Fanfic Stagate Atlantis
Title: Rodney's Alarm
Chapter: 2 of 12
Characters: Rodney and Zelenka mainly, with others from Atlantis
Summary: Rodney has a very alarming day
Rating: PG
Genre: Humour
Category: General
Warnings: None. No sex; no paring; no spoilers (sounds boring doesn't it?)
Disclaimer: The usual. Love the show, don't own it.
Chapter 1
Chapter Two
Usually Rodney was oblivious to other people, especially when he was thinking about work -which was most of the time. However something about the people in the commissary was intruding upon his self absorption. He kept his head down over his breakfast, but casually darted glances around trying to figure out what it was about their behaviour that bothered him. As usual everyone was ignoring him as he’d made it plain some time ago that he preferred to work while he was eating. Social chit chat was a waste of his valuable time. Though he did seek and enjoy company when there wasn’t something urgent that needed fixing, this lately didn’t seem all that often. However they seemed to be taking it to extremes today and were leaving him in isolation while everyone clustered about on the opposite side of the room. He scanned faces for someone that he could casually chat with, but the few he did feel comfortable with seemed to be facing in the opposite direction as if avoiding his gaze.
Perhaps something was happening today that he hadn’t heard about, everyone did seem a little excited though they were also a bit unnatural as if trying to pretend it wasn’t happening. Rodney shook his head, he would never understand people. If he didn’t have a heavy work schedule again today he might have wandered over and joined in.
“Dr McKay?” One of the people he did recognise came over to his table.
“Ah… yes?” Rodney replied while trying to remember her name.
“Dr Beckett said he needed to see you straight away” The woman told him then she turned towards the door and left the room before he could remember her name or ask any questions.
Finishing his breakfast he decided, for once to do as Carson wanted. He could put off his work for a few minutes and head to the med lab in the hope of interrogating Carson about the odd behaviour he had witnessed. Beckett usually knew most of what was happening on Atlantis and could be relied upon to ‘spill the beans’.
“Ah Rodney” Beckett exclaimed in that tone of voice that said ‘I have something for you that you might not like’.
“Hello Carson.”
Carson opened his mouth to say something more.
“No I do not have time for you to poke and prod me today. I am just passing through and I have a lot of work to get done.” Rodney quickly managed to get it all out before Beckett had a chance to utter a sound.
“Actually that was the wee thing I meant to talk to you about.” Beckett said seriously.
“Uh huh?” Rodney replied, knowing that when Carson started sounding more Scottish than usual it meant that he was either under pressure or having a bit of a joke.
“You’ve been working too hard lately Rodney” Carson scolded, “You need to have some rest otherwise you are going to collapse.” As Rodney opened his mouth to reply Carson continued
“When you do, you will be in here with me. I have restraints all ready and waiting to keep you quiet for as long as I decide!”
“I’ll rest as soon as I’ve finished” Rodney replied quickly and seeing the look on Beckett’s face he went on, “It shouldn’t take me much longer, just another day or so. Besides, I’m not working, I’m here talking to you aren’t I?” he smirked. “Just what the doctor ordered.”
“Actually what the doctor ordered is a day off work” Beckett crossed his arms and frowned.
“Oh come on Carson!” Rodney exclaimed, “I can’t take a whole day off. Not now, I’m in the middle of running a system wide diagnostic and I have to keep an eye on the results. If anything isn’t working I have to fix it now.”
“Well then, what about Zelenka or one of the other scientists keeping an eye on it for you?”
“Oh yeah, right, as if I could trust any of them to do it properly!” Rodney exclaimed with disdain. “Zelenka would do his own thing, and probably write the program in Czech so no-one can understand it. Kavanagh wouldn’t understand anything and just spend his time whingeing. Kusanagi would offer to do it but it is way over her head, and she’d only be polite to any problems rather than fixing them. I need to have someone watching while I get some sleep, but I do that only when it is not a vital system.” He snorted in disgust. “You might as well put three year olds in charge of the Manhattan Project”.
“What!” Beckett reared back in alarm, “You’re surely not playing around with atomic bombs?”
“No, no, but that is the level of what I am trying to do. It isn’t dangerous, but potentially it could be disastrous if all our systems aren’t working properly the next time the Wraith come for a tea party.” Rodney brushed off Carson’s alarm. “We have been trying to integrate our systems with the Ancient technology, and it is more than a bit patchy. I don’t want to have to rely on them if something goes wrong. So I am rewriting a lot of our programs to integrate more smoothly and seamlessly with Atlantis technology. We really need to be able to properly use what we have, or it could mean serious trouble.” Rodney’s voice had grown louder and risen towards the end of his speech.
“Oh aye Rodney” Beckett said soothingly, “I can see you are doing very important work, even if I dinnae understand it. But you have to take some time off for yourself before you burn out. Look at yourself today, your eyes are bloodshot and your skin is very pasty. Not a healthy look”
“Okay, yeah, I know I have been pushing the limits lately” Rodney admitted reluctantly “but I really have to watch everything while this diagnostic is being run. If I don’t catch it straight away, there won’t be a window to run such a comprehensive diagnostic again for months, or longer.”
“Alright then Rodney, but try to take it a bit easier.” Beckett gave in, “After you have finished I expect you to have a few days off” he admonished.
“Yeah I will Carson, provided no-one starts shooting at us, or trying to kill me before I get an opportunity to relax.” Rodney noted cynically as he turned to leave the med lab.
“Carson?” Rodney stopped to ask. “What’s going on today? Do you know anything?”
Beckett looked quite startled. “What do you mean Rodney?”
“Oh I don’t know, just people seemed to be acting a bit strange today, like something is going to happen.” Rodney was a bit puzzled by Carson’s response.
“Nothing is happening that I know about.” Carson stated quite firmly.
“Oh. Okay.” Rodney dismissed the idea that he had somehow startled Beckett. “I’ll see you later.” He said as he turned and left.
Carson Beckett watched him go with relief. Rodney had nearly caught him out with that question. Shaking his head Carson triggered his radio which was tuned to a different channel than normal.
“I couldn’t get him to take the day off. He says he has to keep an eye on the diagnostics.” He listened for a moment to the response. “Okay. I’ll do my best, but you’d better post someone to keep an eye on him at all times.”
***************************************************
On to Chapter 3
Beta by mckay_ocd
Chapter: 2 of 12
Characters: Rodney and Zelenka mainly, with others from Atlantis
Summary: Rodney has a very alarming day
Rating: PG
Genre: Humour
Category: General
Warnings: None. No sex; no paring; no spoilers (sounds boring doesn't it?)
Disclaimer: The usual. Love the show, don't own it.
Chapter 1
Chapter Two
Usually Rodney was oblivious to other people, especially when he was thinking about work -which was most of the time. However something about the people in the commissary was intruding upon his self absorption. He kept his head down over his breakfast, but casually darted glances around trying to figure out what it was about their behaviour that bothered him. As usual everyone was ignoring him as he’d made it plain some time ago that he preferred to work while he was eating. Social chit chat was a waste of his valuable time. Though he did seek and enjoy company when there wasn’t something urgent that needed fixing, this lately didn’t seem all that often. However they seemed to be taking it to extremes today and were leaving him in isolation while everyone clustered about on the opposite side of the room. He scanned faces for someone that he could casually chat with, but the few he did feel comfortable with seemed to be facing in the opposite direction as if avoiding his gaze.
Perhaps something was happening today that he hadn’t heard about, everyone did seem a little excited though they were also a bit unnatural as if trying to pretend it wasn’t happening. Rodney shook his head, he would never understand people. If he didn’t have a heavy work schedule again today he might have wandered over and joined in.
“Dr McKay?” One of the people he did recognise came over to his table.
“Ah… yes?” Rodney replied while trying to remember her name.
“Dr Beckett said he needed to see you straight away” The woman told him then she turned towards the door and left the room before he could remember her name or ask any questions.
Finishing his breakfast he decided, for once to do as Carson wanted. He could put off his work for a few minutes and head to the med lab in the hope of interrogating Carson about the odd behaviour he had witnessed. Beckett usually knew most of what was happening on Atlantis and could be relied upon to ‘spill the beans’.
“Ah Rodney” Beckett exclaimed in that tone of voice that said ‘I have something for you that you might not like’.
“Hello Carson.”
Carson opened his mouth to say something more.
“No I do not have time for you to poke and prod me today. I am just passing through and I have a lot of work to get done.” Rodney quickly managed to get it all out before Beckett had a chance to utter a sound.
“Actually that was the wee thing I meant to talk to you about.” Beckett said seriously.
“Uh huh?” Rodney replied, knowing that when Carson started sounding more Scottish than usual it meant that he was either under pressure or having a bit of a joke.
“You’ve been working too hard lately Rodney” Carson scolded, “You need to have some rest otherwise you are going to collapse.” As Rodney opened his mouth to reply Carson continued
“When you do, you will be in here with me. I have restraints all ready and waiting to keep you quiet for as long as I decide!”
“I’ll rest as soon as I’ve finished” Rodney replied quickly and seeing the look on Beckett’s face he went on, “It shouldn’t take me much longer, just another day or so. Besides, I’m not working, I’m here talking to you aren’t I?” he smirked. “Just what the doctor ordered.”
“Actually what the doctor ordered is a day off work” Beckett crossed his arms and frowned.
“Oh come on Carson!” Rodney exclaimed, “I can’t take a whole day off. Not now, I’m in the middle of running a system wide diagnostic and I have to keep an eye on the results. If anything isn’t working I have to fix it now.”
“Well then, what about Zelenka or one of the other scientists keeping an eye on it for you?”
“Oh yeah, right, as if I could trust any of them to do it properly!” Rodney exclaimed with disdain. “Zelenka would do his own thing, and probably write the program in Czech so no-one can understand it. Kavanagh wouldn’t understand anything and just spend his time whingeing. Kusanagi would offer to do it but it is way over her head, and she’d only be polite to any problems rather than fixing them. I need to have someone watching while I get some sleep, but I do that only when it is not a vital system.” He snorted in disgust. “You might as well put three year olds in charge of the Manhattan Project”.
“What!” Beckett reared back in alarm, “You’re surely not playing around with atomic bombs?”
“No, no, but that is the level of what I am trying to do. It isn’t dangerous, but potentially it could be disastrous if all our systems aren’t working properly the next time the Wraith come for a tea party.” Rodney brushed off Carson’s alarm. “We have been trying to integrate our systems with the Ancient technology, and it is more than a bit patchy. I don’t want to have to rely on them if something goes wrong. So I am rewriting a lot of our programs to integrate more smoothly and seamlessly with Atlantis technology. We really need to be able to properly use what we have, or it could mean serious trouble.” Rodney’s voice had grown louder and risen towards the end of his speech.
“Oh aye Rodney” Beckett said soothingly, “I can see you are doing very important work, even if I dinnae understand it. But you have to take some time off for yourself before you burn out. Look at yourself today, your eyes are bloodshot and your skin is very pasty. Not a healthy look”
“Okay, yeah, I know I have been pushing the limits lately” Rodney admitted reluctantly “but I really have to watch everything while this diagnostic is being run. If I don’t catch it straight away, there won’t be a window to run such a comprehensive diagnostic again for months, or longer.”
“Alright then Rodney, but try to take it a bit easier.” Beckett gave in, “After you have finished I expect you to have a few days off” he admonished.
“Yeah I will Carson, provided no-one starts shooting at us, or trying to kill me before I get an opportunity to relax.” Rodney noted cynically as he turned to leave the med lab.
“Carson?” Rodney stopped to ask. “What’s going on today? Do you know anything?”
Beckett looked quite startled. “What do you mean Rodney?”
“Oh I don’t know, just people seemed to be acting a bit strange today, like something is going to happen.” Rodney was a bit puzzled by Carson’s response.
“Nothing is happening that I know about.” Carson stated quite firmly.
“Oh. Okay.” Rodney dismissed the idea that he had somehow startled Beckett. “I’ll see you later.” He said as he turned and left.
Carson Beckett watched him go with relief. Rodney had nearly caught him out with that question. Shaking his head Carson triggered his radio which was tuned to a different channel than normal.
“I couldn’t get him to take the day off. He says he has to keep an eye on the diagnostics.” He listened for a moment to the response. “Okay. I’ll do my best, but you’d better post someone to keep an eye on him at all times.”
***************************************************
On to Chapter 3
Beta by mckay_ocd