2nd part of Who Do You Trust
Title: Who Do You Trust? (Part 2)
Author: ultrapsychobrat
Prompt: James Kirk walks into a bar and meets...Pete Lattimer
Fandoms: Star Trek TOS and Warehouse 13
Word Count: 2946
Rating/Contents: PG-13, Gen/no warnings needed
Who Do You Trust (part 2)
Well, well, well-so this was the warehouse. He turned in place, amazed at the size of the building, but then moved to help Lattimer to his feet-that young man did not do very well when Guardian traveling.
“You all right?”
“Sure. Are we back?” After a glance around, his face broke into a huge grin. “Oh, yes, we are! Artie,” he yelled. “Claud, Steve, Myks, I’m back! Come meet my new friend, and boy do I have a story to-”
Kirk slapped his hand over Lattimer’s mouth and pulled him into a tight hold. “Look, Pete,” he whispered in the ear closest to him, “I guess we didn’t talk about this, but you just can’t introduce me as someone from the future. You’ll scare them.”
“Pete? Did you need-” a pretty young girl with brightly colored hair stopped at what she saw. “Okay, Pete, I know you’ve been jealous of my friendship with Steve, but pretending you’re gay isn’t gonna change things. And what’s he doing here? Does Artie know about this?”
Lattimer pulled away from Kirk and took a few steps toward the girl. “No, no, I’m not pretending I’m gay. This is James Kirk...uh...he won’t say anything to anybody. Where’s Artie?”
“Probably in Italy, since that’s where he was going when you drove him to the airport yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah.” He turned back to Kirk. “Well, I guess you can’t meet Artie, unless you’re gonna stay for a while, but you can still meet Myka and Steve and-”
“Ah-hem.”
“What?” Pete looked at the girl a bit impatiently.
“I need to see you, alone.”
“Not now, Claud.”
“Right now!” The girl walked over and grabbed Lattimer by the left elbow and marched him into a side room and closed the door with a decisive slam.
“Cute girl,” Kirk said to himself and then turned to the absolutely packed warehouse. What a place! It was huge and seemed to grow even larger as he looked. There were lights off in the distance which appeared to be a far distance. He wondered what kind of transportation device was used in here, and what was the system of organization that allowed them to know where items were located. Maybe all these things had been destroyed by his time, and since they were a guarded secret, the knowledge had not been passed on. His experience with the nature of human beings left that last assumption in severe doubt.
He had no idea what set off the artifacts, so touching or picking up anything was not the wisest thing to do. But he had to find the Guardian so he could make sure it wasn’t used again, except to send him back to where he belonged. He and Zykes had agreed to give him two days in which to return. If he hadn’t then Zykes would bring a Guardian through to bring him back.
Two days to find out a lot of information, now that he saw what needed to be done, it seemed like a laughably short time. He needed to get started. “Pete!” he called loudly. “I need you out here, please.”
The door through which Lattimer had been pulled by the girl opened and the very harried looking man bolted out to join Kirk.
“Are you okay?” Kirk asked, glancing through the door to see what had bothered him. A rather angry girl looked back.
“Sure. Come on.” Lattimer pulled him around a corner. “Look, Claudia is mad a hell that I brought you here without asking Artie. I didn’t tell her about you except you could be trusted-she didn’t believe me, but that’s okay. She’s still pretty new, so she’s a bit cautious. Not that she shouldn’t be, but I am older-she’s not even twenty-one yet-and I think I know better. I’ll show you whatever I think is-”
“Exactly where were you when you fell through to my time?” Kirk interrupted. “Exactly.”
“I was in the “Unknown phenomenon” section. Over here.”
Lattimer pulled him rather abruptly around another corner and down a short aisle. Kirk saw what he was looking for immediately. “Stop-that’s it!”
“What’s it?”
Kirk pointed to the ancient circle of rock. “There!”
“Oh, I remember. I wanted to see if there was anything behind the circle, and I stepped through....”
Kirk grabbed Lattimer and pulled him back. He had no idea if he would end up on Bright this time, and he didn’t want to spend however long it would take to find him. “That’s okay, don’t show me. I know how it works.”
“But this looks nothing like what you guys used to get us here. How do you know this is the same thing?”
Kirk patted the old rock and smiled. “This is what the original Guardian of Forever looked like-I mean at least it was the first one we discovered. It took the scientists a few years to figure out how it worked and how to duplicate it, but when they did, they made it from a different framing material-lighter, more efficient. The important, inside material was quartz crystal; that’s still the same, but they discovered you could house it much easier in something like aluminum or even plastic. As long as it didn’t have to withstand a hostile environment, it was fine. We still look for these old guys on newly discovered planets. We just never could find the one here on Terra.”
“So what are you gonna do now? You still wanna know about these Artifacts, don’t you? I wish Artie was here; he’d know the important stuff to show you. I can explain a few things I had a hand in capturing, but I don’t know if those are what you need to see.” Lattimer bit his lip and looked a bit undecided.
“Well,” Kirk said, “I’ve got to tell you I’m really more interested in how this all began than in how individual Artifacts work. Not that I’m not interested in that, too, but I just don’t have enough time right now to do this place justice.” Looking again at how big the warehouse was, he wasn’t sure he’d ever have enough time.
“Yeah, that’s another reason I wish Artie was here.” Lattimer glanced around, unsure of what value showing the star ship admiral anything would be. “Even Myks would know more than I do, but Claud says she’s gone to Minneapolis to visit some cousin.”
Kirk fought down a wave of impatience. This was ridiculous. “Listen Pete, I think I’ll just look around a bit. You-”
“No!” Lattimer almost shouted. “Not a good idea at all, at all. You don’t know what any of these things do, and it’s way too dangerous for you to just poke around. No, I’ll take you on a tour.” He reached over and grabbed a couple of pair of purple gloves, handing one set to Kirk and putting on another. “Put those on, they’ll protect you a little.”
Kirk looked at the bright gloves a bit distrustfully, but donned them. Holding up his purple gloved hands, he raised an eyebrow in question. Exactly what would what looked like purple latex gloves save him from? But he shrugged and followed Lattimer down one of the aisles.
~~~~~~~
Kirk’s head hurt, his feet were sore, and his eyes felt like they just might fall out to curl up and die someplace dark and quiet. Oh, God! What good did this long, too long tour of the warehouse do? Who cared if the ‘Time Machine’ of H,G. Wells (who was a woman, by the way) only worked haphazardly and didn’t go where you wanted it to go, or if the ring of Ben Franklin made your hand and arm light up? Lattimer had said very little, but the dozens of items he had shown him on this trek had burned a hole in Kirk’s brain. At this point it was all just words, and told him nothing that he wanted to know. How did these items get their power and who discovered that? Where were all these things in his time? Why hadn’t he ever heard of them?
“Stop,” Kirk finally said. “That’s enough! I need to rest a bit. When did you say this Artie was coming back?” He tried to sit on an old chair, but was grabbed by the arm and pulled to the middle of the narrow aisle.
“Uh-don’t sit there. Don’t sit anywhere until we get back to the offices.”
“Which will be when?” Kirk knew he sounded a bit irritated, and that wasn’t really Lattimer’s fault, but he was the only one here.
“We’ll go there now. Come on.” Lattimer turned and started back the way they had come, looking over his shoulder once in a while to make sure Kirk was following.
They were about half-way there when a strange ringing made Lattimer grab his pocket and remove a rather large communications device. He flipped it open and the girl’s voice came though, as well as her picture.
“Pete, would you and your friend come back to Artie’s office, please. Someone would like to speak to you.”
“Sure, Claud, we’re already on our way.”
“Oh, good. Where are you, right now?”
“Uh...around the...uh...oh, down by the Vault. We’ll be there soon.” Lattimer shut the communicator and looked about like a hunted rabbit. He grabbed Kirk’s arm and said more intensely than he had said since they had arrived at the warehouse. “Run faster than you have ever run before. Come on!”
Kirk stared at him and saw real panic in his eyes. Following his instincts is what had kept him alive in some very dicy situations. He followed Lattimer’s lead. Head and feet forgotten, he ran down aisles, around corners, through shelves and stacks of curious, unknown items. Just when he thought he could run no farther, Lattimer stopped. Putting out his hands in an effort not to knock the man over, Kirk came to an ungainly halt. Gasping, he bent over, trying to get his breath back. “Why did...” breathe “we do...” breathe “that?” Breathe...breathe...breathe....
“You know how to work this thing, right?”
He looked up to see the old Guardian. “Yes, I think so.”
“Then do it. I’ll go back to the office and stall for as much time as I can. Get behind it, so no one will know you’re there. He started off, but then came back. “Thanks for bringing me home. Wish you could have stayed longer.” He put out his hand to shake the hand of the Star Ship Admiral from the future.
“Who are you so afraid of?” Kirk asked hurriedly.
“Doesn’t matter. The vibes are really bad. Just go home.”
“Maybe I’ll be back.”
“I wouldn’t do that, at least not soon. Good luck, Admiral. I won’t forget you.”
With that Lattimer was gone, running off in another direction. Kirk shook his head, not really understanding what was going on, and moved around behind the Guardian and pulled his instruction hard copy from his pocket. He read through the sheet and found the control crystals. It didn’t take him long to set the circle to the configuration Zykes had determined for him. Giving the warehouse one final look, he stepped through the Guardian, dumped unceremoniously in a back alley of what he hoped was Luna Base, Bright. He already knew he’d return to the warehouse. There was still so much to learn.
Part 1(http://archiveofourown.org/works/843608)
Author: ultrapsychobrat
Prompt: James Kirk walks into a bar and meets...Pete Lattimer
Fandoms: Star Trek TOS and Warehouse 13
Word Count: 2946
Rating/Contents: PG-13, Gen/no warnings needed
Who Do You Trust (part 2)
Well, well, well-so this was the warehouse. He turned in place, amazed at the size of the building, but then moved to help Lattimer to his feet-that young man did not do very well when Guardian traveling.
“You all right?”
“Sure. Are we back?” After a glance around, his face broke into a huge grin. “Oh, yes, we are! Artie,” he yelled. “Claud, Steve, Myks, I’m back! Come meet my new friend, and boy do I have a story to-”
Kirk slapped his hand over Lattimer’s mouth and pulled him into a tight hold. “Look, Pete,” he whispered in the ear closest to him, “I guess we didn’t talk about this, but you just can’t introduce me as someone from the future. You’ll scare them.”
“Pete? Did you need-” a pretty young girl with brightly colored hair stopped at what she saw. “Okay, Pete, I know you’ve been jealous of my friendship with Steve, but pretending you’re gay isn’t gonna change things. And what’s he doing here? Does Artie know about this?”
Lattimer pulled away from Kirk and took a few steps toward the girl. “No, no, I’m not pretending I’m gay. This is James Kirk...uh...he won’t say anything to anybody. Where’s Artie?”
“Probably in Italy, since that’s where he was going when you drove him to the airport yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah.” He turned back to Kirk. “Well, I guess you can’t meet Artie, unless you’re gonna stay for a while, but you can still meet Myka and Steve and-”
“Ah-hem.”
“What?” Pete looked at the girl a bit impatiently.
“I need to see you, alone.”
“Not now, Claud.”
“Right now!” The girl walked over and grabbed Lattimer by the left elbow and marched him into a side room and closed the door with a decisive slam.
“Cute girl,” Kirk said to himself and then turned to the absolutely packed warehouse. What a place! It was huge and seemed to grow even larger as he looked. There were lights off in the distance which appeared to be a far distance. He wondered what kind of transportation device was used in here, and what was the system of organization that allowed them to know where items were located. Maybe all these things had been destroyed by his time, and since they were a guarded secret, the knowledge had not been passed on. His experience with the nature of human beings left that last assumption in severe doubt.
He had no idea what set off the artifacts, so touching or picking up anything was not the wisest thing to do. But he had to find the Guardian so he could make sure it wasn’t used again, except to send him back to where he belonged. He and Zykes had agreed to give him two days in which to return. If he hadn’t then Zykes would bring a Guardian through to bring him back.
Two days to find out a lot of information, now that he saw what needed to be done, it seemed like a laughably short time. He needed to get started. “Pete!” he called loudly. “I need you out here, please.”
The door through which Lattimer had been pulled by the girl opened and the very harried looking man bolted out to join Kirk.
“Are you okay?” Kirk asked, glancing through the door to see what had bothered him. A rather angry girl looked back.
“Sure. Come on.” Lattimer pulled him around a corner. “Look, Claudia is mad a hell that I brought you here without asking Artie. I didn’t tell her about you except you could be trusted-she didn’t believe me, but that’s okay. She’s still pretty new, so she’s a bit cautious. Not that she shouldn’t be, but I am older-she’s not even twenty-one yet-and I think I know better. I’ll show you whatever I think is-”
“Exactly where were you when you fell through to my time?” Kirk interrupted. “Exactly.”
“I was in the “Unknown phenomenon” section. Over here.”
Lattimer pulled him rather abruptly around another corner and down a short aisle. Kirk saw what he was looking for immediately. “Stop-that’s it!”
“What’s it?”
Kirk pointed to the ancient circle of rock. “There!”
“Oh, I remember. I wanted to see if there was anything behind the circle, and I stepped through....”
Kirk grabbed Lattimer and pulled him back. He had no idea if he would end up on Bright this time, and he didn’t want to spend however long it would take to find him. “That’s okay, don’t show me. I know how it works.”
“But this looks nothing like what you guys used to get us here. How do you know this is the same thing?”
Kirk patted the old rock and smiled. “This is what the original Guardian of Forever looked like-I mean at least it was the first one we discovered. It took the scientists a few years to figure out how it worked and how to duplicate it, but when they did, they made it from a different framing material-lighter, more efficient. The important, inside material was quartz crystal; that’s still the same, but they discovered you could house it much easier in something like aluminum or even plastic. As long as it didn’t have to withstand a hostile environment, it was fine. We still look for these old guys on newly discovered planets. We just never could find the one here on Terra.”
“So what are you gonna do now? You still wanna know about these Artifacts, don’t you? I wish Artie was here; he’d know the important stuff to show you. I can explain a few things I had a hand in capturing, but I don’t know if those are what you need to see.” Lattimer bit his lip and looked a bit undecided.
“Well,” Kirk said, “I’ve got to tell you I’m really more interested in how this all began than in how individual Artifacts work. Not that I’m not interested in that, too, but I just don’t have enough time right now to do this place justice.” Looking again at how big the warehouse was, he wasn’t sure he’d ever have enough time.
“Yeah, that’s another reason I wish Artie was here.” Lattimer glanced around, unsure of what value showing the star ship admiral anything would be. “Even Myks would know more than I do, but Claud says she’s gone to Minneapolis to visit some cousin.”
Kirk fought down a wave of impatience. This was ridiculous. “Listen Pete, I think I’ll just look around a bit. You-”
“No!” Lattimer almost shouted. “Not a good idea at all, at all. You don’t know what any of these things do, and it’s way too dangerous for you to just poke around. No, I’ll take you on a tour.” He reached over and grabbed a couple of pair of purple gloves, handing one set to Kirk and putting on another. “Put those on, they’ll protect you a little.”
Kirk looked at the bright gloves a bit distrustfully, but donned them. Holding up his purple gloved hands, he raised an eyebrow in question. Exactly what would what looked like purple latex gloves save him from? But he shrugged and followed Lattimer down one of the aisles.
~~~~~~~
Kirk’s head hurt, his feet were sore, and his eyes felt like they just might fall out to curl up and die someplace dark and quiet. Oh, God! What good did this long, too long tour of the warehouse do? Who cared if the ‘Time Machine’ of H,G. Wells (who was a woman, by the way) only worked haphazardly and didn’t go where you wanted it to go, or if the ring of Ben Franklin made your hand and arm light up? Lattimer had said very little, but the dozens of items he had shown him on this trek had burned a hole in Kirk’s brain. At this point it was all just words, and told him nothing that he wanted to know. How did these items get their power and who discovered that? Where were all these things in his time? Why hadn’t he ever heard of them?
“Stop,” Kirk finally said. “That’s enough! I need to rest a bit. When did you say this Artie was coming back?” He tried to sit on an old chair, but was grabbed by the arm and pulled to the middle of the narrow aisle.
“Uh-don’t sit there. Don’t sit anywhere until we get back to the offices.”
“Which will be when?” Kirk knew he sounded a bit irritated, and that wasn’t really Lattimer’s fault, but he was the only one here.
“We’ll go there now. Come on.” Lattimer turned and started back the way they had come, looking over his shoulder once in a while to make sure Kirk was following.
They were about half-way there when a strange ringing made Lattimer grab his pocket and remove a rather large communications device. He flipped it open and the girl’s voice came though, as well as her picture.
“Pete, would you and your friend come back to Artie’s office, please. Someone would like to speak to you.”
“Sure, Claud, we’re already on our way.”
“Oh, good. Where are you, right now?”
“Uh...around the...uh...oh, down by the Vault. We’ll be there soon.” Lattimer shut the communicator and looked about like a hunted rabbit. He grabbed Kirk’s arm and said more intensely than he had said since they had arrived at the warehouse. “Run faster than you have ever run before. Come on!”
Kirk stared at him and saw real panic in his eyes. Following his instincts is what had kept him alive in some very dicy situations. He followed Lattimer’s lead. Head and feet forgotten, he ran down aisles, around corners, through shelves and stacks of curious, unknown items. Just when he thought he could run no farther, Lattimer stopped. Putting out his hands in an effort not to knock the man over, Kirk came to an ungainly halt. Gasping, he bent over, trying to get his breath back. “Why did...” breathe “we do...” breathe “that?” Breathe...breathe...breathe....
“You know how to work this thing, right?”
He looked up to see the old Guardian. “Yes, I think so.”
“Then do it. I’ll go back to the office and stall for as much time as I can. Get behind it, so no one will know you’re there. He started off, but then came back. “Thanks for bringing me home. Wish you could have stayed longer.” He put out his hand to shake the hand of the Star Ship Admiral from the future.
“Who are you so afraid of?” Kirk asked hurriedly.
“Doesn’t matter. The vibes are really bad. Just go home.”
“Maybe I’ll be back.”
“I wouldn’t do that, at least not soon. Good luck, Admiral. I won’t forget you.”
With that Lattimer was gone, running off in another direction. Kirk shook his head, not really understanding what was going on, and moved around behind the Guardian and pulled his instruction hard copy from his pocket. He read through the sheet and found the control crystals. It didn’t take him long to set the circle to the configuration Zykes had determined for him. Giving the warehouse one final look, he stepped through the Guardian, dumped unceremoniously in a back alley of what he hoped was Luna Base, Bright. He already knew he’d return to the warehouse. There was still so much to learn.
Part 1(http://archiveofourown.org/works/843608)