FIC: Kino Vision Number 10
The kino kept rewinding.
It paused on Young’s face, white with anger, and zoomed out to see a crowd of people in the corridor. Johansen was holding up Park; she appeared to be injured. The kino had missed what happened. Dr Rush seemed to have provoked some sort of confrontation. Everyone looked nervous.
“Where are you going, Rush?” Young said.
“To the control interface room,” Rush said. “With your permission of course, Colonel.”
His voice was as silky as Young’s was aggressive. Rush pushed his way through the crowd, as Young seemed to suddenly realize people were watching.
Greer stepped in and said, “Come on, folks, show’s over.”
He cleared a path for Johansen and Park and none too gently started pushing people away. The kino thought Greer actually liked Rush, though he was careful not to show it in front of Colonel Young. Same with Johansen, though unlike Greer, the kino thought she’d try to remain neutral in any open conflict. Greer would pick the military, what he knew, over the unknown of Rush. The kino watched Camille Wray approach Young.
She said, “Colonel, can I have a word?”
The kino saw Young pull himself back from whatever brink he had been approaching. He even managed to sound polite.
“Ms Wray,” he said.
She said in a low voice. “In private.”
The kino realized Greer had noticed it watching. Greer looked down the corridor as Wray and Young walked away and then up at the kino. He pursed his lips and then nodded at the kino-nodded it down the corridor to follow.
Interesting.
The kino traipsed after Young and Wray, just managing to scoot inside the room as Wray pressed the door control. Young turned to watch it close, his face suspicious. The kino didn’t blame him. Young was openly hostile to Rush but Wray, ambitious beyond her capacity, was another matter. There was something political that made Young a little more wary around her and she had some standing among the civilians. The kino didn’t know why. It gathered she had been in charge of something at their previous base, although Scott had once called her a glorified pay clerk. The other military personnel had laughed snidely so the kino had worked out it was an insult.
“That was unfortunate,” Wray said. “Rush has obviously been gathering some support among the science team.”
“What can I do for you, Ms Wray?” Young asked.
His voice was noncommittal.
“I went back to Earth today,” Wray said.
“Yes, I know,” Young said, injecting a weary note into his voice.
“I had a meeting with Mr Strom,” she said.
“Had loads of helpful advice as usual, did he,” Young said cynically.
Whoever Mr Strom was, Young clearly didn’t like him; from Wray’s face, she didn’t much like Mr Strom either.
“Actually, he said there had been some discussion about Rush,” she said.
“Discussion,” Young repeated.
“About Rush not going back to Earth,” she said. “They’d like to speak to him.”
“They?” Young queried.
When Wray didn’t explain who ‘they’ were, astonishingly, the Colonel sighed impatiently.
“Ms Wray,” he said. “What did I say earlier?”
“This isn’t going back to visit family, Colonel,” Wray said, as if she was speaking to a child. “The IOA wish to speak to him. And then there’s Dr Jackson.”
“What about Dr Jackson?” Young asked, puzzled at the non sequitur.
“Lt Johansen said that Dr Jackson and Dr Lee wanted to speak to Rush,” she said.
“What about?” he wanted to know.
“Oh, I don’t know, some project they’re working on,” she said dismissively. “It’s not important.” She stepped closer. “What is important is that you have an opportunity here.”
“An opportunity,” Young repeated. “To do what?”
“Colonel, your arguments with Rush, his intransigence, his open defiance of your orders, is lowering morale on this ship,” she said forcefully. “Unless you do something soon, there will be a mutiny. Rush is gathering support.”
To the kino’s surprise, Young gave a derisive snort of laughter. Wray looked taken back.
“Ms Wray, what are you suggesting?” he said. “That I space Rush for disagreeing with me? Or that I space the entire science team?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wray said.
“Then what?” Young said.
Wray seemed to pick her words carefully.
“If Rush went back to Earth via the communication stones,” she said, “then there’s always the possibility he might decide to stay there.”
“He’d be forced to stay there, you mean,” Young said, his voice changing in tone to something the kino couldn’t pick. “So this was Mr Strom’s suggestion, was it?”
Wray didn’t answer but she lifted her chin.
“Helpful as usual,” Young said mockingly. “And who would they send in his place? One of Telford’s hacks who tried to blow up the ship?”
Wray looked uncomfortable.
“Well, thank you, Ms Wray,” Young said. “Did he suggest how I get Rush to use the stones? Or did Mr Strom just expect I’d force him with a gun at his head? Am I supposed to just shoot him if he doesn’t cooperate?”
Wray opened her mouth but Young held up a hand.
“Let me make something clear, Ms Wray,” said Young. “If Rush doesn’t want to go back to Earth then that’s it. Clear? If Dr Jackson and Dr Lee need to talk to him they can always come here.”
He opened the door and walked out. Wray looked frustrated and despairing, as though she had been told to deliver a message that she didn’t especially agree with and now that she’d failed to persuade, wasn’t looking forward to reporting the fact.
“Better the devil, Colonel,” she muttered. “Maybe you just enjoy it.”
The kino thought both were questions.
It fast-forwarded.
The stargate was open. Wray, Scott, Volker, Eli and the others were waiting.
James said anxiously, “We shouldn't have left them there.”
Volker said, “What, so we could get stuck there too?”
Scott bit out angrily that no one had been left there-yet. He asked Brody for a time check. Twenty seconds until the gate shut down.
Colonel Young semi-staggered through the gate. He looked injured, as if he’d been in a fight. No one else followed him. Young took no notice of those waiting.
Scott said, “Colonel?”
Wray looked at the gate and frantically said, “Where's Rush?”
Young kept walking.
He said, “He didn't make it.”
The stargate shut down.
The kino flicked past Young walking out of the gateroom.
It paused on Wray, her eyes wide and scared.
FINIS.
For those who want to know what happened to Park, please see Lunch at Stravaigin.