Behind Atlantis' Construction Doors

"Let's take a bet," Zack said, his feet kicked up on his desk, "on how many doors we'll have to replace today."

Raleigh stroked his stubble thoughtfully. "Hmm… well, I think one. Windows?"

"Three," Zack replied confidently. "What shall we bet? Not money – we did that last week."

"Dessert," Raleigh smirked. "If one door is replaced, I ge' ye dessert. If three are replaced, ye ge' mine. There shouldn't be tha' many accidents in one day!"

"It's Atlantis," Zack pointed out.

These men were the extent of the Atlantis construction staff. The two of them were called on when there was an accident to repair anything that needed repairing. When Atlantis moved to a new planet, they worked overtime to get almost half the city back into shape. Every day there were explosions or accidents that damaged a room or blew up doors. During the quarantine a while back, Sheppard had blown up a door and Zack and Raleigh hauled ass up to repair it. They had a simpler way of repairing than just creating a new door from scratch. It wasn't as if there were new doors or windows lying around, so when Zelenka discovered this handy device it was a relief to the construction staff. There were blueprints of every part of Atlantis in the devices database and all they had to do was find whatever needed repairing, select it and allow it to be created virtually. It required one of them to interface with the device and create it with their mind. Hence why both men had the ATA gene. Once whatever they needed had been created, they took it to the site and fixed whatever needed fixing.

Raleigh popped some gum in his mouth and chewed it absently. A moment later an alarm rang out. He swung around in his chair and to the nearest console. Blueprints of the city were on the screen and a small spot flashed red. He zoomed in on the red and saw a window in lab 18C had been destroyed.

"What is it?" Zack asked.

"Blown up window," Raleigh sighed. He propelled himself across the room on his roller chair and up to the Ancient device. It was similar to the device that had created Merlin's weapon to destroy the Ori, except it required a lot less energy and effort. Raleigh put his hands on the controls and envisioned said window with its precise dimensions. Zack watched as atoms formed above his co-workers head and twisted to create a virtual window. Slowly, it began to solidify, until a window lay on the floor. Raleigh stepped away from the device and rubbed his face, yawning. "Coffee?"

Zack poured him a cup and Raleigh sculled it quickly before grabbing his toolbox and tucking the window under his arm.

He strolled through the corridors, smiling at passing people. Just his luck the lab wasn't anywhere near a Transporter, so that meant a long trek there and back. But he didn't mind. The window wouldn't even become heavy – not since he carried at least ten of them each day and sometimes a door. When there was a door, both men carried one half each and worked together to put the door in place. Construction staff had to have a good understanding of math as well as have the ATA gene and be very strong and able to work thirty-six hour days. It was probably the second hardest job on Atlantis, aside from Infirmary staff.

Raleigh reached the lab and found it empty and clean. Obviously the instigator had gone to the Infirmary and left the clean-up to someone else. Someone had already been there to clean up and taken the large window frame out, allowing Raleigh to simply fit the new frame and pane into the space, screwing it in with a practiced hand. He packed up his tools and returned to the construction office/lab, only to find that Zack had already made a section of wall and gone to place it. A few minutes after settling down, another spot flashed red. This time it was the door to the shooting range, caused by some stray bullets.

"The joys of livin' and workin' in Pegasus," Raleigh muttered. He got to work creating the door and Zack came in as he finished.

"Another door? Really?" Zack didn't try to hide his annoyance. "What is it this time?"

"Stray bullets in the shootin' range."

"Just you wait. Next time we'll be asked to replace the Mess Hall doors when the scientists stampede for their coffee."

They both hefted one half each and hobbled awkwardly from their lab. Thankfully, people dodged around them and made sure that they could move without impairment. At the shooting range, they found several holes blasted through the door by Ronon Dex's gun. The Satedan was nowhere to be seen, nor anyone else. Everyone had skedaddled away to avoid being asked to help. Firstly, they removed the original door with some difficulty and pushed it out of the way. Man, these doors were heavy! Then they fitted in the new door and checked to see if it worked. After a few false-tries, it slid open and closed with ease. They gathered up the wrecked doors and carried them to the room reserved for rubbish. Every time the Daedalus was in orbit it beamed up Atlantis' rubbish and got rid of it in a sun or something. The sun was in an uninhabited solar system, so it was okay. There weren't even any Stargates.

It was a relief to return to their lab. By that time it was just getting dark and Raleigh getting ready to pull an all-nighter. Zack had worked the past thirty-six hours straight, starting early the previous morning, and couldn't wait for sleep. Raleigh had only gone for twelve hours so far and he had another twenty-eight before he could sleep. Sure, they dozed in the lab, but it wasn't real sleep. They were always disturbed by repair demands and careless scientists. Zack spun in his chair tiredly, staring at the clock. Five minutes until he could go… four… three… two… one.

"See ya mate," Zack grinned, sweeping from the lab. Raleigh nodded and settled back. Everyone often thought that Doctor Beckett was the only Scot on Atlantis, but he wasn't. Raleigh's accent wasn't as thick, but he was still Scottish. Zack was Australian and often made fun of Raleigh's accent, although Raleigh teased him right back about 'fair dinkum'.

The night passed slowly, with Raleigh watching X-men to pass the time. Once the movie was finished he switched on his Walkman and listened to Flaunt It by TV Rock. He bobbed his head in time to the music. No other accidents were reported that day, and Raleigh smiled with glee. He had won the bet, and could eat Zack's dessert the following night.

Speaking of dessert, he should probably get some food. But the Mess Hall had closed hours ago and wouldn't be open for another few hours. He hadn't even had dinner! As if sensing his brooding, a red spot flashed on the blueprints and Raleigh pulled off his headphones, zooming into the spot. Broken shower window in one of the rooms. So he created the window and went down to the room to repair it. As he entered, he saw that it was guys-night-out. Several rowdy and drunk Marines paraded around the room shouting and laughing. He pushed past them all and repaired the shower quickly before he was puked on. Thankfully, he wasn't, and ran back to his lab. It was one in the morning! What did they think they were doing?!

Sighing, he sunk back into his chair and rested his head on his desk, his eyes closing slightly. It was a door opening that woke him and he saw Zack coming through the door looking refreshed and carrying breakfast. To Raleigh's surprise, the sun had risen and no incidents had been reported since.

"Thought you'd need some food," Zack said warmly.

"Thanks," Raleigh sighed, taking a muffin gratefully. He chewed on it and Zack settled at the desk beside his. "Ya owe me ye dessert tonight."

"That was the deal," Zack groaned. "Only one door, but two windows instead of three." Both men shared a smile and relaxed for a moment. Raleigh almost stopped feeling tired as he chewed on his muffin.

Then the feeling was gone and the day started all over again.

As I'm no genius about construction (that's my brother's job) I skimmed over most of the construction parts. This story was born from a personal musing. In episodes like 'Quarantine' a door is destroyed and in the next episode it's magically repaired. I've always wondered about how it's done, so here's how I imagine it to be. Argh, Bruno Mars just came over the radio! Nooo! Anyway, the device I mentioned is like the one found in Merlin's cave on SG-1, the one that allows Merlin and Daniel to create a weapon virtually, and then make it real. I based the idea off that, so it's less-complicated and doesn't make poor Daniel exhausted!

I've always pitied the people who had to repair the city after the Replicator attack at the end of Season 3 and beginning of Season 4, so I've given them their due! If you have any suggestions for any other people who work behind the scenes in Atlantis, please either review or PM me with your ideas and if I can, I'll do a chapter on them. Nothing stupid, please, but jobs beneficial for the expedition that people never notice.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear from you soon with your ideas!