Dev Brown
06-15-2008, 12:24 PM
Hey guys,
I'm writing a story with Maj Evan Lorne & Kate Heightmeyer as the main characters. This is some work in progress, just curious what you guys, especially the pro-writers (especially Robin K ;) think of it.
Owh, and admins - I placed this in FanFic Commentary cause it's work in progres and I really want some feedback (think of it as a betabuild :p)
Also, I put my little wallpaper project and the Beyond the Night (by Rachel Luttrell) music vid on halt for this, but in a week or so summer holidays start so I'll have plenty of time to finish it then.
The story (first bit, untitled so far, red bits the new part)
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Chapter 1 - Midway
The Stargate shut down behind Major Evan Lorne as he and Dr. Kate Heightmeyer stepped off the ramp at Midway Station. They were greeted by a rookie Lorne’d never seen before. The kid, Sergeant D. Water according to his uniform, told them all gate-travel to and from Atlantis had been suspended and they’d have to stay on Midway for a while.
“Do you know what sort of trouble they’re in, sergeant?” the Major inquired as Sgt. Water led them to the guest quarters.
Sgt. Water frowned, recalling Atlantis’ short message. “We don’t know exactly, sir, but Chuck mentioned some sort of outbreak.”
They stopped in front of a door.
“Unfortunately you’re going to have to share this room. The other four are all occupied by travelers from Pegasus. I hope you’re OK with that…” The non-com said and looked uneasy from Lorne to Heightmeyer. “Of course you could use my quarters while I’m on duty, sir….” He offered.
Evan wasn’t sure what to say. He looked at Dr. Heightmeyer and noticed, not for the first time, that she was quite attractive. The Doctor gave him one of her stunning smiles and turned to the sergeant.
“That won’t be necessary, sergeant.” She told him.
Water gave Lorne a jealous look and stepped aside to let them in.
“Well if you need me, just hit the intercom. Owh, and Atlantis said it be at least twelve hours so you best make yourselves comfortable.” With that, the sergeant closed the door leaving them by themselves.
It was a rather small room, but after two days of IOA interview, it seemed like a holiday resort to Lorne. Most of it was occupied by a stacked bed. There also was a desk with a TV-set, some DVDs and a couple of Sudoku books, which Evan suspected to be all filled already. Dr Heightmeyer had put her bag on the only chair and was fiddling with one of the side pockets.
“Ma’am? Would you like the top bed or the bottom on?” Evan asked, leaning against the bed.
“Bottom would be nice, major.” She said. Kate pulled a sleeping mask out of her bag and sat down on her bed. She pulled the mask over her eyes and lay back on the sheet.
“I’m going to try to catch some sleep, major.” She told Lorne, who had already climbed onto his bed.
“I’ll be right up here, ma’am.” he replied.
A smile played across Kate’s lips and she lifted her mask, looking up at Lorne’s bed. “Owh, and major..?”
Lorne produced an absent “Yes, ma’am?”
“Please, call me Kate.” she said.
Amused, Lorne looked up from his book. “Can do, ma’am, but only if you’ll call me Evan.”
Kate’s smile broadened. “You’ve got a deal, Evan.”
Nice guy, she thought, not such a show-off as most of those military types….and cute.
Lorne stared at Kate’s bag for a while, gathering his thoughts about the lovely doctor.
Awh, well we’ll see…he thought and then returned his attention to the book.
Five hours later, Evan turned the books final page. Careful not to awake Dr Heightmeyer, he lowered himself down to the cabins floor quietly. Lorne put his book on the desk next to the Sudoku books.
Who knows, maybe the next guy stuck in twenty-four hour quarantine likes reading.
He put Kate’s bag on the ground so he could sit down and tie up his boots. Lorne was about to leave when Kate mumbled something and rolled over to her side.
In the past few hours, Evan had learned Kate Heightmeyer talked in her sleep, so this was no real surprise to him. This, however, was the first time he could make out a real word. Two words, actually. He was pretty sure she had said ‘yes’ and ‘please’….which of course meant nothing to Lorne.
Kate opened her eyes and saw nothing but ocean. She felt the hot sand touching her bare feet and a slight breech on her skin. The beach stretched on as far a she could see to both her left and right. Kate closed her eyes and stood there for a minute, enjoying the warm breeze. Listening to the steady music of the ocean, Kate couldn’t help but to wonder why it, the ocean, the breeze, the beach, all seemed so familiar.
She almost jumped when someone behind her called out her name.
“Kathy, honey? Dinner’s ready, are you coming?”
Kate’s hearth jumped as she recognized that voice Mom? She spun around and saw her mother, standing on the front porch of a beach house.
Mother waved at her and disappeared into the house. Then Kate realized she knew the house as well:
This was the family home in France her parents had taken her to on holiday in the summer of ’84.
Laughing she ran towards the house. “Mum, dad, it’s me!” she shouted as she burst through the front door.
But instead of the cozy living room she remembered, she stepped into a room so dark she couldn’t even make out the walls or the furniture….if there was any. She reached for the door handle but couldn’t find it. Kate turned around to find the door gone.
She closed her eyes, hoping she’d be back on the beach when she opened them again. Beautiful ocean, Normandy, France she thought and opened her eyes. Of course, it didn’t help and the dark room hadn’t magically disappeared.
Suddenly a light flicked on revealing a narrow passageway. Eager to get out of the darkness, Kate started walking down the tunnel. She walked on for what seemed like hours, yet no end came in sight.
Whilst walking down the passageway, Kate slowly became aware of a sound amongst the silence. Barely audible at first, it grew louder and louder by the minute. Kate stopped to listen.
Whatever made the sound was back the way she had come. It was a very distinctive noise, but she couldn’t quite place it yet.
Then, after taking a few steps towards the sound, she suddenly recognized it. Running water. She was listening to water coming towards her.
Out of the darkness , a huge wall of water came towering towards her. Kate turned and ran like hell. As she desperately tried to stay ahead of the tidal wave thundering down the tunnel, images flash before her mind. Nearly drowning in a pool when she was ten. Her swimming teacher trying to convince her there nothing to be afraid of several weeks later. There where happy thoughts as well. Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Beating all the boys in a swimming competition.
She tried to hold on to those happy memories as the tsunami closed in on her. With the end no where in sight and the water already tickling her ankles, she knew it was futile.
Kate Heightmeyer took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pushed off with both feet.
Wide open fields
Lorne found Water in Midway´s operations room, playing poker with a techy who introduced himself as Mike. When Evan asked if he could join them, both men gave him half of their chips and the game began.
At firs, the major seemed to be lucky, then he lost some chips.
Lorne was in the process of deciding what to do with four matching colours, when, out of the blue, Water asked him how Dr Heightmeyer ‘was’. Evan raised an eyebrow and looked at Water for a second what is this guy thinking?
“Don’t see how that’s any of your business, sergeant. Now, I’m going all in. Care to join me?” he said, shoving his chips forward.
The sarge and the techy grinned and called his bluff. The river dealt them a queen of hearts, changing Lorne’s bluff into a flush, beating Waters’ pair of twos and Mike’s single ace of spades.
“Well kids, can’t always win.” Evan grinned as he collected the chips, tossing a few to Mike and Water so the game could continue.
Water dealt the next round, but Evan decided not to stretch his luck and folded in the flop. While the other two continued to try and out bluff each other, Lorne got up to get them all a drink.
Even though the United States Air Force wasn’t known for its kitchen, Lorne wasn’t surprised to find a bottle of Coca-Cola in the fridge. He poured three full glasses and put the bottle back where it’d come from. There was something strange about the coke though. Evan could have sworn that he smelled alcohol, but surely that would be impossible on a USAF space station?
Lorne sipped his drink and glanced over his shoulder to Water who was dealing river. Surely, there was some Coke in his glass but the majority of the liquid was some sort drink, his best guess being some sort of breezer.
A quick check of the fridge revealed eight more bottles and Evan was willing to bed good money they all had pretty much the same content as his glass. He returned to the poker-table where Mike had just stripped Water of his final chips.
“Lost again, ey Water?” Lorne grinned. “Tell ya what, I’ll trade you half of my chips for one of those delicious bottles of coke you’ve got in that fridge of yours.”
Water agreed and they continued playing.
Some thirty minutes later, their game was interrupted again as the Milky way Gate activated.
Mike manned the control console.
“Ready Identification Code. It’s the SGC HazMat team.” he told Water.
Lorne frowned. “I could’ve sworn IDC stood for Iris Deactivation Code.” he told Water.
The sergeant explained that it used to be Iris Deactivation Code, but some years ago General O’Neill had changed it to Identification Code.
As the three men went down to the gate-room, Evan asked Mike what business a HazMat team had on Midway.
Mike looked surprised. “Didn’t the sarge tell you?”
Evan shook his head.
The techy nodded and motioned the HazMat’rs to follow them.
“You’re in Quarantine Four right? Well rooms One, Two and Five are currently occupied by Pegasus personel in quarantine for Earth.” Mike started his explanation.
“Room Three, however, has been housing a swarm of radio-active bees for the past few weeks. Someone must have brought one of them through the gate. We cut off live support to that room, and we’re pretty sure they’re all dead and these guys are gonna clean out the room.”
Lorne nodded understandingly. He’d encountered those bees before in Pegasus. Nasty little buggers.
He asked the tech if they knew who’d brought them.
“Well, officially we don’t. But I suspect….”
They never found out what Mike suspected, because at that precise moment a scream echoed through Midway Station.
Kate probably felt her body hit the ground, but she didn’t care. She let all fear, all worries, slip away and imagined she was out in a field.
I’m outside. Grass and flowers as far as I can see, wide open fields everywhere. No water….no water….wait a second….?“No water?!”
She opened her eyes and looked around. The tsunami was gone, as well as the tunnel.
Kate Heightmeyer found herself lying under a tree in a park, which, just as the beach, seemed strikingly familiar.
Surely, this couldn’t be..
Slowly, she turned around and then couldn’t believe her eyes.
Nassau Hall, Princeton University’s main building, stood before her exactly as she remembered it. She got up and leaned against the tree, wondering how long it’d been since she’d last been to this place.
She almost jumped when, out of nowhere, someone put a hand on her shoulder.
“Kate, where’ve you been? I’ve been lookin’ all over for you.” A voice which Kate recognized instantly said.
Thrace?
She spun around and embraced her best friend.
“Wowh, Kate what happened, did your dog die or something like that?” Thrace said in surprise.
Kate let her go. “No, Thrace. I’m just so glad to see you again.”
Thrace looked puzzled.
“But we’ve only not seen each other for like thirty minutes…” she said, dead serious.
Kate laughed. “Really? It seemed much longer to me.” Like you have no idea.
"Sure, whatever. You left your bag at the gym.” Thrace said, handing Kate her schoolbag.
Together they entered Nassau Hall.
Kate recognized most of the boys and girls that greeted them, but couldn’t quite recall their names.
Most of them greeted Thrace anyway, as she was captain of the cheerleading squad. Kate always called her the ‘alpha cheerleader’.
Thrace had offered her a place on the squad a million times, but Kate had decline every time, claiming she wouldn’t be able to cope with the competitive lifestyle.
Truth was, she didn’t like dancing, but Thrace wouldn’t understand that.
After about a year she’d given up recruiting Kate, but she’d never given up being best friends. The two of them went back all the way to kindergarten, Thrace had basically made Kate popular.
Some of the other cheerleaders had been unwilling to accept an outsider into their inner circle at first and refused to lunch with Kate.
Thrace had promptly sacked two of them off the squad, in front of the entire cantina. The other suddenly no longer had any problems with Kate and after they got to know each other they all became the best of friends.
“Thrace, Kate, hold up!” someone called out behind them.
Kate turned around and her hearth jumped as she saw the two boys approaching them.
One of them was Jake, the football team captain and Kate’s boyfriend.
Jake was followed by his best mate, Samuel….who not so accidentally happened to be Kate’s boyfriend.
Thrace and Jake embraced each other, kissing passionately like they always did, while Sam gave Kate a quick kiss and asked her how her day had been.
“What? ‘s the ‘geek couple’ done already?” Thrace said as she noticed Kate and Sam talking.
Kate knew she was just teasing her. “You’re just jealous my boyfriends smarter then yours.” she countered, putting an arm around Sam.
“F Y I, I am.” Thrace replied in cheer-language.
“Hey, I’m smart.” Jake acted offended.
Thrace patted him on the head. “Sure, honey.”
“Hey Jake, what’s three times three?” Sam contributed to the conversation.
Jake put up his dumb face and pretended to think about that for a second.
“Eight?” he said and leant forward to rub Sam over the head.
Sam pushed his arm away. “Yeah, Jake. Three times three is eight. Now. I’m hungry what about you guys.”
Laughing they all went to the cantina.
There was a line of students waiting for their food, but Jake simply squeezed them in next to one of his football buddies. No one objected. The advantage of being the most popular students at Princeton.
Kate got herself a plate and the woman behind the food scales asked her if she’d like a hamburger.
“Yes, please.” Kate told her and then laughed about a joke Jake’s buddy told him and Sam.
They all got lunch and sat down at an empty table. The four friends chatted about everyday stuff until the University’s loudspeaker system activated.
The entire cantina was silent as the principal spoke.
“Kate Heightmeyer. Report to the principals office immediately.”
Kate almost choked on her hamburger and time seemed to freeze for a second.
“Kate? What. Did. You. Do.” Thrace whispered insistently.
Suddenly Kate realized the entire cantina was staring at her. “I-I don’t know.” was all she could manage.
Meanwhile Jake and Sam had gotten up, barking at everyone dared to stare at Kate.
Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine.” Thrace said as she helped Kate to her feet and guided her to the principal office. Before she entered the office, Thrace hugged Kate and assured her they would all be right outside.
Kate thanked them and knocked on the principals door.
“Enter.”
The voice sounded like a thunder stroke.
Kate put a shaking hand on the door handle and looked at her friends one last time before stepping into the office.
The office was dimly lit, but across the desk Kate could see the back of the principals chair, who was facing the window.
“Sit.” the principals voice thundered.
Kate obeyed as quickly as possible. She’d never seen the principals face during her time on Princeton, but his nickname was ‘Dr. Evil’…which couldn’t be good. Only once or twice a year someone was summoned to Dr. Evils office and when they got back….if they got back…they usually didn’t speak to anyone for weeks.
“Kate Heightmeyer.”
She managed to produce a weak ‘yes’.
“Did you or did you not have a hamburger?” the principal asked.
Kate looked flabbergasted. “I’m sorry?” Surely Dr. Evil didn’t just ask me what I had for lunch?
“Did you or did you not have a hamburger, miss Heightmeyer.” He said in a nothing but serious voice.
Unsure what to make of this, she said she had.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
“Are you still hungry, Kate?” the principal finally asked.
Kate thought she was loosing it. Is he serious???? She noticed her palms became sweaty and she nervously fumbled with her bag.
“Well…yes, sir, I am.” she said.
The chair spun around and she nearly fell out of hers in surprise. Instead of Principal Evil, she was facing Evan Lorne.
“Heya Kate, let’s go grab some lunch.”
Kate just sat there, frozen in her chair.
Principal Lorne sighted and hopped over the desk.
“What’s the matter, Kate? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Gently, he pulled her out of the chair and guided her through the door. Thrace, Jake, Sam and all Princeton was gone and had been replaced by a restaurant full of people Kate had never seen before.
Kate was still in shock as they sat down at a window table, but Lorne didn’t seem to notice. She him say something about a Caesar salad, but the words didn’t register.
A waiter appeared at their table to take their order.
Lorne told him they hadn’t decided yet, but he did ask for a lager, and a tonic for Kate…which happened to be her favorite drink.
I never told you I liked that. Kate finally snapped out of shock.
“You are not Evan Lorne.” she told him….whoever he was.
Kate got up but he caught her wrist. “Kate, what are you talking about? I am me.”
“No. You’re not. You’re a mind game. A figment of my imagination.” She pulled loose and backed away without taking her eyes of him. He got up and followed her.
“Are you alright, Kate? Maybe you’re just tired.”
Kate shook her head. “No. You’re not getting into my head.” Suddenly she was with her back against the wall Owh, shoot she tried to get away, but he pinned her against the wall.
“Kate, you know you want me.” he said and put a hand on her chest.
She closed her eyes, desperately trying to shut him out.
“No, you’re not Evan and I don’t want you.”
The pressure on her chest increase.
“BUT I DO WANT YOU!” it wasn’t Lorne’s voice anymore.
Terrified, Kate opened her eyes and stared into a pair of dark, dead Wraith eyes.
She screamed her lungs out.
Lorne broke into a run, Water on his heels. He burst into Quarantine Four and found Kate on the floor, her blankets wrapped around her.
She was crying.
Evan sat down on the ground next to her. “Kate? It’s me, Evan, what ha…”
Before he could finish, she was in his arms, crying on his shoulder.
Okay….not sure what else to do, Evan patted her on her back and they sat like that for minutes. He heard Water close the door and leave, allowing them some privacy. Lorne wondered what could upset a woman as strong as Kate like this. Then again, in Pegasus thing weren’t always the way they seemed. Same might go for Dr. Heightmeyer.
Suddenly, Kate got herself together again. She let go off Lorne and thanked him for being there.
“I’m fine Evan, it was just a bad dream.” she said, thinking Yeah, Kate, you’re fine…you only had a nightmare that might indicate mental instability.
They got up and put the blankets back on the bed.
As Lorne scooped up the pillow, Kate walked over to the desk and went through the DVDs.
“Wanna watch a movie, Kate?” Lorne asked, sitting down on the bed.
Smiling, Kate turned around holding up to DVDs for him to choose from.
Evan picked ‘Godzilla’, she put it in and the two of them sat down to watch a giant mutated reptile tear up New York City.
Curled up at Lorne’s side, Kate felt perfectly safe. He made a good pillow for her to lean back on and let the world slip away.
Kate had seen the film over a hundred times and by the time Gozilla disrupted the mayor’s speech, she had lost interest. Her psychiatric mind was already analyzing the terrible dream she’d had.
First things first, the Normandy beach and mum she started off. Kate reckoned that might be homesickness, induced by her short trip to Earth.
That was the obvious part she thought, moving on to the tunnel. Mentally recalling the recalling the experience, she realized it had felt rather a lot like a trip through the gate. Considering going through the gate still scared the living **** out of her, it made perfect sense the water was a way of her subconscious visualizing the gate’s event horizon. Maybe this dream wasn’t so bad after all…well at least not pyschotechnically.
Her revisit to Princeton. Replacing fears of today with comforts of the past? Kate wasn’t entirely sure, it could be more complex than that….or just nothing. I hate counseling myself…
On screen, Godzilla crushed a helicopter. Lorne laughed out loud and then got up to get them a drink.
************************************************** *******[/B]
What do you guys think?
Too be continued.....
Dev
I'm writing a story with Maj Evan Lorne & Kate Heightmeyer as the main characters. This is some work in progress, just curious what you guys, especially the pro-writers (especially Robin K ;) think of it.
Owh, and admins - I placed this in FanFic Commentary cause it's work in progres and I really want some feedback (think of it as a betabuild :p)
Also, I put my little wallpaper project and the Beyond the Night (by Rachel Luttrell) music vid on halt for this, but in a week or so summer holidays start so I'll have plenty of time to finish it then.
The story (first bit, untitled so far, red bits the new part)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1 - Midway
The Stargate shut down behind Major Evan Lorne as he and Dr. Kate Heightmeyer stepped off the ramp at Midway Station. They were greeted by a rookie Lorne’d never seen before. The kid, Sergeant D. Water according to his uniform, told them all gate-travel to and from Atlantis had been suspended and they’d have to stay on Midway for a while.
“Do you know what sort of trouble they’re in, sergeant?” the Major inquired as Sgt. Water led them to the guest quarters.
Sgt. Water frowned, recalling Atlantis’ short message. “We don’t know exactly, sir, but Chuck mentioned some sort of outbreak.”
They stopped in front of a door.
“Unfortunately you’re going to have to share this room. The other four are all occupied by travelers from Pegasus. I hope you’re OK with that…” The non-com said and looked uneasy from Lorne to Heightmeyer. “Of course you could use my quarters while I’m on duty, sir….” He offered.
Evan wasn’t sure what to say. He looked at Dr. Heightmeyer and noticed, not for the first time, that she was quite attractive. The Doctor gave him one of her stunning smiles and turned to the sergeant.
“That won’t be necessary, sergeant.” She told him.
Water gave Lorne a jealous look and stepped aside to let them in.
“Well if you need me, just hit the intercom. Owh, and Atlantis said it be at least twelve hours so you best make yourselves comfortable.” With that, the sergeant closed the door leaving them by themselves.
It was a rather small room, but after two days of IOA interview, it seemed like a holiday resort to Lorne. Most of it was occupied by a stacked bed. There also was a desk with a TV-set, some DVDs and a couple of Sudoku books, which Evan suspected to be all filled already. Dr Heightmeyer had put her bag on the only chair and was fiddling with one of the side pockets.
“Ma’am? Would you like the top bed or the bottom on?” Evan asked, leaning against the bed.
“Bottom would be nice, major.” She said. Kate pulled a sleeping mask out of her bag and sat down on her bed. She pulled the mask over her eyes and lay back on the sheet.
“I’m going to try to catch some sleep, major.” She told Lorne, who had already climbed onto his bed.
“I’ll be right up here, ma’am.” he replied.
A smile played across Kate’s lips and she lifted her mask, looking up at Lorne’s bed. “Owh, and major..?”
Lorne produced an absent “Yes, ma’am?”
“Please, call me Kate.” she said.
Amused, Lorne looked up from his book. “Can do, ma’am, but only if you’ll call me Evan.”
Kate’s smile broadened. “You’ve got a deal, Evan.”
Nice guy, she thought, not such a show-off as most of those military types….and cute.
Lorne stared at Kate’s bag for a while, gathering his thoughts about the lovely doctor.
Awh, well we’ll see…he thought and then returned his attention to the book.
Five hours later, Evan turned the books final page. Careful not to awake Dr Heightmeyer, he lowered himself down to the cabins floor quietly. Lorne put his book on the desk next to the Sudoku books.
Who knows, maybe the next guy stuck in twenty-four hour quarantine likes reading.
He put Kate’s bag on the ground so he could sit down and tie up his boots. Lorne was about to leave when Kate mumbled something and rolled over to her side.
In the past few hours, Evan had learned Kate Heightmeyer talked in her sleep, so this was no real surprise to him. This, however, was the first time he could make out a real word. Two words, actually. He was pretty sure she had said ‘yes’ and ‘please’….which of course meant nothing to Lorne.
Kate opened her eyes and saw nothing but ocean. She felt the hot sand touching her bare feet and a slight breech on her skin. The beach stretched on as far a she could see to both her left and right. Kate closed her eyes and stood there for a minute, enjoying the warm breeze. Listening to the steady music of the ocean, Kate couldn’t help but to wonder why it, the ocean, the breeze, the beach, all seemed so familiar.
She almost jumped when someone behind her called out her name.
“Kathy, honey? Dinner’s ready, are you coming?”
Kate’s hearth jumped as she recognized that voice Mom? She spun around and saw her mother, standing on the front porch of a beach house.
Mother waved at her and disappeared into the house. Then Kate realized she knew the house as well:
This was the family home in France her parents had taken her to on holiday in the summer of ’84.
Laughing she ran towards the house. “Mum, dad, it’s me!” she shouted as she burst through the front door.
But instead of the cozy living room she remembered, she stepped into a room so dark she couldn’t even make out the walls or the furniture….if there was any. She reached for the door handle but couldn’t find it. Kate turned around to find the door gone.
She closed her eyes, hoping she’d be back on the beach when she opened them again. Beautiful ocean, Normandy, France she thought and opened her eyes. Of course, it didn’t help and the dark room hadn’t magically disappeared.
Suddenly a light flicked on revealing a narrow passageway. Eager to get out of the darkness, Kate started walking down the tunnel. She walked on for what seemed like hours, yet no end came in sight.
Whilst walking down the passageway, Kate slowly became aware of a sound amongst the silence. Barely audible at first, it grew louder and louder by the minute. Kate stopped to listen.
Whatever made the sound was back the way she had come. It was a very distinctive noise, but she couldn’t quite place it yet.
Then, after taking a few steps towards the sound, she suddenly recognized it. Running water. She was listening to water coming towards her.
Out of the darkness , a huge wall of water came towering towards her. Kate turned and ran like hell. As she desperately tried to stay ahead of the tidal wave thundering down the tunnel, images flash before her mind. Nearly drowning in a pool when she was ten. Her swimming teacher trying to convince her there nothing to be afraid of several weeks later. There where happy thoughts as well. Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Beating all the boys in a swimming competition.
She tried to hold on to those happy memories as the tsunami closed in on her. With the end no where in sight and the water already tickling her ankles, she knew it was futile.
Kate Heightmeyer took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pushed off with both feet.
Wide open fields
Lorne found Water in Midway´s operations room, playing poker with a techy who introduced himself as Mike. When Evan asked if he could join them, both men gave him half of their chips and the game began.
At firs, the major seemed to be lucky, then he lost some chips.
Lorne was in the process of deciding what to do with four matching colours, when, out of the blue, Water asked him how Dr Heightmeyer ‘was’. Evan raised an eyebrow and looked at Water for a second what is this guy thinking?
“Don’t see how that’s any of your business, sergeant. Now, I’m going all in. Care to join me?” he said, shoving his chips forward.
The sarge and the techy grinned and called his bluff. The river dealt them a queen of hearts, changing Lorne’s bluff into a flush, beating Waters’ pair of twos and Mike’s single ace of spades.
“Well kids, can’t always win.” Evan grinned as he collected the chips, tossing a few to Mike and Water so the game could continue.
Water dealt the next round, but Evan decided not to stretch his luck and folded in the flop. While the other two continued to try and out bluff each other, Lorne got up to get them all a drink.
Even though the United States Air Force wasn’t known for its kitchen, Lorne wasn’t surprised to find a bottle of Coca-Cola in the fridge. He poured three full glasses and put the bottle back where it’d come from. There was something strange about the coke though. Evan could have sworn that he smelled alcohol, but surely that would be impossible on a USAF space station?
Lorne sipped his drink and glanced over his shoulder to Water who was dealing river. Surely, there was some Coke in his glass but the majority of the liquid was some sort drink, his best guess being some sort of breezer.
A quick check of the fridge revealed eight more bottles and Evan was willing to bed good money they all had pretty much the same content as his glass. He returned to the poker-table where Mike had just stripped Water of his final chips.
“Lost again, ey Water?” Lorne grinned. “Tell ya what, I’ll trade you half of my chips for one of those delicious bottles of coke you’ve got in that fridge of yours.”
Water agreed and they continued playing.
Some thirty minutes later, their game was interrupted again as the Milky way Gate activated.
Mike manned the control console.
“Ready Identification Code. It’s the SGC HazMat team.” he told Water.
Lorne frowned. “I could’ve sworn IDC stood for Iris Deactivation Code.” he told Water.
The sergeant explained that it used to be Iris Deactivation Code, but some years ago General O’Neill had changed it to Identification Code.
As the three men went down to the gate-room, Evan asked Mike what business a HazMat team had on Midway.
Mike looked surprised. “Didn’t the sarge tell you?”
Evan shook his head.
The techy nodded and motioned the HazMat’rs to follow them.
“You’re in Quarantine Four right? Well rooms One, Two and Five are currently occupied by Pegasus personel in quarantine for Earth.” Mike started his explanation.
“Room Three, however, has been housing a swarm of radio-active bees for the past few weeks. Someone must have brought one of them through the gate. We cut off live support to that room, and we’re pretty sure they’re all dead and these guys are gonna clean out the room.”
Lorne nodded understandingly. He’d encountered those bees before in Pegasus. Nasty little buggers.
He asked the tech if they knew who’d brought them.
“Well, officially we don’t. But I suspect….”
They never found out what Mike suspected, because at that precise moment a scream echoed through Midway Station.
Kate probably felt her body hit the ground, but she didn’t care. She let all fear, all worries, slip away and imagined she was out in a field.
I’m outside. Grass and flowers as far as I can see, wide open fields everywhere. No water….no water….wait a second….?“No water?!”
She opened her eyes and looked around. The tsunami was gone, as well as the tunnel.
Kate Heightmeyer found herself lying under a tree in a park, which, just as the beach, seemed strikingly familiar.
Surely, this couldn’t be..
Slowly, she turned around and then couldn’t believe her eyes.
Nassau Hall, Princeton University’s main building, stood before her exactly as she remembered it. She got up and leaned against the tree, wondering how long it’d been since she’d last been to this place.
She almost jumped when, out of nowhere, someone put a hand on her shoulder.
“Kate, where’ve you been? I’ve been lookin’ all over for you.” A voice which Kate recognized instantly said.
Thrace?
She spun around and embraced her best friend.
“Wowh, Kate what happened, did your dog die or something like that?” Thrace said in surprise.
Kate let her go. “No, Thrace. I’m just so glad to see you again.”
Thrace looked puzzled.
“But we’ve only not seen each other for like thirty minutes…” she said, dead serious.
Kate laughed. “Really? It seemed much longer to me.” Like you have no idea.
"Sure, whatever. You left your bag at the gym.” Thrace said, handing Kate her schoolbag.
Together they entered Nassau Hall.
Kate recognized most of the boys and girls that greeted them, but couldn’t quite recall their names.
Most of them greeted Thrace anyway, as she was captain of the cheerleading squad. Kate always called her the ‘alpha cheerleader’.
Thrace had offered her a place on the squad a million times, but Kate had decline every time, claiming she wouldn’t be able to cope with the competitive lifestyle.
Truth was, she didn’t like dancing, but Thrace wouldn’t understand that.
After about a year she’d given up recruiting Kate, but she’d never given up being best friends. The two of them went back all the way to kindergarten, Thrace had basically made Kate popular.
Some of the other cheerleaders had been unwilling to accept an outsider into their inner circle at first and refused to lunch with Kate.
Thrace had promptly sacked two of them off the squad, in front of the entire cantina. The other suddenly no longer had any problems with Kate and after they got to know each other they all became the best of friends.
“Thrace, Kate, hold up!” someone called out behind them.
Kate turned around and her hearth jumped as she saw the two boys approaching them.
One of them was Jake, the football team captain and Kate’s boyfriend.
Jake was followed by his best mate, Samuel….who not so accidentally happened to be Kate’s boyfriend.
Thrace and Jake embraced each other, kissing passionately like they always did, while Sam gave Kate a quick kiss and asked her how her day had been.
“What? ‘s the ‘geek couple’ done already?” Thrace said as she noticed Kate and Sam talking.
Kate knew she was just teasing her. “You’re just jealous my boyfriends smarter then yours.” she countered, putting an arm around Sam.
“F Y I, I am.” Thrace replied in cheer-language.
“Hey, I’m smart.” Jake acted offended.
Thrace patted him on the head. “Sure, honey.”
“Hey Jake, what’s three times three?” Sam contributed to the conversation.
Jake put up his dumb face and pretended to think about that for a second.
“Eight?” he said and leant forward to rub Sam over the head.
Sam pushed his arm away. “Yeah, Jake. Three times three is eight. Now. I’m hungry what about you guys.”
Laughing they all went to the cantina.
There was a line of students waiting for their food, but Jake simply squeezed them in next to one of his football buddies. No one objected. The advantage of being the most popular students at Princeton.
Kate got herself a plate and the woman behind the food scales asked her if she’d like a hamburger.
“Yes, please.” Kate told her and then laughed about a joke Jake’s buddy told him and Sam.
They all got lunch and sat down at an empty table. The four friends chatted about everyday stuff until the University’s loudspeaker system activated.
The entire cantina was silent as the principal spoke.
“Kate Heightmeyer. Report to the principals office immediately.”
Kate almost choked on her hamburger and time seemed to freeze for a second.
“Kate? What. Did. You. Do.” Thrace whispered insistently.
Suddenly Kate realized the entire cantina was staring at her. “I-I don’t know.” was all she could manage.
Meanwhile Jake and Sam had gotten up, barking at everyone dared to stare at Kate.
Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine.” Thrace said as she helped Kate to her feet and guided her to the principal office. Before she entered the office, Thrace hugged Kate and assured her they would all be right outside.
Kate thanked them and knocked on the principals door.
“Enter.”
The voice sounded like a thunder stroke.
Kate put a shaking hand on the door handle and looked at her friends one last time before stepping into the office.
The office was dimly lit, but across the desk Kate could see the back of the principals chair, who was facing the window.
“Sit.” the principals voice thundered.
Kate obeyed as quickly as possible. She’d never seen the principals face during her time on Princeton, but his nickname was ‘Dr. Evil’…which couldn’t be good. Only once or twice a year someone was summoned to Dr. Evils office and when they got back….if they got back…they usually didn’t speak to anyone for weeks.
“Kate Heightmeyer.”
She managed to produce a weak ‘yes’.
“Did you or did you not have a hamburger?” the principal asked.
Kate looked flabbergasted. “I’m sorry?” Surely Dr. Evil didn’t just ask me what I had for lunch?
“Did you or did you not have a hamburger, miss Heightmeyer.” He said in a nothing but serious voice.
Unsure what to make of this, she said she had.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
“Are you still hungry, Kate?” the principal finally asked.
Kate thought she was loosing it. Is he serious???? She noticed her palms became sweaty and she nervously fumbled with her bag.
“Well…yes, sir, I am.” she said.
The chair spun around and she nearly fell out of hers in surprise. Instead of Principal Evil, she was facing Evan Lorne.
“Heya Kate, let’s go grab some lunch.”
Kate just sat there, frozen in her chair.
Principal Lorne sighted and hopped over the desk.
“What’s the matter, Kate? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Gently, he pulled her out of the chair and guided her through the door. Thrace, Jake, Sam and all Princeton was gone and had been replaced by a restaurant full of people Kate had never seen before.
Kate was still in shock as they sat down at a window table, but Lorne didn’t seem to notice. She him say something about a Caesar salad, but the words didn’t register.
A waiter appeared at their table to take their order.
Lorne told him they hadn’t decided yet, but he did ask for a lager, and a tonic for Kate…which happened to be her favorite drink.
I never told you I liked that. Kate finally snapped out of shock.
“You are not Evan Lorne.” she told him….whoever he was.
Kate got up but he caught her wrist. “Kate, what are you talking about? I am me.”
“No. You’re not. You’re a mind game. A figment of my imagination.” She pulled loose and backed away without taking her eyes of him. He got up and followed her.
“Are you alright, Kate? Maybe you’re just tired.”
Kate shook her head. “No. You’re not getting into my head.” Suddenly she was with her back against the wall Owh, shoot she tried to get away, but he pinned her against the wall.
“Kate, you know you want me.” he said and put a hand on her chest.
She closed her eyes, desperately trying to shut him out.
“No, you’re not Evan and I don’t want you.”
The pressure on her chest increase.
“BUT I DO WANT YOU!” it wasn’t Lorne’s voice anymore.
Terrified, Kate opened her eyes and stared into a pair of dark, dead Wraith eyes.
She screamed her lungs out.
Lorne broke into a run, Water on his heels. He burst into Quarantine Four and found Kate on the floor, her blankets wrapped around her.
She was crying.
Evan sat down on the ground next to her. “Kate? It’s me, Evan, what ha…”
Before he could finish, she was in his arms, crying on his shoulder.
Okay….not sure what else to do, Evan patted her on her back and they sat like that for minutes. He heard Water close the door and leave, allowing them some privacy. Lorne wondered what could upset a woman as strong as Kate like this. Then again, in Pegasus thing weren’t always the way they seemed. Same might go for Dr. Heightmeyer.
Suddenly, Kate got herself together again. She let go off Lorne and thanked him for being there.
“I’m fine Evan, it was just a bad dream.” she said, thinking Yeah, Kate, you’re fine…you only had a nightmare that might indicate mental instability.
They got up and put the blankets back on the bed.
As Lorne scooped up the pillow, Kate walked over to the desk and went through the DVDs.
“Wanna watch a movie, Kate?” Lorne asked, sitting down on the bed.
Smiling, Kate turned around holding up to DVDs for him to choose from.
Evan picked ‘Godzilla’, she put it in and the two of them sat down to watch a giant mutated reptile tear up New York City.
Curled up at Lorne’s side, Kate felt perfectly safe. He made a good pillow for her to lean back on and let the world slip away.
Kate had seen the film over a hundred times and by the time Gozilla disrupted the mayor’s speech, she had lost interest. Her psychiatric mind was already analyzing the terrible dream she’d had.
First things first, the Normandy beach and mum she started off. Kate reckoned that might be homesickness, induced by her short trip to Earth.
That was the obvious part she thought, moving on to the tunnel. Mentally recalling the recalling the experience, she realized it had felt rather a lot like a trip through the gate. Considering going through the gate still scared the living **** out of her, it made perfect sense the water was a way of her subconscious visualizing the gate’s event horizon. Maybe this dream wasn’t so bad after all…well at least not pyschotechnically.
Her revisit to Princeton. Replacing fears of today with comforts of the past? Kate wasn’t entirely sure, it could be more complex than that….or just nothing. I hate counseling myself…
On screen, Godzilla crushed a helicopter. Lorne laughed out loud and then got up to get them a drink.
************************************************** *******[/B]
What do you guys think?
Too be continued.....
Dev