RATING: PG
SEASON: Season 3
MAJOR CHARACTERS: Zelenka and McKay
DISCLAIMERS: The characters, Atlantis, etc, all belong to Sony, MGM, Gecko, Showtime, the Sci-Fi Channel. 
SUMMARY: Who fixes all those little things around Atlantis?
FEEDBACK: Yes please! comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
SPOILERS: Small one for "Tao of McKay" (really just a reference to a conversation about Radek's childhood--no real spoilers) and a tiny one for "Grace Under Pressure"
NOTE:  This continues the series of short stories, each featuring McKay and one of the other characters.  If you want to check out the other stories, please see Stupid Stuff, Weird Kid and Strange Doings
NOTE:  Tipper issued a challenge to write a story based on a poem.  This is my second answer that challenge.  The poem is at the end of the story
DATE: January 14, 2007, some revisions done February 18, 2007

Odd Hours
By NotTasha... odder than most

PART 1: COLD

He dozed, knowing it was too early to wake.  For a moment he just breathed, listening to the quiet sounds of his home.  The ocean rolled nearby, a quiet roar.  It was one of the strange acoustic properties of Atlantis – he could hear the tumult of the ocean, but not the sound of anyone walking past his quarters – not that anyone was out at this odd hour.

Letting himself relax, he tried to return to sleep, his nose growing a little cold as it poked outside the blankets.  But, even as he tried, his mind was back to work, images of wiring, crystals, Ancient symbols, long basins and fluttering lights filled his head.  The hydroponics room awoke in his consciousness.

Did I reset the array after I ran the test of the watering system yesterday?  I should attempt to bypass the the control console again.  Maybe now I can access the day-to-night program and correct the cycling program.  Now, if I would just...

It was a curse, he decided, as he fought to banish the ideas, the problems, the possible solutions, the conjectures from his brain.  Go to sleep.  You can work on this in a few hours.  This is your off time.

And for a moment or two, he tried.  It didn’t work.  He turned in his bed to stare at the red numbers on his clock.  Squinting, he forced the image into a semblance of focus-- 4:48 AM.

Too early. See?  It’s too early to be awake.  Go back to sleep.

He closed his eyes tightly, but the room already knew he was waking and the temperature was rising.

In a few minutes, the environmental controls would bring the room to a pleasant temperature, perfect for exiting his bed.  He liked the room chilled as he slept, and was comforted by the weight of blankets above him. It felt homey, but no one liked getting out of bed when the room was cold.  And now, he was getting entirely too warm.

Atlantis learned his preferences and provided.  After a few days of setting the controls, the room adjusted without him touching a thing.  The problem was, today, he would rather have slept.  All he needed to do was manually adjust the controls to plunge the temperature back to its usual Siberian levels, but that would have meant getting up, and the moment his feet hit the floor he would be awake.  So, why bother?  Stay put a moment or two longer

It was getting too warm to remain under his mountain of bedding.  “Nádherný,” he grumbled.  This just wasn’t going to work.

Frustrated, he shoved back the covers, and cursed those who were born lucky, able to interact mentally with Atlantis.  He muttered thickly as he wished that the ATA gene therapy had worked for him, but he was a man of little luck, and was forced to bear such unhappy burdens.

He sat on the edge of the bed, not even feeling the slightest chill remaining, and blinked blearily at the room.  The lights came up slowly, gently.

It was before 5am and he was now wide-awake.  He felt for his glasses, fumbling them off the little stand his niece had given him years ago.  With a familiar movement, he shoved them onto his face, then stood and started toward the little bathroom.

Well, he decided.  I can make good use of this time.  The labs will be empty – quiet, and free from so many beseeching voices -- asking questions, demanding answers.  There will be no one making demands of me.  Yes, make good use of the time. The odd hours are the best for completing serious work.  Then, you can call an early end to the day.  And he chuckled softly at the idea, realizing such a thing would never happen.

He entered the bathroom and turned on the shower.

He stood outside it, tugging off his t-shirt and tossing it to the floor.  After a yawn, he plunged a hand into the water to check the temperature, even though his room already had learned his preference.  Old habits die hard.

He was surprised by cold water.

With a frown he adjusted the control, wondering if something had reset the system, wondering if Atlantis had ‘forgotten’.  He brought up the heat and tried again, finding only cold water.

"Podivný," he said under his breath.  

It wasn’t as if the city ran off of hot water tanks.  The water, filtered and desalinated from the ocean, flowed to the various sections of Atlantis and was instantly heated to the correct temperature as it entered the faucet or shower head.

Nearly a miracle, really.  They'd just started to understand how the mechanism worked.  It was beautiful and simple and should never fail.

He scowled as he turned the controls from warm to hot to scalding without success.  The water remained cold.

Either someone had adjusted with his personal shower as a prank, or something had gone wrong with the entire system.  He tried the faucet on his sink and was met with the same response.

Scowling, he backed from the bathroom and considered the possibilities.  He could start disassembling his plumbing and tapping into the system to diagnose the situation, but if it was a citywide incident, maybe someone was already on task.

With that thought, he booted up his laptop to check the schedule for the day.  It took no time to find the notice that several people had already reported the problem – no hot water.  No one was happy. Some reports were quite 'hot' in their wording.  Fortunately, one man was already working on correcting the situation.

Radek noted where the worker was located and his brow furrowed.

Grabbing for his radio, he fitted it on his ear and activated it.  “Rodney,” he called.  “Why are you in hydroponics to repair the issue with the water heating system?”

There was a pause.  He called again, “Rodney?”

“I’m kinda busy here,” was the irritated sounding response.

“Why are you in hydroponics?” Radek asked again, imagining McKay adjusting and changing all of his hard work.

If possible, the voice returned was even more pissy, “Because that is where the problem is originating.  Somebody turned on something that should've been thoroughly tested.”

Zelenka felt his face grow a little red at the accusation.  “The problem in hydroponics has nothing to do with the watering system," he declared.  "You should be in system control, or in the desalinization facility.” Radek turned to his dresser and began rifling through the contents.  “I will come there and show you,” he declared.

“Fine,” was McKay’s response.  “If you’re coming, hurry up.  I’m fed up with the cold water complaints!” A pause, and he added, "Great, another report just came in.  Yes, I know!  What do they think I'm doing down here?"

Undoing all my work, Radek thought as he quickly dressed.  Ready to go, he regarded himself for in the mirror.  With a frown, he dragged a hand through his disheveled hair, trying to tame it.  It was unusually riotous this morning.  Well, without a shower, there wasn’t much he could do, and besides, he had to get to his project.

He left his room and started at a quick trot to the hydroponics lab.


PART 2: BRIGHT

Hydroponics was filled with long waist-high tables topped with basins.  Channels ran along their lengths.  Within the channels, vegetation should have been rooted.  The room should have been filled with green growing things.  All the things they missed could be grown year-round without having to worry about trade agreements, seasonal variances and possible problems from introducing non-native species to the Pegasus planets.

They’d discovered the site during a recent exploration and the excitement over the potential of the room had run through the city.  The Daedalus delivered preserved fruits and frozen vegetables from home, but it wasn't the same.

Radek had spoken up the moment the room had been discovered, declaring that he’d take on the challenge.  The room had been flooded during the storm, and the damage had been extensive.  After nearly a month, he had the systems almost operational and was well on his way to providing all of Atlantis with fresh fruits and vegetables.

It would be a joy to do so, to find the Mess brimming with green things, produced by his work.  He could imagine the accolades such an accomplishment would provide.

Already, the botanists were buzzing with excitement and had been submitting their proposals for the first experiments.  Katie Brown had been rather adamant that her proposal was the one to consider, and Dr. Parrish had spoken up as well, but Radek was more inclined to go with the simpler and thus more elegant plans of the petite but lovely Magda Rees.

But so far there’d been no need to make the decision.  

He'd been able to bring the watering system online, regulate its temperature and volume.  The coordination of filtration and recycling was now working perfectly, as was the automatic fertilization system.  The problem was with the lighting.  He couldn’t get the simulated ‘sun’ to complete a cycle.

Without proper lighting, hydroponics was doomed to fail – and now McKay was poking about in his work.  It galled him.

“Rodney,” Zelenka called as he turned the corner, entering the room at a quick clip.  He winced, drawing back in shame as he found the room was partially lit.  One bank of trays was fully illuminated as if by a desert sun, while the rest of that row hung in half-light.  Three rows were dark, and one lighting array on the other side of the room was cycling slowly between full light and partial, making the whole room seem to throb.

He swore quietly as he looked for McKay, expecting him to be at the console where the latest repairs had been underway.  That area was dark.  “Rodney!” he called again.

“Zelenka,” a muffled voice returned from the far end of the room.  “If you’re going to be here, you’d might as well help me.”

Frowning, Zelenka went in the direction of the voice.  The room was long and the uneven light gave him a sense of vertigo.  He followed the sound of frustrated grunting and grumbling until he made his way to an alcove at the far side of the room where McKay was currently fiddling.

It was the control panel that regulated the fertilization system, one of the areas he'd been able to bring online with little difficulty.  McKay had wired his laptop into one of the nearby components to monitor it while he was attaching a sensor into another area.

“Rodney,” Zelenka said tiredly, “this area has nothing to do with the current issues regarding the water system.”

Turning, McKay fixed him with a glare.  The weird light in the room made him look pale and cast odd shadows over his face.  The Canadian pressed him, “The fertilization system interacts directly with the watering system, does it not?”

“Yes,” Zelenka replied, “This system delivers a mineral nutrient solution directly into hydration, but water never enters this area.”  He gestured toward another panel.  “I believe you want to test this system maybe?  This is the device that heats the water to the proper levels.”

“Not likely,” McKay snapped.  “I'm thinking it’s something to do with…”  He gave an unhappy grunt as he tried to force one of the delicate workings into a new position.  “… the way this system interacts with the entire waterworks.  Atlantis probably thinks the fertilizer is backing up into the main water system -- not that it is -- but it would cause citywide water heating system to throw a fit, wouldn't it?”   Twisting about, he faced Zelenka and his face went a little blank with surprise.  “What’s with the hair?”

Zelenka lifted his hands, trying to press down on his mop.  “No hot water,” he responded bluntly.

“Oh, gotcha.  Good to know.   If Zelenka doesn’t get his hot water, he ends up with freak clown hair.”  McKay pressed his lips together, forming a crooked expression.

"There is nothing wrong with hydroponics," Zelenka insisted.

With a jerk of the head, McKay indicated the lights that changed intensity near them.  "Want to say that again?" he asked.

Folding his arms over his chest, Zelenka restated, "Nothing is wrong with the watering systems."

"Sure," McKay went on.  "The watering systems are fine.  The fertilization systems are fine.  But they way they interact, not so good."

"I haven't found that to be true," Radek told him.  "And I have been studying this system for some time.  I am the expert."

"Sure, fine, right.  You're the expert."  McKay made a strange move, contorting and it took a moment for Radek to realize that McKay was trying to look around him.  Peevishly McKay stated, “If you’re going to stand in the way, can you at least check the readout on the laptop?”

“It is not hydroponics,” Zelenka responded glumly, running a hand through his hair.  He stared at the laptop's screen for a moment.  The series of graphs had obviously been set up in a rush.  McKay was monitoring something, but the set-up was generic and there was no means of seeing exactly what he'd been doing.  “What are you looking for?” Radek asked.  "Because you should complete your studies here and then harass someone else and their work."

With a put-upon sigh, McKay asked, “Are there any deficits in Area 9?”

“No,” Zelenka replied, zeroing in on the bar graph.  “You’re getting strong readings in all areas.”

“Huh,” McKay responded, letting the piece he’d manipulated fall back into place.  He tried another, connecting a sensor to it.  “How about now?”

“I am seeing an effect to Area 3,” Zelenka told him.

McKay grimaced.  Apparently that wasn’t what he was looking for, because he went back to tinkering.  McKay sighed a little more than usual, which didn't improve Radek's mood.  

Trying to keep his 'cool', Radek attempted to think of other things, like why hadn't he remained in bed and which of the Botanists' proposals should be considered, and whether he preferred Dr. Rees with her hair up or when she let it hang loose.

After a few moments, McKay paused, his back still toward Zelenka, and rested his head against one wall of the alcove.

"Are you finished?" the Czech asked.

"No," McKay replied with a start, "Just thinking.  Trying to figure this out." And he was in motion again.  With a bit of a yawn, he stated, “I thought you, of all people, would be okay with cold water for a shower.”

Radek drew back.  “Why would you say that?” he challenged, wondering how much McKay knew about his thoughts regarding Dr. Rees.

“Three months in a tent, dead of winter, your brother burnt your house down,” McKay cited as he continued to test the systems, not seeing the look of panic dissolve.

“Oh,” Radek responded, relieved.  “We had a coal burner that heated a water tank.  We had hot water.”  A frown returned.  “How primitive do you think we were?”

McKay shrugged, his back still turned.  He banged his hand against one wall as he pulled back from one component.  Swearing loudly, he fluttered the hand.

“Just because we didn’t have electricity…” Radek’s voice was rising a little.  "Doesn't mean we lived in..."

“What’s it say now?” McKay asked as he touched his sensor to a new area as he still wavered the other hand erratically.

Radek dipped his head, stopping himself from saying any more so that he could check the readout.  “No change,” he replied.

“Huh,” McKay responded. He stopped flapping the hurt hand and went back to working beneath the unpleasant lighting.  He shuffled a bit in his cramped space, sighing again.

“We had hot water,” Radek insisted.  “My father used to awake early each morning, before any of us, to start the fire.  By the time I was awake, it would be warm.  The water tank would be ready for use.  We had hot water.”

“Great.  Terrific.  I don’t care,” McKay muttered in response as he continued to test the various crystals.  “Why is it always the ‘poor Radek’ show, huh?  Your dad got everything all set up for you, so what’s the problem?”

Radek said nothing, remembering.  It was a lifetime ago, before he’d packed his belongs and left his family, before he moved away to the city, before his real education started, before the Stargate program and Siberia and Antarctica and Atlantis.

He’d left his family behind, in their simple, reconstructed home.   He never forgave his father for NOT building the new home wired for electricity.  It seemed to him that the entire world had power, except for his small home.

It was embarrassing.

His family home hadn’t known the luxury of power at the flick of a switch -- not until he’d gone away and attained a job that paid well enough to propel his family into the 20th century.  Up until then, mother cooked over a wood stove and his father awoke before anyone to start the fire, to warm the home for the family.  It was thankless work, but it was the only life they’d known. 

He never thanked them, Radek realized, never really appreciated them for providing such comfort.

“Now?” McKay’s voice cut through his thoughts.

Radek, startled, returned his attention to the screen.  “Yes,” he exclaimed.  “Area 9 now shows no activity.”

With a wide grin, McKay yanked a crystal free from the board.  He turned, placing his back against the wall as he examined it.  “Doesn’t appear to be broken or damaged but there’s some -- yes, build up along the connectors.”  He pulled a cloth from his bag and proceeded to quickly clean the crystal.  He hummed a little, and looked up at Zelenka to give him a smug expression.

Radek watch him, thinking that Rodney's movements seemd a bit clumsy, and he realized that it wasn't just the lighting that made him look pale.  "Rodney?" Radek called.

"Hang on, hang on," Rodney brushed him off as he turned and reinserted the piece into place.  "That should do it."  He gestured to the completed work.  "Done and done!  Check it..." and he touched the sensor to the spot, "...now."

Radek looked to the laptop.  “I see activity in Area 9 again,” Zelenka told him.

“Well, of course you do,” McKay sniped.  “I put it back in, didn’t I?  It should be functioning correctly now.”  He snapped his fingers, pointing animatedly at the laptop. Zelenka handed it over.

Sitting on the floor of hydroponics, McKay minimized the window he'd been using to monitor the fertilization system and pulled up another program.  

He looked tired, Zelenka realized

McKay poked away at the keyboard, grinning widely.  "Yes," McKay stated.  "That did it.  Now, for a little field test to confirm the situation."  He lifted his head from the screen and looked about the room.  "Water?  Do you have easily accessible water?"

Radek pointed toward a sink on the fall wall.

"Great."  Rodney handed the laptop back to Zelenka and stood with a groan.  He took his time to get all the way to his feet.  Apparently, he’d been hunched in that alcove a long time.  He hobbled slowly to the small sink while the lights flickered above his head.

Zelenka tried not to feel a pang of jealousy as the sink responded to McKay without him touching the tap.  The water turned on before he even reached the counter.  Rodney plunged a hand into the running stream and smiled.  His grin increased as he turned to Zelenka and activated his radio.

“This is McKay, and I’m pleased to announce that hot water is back online,” he announced grandly.

“Finally!” a voice sounded.

And another, “Great.  Maybe I can get my work started”

"I've been waiting for an hour," someone else said.

“I’ll record the work as complete,” one of the techs told him. 

McKay just nodded, looking rather pleased with himself.  He dried his hand on his pants in spite of the hand dryer next to the sink.  He quickly made his way back to the panel to do one last visual inspection to ensure he hadn’t left anything out of place.  That done, he detached the laptop and then snapped the panel cover over the exposed crystals.

Zelenka shut down the testing program on the computer and coiled up the wires.

As he straightened, McKay looked up in annoyance at the flickering light above.  “You’re going to fix that, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes, working on it,” Zelenka told him.

“Terrific,” McKay replied as picked up his bag with a sigh.  He stopped, standing with the pack slung over one shoulder, just looking out over the long tables of the hydroponics room.  It seemed, for a moment, he didn't know what to do next.

There were shadows under his eyes, Zelenka realized.  Rodney's head bowed slightly and he blinked as if the odd light had mesmerized him.  He didn't move.

To break him out of the state, Radek asked, “Why were you awake so early today?  It seems an odd hour to find you here.”

“Odd?  What do you mean, early?” McKay asked, sounding annoyed.  He glanced at his watch, looked surprised, then closed his eyes and groaned, “Great.  I have a meeting in two hours.   How did that happen?”

“You were awake all night?”

With furrowed brow, McKay told him, “I was working on a project when these reports started coming in.  It took me a while to track down what was causing the problem.”

“Ah!” Zelenka responded brightly.  “So you didn’t KNOW it was hydroponics!”

“I had my suspicions,” McKay told him with a snap.  “But I had to investigate system control and desalinization before I explored the other options.”  He hadn't moved from his place, blinking at the annoying lights.  “After that, I deduced it must have been something you did.”

“Fertilization was working correctly during all tests!” Zelenka shot back.

“That doesn't mean anything,” was McKay’s response.  “You activated this panel without knowing exactly how it would affect the rest of the systems throughout the city.”

“Oh,” Zelenka shot back, “And you have never done this?”

McKay narrowed his eyes at Zelenka, looking as if he meant to fire off a scathing remark, but the expression changed, the eyebrows lifted, and McKay sighed.

Not much fight in him, Radek realized. 

“At least,” McKay stated, “I can usually fix what I’ve managed to screw up.”  After a pause he added, “…or the things that others have messed with.  I mean, before this, I was working in the jumper bay because someone tried to adjust the speed of the launch sequence and we could have ended up shooting a jumper backward into the control level.  Thank God we didn’t have any missions planned.”

"It would have been... interesting," Radek tried.

"To say the least."  Shaking his head tiredly, Rodney rubbed his forehead, “And I spent a good part of the today… yesterday… trying to improve the jumpers ability to withstand high pressure without using shields.  Could come in handy some day, you know?”  He shuddered a little at a memory.

Yes, Zelenka knew it for sure now.  The man was running on empty again.  Perhaps he hadn’t realized it sooner because it was such a common state for McKay.

“So…” Zelenka prompted.  “Where are you going now?”

Wearily, McKay stated, “Well, there’s not enough time to get any sleep is there?”

“Two hours,” Radek told him.  “It would be better than nothing.”  He smiled a little.  “And you would have a hot shower waiting for you at the end of it.”

McKay told him, “I’m starving.  Got to get something to eat first, and complete the reports for the meeting.  Haven't had a free minute to do it all day.  No chance of catching a catnap.”

“We’ll get some breakfast,” Zelenka told him.  “I’ll help you get the information compiled for your reports.”

McKay looked skeptical.  “You don’t even know what it’s about,” he told him.

With a shrug, Radek returned, “Doesn’t matter.  I am not so stupid, yes?  I can help.”

To that, McKay nodded.  “Fine, you’ll help.  Maybe you can even present the findings to Elizabeth and the others.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” Radek told him with a smile.  He tucked the laptop under his arm and together they started toward the mess hall. "But I can assist. Offer moral support maybe?"

"Great."

“After we have finished the reports, we could discuss the lighting systems in hydroponics,” Zelenka told him as they moved along.

“Yeah, yeah, right,” McKay replied.  “Because what you got going in there is pretty close to setting off a seizure.  I got some ideas.”

“We should have plenty of time,” Zelenka figured.  “Breakfast, reports, discussion of lighting system, and then the meeting.  We’ll even have a chance to stop for hot showers, thanks to you.”  And after a moment’s silence, Zelenka reiterated, “Thank you.”

“What?” McKay shot back, looking surprised at the statement.

“For fixing the water system.  Everyone appreciates it.”

“Well, getting it running should shut up the complaints for a while,” McKay said, yawning into his hand.  “I’m sure I’ll hear plenty of people whining about the downtime.  With any luck, it happened early enough in the day so no one will even know it happened.”

“Sometimes people forget to say it,” Radek went on.  “That they appreciate what you do.”

"Well, of course," McKay returned.  "I mean, I did it for myself as much as anyone.  And, it's all in a day’s work.  Part of the job -- keeping Atlantis and all it's people happy.”  McKay reached out a hand, and gently ran it along the wall as they moved toward the mess hall.  After a moment, he asked, “You think they got bacon?”

“In the Mess?" Zelenka laughed at the change of subject.  "One can hope.”  With a dreamy sigh, he added, "Maybe fresh fruit someday?"

"Yeah, whatever."  McKay looked toward Radek.  "You are going to do something about your hair, aren't you?" he questioned, and they continued on their way.

THE END

Those Winter Sundays - by Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

A/N:  I do realize that Czechoslovakia was fairly modern even in Radek's childhood, but due to comments he made in Tao, it seems his home had no electricity, and so I went with that.

Also, I realize that this will probably all become AU-ish if more of Radek's past is revealed on the show.  This is just my take on what might have been.

Hope you enjoyed the story. comments and suggestions
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