Fic: Chase the Morning {25/37}
Chapter Five: Meeting
Date: August 20, A.I. 7 [2007]
Location: Hawk’s Flight Village, Colorado
‘Wait a minute, Kavanagh says he knows these guys?’ Rodney asked, staring at Robert Hayes, the mayor of Hawk’s Flight. ‘And that he can vouch for them? How? And when did they get here?’
‘They turned up at around ten this morning, Doctor McKay,’ Hayes said, sighing softly. ‘And yes, Doctor Kavanagh says that he knows with absolute certainty that neither Mister Foss or Doctor Zimmerman are allied in any way with the Wraith.’
‘Really.’ Rodney said flatly, drumming his fingers against the table at which he and the mayor sat. ‘We’ll see about that. Where are they now?’
‘In the holding cells. We thought it best to house them there until you could be contacted and informed of their arrival.’
‘Good idea.’ John remarked, getting up from his seat next to the kitchen window. ‘We’re going to have to talk with these two, see what they know, and if they’d be of any use to us, either here or elsewhere.’
‘Yeah, well, according to Kavanagh, Zimmerman’s a psychiatrist and Foss is a computer tech.’ Rodney said, rising to his feet. ‘We could use both, but Foss more at the moment than Zimmerman.’
‘Let’s see what they’re like first before we go deciding their futures, Rodney.’ John said patiently. ‘That’s if they even want to stay here with us. For all we know, they were just passing through.’
‘And what, Kavanagh just happened to meet them?’ Rodney snorted. ‘That’s suspicious, if you ask me.’
‘You think Kavanagh knew they were coming?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe.’ Rodney said, pushing the door of the small cottage open and stepping outside, John right behind him. They made their way towards the holding cells, which were actually a group of small hut-like structures set a few hundred yards from the main village square. The buildings were large enough to comfortably fit three people inside at a time, but for safety measures, the two newcomers had been put in separate cells. A guard stood outside the door to each cell, keeping watch with a zat gun close at hand. When John and Rodney approached the cell holding Will, the guard stepped aside after unlocking the door.
John nodded at him and then opened the door, his hand on the grip of his gun, ready to draw it if Will tried anything. Nothing happened when the door came to a stop, though, so John relaxed, if only just enough to present a calm exterior to the outside world, and especially to Will. Will looked up when John and Rodney entered; he had been idly playing a game of solitaire with a pack of cards he’d found in one of the drawers of the sole bedside dresser. He was on his fifth game so far, and at the moment wasn’t winning.
‘Hey,’ he said, giving a short wave to Rodney and John. ‘You here to question me?’
‘Yeah, we are.’ John replied. ‘Don’t worry; we’re not going to give you any trouble if you don’t do anything stupid.’
Will snorted softly. ‘If I was going to do something stupid, I probably would’ve done it by now.’ He told John. ‘As it is, I wasn’t planning on going out in such a particularly idiotic fashion, anyways. I’d rather go down in a blaze of glory against the Wraith, if given the choice.’
‘Hmm. Well, be that as it may, we’re here to find out just what you’re doing and why you’re here.’ Rodney said, moving forwards.
‘Couldn’t that be considered to be the same question?’ Will muttered, but paused in his card game and sat up straight. ‘Alright, ask away.’
‘Um, okay, then.’ Rodney cleared his throat. ‘Let’s start off with some basics. What’s your name?’
‘Will Zimmerman, though I think you probably already knew that. Next question?’
‘Where did you come from before you stopped here?’ John asked.
‘Old City. It’s in Canada.’ Will said, stretching gently. ‘Of course, we left there about three months ago.’
‘Why’d you come here?’
‘See, now we’re getting somewhere.’ Will leaned back, supporting himself against the wall behind him. ‘There’ve been rumors everywhere that we’ve been- camps, cities, whatever- that somewhere in Colorado is a safe place that the Wraith don’t dare go near. Now, all the stories pretty much agree on that; what they don’t say is where, exactly, this safe place is, or what it’s called.’
‘So, you basically left your home on the basis that you might find something out of a campfire tale?’ Rodney said incredulously. ‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘Apparently not, though.’ Will countered. ‘I’d have to say that we’ve found at least something, if the fact that you’re some of the healthiest and well-fed people I’ve seen for a long time is anything to go by. Most of the people living under the Wraith are worked ‘til they’re almost dead or they get just enough food to survive and little else. You, on the other hand, look like you get regular medical care and three square meals a day. You can’t tell me that there’s not something going on here.’
John and Rodney exchanged glances, John raising an eyebrow fractionally before speaking. ‘Well, you’ve got us there, I guess.’ He said slowly. ‘What do you plan on doing about it?’
‘Actually, I’d like to propose an alliance.’ Will said, and judging by the looks on the other men’s’ faces, this wasn’t what they’d been expecting him to say. ‘See, Henry and I used to work for something called the Sanctuary Network. Without getting into too much detail at the moment, it was a world-wide organization that had access to resources not commonly found in the day-to-day world. Now, even though the Wraith have taken over, we’ve been slowly trying to rebuild the Network and get it somewhat operational again. It’s been slow going, but we’re getting there. Unfortunately, even with the resources available to us, we wouldn’t be able to defeat the Wraith, not by a long stretch. However, rumor has it that the technology used by those who live in the so-called “Safe Zone” here in Colorado is more advanced than anything Earth has ever seen, before or after the Wraith.
‘If we could somehow integrate the two, maybe we’d stand a fighting chance of winning this war. Of course, that all depends on whether or not you’re the real deal, or if you’re just lucky and have access to medicine and doctors.’ Will paused, letting his words sink in, and then continued on. ‘There are other elements to the Sanctuary Network, but I’d rather not go into those details until I can talk with your leaders. What do you say?’
‘We’re going to have to think about it; after all, you’ve just told us some very interesting stuff, and it’s going to take some time to process it all. Let us go and talk with our superiors, and then maybe we can see whether or not we can make a deal. That sound alright?’ John asked, nudging Rodney gently when it looked as if the scientist was about to make a protest.
‘Sure. I take it Henry and I can’t get out of these cells any time soon?’ Will asked, waving a hand at his surroundings.
‘Sorry, but no. Not until we feel sure that you’re not some sort of spy from the Wraith or anything.’ Rodney said shortly. ‘Sheppard, let’s go.’
John followed Rodney out of the hut, the guard shutting and locking the door once they’d left. Rodney walked towards the central grouping of dwellings, a frown tugging the corners of his mouth downwards.
‘Something on your mind, McKay?’ John asked, lengthening his strides to keep up with Rodney. Even though McKay was a few inches shorter than John, he could still move at a pretty brisk pace when he wanted to, and John had to compensate for that fact.
‘I want to talk to Kavanagh, see how he knows these two.’ Rodney said. ‘I don’t buy the fact that they were just wandering around, looking for some “Safe Zone” that they’d only heard of from campfire myths. I mean, what sort of sane person does that?’
‘Someone who wants to get away from the Wraith?’ John suggested. ‘I don’t know, Rodney; I mean, if you thought that there was some safe place away from the Wraith, wouldn’t you want to go looking for it, even if it was just a myth?’
‘But it’s not a myth.’
John sighed. ‘I know, I know. But they don’t. And hey, maybe Zimmerman’s telling the truth. Maybe we’ll be able to get some cool tech out of it.’
‘We live in a city filled with “cool tech”, and you want more? And here I thought I was the tech hound.’ Rodney said, laughing.
John grinned, unable to keep himself from doing so. It was good to hear Rodney laugh. It was all too rare to be able to do so, and John would take any instance of it occurring, even if it was only for a brief moment.
End Part One of Book Two