Confirming Carter Day3

By RibaldWriter

Interior-Bedroom

0450 Hours

It was dark when Sam woke up. She lay still for a moment, then sat up.

“Where are you going, Sam?” A voice close to her asked.

“Tammy?”

“I’m here.” Her hand touched Sam’s, her fingers stroking the back of her hand.

“I have to pee.”

“Okay.”

Carter slid off the bed and walked to the bathroom. She sat quietly as she pee’d, listening intently. She could hear the water in the bowl splashing, and a few noises from the pipes in the wall behind her, but otherwise it was quiet.

Sliding back up onto the bed, she moved up next to Tammy, then slipped into her arms as she held them open.

“These earplugs are working. I didn’t know you were here.” She snuggled in closer to her, laying her head on her shoulder. “How long was I out?”

“It’s not quite oh five hundred. You laid down about twenty hundred, and went right out. I checked on you every hour or so, then climbed in with you a little after midnight. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I’m glad you were here.” She shivered, and snuggled closer. “I...I was scared when I woke up. I knew where I was but...” She felt her chin quivering as tears welled up in her eyes.

“I know, Sam. I’m here.” She said softly, her hands stroking her back gently.

“Oh god, Tammy! I’m so scared! I’ve never been this afraid of anything before in my life!” she said as she surrendered to her emotions, and let the tears come.

Tammy didn’t say anything, just holding her and rocking her gently, making soft shushing noises as she let her cry herself out.

Sam quieted down after a few minutes, but neither of them spoke. They lay quietly together until Sam raised her head and looked at Tammy.

“I’m not a lesbian.”

“Neither am I. What brought that on?” Tammy laughed.

“I...I just wanted you to know.” Carter said burying her face in her shoulder again. “And don’t laugh at me!”

“I always laugh when someone says something funny. But I had heard the rumors. I figured it was none of my business, since you never hit on me, or anyone I knew.”

They lay quietly for a few more minutes.

“What would you have said?” Sam whispered.

“I would have said, ‘We’ll have to go to your place, I have a roommate.’”

“Really?”

“Yes. Even though I’m not gay, I still like women.” Tammy said lightly. “I’ve made some friends among the Athosians, and they’re not as uptight as we are about sex. Same sex relationships are no big deal as far as I can see. I’ve had brief relationships with both the men and the women.”

“I didn’t know that. But I never paid alot of attention to sex anyway.”

“The fact that you’re pretty hot doesn’t hurt either.”

“You think I’m hot?” Sam asked, wriggling loose, and climbing off the bed, then going over to the window.

“Eighty percent of the base thinks you’re hot!” Tammy laughed. “The only ones that don’t are the eggheads, but that’s only because they don’t think that way, so that’s no big deal.”

She stretched and purred happily. “You slept straight through. I know, I’m a light sleeper, you woke me when you sat up.”

“I’m sorry.” Sam said, putting her hand against the glass, and started doing pushups against it.

“Nah, it’s okay. I only sleep four or five hours at a pop anyway.” Tammy said as she got up and walked over to her. She held out her hand. “Come on, I want to go down to my place and grab a few things. I picked up some stuff from my quarters last night, and I want to bring some of it up here.” She grinned and added, “And it looks like you have some nervous energy to burn off!”

Sam took her hand and they went out to they elevator.

As they got off on Tammy’s floor. Carter looked at her.

“I like it when you hold my hand.” She said lightly.

“So do I.” Tammy grinned. “I pretend you’re my girlfriend.”

“No you don’t!” Sam said, trying to pull her hand away.

Tammy tightened her grip as she touched the pad to open the door.

“Would it be a problem if I did?”

Carter followed her into the apartment, then down into the pit. Tammy waved her into a seat, then stepped over and opened a panel next to the fireplace, a moment later, it roared to life.

She stepped down to the next level, and adjusted one of the lamps, and all four dimmed at the same time. She turned it low, so the fire was providing most of the light in the room. She came down into the pit and sat next to Sam. She felt her stiffen as she put her hand on her leg.

Carter looked at her, a pleading look in her eyes. “Are we going to...”

Tammy shook her head. “No, that’s going to happen when you’re ready. You’ll know when it’s time, and you’ll tell me.” She said as she stretched out beside her, laying her head in her lap. “Right now, I’m your friend and your nurse. That’s what you need from me.”

Carter nodded.

They sat quietly, staring into the fire for a few minutes.

“I wouldn’t mind, you know.” Sam said softly.

“Mind what?”

“If...if you were my girlfriend.” She said, brushing Tammy’s hair away from her face. “You’re the kind of person I’d choose, male or female. You’re smart, independent, you speak your mind and stand your ground.”

“I feel the same way about you. I’ve always liked you Sam. You’ve been a good boss, and you take care of your people. That’s important to me.”

They lapsed into silence again.

“How bad is it going to get? Do you have any idea?” Carter asked her quietly after a few minutes.

“I really don’t know. As near as I can tell, and both Andi and Jennifer kept excellent notes by the way, it shouldn’t be happening at all. You got a very weak dose of the korathis, and it was from one of my batches. So the only thing I can figure is one of the complex sugars in the margarita mix bound to the korathis, and that new molecule interacted with something already in your system.”

She rolled over on her back, looking up at Carter. “If it had been anyone else, I doubt if they would have even noticed. But you’ve been through so much in the last few years. Any one of the things you’ve been through could have been a deciding factor, or it could have been a combination. And I don’t know if the effect is centered in your brain, or whether there’s been a more basic change to your DNA. I’m betting on the latter, you had already experienced manipulation of your DNA several times, so you’d be more susceptible there. I can figure it out eventually if you want. It won’t make a difference.”

“Do it. I’d like to know...morbid curiosity, I guess.”

Tammy nodded.

“How are you feeling, Sam?” She asked.

“Pretty good, a little hungry. Why?”

“Well, you haven’t had a fix for...call it ten hours. You came close to stroking out yesterday afternoon when you went two hours without one.”

“Is that what we’re going to call it, getting a ‘fix’? Makes me sound like a junkie.”

Tammy laughed. “Sorry, but that’s how I think about it when I’m jilling off hopped up on Special K. Getting a fix.”

“Jilling off?”

“Yeah. Oh come on, don’t try to tell me you never heard that!”

“No, I just call it masturbating.”

“Ick! That sounds so clinical! No wonder you never had any fun...oh shit! I’m sorry Sam. I...”

“It’s okay. It’s true. Don’t apologize for telling the truth.”

“But back to jilling off, she said, tactfully changing the subject...”

Carter laughed and smiled down at her.

“Jack and Jill went up the hill? You know, the nursery rhyme? Well, boys jack off, and girls jill off. Or at least that’s what my mom told me.”

She sat up, turning to look at Carter. “You mentioned being hungry. Getting something to eat doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Lemme get the stuff we came for, then we can go up, and I’ll cook you breakfast. How’s that sound?”

“That sound wonderful! I really am starting to get hungry.”

Tammy got to her feet and stepped over to the fireplace, turning it off. She turned the lamps back up, and walked into the bedroom. She came back a moment later carrying a gym bag in one hand, and a cordless drill in the other. She headed for the door.

“What’s the drill for?” Sam asked as she met her at the door.

“The air curtains. They have sticky tape on the back, but there were screws in the boxes. I want to secure them so they don’t fall on anybody.”

“Good thinking,” Sam said, holding out her hand. “Let me carry it.”

“That’s okay, I got it.”

“Please?” Sam said softly. “I...I can’t hold your hand if it’s full.”

Tammy glanced at her as she touched the pad and opened the door. She held out the drill, and Sam took it, then she held out her hand to her. Sam slipped hers into it, squeezing gently.

Interior-Kitchen

1110 Hours

They were sitting at the kitchen table laughing when Andi walked in.

“I gotta get a doorbell,” Sam said, then burst out laughing again. They both laughed hysterically, until finally, Tammy opened a small plastic bag, pulled out a small yellow pellet, broke it in half, and handed a piece to Carter. She popped the other half into her mouth and chewed it for a minute, then spat it back out into her hand.

Carter imitated her, making a face as she chewed it. She got up and leaned over the sink, chewed for a few more seconds, then spat it out into the sink. She got a glass off the drainboard and filled it from the tap. She rinsed her mouth out a few times, then turned and looked at Andi.

“Sorry, we got into the Thumper. That’s some good shit!” she laughed. Then went back and sat down at the table.

“You’re gonna have to do something about the taste of the Goorm though, if you think you’re gonna market this on earth. Most people, at least the Americans and Europeans, will just throw it away. Be a waste of time and money shipping it.” Tammy said. “I’ll play with it later. Put it on my to-do list, okay?”

Andi nodded, and made a note on her tablet. She walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee, then came over and sat down at the table.

“I just came from the infirmary. Jenn ran a battery of tests, she said she’d have most of the results this afternoon. She said the EKG looked clean though. She ran it for an hour. But she confirmed your blip.”

“How long were you down there? And what time is it anyway?” Carter asked.

“It’s a little after eleven. Jenn said she’d try to get up here after lunch. Sheppard came and got her. Said they had to do a conference call with the IOA.”

Carter nodded. “The wolves are gathering faster than I expected.” She laughed. “That’s okay, I only need two days to get everything together, and that’s even if I spend one of them jilling off.”

“Funny you should mention that.” Tammy said. “That puts us over fifteen hours.” she said, looking at Carter.

“Fifteen hours over what?” Andi asked.

“Since my last fix.”

“So you were wrong about the time constraint.” Andi said, looking at Tammy.

“Maybe. Be nice if I was.” Tammy laughed. “But I think it’s something else. I’ll have to look at the methodology.”

“What are you thinking?”

“The first night, when she coded out. Your notes said that she ejaculated?”

Andi nodded.

“Then she slept, undisturbed, for what, four hours?”

“Closer to six.”

“Yesterday after her spell, I masturbated her to ejaculation, then two more times before she went to bed. She slept straight through for nine hours. We’ve been up since five, and she hasn’t jilled off yet.” She looked over at Carter. “Have you?”

“No, haven’t even had a craving.”

“We got back up here about six.” She looked at Andi. “We went down to my place and got some stuff, but we sat talking for a while. There was no sexual contact.”

Tammy leaned back in her chair, stretching her legs out under the table, and put her hands behind her head.

“We came back up here, I made breakfast, we secured the air curtains, then we got into the Thumper.” She looked at Carter. “That sound like an accurate sequence of events?”

Carter nodded.

“So I’m thinking we fired up the Thumper around seven, I went to pee once, and you walked in a little while ago.”

She looked over at Andi. “Yesterday morning, did she have her first orgasm before, or after she ate?”

“Before.”

“Did she ejaculate?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to think about that for a minute.”

“No, I didn’t.” Carter said flatly. “I was going in that direction, but you started working on Jenn, Andi.”

“And you spent the rest of the day wandering off, or getting one of them to help you jill off until I made you squirt later in the afternoon?” Tammy asked.

“That sounds about right.” Carter said. She turned and looked at Andi. “Don’t you love her? You can just hear the wheels grinding away! She’s alot more fun to work with than Rodney, even if I don’t know what she’s talking about most of the time!”

Tammy grinned and leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. “We can eliminate food, so that leaves us with ejaculation, and Thumper. I think its both, but working independently for different reasons. I think we can either jill you off till you squirt, two or three times a day, or keep you stoned on Thumper, I doubt if we’d have to do both.”

“Why would making her ejaculate reduced her cravings? And she’s not acting nearly as childish, as sexually aggressive, or as moody as she was yesterday either.”

“You release hormones and endorphins when you climax. The stronger the climax, the more you release. We’ll have to do blood tests to verify that.” She looked at Andi. “How long does Thumper stay in the blood stream on average? There’s no point testing hormone and endorphin levels when the Thumper may be present, that won’t tell us anything.”

“I don’t know right off the top of my head. I’ll have to take a look at the research.”

“You’re a fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl, aren’t you Andi? Well, I won’t allow that kind of behavior around my patient. You just lost your privileges doctor. Unless Dr. Keller or I approve, you are not to prescribe, or administer any medications to our patient. You can bring her food and drinks, and help with her daily maintenance. And whatever else she wants you to do.”

“You can’t do that! I’m a boar...”

“No, she can’t, Andi.” Jennifer said from behind her. “But I can. And I was going to do that anyway. I don’t like the halfassed way you practice medicine either. But you’re an excellent physiatrist, and that knowledge is useful right now. Leave the hands on medicine to me and my staff, and we’ll get along fine.”

Jennifer dropped a pile of folders on the table and pulled out a chair. “The meeting with the IOA went faster than I expected, because I refused to tell them any more than I told Sheppard yesterday. The official stuff. They gave me forty-eight hours to give them a more detailed diagnosis. From the tone of things, I’d say you have until the first part of next week. I doubt if those bureaucrats will want to give up their weekend to do anything about you.”

“So I have to be ready to hit them on Friday. That’s doable.” She glanced over at Keller. “How much of the rest of the conversation did you hear?”

“I heard something about endorphins and hormones being masked by Thumper?” She asked.

“Close. It’s been over fifteen hours since Sam’s last orgasm, or masturbation session.” Tammy said lightly. “We were talking about what’s causing that. I believe that we may have narrowed it down to stimulating her to ejaculation to produce endorphins and hormones, or the Thumper. I doubt if it’s both together.”

“Well, that sounds like good news. And Tuumpor stays in the blood stream six to eight hours on average for a one hundred fifty pound human, double that for an Athosian. It’s water soluble, so it only stays in soft tissue for forty-eight hours.” She looked at Tammy. “I looked it up this morning. I really don’t know why.” She laughed.

Tammy turned and looked at Sam. “If it does turn out that we can manage this with endorphins and or hormones, it could be either, or a combination, I’d encourage you to continue masturbating to produce them. We can do that manually, or with electro-stimulation. Both are equally effective, and fun.” She grinned. “Your body is going to respond better to what it produces itself, rather than an outside source. There’s always a danger using artificial, or donated materials.”

“I have to agree with that.” Andi said.

“So do I.” Jennifer said.

“I can continue to stimulate you, and I’ve already sho...” She stopped when she saw Carter frowning down at the table. “What’s wrong, Sam? Are you okay?” She reached out and took her hand, looking at her closely.

“I don’t know, I just feel like a...”

“Oh, Sam! I’m so sorry! We just got into it and I never thought...Can you forgive me?” She leaned closer, smiling softly. “I still want you to be my girlfriend.”

Sam jumped to her feet and grabbed Tammy’s other hand, pulling her out of her chair and across the kitchen. They went out into the hallway, and Sam pulled her into the bathroom, slamming the door behind them.

“Don’t you ever tease me, or make fun of me like that again!” She said in a harsh whisper, barely fighting back tears. “Do you understand me?”

“I wasn’t teasing or making fun of you, Sam,” Tammy said, putting her arms around her and pulling her close. “I meant what I said downstairs, I do think of you as my girlfriend when we hold hands. I feel warm and special when you’re touching me.” She leaned back, bringing a hand up, and lifting her chin. “But I’m sorry I said it in front of Andi and Jennifer. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“I...I, oh damn!” She looked up at Tammy. “I think I’m starting my period! That’s the last thing I need right now.” She reached between her legs, and brought her hand up, showing Tammy that her fingertips were spotted with blood.

“That points toward hormones,” Tammy said under her breath. She looked at Carter. “Do you use tampons or pads? And do you have any here?”

“Tampons, and no. I haven’t stayed here during my period, so I didn’t think of it.” She took a piece of toilet paper off the roll, and wiped her fingers, then dropped it in the toilet.

“I’ve got some down at my place. We can go get them. You need a break from those two anyway.”

She opened the bathroom door and stepped out, she pushed Carter toward the elevator, then stuck her head through the kitchen door.

“Minor medical emergency, we’ll be right back.” She said quickly. “Fifteen minutes, tops.”

She turned around and caught up to Sam, taking her hand and following her into the elevator.

Interior-Tammy’s Suite

1150 Hours

“We just had our first lovers quarrel.” Tammy said as they stepped out onto forty one.

“Will you stop!” Sam laughed as she put her hand on the pad. “You haven’t even kissed me, and you’re talking all mummmpphhh...”

Tammy cut her off as she spun her around, pressing her lips to hers as she pinned her against the wall. Sam responded eagerly, throwing her arms around her neck and jamming her tongue into her mouth.

They moved along the wall, trading places as they rolled along it. Tammy’s back hit the end wall next to the bedroom, and she pulled back.

“How did we get here?” She laughed.

“Get where?” Sam asked as she pulled her lips back against hers.

They kissed for a few more minutes, much less frantically now. Sam finally broke it off and stepped back.

“Oh damn! I’m going to drip all over your floor!” she squealed, and ran for the bathroom.

Tammy followed, stopping to pull a pair of panties, a sports bra, and a tank top out of a drawer. She walked into the bathroom, and laughed when she saw Sam dabbing between her legs with a wad of toilet paper.

“You know, that would be alot easier if you just got in the shower and used the sprayer.”

“Huh?” Sam said as she looked up. “Oh, I didn’t think of that.” She turned around and turned the water on, then stepped in under the spray. “I love how the water is hot as soon as you turn on the tap. You have to wait forever for it to get hot in my quarters.”

Tammy got the tampons and a panty liner out of the medicine cabinet, put the lid on the toilet seat down, and sat down. She pulled the paper strip off the panty liner and got it seated in the panties, then leaned back and watched Carter rinse off.

When she was done, Tammy tossed her a towel. She dried off quickly, and tossed the towel back. She was about to step out of the shower when Tammy held out the tampon. She took it, and looked at her.

“Yo...you’re not going to w...watch are you?” She said, blushing slightly.

“Well, I am a nurse, and I have had my fingers where you’re getting ready to put that tampon. Several times.”

“I know. But...please?”

Tammy laughed at this sudden shyness, finding it appealing.

“Okay. I’ll be in the living room.”

Carter came out of the bathroom a couple minutes later. She was wearing the sports bra and the tanktop, but carrying the panties in her hand.

“I can’t wear these. They’re too small.”

“No they’re not, they’re an eight, they’ll fit you just fine.”

Carter held the panties up in front of her, holding them by the edges.

“That’s not what I mean! They’re too smaaaallll.” She said, drawing the word out.

“Are you kidding me? Don’t tell me you wear those waist high old lady panties!” Tammy laughed. “This puts a whole new light on things. I don’t know if I...”

“Oh shut up!” Sam laughed, stepping into the panties and pulling them up, trying to get them seated comfortably.

“You look great! But we gotta get moving. If we stay down here too long, they’re gonna get suspicious.”

“Will you stop!” Sam said, taking Tammy’s hand and following her to the door.

“I wasn’t kidding just then.” She said as she opened the door. “Andi already doesn’t like me, and I just kicked her in the balls professionally. I’m going to have to be careful around her.”

“I can always fire her.”

“I won’t tell you what to do about who you choose to treat you. But I think that would be a mistake.” Tammy said. She stopped outside the elevator and looked at Sam. “I think she’s a valuable resource right now, and we do need a psychiatrist in the mix. Let us work out our issues, if we can’t, you and Jennifer can decide who you want to keep.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.” Sam said as she stepped into the elevator. The doors opened almost immediately, and they stepped out.

“We’re engaged!” Sam gushed as she walked out into the kitchen, holding out her bare hand to show off an imaginary ring. “Tammy asked me to marry her, and I just had to say yes!”

Jennifer spun around, her mouth open. “Are you se...Oh, you’re fucking with us.”

Andi groaned and let her head fall to the table with a thump. When she lifted it again, Sam was taking her place at the head of the table. “You’re wearing clothes. But damn, that get up makes you look hot!”

Carter pointed at Tammy as she dropped into her seat. “Her idea. My period started, so we went and got some tampons from her place.”

“I don’t care if you run around naked. But right now I think panties with a liner just make sense.” Tammy said. “I think you should wear a bra even if you decide to skip the panties. Otherwise, your tits are gonna start to sag, and that would be a shame.”

Both the doctors nodded.

“You do have nice breasts, Sam. Much firmer than other women your a...” She stopped, realizing what she was saying. “That didn’t...”

“I am only thirty-six years old. That’s not even middle-aged.” Carter said, glaring at Jennifer.

“It’s close.” Tammy muttered.

Sam swung at her, but she leaned back, avoiding it easily.

“And she wears old lady panties.”

“I know, you should have see the pair she had on the day she came to see me.” Andi laughed.

“Over her belly button?” Jennifer asked.

Tammy saw Carter starting to bristle, and stepped in, cutting the teasing short.

“Are we in for the day? You two have anything else you need to go out for?” She asked.

“I may have to go out later, but I don’t have anything planned for the next few hours. I was planning on doing some tests.” She looked over at Sam. “Are you up for that? We really need to get started on it.”

Carter just nodded.

“That’s what I was thinking too.” Tammy said. She turned to Andi. “Andi are you available to help with that?”

Andi nodded, not looking at her.

“Good. I’d like to run down to the gym for a little while if that’s ok. It’s usually not that crowded this time of day.”

“Why don’t you use the one upstairs? It’s alot nicer, it’s never crowded, and there’s a pool.” Carter said. “You can take the elevator, or there’s a set of stairs behind a panel by the window behind you. The last one on the end.”

“That’s a good idea. I’d like you to be available if we need you.” Andi said. “You’re very competent, and Sam seems to relate to you more than Jennifer or me. She likes us well enough, but she bonded with you as soon as you two met. I think it would be best if you stayed close, if only to make her feel more comfortable.”

“Okay, I’ll go check it out in a little while. But while we’re on the subject, what are we going to do about comms. I haven’t liked being out of touch with you two, I’m a nurse, and while I may be over educated, I don’t have the level of medical training you do, and I’m not licensed to prescribe medicines, only administer.”

“This building is the hub for the comm system covering the southwest pier, and I’m already tapped into it. There are a dozen unused frequencies that we could use without being noticed, unless someone was looking for traffic. I have a box of headsets down on thirty-one. We can get them later if you want.”

“Okay, Jennifer, did you get those cameras I asked you about? Which reminds me of something else.”

“Yeah, they’re in a box by the porter. I got two for her bedroom, two for the living room, two for this room, one for the office, and one for each of the other rooms.” Keller said. “I didn’t get any for the bathrooms, but I can if you think we need them.”

“Get one for her bathroom and the powder room. Those are the two she uses most.” Tammy said as she got up and went over by the door where she had dropped her gym bag earlier. She took out a small box, and came back over to the table. She opened the box and took out a thin silver bracelet, and sat the box on the table.

Turning to Sam, she dropped to one knee, reached out and took her hand. She slid the bracelet over her hand, looking up at her as she did.

“I couldn’t get a ring on such short notice. Will you settle for bracelet?”

“Look what I got,” Carter beamed. “She got me a bracelet!” She pulled her to her feet and kissed her lightly on the lips. “What should I say girls? Help me out here!”

Tammy dropped back in her seat, and held out her hand to Andi. “Can I see your tablet for a second?” She tapped the screen and grinned. “Good, it’s Windows based. Trust the military not to move to android.” She slipped a flash drive into the port and started tapping on the screen. A minute later, she handed it back to Andi.

“Jenn, I need yours too.”

She glanced over at Sam as she repeated the process on Keller’s tablet, and handed it back. “I can adjust that bracelet later if you want. It doesn’t have to be skin tight, it’ll work fine like it is.”

“I like it like this. It’s pretty.” Sam said, smiling at her.

A puzzled look came over her face as she thought about the last thing Tammy had said. “Wait. What do you mean, work fine?”

“Okay, now you can monitor Sam’s vitals from anywhere close.” Tammy said, looking back and forth between Keller and Samuels. “I don’t know what the wireless range of the tablets is, but the bracelet is good to two hundred feet, it starts getting a little iffy over that. The application name is Guardian Angel, and its the little angel down in the tray.”

“I think you just fucked up, Tammy. Her blood pressure just spiked!” Andi laughed, looking down at her tablet.

Tammy glanced over at Sam, and saw her glaring at her.

“Then I think this is a good time to go check out the gym! See ya later girls!” She laughed as she went over and opened the panel, disappearing inside.

Interior-Gym

1425 Hours

Tammy was doing laps in the pool when Sam strolled up. She watched her do a racing turn, then switch to the breast stroke. She only did a dozen strokes before she did another turn, rolling over into the backstroke this time.

Tammy caught sight of her out of the corner of her eye and arched high in the water short of the wall. She submarined, flipped over underwater, and popped up a second later by the edge of the pool.

“Towel?” She said, pointing behind Carter.

Sam picked up the towel and held it out, just out of her reach. “Don’t pull me in, I don’t want to attract sharks.”

Tammy nodded, and heaved herself out of the pool.

Sam handed her the towel.

“You okay?” She asked as she stood up, running the towel through her hair.

Carter shook her head, then walked over and sat in one of the chair next to the wall.

“They hurt you?”

Carter just nodded.

“You mad at me?”

Carter nodded again.

“It’s gonna happen. You gonna forgive me?”

She shook her head, then nodded.

“You wanna dance?”

“Where the hell did that come from?” Sam laughed as she stood up.

“I put myself through Harvard teaching dance for three years. Helped cut down on the student loans I needed.” Tammy said as she stepped over and put her arm around her waist, she took her hand in hers and smiled. “Waltz. Let me lead.”

They danced slowly along the side of the pool. Sam started to move closer, but Tammy backed away.

“Don’t. I’m still wet.”

“I don’t care.” Carter said. “I like to feel you against me.”

Tammy nodded, and held her tighter against her.

“You got two masters, and taught dance at the same time? When did you sleep?”

“I got six hours a day, sometimes all in a row.” She laughed. “Similar disciplines, alot of the classes and study material overlapped. I finished in three years.”

“Just how smart are you?”

“I’m in your league, believe it or not. Low one eighties.”

“You got me beat. I’m only in the mid one six...”

“Don’t do that. I know you’ve hit one ninety twice. I’ve been following you for years. I’m a fan.”

“I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to lie to you. Habit.”

“Where are the glitter twins?”

“They’ll be up in a few minutes. They’re getting equipment together. They want you to supervise me doing stress tests.”

“Okay, I’ll pace you. We’ll take it easy at first, then ramp up. I’ll do it with you.” Tammy stepped back, but held Sam’s hand, leading her over to the machines.

“You said you could do three-fifty on the bench. I’d like to see that.” Sam said as they walked by the universal gym.

“Your machine doesn’t go that high, or at least I don’t think it does. But I’ll show you what I got.”

“It’s not my machine. Well, I guess it is now. It was here when I got here. I think it’s Atlantian.”

“I didn’t recognize the writing, but the plates look like steel, and the weights feel about the same. Take a look at the markings, think you can you teach me that?”

She moved the pin down to the bottom plate, came around and laid out on the bench, and got her hands settled on the bar, and pressed it up. She did five reps, then let the bar down slowly to a rest.

She sat up, panting, and grinned. “Impressed?”

“I dunno, lemme try that.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Sam. That feels like three hundred pounds. Have you every tried to lift that much?”

“No, but I don’t think it’s that much weight.”

Tammy looked at her, then sat up and stepped off the machine. Sam sat down and laid out on it, got her hands settled on the bar, and heaved it upwards. The bar didn’t move, and she grunted, straining mightily as she tried again.

Tammy stepped over, putting her hands on the bar. “Stop. you’re going to hurt yourself.” She held her hand out, and Sam took it, letting her pull her upright.

“I’ll work with you if you want, bulking up a little wouldn’t hurt you any. I’d like to see you put some weight on, maybe twenty pounds. I’ll split the difference with you, ten pounds of fat, ten pounds of muscle. How’s that sound?”

“I don’t think I can carry one seventy. I felt heavy at one sixty.”

“We’re the same height, and about the same build. I weigh one seventy. You think I look heavy?”

“No, I would have said one fifty-five. Uh oh, here comes Jennifer.”

Jennifer came over, pushing a cart with a monitor and a variety of cables dangling from it.

“What are you guys doing?” She asked.

“We were just talking about Sam’s training regimen. She said you wanted her to do some stress tests.”

“Really? Can we do something about her weight? I’d like to see her put on, I don’t know, do you think she could carry twenty more pounds? Split it ten pounds fat, and ten pounds muscle? I think she’d look pretty good!”

Carter groaned, while Tammy grinned. Jennifer looked back and forth between them. “I’m missing something again, aren’t I?”

“She just said the same thing.” Carter said. She looked down at herself, then back up at them. “What is it? Do I look bad like this? Or sickly?”

“No, not at all.” Tammy said as she moved around behind her. “But if we put ten more pounds of muscle on you, and I’d like to see most of it on your upper body, that will help improve your strength and stamina. Then we put ten pounds of fat on you, that’ll fill out your hips, and tits.” She said, reaching around and cupping Carter’s breasts in her hands. “I like big tits.” She whispered in her ear.

Keller was nodding. “She’s got good definition in her calves and thighs, so I think cycling or a stair stepper there, But I think free weights would do her more good than that machine you were playing on. What do you think?”

“I do...” Carter began.

“That sounds like a plan.” Tammy said. She gestured toward the equipment Keller had brought up. “We really don’t need that stuff, you know. We can just capture the telemetry from her bracelet, and review it later.”

She looked at Sam. “I don’t want to start you off on weights, I’d like to use your own weight as resistance at first. How many push-ups can you do?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t done any in a while.” Carter said.

“Sit-ups or pull-ups?”

Carter shook her head.

“What kind of exercise do you do? You’ve been doing some kind of workout, that much is obvious.” She reached over and pinched her triceps. “We need to do some work here though, you’re starting to sag a little. Inverted push-ups will fix that though.”

Carter looked at the underside of her arm, seeing that Tammy was right. “I do the bike for thirty to sixty minutes, at least three times a week, try to do the punching bag and speed bag at least twice a week, and I spar with someone for twenty to thirty minutes everyday. Until the last few days at least.”

“Good program, keeps you in shape and in practice at the same time. Smart. I’ll spar with you. But I want to get some gear from the gym before we get to that.” She turned to Keller. “You want to join us? I can help you shrink that ass a couple of sizes pretty quick if you give me an honest effort.”

Keller colored, but nodded. She put her hand on her hip and looked down. “It is getting kinda wide back there isn’t it?” She looked back at Tammy. “Yeah, count me in. But not today, I have to go down to the Infirmary for a while and catch up with some stuff. But if you’ll set up a schedule, I’ll be here when I can. She looked back and forth between them. “What do you think? Two sessions a day, then ramp up to three a days after a couple of weeks?”

Tammy nodded. “We’re only gonna do one today. Maybe an hour or so.” She turned and looked at Carter. “I just want to see what you can do, and what we need to concentrate of first. You okay with that?”

“Yeah,” She said. “But I’m still not sure about putting on more weight...”

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be there before you know it, and you won’t even notice.” She looked at Keller. “Why don’t you go do whatever you need to do, and take that with you.” She said, waving toward the cart of gear. “We’ll get started and talk to you later.”

Interior-Kitchen

1610 Hours

Carter, Samuels, and Tammy were back at the table in the kitchen. Carter was drinking apple juice right from the bottle, and Tammy had a glass of water in front of her.

“She did pretty good,” Tammy was telling Samuels. “Sixty-five push-ups, and she does them Marine style, on her fists. Another twenty-two inverted, gonna have to work on that, I’d like to see her doing fifty to tighten up her triceps and traps. Forty pull-ups, but she loafed through the last five or six there.” She grinned at Carter. “You’re not gonna get away with that often, so enjoy it while you can.” She looked back over at Andi. “Eighty clean sit-ups though, and she pounded through them in less than two minutes. She was winded, when she finished, but she never strained. I was impressed.”

She took a sip of water. “So have you looked at the telemetry? Did your tablet capture it okay? I can take one up with us next time if it didn’t.”

“No, I got everything fine, the signal never dropped off. But take one with you, or leave one up there so you can monitor her while she’s working. You can make on the spot adjustments, and get her into a target range.”

Tammy nodded, and took another sip of water.

“Heart rate looked good, never got into the red, hovered in the one-thirty range when she was exerting herself, Spiked to one-fifty something a couple times, but returned to normal quickly between sets.” She looked at Sam. “You’re in excellent physical condition, Sam. Jenn told me what Tammy has in mind, and I agree with it.” She looked over at Tammy. “It sounds like you’re more interested in toning than conditioning?”

Tammy nodded. “Yeah, I’ve seen her in the gym a few times, either on the bike, or sparring. She doesn’t mess around, goes full bore the whole time, so conditioning isn’t a problem.” She looked over at Sam, then back at Andi. “Other than a few other soft spots, her triceps need the most work, her muscle tone is good otherwise. We’re talking about bulking her up a little, calisthenics the first week or so, then move to free weights so we build her up evenly all over.”

She turned to Carter. “Stand up and pull your shirt up for a second, will you?”

Carter stood up and pulled her tanktop up over her midriff.

“Push your stomach out as far as you can,” Tammy told her. “Then relax, and tighten your abs.”

Carter did as she told her.

“See, not much belly, and she’s already got a good start on a decent six-pack.” She said to Samuels. She waved Sam back into her seat.

She looked over at Sam. “I want to keep you smooth, but add a little bulk to your upper body. Mostly arms and shoulders. We add some definition, but it won’t really show unless you’re exerting yourself. How’s that sound to you?”

Carter smiled at her. “Sounds good. That sounds like the ten pounds of muscle you and Jenn were talking about. What about the ten pounds of fat? And do I really need that much more fat on me?”

“No, I’m want you to do that for me. I like full figured women.” She glanced over at Samuels, then back at Sam. “Not including your breasts, you have about eighteen percent body fat right now. that’s just a guess, but we can measure that later. We try to put half on your tits, take you up another half cup size to a solid C, maybe a little more and get the rest on your hips and ass.”

Samuels picked up her tablet and stood up. “That’s going to do it for me. You’ve got this under control. I’ve got some stuff I need to move over, but I’ll either be in my quarters or downstairs if you need me.” She looked back and forth between them. “What do you two have planned?”

“I’m going to get the comms setup, and bring the headsets and desk units up. I’ll give them too you later. Come back for dinner.” She looked at Tammy. “What do you think, 1900 or so? Jenn should be back by then.”

Tammy grinned. “I’m cooking again I guess. But yeah, 1900 sounds good. I’ll make chili.” She looked up at Samuels. “I want to get the cameras up. They’re wireless, so installation is easy. Getting the software setup is going to take a while, but I’ll have it all done tonight.”

“Then we have a plan.” Andi said. “I’ll come back for dinner, I have some bread and salad stuff in my quarters, so I’ll bring that. See you then.”

After she left, Sam went into her office, and Tammy put up the cameras around the suite. The high ceilings presented her a problem at first, but she just mounted them on the walls, high enough that they would have a clear view of each room.

Interior-Kitchen

1940 Hours

After dinner, Andi and Jennifer cleared the table, then they sat back, relaxing as Sam and Tammy reviewed what they had gotten accomplished.

“Comms are up, we’re using five channels on the upper band, and our signals will float on them, never using the same channel for more than a few seconds. you shouldn’t notice the changeovers, but if you do, let me know and I’ll take a look at it. I did it that way so the Ops Center won’t see continuous traffic on any one channel. If they even notice it.”

She pointed to a pile of boxes at the end of the table. “Grab a headset, and two of the desk units before you leave.” She said to Samuels and Keller. “I want both of you to take a suite on thirty-one, that’s going to be our ingress point. Since we have to be careful about my sensitivity to smells, we might as well use those spaces for that. Make them your offices, I’d like you to keep your suites up here for down time.”

She looked at them, then got up and went to the fridge and got a coke. “You two need to block some time into your schedules for yourselves. You’re both still doing your jobs over in the Central Tower, and bouncing back and forth over here, and its starting to show already.”

“Now that we can reach you if we need to, you really don’t have to be here unless there’s a problem, or you just want to come and visit.” She grinned as she sat back down. “You’re both welcome anytime by the way, I enjoy your company. Call first. There’s no door, so we can’t hang a sock on the knob.”

“My turn?” Tammy asked.

Carter nodded.

Tammy picked up a tablet, brought up an application, and turned it around to show them the screen. They were looking that the four of them sitting around the table.

“This application is called Watchdog. You just touch one of the pictures here on the right, and you can bring up that camera. You can’t pan, but you can zoom. Don’t worry about resetting it afterwards, the software automatically resets all of them to the widest view every ten minutes.”

“We found a box of wireless routers downstairs, so we put one, along with a new desktop and monitor, in your suites. Sam’s got us tied into the buildings network, and apparently some of our technology is compatible with the Atlantian’s. Whoodda thunk it?”

“The whole central tower is run off its own internal network.” Sam said. “Rodney told me that they brought tons of networking equipment, but never had to use it, except they needed routers to interface some of our computers. I just did the same thing.”

“I gave you a desktop because the software will capture both the audio and video from the cameras, and we needed the hard drive space. The tablets are flash based, so don’t have the storage we need.” Tammy said as she continued her review of the monitoring system. “I have Sam’s bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen set to save for thirty-six hours before it starts to delete them. The recordings are saved in thirty minute blocks, so all you have to do is enter the time you’re interested in looking at, and the application will pull up an hour on either side of that time. I set the other rooms to save for twelve hours each to save drive space, because we don’t spend as much time in them.”

“This is amazing, Tammy.” Jennifer said as she played with the cameras in different rooms. “Can I pull up a recording from my desktop and watch it on here, or do I have to do it there?”

Tammy shook her head. “You can’t do that from this one, because I haven’t set it up for that yet. But I’ll get both of yours configured so you can do that. There’s a desktop in the small bedroom, the kids room. It looks like that’s going to be our sickbay, so I figured that would be the best place for it.”

“My main concern is having eyes on her. If I’m not around, or I’m asleep, I want someone to be able to see if she’s in trouble.” Tammy said, looking back and forth between Keller and Samuels. “So whoever is on duty is going to have a tablet within arms reach, and is looking at it every couple of minutes. Everything else the system can do is just window dressing.”

“My turn again,” Carter said. She looked over at Keller and Samuels. “I still want you to bring in more people Jenn, and I’ll talk to you about that in a little while. But I want you to know that I asked Tammy to stay here, on a full time basis. She agreed. She’s going to keep her suite downstairs, but for all intents and purposes, she’ll be living here with me.”

She gave them a moment, then asked, “Do either of you have an objection to that?”

“I actually think that’s a good idea.” Keller said. “She’s the most knowledgeable about what we’re dealing with. And the way you relate to her, you’re going to tell her what’s going on with you before you tell us. That’s if she doesn’t notice it first.”

“My only concern is getting Tammy some of that down time you were talking about.” Samuels said, looking at Sam. She made a point not to look at Tammy. “Having her here round the clock is fine for now. I’m worried about what happens next week, or the week after that. But I’m okay with it for the moment, at least until we see how she holds up under the stress.”

“I have another nurse I want to bring over, but that can wait a day or two if you want to wait. Jennifer said. “I’ll block out a schedule once we get the staffing settled, and put Tammy on it. I’ll give her the day shift, since we’ll probably be doing most of the testing during those hours. I’m assuming that she’ll be sleeping with you?”

Carter nodded. “Is that a problem?” She asked.

“Not for me,” Jennifer grinned. “I think it’s a bonus. I know she’s a light sleeper. If anything happens overnight, I’ve got two sets of eyes on you, and my most experienced nurse on the scene.”

“Okay. Let’s go into my office.” Carter said. “I want to talk to you about Susan, and you can fill me in on who else you have in mind.” She looked at Samuels as she moved toward the door. “We’re done for the day, Andi. You can hang around if you want, but it’s your choice. I’m going to make it an early night. I just want to review a few things with Jenn.”

“I think I’ll go downstairs. I still need to get settled down there, it’s a mess right now.”

“You want some help?” Tammy asked. “Jennifer can call us if there’s a problem.”

“No, but thanks. I’m probably going to go to bed early myself.” Andi said, giving her a wan smile. “I’ll see you all tomorrow then.”

She stood up and followed Sam and Jennifer down the hall.

Interior-Office

2050 Hours

“I’m not sure about Susan, Jennifer.” Carter said as she say down behind her desk. She waved Keller into a chair.

“Can we talk about Susan in a minute, Sam?” Jennifer said slowly. “I’d like to talk about Andi first.”

“Sure,” Sam said, leaning back in her chair. “What’s on your mind?”

“I want to remove her from your case, for a variety of reasons.” Keller said as she opened a folder on her lap. “Do you want me to make my case, or will you trust my judgment?”

“I’ve always trusted your judgment, Jennifer. But I’d still like you to make your case.”

Keller nodded, looking down at her folder.

“I originally referred you to her because she had shown amazing results with some people that hadn’t been helped by other mental health treatments. I wish I had known more about her methods before I sent you to her now.” Keller sighed. “First and foremost, and I know you don’t want to assign blame, but she did this to you. Even if you think of this as a benefit to you in some fashion, she put your life and health at risk because she didn’t do a little research, and follow a few basic protocols.”

She flipped through the folder, pulling a form out and putting it on top. “Tammy was right, she’s a fly by the seat of her pants kind of person. And that’s no way to practice medicine. I pulled her files from the database, and there’s more than a few instances where she actually caused serious medical problems, while helping to resolve complex mental issues. The trade off just isn’t worth the risks, not when you’re talking about peoples lives.”

She looked over at Sam. “As a psychiatrist, she’s top notch, but as a physician, she leaves much to be desired, and I can’t trust you in her care.”

“The last thing is her relationship with Tammy. Tammy stepped on her pretty hard today. In front of you, her patient. Tammy was right, but she handled it the wrong way. She should have come to me, and I’ve already talked to her about that. But my concern now, is that Andi might do something to sabotage Tammy, that ends up hurting you.”

“I understand how you feel, Jenn.” Carter said slowly, bringing her hands up and steepling her fingers together in front of her. “But I’d like to keep her on. Not just as our resident brain mechanic, which you say she’s qualified for, but I can use her skills when we start up our program later. She’s going to be very useful running the exploitation branch. Having a psychiatrist as head of marketing...well, it just makes sense to me.”

“Another reason I want to keep her around is Tammy thinks she’s going to be useful too. We talked about it earlier. She thinks that if you do the physical medicine, and let just Andi worry about my head, things will go alot smoother. She suggested we give them some time to work out their issues. What do you think about that?”

“I trust Tammy. She’s the best nurse I have on my staff. She was my first choice even before I found out about her experience with korathis. I sorry that she didn’t get an MD instead of just an RN, but I understand why she did it. She cares about people, and genuinely likes caring for them.”

She paused, considering what Sam had said for a moment. “If she thinks that she can work things out with Andi, I don’t have a problem with that. But I don’t want Andi prescribing any medications for you, except if there is no other choice. Not until she reassures me she actually knows what she’s doing there. And I’d like you to avoid being alone with Andi. I don’t want her to have a chance to work on you. I already told Tammy that too.”

“I can do that.” Sam said, leaning forward and smiling softly as she looked at Jennifer. “But the most important reason I want to keep her, is that I like her. Jennifer, she cut me open, stripped away all the shields I had up, and was walking me around inside my own head in the first ten minutes I was in her office.”

“Even before we started drinking, she demonstrated a knowledge and understanding of me that no one, not even my closest friends have.” She shook her head. “On one hand, that’s scary as hell. But on the other, it’s comforting. She didn’t pull any punches with me, and I hope she doesn’t start because of what happened today. I need her to keep being straight with me, I think I can learn alot from her.”

“We’ll have to see what happens. But we’ll do it your way, Sam.” Jennifer said, pulling another set of forms from her folder. “I talked to Susan today. She was thrown off little by being pulled out of her comfort zone, and I think once she relaxes, she’ll be fine. She’s an excellent nurse, and you just have to let her take care of you.”

She handed a sheaf of papers to Sam. “These are the other nurses I have in mind. I’d like...”

Interior-Living Room

2210 Hours

There was a movie playing on Tammy’s laptop, but she was asleep on the couch when they came out. Sam leaned over the back of the couch, smiling down at her.

“Hey sleepyhead, Jennifer is leaving, and I’m going to bed. You coming?”

Tammy sat up, closing her laptop.

“Goodnight, Jenn. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said, standing up and coming around the couch. She blew Sam a kiss as she walked toward the bedroom. “I’ll see you in a minute, Sam. Don’t take too long.”

“Goodnight, Jennifer. I’ll see you tomorrow too.” Carter said.

“Goodnight Sam, Sleep well.” Jennifer smiled as the porter doors closed in front of her.

Interior-Sub Basement Three

2230 Hours

“I need to go downstairs for a few minutes. I just thought of something and need to check it out.” Carter said as she came out of the bathroom

“Okay.” Tammy said as she pulled her gown back on. “Where are we going?”

“I have some equipment I need to check in one of the sub basements. I haven’t been able to get to it in the last few days.”

Tammy nodded as they walked through the living room. She grabbed a gown off the back of the couch as they went by. She waited as Sam tapped on the elevator panel, and when she turned around, she dropped it over her head, taking one arm and putting it into a sleeve.

“N...I’m just...” Carter said as Tammy got her other arm in the sleeve, and smoothed the gown down over her.

“Shhhhh, be good.” Tammy said as she stepped back. “I swear, you’re like a six year old that doesn’t want to go to school! You look nice in that gown, and you really need to wear something. I want you to start wearing shoes when you leave the suite too.”

The elevator doors opened, and a long corridor stretched in front of them. Carter stepped out and moved at a brisk pace, stopping and going through a door about fifty down the corridor.

As they stepped inside, the lights came up, and equipment started to hum, but Tammy was used to that because it was a regular occurrence throughout the city. She looked around, but didn’t see anything special about the room. There were lighted panels lining three walls, and a large boxy device stood off to one side. A few feet away from it, there was a smaller device with an open front. It was about the size of a washing machine, and blue and green bars of light chased each other in random patterns around a large ring inside it.

“What is all this?” She asked Carter as she turned and looked at her.

Sam had her gown pulled up over her knees as she squatted in front of the bigger machine. She opened a panel and pushed a button several times, then touched the screen and made an adjustment.

“My STM bridge.” Carter said as she stood up and looked at the laptop sitting on the machine. She scrolled through pages of data, then started typing on the keyboard.

“That doesn’t mean anything to me.” Tammy said. “What is it? And what are you doing.”

“It’s a Space Time Matter bridge. A gateway between universes.” Cater said, not looking up from her laptop. “McKay tried this a couple of years ago, and as usual, he fucked it up, because he didn’t think it through. They brought his sister Jeannie in to help, because she made the real breakthrough on it.” She glanced back at Tammy over her shoulder. “Basically, what they were trying to do was connect to another universe to siphon energy out of it to charge the ZPM. But it backfired on them.”

She moved around to the end of the machine and opened another panel. She looked at her laptop, then bent down and changed the positions on several switches, and pulled two levers down, locking them in place. She looked at her laptop, and a small smile creased her face.

“Better.” she muttered.

“I remember that. They brought another McKay over from the other universe.” Tammy said. “I met him. I liked him alot more than the one we got.”

“Close. The other universe sent their McKay over, to tell them that they were flooding that universe with exotic particles, and it was destroying that universe. He came over to ask them to stop. That was a ballsy thing to do.”

“So what if you do the same thing? Kill another universe?” Tammy asked her.

“I’m taking a different approach.” Carter said as she entered commands on her laptop. “They locked onto one universe, and were just gonna pull energy till the ZPM was charged. I’m playing hop, skip and jump. My bridge connects to each universe, snags a little energy, then moves to the next one. It doesn’t stay in any one place long enough for the exotic particles to form, and if some do, there aren’t enough of them to cause any trouble.”

“Why didn’t they do it that way the first time?” Tammy asked, moving over and looking over her shoulder.

“Cuz McKay is an arrogant dumbass, and doesn’t think about anyone but himself.” She turned around and looked at Tammy. “Do you know that he hadn’t talked to his sister for more than four years? Four years! And the only reason he did, was because we made him. Then he picked her work apart looking for any reason to say she was wrong.”

She turned back to her laptop, checking her work. “I’ve got that part worked out. I took information from the original experiment, and over the last few months, I’ve been pulling everything I can find on anything similar, or even remotely related that anyone else is doing. I’ve even swapped emails with Jeannie Miller, his sister. She’s really nice. She’s smarter than McKay is too, but down to earth about it. And her daughter Madison is a real cutie.”

“Now I’m trying to figure out how to get the energy coming back toward us from all those other universes to feed into my containment chamber, that disco looking doohickey over in the corner, so it can combine it into a coherent form that we can use.”

Tammy looked over at the containment chamber. “The lights have changed in your ring.” She said.

“Really?” Carter asked, turning around and looking at it.

She glanced back at the laptop, typed in a command, and looked back. The lights in the containment chamber flickered, then changed again. The alternating bars of blue and green were moving faster now, and in a steady pattern. She looked at the laptop again, bringing up another screen.

“I think I got it.” She said. “Take a look.”

Tammy leaned forward and looked over her shoulder.

“Power levels being output are steady.” She said, pointing at a graph on the screen. “I can do the rest of this from upstairs. I want to run some simulations, but that will only take a couple of minutes to set up.”

She looked around the room one last time. “Let’s go upstairs. I’m tired. I think I’ll go bed as soon as I get those sims going.”

“Okay.” Tammy said, taking her hand. “We got up early this morning. So I’m not surprised.”