A Legacy left Behind - Initial encounters

Part 4

John inhaled a startled breath as his mind was flooded with the greatest and most beautiful architectural wonder he had ever seen in his life. He knew instinctively that none of this was on display on any other outlet connected to the Chair. This was private and for him alone. He was grateful that Rodney was too engrossed in tracking the progress of the programs he had initiated to pay any attention to John.

He continued to just stare in amazement at the elegant snowflake that looked delicate and fragile and was anything but. The majestic towers that rose towards the sky gleamed in the sun, reflecting light over the ocean it serenely floated on. It was built of the same alien metal like the Outpost and the strange copper and blue hues on the surface of metal dancing at rays of sunshine were giving it an ethereal quality. The dimensions that were streaming around the city told him he was looking at something roughly the size of Manhattan city.

"Atlantis, Urbis Navis." He felt the utter reverence and longing the core of the facility radiated at seeing the city where its parent sentient resided. John understood that this Ancient marvel contained a vast intelligence, an ancient and a primal sentience that, as humans, they didn't have a hope in comprehending. It had left behind a part of itself; a guiding hand to aid humanity when the time came.

The memory, for that was what it was- was withdrawn gently from his mind with a promise that John would know more when the time was right. He was directed towards a few other maintenance issues that were queued up for his perusal and approval. He spared a several seconds on available power resources and engaged the required systems and programs accordingly.

He mentally strolled through the intricate and complex web that was the control core of the Outpost while the mental link warmly accompanied him, giving him the comprehensive tour.

'You can do a deep dive when you are ready and when it is required, but for the moment, just familiarize yourself about me and my abilities' John interpreted what it was saying to him without words.

He felt vaguely concerned about the fact that he was able to do any of this, when the other people who had been here for much longer apparently couldn't. It's not like he had prior training about interfacing with ancient sentience and working with them before.

The presence in his mind huffed at him for concerning himself with nonsense. This was exactly where John was meant to be- this was where he belonged; he was the reason it was waiting for so long anyway. John chose not to overly examine the fact that this proclamation made him feel much less worried than it should have, as if he knew deep down already in his own mind the exact same thing.

He was gradually surfacing from his ruminations and sightseeing inside the virtual facility when he heard distinct arguing in the command centre. He was the subject of the argument and neither of the doctors even noticed that he had disengaged from the interface and was staring at them in amusement.

"Rodney you can't do this! You are going to be the daft lad who cried wolf if you keep up this sort of shenanigans- I will not trust you again when you come screaming at me to sit on the bloody thing when the General takes the Major away, because now you resort to downright kidnapping so that you can run a bloody routine maintenance!"

Carson was waving his hands around in agitation and John idly wondered who told the good doctor about what they were actually doing. His money was on the Czech scientist with the crazy hair who was trying hard to stifle his giggles behind one of the work platforms.

Rodney was giving as good as he got with increasingly complicated scientific explanations about what he was doing, and so far Carson was having none of it. Then he noticed the mild mannered General leaning against the entrance to the Chair room, with his hands folded across his chest, seemingly enjoying the drama with a smirk on his face.