[sgc] Who ever knew mainlining coffee would be quite such a literal thing?
Janet frowned down at her tray. "The mess in this place never changes," she muttered, walking towards an empty seat in the corner of the mess. Actually, most of the seats were empty, which was what happened when you couldn't sleep in the middle of the night and decided to get some food.
"Whoa," said a familiar-sounding voice. Janet stopped suddenly, her head whipping up. A tall woman, slightly pale, one hand outstretched to prevent Janet from running into her, was standing in front of her. She was taller--and definitely older--but this was Liz. Elizabeth. "Careful there," said Elizabeth, an amused smile on her face. "It helps if you look where you're going. Just every once in a while."
"Fine," said Janet, her lips pressed tightly together. "Thanks for the advice." She didn't look at Elizabeth as she slipped by her, moving quickly to her corner seat. Janet kept her back to the wall in case of zombie, snow monster, or alien invasion of the mess, and sat down to eat lunch. Thankfully, the newest journal in applied genetics had arrived just before the weekend. Janet flipped open the journal to an article about human cloning, pulled out a red pen, and started marking it up.
"Isn't that a little advanced for a high school student?" Janet heard Elizabeth ask.
"Maybe so," said Janet, shrugging. She didn't look up. "I'm in college."
"For an undergrad, then." Elizabeth set her tray down and took the seat opposite Janet. "I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir."
"I know who you are," said Janet, keeping her voice mild. She marked a section about particularly difficult to replicate gene sequences for further review. Maybe General Hammond would let her get away with sending a scathing letter about the so-called research methods used in this study. It could be anonymous.
"Really," said Elizabeth, without a questioning uptilt to her tone. "I'm curious as to how you'd know that, since we first met just about two minutes ago."
"Lucky guess," said Janet, still staring down at her journal.
"I don't think so," said Elizabeth, in the same tone of voice Liz always used when she was frowning. And when she didn't believe Janet.
"Hm. That's interesting." Janet marked a section with 'explain rationale for size of N more clearly.' How had this study gotten published again?
"Very," said Elizabeth. If Janet glanced up, she'd see crossed arms. Given her sense of curiosity, she couldn't help but look up. Yes, Elizabeth's arms were crossed, and she had a self-satisfied look on her face once she'd caught Janet's eyes. "And eye contact now. I think we're making progress."
Janet sighed and put her journal down, picked up her fork, and took a bite of bland, textureless mashed potatoes. She scooped up another bite, then stared at them, frowning. "You know, these are awful."
"They say you get used to them," said Elizabeth, shrugging. "Personally, I find that difficult to believe."
"They do say that, don't they," said Janet dryly. She ate the second bite of mashed potatoes and took a very large drink of milk to wash them down with. "'They' say a lot of things I find difficult to believe."
"That's very discerning of you," said Elizabeth, shoving a few green beans onto a fork and eating them. "Most teenagers aren't quite so cautious in that regard."
Janet silently rolled her eyes at Elizabeth. Not saying anything seemed like the best option.
"I don't believe I caught your name," said Elizabeth calmly, once the silence had dragged on for half a minute.
"I don't believe you did either," said Janet. Of course, from knowing Liz, she already knew that Elizabeth wasn't going to give up until she had the information she wanted. "It's Janet." Maybe she'd give up halfway.
"Janet," said Elizabeth, and Janet nearly did a double-take at how much she and Liz sounded alike. Which only made sense, of course, but never having met Elizabeth - only Liz - it was still eerie. "I suppose you were visiting and got stuck here by the lockdown?"
Actually, Janet had been brought in after the lockdown, but who was she to quibble with details? "That's right." She sighed, throwing a longing look at the journal. She'd been mentally composing a very scathing letter to the editors when she'd been interrupted.
"You seem to have lost your security escort," said Elizabeth, looking around with an air of faint surprise. Janet wasn't fooled.
"I think that enough people are busy with this lockdown that they don't have the time to spare to guard one tiny little girl," said Janet, smiling tightly. There was a very strong possibility that venting at a certain Lieutenant Colonel Not-A-Clone would have to be done after the crisis was over.
"In fact, I don't seem to remember seeing you before the lockdown started." Elizabeth's voice was full of curiosity now, and she was inspecting Janet more closely.
Janet shrugged and held up her visitor's pass, covering the date she'd actually received it with her hand. "I'm sure a doctor like yourself has had more important things going on than paying much attention to one tiny--"
"--little girl?" Elizabeth's arms were crossed again, and she was staring at Janet, one eyebrow slightly higher than the other.
Damn. It was entirely possible that she'd overdone the crankiness. "Exactly," said Janet, meeting Elizabeth's gaze steadfastly. Which, admittedly, was something most tiny little high school girls probably couldn't handle doing.
"What's going on?" asked Elizabeth.
"Why do you care?" asked Janet.
"The base is on lockdown, there's a crisis, somebody new shows up, and you expect me not to be suspicious?" asked Elizabeth. "Come on, Janet."
She sounded so much like Liz there that Janet lost it and started giggling. Which was possibly not the reaction that Elizabeth had been expecting, because she started looking concerned. "Oh," gasped Janet. "Oh, wow, that was funny."
"Are you all right?" asked Elizabeth, reaching one hand out to rest her fingertips gently on Janet's arm.
"Fine," said Janet, moving her arm away. She shook her head and pursed her lips so she wouldn't start giggling again. Thank goodness that inexplicable laughter wasn't one of the symptoms of this disease. Not that it was inexplicable, but Elizabeth didn't know that. "Just fine. There are some things you just don't expect during a bout of insomnia."
"Sounds like you're having the opposite problem than most," murmured Elizabeth. There was nothing secret in that; people kept falling asleep and into comas in the middle of the hallway, and the medical staff kept carting them away.
"I'm strange like that," said Janet. She shrugged.
"Do you want to tell me what you're doing here?" asked Elizabeth. "Or do you want me to call security?"
"Ooh, security," said Janet, rolling her eyes. "I'm working, thank you very much. Not that I want to be here working. Finals are next week, after all. But sometimes you have to pitch in and lend a hand whether you want to or not."
"I very highly doubt you're working here if you're an undergraduate," said Elizabeth. "Where are you attending school?"
"Harvard." Which Elizabeth might well know was where Liz was attending college. Janet shrugged, then glanced up as Lieutenant Rush walked into the room and waited in the doorway. "Lieutenant?" asked Janet.
"Dr. Fraiser." Lieutenant Rush didn't smile, but she looked slightly more hopeful than she had a few hours ago. "Your test results have finished running."
"Wonderful," said Janet, picking up her fork and shoveling a few more bites of mashed potatoes down. Then she stood. "Let's go see what that virus can tell us, shall we?"
"Wait," said Elizabeth, holding out her hand. She frowned slightly, her brows furrowed. "Dr. Fraiser? Janet Fraiser? I remember reading files about you. Aren't you supposed to be dead?" The look of surprise on Elizabeth's face was worth the aggravation of this entire talk.
Janet smiled at her. "I was. Now I'm not." She shrugged. "With Carolyn down for the count, I'm helping out for the weekend. Hopefully just for the weekend."
College. Harvard, as a matter of fact, and Janet had known who Elizabeth was. Janet studied Elizabeth as she waited for her to make the connection. "I see," said Elizabeth slowly, the look in her eyes knowing. "And you already--"
"Roommates," said Janet, picking up her journal and pen. It was part of the truth, at least. She kept her voice low, so Lieutenant Rush couldn't overhear from the doorway. "It was nice to meet you, Elizabeth. I'll tell Liz you said hi."
The poleaxed look on Elizabeth's face was worth every concerned look Janet got as she walked, giggling helplessly, down the hallway with Lieutenant Rush and back into the isolation room to check on her latest batch of test results.
***
"Of course!" Janet's eyes lit up at the same time Carson's did. "The Wraith took a normal Pegasus childhood illness, and they genetically engineered it to cause a coma in anyone who falls asleep."
"Bloody hell," said Carson. He stepped past Chuck to get closer to the camera. "If they let it loose on a world they're about to cull, it'd make the feeding process a thousand times easier."
"We're not going to let that happen, now, are we?" Janet smirked.
"I should say not!" Carson looked offended that she'd even suggest that. "How did it get all the way to Earth, though?"
"As far as I've been able to determine, the vector of transmission was Dr. McKay," said Janet.
"Rodney?" asked Carson. "But he showed no symptoms when I examined him before he went through the gate."
"It's got a twenty-four hour incubation period," said Janet. "He didn't start exhibiting symptoms until after he'd been in meetings with the entire science department. That's why they fell ill first."
"Lovely, just lovely," said Carson. "I expect he picked it up on his last mission?"
"You guessed it," said Janet, her mouth twisting wryly.
"Well, I'd isolated everyone in contact with Colonel Sheppard's team before they were affected, based on Dr. Lam's reports," said Carson. "So it hasn't spread very far on Atlantis. D'you think we can beat this thing?"
"Carson, this is my specialty," said Janet. "Not to mention yours, since we're talking genetic alterations here. Between the two of us, not only can we come up with a cure and a readily manufactured vaccine, but I also expect we can figure out a way to turn this back on its makers."
Carson chuckled. "That'd be lovely, now, wouldn't it, lass?"
"Lass," muttered Janet, rolling her eyes. "Tell Major Lorne I said hi, will you? Dial in the same time tomorrow, and we'll figure out where we're at then."
"I'll talk to you later, Janet," said Carson. He nodded a goodbye, and the connection cut out.
"Liz is going to die when she hears this story," said Janet. She turned and walked back to the infirmary. Who knew Rodney McKay would accidentally be responsible for an intergalactic plague?
"Whoa," said a familiar-sounding voice. Janet stopped suddenly, her head whipping up. A tall woman, slightly pale, one hand outstretched to prevent Janet from running into her, was standing in front of her. She was taller--and definitely older--but this was Liz. Elizabeth. "Careful there," said Elizabeth, an amused smile on her face. "It helps if you look where you're going. Just every once in a while."
"Fine," said Janet, her lips pressed tightly together. "Thanks for the advice." She didn't look at Elizabeth as she slipped by her, moving quickly to her corner seat. Janet kept her back to the wall in case of zombie, snow monster, or alien invasion of the mess, and sat down to eat lunch. Thankfully, the newest journal in applied genetics had arrived just before the weekend. Janet flipped open the journal to an article about human cloning, pulled out a red pen, and started marking it up.
"Isn't that a little advanced for a high school student?" Janet heard Elizabeth ask.
"Maybe so," said Janet, shrugging. She didn't look up. "I'm in college."
"For an undergrad, then." Elizabeth set her tray down and took the seat opposite Janet. "I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir."
"I know who you are," said Janet, keeping her voice mild. She marked a section about particularly difficult to replicate gene sequences for further review. Maybe General Hammond would let her get away with sending a scathing letter about the so-called research methods used in this study. It could be anonymous.
"Really," said Elizabeth, without a questioning uptilt to her tone. "I'm curious as to how you'd know that, since we first met just about two minutes ago."
"Lucky guess," said Janet, still staring down at her journal.
"I don't think so," said Elizabeth, in the same tone of voice Liz always used when she was frowning. And when she didn't believe Janet.
"Hm. That's interesting." Janet marked a section with 'explain rationale for size of N more clearly.' How had this study gotten published again?
"Very," said Elizabeth. If Janet glanced up, she'd see crossed arms. Given her sense of curiosity, she couldn't help but look up. Yes, Elizabeth's arms were crossed, and she had a self-satisfied look on her face once she'd caught Janet's eyes. "And eye contact now. I think we're making progress."
Janet sighed and put her journal down, picked up her fork, and took a bite of bland, textureless mashed potatoes. She scooped up another bite, then stared at them, frowning. "You know, these are awful."
"They say you get used to them," said Elizabeth, shrugging. "Personally, I find that difficult to believe."
"They do say that, don't they," said Janet dryly. She ate the second bite of mashed potatoes and took a very large drink of milk to wash them down with. "'They' say a lot of things I find difficult to believe."
"That's very discerning of you," said Elizabeth, shoving a few green beans onto a fork and eating them. "Most teenagers aren't quite so cautious in that regard."
Janet silently rolled her eyes at Elizabeth. Not saying anything seemed like the best option.
"I don't believe I caught your name," said Elizabeth calmly, once the silence had dragged on for half a minute.
"I don't believe you did either," said Janet. Of course, from knowing Liz, she already knew that Elizabeth wasn't going to give up until she had the information she wanted. "It's Janet." Maybe she'd give up halfway.
"Janet," said Elizabeth, and Janet nearly did a double-take at how much she and Liz sounded alike. Which only made sense, of course, but never having met Elizabeth - only Liz - it was still eerie. "I suppose you were visiting and got stuck here by the lockdown?"
Actually, Janet had been brought in after the lockdown, but who was she to quibble with details? "That's right." She sighed, throwing a longing look at the journal. She'd been mentally composing a very scathing letter to the editors when she'd been interrupted.
"You seem to have lost your security escort," said Elizabeth, looking around with an air of faint surprise. Janet wasn't fooled.
"I think that enough people are busy with this lockdown that they don't have the time to spare to guard one tiny little girl," said Janet, smiling tightly. There was a very strong possibility that venting at a certain Lieutenant Colonel Not-A-Clone would have to be done after the crisis was over.
"In fact, I don't seem to remember seeing you before the lockdown started." Elizabeth's voice was full of curiosity now, and she was inspecting Janet more closely.
Janet shrugged and held up her visitor's pass, covering the date she'd actually received it with her hand. "I'm sure a doctor like yourself has had more important things going on than paying much attention to one tiny--"
"--little girl?" Elizabeth's arms were crossed again, and she was staring at Janet, one eyebrow slightly higher than the other.
Damn. It was entirely possible that she'd overdone the crankiness. "Exactly," said Janet, meeting Elizabeth's gaze steadfastly. Which, admittedly, was something most tiny little high school girls probably couldn't handle doing.
"What's going on?" asked Elizabeth.
"Why do you care?" asked Janet.
"The base is on lockdown, there's a crisis, somebody new shows up, and you expect me not to be suspicious?" asked Elizabeth. "Come on, Janet."
She sounded so much like Liz there that Janet lost it and started giggling. Which was possibly not the reaction that Elizabeth had been expecting, because she started looking concerned. "Oh," gasped Janet. "Oh, wow, that was funny."
"Are you all right?" asked Elizabeth, reaching one hand out to rest her fingertips gently on Janet's arm.
"Fine," said Janet, moving her arm away. She shook her head and pursed her lips so she wouldn't start giggling again. Thank goodness that inexplicable laughter wasn't one of the symptoms of this disease. Not that it was inexplicable, but Elizabeth didn't know that. "Just fine. There are some things you just don't expect during a bout of insomnia."
"Sounds like you're having the opposite problem than most," murmured Elizabeth. There was nothing secret in that; people kept falling asleep and into comas in the middle of the hallway, and the medical staff kept carting them away.
"I'm strange like that," said Janet. She shrugged.
"Do you want to tell me what you're doing here?" asked Elizabeth. "Or do you want me to call security?"
"Ooh, security," said Janet, rolling her eyes. "I'm working, thank you very much. Not that I want to be here working. Finals are next week, after all. But sometimes you have to pitch in and lend a hand whether you want to or not."
"I very highly doubt you're working here if you're an undergraduate," said Elizabeth. "Where are you attending school?"
"Harvard." Which Elizabeth might well know was where Liz was attending college. Janet shrugged, then glanced up as Lieutenant Rush walked into the room and waited in the doorway. "Lieutenant?" asked Janet.
"Dr. Fraiser." Lieutenant Rush didn't smile, but she looked slightly more hopeful than she had a few hours ago. "Your test results have finished running."
"Wonderful," said Janet, picking up her fork and shoveling a few more bites of mashed potatoes down. Then she stood. "Let's go see what that virus can tell us, shall we?"
"Wait," said Elizabeth, holding out her hand. She frowned slightly, her brows furrowed. "Dr. Fraiser? Janet Fraiser? I remember reading files about you. Aren't you supposed to be dead?" The look of surprise on Elizabeth's face was worth the aggravation of this entire talk.
Janet smiled at her. "I was. Now I'm not." She shrugged. "With Carolyn down for the count, I'm helping out for the weekend. Hopefully just for the weekend."
College. Harvard, as a matter of fact, and Janet had known who Elizabeth was. Janet studied Elizabeth as she waited for her to make the connection. "I see," said Elizabeth slowly, the look in her eyes knowing. "And you already--"
"Roommates," said Janet, picking up her journal and pen. It was part of the truth, at least. She kept her voice low, so Lieutenant Rush couldn't overhear from the doorway. "It was nice to meet you, Elizabeth. I'll tell Liz you said hi."
The poleaxed look on Elizabeth's face was worth every concerned look Janet got as she walked, giggling helplessly, down the hallway with Lieutenant Rush and back into the isolation room to check on her latest batch of test results.
***
"Of course!" Janet's eyes lit up at the same time Carson's did. "The Wraith took a normal Pegasus childhood illness, and they genetically engineered it to cause a coma in anyone who falls asleep."
"Bloody hell," said Carson. He stepped past Chuck to get closer to the camera. "If they let it loose on a world they're about to cull, it'd make the feeding process a thousand times easier."
"We're not going to let that happen, now, are we?" Janet smirked.
"I should say not!" Carson looked offended that she'd even suggest that. "How did it get all the way to Earth, though?"
"As far as I've been able to determine, the vector of transmission was Dr. McKay," said Janet.
"Rodney?" asked Carson. "But he showed no symptoms when I examined him before he went through the gate."
"It's got a twenty-four hour incubation period," said Janet. "He didn't start exhibiting symptoms until after he'd been in meetings with the entire science department. That's why they fell ill first."
"Lovely, just lovely," said Carson. "I expect he picked it up on his last mission?"
"You guessed it," said Janet, her mouth twisting wryly.
"Well, I'd isolated everyone in contact with Colonel Sheppard's team before they were affected, based on Dr. Lam's reports," said Carson. "So it hasn't spread very far on Atlantis. D'you think we can beat this thing?"
"Carson, this is my specialty," said Janet. "Not to mention yours, since we're talking genetic alterations here. Between the two of us, not only can we come up with a cure and a readily manufactured vaccine, but I also expect we can figure out a way to turn this back on its makers."
Carson chuckled. "That'd be lovely, now, wouldn't it, lass?"
"Lass," muttered Janet, rolling her eyes. "Tell Major Lorne I said hi, will you? Dial in the same time tomorrow, and we'll figure out where we're at then."
"I'll talk to you later, Janet," said Carson. He nodded a goodbye, and the connection cut out.
"Liz is going to die when she hears this story," said Janet. She turned and walked back to the infirmary. Who knew Rodney McKay would accidentally be responsible for an intergalactic plague?