ten_fwd | OTA - Arrival

Entry tags:

OTA - Arrival

Of all the fool damn things he’s done over the years, Jack is pretty sure that diving into icy cold water is way, way up on the list. McKay needs him to drain the jumper bay and apparently the only way to do that is to dive down there, look around for some switch, and flip it. McKay seems to think it’s pretty obvious but apparently Jack’s having an obtuse day - none of these controls seem obvious in any sense of the word.

The cold seeps in almost down to his bones and his lungs are burning from lack of air. He can hold his breath for a decent amount of time but he’s got no idea which of these switches he’s supposed to be pushing or pulling. Nothing to do but go back up and bark at McKay until he can give him a better description of what is and isn’t obvious on Atlantis. Damn Ancients. Why couldn’t it have been one of those ATA activated things where he could just think “open” from up on the ground, dry, and skirt around this whole mess?

When he breaks the surface again, Woolsey is there looking all expectant-like and Jack wishes like hell he had something to tell him. Thing is, he doesn’t and Woolsey isn’t the one he needs to talk to anyway.

“Did you do it?” Jack shakes his head and holds out his palm. “Radio.” Woolsey hands it over with a minimum of fuss but he’s still hovering and Jack knows that he’ll have to feed him something just to keep him from panicking and revealing their position. First things first, he’s got to talk to McKay.

“McKay. You and I have very different definitions of the word obvious.” McKay squawks a little, out of his element, and Jack interrupts him. “There are dozens of controls down there and I wouldn’t even know how to describe.” Still, he and McKay come to some kind of consensus that the emergency switch should be toward the middle of the console and extremely prominent. Jack hopes, for everyone’s sake, that he’s right.

He’s not really fond of going back in the water but a little cold water’s hardly the worst thing he’s faced in twenty plus years of a decorated military career. If Sheppard and his team can pull off this rescue, it will have been more than worth it for Jack to get hypothermia and frostbite. More than worth it. He takes in a deep breath and goes back under, swimming to the center of the room and pushing at a likely switch.

It seems to be draining the room, so Jack releases it, only to see the water rush back in. Great. One more trip topside to inform McKay that he’s a complete idiot and he’s back in the water again, hopefully for the last time. He pushes at the switch and ignores the burn in his lungs, ignores the way his vision goes black around the edges. When everything starts feeling fuzzy and he feels light-headed, he keeps holding on, knowing that everyone’s fate pretty much depends on Sheppard and the rest of them getting into Atlantis to take it back from these damn replicators.

He focuses on that, the rescue, and it feels like time slows down and he’s suspended for a little while. The big difference is that he feels like he’s sprawled out on a flat surface and while he’s wet and cold, it doesn’t feel like he’s underwater anymore. He gasps in a deep breath, chokes on it, and spends the next few seconds coughing and sputtering and wondering where in the galaxy he’s wound up. Replicators. Of course. Like as not, he’s in a room somewhere with some alien’s hand in his head and none of this is even real. When he hears footsteps, he decides to go on the offensive.

“Look. You’re not getting anything from me. Hell, I don’t even know anything. You captured the wrong guy if you wanna know how to get from Pegasus to Milky Way because I don’t even know how the damn gate works, much less that bridge Carter and McKay dreamed up. Completely out of luck.”

There. That should satisfy them, right?

[[Jack is sprawled out in a hallway after having been winked aboard by Q. He is also soaking wet :)]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Henry was on his way back from the holodeck and his regular training routine. So he was dressed in loose fitting trousers and t-shirt but most important of all, he had bare feet. He liked the fact he didn't need shoes on here but only usually ignored them for his training sessions.

The voice caught the fourteen year old just as he felt the water on the ground. Not that it bothered him. He just smiled. He took in the information, not understanding most of it, but decided to play along. Because he was always full of good ideas!

"Well then, maybe I should get Carter and McKay to explain it to me." He laughed and held out his hand to help up the man. "Or I could just explain I have no idea what you're talking about and you're not where you think you are?"

For some reason, kids always make him think of his kid even though Charlie would be a heck of a lot older than this guy if he were still alive. Still, Jack's face is a little softer than it usually is and he takes the kid's hand.

"Yeah, too much to ask for a couple of science geeks to come and explain everything to me. Where is...here, exactly?"

"Starship Enterprise. The year is 2368. And I have no idea where exactly in space we are but I'm not really that bothered."

He smiled at the man as he helped him up. "I'm Henry. Henry Mills. My quarters are just down the hall. I can use the replicator and get you some dry clothes if you like."

Jack tilts his head and assesses the kid carefully. "You know Replicators are nasty robots who are trying to take over the galaxy, right?" Although, maybe in 2368 they've been tamed down or something. Jack hardly knows but he's not inclined to trust anything named with the R word. Not right now.

"Because if they've got you duped, you're in trouble, kid."

"Maybe where you come from. Come on, I'll show you." And, still holding Jack's hand, he intends to drag him down the hall. If nothing else, Henry needs to dry his feet.

He's used to being called kid by his mother so he doesn't bother answering that. But he does ask the stranger a seemingly odd question. "Do you like dogs?"

"I think that people who don't like dogs are crazy," Jack says sagely. "In fact, I think every kid requires a dog. That's like, a law of the universe or something. Why do you ask?"

It doesn't escape him that the kid hasn't let go of his hand but, hey, Jack kind of likes that. It reminds him of when he used to be a dad long ago.

Henry continues to smile. "You'll see." It took only a minute to get to Henry's quarters and he let go of the man's hand to open the door. Within seconds, there's the pattering of little tiny paws as a small dalmatian puppy runs to see who's there.

"Hello boy. Did you miss me?" The puppy yaps his approval and Henry picks him up so the puppy can lick his face. Henry then turns back to the stranger.

"Come in. This is Mister Spots." Mister Spots barked again and jumped out of his master's arms to go sniff the newcomer. He jumped up and put his paws on the man's knees, craving attention. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Jack," he says, ruffling the puppy behind the ears really quickly. It's been a while since he's had time for a dog but he likes the attention they give, the way they know just what you need even if you don''t know it yourself.

"Jack O'Neill. Just arrived, obviously."

"Nice to meet you Jack. And leave him be Mister Spots. You've said hello." The puppy whined a little but ran over to his master.

Henry had gone over to the replicator and ordered some dog food which he set down out of the way and let the puppy wolf down.

Turning to Jack, he pointed at what he'd been using. "This is a replicator. You tell it what you want and it makes it for you." He asked it for a large towel, then handed it to Jack.

It definitely doesn't look like the replicators he knows of and Jack shrugs and decides that if this is a dream, maybe he won't die using the thing.

"Uh, clothes? In, hm, an adequate size?" Jack thinks better of it and whispers his latest measurements, something he's been trying to work on. The machine makes a whirring noise and spits out exactly what he asked for, more or less.

"That's a neat trick."

Henry smiles and nods, dipping into his room for some shoes after he dried his feet.

"So what are the replicators like where you come from? You said something about nasty robots?" He was very curious about everyone else and other cultures.

"Yeah. They look like you and me but they're not human," Jack explains. "And basically just want to take over the universe, all that hokey kind of evil villain stuff. It's a little ridiculous, at the end of the day, but how are you gonna argue logic with robots?"

Henry shrugged. "I've never actually had to deal with robots. I suppose that's what happens when you live in a town stuck in 1983." He's done the maths on when Storybrooke appeared. "But I do know a lot about evil villain stuff. And the ridiculousness that most people would never believe." Because magic.

"I love how they feel the need to announce their plans to everyone before carrying them out. Don't they know it'll work out better if you just...do the thing?"

Again, applying logic to an inherently illogical situation. That's Jack's specialty.

Henry laughed. "Oh man, you've had it easy. The villains I've faced have been every shade of mysterious. Either not telling us at all what they were planning, or giving you one tiny piece of the puzzle to keep you guessing. It's so frustrating."

Pan and Zelena were certainly the worst he faced. Maybe robots would have been better.

"Don't they know they're supposed to follow the rules of evil villainess? Laugh loudly, wear awful clothes and always announce your intentions," Jack teases.

"Those are the rules. Can't break 'em."

"They got the first two right, that's for sure." He rolled his eyes, remembering the awful laugh of Zelena especially.

Then he decided that thinking about that witch wasn't good for his mental health and changed the subject. "So...you seem pretty calm about all this? Spaceships and kidnappings. Happen to you often?"

Jack nods. "Oh, yeah, at least once a week. I've been doing this longer than you've been alive, kid. This is just another Tuesday, so far as I can tell. Well. I guess it's Tuesday. I might have the day of the week wrong with the interdimensional time change and all that."

"Wow." Henry just grinned. "That's so cool. I've not done the time travel personally but my mom has. And her boyfriend." The last word was said in a way that obviously meant Henry didn't quite approve of his mother's choice in partner. But he moved on. "I've been in an alternative timeline before. As well as a pocket dimension."

"Yeah? How'd you manage that?" Pocket dimensions are something Jack has practical experience with but he couldn't begin to explain them. That's for Carter.

"Just at the right place at the right time or something?"

"The alternate timeline wasn't my doing. This guy called Isaac did it and I just undid it." He didn't want to mention magic just yet for some reason. "And the pocket dimension was the place I was in before here. Again, I was brought there against my will but at least I remember what it taught me."

"I'm beginning to think I'm not the only one with a weird past," Jack says, letting out a low sigh.

"You're too young to know that much about weird stuff. I hope you know that."

"Oh, you're definitely not." Henry laughed. "And yes I do know that. I'm fourteen now but I was ten when it all started. Or nine if I believe the journal left behind by a different alternate timeline counterpart."

Mister Spots had long finished his meal and Henry moved to the couch to sit and cuddle with his puppy.

"I could spend hours talking about my weird past." He told Jack while giving the puppy some belly scratches. "But I doubt you want to hear about it. Or would believe it."

"Well, you know. Everyone's got some weirdness somewhere," Jack says. "It's part of what makes the world a little interesting."

"I suppose you're right. But I still think mine's off the charts into unbelievability." He pondered then continued.

"My grandfather is Rumplestiltskin."

(no subject)

has_2ls - 2016-03-26 23:30 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

disneydescendant - 2016-03-26 23:34 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only