Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 26

Chapter 26 - Election Speedrun

Weir, Caldwell, and Everett wanting to discuss things without him around was moderately understandable from a security perspective. Though Eventus didn't really have the heart to tell them that with the ZPM plugged in he could just bring up the internal sensors logs to review everything they said if he actually wished to do so.

On the upside, that left him free to slip over to the core interface room and initiate the high councilor vote.

“How's it going?” Sheppard inquired as he fell in step.next to Eventus as he exited into the control room.

“Tired but still have a couple things that need doing before I can crash for a half day or so..” Eventus admitted, not even remotely surprised the man had been waiting for him. “They put you on Ancient duty again?”

“Pretty much.” Sheppard confirmed with a wry grin as he followed Eventus down the steps. “Surprised you're taking the stairs.”

“Core room is just a couple floors down.” Eventus told him as they reached the floor, after which a quick turn right and a dozen meter walk down the passage quickly found them at the room in question. 

“So the hologram room is the core room?” Sheppard asked in interest as Eventus stepped onto the platform.

“Not exactly.” Eventus said as he set his hands.on the plith to let the neural interface connect with his mind. “The core interface rooms are direct pathways to Atlantis's virtual intelligence.”

With those words a hologram of head archivist Ganos Lal materialized on the platform.

“Hello.” It greeted with the general lack of inflection Eventus had long come to expect from the questionably intelligent program. “How may I help you today?”

“I'd like to initiate the complete extinction somehow avoided protocol.” Eventus answered, noting with some amusement the odd look Sheppard shot him at the name.

“Last Lantean access exceeds the required limit for protocol activation, please wait while a population check is performed” The hologram replied.

“Complete extinction somehow avoided?” Sheppard asked in amusement as the hologram silently stood there.

“By its very nature the word somehow covers all possibilities.” Eventus returned simply, though that hadn't stopped various petitions over the centuries to more specifically define just what it covered. “Also, that bad at naming things problem is a long running historical one.”

“Population depletion confirmed.” The hologram finally said as its head shifted slightly to focus on Eventus. “Current Lantean population, two.”

Eventus blinked in surprise at the number, it being one more then he had expected given he couldn't exactly recall any more members of his people being around the city.

“List current Lantean population.” He instructed just in case he had missed someone.

“Eventus Iuxta Devera, Atlantis Maintenance Engineer. John Sheppard, Terra Civilian.” The hologram answered without so much as a hitch, and it was Eventus's turn to five the other man an odd look.

“Is there something I should know, John?” He asked the man, not even remotely sure how that might have come about given the general weirdness of their universe.

“Got me.” Sheppard returned with a shrug.

“Do you wish to begin the nomination process?” The hologram interjected.

“Yes.” Eventus told it before turning fully to Sheppard. “When the hologram pops up, you'll probably want to poke the no button.”

The moment he finished saying that a one sided holographic screen appeared in front of each of them, angled in such a way that neither would be able to see what the other was actually doing.

“It's asking me if I want to run for high counselor.” Sheppard said as his eyes flicked over the text on screen.

Eventus sighed as he poked yes on the screen in front of him. “It's an authorization side step, once the process finishes I'll be able to restart the city's production facilities.”

“At which point we'll be able to use them?” Sheppard asked in a slightly suspicious tone as stared at the screen in seeming thought.

“Anyone with the activation gene should be able to use them for most things.” Eventus offered with the slightest hint of impatience in this voice. “The only exceptions are weapons, nanites, anti-matter, radioactive material, and complex self replicating biological structures.”

Sheppard nodded as if that made perfect sense. “So no killer plagues, got it.”

The Major began reaching towards the screen only to pause as something seemed to occur to him. “You know, this feels like something Doctor Weir might want to know about.”

“The city is listening, you know.” Eventus said in an expectant tone as he pointed at the hologram.

As if to prove his point the hologram turned to Sheppard in a movement Eventus knew was pre-programed to make it seem more approachable. “John Sheppard, are you in any way under duress or being compelled by an outside command structure to try and seize control of this city?”

“It’s going to check either way.” Eventus said in a slightly dramatic whisper that had no real point but to amuse him. “But if you say no it will at least pretend to believe you.”

Sheppard looked between Eventus and the hologram for a moment before shaking his head at it. “Nope, didn’t even know this was a thing till a few minutes ago.”

“What happens if it doesn’t believe me?” He asked in an aside as the virtual intelligence continued to stare at him.

“It would lock down the city and escalate from there depending on the threat level.” Eventus explained, the concern behind that particular contingency having been that an outside force might kill almost everyone and then later use a survivor to try and seize control of the city. 

“Escalate?” Sheppard questioned as he shot a concerned look at the still silent hologram. “Like sending killer robots after us or something?”

“We stopped doing those after the Asuran project.” Eventus reassured him. “It’s mostly things related to the environmental system controls. Gas, temperature, radiation, gravity, that sort of thing. We weren’t usually ones for immediately lethal responses, you understand. But this situation was one of the few exceptions due to the damage a hostile force could do with full access to everything.”

“I get it.” Sheppard said as he gave a nod of understanding. “We put self-destruct systems on our bases for a similar reason.”

“So.” He continued after a moment as he shot a furtive glance back at the hologram. “Do we just wait or what?”

Eventus chuckled at that. “It’s already done the check, found nothing that triggered a response, and is now back to waiting for you to fill in the hologram.”

“Ah, well.” Sheppard mused as he looked back at the holographic screen. “High Counselor sounds like a job with a lot of paperwork, so I might as well pass.”

With that the Major finally poked the hologram, at which point both screens winked out before another one instantly appeared in front of him.

“Now it's asking me if I want to run for the Military or Exploration Councilor positions.” He said as he frowned at the screen.

Eventus raised a single eyebrow at Sheppard, moderately surprised the virtual intelligence had decided the man had met the minimum criteria for either of those positions. “You must have spent an inordinate amount of time on the Jumper flight simulators.”

“It’s what I do.” Sheppard admitted as he considered the screen for a moment before poking a button.

“Nominations registered.” The hologram announced as the holographic screen in front of the Major winked out. “Beginning voting.”

Once more two screens materialized in front of them, and Eventus turned a glare to other man upon noticing Sheppard’s name on the ballot under the open Military Councilor position.

“Dad always wanted one of us to be a politician.” Sheppard offered with a shrug once he noticed the look. “Figured I might as well give it a try.”

That was a deflection if Eventus had ever heard it, but given Sheppard had selected the Council position with the least actual authority and the most paperwork, the Ancient was going to let it lie without further complaint just to see the look on the other man's face when the first five thousand page readiness report showed up on his computer.

He touched the two points on the hologram without saying anything else, and then waited for Sheppard to finish doing the same.

“Tabulating votes.” The holographic woman announced as the two screens vanished.

A moment of silence passed, and then in an act that Eventus knew was being repeated in front of every single human in the city a tiny holographic representation of him appeared and the hologram's voice began echoing out from within it.

“With one hundred percent of the vote Eventus Iuxta Devera has been elected to the position of High Counselor.”

The hologram remained there for a moment before switching to a tiny representation of Sheppard.

“With one hundred percent of the vote John Sheppard has been elected as the Military representative of the Council.”

Another moment passed before the holograms disappeared entirely, coinciding to almost a moment with the radio on Sheppard’s vest crackling to life.

“Major Sheppard.” Weir’s voice echoed out in a tone that was very clearly not amused. “What did you just do?”

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Author’s Notes: Poor Weir, in Sheppard’s defense however he wasn’t wrong in thinking it would give them the ability to at least have a say in how the city is run. He just misjudged the fact that to the Ancients the Military was pretty much the least important of all council positions. Onwards!