George wastes no time in moving to the food and filling his tray, Jack walks sedately behind him, 'you must be really tired of synth-paste', he observes with a raised eyebrow and a meaningful look at George's severely over-taxed food tray.
'You cannot imagine how tired I am of synth-paste, that and chicken, what's the point of serving chicken and synth-paste if they both taste more-or-less the same?' George asks exasperatedly.
'There are apples as well, Jack points out.
George either ignores Jack or doesn''t hear him, 'when we get back on the Graf Zeppelin I'm going to track down whoever is in charge of the meals and talk some sense into them', he says as he adds another piece of food to his already buckling tray.
'Kate's in charge of the menu, I've talked to her about it before but she insists that synth-paste is 'the perfect balance of nutrition and cost-effectiveness' or something like that'.
George begins his careful trip to the table Doctor Jefferson had chosen, moving slowly to avoid disturbing the delicate balance of his food. 'Kate's in charge? Can't you just override her or something? Youre in charge after all.'
Jack gives his friend an incredulous look, 'override Kate? As in, tell her to do something she doesn't want to?'
Having finally reached the table, George sits down and quickly begins to wolf down the food sitting on the tray before him. Jack sits down and gives Doctor Jefferson an apologetic look, 'excuse his lack of tact, it's been a while since he last ate real food.'
George doesn't seem to notice Jack's indirect admonition and continues to wolf down his meal. With a small exasperated sigh Jack takes a more direct approach, not-quite-lightly elbowing his friend in the ribs; that works. With a coughing splutter George ceases his attempt to inhale his tray-full of food. "W-what was that for?", he rasps, reaching for a glass of water.
"Try and act a bit more civilized George, watching you shovel food into your mouth is making the rest of us lose our appetite", Jack replies with a slight frown.
A few awkward minutes of silence pass before anyone speaks again, "so... what happens now? The JHC Drive works and we can replicate the crystals... do you have anything else you want to do Doctor Jefferson?", George asks.
"Acctually I was thinking if we could work on that gravitational manipulator of Jack's, it could prove.. Interesting what we could come up with it. And call me Paul."
Taking in a mouthful of food and swallowing it before speaking again.
George nods thoughtfully, "we put that on hold a while ago to focus on the JHCs. That doesn't mean the technology isn't useful though, the Damm K'Vosh Gravitational Manipulators in the Privas cluster held planets in place."
"We never got anywhere near that level of advancement though", Jack interupts, "and I don't really expect us to get anywhere near that level for quite some time".
"Even the longest journey begins with a single step", George quotes with a smile.
Jack looks at George with a slightly amused expression, "pre-industrial age earth? How the heck... oh nevermind, I've stopped bothering to try and figure out how you know these things George". Jack turns to Doctor Jefferson, "sounds like a plan... Paul"
"Sounds good to me...", Jack trails off and turns to take a look at George's, still quite substansial, pile of food, "judging by the amount of food left on George's plate we could be awhile though".
George grins sheepishly, "sorry... we'll meet you there when we're done".
Jack watches Doctor Jefferson leave before turning to George, who looks at him with a questioning expression, "ohh, go on then", Jack says resignedly.
George's face breaks out in a grin and he begins to wolf down his food again, Jack chews on a carrot thoughtfully.
Ten minutes later George finishes his meal (an astounding feat of speed and endurance) and Jack finishes his carrot (a slightly less impressive feat of whittling away the time). George pushes back his chair and gets to his feet with surpirising agility considering the meal he had just consumed, "right! Which way?"
Jack reaches across the table and places George's tray on top of his own before standing up and pushing his seat back under the table. He places the trays on the cleaning pile before turning to George and answering his question, "back to the lab we were in before".
While they walk Jack brings up his HUD and remotely accesses the Graf Zeppelin's database, with a few gestures he downloads the schematics for the most successful of the Gravitational Manipulator prototypes as well as some miscellaneous data and scans. The pair finally come to the Lab door and Jack dismisses his HUD with a gesture before knocking.
Jack and George wait a while outside the door in silence, when it becomes apparent that the knock has gone unheard Jack shrugs and knocks again... no response.
"Perhaps we beat him here", George says aloud.
"Possible but unlikely; it's largely irrelevant though, wether he's in there or not we still need to enter at some point", Jack replies. After a moments thought he shrugs, pushes the door open and walks inside, George follows soon after.
The lab is dimly lit but it proves no obstacle to Jack's bionic eyes, with a faint whirring sound they quickly adjust to the low light levels and reveal the reason his knocks had gone unanswered. Doctor Jeffe--- 'Paul' Jack reminds himself; Paul is leaning on one of the lab benches, his upper body lying flat on the bench, a soft snoring emmenates from his general direction.
George, his eyes having just adjusted to the darkness, gives a chuckle at the sight, "he must have had a rough couple of days to be that knackered. I'm impressed be masked his weariness so well, it takes perseverance and self-control to be both productive and polite in that state."
Jack nods his head in agreement, "unfortunately he's going to have to hold on one more day... time is short afterall".
George finds the light switch and the room brightens considerably, Paul stirs but does not wake. "Why is time short?", George asks as he turns back to Jack, he looks confused.
"Didn't I... Oh sorry, of course not. I'll explain later, for now let's concentrate on the gravitational manipulator", Jack walks to the snoring form of Paul and places a hand on his shoulder. "Paul... Paul wake up", Jack says in a stage whisper. "Paul...", he repeats, this time with a light shake of his shoulder.
Paul grumbles as he slowly comes around, slowly realising what happened.
"Oh god I didn't.."
Grumbling as he slowly stands up rubbing his eyes. Hitting the light switch.
"I swear I planned to only rest my eyes for a few seconds. Must of dropped off.. So, where were we? Oh yes.. The Gravitational Manipulator.."
Getting up and letting out a stretch. He then starts up type some controls into it which then brings up a projection of Jacks basic Manipulator device.
"Right. Now we just need to figure out how to make it better."