Sploosh
Chapter 1 - Weather Channel
Written 2009.
A gush of air escaped Elizabeth Weir's lips and her shoulders dropped comfortably. She pushed her hands together firmly, raising her arms above her head, drawing in more breath as she went. Slowly, she allowed her arms to drift limply to her side, another relieved breath parting her lips. She titled her head forward, directing her gaze to her knees. Beyond her crossed legs and bare feet lay the blue camping mat she was sitting on.
Two sharp knocks bounced off the door. Elizabeth didn't glance up immediately. She eased herself to her feet by leaning on her desk, breathing deeply. She looked towards the open door, seeing her guest. She invited calmly, "Come in, Teyla."
"I'm sorry, Doctor Weir. I did not mean to intrude on your meditation."
Elizabeth blinked, then laughed. She threw a look towards the mat, explaining flippantly, "Oh, this is just yoga. People on Earth use it for relaxation – well, I guess it's meant to be a form of meditation."
Teyla smiled and entered the office. "I have need of relaxation myself. And a quiet moment to organise my thoughts. It is important for someone in your position, especially after stressful events."
"Believe me, Teyla, there are more stressful events than being held up at gun point."
The Athosian raised an eyebrow, considering this for a moment. Her eyebrow dropped and she agreed, "Yes, there are other moments that require more thought."
Elizabeth wondered how much Atlantis knew of what transpired during Kolya's siege of the city. Her resolve had been tested and certainly being held up at gunpoint was more than enough to be preoccupied with. Although, her thoughts kept returning to her head scientist and his uncharacteristic bravery during the storm.
That was definitely food for thought, but somehow she wasn't so surprised.
"Would you join me?" Elizabeth suggested. "I have a spare mat."
Teyla nodded once and began unlacing her shoes. She took the proffered mat and laid it out with careful fingers. She noted as she eased down onto the mat, "There is rarely a quiet time to reflect."
Elizabeth sighed. "Or when there is, something happens!"
"Yet I find myself waiting for something to happen," Teyla remarked.
"And even welcoming it when something does happen," Elizabeth admitted.
Right at that moment, the lights in her office blinked out. A quick glance into the adjoining rooms confirmed that it wasn't just a local problem. She exchanged a rueful look with Teyla and half-swatted her radio as she palmed it from her desk.
"What's going on, Rodney?" she asked after tapping the radio.
"The water has shorted some circuits in this section of the city," Rodney's voice reported in her ear. "There must be some sort of safety switch which probably caused the power to go off."
"Is it serious?"
"Zelenka and Ford got in the way of some of the current. They're going to the infirmary."
"Can you get it fixed?"
"Shouldn't take too long. It's just a matter of cutting power to this section so the safety switch isn't triggered."
"Alright. When you've done that, I'd like to see you in my office."
Elizabeth cut the link. She shook her head and looked to Teyla. "I'm sorry, we'll have to finish this another time."
"The wait is over," the Athosian observed, effortlessly rising to her feet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hold still," Carson Beckett instructed his patient. "This may sting a wee bit."
Aiden Ford didn't even flinch as salve was applied to his hands. He shifted his shoulders a little to get comfortable to the hard backed chair that held him. He caught the admonishing frown from the doctor and desisted from moving. Ford said cheerfully, "It doesn't even sting. Hey doc, I think you've got a nosebleed."
Dr Beckett hastily glanced at his reflection in a nearby bedpan. He turned his face back to his patient, scowling. Evidently, he was not pleased to be seen as gullible. Aiden grinned. "Don't look at me. I'm not the one who got a hit in the face."
"Fizzing circuits have a bite if you touch them, son," Carson shot back. "You might do well to remember that."
He briskly wrapped a bandage around Ford's fingers, then abandoned his patient, muttering under his breath about that "cheeky little bugger". Beckett shooed Ford out of the infirmary, saying darkly, "I don't suppose you've heard of the lad who cried wolf?"
"I'm going, I'm going!" promised the lieutenant as he hurried away.
Carson scowled even more deeply for a few moments. He managed to adopt a smile when he went over to check up on Zelenka, who had a slightly worse case and definitely deserved more sympathy than that Aiden Ford!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You said water shorted some circuits…?" Elizabeth prompted her head scientist when he appeared.
The light in her office was back on but her laptop, which she'd had running off the city's power because of low battery, was throwing a tantrum and refusing to rescue the file she'd left open while she was doing yoga.
It took Rodney McKay barely two seconds to have his hands up in the air to accompany his speech. Elizabeth idly wondered if he would knock the empty mug off the end of her desk.
"It was most likely due to water seepage," he explained briskly. "The section still has some damp areas. It seems the Ancients thought it would be helpful for the safety switch to turn everything off. However, it probably wouldn't have happened when they had the shield so – "
"I thought we'd drained that area already," Elizabeth interjected.
Rodney's eyes went skyward. "Oh yes, two weeks is sufficient to drain that much water."
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms. Seeing this, McKay held back the next retort which sprang to mind. There was a short awkward silence which was thankfully interrupted by Peter Grodin appearing at the door.
"You might want to see this," the English technician suggested.
Elizabeth wasted no time in following Grodin out to the control room. He brushed his fingers briefly on his laptop, causing the hanging screen on the wall to display a swirling of blue and green. Weir studied it for a moment then asked, "What is it?"
Grodin tapped a few more keys. One section of blue grew larger, encompassing the whole screen. "We discovered this shortly before the storm and it appears to be a series of high and low pressure systems. There was an increase in activity shortly before the storm and we've only been able in the last few days to decipher that it was a low pressure system building up beforehand. It's a weather forecaster."
"And is it going to be sunny or should I trade in my ration bars for an umbrella?" Rodney demanded.
Peter ignored the jibe and instead said to Weir, "In the last few hours, it seems that the ocean around the city has been experiencing current disturbances. It may explain why there was water seepage."
"Should I be worried?" Elizabeth asked.
Rodney, after examining the screen, answered, "No. The only thing that we should be concerned with is if anyone tries to take a surfboard on the waves. Speaking of which, when is Major Sheppard due back?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Welcome back, sir," Ford said as soon as the ramp of the Puddlejumper lowered.
John Sheppard exited, noticing his subordinate's bandaged hands. He cocked an eyebrow. "Hello, Ford. Did I miss something?"
"Apart from being electrocuted and Atlantis having its own weather channel, not really."
John didn't look too surprised at this report and he wasn't. He ran a quick hand over his hair to make sure that it wasn't drooping too much. He had an image to uphold after all. He said offhandedly, "I assume Beckett wouldn't let you out if you weren't alright."
Ford smiled somewhat shamefully and stuck his hands in his pockets. He admitted, "I wouldn't be so sure, sir. He chased me out."
"Now why would he do that?" John asked flippantly, a smirk painting his features.
The lieutenant shrugged in response, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He dropped beside Sheppard in a brisk walk away from the Puddlejumper hanger. After a few moments of silence, Ford caved in with his confession.
"I did mention the nose…"
John shook his head. He informed his team mate frankly, "Ford, consider yourself lucky that the good doctor doesn't know how to use a gun."
That thought alone caused Aiden to shudder involuntarily. While the occasion had called for it during Kolya's visit, seeing a P90 in Dr Beckett's hands was a creepy thought indeed.
"He's bad enough with needles," he said frankly.
Sheppard nodded in short agreement. He paused beside a window and took in the shining daylight cresting on each wave. He turned back to Ford and asked, "What's this about a weather channel?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rodney muttered as he tapped away at his laptop, "Czech had to go and get himself electrocuted, leaving me with his work as usual."
His fingers started whisking so furiously that he was soon almost bashing the keyboard. The computer complained after a few minutes, displaying an error message. Rodney sighed in exasperation and began batting the desk beside his laptop.
His eyes landed on Zelenka's desk and he added slyly to himself, "Huh, and he left his chocolate stash…"
McKay got to his feet and walked casually out from behind his desk, whistling. He meandered his way over to his colleague's empty desk. He slid into the chair and delicately pulled out a drawer. He smiled when the drawer exposed a mass of chocolate wrappers. He dipped a hand in and retrieved a solid bar of chocolate.
He drew in a breath and smiled coyly in relief. He took one edge of the wrapper and began tearing it. Dark luscious chocolate appeared.
"I see I need new hiding place," Zelenka said from behind him.
Rodney jumped out of the chair and quickly returned to his post. He pocketed the half open wrapper. The Czech shut the drawer, shaking his head. "You have no shame, McKay, or sense. The writing is not English. It could have anything. Lucky for you, I caught you in time. The filling is lemon."
Rodney's eyes widened. He grabbed the chocolate and threw it at his companion. Radek smirked and bit into the chocolate. He said in a muffled voice, "Of course, McKay, I do have normal chocolate. You may have some…"
"Really?" Rodney asked suspiciously.
"…if you beg."
"Hah. I knew there was a catch."
"You have run out of chocolate, no? I am offering to give you some. All you have to do is beg."
Rodney's lip twisted, a clear indication of what he thought of Zelenka's proposal. He shook his head in irritation and rebooted his laptop in a vain attempt to distract himself from the temptation of chocolate. He shifted uncomfortably. Finally, he angrily pushed aside his laptop, clasped his hands and burst out, "Please can I have some? Please?"
"What is this?" Radek blurted, suddenly gawking at his computer.
Rodney scowled. He moved behind the Czech to look over his shoulder. His scowl disappeared and chocolate was shunted down on his priority list. He observed in surprise, "That's the size of at least two killer whales."
"Ano," agreed Radek. "And it's right under the city."
Two sharp knocks bounced off the door. Elizabeth didn't glance up immediately. She eased herself to her feet by leaning on her desk, breathing deeply. She looked towards the open door, seeing her guest. She invited calmly, "Come in, Teyla."
"I'm sorry, Doctor Weir. I did not mean to intrude on your meditation."
Elizabeth blinked, then laughed. She threw a look towards the mat, explaining flippantly, "Oh, this is just yoga. People on Earth use it for relaxation – well, I guess it's meant to be a form of meditation."
Teyla smiled and entered the office. "I have need of relaxation myself. And a quiet moment to organise my thoughts. It is important for someone in your position, especially after stressful events."
"Believe me, Teyla, there are more stressful events than being held up at gun point."
The Athosian raised an eyebrow, considering this for a moment. Her eyebrow dropped and she agreed, "Yes, there are other moments that require more thought."
Elizabeth wondered how much Atlantis knew of what transpired during Kolya's siege of the city. Her resolve had been tested and certainly being held up at gunpoint was more than enough to be preoccupied with. Although, her thoughts kept returning to her head scientist and his uncharacteristic bravery during the storm.
That was definitely food for thought, but somehow she wasn't so surprised.
"Would you join me?" Elizabeth suggested. "I have a spare mat."
Teyla nodded once and began unlacing her shoes. She took the proffered mat and laid it out with careful fingers. She noted as she eased down onto the mat, "There is rarely a quiet time to reflect."
Elizabeth sighed. "Or when there is, something happens!"
"Yet I find myself waiting for something to happen," Teyla remarked.
"And even welcoming it when something does happen," Elizabeth admitted.
Right at that moment, the lights in her office blinked out. A quick glance into the adjoining rooms confirmed that it wasn't just a local problem. She exchanged a rueful look with Teyla and half-swatted her radio as she palmed it from her desk.
"What's going on, Rodney?" she asked after tapping the radio.
"The water has shorted some circuits in this section of the city," Rodney's voice reported in her ear. "There must be some sort of safety switch which probably caused the power to go off."
"Is it serious?"
"Zelenka and Ford got in the way of some of the current. They're going to the infirmary."
"Can you get it fixed?"
"Shouldn't take too long. It's just a matter of cutting power to this section so the safety switch isn't triggered."
"Alright. When you've done that, I'd like to see you in my office."
Elizabeth cut the link. She shook her head and looked to Teyla. "I'm sorry, we'll have to finish this another time."
"The wait is over," the Athosian observed, effortlessly rising to her feet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hold still," Carson Beckett instructed his patient. "This may sting a wee bit."
Aiden Ford didn't even flinch as salve was applied to his hands. He shifted his shoulders a little to get comfortable to the hard backed chair that held him. He caught the admonishing frown from the doctor and desisted from moving. Ford said cheerfully, "It doesn't even sting. Hey doc, I think you've got a nosebleed."
Dr Beckett hastily glanced at his reflection in a nearby bedpan. He turned his face back to his patient, scowling. Evidently, he was not pleased to be seen as gullible. Aiden grinned. "Don't look at me. I'm not the one who got a hit in the face."
"Fizzing circuits have a bite if you touch them, son," Carson shot back. "You might do well to remember that."
He briskly wrapped a bandage around Ford's fingers, then abandoned his patient, muttering under his breath about that "cheeky little bugger". Beckett shooed Ford out of the infirmary, saying darkly, "I don't suppose you've heard of the lad who cried wolf?"
"I'm going, I'm going!" promised the lieutenant as he hurried away.
Carson scowled even more deeply for a few moments. He managed to adopt a smile when he went over to check up on Zelenka, who had a slightly worse case and definitely deserved more sympathy than that Aiden Ford!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You said water shorted some circuits…?" Elizabeth prompted her head scientist when he appeared.
The light in her office was back on but her laptop, which she'd had running off the city's power because of low battery, was throwing a tantrum and refusing to rescue the file she'd left open while she was doing yoga.
It took Rodney McKay barely two seconds to have his hands up in the air to accompany his speech. Elizabeth idly wondered if he would knock the empty mug off the end of her desk.
"It was most likely due to water seepage," he explained briskly. "The section still has some damp areas. It seems the Ancients thought it would be helpful for the safety switch to turn everything off. However, it probably wouldn't have happened when they had the shield so – "
"I thought we'd drained that area already," Elizabeth interjected.
Rodney's eyes went skyward. "Oh yes, two weeks is sufficient to drain that much water."
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms. Seeing this, McKay held back the next retort which sprang to mind. There was a short awkward silence which was thankfully interrupted by Peter Grodin appearing at the door.
"You might want to see this," the English technician suggested.
Elizabeth wasted no time in following Grodin out to the control room. He brushed his fingers briefly on his laptop, causing the hanging screen on the wall to display a swirling of blue and green. Weir studied it for a moment then asked, "What is it?"
Grodin tapped a few more keys. One section of blue grew larger, encompassing the whole screen. "We discovered this shortly before the storm and it appears to be a series of high and low pressure systems. There was an increase in activity shortly before the storm and we've only been able in the last few days to decipher that it was a low pressure system building up beforehand. It's a weather forecaster."
"And is it going to be sunny or should I trade in my ration bars for an umbrella?" Rodney demanded.
Peter ignored the jibe and instead said to Weir, "In the last few hours, it seems that the ocean around the city has been experiencing current disturbances. It may explain why there was water seepage."
"Should I be worried?" Elizabeth asked.
Rodney, after examining the screen, answered, "No. The only thing that we should be concerned with is if anyone tries to take a surfboard on the waves. Speaking of which, when is Major Sheppard due back?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Welcome back, sir," Ford said as soon as the ramp of the Puddlejumper lowered.
John Sheppard exited, noticing his subordinate's bandaged hands. He cocked an eyebrow. "Hello, Ford. Did I miss something?"
"Apart from being electrocuted and Atlantis having its own weather channel, not really."
John didn't look too surprised at this report and he wasn't. He ran a quick hand over his hair to make sure that it wasn't drooping too much. He had an image to uphold after all. He said offhandedly, "I assume Beckett wouldn't let you out if you weren't alright."
Ford smiled somewhat shamefully and stuck his hands in his pockets. He admitted, "I wouldn't be so sure, sir. He chased me out."
"Now why would he do that?" John asked flippantly, a smirk painting his features.
The lieutenant shrugged in response, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He dropped beside Sheppard in a brisk walk away from the Puddlejumper hanger. After a few moments of silence, Ford caved in with his confession.
"I did mention the nose…"
John shook his head. He informed his team mate frankly, "Ford, consider yourself lucky that the good doctor doesn't know how to use a gun."
That thought alone caused Aiden to shudder involuntarily. While the occasion had called for it during Kolya's visit, seeing a P90 in Dr Beckett's hands was a creepy thought indeed.
"He's bad enough with needles," he said frankly.
Sheppard nodded in short agreement. He paused beside a window and took in the shining daylight cresting on each wave. He turned back to Ford and asked, "What's this about a weather channel?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rodney muttered as he tapped away at his laptop, "Czech had to go and get himself electrocuted, leaving me with his work as usual."
His fingers started whisking so furiously that he was soon almost bashing the keyboard. The computer complained after a few minutes, displaying an error message. Rodney sighed in exasperation and began batting the desk beside his laptop.
His eyes landed on Zelenka's desk and he added slyly to himself, "Huh, and he left his chocolate stash…"
McKay got to his feet and walked casually out from behind his desk, whistling. He meandered his way over to his colleague's empty desk. He slid into the chair and delicately pulled out a drawer. He smiled when the drawer exposed a mass of chocolate wrappers. He dipped a hand in and retrieved a solid bar of chocolate.
He drew in a breath and smiled coyly in relief. He took one edge of the wrapper and began tearing it. Dark luscious chocolate appeared.
"I see I need new hiding place," Zelenka said from behind him.
Rodney jumped out of the chair and quickly returned to his post. He pocketed the half open wrapper. The Czech shut the drawer, shaking his head. "You have no shame, McKay, or sense. The writing is not English. It could have anything. Lucky for you, I caught you in time. The filling is lemon."
Rodney's eyes widened. He grabbed the chocolate and threw it at his companion. Radek smirked and bit into the chocolate. He said in a muffled voice, "Of course, McKay, I do have normal chocolate. You may have some…"
"Really?" Rodney asked suspiciously.
"…if you beg."
"Hah. I knew there was a catch."
"You have run out of chocolate, no? I am offering to give you some. All you have to do is beg."
Rodney's lip twisted, a clear indication of what he thought of Zelenka's proposal. He shook his head in irritation and rebooted his laptop in a vain attempt to distract himself from the temptation of chocolate. He shifted uncomfortably. Finally, he angrily pushed aside his laptop, clasped his hands and burst out, "Please can I have some? Please?"
"What is this?" Radek blurted, suddenly gawking at his computer.
Rodney scowled. He moved behind the Czech to look over his shoulder. His scowl disappeared and chocolate was shunted down on his priority list. He observed in surprise, "That's the size of at least two killer whales."
"Ano," agreed Radek. "And it's right under the city."