Getting down to brass tacks?
Who: Elizabeth Weir
Where: Admin Building Secure Conference Room
When: Wednesday, June 16th
Invited: Chloe Sullivan, Faith Lehane, Ronald Boone
Status: Incomplete ( Read more... )
Where: Admin Building Secure Conference Room
When: Wednesday, June 16th
Invited: Chloe Sullivan, Faith Lehane, Ronald Boone
Status: Incomplete ( Read more... )
Probably a whole shitload of things that the common people don't know about and don't need to, Faith thought. Not like we're all with the total sharing either.
"I guess that means we're going to be camped out in your backyard for at least the next couple of weeks, probably months," Faith said. "I can see why you'd be twitchy about a strange ship, but I think we're gonna have to reach some kind of understanding if we're gonna have to hang around a while.
"I mean, we could probably fly the ship out, but we don't know jack about the planet and that'd be stupid. Not asking you to trust us one hundred percent and you don't have a good reason to do that. And I don't know that we're ready to let your scientists go salivating all over our ship. Middle ground?"
Faith knew enough to not set the middle ground, also any final agreement would have to be between all four of them. But, if they wanted to stay, they'd have to (mostly) play by Dr. Weir's rules. They could work and earn their own way, just as long as the ship was off limits to the natives.
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The question was how to balance it with the needs of the colony. Honestly, though having a second space-worthy ship would be a tremendous asset, if that ship was experimental -- and its drives not working right -- how much of an asset would it really be? Could they afford to let it sit for a while, until its crew felt more comfortable with her people? Likely.
On the other hand, it was experimental... Elizabeth had some experience with experimental Ancient technology -- and just what could go wrong with it. (McKay's solar system fiasco came immediately to mind.) While she didn't expect the hobbled ship to be a huge threat just sat out in a field, she knew there were lots of other things that could possibly go wrong with that scenario; things she had a responsibility to guard against, if she could.
"I can appreciate you not wanting to have a bunch of scientists..." her lips twitched as she echoed Faith's words, "salivating over your ship -- though they'll do that even from a distance, regardless, I can promise you." She chuckled softly at the mental image. It was almost a shame that Rodney wasn't on Gamma. He'd have jumped at this. But, Sam was there, and she was so much easier to work with. All the brains, all the talent, all the skill; none of the arrogance. God bless her. "We can probably arrange to keep as many away as we can."
Elizabeth's levity was brief, however. Though she still smiled, there was no mistaking the seriousness in her eyes. "But, we need to make sure it's safe. Too, there is the possibility that we can help you with repairs. I've had quite a bit of experience with Ancient technology, myself. And although I'm no engineer and not the one you want poking around anything other than its information systems, if there's one thing I've learned it's that it doesn't always just 'fix itself'. Sometimes it needs help." Unless, of course, the Ancients were experimenting with organic technology like what the Wraith had, though she doubted it. In any case, even the Wraith occasionally needed help to effect repairs. She just really hoped that if the ship really was self-repairing, it wasn't because of replicator nanotechnology. That would not make her happy.
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There were other conditions that came to mind, as well. Elizabeth debated whether to lay them out one at a time, getting the girls' reactions to each individually, or lay them all out at once. Well, most of them, anyway. Given what she'd observed of the temperaments of the two young women before her, she opted to split the difference, with an emphasis on the latter.
Her nose wrinkled faintly. "Just so you know, I am going to have to post some sort of guard around your landing site. This is as much for your protection, as ours." That wry smile returned. "It will help keep unauthorized personnel at bay. But, it isn't meant to impede you personally coming and going." Unless, of course, there ended up being some sort of threat posed by the small refugee crew after all. Elizabeth was really hoping that wouldn't happen. But, she wasn't naive enough to overlook contingency planning... especially since the first thing Jack O'Neill would do upon his arrival back through the gate (once he heard about the newcomers) would be to ensure that there were the right security precautions put in place.
"How does all that sound to you? If we can agree upon this for the moment, perhaps that's enough to go forward with until Colonel Carter has given me a report. Then, we can all sit down and reassess the situation at that point. Does that sound fair?"
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"But I think perhaps I misspoke," Chloe said. "The...'skip drive' that allows--or allowed--us to jump from one universe to another, or from one system to another, is experimental. The conventional drive is not. It's probably very similar to the drive in your puddlejumper."
Chloe looked from Dr. Weir to Boone and back again. "So, yeah, jaunting off to other systems to look for more colonies probably isn't a good idea until we can be sure it'll work. But for exploring this system, or simply transporting people or equipment from place to place? It might be more useful than the jumper."
Chloe didn't spell it out, but a lot of it was obvious anyhow. The lifeboat was larger and could transport a lot more people than a jumper. Just in terms of moving people around on Gamma quickly it could be quite valuable.
It also had an actual cargo hold, which the jumper didn't. And an airlock. Which meant you could actually operate in orbit--launching, repairing or retrieving satellites, for instance. She'd leave those points for later.
"We'll have to confer with Cassandra and Xander," Chloe said, "but otherwise, I think we've got a deal."
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Likely, there would be no bumps. Living among people in a normal environment -- as opposed to the last earth that was so alien to them it may as well not have been earth -- would be a great escape. People, contact, fresh air, sunshine and maybe real food that wasn't processed stuff.
Organic food without the organic price tag, Faith thought. Yes, the girl from south Boston had been spoiled by Andrew's cooking and shopping style.
It was on the tip of her lips to ask about bars and hot spots, but Faith saved it for the moment. If they were staying for a while, there would be ample time to check out the place.
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A smile of welcome encompassed the two ladies as he straightened up. "I'll see to it you have tents that you can use for lodgings for the night... then once you're sure of how long you'll be staying we can think of something more or less permanent, depending on how the repairs go.
"In the meantime, there is a small settlement that I'm certain will have rumours going around like a windmill!" he laughed softly "so we will need to get you familiar with the township and where everything is. We do have shops, a restaurant... a bar." He saw a little light in Faith's gaze and knew he'd guessed right. "If you'll permit, Dr Weir? I'll take the ladies back to their ship, so they can talk to the others, then we can move on with preparations for their stay."
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Fact is, if there was any danger from infectious disease, the damage was probably already done. Elizabeth knew that. But, even so... "It's protocol with any of our off-world teams that they have a brief physical before they rejoin the general population. If you don't have any strenuous objections, I'd like you to submit to the same. But, that's something you can discuss with your shipmates."
She's not going to make or break the deal over this... at least not without a good reason. So, there's certainly a reasonableness in her tone. But, really, it's not that much to ask.
"It's been good to meet you, ladies. I look forward to speaking with you again, soon."
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The only one Chloe thought might have a problem with it was Cassandra. But nothing she'd seen--and nothing Cassandra had told her--suggested that there was anything to be discovered in a routine physical that would give away her immortality. Cassandra had never said as much, and Chloe wasn't sure she'd ever thought of it that way, but Chloe believed Cassandra's immortality was magical--that there was, in fact, nothing detectable by science to explain it.
And a physical was only reasonable, though Chloe too was aware that if they did have anything communicable, they might already have passed it on to Dr. Weir, Boone, and all the others they'd already interacted with. But verifying their health would be a good way to demonstrate good will--and a clean bill of health would minimize fears of contamination.
Chloe looked forward to exploring the community. She wasn't as eager to find the local watering hole as Faith undoubtedly felt, but it would definitely be one of her stops. The formula for gossip was people plus booze, after all.
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