No, the strangest thing about Area 51 was that it didn't feel strange at all. Here he was, in the mecca of conspiracies and illicit government research -- inside the very shadow institution that not so long ago, a lifetime apart, he'd striven to expose -- and Rodney just... fit in, from day one. It was like coming home.
(Well, to be honest, it was more like waking up on Christmas and discovering a Cray-2 supercomputer under the tree, when you'd asked Santa for a Commodore 64. It would be home once he found an apartment in a livable section of Vegas. Preferably one that allowed cats.)
Oh sure, there was some friction. Dr Ingram doubtless recalled Rodney from the one time they'd met, back when Rodney had been an Air Force contractor working on server security protocols. But if Ingram wasn't going to mention the little you should have a valve installed on your backside, so you can kiss your own ass and inflate your own ego at the same time comment, then neither was Rodney.
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