First Contact Challenge: The Fishbowl by akire
Title: The Fishbowl
Author: akire
Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Spoilers: None
Summary: After the mission isn't the time to call in sick.
Word-Count: 1268
Notes: This one meets both the First Contact challenge AND the 38 minute challenge, since that's how long it took me to write it! No beta, all errors are mine.
~~~
“I clearly remember you saying this was going to be a cakewalk, Major.”
Elizabeth Weir could only just make out Sheppard’s soft response above the crackling hum of the force shield. “The mission was, Rodney. This is after the mission. This doesn’t count.” A gesture took in the barely visible blue flickering of the impenetrable force field.
She could sympathise with Rodney’s crossed arms and look of barely contained frustration. By now hundreds of teams had gone through the Gate and returned under a variety of circumstances, not all of them friendly. This was the first time they’d been stopped cold in the Gate room by a giant blue shimmering energy cage.
“Elizabeth?” Rodney was facing her, several feet clear of the flickering blue lines. They had already learnt the hard way what happened to someone who walked into it. She glanced over Rodney’s shoulder. At least Aiden’s bloody nose seemed to have all but stopped trickling. She returned her full attention to Rodney. “Elizabeth, is this some punishment for not getting our mission reports in on time? Because if it is, may I say it’s in extremely poor taste. I for…”
“Rodney!” Liz said firmly, using the ‘Talking To Dictators’ voice she had found also worked on geniuses and military commanders with bed-head issues. “We don’t know why this…this thing activated.”
Sheppard came to stand at Rodney’s elbow. “I didn’t even know we had a thing.”
Weir nodded ruefully. “Drs Zelenka and Grodin are already working on it…” she deliberately ignored the groan from Rodney’s direction. “And I’m sure we’ll have you out of there in no time.” She smiled. “In the meantime, perhaps you can sit down and get a start on those mission reports.”
As she walked away, she was glad there was a shield between her and them - otherwise, they may have given into temptation and thrown something at her.
Liz grinned as she climbed the steps. Sometimes, it was good to be queen.
~#~
“They have the flu?”
Carson Beckett turned his back to the balcony overlooking the energy field and shrugged. “Well, it’s a rough analogy, but it’s certainly accurate. We are detecting an unknown viral vector in all their systems.”
“Detecting?” Liz’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
“When the force field came online,” Zelenka began, his hands twitching slightly in front of him as he spoke. “We detected a network surge as several previously dormant systems came online. One of them linked certain systems in the Gate room surveillance network to the systems in sickbay.”
Carson nodded. “So we went around looking at panels until we found the ones which had turned themselves on. It didn’t take long to figure out what they were telling us.”
Liz smothered another smile. The best scientific minds in two galaxies, and they still solved problems by basically poking things until they went beep and gave up their secrets. “And they were telling you they have the flu? So why the sudden appearance of an impenetrable force field? We’ve certainly had teams come through the Gate before carrying all manner of things back with them.”
It was Grodin who spoke up from his position behind the control console. “Power.”
Zelenka nodded. “We’ve been working non-stop, trying to squeeze as much power as we can out of the generators and out of the solar sections we discovered last month. There is now enough power in the system that some secondary systems are automatically reinitializing.”
Liz sighed. “So the Gate detected this flu virus, and locked them down so they wouldn’t infect the city? Well, that’s all well and good, but we have two offworld teams schedules to return this afternoon. We need to move them.” She turned to Beckett. “How contagious are they?”
The doctor shook his head. “With proper precautions and a few preparations, we can move them to the isolation ward of the infirmary without any risk to the rest of the population.”
Zelenka tag-teamed with his medical colleague. “The problem is getting them out of the contained area.”
“Can’t we just shut off power to that system?”
Both Zelenka and Grodin shook their heads. “The City has detected a threat. Even if we cut off the power to the secondary systems, it would just siphon power off the primary systems.”
Liz blinked. “So you can’t shut it off?”
Zelenka and Grodin swapped a look. “Well…not yet, no.”
She frowned, not liking where this was headed. “Keep working on it.”
~#~
Atlantis’ premiere gate team looked miserable. Aiden’s face was swollen from his prior encounter with the force field wall, and every sneeze caused him to wince with pain. Teyla was lying on the floor next to him, using her pack as a pillow.
Rodney was sitting facing them through the force field, his voice thick with phlegm as he talked Grodin through various options for shutting down the force field from the Gate room. He looked even more miserable than John, who was sitting next to him, silently shivering.
Weir turned to Carson. “Any idea what else this virus is going to do to them?”
Carson shrugged. “From what I can see on the scanners, it’s remarkably similar to some of the more virulent strains of the influenza virus back on Earth. So I’m fairly confident that we can at least expect similar symptoms.”
Liz recalled her own experiences with being sick and closed her eyes in frustration. “So I guess waiting for them to get over it on their own is out of the question?” Carson’s expression spoke volumes. “Right. So we need to find another solution. Preferably before Bates’ team tries to dial in.”
Inside the blue force field, Rodney jabbed John with his elbow. “Hey. Wake up.” John coughed and looked around blearily. “Try the gene. Try telling the City that we need to be in the infirmary, not stuck in this damn fishbowl!”
Sheppard closed his eyes and concentrated. A few moments passed in silence before John shook his head and burst out into a fresh round of coughing. “No good,” he gasped.
McKay threw up his hands in disgust and flopped backwards onto the hard floor of the Gate room. “I feel like shit,” he declared to the Universe. “Someone else can figure this one out. I’m taking a sick day as of now!”
“Dr Weir?” A thickly accented voice drifted down from the balcony. “I think I might have an idea.”
~#~
It was amazing, she thought to herself as she watched the nurses in hazmat gear tend to Sheppard and his team. How many times had she walked that corridor, and yet she had never really thought about the patterns on the floor.
How many floor-based force fields were there in Atlantis? For that matter, how much of what they thought was decoration actually had a practical component? She made a mental note to ask Zelenka to follow it up. After getting the idea, it had taken remarkably little time for him to figure out how to turn on the interconnecting systems which created a safe passage for the four infected team mates to walk all the way to the infirmary. It could be a very useful system for defending the city alone…
Liz paused, a slight frown on her face. Since when was her first thoughts about a new technology concerned with their military implications? She tucked the thought to one side as Carson approached.
“How are they, doctor?”
Carson smiled. “Sick, coughing, frustrated and achy. And in Rodney’s case, letting the world know about it. But I think they’ll be just fine.”
Author: akire
Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Spoilers: None
Summary: After the mission isn't the time to call in sick.
Word-Count: 1268
Notes: This one meets both the First Contact challenge AND the 38 minute challenge, since that's how long it took me to write it! No beta, all errors are mine.
~~~
“I clearly remember you saying this was going to be a cakewalk, Major.”
Elizabeth Weir could only just make out Sheppard’s soft response above the crackling hum of the force shield. “The mission was, Rodney. This is after the mission. This doesn’t count.” A gesture took in the barely visible blue flickering of the impenetrable force field.
She could sympathise with Rodney’s crossed arms and look of barely contained frustration. By now hundreds of teams had gone through the Gate and returned under a variety of circumstances, not all of them friendly. This was the first time they’d been stopped cold in the Gate room by a giant blue shimmering energy cage.
“Elizabeth?” Rodney was facing her, several feet clear of the flickering blue lines. They had already learnt the hard way what happened to someone who walked into it. She glanced over Rodney’s shoulder. At least Aiden’s bloody nose seemed to have all but stopped trickling. She returned her full attention to Rodney. “Elizabeth, is this some punishment for not getting our mission reports in on time? Because if it is, may I say it’s in extremely poor taste. I for…”
“Rodney!” Liz said firmly, using the ‘Talking To Dictators’ voice she had found also worked on geniuses and military commanders with bed-head issues. “We don’t know why this…this thing activated.”
Sheppard came to stand at Rodney’s elbow. “I didn’t even know we had a thing.”
Weir nodded ruefully. “Drs Zelenka and Grodin are already working on it…” she deliberately ignored the groan from Rodney’s direction. “And I’m sure we’ll have you out of there in no time.” She smiled. “In the meantime, perhaps you can sit down and get a start on those mission reports.”
As she walked away, she was glad there was a shield between her and them - otherwise, they may have given into temptation and thrown something at her.
Liz grinned as she climbed the steps. Sometimes, it was good to be queen.
~#~
“They have the flu?”
Carson Beckett turned his back to the balcony overlooking the energy field and shrugged. “Well, it’s a rough analogy, but it’s certainly accurate. We are detecting an unknown viral vector in all their systems.”
“Detecting?” Liz’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
“When the force field came online,” Zelenka began, his hands twitching slightly in front of him as he spoke. “We detected a network surge as several previously dormant systems came online. One of them linked certain systems in the Gate room surveillance network to the systems in sickbay.”
Carson nodded. “So we went around looking at panels until we found the ones which had turned themselves on. It didn’t take long to figure out what they were telling us.”
Liz smothered another smile. The best scientific minds in two galaxies, and they still solved problems by basically poking things until they went beep and gave up their secrets. “And they were telling you they have the flu? So why the sudden appearance of an impenetrable force field? We’ve certainly had teams come through the Gate before carrying all manner of things back with them.”
It was Grodin who spoke up from his position behind the control console. “Power.”
Zelenka nodded. “We’ve been working non-stop, trying to squeeze as much power as we can out of the generators and out of the solar sections we discovered last month. There is now enough power in the system that some secondary systems are automatically reinitializing.”
Liz sighed. “So the Gate detected this flu virus, and locked them down so they wouldn’t infect the city? Well, that’s all well and good, but we have two offworld teams schedules to return this afternoon. We need to move them.” She turned to Beckett. “How contagious are they?”
The doctor shook his head. “With proper precautions and a few preparations, we can move them to the isolation ward of the infirmary without any risk to the rest of the population.”
Zelenka tag-teamed with his medical colleague. “The problem is getting them out of the contained area.”
“Can’t we just shut off power to that system?”
Both Zelenka and Grodin shook their heads. “The City has detected a threat. Even if we cut off the power to the secondary systems, it would just siphon power off the primary systems.”
Liz blinked. “So you can’t shut it off?”
Zelenka and Grodin swapped a look. “Well…not yet, no.”
She frowned, not liking where this was headed. “Keep working on it.”
~#~
Atlantis’ premiere gate team looked miserable. Aiden’s face was swollen from his prior encounter with the force field wall, and every sneeze caused him to wince with pain. Teyla was lying on the floor next to him, using her pack as a pillow.
Rodney was sitting facing them through the force field, his voice thick with phlegm as he talked Grodin through various options for shutting down the force field from the Gate room. He looked even more miserable than John, who was sitting next to him, silently shivering.
Weir turned to Carson. “Any idea what else this virus is going to do to them?”
Carson shrugged. “From what I can see on the scanners, it’s remarkably similar to some of the more virulent strains of the influenza virus back on Earth. So I’m fairly confident that we can at least expect similar symptoms.”
Liz recalled her own experiences with being sick and closed her eyes in frustration. “So I guess waiting for them to get over it on their own is out of the question?” Carson’s expression spoke volumes. “Right. So we need to find another solution. Preferably before Bates’ team tries to dial in.”
Inside the blue force field, Rodney jabbed John with his elbow. “Hey. Wake up.” John coughed and looked around blearily. “Try the gene. Try telling the City that we need to be in the infirmary, not stuck in this damn fishbowl!”
Sheppard closed his eyes and concentrated. A few moments passed in silence before John shook his head and burst out into a fresh round of coughing. “No good,” he gasped.
McKay threw up his hands in disgust and flopped backwards onto the hard floor of the Gate room. “I feel like shit,” he declared to the Universe. “Someone else can figure this one out. I’m taking a sick day as of now!”
“Dr Weir?” A thickly accented voice drifted down from the balcony. “I think I might have an idea.”
~#~
It was amazing, she thought to herself as she watched the nurses in hazmat gear tend to Sheppard and his team. How many times had she walked that corridor, and yet she had never really thought about the patterns on the floor.
How many floor-based force fields were there in Atlantis? For that matter, how much of what they thought was decoration actually had a practical component? She made a mental note to ask Zelenka to follow it up. After getting the idea, it had taken remarkably little time for him to figure out how to turn on the interconnecting systems which created a safe passage for the four infected team mates to walk all the way to the infirmary. It could be a very useful system for defending the city alone…
Liz paused, a slight frown on her face. Since when was her first thoughts about a new technology concerned with their military implications? She tucked the thought to one side as Carson approached.
“How are they, doctor?”
Carson smiled. “Sick, coughing, frustrated and achy. And in Rodney’s case, letting the world know about it. But I think they’ll be just fine.”