Confirming Carter Bk. 03 Changes Ch. 05

"She has a point, Mr. President." Landry said. "Both Teal'c, and Master Bra'tac have told me several times that the Jaffa would assist us in finding worlds suitable for human settlements. The Tok'Ra would also be willing to assist if we ask..."

"This isn't a decision I can make unilaterally, and to be honest, I don't think making the existence of the stargate public to be in our best interests." Hayes said. "Lady Tammy, Gen Landry can provide you with a gate address to send those drones you mentioned to. I'll have someone arrange to send the supplies you're requesting as soon as we can. But if you'll excuse me, I have another meeting I have to attend..."

"Of course, Mr. President." Tammy said. "Thank you again for all your help. Have a good day."

"God, what a putz." Tammy muttered as she closed the connection.

"What did you expect, he's a politician." Landry laughed as he came into the room.

"Have you given any thought to that offer I made you?" She asked, smiling at him.

"If he fires me, I can start next week." He laughed. "If he doesn't, I'm planning on retiring after the first of the year. In the meantime, I took the liberty of ordering us lunch."

Interior-Medical Center Four, Bldg Thirty-Nine, East Pier

1420 Hours

Susan looked up from the operating table she was prepping as David was wheeled into the suite.

"Over there." She said, pointing at large, coffin shaped device against one wall. She stepped over and lifted the lid, shaking her head as she looked down into it.

"The procedures say we put him in this thing for at least thirty minutes before we operate." She said as lifted a face mask from a rack and got it seated over David's face.

"What's this thing going to do to him, Susan?" One of the other nurses asked her.

"From what I understand, he's going to be immersed in a bath of nutrient fluid that will also sterilize him. There's an anesthetic component as well." She said as she watched them lift him, then get him settled in the chamber. When they had him situated, she attached a series of leads to his wrists, ankles and neck.

"Those leads will monitor him, and regulate the dose of the anesthetic, which should be absorbed through the skin." She told them as they stepped back. She closed the lid and checked the screen at the foot of the unit as she watched it fill with a pale red liquid. When she was satisfied that it was working properly, she stepped back and started for the door.

"Dr. Keller and I should be back in an hour or so." She said, stopping at the door. "Monitor his status, and call me if there are any problems."

Interior-Dr. George Keller's Home, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

1440 Hours

"Yes, can I help you?" Dr. Keller asked, looking at Sheppard and Ronin through the screen door.

"Dr. Keller, I'm John Sheppard, and this is Ronin Dex, we're friends of your daughter, Jennifer. She asked us to deliver a message for her."

"You've spoken to Jennifer?" Keller asked, tears welling up in his eyes, "I haven't heard from her in weeks, and she usually writes every couple of days." He held the door open, waving them inside.

"I'll wait out here." Ronin said.

Sheppard nodded and followed Keller into the house.

"So how is she?" Keller asked, leading him to a couch, then pulling a chair closer.

"She's fine sir. Healthy and happy, and the most wonderful person I know." Sheppard said. He leaned down and pulled a tablet out of his bag. He handed Keller the tablet and said, "Tap the icon in the center of the screen, she can tell you for herself."

Keller took the tablet, and tapped the icon marked 'Daddy'. Jennifer's face appeared on the screen, and after a moment, she began to speak.

"Hi daddy, I'm sorry for not writing, but things have gotten a little strange here. I'm writing you every day, I just haven't been able to mail them to you." She paused, then smiled at the camera. "I'm in love daddy. I met the most wonderful man, the knight in shining armor I always dreamed about. He really is a knight too. Sir John Sheppard, First Knight of the Free City of Atlantis, Commander of the Royal Forces."

Keller looked up at Sheppard, and he nodded.

"I'll explain in a minute." He said, nodding toward the tablet. "Let her finish."

"He's asked me to marry him, daddy." Jennifer continued "We have the permission of the queens, but I told him that he has to have your permission too. So please daddy, say yes. I really do love him, and I know he's going to make me happy."

She smiled at the camera again, and a moment later, the screen went dark.

"She can't be serious." Keller said softly.

"She meant every word she said, sir. and that's why I'm here, to ask for your daughter's hand." Sheppard said. He pulled a thick stack of envelopes from his bag and sat it on the table. "You can read about it in her words later, but I'll try to explain some of it now if you'd like."

"You can try, but I don't know if I'll believe you." Keller said.

"Even if you don't, it's still a good story." Sheppard said with a smile. "Jennifer and I used to work for a top secret government project called Stargate Command. We used a device called a stargate to travel between worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, then to the ancient city of Atlantis, in the Pegasus galaxy..."

Interior-Medical Center Four, Bldg Thirty-Nine, East Pier

1530 Hours

"Jesus, I may be out of a job if this get any easier." Jennifer muttered. She looked across the table at Susan. "Are you ready to place the heart, Susan?"

David Sheppard was stretched out on the operating table, his body covered by a glass and metal enclosure. Robotic arms moved around inside, one inserting a probe into a blood vessel, while another trimmed around the edges with a laser.

"Yes ma'am, I'm just waiting for the system to tell me when." Susan said. She had her arms through two holes in the side of the enclosure, and her gloved hands held an artificial heart up out of the way of the arms as they moved about.

A small light began to glow in front of her, and the rib spreader attached to his chest began to move, opening another half inch. Susan watched a screen, rotating the heart slowly as an arm pushed a sleeve back on each of the tubes protruding from the it, while another sprayed a thin film of sealant on the ends of them.

Another light came on in front of her, and she lowered the heart into his chest cavity, rotating it slightly, then holding it in position.

"Let it get the vena cava's sealed, then you can seat it, and move your hands." Jennifer said, watching as the arms slipped the blood vessels over two tubes, then rolled the outer sleeves in place. Other arms clamped around the tubes, sealing the veins to them, then running three rows of stitches around each seam.

Susan eased the heart down, moving her hands back as other sets of arms repeated the process on the aorta, then the pulmonary vein and artery.

When the arms retreated, Jennifer attached a small tube to a valve at the top of the heart, and a moment later, it began pumping. They watched as a blue liquid was pumped through the tube.

"Okay, let's watch for bleeders." She said. "I'm good on this side so far."

"Clear here, doctor." Susan said. "Pressure on the seals is holding at fifty millibars."

After a moment, the heart stopped pumping, and they could see the fluid being suctioned back out of the heart through the tube. Jennifer detached the tube, and turned a locking ring, closing the valve.

More arms came down, shifting the heart as they removed the clamps on the blood vessels.

Two more arms sprayed a sterile solution into the chest cavity, filling it almost completely, then suctioned it out. A light came on in front of Jennifer, and she touched three controls in sequence, and the heart began beating again.

"Coming off life support in thirty seconds." She said, watching the screens in front of her. "Internal monitors show no leaks, pressure steady at thirty millibars."

She looked across the table at Susan and grinned at her.

"Sonofabitch, it works."

Interior-Kitchen

1610 Hours

"We just finished closing him up, Sam." Jennifer said. "Well, the machines did. All Susan and I did was watch and push a few buttons. Total time from first incision to last stitch was one hour and thirty one minutes. A procedure like this on Earth would have taken over twelve hours."

"How's he doing?" Sam asked, holding her tablet so Andi and O'Neill could see.

"He's in recovery, but his color is good, vitals are steady, and he woke up for a few minutes. The internal sensors show the heart is performing as it should. I'm going to stay with him for the next few hours, just in case."

"Thank you, Jennifer." Sam said, closing the channel. She sat the tablet on the table and looked at Samuels and O'Neill as they moved back to their seats.

"Wow, I didn't expect it to be that fast." She said.

"I don't think Jennifer did either." Andi said. "Ninety minutes for surgery to install an artificial heart. That's almost unbelievable."

"Didn't she call it implanting?" O'Neill asked. "Installing would be Sam here putting new parts in her boytoy."

"Watch it, O'Neill." Sam said, trying not to grin at him.

Interior-SGC, Earth

1640 Hours

"You didn't waste any time, did you Rodney?" Tammy said as he came into the conference room.

"I prefer Dr. McKay." He said as he dropped a large duffle bag near the door. "I brought my cat. I hope that's okay. My other one died while I was in Atlantis, but this is one of her kittens, and I'm really attached to him..."

"I prefer Rodney." Tammy said as she turned in her chair to look at him. "I like to call my employees by their first names. If that's going to be a problem, you can go back to Area Fifty-one and do whatever you were doing there."

"No, no, Rodney is fine." He said, sitting a pet carrier on the table. "Can we talk about the job? I was thinking that I should resume..."

"I'm afraid not, Rodney. We already have a chief scientist." She said. "What we had in mind is more of a special projects coordinator, on a probationary basis. We..."

"You've already got...no, don't tell me that Zelen..." He stopped, wincing when he saw her glaring at him. "I'm sorry, it's just that I really liked it in Atlantis, and I want to go back. I..."

"If you'd shut up for a minute, I'll tell you how that can happen." She said.

He nodded, booting up his laptop and pushing it away as he turned to face her.

"We want you to work on some special projects for us, on an as needed basis." She told him. "You'll have limited access to scientific databases related to whatever project you may be working on..."

She stopped when he raised his hand. She nodded, giving him permission to speak.

"You're wasting a tremendous resource. I know more about Atlantis and its systems than anyone else. And I'm one of the foremost authorities on the an..."

He ground to a halt as she shook her head, smiling gently.

"Our city manager, Chuck Campbell, is our resident expert on the city and it's systems. He was one of your Ops technicians. You really should have paid more attention to what he was doing." She said lightly. "Now that he reads the ancient language, he's made quite a few amazing discoveries about the cities systems. I don't think we'll be needing your experience there."

She jotted down several lines of ancient symbols and slid it over to him.

"What's that say?" She asked him in ancient.

"I...I don't know. I can only recognize a few of those symbols. I had to guess what you were saying."

"It says, 'If you can read this, you can have your old job back." She laughed.

"Atlantis has changed in the short time you've been away." She said. "We have an independent government, and have taken in over fifty thousand new citizens who are running the cities factories and workshops. Atlantis has come alive while you've been gone."

She paused, looking at him closely, trying to gauge his reaction.

"What I'm trying to get you to understand Rodney, is that you're going to be playing catch-up, probably for the first time in your life. And you're not going to be the smartest guy in the room anymore."

"I doubt that." He laughed.

"Believe it." She said, grinning at him. "Sam has always been at least your equal, but now she makes you look like a second grader. And I'm not going to embarrass you by telling you what I make you look like. We'll show you when we put you on the teaching machine."

She laughed as he looked at her.

"Now, you're sitting there thinking, there's no way this bitch is as smart as I am." she laughed. "But I've tested in the low one eighties on IQ tests, I hold Masters degrees in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, earned concurrently from Harvard. I also have a PhD in Pharmacology from Johns Hopkins, where I also did my nursing training. Then there's the training I got from the ancient teaching machines."

"Wow, and you're hot too." He muttered.

"Thank you. But are you beginning to get what I'm telling you? We have a place for you in Atlantis, just not the place your overinflated ego has in mind. If you're willing to do as you're told, and not cause too much trouble...well, it's up to you."

"I...I think I can do that." He said. "But you have something specific in mind, otherwise, you wouldn't have called me."

"You're right, we do. You're still the most knowledgeable person we know of when it comes to Wraith tech. And that's what we want you for, at least to start."

"Wraith tech? Where did you...I mean how..."

"I'll let John and Stephen tell you about how." She said. "But we've been tagging idle hives and cruisers, and we want you to build a control interface so our people can operate them, and bring them into the navy. The second part of the project would be to translate Wraith into a form that we can put into the teaching machines so we can use other Wraith tech as we find it."

The phone in front of her rang, and she pressed the speaker button.

"Yes, Walter?"

"Gen. Landry asked me to tell you that Col. Sheppard just touched down at Peterson. They should be here within the hour."

"Thank you. Would you just send them in here when they arrive?"

* * * * *

"What are you doing here, Rodney?" Sheppard asked as he came into the room.

"I just hired him to work on that Wraith tech interface we talked about." Tammy said. "How did it go? What did he say?"

"He thought I was nuts for the first hour, but after I had Ronin blow down a couple trees, he was more open to the idea of his little girl is living in another galaxy."

"Ronin? Is that really you?" McKay asked, getting to his feet. "I didn't recognize you. When did you..."

"Good to see you too, doc." Ronin said, shaking hands with McKay. "You coming back to Atlantis?"

"Wait a minute. Who's little girl? What are you two talking about?" McKay asked, letting go of Ronin's hand and looking back and forth between Sheppard and Tammy.

"You haven't heard?" Ronin laughed, slapping Sheppard on the back. "He's gonna get married."

"Married? To who?"

Sheppard looked at him uncomfortably, then said, "Jennifer."

"What? You...she..."

"It didn't start till after you left." Sheppard told him.

"But still...I..." He noticed Tammy looking at him and stopped. "I...I should congratulate you. I hope you'll be happy together."

"Thanks, Rodney." Sheppard said.

"I think we should get out of here before someone changes their mind about letting us." Tammy said. "I know Sam's probably going nuts, and I'm starting to get hungry."

"God yes, I'm starving." McKay said.

Interior-Living Room

1840 Hours

"Luuuuuccccyyy, I'm hoooooommme!" Tammy yelled as she stepped off the porter.

Seconds later, Sam came running from the kitchen and slammed into her, almost knocking the wind from her.

"Oh thank god you're safe. I was so scared." Sam said, hugging her tightly.

"What the hell?" McKay muttered.

Sam looked over her shoulder, noticing him for the first time.

"Oh...you." She said, letting go of Tammy and turning to face him. "We need to get a few things straight before we do anything else, Rodney. I have never, and I mean ever, found you the least bit attractive. I've always thought you were an arrogant, self important little shit, and I while I knew you were sneaky, I never imagined that you were a snitch."

She stepped closer to him, but he stood his ground.

"That hurt me Rodney, hearing that you were going behind my back, and reporting to the IOA. Don't try to deny it, I ready your emails."

"I'm not going to deny it." He replied. "I did what I thought was in the best interest of the expedition. I doubt if you noticed, but you were getting pretty flaky the last couple months before all this happened. I was doing my job, Sam. And if you read those mails, you know that it was all facts, I never said anything mean spirited."

"Okay, I'll give you that." Sam said.

She glanced over toward the small bedroom, noticing Boris by the door.

"Boris, what are you doing over there, baby? Come give mama a hug. That's a good boy."

Boris came over and she hugged him lightly, then turned him to face McKay.

"Rodney, this is Boris. He's..."

McKay held out his hand and Boris grasped it. McKay jerked his hand away quickly, shaking it in pain.

"He shocked me!" He groaned, dancing in circles. "Sonofabitch, that really hurt!"

"Like I tried to tell you, he's an android." Sam grinned.

She turned and looked at Boris. "Disengage protection protocol, Boris."

"An android? You mean like a replicator?" McKay asked, backing away. "Why would you build something like that?"

"He's their sexbot." Jennifer said as she came down the hall.

"Really? You can do that?" McKay asked, looking at Sam.

"Relax, Rodney, He's not a replicator, he's an android, a precursor to the replicators in the ancients research." Sam told him. She looked over at Keller. "How did you get up here, Jenn? They didn't call up and say you were coming."

"I had Ronin tell them to let the court and senior staff pass tonight." Tammy said. "I figured we had company, and people were going to want to see him. Should I call down and tell them to start screening again?"

"No, that's fine. But if we're going to have a party, don't you think we should move over to the dining room?"

"No, let's stay here, Sam." Tammy said, coming over and putting her arms around her. "I've been away from you all day, and I want to spend time with you and our friends here, at home."

Interior-Medical Center Four, Bldg Thirty-Nine, East Pier

1920 Hours

"John?" David said softly, his hand squeezing Sheppard's. "Wh...what are you doing here? What's happening."

"Shhhh, don't talk. You had surgery today, and you need to rest." John said. "They called me, and I came. You're going to be alright now."

Ronin stepped from the room and called Jennifer as he went over to the nurses desk.

"He's awake." He told the nurse. "I already paged Jennifer."

"Is he in pain?" She asked as she stood up and came around the desk.

"I don't know." He said, following her back into the room.

"Mr. Sheppard, are you in pain?"

David nodded, tightening his grip on John's hand.

"Dr. Keller will be here in a minute, and we'll get you som..."

The doors opened, and Jennifer came in pulling on a pair of gloves.

Sam and Tammy came in behind her, stopping at the door to stand next to Ronin.

"David, I'm Dr. Keller. I performed the surgery on you this afternoon." She said, looking at the monitors next to the bed. "Do you understand me?"

He nodded.

"I want you to close your eyes, I need to turn up the lights so I can look at your chest." She told him. "We'll give you more information tomorrow when you're feeling better, okay?"

David nodded again, closing his eyes.

Jennifer turned up the lights over the bed, pulling the sheets down to his waist. Grasping the corners of the bandage, she pulled it down quickly, making him wince.