Chapter 45

Back in Atlantis the regularly scheduled call to and from Earth occurred as usual, except Atlantis got a return call about an hour later — from General O'Neill.

Weir and Sheppard were standing in front of the camera so they could also see O'Neill as the General asked, "What's this about Felix disappearing? Can someone explain this to me? Anyone?"

Dr. Weir started off with her observations and comments about the disharmony with Sheppard's team due to Felix in her opinion, and what all had transpired.

O'Neill put his hand on his head as his eyes closed and his head lowered into the hand as he took deep breaths and worked hard at NOT yelling at the two people in Atlantis.

This was not how he envisioned coming back to Atlantis. "Dr. Weir, first off lets have a quick meeting with you and your people. I need to know what's been going on in regards to Felix."

Dr. Weir called on Sheppard and explained to O'Neill about all the psychological treatment of Felix.

O'Neill couldn't keep his temper any longer; "What the... ? Who the hell authorized treating Felix like a damn convict, especially after he rescued your scientists? If he doesn't come back Weir you are so done - do you understand? Done! As it is you are on really thin ice as of right now. I will be going over all his records since he's been there and you better hope nothing happens to him. If I was him I wouldn't come back after the way you've treated him; hell - we've treated prisoners of war better than you've treated him! What I want to know is - how come I was never told this or given a report about any of this? Anybody care to explain that?"

O'Neill was so frustrated his temples were blood red, he was so angry right now.

After Weir had finished her explanations, O'Neill raised his head and asked, "I assume that you are at least trying to locate him? Or have you written him off already?"

Sheppard spoke up, "Sir, we've had teams looking when they are available, we've also put the word out with people we know and trust, plus Dr, McKay has been working on eliminating gate addresses at each DHD that Felix has been to." He paused and looked at Weir, who gave a small nod, and then he added, "Rodney has had no success with tracking Felix — he may have picked up some knowledge about the DHD's, because we have been going to worlds that aren't in his notes. So far this has been like tracing a phone call at a New York phone exchange during rush hour. Is there any way you can see if any of Felix's old teammates are still alive and if they could help in any way? Felix has gone and we are in need of a break, sir — anything useful would be good."

O'Neill shook his head slowly as he answered, "I'd be surprised if you ever find him, Sheppard. The one guy who could help Atlantis and you people scare him away. I'll see what I can do at this end, and I'll get back to you when I have something. I see here that it was Felix that located that ZPM that you now have? How ironic. O'Neill OUT."

Weir and Sheppard looked at each other as she commented, "Well, that went better than I expected. Carry on, Colonel."

Sheppard said, "I'll go check with Rodney and see if he's had any luck yet."

Down in the sparring room Laura Cadman was using the punching bag to work out her frustrations, and she wasn't holding back the kicks or the punches. The grunts she usually emitted were replaced with rather colourful remarks about Felix's sudden departure, which drew Ronon's attention to the room.

He decided to work his body into a good sweat when he arrived to see the smaller blonde woman beating the crap out of the punching bag. He took hold of the punching bag and held it for Cadman and after watching a flurry of punches he asked, "Want a couple of pointers?"

She stood back and she panted her reply, "No, and I really don't want any company right now either, so go away."

Ronon wisely raised his hands and backed away as he could sense the amount of anger in the blonde, so he decided that a workout at the gym was a safer option right now.

As he walked to the gym he realized that to date no amount of tracking or looking for the elusive Felix had given any clues as to his whereabouts, and that irked him in a small way. But in the same breath oddly enough he felt as if he missed the small guy, as he was the closest person that could relate to Ronon what it was like to be alone in the wilds and cut off from any friends.

Back on Earth O'Neill had just finished his conversation with Colonel Carter and given her orders to link up at the last base that Felix was at and talk to his past team-mates to find out any info as to where the strange little Canadian may have disappeared.

While Carter was doing that, O'Neill had given himself the task of visiting his old CO, the one that had talked to the General briefly about Felix's past. Jack hoped that this man could provide a lot more about where Felix may have gone and why, but being a retired Special Forces type the same as O'Neill — he wasn't holding his breath for much success.

Two days later Carter met with O'Neill in his office and they compared notes, which wasn't much.

Jack noticed that Carter kept shaking her head on occasion and finally asked, "All right Carter — what's bothering you?"

She took a minute before she finally replied, "I'm still a bit steamed at the people I had to talk to, sir — they actually laughed when I told them who we were looking for. They were also the most closed mouthed batch of people I've met in quite a while — they wouldn't say much of anything. They did keep wishing me the best of luck while laughing, but basically they weren't any help — they kept saying he could be anywhere. Two of them were actually laying bets on the odds of us ever finding Felix — what is it about Felix that brings that kind of laughter?"

Jack raised his eyes to hers and answered, "Yeah, I got almost the same kind of reaction from his old CO. Good man Steve, but like you said quite the closed mouthed bunch of people. He kept quoting the Official Secrets Act or something along those lines. I think I got the same laughter you received — he couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes when I told him who I was looking for. I also can't blame them for not helping. The Colonel said if Felix had to leave then he probably didn't feel safe so he couldn't help me."

Carter asked, "Did you manage to get anything of use, sir?"

O'Neill replied, "The most useful things he would say was that Felix was like a chameleon and he could be anywhere and we wouldn't know unless he wanted to show himself. He did say that we should look at places that he would blend in that we don't have any coordinates for — that would most likely be one of his 'bolt-holes' as he called them. Steve hinted that we should look again at his file and see what skills he did before he joined up and look there. I looked and saw that he worked on his folk's farm until he joined — a person can do lots of jobs on a farm — I know from personal experience. What would you suggest?"

She answered, "Could I see the file for a minute, sir? I think I have an idea how we could narrow the search."

O'Neill slid the file across and she opened it and spent the next few minutes scanning for certain details. While she was reading the file, O'Neill asked, "How can one person disappear and stay gone? Nobody can hide from technology, Carter — we know that firsthand — so why are we having such a difficult time locating where Felix may have gone?"

She looked up from the file and answered, "I think I may be able to give a clue about that, sir. According to a good majority of his write-ups Felix is quite adept at adapting to his environment, no matter where or what the situation. He is good at things of a mechanical nature or things that can be fixed or made from scratch — I saw evidence of that in Atlantis. If I were looking for Felix I would look someplace where he could fit in and blend in with the people. Bur we look for a person that is recently hired on somewhere and chances are that we could find him faster that way. Plus as you found out from his old CO — look right around us and we could find clues as to his whereabouts. I know it isn't much, but it's better than nothing, sir."

Jack gave his typical small smile and said, "Yeah, Rodney McKay likened finding Felix as looking for a needle in a haystack. Now all we have to do is find a magnet that will draw that needle from the haystack."

Meanwhile Felix was eating a meat and cheese sandwich made by Arkel's wife; she was the wife of Arkel, who owned the local vehicle repair shop, where Felix had managed to secure work as a mechanic.

While eating his sandwich he reminisced about that first night when he spent some of it watching parts of the town from the bushes while hidden. Once he was satisfied that things were okay, he went back to his shelter and changed into the local clothing. He then packed what few things he thought he would need — just in case — and cached the rest underground, and covered all tracks.

He had headed into the local tavern and made sure he didn't flash any of the currency as he got himself one of the mild local beverages, and took a seat towards the back of the tavern. Once seated he let his ears wander to the various conversations floating around and after about an hour he finally found what he thought would be a good opportunity: Arkel's mechanic had trashed his hover car and was in hospital for a lengthy stay, and was in danger of losing the business unless he could find a replacement quick. And that was how Felix — now known to Arkel as Max — came to work at the maintenance shop for Arkel.

As he finished his sandwich and sipped his water while he sat at the small table out back of the shop he felt that he had finally begun to unwind some and relax. He didn't drop his guard entirely — he always kept his eyes down and avoided contact with people where he could, and luckily Arkel or his wife Katarine always handled the customers.

Felix thought through what he had to do this afternoon for work: a plenum chamber scrub on a luxury limo, 2 plasma chamber replacements, and a couple of hovers for lights — all in all a pretty easy afternoon.