tales of the multifandom

94. math

summary
john accidentally solves an ancient math cypher rodney's math department has been working on for 5 years

relationships
none

cast
joe flanigan as lt colonel john sheppard
david hewlett as doctor rodney mckay
david nykl as doctor radek zelenka
rachel luttrell as teyla emmagan
jason momoa as ronon dex

fandom
stargate atlantis

—

When John came into Rodney's lab 3 days after they'd touched down in the San Francisco Bay, he wasn't entirely surprised to find Rodney working on something. He was standing in the middle of his lab, a whiteboard market clutched in one hand, a power bar in the other and a familiar ancient cypher on the board.

"You still working on that?" John questioned, making his presence in the lab known.

"Solving this would be worth like, 3 fields medals or a Millennium Prize, not sure yet." Rodney said offhandedly. John stepped up beside Rodney, glancing at the cypher he'd been ignoring for the honest fact that he knew exactly what to write. And reluctantly plucked the pen from Rodney's grip, much to his protest, and fixed the math on the board. He continued to ignore Rodney's protests, rubbing out half the board and starting again with quick yet neat and readable writing for who knows how long. When he finished, Rodney and Zelenka were openly gawking at Sheppard.

"How did you do that?" Radek asked, surprised and John shrugged, handing Rodney his pen back.

"Numbers are easy." Sheppard then proceeded to explain what he wrote and how it made sense. By the time he was finished, both Rodney and Zelenka were staring at him with a shocked expression.

"I'm going to kill you." Rodney finally exploded. "We've known each other five years and now we're only finding out you can do theoretical math!"

"It's not like i was subtle." John pointed out, amused. He was totally fine with them knowing now, had found himself a nice little niche in another galaxy and was content. "I told you i could have been in Mensa. Had you checked my file you'd have seen."

"I hate you." Rodney declared, but he was grinning. "You do realise what this is, right?"

"An ancient math cypher?" John was admittedly confused.

"Now that you've solved it, this is one of the Millennium Prize Problems. The Hodge Conjecture, if i'm right." John groaned, realising what this meant for him.

"I wish i hadn't solved the damn thing now." He grumbled, then brought a hand up to his ear. "Colonel Carter, Mr Woolsey, could you meet us down by McKay's lab. We've got something you're gonna want to see."

"I'll be down momentarily." Woolsey assured.

"How important?" Came Carter's reply, and she sounded busy.

"Rodney thinks i solved the Hodge Conjecture." John sighed again and there was a pause.

"I'll be right there."

John had been sitting in the conference room for over four hour with the whiteboard in the middle of the room, and there was a middle aged balding man standing in front of the board, scrutinizing the math with a deep look.

"This proves Hodge's Conjecture." The man - Professor Eilding - informed them, breaking the silence. "But who wrote it?"

"That would be me." John lazily raised a hand. Eilding gave him a look.

"You will have to write this out into a paper, and show how you got to each individual answer."

"I know." John had been doing that on his tablet for the last 3 and a half hours. "I should be done by the end of the week, if my math checks out."

"Very well." Eilding nodded. "Congratulations, Lt Colonel Sheppard. I especially liked how you managed to do all of the working out in your head. Most have to write it on paper first, yet Doctor McKay insisted you didn't use anything."

"I was a slow learner, as a kid." John said. "By the time other kids were learning to walk and talk, i was barely crawling. By the time i was five i could barely string together sentences, until one day in the second grade, i took a textbook from my teachers desk. See, she was going back to grad school to get her masters after the year ended, and i remember she had bits of paper sticking out of the book with equations and formula's written down with question marks. And i don't know, but it was like the answer was just staring me in the face. When my teacher returned from getting coffee, she said she found me sitting on the floor in front of her desk, and all of the equations she had been stuck on were crudely answered underneath the problems. By fourth grade i was doing college level math."

"Remarkable." Eilding said in slight awe. John shrugged.

"I take it you'll need me to have Doctor McKay check it over, then Colonel Carter before it's passed onto you?"

"Yes, that would be advisable." Eilding nodded. "The sooner i have the paper, the sooner we can award you the prize."

"Tell me the truth, how much fanfare is there gonna be?" John asked seriously. "Because the last thing i want is to be the face of the Mathematics world for solving this thing when i'm likely gonna be the face of the Atlantis Project when it's declassified."

"We can keep it low key due to your involvement in the program." Eilding explained. "Use a psydoname until the program is declassified. You'll have to talk at a few universities, but we can keep you out of the papers for a good few years."

"That seems reasonable." John admitted. "Thanks Professor. We'll be in touch."

"A pleasure to meet you." Eilding and John shook hands, and he lead him out. "Marks, please escort Professor Eilding to the jumper bay."

"Right this way, sir." Marks gestured for the professor to follow, who did easily as he stared around the gateroom in awe. Eilding had worked with the Program for years, but out of Cheyenne Mountain when called upon. Getting to see the Ancient City was a wonderous occasion for him. John headed for the mess hall, where he knew Rodney, Teyla and Ronon were waiting for him. Spotting them at the balcony tables, John quickly grabbed a bottle of water and a bowl of jello before joining them, tablet tucked under one arm.

"How did it go?" Rodney asked, unable to keep his excitement down.

"According to Professor Eilding, i am the next recipient of a Millennium prize." John informed his team, unable to keep the smile off his face.

"I knew it!" Rodney crowed, grinning widely. "I knew you weren't just some military slunky."

"I take offence to that." John said teasingly. "Ronon isn't a slunky."

"True." Rodney conceded. "For Satedan standards Ronon is no smarter than the grunts. But for Earth his mind is exceptional."

"Thank you." Ronon said, then paused. "I think."

"Congratulations, John." Teyla said, changing the subject back again.

"Thanks Teyla." John said, grinning brightly. Ronon and Rodney bickered, and John and Teyla merely laughed and occasionally added their two cent, but they were a team.

And they were a family.

—

authors note
the ending kind of sucks, but eh
also i don't know math, let alone how one would go about solving these things
this is fiction