldn't cross.
He turned over on his side, studying the small grouping of trinkets he had used to decorate his bedside table. Pieces of shell from when he had wandered the beaches in San Francisco. A graduation tassel that had been a joke from Sabina once he finished his high school equivalency. The small metal oblong bobble that Theo had given him – the one that had given him telepathic powers.
Alex had hesitated touching it again – at least, not without frantically thinking off, off, off to it in the process. But he had to admit; it was rather cool. And while a part of him was pretty sure that this exact type of thing was what he was supposed to turn in to Rodney at first sight, he really wanted to try his hand at figuring it out himself.
To prove that he could be trusted with that type of thing.
The room alert chimed and Alex jerked out of his musing. He glanced at the clock on the wall, mind flipping through the digit translation. An hour early for the shift change.
Alex sat up on the edge of the bed, shook a tingle out of his leg, and resettled himself.
Who? He sent an inquiry to the door – and really, he was asking a door now? – but all he got back were vague feelings. Nothing threatening. Just… not quite command level, but something different. Something important.
He thought the door open and was surprised to see Dr. Beckett on the other side.
Dr. Beckett gave him a cheery smile, but hesitated at the threshold. "'Ello there. Was wondering if we could have a wee bit of a chat?" He held up two steaming cups. "I brought tea?"
A little confused, Alex waved him in, and turned the lighting up a little bit. He had only had a handful of interactions with Dr. Beckett over the past few weeks – mainly in the mess when Alex caught a meal with Dr. Z and not Greg's buddies. He was one of the few people that hailed from the UK, but aside from his accent and tea drinking habits, it was clear he hadn't been back in a long while.
Dr. Beckett pressed a hand to the wall and a bench – couch, something – slid out of it. He cocked an eyebrow at Alex's surprised expression. "Didn't know that was there?"
Alex shook his head, wondering what other secrets the room was apparently hiding. Rodney's orientation, after all, had only included the bare minimum for survival.
"Hmm…" Dr. Beckett settled down onto the edge of the couch, before leaning back. "Few realize these rooms have a lot more secrets than they show. But well… Ancients weren't known for making things comfortable." He shifted uncomfortably on the bench, before brightening again and passing the cup over to Alex. "Not sure how you take it, but went with the default."
Alex regarded it skeptically for a moment – Dr. Beckett seemed highly regarded by both Sheppard and Rodney, so he couldn't be dangerous – before taking a sip. It was hot, warmed his tongue, settled in the back of his throat, and it was… it was tea. Properly prepared tea. Not the trash that they served in the mess, claiming it was tea.
Dr. Beckett nodded to himself, before taking his own sip. "You learn to keep your own stash very quickly. Rodney has his own stash of high-quality coffee – it's an excellent way of knowing whether he has made a breakthrough on something. When that comes out, good news is coming soon."
Based on how much coffee Alex had seen Rodney down in the last few weeks, he almost doubted the man had enough self-restraint to keep from drinking his own secret stash. But it also seemed like Rodney's assistants spent more time running to and from the mess getting coffee than they did in making any other sort of progress when he was around.
Apparently, days when he was off world usually resulted in record breaking productivity for the rest of the lab.
Another excellent reason Alex was paired with Dr. Z.
"How are you settling in?" Dr. Beckett asked and Alex couldn't help the immediate tensing. He wasn't sure he was ready for someone else to try to step into the therapist position. Dr. Beckett seemed to know exactly where he had stepped wrong, because he shook his head. "No, no. I mean, I've heard a lot about you from John and Rodney, and Radek, surprisingly. But I know it's a lot to be thrust into. Especially unexpectedly."
Alex chewed on his lip, picking his words carefully. "It's an amazing opportunity…"
Dr. Beckett smiled at him gently. "I'm aware of how you got here, lad. From the little John has said, I can only assume it was… traumatic."
Alex bristled. "Oh?"
"There are only a handful of people who were involved in running interference for O'Neill, most notably not Woolsey or any of the other medical staff. But… it's important that certain individuals are aware, so that when something goes wrong, we can protect you."
When, not if. "And you think you know… what?"
"I received a very brief report from Byrne about you."
It was almost like a key phrase. A passcode.
If Dr. Beckett knew about Byrne, there was only one place he could've gotten that information. Sheppard.
Alex relaxed slightly and took another sip of the tea. "A report?"
Dr. Beckett's smile became a little rueful. "A brief one, at that. Which, admittedly, left quite a few holes. And I would really appreciate having some of those filled in before, god forbid, you end up in the infirmary."
Alex grimaced. He wasn't exactly planning to ever end up in the infirmary.
"But that's not what I'm here about tonight." He waved a hand at the cup in Alex's hand. "I'm here for a cup of tea and a chat. What do you think of the city so far?"
Alex took another sip of the tea, mulling over the answer for a long minute. "It's a lot more than I could have ever imagined." Even in the few weeks he had been there, it was clear that despite the whole alienness of it all, it was the closest he had ever gotten to finding a place he fit. Wasn't a complete misfit – age, notwithstanding.
"Bigger or smaller?"
"Both?" He mulled it over for a moment. "Sheppard made it sound expansive, but the city is way smaller than San Francisco. But then, I'm forcefully reminded we're on another planet, in another galaxy, and it's just…"
"Endless?"
"Yeah…" He felt like he had hardly scratched the surface at learning the city. Greg had notably only taken him to a few select areas, trained him how to get around to predetermined safe spaces. But this was just one city on one planet. There were hundreds more. "Guess it's bigger if you're going off world?" He couldn't help a slightly wistful sigh at that – Greg's few stories were packed with enough adventure that he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out forever. At some point, he was going to cave and get the transmitter – even if it was just to get off world.
"Which you're not going to do any time soon." There was a chiding tone to Dr. Beckett's voice. "I'm not going to lecture, but you do realize that despite all the precautions, people still manage to bring diseases back through the gate with them? There's a reason we do vaccinations."
Alex repressed a shudder at that. "Yeah, had a bad experience with vaccines." If that's what one wanted to call the modified virus distributed by SCORPIA. And then being drugged against his will… several times. He preferred to stay as far away from needles in the hands of people he hardly knew.
Technically, by that definition, he was practically best friends with Dr. Beckett at this point. He hadn't tried to drug him with tea, so that was already a few steps better than some people.
"I can get ye all the white papers we have for the vaccinations, if that'll help," Dr. Beckett offered.
"Yeah… Biology's not really my strong suit." He had been more or less basking in the fact that his degree had only asked for physics and chemistry. He chewed on his lip for a long moment, turning the thoughts over in his head. "Did you ever hear of Invisible Sword?" The name left an uncomfortable aftertaste in his mouth. No trust because of the vaccines, but everything that had gone along with that particular mission. SCORPIA. His father. Jones.
Dr. Beckett sat pensively for a long moment, before shaking his head. "No… but then, we received very little news from earth over the past several years."
Alex shrugged, setting the cup of tea down on the bedside table. "It wasn't highly advertised. But a… terrorist group added a poison to several vaccines, then killed a football team as an example to get their demands met. But it was a… farce. They just wanted to kill the children."
There was a long pause. "I'm assuming they didn't."
Alex gave a rueful grin. "No, no… they didn't. But for all I know, I've still got that floating around in me." Or maybe he had bled it all out after they tried assassinating him. It wasn't like he could actually check.
Dr. Beckett looked appropriately horrified, setting his tea aside and leaning toward Alex. "I'm sure there are tests we can do for that. And work up some sort of…" He gestured weakly with his hand. "Something. You shouldn't have to think you're potentially walking around with a ticking time bomb in your veins."
He… hadn't thought of it like that. Ever, really. There were only a handful of people left alive that had any inclination of how to activate the poison. And granted, some of those people were probably still out to kill him, so… "It's fine."
Dr. Beckett settled back and took a rather aggressive sip of his tea, before frowning in Alex's direction. "Why do I feel like you'll say that, even when you're actively dying?"
He wasn't going to confirm nor deny that accusation.
"Look, if there's anything I can give you that would help you at least think about getting these vaccinations, let me know. We don't do medical surprises here. Only experimentation that occurs is in an emergency, and thank goodness, we don't get many of those here anymore." The last part was muttered to himself, before Dr. Beckett smiled ruefully. "Not that I was planning to interrogate you on your past. Are you enjoying your work with Radek?"
That bought a slight smile to Alex's face. "I… like it."
"You sound surprised."
Alex shrugged. "Just… thought it would take longer to find something that… works." Sure, Dr. Z was more than happy to shuffle him off to someone else when it came to managing the more boring prerequisites of a full college degree – the humanities requirements, mainly – but had also painstakingly walked him through some of the more complex math that they regularly used in the city. Math that Alex was certain broke some of the rules he had learned in calculus…
"John was very insistent that you were here for more than just your past."
Alex raised an eyebrow at that cryptic statement.
"Even though it was your past that got you into the mess in the first place, believe me, if John hadn't seen something in you, you would not be here. He would've fought O'Neill tooth and nail. We've had too many issues with the wrong sorts getting into the city." There was almost a conspiratorial smile. "I'm pretty sure he had you pegged as Radek's new assistant from the moment the idea was pitched."
"Better than Rodney's assistant."
Dr. Beckett chuckled. "Oh, lad, John knows better than that. Rodney's a punishment, not a reward."
Alex smothered a grin in his cup of tea. Rodney was definitely an acquired taste. But he rather liked the man's brash approach to life. There was no doubting that he fancied himself the smartest man in two galaxies and wasn't afraid to let everyone know just why they were wrong. There were no fake platitudes or pretending he liked someone – and so far, Rodney seemed to tolerate Alex, so he counted that as a win.
"You wouldn't happen to enjoy fishing, would you?"
Alex blinked at the non sequitur. "Uh… no, not really."
"Oh, a pity. Once John and I were out on the south pier…"
Alex hid another grin as Dr. Beckett launched into his story.
Maybe the med docs here weren't so bad…
"Hey! Rider!"
Alex just barely kept himself from freezing in place – ninety-nine percent of the Atlantis population called him by his first name. The remaining one percent… well, Alex had carefully skirted around any discussion about the unwelcoming portion of the city with Dr. Beckett.
He could deal with a few bullies.
"What, a little hotshot like you isn't going to listen to his elders?"
Alex rolled his eyes heavenward for patience, before slowly turning around. He didn't miss Private Diver skittering back a few steps – useless, since this was a Sergeant, and Diver had no spine. "Can I help you?" He let his eyes flick to the name tag. "Sergeant Jamison?"
"Yeah." He stepped close to Alex, towering over him by a good handful of inches. Probably close in height to Ronon.
The taller they are, the harder they fall.
Not that any falling was going to occur. But he could still fantasize.
"You having fun hanging out with the squid and his gang?"
Squid.
That was a new one.
Probably referring to Greg, since he seemed to be the odd officer out. The only Navy representative.
Alex carefully kept his face blank – as much as he enjoyed it, baiting the bullies almost never worked out in his favor. And since he was trying to be on his best behavior here…
"Who'd you pay off to get in here? Who'd you—" One of Jamison's buddies slapped him in the shoulder before he completed the thought, but Alex had a feeling it would've been rather vulgar. "It's not like you're even a man. You didn't even qualify like the rest of the babies here."
Babies, being the other new recruits. The few privates that made it to Atlantis on their first tour. Very few.
Alex cleared his throat. "General O'Neill—"
"Bah, he doesn't have any sway out here." Jamison took another step into his personal space, leaning down until he was right next to Alex's ear. "Everyone knows the colonel makes the final decisions. So, what'd you do? What'd you offer to get your name kicked to the top of the list?"
He was really trying not to rock the boat, but people like Jamison really got on his nerves. Alex stepped back, trying to put a little space between them. "If you have concerns, you're free to take it up with Colonel Sheppard." And Jamison would be equally reported to Sheppard as soon as the man was back on the city. Although Alex didn't expect anything to change, he had a feeling that Sheppard didn't particularly like bullies on the city.
Did that make him a tattletale?
"Sheppard doesn't trust you," Jamison spat, before jerking his head in Private Diver's direction. "You can't even go anywhere without your chaser."
Alex tried not to roll his eyes. Tried. Really hard. But it clearly wasn't good enough, based on the scowl Jamison shot in his direction.
"And now the squid gets special duties, with the premier team, just because he chases a school brat around the city."
Jealously, definitely jealousy. "My apologies." And since Diver wasn't making any attempt to end the conversation, Alex figured he would finish it. He turned to push past the two blocking his path – Diver would catch up if he knew what was good for him.
A hand clamped down on his wrist—
Alex broke the hold with a jerk and pulled the automatic punch, just before it made contact. He glared up at Jamison's smug expression. "Don't. Touch me."
"Oh, the kid fancies himself a fighter?"
Alex gritted his teeth, taking a carefully calculated step to the side. He dearly wanted to punch the man. But here and now, it would be considered unprovoked – he doubted even Private Diver would dare take his side.
So, the high road.
"What a sad, pathetic life you live." Jamison said, just loud enough to carry to Alex. "Trusted by no one." His eyes flicked in Diver's direction. "Not even the ones you begged so prettily to bring you here." He shoved Alex's shoulder, before turning away with his crew. "You ever feel like sharing, we'll show you who the real people in this city are."
Alex bit his tongue to keep from saying something stupid like, don't mess with me. Or telling them exactly where to shove it. Instead, he just straightened his spine and stalked off in the opposite direction, hesitating just long enough for Private Diver to catch up, before taking a convenient transporter.
"What did you say to him?" Private Diver hissed, the moment the transporter doors closed. He looked petrified.
Alex shrugged casually, trying to let all the tension run out of his frame. "Just reminded him that I'm the last person he should be threatening." He stepped out of the transporter and headed down the hallway to the labs – there were more important things to be worrying about than the jerks in the city.
A/N: So, turns out this and the next couple of chapters needed to be entirely reworked. So, uh, that's my excuse. And look, we got to learn a bit more about Dr. Carson Beckett! Let me know what your thoughts are.