(Eureka/SGA) The Night the World Refused to End for with_apostrophe
Title: The Night the World Refused to End
Author: karrenia_rune
Fandoms: Eureka/Stargate Atlantis
Characters Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Radek Zelenka, Henry Deacon, Tess Fontana, cameos and mentions of others...
Pairings: no pairings
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 3895
Spoilers: The story references events from the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis and the early events from Season 2 of Eureka.
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and Eureka belong to their respective creators.
A/N: thank you to my beta emmedamarkia
Summary: Every end leads to a new beginning.
When you really stopped to think about it, the assignment to Atlantis should have been the penultimate feather in his proverbial cap; the dream job despite its subsequent down sides. It had to be the best job and the best team and even the best friends that Rodney McKay could ever have wished for.
So, following that logic, anything else would be a let down. So far that logic had not disappointed him.
Collectively each and every member of the team had turned Atlantis into something much more than a mere expeditionary and research facility; it was a home, a sanctuary, a point of pride for all of those who had shared in its evolution from an abandoned Ancient ruin into a working home that was capable of sub-light travel.
In the past several months Rodney had told himself over and over that he should be grateful that the city had survived everything that had been thrown at it and its inhabitants: from sinking, to Wraith attacks, to the Replicators.
However, the only thing that they could not save it from was money, or more importantly the lack of said money.
Government funding to keep Atlantis functioning the way it should. As Sheppard had succinctly put it, the bureaucrats in D.C simply could not see the need to keep it going; and it all went nowhere fast.
In his more cynical moments during the train ride McKay went over the phone conversations he had had with Sheppard and the frustrations he had experienced with the staff and at the assignment he had been offered at Area 51.
Initially Rodney had thought the assignment at Area 51 would be good, intriguing even. The cataloguing and sorting alone of the various sundry items of technology and weaponry accumulated in the last few years might have taken up the better part of at least the next six, seven months.
Given the seemingly lackadaisical attitude and general disorganization of the staff he had been given to work with at Area 51. At one point a research scientist seemed who overly preoccupied with a intricate flow chart itemizing strategies and cause and effect and how they would in turn affect said strategies seemed promising until Rodney, out of curiosity, inquired what purpose the flow chart served.
When told it was to better defeat a bowling league of scientists and researchers in a bowling championship coming up in a week that was to be held in a small town called Eureka, Rodney just shook his head and then decided to phone John Sheppard who was home at the time and they went out for drinks.
In the back of his mind Rodney thought, “As a scientist sure I mean we've all heard of Archimedes' principle and 'eureka! is commonly held to be a spontaneous reaction to an exciting discovery, but who names a town Eureka. I mean, really?”
Rodney had thought fondly, perhaps even naively, that he would never hear mention of the name Eureka ever again. He would be proved wrong in that particular assumption, but it would not be for another six weeks before it came to pass.
***
Rodney had drunk more than his usual minimal amount of liquor but during the course of the conversation while Sheppard informed him that he had been approached by a company called Global Dynamics, first through correspondence and then in person by a woman called Tess Fontana. "Ill summarize the gist of the conversation for you, Rodney," Sheppard had offered.
"Thanks, I think."
Sheppard nodded and then said: "For several years running now Global Dynamics has held a lucrative place in the ears of Washington D.C politics, leastways in terms of winning juicy government contracts. Oh, Eureka’s a small town in the northern part of the United States.
"Pardon me for saying this, John, but why come to you? Sure, we were all part of the Atlantis Expedition, but if they're looking for scientists, why invite someone in the from the United States military?"
Sheppard nodded. "To answer your questions: Eureka is very small. The entire town's population is probably no more than, say, a thousand all told.” Sheppard smiled. "I've contacted Zelenka and he also received a recruitment letter as well.”
“And that doesn’t strike you as, well, odd or maybe suspicious?” asked Rodney. “You’re well military-minded but decent when it comes to the technology and when I first met you I wouldn’t have said that, but you know what I mean, right?”
John offered a lop-sided grin and shrugged. “I realize that, but I think that they might need more than such brilliant scientists, if the vibe I’m getting is on the mark.”
“You are your hunches,” sighed Rodney. “What happens next?”
John nodded. “Seems they're looking to hire and/or lure away brilliant but temporarily out-of work scientists and not just any run-of-the-mill scientists. Elizabeth has also received an invitation letter from them, as has your sister."
"Jeannie?" Rodney asked. "Hmm, first I've heard it. As you know, we've never been especially close and we've been working off and on to patch things up," Rodney added and shrugged.
Rodney shrugged and said: "She's going to come visit in a couple of weeks and I'll ask her about it then. What is of more immediate concern is what you've heard from Elizabeth. She hasn't returned any of my calls."
"Nor mine and frankly, Rodney. I'm worried about her. But you know Elizabeth," Sheppard offered a reassuring smile. "She's a big girl. She can take care of herself."
"I guess," replied Rodney. "Did you check out this Global Dynamics or this Fontana woman? And if so, did you learn anything that you did not find out from the face to face meeting?"
John shrugged, grinned and leaned forward so that his elbows were now resting on the table, and pinned Rodney with one of his most disarming and persuasive stares. "I guess there's only one way to find out."
Rodney held the penetrating gaze for as long as he could before it occurred to him that Sheppard, seeing the offer as a personal challenge, had already decided to go ahead and accept it, out of both curiosity and a need to move on. If the folks at Global Dynamics were interested in the former members of the Atlantis Expedition, well then, John Sheppard was bound and determined to give these folks something to be impressed by.
"Don't tell me," Rodney said as Sheppard relaxed back into his chair as the waiter brought their dinner orders and then left. “We're actually going through with this?”
"Yes," Sheppard replied. "In fact, I want you to go on ahead of the rest of us and we'll meet up with you there. Keep me posted on what you find out. I'll catch up with you in, say, a week?" Sheppard reached over for his glass and took a small sip and then set it down once more. "That should give you plenty of time make up your mind and look around. You can call your sister and work out a time and place to meet in Eureka. It will be a shorter distance for her travel."
Rodney reached over for his own wine glass and unlike Sheppard took a generous sip of the white wine, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends." He finished off the remaining liquid in the glass and then thrust out his arm with the glass in hand waiting for Sheppard to reciprocate the gesture finishing up with the following toast: "Here's to trying; rhymes with dying."
As Sheppard echoed the toast and set his glass down on the table once more returning his attention to the meal he added, "Rodney, how many times have I told you; you have to be more positive."
“Do you really want a number?”
"Oh, and Rodney," John added after a moment's thought. "A word of warning: Watch out for that Fontana woman. She's quite, well, she's.... I don't really know quite how to put it, but you'll what I mean when you met her."
"No, that won't be necessary. I'll do it," said Rodney and then after also taking a bite of his dinner looked up, startled. "Gee, thanks for the advice. I think."
"You’re welcome."
*******
Rodney had not really known what to expect, but one train station looks much like another and he waited for the conductor to stamp his boarding pass and then walked to the exit .
Outside the station the town looked very much like a small town just about anywhere in be it in Canada which he was much more familiar with than say, the United States. anywhere. Houses were spread out in a pattern that he could not readily discern and not one building stood over three or four stories high.
Somehow, going into the deal Rodney had imagined all sort of things a small town dedicated to fulfilling government defense contracts might be. Something, well exciting wasn’t quite the right word, but it would do. Eureka, however, did not appear
to be anything near that
While he walked down several main streets that branched off from one another, he hoped he could find someone who could provide him with directions.
"Hello, is anyone here?"
An older black man wearing workman coveralls that had seen better days, with a slightly preoccupied and disheveled look {of one wholly concentrated on the project at hand first and the rest of the world second crossed the street a block up { and
Rodney hurried his pace to catch up with him. "Hey! Hey, I need to ask you something! Wait up!"
The man he had been following stopped and glanced over his shoulder at McKay, apparently either wondering what he was doing there or, as odd it might sound, trying to match the very real, very solid Rodney McKay with a mental image of the same man. After a moment he asked, “Are you Dr. Rodney McKay?”
“Yes, and who are you?"
"I am Dr. Henry Deacon and I was instructed to meet you at the train station an hour ago, but then I got distracted. When I recalled the time your train was due to pull in, well…” Henry shrugged. “I arrived too late and you had already been and gone it would seem.”
“If you were due to meet me,” said Rodney in clipped, controlled tones, “why did you run away when I was standing on the street corner opposite you?”
“It’s complicated.”
"Would you please try to 'uncomplicate it for me," replied Rodney raising an eyebrow while he waited for a response from Deacon.
“Well ….” Henry trailed off and then reached up to scratch a patch of scraggly black rapidly going grey patch of hair on the dome of his head. “I guess it is not as complicated as all that. You are in fact, Rodney McKay, of Canada, formerly a member of the Stargate Atlantis Expedition, are you not?”
“Look, this is ridiculous. Either I am or I’m not, and standing around yammering about it is not getting either of us anywhere fast. In fact, I find it a colossal waste of time. And if I might add, if you’re representative of this so-called Global Dynamics then I think we might very well have made a mistake in coming here after all!” Rodney heaved in a deep breath after this rather heated tirade, but it did make him feel a bit better for having said it.
Henry Deacon smiled. “You are indeed who you say you are. I had to be sure, you understand, it’s been a bit chaotic around here, but you’ll get used to it after a while. Come with me.”
“What, you think I might have been an imposter? If that was the case, I’m sure a place like this would have much more sophisticated means of identifying me,” said Rodney wondering if maybe just maybe Eureka would turn out to be as much of a disappointment as Area 51 had been.
On the heels of that particular thought, Rodney asked Deacon, “Say, you don’t happen to have some kind of geeky bowling tournament with Area 51 do you?”
Deacon looked startled by either the question or the causal mention of the existence of Area 51 but if the other man had known who he was and by extension the existence of his former assignment and its members; then he must have known about Area 51.
“Yes, we do,” replied Deacon after a moment as he continued to walk down the street past the residential area and further into the commercial district. Rodney noted that the busiest eating establishment happened to be a place named “Carpe Diem” with a brown and white sheriff’s jeep parked in front of it. “And as I introduce you to the heads and active staff of GD try to wait a bit before you mention that to Douglas Fargo.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something of an ongoing rivalry between his team and that of Area 51,” replied Henry.
“Great, just great. You leave Earth for a while and the whole place goes to seed. Is there anything else I should know, like where you keep the alien space craft?”
“If you don’t mind my saying so, Dr. McKay, you can be a bit of a crashing cynic at times,” remarked Deacon over his shoulder as they continued to walk.
“Henry!” a voice called from the entrance to the diner and the man who could only be the town sheriff came over to them at a rapid trot.
“Carter, always a pleasure,” replied Henry.
“Always, Henry," replied Carter.
"Ahh, pardon me,“ added Henry while looking expectantly at the two other men. "I’m kept so busy of late keeping tabs on at least three different projects at a time that I forget the more mundane niceties of common decency. Sherriff Carter, this is Doctor Rodney McKay. Dr. McKay, this is Jack Carter. Eureka’s sheriff.
“Pleased to meet you,” replied Carter.
“Likewise,” Rodney replied. “Deacon, just how much further to go until we reach Global Dynamics headquarters?," asked Rodney.
“Not far now,” replied Henry.
Jack nodded. “Alison mentioned something about several of the science departments, I forget which ones she mentioned specifically, getting an infusion of new blood,” remarked Carter in a more or less off-hand manner and shrugged. “I, well, I expected there to be more of you.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” demanded Rodney.
“Just more in terms of numbers, that’s all,” replied Carter.
“Oh, well, there will be. I was sent on ahead,” replied Rodney only slightly mollified.
***
Sheppard had mentioned that the entire operation of Global Dynamics, and thus the entire purpose for the town of Eureka to exist, was for research and development of technology, all of which was under contract by the United States government.
Rodney had consciously made the decision to withhold his judgment on that until he had seen enough evidence to warrant that assumption with his own eyes. Global Dynamics in and of itself from the outside looked much like any corporate multi-level building, {but as Henry Deacon had allowed when they each were subjected to various security processing measures, including a retinal scan, a voice print.
Once inside Deacon nodded in a friendly fashion to men and women passing by him on various errands, then finally, after several more security checks, Rodney was escorted to what was referred to as Section 5 and the department administrative offices where Deacon ushered him into an office belonging to a Tess Fontain.
“Wait here,” instructed Deacon. “Dr. Fontain is running a bit late, but she’ll be with you in just a moment.”
“Sure,” Rodney nodded. “No problem,” and took a seat in area that he figured was the waiting room.
****
The mop of mousy brown and pale blue eyes peering out from within the slightly rounded frame of the glasses that seemed to permanently be mounted at an angle to the rest of his face was one that Rodney McKay would have recognized just about anywhere and under just about any circumstances. “Radek!”
“Rodney!” Radek Zelenka looked up from the object that had held his undivided attention.
“Deacon was supposed to met you at the train station when you arrived, was he not?” Zelenka questioned as he stepped away from the eager embrace and glanced over at him. “You are looking well.” His Czech accent was as pronounced as ever.
“He ran away from me, at first.”
“‘How strange, but he corrected the oversight, I trust,” asked Radek.
“Because, well…no, I really should wait until Dr. Fontana clears you with the program, and I have no doubt that she will.”
“Radek, have you ever wondered why they went about recruiting various members of our team?’
“Of course. It is obvious. For our experience with, well, alien technology and languages.”
“Come again?”
Radek shrugged. “If you ask me they really are not handing this recruitment business at all well. I have had the privilege of being introduced and working with an extremely bright and promising group of individuals.” Radek paused and cocked his head to one side as if thinking something through, and holding up the index finger of his left hand to one side of his nose, he added: “But brilliant people can often not work well in dealing with practical matters such as…..”
“Such as?” prompted Rodney.
“Recruitment.” replied Radek.
“I guess they have to go through the motions. At least that’s what Sheppard figured. And this Dr. Fontana actually came to try and persuade John into working here in person.”
“You’ve spoken with Colonel Sheppard?" asked Zelenka.
“Yes, recently. I suspect that after this interview and from what you’ve implied, that we’re all a shoe-in. And wait a sec! What were you saying about alien tech? A place as small as this, probably not even a blip on the map, could not possibly have gained access to those kinds of resources.” Rodney sighed and reached up to run his fingers through his hair.
“Oh, here she is now” remarked Radek.
“Thank you, Dr. Zelenka, that will be all. Dr. McKay, I am sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but please, come into my office and have a seat.”
Rodney followed Dr. Fontana into her office and took a seat in the offered chair as requested and it was only as he was looking curiously around the room that he noticed another person seated in a chair near the far wall with his back to them, who stirred upon their arrival. But even so, that artfully tousled mop of regulation-cut brown hair was unmistakable.
“John, you’ve got some nerve making me go through all that rigmarole. You just had to beat me to the punch! You just had to be the first to break into whatever you’ve decided that we’re breaking into!”
“Calm down, Rodney,” John Sheppard mildly remarked. “It’s not as bad as you think, and even if it were, I for one am convinced that GD and its staff,” at this point Sheppard paused and exchanged a telling glance with the very attractive Dr. Tess Fontana who sat down in the gimbaled chair behind her desk, “I find them to be completely legitimate. And once we’ve got you cleared past all the administrative hurdles I think even you will be impressed with what the ‘next big thing’ we’re going to be working on is.”
“Okay, okay,” Rodney sighed, only slightly mollified by both Sheppard’s nonchalant and reassuring attitude in both his spoken words and his body language, as he moved over to the only other available chair. “But just tell me what the hell this ‘next big thing is, already!”
“I thought you’d never ask,” replied Tess with a reassuring grin that seemed slightly out of place among the work-a-like surroundings and decor, but Rodney was finally willing to admit that even his skepticism good afford to take a back-burner to his budding curiosity. “Well,” Rodney prompted.
“I had Henry meet up with you at the train station both because he was available but also because it was his research that made our current project possible," said Tess and then sighed. "I figure we can't give you the official run-around for much longer. Dr. Rodney McKay, can we. "
"I would agree to that," replied Rodney.
"Then, I guess the best way to sum up what we've got here is to say that instead of going out in person to gather up alien tech and data; Dr. Deacon has figured out a way to bring all of that tech to us here on Earth using a kind of sub-space beacon.”
Rodney grimaced. “Come on, John,” he replied. "You’ve gotta be kidding me, right?”
“Not by much,” replied John.
“He’s right. Dr. Zelenka is already working on decoding a lot of the encrypted binary code as well as the glyphs that they have yet to successfully download into the GD central processing computer data banks,” replied Tess. “However, the original storage unit for the data in its raw form did not survive the process,” added Tess.
“What do you expect from me?” Rodney demanded.
“Tess, I warned you that he would be a hard sell. Rodney’s well, he’s brilliant but extremely stubborn,” remarked Sheppard.
“I gathered that, but I think you could manage to put all that aside and provide both your knowledge and expertise, and some of that gray matter you’ve got rattling around inside that head of yours, and help us.” Tess flashed a toothy but quite sincere grin at McKay and leaned forward in her chair until her elbows were propped on the surface of her desk in front of her. “What do you say to that?”
“Yes, I guess,” replied Rodney with a shrug and it occurred to him that most if not all of his reluctance to take on a new assignment had stemmed mostly from the need to break with the old and start in on something entirely new, and besides it would most likely be a challenge, and if there was anything that Rodney McKay thrived on; it was challenge. “I’m in.”
“Excellent!” Tess smiled again and relaxed back into her chair and then shook hands with both men. “To new beginnings, gentlemen!”
Sheppard grinned. “To new beginnings indeed.”
"I need a drink, preferably a good stiff one," muttered Rodney under his breath.
"That can be arranged," replied Tess.
-END-
Prompt:
With Area 51 gone, Atlantis turns to Eureka and Global Dynamics for help. Regular or Vegas universe.
Author: karrenia_rune
Fandoms: Eureka/Stargate Atlantis
Characters Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Radek Zelenka, Henry Deacon, Tess Fontana, cameos and mentions of others...
Pairings: no pairings
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 3895
Spoilers: The story references events from the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis and the early events from Season 2 of Eureka.
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and Eureka belong to their respective creators.
A/N: thank you to my beta emmedamarkia
Summary: Every end leads to a new beginning.
When you really stopped to think about it, the assignment to Atlantis should have been the penultimate feather in his proverbial cap; the dream job despite its subsequent down sides. It had to be the best job and the best team and even the best friends that Rodney McKay could ever have wished for.
So, following that logic, anything else would be a let down. So far that logic had not disappointed him.
Collectively each and every member of the team had turned Atlantis into something much more than a mere expeditionary and research facility; it was a home, a sanctuary, a point of pride for all of those who had shared in its evolution from an abandoned Ancient ruin into a working home that was capable of sub-light travel.
In the past several months Rodney had told himself over and over that he should be grateful that the city had survived everything that had been thrown at it and its inhabitants: from sinking, to Wraith attacks, to the Replicators.
However, the only thing that they could not save it from was money, or more importantly the lack of said money.
Government funding to keep Atlantis functioning the way it should. As Sheppard had succinctly put it, the bureaucrats in D.C simply could not see the need to keep it going; and it all went nowhere fast.
In his more cynical moments during the train ride McKay went over the phone conversations he had had with Sheppard and the frustrations he had experienced with the staff and at the assignment he had been offered at Area 51.
Initially Rodney had thought the assignment at Area 51 would be good, intriguing even. The cataloguing and sorting alone of the various sundry items of technology and weaponry accumulated in the last few years might have taken up the better part of at least the next six, seven months.
Given the seemingly lackadaisical attitude and general disorganization of the staff he had been given to work with at Area 51. At one point a research scientist seemed who overly preoccupied with a intricate flow chart itemizing strategies and cause and effect and how they would in turn affect said strategies seemed promising until Rodney, out of curiosity, inquired what purpose the flow chart served.
When told it was to better defeat a bowling league of scientists and researchers in a bowling championship coming up in a week that was to be held in a small town called Eureka, Rodney just shook his head and then decided to phone John Sheppard who was home at the time and they went out for drinks.
In the back of his mind Rodney thought, “As a scientist sure I mean we've all heard of Archimedes' principle and 'eureka! is commonly held to be a spontaneous reaction to an exciting discovery, but who names a town Eureka. I mean, really?”
Rodney had thought fondly, perhaps even naively, that he would never hear mention of the name Eureka ever again. He would be proved wrong in that particular assumption, but it would not be for another six weeks before it came to pass.
***
Rodney had drunk more than his usual minimal amount of liquor but during the course of the conversation while Sheppard informed him that he had been approached by a company called Global Dynamics, first through correspondence and then in person by a woman called Tess Fontana. "Ill summarize the gist of the conversation for you, Rodney," Sheppard had offered.
"Thanks, I think."
Sheppard nodded and then said: "For several years running now Global Dynamics has held a lucrative place in the ears of Washington D.C politics, leastways in terms of winning juicy government contracts. Oh, Eureka’s a small town in the northern part of the United States.
"Pardon me for saying this, John, but why come to you? Sure, we were all part of the Atlantis Expedition, but if they're looking for scientists, why invite someone in the from the United States military?"
Sheppard nodded. "To answer your questions: Eureka is very small. The entire town's population is probably no more than, say, a thousand all told.” Sheppard smiled. "I've contacted Zelenka and he also received a recruitment letter as well.”
“And that doesn’t strike you as, well, odd or maybe suspicious?” asked Rodney. “You’re well military-minded but decent when it comes to the technology and when I first met you I wouldn’t have said that, but you know what I mean, right?”
John offered a lop-sided grin and shrugged. “I realize that, but I think that they might need more than such brilliant scientists, if the vibe I’m getting is on the mark.”
“You are your hunches,” sighed Rodney. “What happens next?”
John nodded. “Seems they're looking to hire and/or lure away brilliant but temporarily out-of work scientists and not just any run-of-the-mill scientists. Elizabeth has also received an invitation letter from them, as has your sister."
"Jeannie?" Rodney asked. "Hmm, first I've heard it. As you know, we've never been especially close and we've been working off and on to patch things up," Rodney added and shrugged.
Rodney shrugged and said: "She's going to come visit in a couple of weeks and I'll ask her about it then. What is of more immediate concern is what you've heard from Elizabeth. She hasn't returned any of my calls."
"Nor mine and frankly, Rodney. I'm worried about her. But you know Elizabeth," Sheppard offered a reassuring smile. "She's a big girl. She can take care of herself."
"I guess," replied Rodney. "Did you check out this Global Dynamics or this Fontana woman? And if so, did you learn anything that you did not find out from the face to face meeting?"
John shrugged, grinned and leaned forward so that his elbows were now resting on the table, and pinned Rodney with one of his most disarming and persuasive stares. "I guess there's only one way to find out."
Rodney held the penetrating gaze for as long as he could before it occurred to him that Sheppard, seeing the offer as a personal challenge, had already decided to go ahead and accept it, out of both curiosity and a need to move on. If the folks at Global Dynamics were interested in the former members of the Atlantis Expedition, well then, John Sheppard was bound and determined to give these folks something to be impressed by.
"Don't tell me," Rodney said as Sheppard relaxed back into his chair as the waiter brought their dinner orders and then left. “We're actually going through with this?”
"Yes," Sheppard replied. "In fact, I want you to go on ahead of the rest of us and we'll meet up with you there. Keep me posted on what you find out. I'll catch up with you in, say, a week?" Sheppard reached over for his glass and took a small sip and then set it down once more. "That should give you plenty of time make up your mind and look around. You can call your sister and work out a time and place to meet in Eureka. It will be a shorter distance for her travel."
Rodney reached over for his own wine glass and unlike Sheppard took a generous sip of the white wine, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends." He finished off the remaining liquid in the glass and then thrust out his arm with the glass in hand waiting for Sheppard to reciprocate the gesture finishing up with the following toast: "Here's to trying; rhymes with dying."
As Sheppard echoed the toast and set his glass down on the table once more returning his attention to the meal he added, "Rodney, how many times have I told you; you have to be more positive."
“Do you really want a number?”
"Oh, and Rodney," John added after a moment's thought. "A word of warning: Watch out for that Fontana woman. She's quite, well, she's.... I don't really know quite how to put it, but you'll what I mean when you met her."
"No, that won't be necessary. I'll do it," said Rodney and then after also taking a bite of his dinner looked up, startled. "Gee, thanks for the advice. I think."
"You’re welcome."
*******
Rodney had not really known what to expect, but one train station looks much like another and he waited for the conductor to stamp his boarding pass and then walked to the exit .
Outside the station the town looked very much like a small town just about anywhere in be it in Canada which he was much more familiar with than say, the United States. anywhere. Houses were spread out in a pattern that he could not readily discern and not one building stood over three or four stories high.
Somehow, going into the deal Rodney had imagined all sort of things a small town dedicated to fulfilling government defense contracts might be. Something, well exciting wasn’t quite the right word, but it would do. Eureka, however, did not appear
to be anything near that
While he walked down several main streets that branched off from one another, he hoped he could find someone who could provide him with directions.
"Hello, is anyone here?"
An older black man wearing workman coveralls that had seen better days, with a slightly preoccupied and disheveled look {of one wholly concentrated on the project at hand first and the rest of the world second crossed the street a block up { and
Rodney hurried his pace to catch up with him. "Hey! Hey, I need to ask you something! Wait up!"
The man he had been following stopped and glanced over his shoulder at McKay, apparently either wondering what he was doing there or, as odd it might sound, trying to match the very real, very solid Rodney McKay with a mental image of the same man. After a moment he asked, “Are you Dr. Rodney McKay?”
“Yes, and who are you?"
"I am Dr. Henry Deacon and I was instructed to meet you at the train station an hour ago, but then I got distracted. When I recalled the time your train was due to pull in, well…” Henry shrugged. “I arrived too late and you had already been and gone it would seem.”
“If you were due to meet me,” said Rodney in clipped, controlled tones, “why did you run away when I was standing on the street corner opposite you?”
“It’s complicated.”
"Would you please try to 'uncomplicate it for me," replied Rodney raising an eyebrow while he waited for a response from Deacon.
“Well ….” Henry trailed off and then reached up to scratch a patch of scraggly black rapidly going grey patch of hair on the dome of his head. “I guess it is not as complicated as all that. You are in fact, Rodney McKay, of Canada, formerly a member of the Stargate Atlantis Expedition, are you not?”
“Look, this is ridiculous. Either I am or I’m not, and standing around yammering about it is not getting either of us anywhere fast. In fact, I find it a colossal waste of time. And if I might add, if you’re representative of this so-called Global Dynamics then I think we might very well have made a mistake in coming here after all!” Rodney heaved in a deep breath after this rather heated tirade, but it did make him feel a bit better for having said it.
Henry Deacon smiled. “You are indeed who you say you are. I had to be sure, you understand, it’s been a bit chaotic around here, but you’ll get used to it after a while. Come with me.”
“What, you think I might have been an imposter? If that was the case, I’m sure a place like this would have much more sophisticated means of identifying me,” said Rodney wondering if maybe just maybe Eureka would turn out to be as much of a disappointment as Area 51 had been.
On the heels of that particular thought, Rodney asked Deacon, “Say, you don’t happen to have some kind of geeky bowling tournament with Area 51 do you?”
Deacon looked startled by either the question or the causal mention of the existence of Area 51 but if the other man had known who he was and by extension the existence of his former assignment and its members; then he must have known about Area 51.
“Yes, we do,” replied Deacon after a moment as he continued to walk down the street past the residential area and further into the commercial district. Rodney noted that the busiest eating establishment happened to be a place named “Carpe Diem” with a brown and white sheriff’s jeep parked in front of it. “And as I introduce you to the heads and active staff of GD try to wait a bit before you mention that to Douglas Fargo.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something of an ongoing rivalry between his team and that of Area 51,” replied Henry.
“Great, just great. You leave Earth for a while and the whole place goes to seed. Is there anything else I should know, like where you keep the alien space craft?”
“If you don’t mind my saying so, Dr. McKay, you can be a bit of a crashing cynic at times,” remarked Deacon over his shoulder as they continued to walk.
“Henry!” a voice called from the entrance to the diner and the man who could only be the town sheriff came over to them at a rapid trot.
“Carter, always a pleasure,” replied Henry.
“Always, Henry," replied Carter.
"Ahh, pardon me,“ added Henry while looking expectantly at the two other men. "I’m kept so busy of late keeping tabs on at least three different projects at a time that I forget the more mundane niceties of common decency. Sherriff Carter, this is Doctor Rodney McKay. Dr. McKay, this is Jack Carter. Eureka’s sheriff.
“Pleased to meet you,” replied Carter.
“Likewise,” Rodney replied. “Deacon, just how much further to go until we reach Global Dynamics headquarters?," asked Rodney.
“Not far now,” replied Henry.
Jack nodded. “Alison mentioned something about several of the science departments, I forget which ones she mentioned specifically, getting an infusion of new blood,” remarked Carter in a more or less off-hand manner and shrugged. “I, well, I expected there to be more of you.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” demanded Rodney.
“Just more in terms of numbers, that’s all,” replied Carter.
“Oh, well, there will be. I was sent on ahead,” replied Rodney only slightly mollified.
***
Sheppard had mentioned that the entire operation of Global Dynamics, and thus the entire purpose for the town of Eureka to exist, was for research and development of technology, all of which was under contract by the United States government.
Rodney had consciously made the decision to withhold his judgment on that until he had seen enough evidence to warrant that assumption with his own eyes. Global Dynamics in and of itself from the outside looked much like any corporate multi-level building, {but as Henry Deacon had allowed when they each were subjected to various security processing measures, including a retinal scan, a voice print.
Once inside Deacon nodded in a friendly fashion to men and women passing by him on various errands, then finally, after several more security checks, Rodney was escorted to what was referred to as Section 5 and the department administrative offices where Deacon ushered him into an office belonging to a Tess Fontain.
“Wait here,” instructed Deacon. “Dr. Fontain is running a bit late, but she’ll be with you in just a moment.”
“Sure,” Rodney nodded. “No problem,” and took a seat in area that he figured was the waiting room.
****
The mop of mousy brown and pale blue eyes peering out from within the slightly rounded frame of the glasses that seemed to permanently be mounted at an angle to the rest of his face was one that Rodney McKay would have recognized just about anywhere and under just about any circumstances. “Radek!”
“Rodney!” Radek Zelenka looked up from the object that had held his undivided attention.
“Deacon was supposed to met you at the train station when you arrived, was he not?” Zelenka questioned as he stepped away from the eager embrace and glanced over at him. “You are looking well.” His Czech accent was as pronounced as ever.
“He ran away from me, at first.”
“‘How strange, but he corrected the oversight, I trust,” asked Radek.
“Because, well…no, I really should wait until Dr. Fontana clears you with the program, and I have no doubt that she will.”
“Radek, have you ever wondered why they went about recruiting various members of our team?’
“Of course. It is obvious. For our experience with, well, alien technology and languages.”
“Come again?”
Radek shrugged. “If you ask me they really are not handing this recruitment business at all well. I have had the privilege of being introduced and working with an extremely bright and promising group of individuals.” Radek paused and cocked his head to one side as if thinking something through, and holding up the index finger of his left hand to one side of his nose, he added: “But brilliant people can often not work well in dealing with practical matters such as…..”
“Such as?” prompted Rodney.
“Recruitment.” replied Radek.
“I guess they have to go through the motions. At least that’s what Sheppard figured. And this Dr. Fontana actually came to try and persuade John into working here in person.”
“You’ve spoken with Colonel Sheppard?" asked Zelenka.
“Yes, recently. I suspect that after this interview and from what you’ve implied, that we’re all a shoe-in. And wait a sec! What were you saying about alien tech? A place as small as this, probably not even a blip on the map, could not possibly have gained access to those kinds of resources.” Rodney sighed and reached up to run his fingers through his hair.
“Oh, here she is now” remarked Radek.
“Thank you, Dr. Zelenka, that will be all. Dr. McKay, I am sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but please, come into my office and have a seat.”
Rodney followed Dr. Fontana into her office and took a seat in the offered chair as requested and it was only as he was looking curiously around the room that he noticed another person seated in a chair near the far wall with his back to them, who stirred upon their arrival. But even so, that artfully tousled mop of regulation-cut brown hair was unmistakable.
“John, you’ve got some nerve making me go through all that rigmarole. You just had to beat me to the punch! You just had to be the first to break into whatever you’ve decided that we’re breaking into!”
“Calm down, Rodney,” John Sheppard mildly remarked. “It’s not as bad as you think, and even if it were, I for one am convinced that GD and its staff,” at this point Sheppard paused and exchanged a telling glance with the very attractive Dr. Tess Fontana who sat down in the gimbaled chair behind her desk, “I find them to be completely legitimate. And once we’ve got you cleared past all the administrative hurdles I think even you will be impressed with what the ‘next big thing’ we’re going to be working on is.”
“Okay, okay,” Rodney sighed, only slightly mollified by both Sheppard’s nonchalant and reassuring attitude in both his spoken words and his body language, as he moved over to the only other available chair. “But just tell me what the hell this ‘next big thing is, already!”
“I thought you’d never ask,” replied Tess with a reassuring grin that seemed slightly out of place among the work-a-like surroundings and decor, but Rodney was finally willing to admit that even his skepticism good afford to take a back-burner to his budding curiosity. “Well,” Rodney prompted.
“I had Henry meet up with you at the train station both because he was available but also because it was his research that made our current project possible," said Tess and then sighed. "I figure we can't give you the official run-around for much longer. Dr. Rodney McKay, can we. "
"I would agree to that," replied Rodney.
"Then, I guess the best way to sum up what we've got here is to say that instead of going out in person to gather up alien tech and data; Dr. Deacon has figured out a way to bring all of that tech to us here on Earth using a kind of sub-space beacon.”
Rodney grimaced. “Come on, John,” he replied. "You’ve gotta be kidding me, right?”
“Not by much,” replied John.
“He’s right. Dr. Zelenka is already working on decoding a lot of the encrypted binary code as well as the glyphs that they have yet to successfully download into the GD central processing computer data banks,” replied Tess. “However, the original storage unit for the data in its raw form did not survive the process,” added Tess.
“What do you expect from me?” Rodney demanded.
“Tess, I warned you that he would be a hard sell. Rodney’s well, he’s brilliant but extremely stubborn,” remarked Sheppard.
“I gathered that, but I think you could manage to put all that aside and provide both your knowledge and expertise, and some of that gray matter you’ve got rattling around inside that head of yours, and help us.” Tess flashed a toothy but quite sincere grin at McKay and leaned forward in her chair until her elbows were propped on the surface of her desk in front of her. “What do you say to that?”
“Yes, I guess,” replied Rodney with a shrug and it occurred to him that most if not all of his reluctance to take on a new assignment had stemmed mostly from the need to break with the old and start in on something entirely new, and besides it would most likely be a challenge, and if there was anything that Rodney McKay thrived on; it was challenge. “I’m in.”
“Excellent!” Tess smiled again and relaxed back into her chair and then shook hands with both men. “To new beginnings, gentlemen!”
Sheppard grinned. “To new beginnings indeed.”
"I need a drink, preferably a good stiff one," muttered Rodney under his breath.
"That can be arranged," replied Tess.
-END-
Prompt:
With Area 51 gone, Atlantis turns to Eureka and Global Dynamics for help. Regular or Vegas universe.