Physics Department War Stories
Alright, here’s the first part of my new fic, chronicling the events and occurrences as the war between Sam Carter and Rodney McKay came to a head.
The Laws of Motion
by Hatcheter
A Langford University Story
Part I
The Law of Inertia
Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
“Radek, I swear, I’m going to kill him.”
Radek Zelenka closed his eyes and sighed as Sam Carter stormed into their shared office and dropped heavily into her seat. “What did he do this time?”
“He misplaced the beta component!”
Radek stared at her blankly.
“It’s stored in the clean environment lab. It’s only used in my project, he had no business handling it.”
Radek nodded thoughtfully. “Could this have anything to do with you stealing his research notes last week?”
“That was because he stole my notes for the next material integrity experiment, and tried to drag me out on a date before he returned them.”
“Ah yes, the date.” Radek grinned. “How was it?”
“I pinned him to the wall and threatened to squeeze a lemon into his eyes if he didn’t hand them over.”
“Dovedu ne práce s tezaury dítě. And what did you do to him to before that?”
Sam folded her arms and glared at Radek. “I put lemon air fresheners in his car. But that was after he walked out of my lab with half my sensor equipment.”
“Which he returned that afternoon.”
“Whose side are you on here?”
Radek began shuffling the papers on his desk into some semblance of a stack. “I share an office with you and a lab with Rodney; I am caught between you quarrelling children. Sam, you ought to be the bigger person, and put an end to this.”
“And let McKay win?”
Radek shoveled his papers into his briefcase, suddenly wishing to get out of the woman’s angry glare. Where was a trustee when you needed one?
“You shouldn’t be so hard on Rodney. His research program is at a critical juncture, and the Dean has placed a lot of pressure on him to show results. Also, he has to share an office with Kavanaugh.”
“I do feel sorry for him.”
“For Rodney?”
“For Kavanaugh.”
Radek sighed and closed his briefcase, ignoring the papers sticking out of the sides. “It’s almost eight, and I have a class to teach. Why don’t you go home for the night?”
“I still have work to do, thanks to him.”
“Then promise me you won’t blow anything up again?”
“That was not my fault.”
“Promise?” Radek insisted, glaring at Sam.
“Alright.”
“Good. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“‘Night, Radek.”
Sam leaned back in her chair, looking at the notes spread across her desk. What Radek perhaps didn’t realize was that her own research project was approaching its most important phase. The results of her experiments over the next few days would not only shape her own career, but could turn Langford into the premier research institution in the country.
As long as McKay’s petty pranks didn’t bring the whole project crumbling down.
Sam grabbed a journal off a shelf over her desk, flipping it open to a rarely read page. Rodney had his own project, which was also on he verge of producing results. Any delay in Sam’s research would buy him time to further his own.
Sam gathered her papers and put them in her desk, locking the drawer. She closed and locked the office, then hurried down the hall. The door to her lab was open, and light spilled out into the dimly lit hall. Two of her students were inside, working.
“Doctor Carter,” Graham Simmons called as she entered.
“Graham, Jennifer,” Carter greeted the two. “How’s it coming?”
“We just finished the programming, ma’am,” Jennifer Hailey said. “We were about to come get you.”
“Good, good, go ahead and start the simulation.”
“Now?”
Sam nodded. “I want to be able to come in and see the results first thing in the morning.”
“Okay.” Jennifer typed a command on her keyboard, and the screen immediately filled with columns of numbers. “It’s running.”
“Good. I’ll see you guys at seven-thirty.”
“What?”
“If these results show what I expect, we should be able to begin our first synthesis immediately. I’ll need you two here to oversee that.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Graham asked.
Sam shrugged, and smiled. “Then there will be more programming work to do. Goodnight,” she said, walking out of the lab.
The two shocked students watched her disappear. “Isn’t Doctor McKay supposed to use the clean lab tomorrow?” Graham asked.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Even in a big, puffy clean room suit, Rodney could be an intimidating presence.
“D-doctor McKay,” Graham started, trying to make sure an expensive piece of machinery was between himself and the enraged Canadian. “What brings you down here?”
“Where’s Carter?” Rodney growled.
“She said something about brunch with her father,” Jennifer offered, folding her arms and staring coolly up at McKay. “Can I giver her a message?”
“Brunch? It’s eight a.m.”
Jennifer shrugged.
“My team was scheduled to use the assembler today.”
“I guess there was a mix up,” Jennifer said. “We’ll be done in about thirty-six hours.”
“Thirty-six hours!”
“If that’s a problem, you should talk to Doctor Carter.”
McKay sneered at the smug little undergrad before him. “Oh, she’ll hear about this.”
“Sam!” Jacob Carter stood and waved when he saw his daughter enter the restaurant. She hurried to his table, giving him a hug as soon as she reached him. “Hi dad.”
Sam let go of her father and turned to give the other man at the table a quick hug. “Hi, Uncle George.”
“Hi,” George Hammond replied, chuckling as he returned her hug.
“How are you?” Sam asked her father as they sat down.
“I’m good, Sam. You?”
“Okay.”
“How’s your project coming?”
Sam smiled. “Is that what this is about?”
Jacob appeared offended. “I can’t have breakfast with my daughter without an ulterior motive?”
Sam merely arched an eyebrow as she sipped her coffee.
“Okay, yes, we want to talk to you about your project.”
“It’s going before the board?”
“With the situation at the math building, money and space are both at a premium.”
“Aren’t they supposed to finish that soon?”
“They’re already done cleaning out the asbestos,” George said. “But the foundation is crumbling, and the electrical system is a hazard to anyone who steps within three feet of a socket. They’ll be shutting the building down at the end of the semester, and moving everything there, including classes, to other buildings, for at least the spring semester.”
Sam slumped back in her chair. “Great.”
“The University can’t support two major research programs while this is going on,” Jacob said. “There’s no room.”
“They’re shutting me down?” Sam asked, her voice rising in volume.
“Nothing’s been decided yet,” Jacob quickly said, trying to calm Sam down. “But you or Doctor McKay will have to suspend your program for at least six months.”
“Probably for a year,” George added.
“McKay’s project may not be viable in a year.”
“He’s working on a big breakthrough, yes, but it will be eclipsed in a few years,” Jacob said. “Your project is decades ahead of anyone else.”
“I’ve got a paper that will be published next week,” Sam replied. “My theories and everything I’ve accomplished so far are covered. If my project is stopped, someone else will pick it up.”
Jacob nodded. “George and I have already agreed to vote for you.”
Sam felt relieved, but a little embarrassed. “You don’t have to do that just because you’re my father and godfather.”
“Then let us do it as two old fighter pilots,” George said, “That alloy you’re working on-“
“Trinium,” Sam inserted.
“-will be a huge step forward in military aviation and space exploration.”
Sam smiled at the men. “Thank you.”
Jacob squeezed his daughter’s hand. “Of course. We think Francis Maynard will support you, too.”
“I don’t think there’s any question about Jack O’Neill’s stance,” George added, grinning as Sam’s cheeks colored and Jacob’s jaw twitched.
“We don’t know where Vidrine stands on this,” Jacob said.
“And Kinsey?”
“Kinsey goes where the quick money is.”
“Just the man I was looking for.”
Rodney stopped at the entrance to the Dean’s office, his pent up tirade cut off by the surprise reception.
“Mister Kinsey?”
“Robert was just asking me about your project,” Doctor Kerrigan said. “I’m sure you can provide all the information he needs.”
“Yes, I’d be happy to, but I need to talk to you about the clean lab,” Rodney said to Kerrigan. “Carter sent her researchers in early this morning, before I could use my scheduled time to work on the power cell.”
“She did?” Kerrigan asked, seemingly unsurprised. “Have you spoken with her about this?”
“Not yet. She took off as soon as her students got started. Afraid to face me, I think.”
“Surely,” Kinsey quipped.
“I’ll talk to her about it, Rodney. Please, don’t do anything to make this situation worse.”
“Worse? What do you mean?”
“If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a class to teach,” Kerrigan said, picking up his briefcase.
“Of course,” Kinsey quickly replied. “Thank you for your time.”
Kinsey clapped a hand down on Rodney’s shoulder, firmly guiding him out of the Dean’s office. “So tell me, Doctor, when will your project show results for the university?”
“I expect to have my first working prototype within the month,” Rodney answered with a grin.
“And when will there be a commercial product?”
“It could take a year or more to go from prototype to a production model.”
Kinsey frowned. “What about the Japanese project? They say it could make your device obsolete.”
“If it works.” Rodney frowned. “When Professor Naquad passed away, his hydrogen fuel cell research was released to a few chosen institutions. I chose to pursue what I believed to be his most practical design. The Japanese and their so-called Naquadria reactor won’t see a prototype for another five years, at best.”
“That’s soon enough to keep interest in your device down.”
“My Naquadah reactor will work.”
“I’m not saying it won’t,” Kinsey replied. “But there’s a lot of money to made if you can get the product to market in time.”
“For the university.”
“For you, Rodney. Money, fame, power. You’d be the man who solved America’s dependence on foreign oil and ended pollution.”
“It wouldn’t exactly…”
“You’d be known all over the world.”
“Really?”
Kinsey nodded. “You would be bigger than Bill Gates. If you can produce.”
“Like I said, this will take time.”
“Time is money,” Kinsey replied. “How much time could you save if your funding was significantly increased?”
Radek walked the halls of the physics building carefully, peeking around every corner before he entered another hall. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and a sickening knot had formed in his stomach.
“Hey, Zelenka!”
Radek jumped and spun around to find Paul Davis approaching him. “Do not do that!”
Davis frowned, puzzled. “Do what?”
“Sneak up on me.”
“Okay, sorry,” Davis said. “What’s got you so jumpy?”
“Can you feel it? The tension in the air; it is the calm before the storm.”
Davis sighed. “So you’ve heard.”
Radek nodded. “The board will shut one of them down. They won’t stand idly by and wait for it happen.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Davis scoffed.
“It is inertia. They have been on course for an outright confrontation for some time. I fear that, in the end, one of them will be destroyed.”
Davis rolled his eyes. “The university isn’t going to fire either one of them.”
“I didn’t say fired.”
“Are either of them here right now?”
“I do not think so.”
“President Hayes sent me over to tell them that the board will vote on Friday morning. Would you tell Doctors Carter and McKay to be at the main conference center at nine a.m.?”
Radek’s eyes widened as Davis waved and quickly walked to the nearest exit. The university spokesman had just thrown him to the lions.
There were some days he regretted getting out of bed in the morning.
I wrote this while suffering a bad bout of internet disconnectivity, so it might be kind of random. Hopefully, you found it entertaining. Part 2 will be up in a day or two.
The Laws of Motion
by Hatcheter
A Langford University Story
Part I
The Law of Inertia
Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
“Radek, I swear, I’m going to kill him.”
Radek Zelenka closed his eyes and sighed as Sam Carter stormed into their shared office and dropped heavily into her seat. “What did he do this time?”
“He misplaced the beta component!”
Radek stared at her blankly.
“It’s stored in the clean environment lab. It’s only used in my project, he had no business handling it.”
Radek nodded thoughtfully. “Could this have anything to do with you stealing his research notes last week?”
“That was because he stole my notes for the next material integrity experiment, and tried to drag me out on a date before he returned them.”
“Ah yes, the date.” Radek grinned. “How was it?”
“I pinned him to the wall and threatened to squeeze a lemon into his eyes if he didn’t hand them over.”
“Dovedu ne práce s tezaury dítě. And what did you do to him to before that?”
Sam folded her arms and glared at Radek. “I put lemon air fresheners in his car. But that was after he walked out of my lab with half my sensor equipment.”
“Which he returned that afternoon.”
“Whose side are you on here?”
Radek began shuffling the papers on his desk into some semblance of a stack. “I share an office with you and a lab with Rodney; I am caught between you quarrelling children. Sam, you ought to be the bigger person, and put an end to this.”
“And let McKay win?”
Radek shoveled his papers into his briefcase, suddenly wishing to get out of the woman’s angry glare. Where was a trustee when you needed one?
“You shouldn’t be so hard on Rodney. His research program is at a critical juncture, and the Dean has placed a lot of pressure on him to show results. Also, he has to share an office with Kavanaugh.”
“I do feel sorry for him.”
“For Rodney?”
“For Kavanaugh.”
Radek sighed and closed his briefcase, ignoring the papers sticking out of the sides. “It’s almost eight, and I have a class to teach. Why don’t you go home for the night?”
“I still have work to do, thanks to him.”
“Then promise me you won’t blow anything up again?”
“That was not my fault.”
“Promise?” Radek insisted, glaring at Sam.
“Alright.”
“Good. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“‘Night, Radek.”
Sam leaned back in her chair, looking at the notes spread across her desk. What Radek perhaps didn’t realize was that her own research project was approaching its most important phase. The results of her experiments over the next few days would not only shape her own career, but could turn Langford into the premier research institution in the country.
As long as McKay’s petty pranks didn’t bring the whole project crumbling down.
Sam grabbed a journal off a shelf over her desk, flipping it open to a rarely read page. Rodney had his own project, which was also on he verge of producing results. Any delay in Sam’s research would buy him time to further his own.
Sam gathered her papers and put them in her desk, locking the drawer. She closed and locked the office, then hurried down the hall. The door to her lab was open, and light spilled out into the dimly lit hall. Two of her students were inside, working.
“Doctor Carter,” Graham Simmons called as she entered.
“Graham, Jennifer,” Carter greeted the two. “How’s it coming?”
“We just finished the programming, ma’am,” Jennifer Hailey said. “We were about to come get you.”
“Good, good, go ahead and start the simulation.”
“Now?”
Sam nodded. “I want to be able to come in and see the results first thing in the morning.”
“Okay.” Jennifer typed a command on her keyboard, and the screen immediately filled with columns of numbers. “It’s running.”
“Good. I’ll see you guys at seven-thirty.”
“What?”
“If these results show what I expect, we should be able to begin our first synthesis immediately. I’ll need you two here to oversee that.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Graham asked.
Sam shrugged, and smiled. “Then there will be more programming work to do. Goodnight,” she said, walking out of the lab.
The two shocked students watched her disappear. “Isn’t Doctor McKay supposed to use the clean lab tomorrow?” Graham asked.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Even in a big, puffy clean room suit, Rodney could be an intimidating presence.
“D-doctor McKay,” Graham started, trying to make sure an expensive piece of machinery was between himself and the enraged Canadian. “What brings you down here?”
“Where’s Carter?” Rodney growled.
“She said something about brunch with her father,” Jennifer offered, folding her arms and staring coolly up at McKay. “Can I giver her a message?”
“Brunch? It’s eight a.m.”
Jennifer shrugged.
“My team was scheduled to use the assembler today.”
“I guess there was a mix up,” Jennifer said. “We’ll be done in about thirty-six hours.”
“Thirty-six hours!”
“If that’s a problem, you should talk to Doctor Carter.”
McKay sneered at the smug little undergrad before him. “Oh, she’ll hear about this.”
“Sam!” Jacob Carter stood and waved when he saw his daughter enter the restaurant. She hurried to his table, giving him a hug as soon as she reached him. “Hi dad.”
Sam let go of her father and turned to give the other man at the table a quick hug. “Hi, Uncle George.”
“Hi,” George Hammond replied, chuckling as he returned her hug.
“How are you?” Sam asked her father as they sat down.
“I’m good, Sam. You?”
“Okay.”
“How’s your project coming?”
Sam smiled. “Is that what this is about?”
Jacob appeared offended. “I can’t have breakfast with my daughter without an ulterior motive?”
Sam merely arched an eyebrow as she sipped her coffee.
“Okay, yes, we want to talk to you about your project.”
“It’s going before the board?”
“With the situation at the math building, money and space are both at a premium.”
“Aren’t they supposed to finish that soon?”
“They’re already done cleaning out the asbestos,” George said. “But the foundation is crumbling, and the electrical system is a hazard to anyone who steps within three feet of a socket. They’ll be shutting the building down at the end of the semester, and moving everything there, including classes, to other buildings, for at least the spring semester.”
Sam slumped back in her chair. “Great.”
“The University can’t support two major research programs while this is going on,” Jacob said. “There’s no room.”
“They’re shutting me down?” Sam asked, her voice rising in volume.
“Nothing’s been decided yet,” Jacob quickly said, trying to calm Sam down. “But you or Doctor McKay will have to suspend your program for at least six months.”
“Probably for a year,” George added.
“McKay’s project may not be viable in a year.”
“He’s working on a big breakthrough, yes, but it will be eclipsed in a few years,” Jacob said. “Your project is decades ahead of anyone else.”
“I’ve got a paper that will be published next week,” Sam replied. “My theories and everything I’ve accomplished so far are covered. If my project is stopped, someone else will pick it up.”
Jacob nodded. “George and I have already agreed to vote for you.”
Sam felt relieved, but a little embarrassed. “You don’t have to do that just because you’re my father and godfather.”
“Then let us do it as two old fighter pilots,” George said, “That alloy you’re working on-“
“Trinium,” Sam inserted.
“-will be a huge step forward in military aviation and space exploration.”
Sam smiled at the men. “Thank you.”
Jacob squeezed his daughter’s hand. “Of course. We think Francis Maynard will support you, too.”
“I don’t think there’s any question about Jack O’Neill’s stance,” George added, grinning as Sam’s cheeks colored and Jacob’s jaw twitched.
“We don’t know where Vidrine stands on this,” Jacob said.
“And Kinsey?”
“Kinsey goes where the quick money is.”
“Just the man I was looking for.”
Rodney stopped at the entrance to the Dean’s office, his pent up tirade cut off by the surprise reception.
“Mister Kinsey?”
“Robert was just asking me about your project,” Doctor Kerrigan said. “I’m sure you can provide all the information he needs.”
“Yes, I’d be happy to, but I need to talk to you about the clean lab,” Rodney said to Kerrigan. “Carter sent her researchers in early this morning, before I could use my scheduled time to work on the power cell.”
“She did?” Kerrigan asked, seemingly unsurprised. “Have you spoken with her about this?”
“Not yet. She took off as soon as her students got started. Afraid to face me, I think.”
“Surely,” Kinsey quipped.
“I’ll talk to her about it, Rodney. Please, don’t do anything to make this situation worse.”
“Worse? What do you mean?”
“If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a class to teach,” Kerrigan said, picking up his briefcase.
“Of course,” Kinsey quickly replied. “Thank you for your time.”
Kinsey clapped a hand down on Rodney’s shoulder, firmly guiding him out of the Dean’s office. “So tell me, Doctor, when will your project show results for the university?”
“I expect to have my first working prototype within the month,” Rodney answered with a grin.
“And when will there be a commercial product?”
“It could take a year or more to go from prototype to a production model.”
Kinsey frowned. “What about the Japanese project? They say it could make your device obsolete.”
“If it works.” Rodney frowned. “When Professor Naquad passed away, his hydrogen fuel cell research was released to a few chosen institutions. I chose to pursue what I believed to be his most practical design. The Japanese and their so-called Naquadria reactor won’t see a prototype for another five years, at best.”
“That’s soon enough to keep interest in your device down.”
“My Naquadah reactor will work.”
“I’m not saying it won’t,” Kinsey replied. “But there’s a lot of money to made if you can get the product to market in time.”
“For the university.”
“For you, Rodney. Money, fame, power. You’d be the man who solved America’s dependence on foreign oil and ended pollution.”
“It wouldn’t exactly…”
“You’d be known all over the world.”
“Really?”
Kinsey nodded. “You would be bigger than Bill Gates. If you can produce.”
“Like I said, this will take time.”
“Time is money,” Kinsey replied. “How much time could you save if your funding was significantly increased?”
Radek walked the halls of the physics building carefully, peeking around every corner before he entered another hall. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and a sickening knot had formed in his stomach.
“Hey, Zelenka!”
Radek jumped and spun around to find Paul Davis approaching him. “Do not do that!”
Davis frowned, puzzled. “Do what?”
“Sneak up on me.”
“Okay, sorry,” Davis said. “What’s got you so jumpy?”
“Can you feel it? The tension in the air; it is the calm before the storm.”
Davis sighed. “So you’ve heard.”
Radek nodded. “The board will shut one of them down. They won’t stand idly by and wait for it happen.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Davis scoffed.
“It is inertia. They have been on course for an outright confrontation for some time. I fear that, in the end, one of them will be destroyed.”
Davis rolled his eyes. “The university isn’t going to fire either one of them.”
“I didn’t say fired.”
“Are either of them here right now?”
“I do not think so.”
“President Hayes sent me over to tell them that the board will vote on Friday morning. Would you tell Doctors Carter and McKay to be at the main conference center at nine a.m.?”
Radek’s eyes widened as Davis waved and quickly walked to the nearest exit. The university spokesman had just thrown him to the lions.
There were some days he regretted getting out of bed in the morning.
I wrote this while suffering a bad bout of internet disconnectivity, so it might be kind of random. Hopefully, you found it entertaining. Part 2 will be up in a day or two.