Fic: Chase the Morning {4/37}
Chapter Three: Music
Date: March 26, 5 A.I. [2005]
Location: Atlantis Base, Colorado
Feeling highly refreshed after her shower, Jess dried off and got dressed in the clothes provided for her. A small packet of ponytail holders lay on the counter, along with a new hairbrush. Jess smiled; Teyla must’ve put them there while they’d been in the shower. She put her hair into a braid, the end brushing the base of her neck. Her old clothes had disappeared, but Jess didn’t really care if they were ever returned to her or not. It’s not like we’d want to wear bloodstained clothes, anyways. She told Anora, who agreed with her.
After putting the towel on a nearby rack to dry, Jess left the bathroom, padding along in stocking feet since her shoes had been taken along with her clothes. Teyla had left her post outside, and Jess wondered where the Athosian had gotten off to. It was probably something important, she decided after a moment’s conference with Anora, and shrugged. Well, they knew where the Jumper Bay was, so maybe if they went there they’d find someone working in there that could help them.
As they walked down the unfamiliar halls, they passed many different rooms that probably held any amount of interesting things. When they didn’t reach the Jumper Bay after ten minutes, Jess stopped, looking around for perhaps a sign or an indication of where they were in Atlantis. The sound of music playing nearby caught Anora’s attention, so Jess followed it, reasoning that where there was music there would be someone listening to it. Classical music floated through the air, making her smile. It had been a very long time since they’d heard such music, and they decided they’d like to meet this fellow audiophile.
Jess poked her head around an open door and spotted a man sitting at a computer. He was leaning back in his chair, eyes closed and hands folded behind his head. From what she could tell, he wasn’t a Tok’ra, but that was perfectly fine. Jess smiled at the picture of relaxation in front of her. The man seemed to be waiting for the results of a test; a program on the computer monitor had a progress meter on it. The blue bar was at about 73% complete, and went up a few more percentage points just as the music came to an end.
‘That was beautiful. Who composed it?’
The man, surprised by Jess’ sudden appearance, snapped back into wakefulness. His chair overbalanced and he went backwards, glasses flying and hands flailing wildly. He fell over with an almighty crash, tipping ass over heels and ending up with his knees slamming into his chest. Holding back what would’ve been a highly inappropriate giggle, Jess moved from the doorway and went over to the upturned man, picking up his glasses as she went.
‘Sorry about that,’ she apologized. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you, especially that much.’
The man managed to turn himself half-way to his side, getting one hand underneath him and pushing upwards. Jess knelt down to help, carefully taking hold of his arm and helping to a sitting position. He looked blearily at her until she remembered to hand him his glasses. Taking them with a muted sigh of annoyance, he put them on, blinking as the world came into focus.
‘Who are you?’ he asked after an uncomfortably long moment of silence.
‘What? Oh, we’re Jess and Anora Connor.’ She told him, getting to her feet and then holding out a hand. ‘And you?’
‘Radek Zelenka. You’re a Tok’ra? Are you new here?’ Radek got to his feet, using the desk to help him up.
‘Yes, and we just got in. We’ve been trying to find the infirmary, but no dice, so far.’ She replied exasperatedly. ‘D’you think you could show us?’
‘I’m in the middle of an analysis, but perhaps when it’s done?’ Radek said, glancing at the results meter, which was now up to seventy-nine percent. ‘Would that be alright?’
‘That’d be fine. We’re not in any rush, anyways. It’s supposedly just a check up of some sort. So, back to my original question: who was the composer of that music?’ Jess inquired as the more familiar strains of Beethoven’s Fifth began playing. Radek reached for a small remote lying on his desk and turned down the music, lowering it so they could speak normally.
‘It was Václav Jindřic Veit’s “Symphony in E Minor.”’ He said, picking up the chair and setting it down on its feet. Jess turned and pulled up a nearby chair so that she and Radek could sit and talk at the same eye level.
‘It sounded beautiful.’ She said. ‘Where’s he from?’
‘The Czech Republic. My homeland.’ Radek grinned, blue-grey eyes alight with pride.
‘Really? That’s fantastic.’
Radek’s smile, if possible, managed to widen, all annoyance at Jess forgotten as they began discussing their favorite composers, the masterpieces of the long dead filling this ancient corner of Atlantis.