Someone in one of the SGA communities mentioned how strange it is that there seem to be absolutely no conflicts between the various nationalities of the Atlantis team. Not even minor ones like food preferences or whatnot. Remembering what I read about a shared French/Russian expedition to Antarctica (how Russians loved cabbage and French people hated it), the snipplet below sprang to my mind. It takes place at the beginning of Episode 1.04 - Hide and Seek and will be eventually integrated into an actual story.
Behold the Great Coffee War(TM) of Atlantis!
He had been buried in his lab for days, often falling asleep over his still activated laptop, running on power bars and caffeine alone. There was so much to do, the abundance of Ancient technology all around them so fascinating, the problems they were facing on an hourly basis so complex that even if he could go entirely without sleep, there would never have been enough time.
Of course, life and work would have been a lot easier, had he possessed the ATA gene. As he did not, he was dependant on his more fortunate colleagues to activate various pieces of equipment for him, or give him access to previously unused Ancient databases. And while Dr. Kusanagi was extremely helpful, he felt guilty for calling her away from her own work repeatedly, so that he could move on with his. Breaking a scientist’s concentration could ruin hours of hard work. It had happened to him, too, several times, back on Antarctica as well as here. Rodney McKay was brilliant, but working for him – or even with him – could be… tiring at times.
“Dr. Zelenka?”
He looked up from his work at the pretty brunette in mild irritation. He knew she was one of the botanists but had never exchanged more than a casual greeting with her. She had a very common name… Smith? Jones? Something like that. He wasn’t sure. Most American names sounded almost the same for him.
“Yes, yes, what can I do for you, Doctor…?”
“Brown,” she supplied helpfully. “Katie Brown. And we need an engineer… a good one.”
“Am truly flattered,” he said with a tired smile. “What do you need me for? And who is we?”
“Dr. Parrish and I,” she explained. “We have found the greenhouses of Atlantis and are getting rid of the ‘ten-thousand-year-old dead plants’, as Dr. Weir would put it. A few Athosians are helping us, but we need to restart the heating and watering systems. We hope that in time, we’ll be able to grow our own food, or at least part of it. The Athosians are farmers and gardeners, we could use their experience.”
“I doubt that they would be much help with hydroponics,” Radek said, climbing down from his lab stool to follow the botanist.
“Oh, no,” Katie Brown said, falling in step on his side, “it’s not a hydroponics garden. It’s a good, old-fashioned, down-to-Earth greenhouse – well, several greenhouses, actually – with beets and honest dirt and all that. We just don’t seem to be able to start the environmental systems.”
“There could be problem,” Radek told her. “We might need ATA-gene for starting system.” His English tended to deteriorate when he was this tired, and it annoyed him to no end. Fortunately, Dr. Brown didn’t seem to mind.
“Oh, we have Sergeant Markham keeping an eye on us,” he said. “He does have the gene… but none of the engineering knowledge. I know a thing or two about electronics, my father is an engineer, but those systems are way beyond my league. I’m sorry to bother you about this…”
“No, no,” Radek waved, a little impatiently, “no problem at all. I can use break from my own work.”
“We have saved coffee for you,” Katie offered conspiratorially. “Dr. Wagner brewed it… it would wake the dead – or kill the living.”
Radek smiled at her. “Say no more. You can make me do anything if bribe me with Austrian coffee.”
They laughed. The Great Coffee War had been one of the insider jokes back on Antarctica already. The few Italians of the research team, plus Dr. Wagner who originated from Vienna, and of course Radek himself, absolutely detested American coffee, which they called dirty water. The Germans and Americans – at least those who had dared to try espresso to begin with – called it chemical warfare. To Radek’s eternal regret, only two Italians managed to get into the Atlantis team, and aside from them, only Dr. Wagner knew how to make a decent espresso.
“You are addicted; all four of you,” Katie said, shaking her head with a tolerant smile.
“No,” Radek said earnestly, “Rodney is caffeine addict. We others just like taste of good coffee.”
They laughed again and jogged down the corridor. It was quite a walk, but Radek didn’t mind moving around a little. He spent too much time in the lab anyway; despite his best intentions, he never managed to finish tinkering early enough to work out a little.
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To those unfamiliar with the show: Dr. Radek Zelenka is Czech, and sometimes speaks a funny English (well, I might have overdone it a bit, but I couldn't resist). Oh, and in case you are wondering, I got very similar reactions to espresso from Germans.
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jilba! I'm very sorry that I'm coming this late with my birthday wishes, but school is fairly hell-ish at the moment, and I got a bit distracted. Do you still accept well-wishes?
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fic4radek. As if I didn't have enough unfinished WIPs. Well, the advantage of a ficathon is that they want finished stories. And Zelenka is adorable.
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branchandroot
