Day 2 – 17:00:23
A5Z-AA7
Weapons were raised on both sides, neither side knowing what the other wanted nor their intentions. Had the team stumbled on an artifact that was protected by the inhabitants of this planet? They'd seen it before. It wasn't a huge stretch. The Ancients would drop something off, tell the locals to look after it till they came back. And 10,000 years later, they were still guarding it with their lives. Lorne looked over the two armed men, the first thing he noticed, were their weapons. Not bows and arrows or swords, as was the norm thanks to the Wraith, but compact hand held pistol-shaped guns. Possibly energy weapons of some type. Only the Genii and Satedans had seemed to get as far as projectiles in this galaxy.
The other thing was their dress. Uniforms, most likely, made up of tans and off-whites. Their belts and holsters seemed to be made of leather – or some fabric substitute. They seemed vaguely familiar, but the Major couldn't pin-point from where or when.
As he sized the two up, they seemed to size his team up, their intense studying was disconcerting and Lorne was about ready to say something just to ignore the feeling. The light colored guard to the right barked off a question first, “Who are you, and from where do you come?”
Lorne swallowed, well aware that Atlantis' survival from a nuke was still under wraps, “Until recently,” he paused for some effect, just long enough to make it appear as if saying the name of the great city caused him pain, “Atlantis.”
The guard narrowed his eyes with suspicion and titled his head slightly. Clearly, the name was familiar to him, “'Until recently',” he repeated.
Lorne nodded regretfully – keeping the guise quite well, considering it was a lie, “Destroyed to... keep it out of Wraith hands.” One guard looked at the other silently and they lowered their weapons. Lorne's men relaxed and lowered their own weapons slowly. The guard on the left spoke this time, “If you once came from Atlantis, then the Council will want to speak with you.”
The Major nodded and looked at the rest of his team. They still had another three and half hours before they had to check in, “Alright.... lead the way.”
Stepping forward, the guard on the right reached out with a hand, “Your weapons, please.”
Matt's grip on his P-90 stiffened, and he looked sideways at the Major with uncertainty, “Sir...”
“Captain....” Lorne silently considered his options, which were few. He finally made his mind up after few agonizing seconds that felt like minutes, “Do as the man says.”
A low chorus of 'yes sir' sounded as the team removed their Tac Vests and weapons and handed them over. The guards each took two vests and set them down to one side of the rock slab, “You may retrieve these when you return.”
“Return from where?” Lorne questioned.
“Locultus.”
“And where is that?”
A knowing smile rose on the left guard's face as he reached toward a obsidian colored jewel looking object on the slab. Lorne idly wondered if that had been there before. Another thing he didn't see there was another, larger jewel at the top-front of the slab. It glowed white as the one guard touched the smaller one below it, and Lorne forced himself not to step back. A wide beam shot out from the top 'jewel' and all those standing in front of it vanished, leaving the rock the only thing standing. But soon it, too, faded from sight, leaving only tall grass waving in the breeze.
SGASGASGASGA
Day 2 – 17:10:45
Atlantis
The mess hall was a buzz with people milling about, sitting, talking, and laughing as they enjoyed their evening meal. The sound of metal utensils against plastic trays filled the room under the noise of voices, and chairs scraping across the alien floor – a samba of noise became music with the voices of the humans the chorus. This is usually what Elizabeth thought of when she was here, not thinking of the mound of paperwork at her desk, or the mission reports that needed reading and filing. But right now, her mind was on a single subject, and it worried her most. There was no change in John's condition, if anything, he had only gotten worse. Carson speculated that, if this continues as it is, John would begin to suffer seizures. And if it went on for very long, he may come out of the coma with brain damage.
Or he might not wake up at all.
Elizabeth tried not to dwell on that fact. It was only a worse case scenario, which she had admittedly asked for. Whether she liked the prognosis or not. She took a sip of her coffee, and grimaced down at the now cold liquid, the heat long gone. Setting the mug down, she stared into the dark substance, and if she looked hard enough, she could see her reflection. It was a tired face – not at all surprising given all that's happened.
The woman rolled her tense shoulders, silently wishing she could get some sleep but knowing she wouldn’t be able to. She vaguely registered footfalls on the ground behind her, and it wasn’t long before Teyla’s friendly face appeared in her vision, a tray holding a minimum amount of food in the other woman’s hands. Weir smiled up at her, a tired worried smile, but a smile nonetheless.
“May I join you?”
Elizabeth nodded, “Of course,” and the Athosian gratefully sat down opposite of her and slowly began to dig into her food. It was clear that she wasn’t too interesting in eating, but did so anyway.
“No change?”
Elizabeth looked up from her cold coffee to Teyla, “No. Nothing yet.” She paused, “have you been into see him?”
Teyla nodded once, “Yes… though I find it hard to see him like this. And we are powerless to help him.”
“For now,” She looked the Athosian in the eyes, “We’ll think of something.” She had the upmost confidence in Beckett, but she still worried for John.
SGASGASGASGA
Dead ends seemed to be the theme of the day for Carson. One moment, he thought he might be cracking this mystery wide open, and then it all fell down around him. He exhaled, rubbed his eyes and looked over at the still comatose John. Carson had no answers, no clues or direction. The Ancient database had turned up nothing… actually; Carson had given up in that direction. Without a more direct search query, it would be impossible to find anything useful.
While Carson had given up, Rondey hadn’t. The doctor looked over at a computer plugged into the database. It had been running a complex search program that Rodney had created for hours, cross referencing Sheppard’s case with all the information in the database. It would still take hours, but at least Carson wasn’t frying his own mind to do it.
He rubbed his face again.
Coffee.
That’s what he needed. Coffee. Perhaps getting out of the confined area of the Infirmary would be good as well. Standing, he headed toward the Mess hall. As Carson headed out into the hallway and the doors closed behind him, the computer running the search program beeped once. Attention grabbing red letters adorned the screen, flashing slowly.
MATCH FOUND
SGASGASGASGA
Day 2: 17:15:10
Unknown Planet
Lorne had to admit one thing. This place was impressive, not so much in looks as the people themselves. The Major had finally pinpointed the feeling of Déjà Vu, when he saw the spire rising from the ground, like the central spire in Atlantis, and a rather large village (town?) spreading out around it. Some buildings looked they’d been there for years, and weren’t going to move, others looked less permanent. Like they could be taken down and moved someplace else. Not quite tents, but not quite houses either.
The base of the spire was thicker than the Atlantis’, possibly housing a great many rooms and halls. The whole thing amounted to about half the size of Atlantis itself, which was again: impressive. Impressive that these, simple by appearance, people could build all this; though, judging from the architecture, the Ancients gave them a leg up.
“Locultus,” the guard to their right gestured toward the town from the rise they stood on, “Come. The Council has been made aware of your presence and they are waiting.” The group made their way down the hill, heading down the center of the town, earning them looks from a few who stopped their work to gaze upon the visitors.
“Um,” Major Lorne spoke up, “So, where are we? We were obviously teleported somewhere.”
“You are correct.” The guard on their left spoke, “You are no longer on the same planet as you were before.”
Lorne wasn’t surprised by this, there was an extra sun hanging the sky, “So, what planet are we on?”
They stopped at the base of the spire, “You are on Arcadia, in the province of Locultus.”
Evan looked gazed upward, spying out the top of the tower – he guessed that is where the Council met. He could be wrong, though. A thought came to Evan that these people, who were all dressed similarly, could be human form Replicators, and he hoped they weren’t. Or at least that they were nicer than the ones they met before.
Matt came up to Lorne when their escorts moved into the base of the spire, “Sir,” he whispered. Lorne was quick to answer, sensing what the Captain was about to say, “I know. Let’s hope they aren’t who we think.” He started following their escort into the spire, off to meet the Council.
Take us to your leader.
SGASGASGASGA
Day 2: 17:20:05
Arcadia - The Spire
The inside of the spire was a lot like the outside: a busy hive of bodies. Everyone seemed to be wearing uniforms denoting their role, medical, scientific (It was hard to tell those apart at first glance), and military (who seemed well armed in comparison to the rest). Lorne noticed a few children milling about, possibly learning their trade. Unlike most people they ran into that had taken up residence in places the Ancients had built, these people seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Bringing the Major, once again, back to the possibility that these people were Replicators; and again, Lorne hoped they weren’t. But if they weren’t what were they?
Ancients?
The idea that they were Ancients almost made Evan laugh out loud, but he restrained himself. Not only would he earn himself the very many strange looks of both his team and these people; he would have to explain himself. He thought it best to remain professional in this case - which was good, because in no time, they had been lead to the doors that lead to the Council chamber, and he was reminded, again, of Atlantis. The doors swung open and the team was ushered inside. Five men sat in chairs on one side of a long, half oval table. The man in the center of the table looked to be oldest and the leader, if the way he was dress was any indication as to his status.
“Come forward, off-worlders. I am Adamus, Grand Councilor.” The man in the center gestured for them to come closer and the doors swung close behind them. Lorne stepped forward and the rest of his team stayed a step behind. The Major introduced his team to the Council, and they like wise. From left to right, there was Clemens (a man with blonde hair just starting to gray), Egidius (who had a very unusual set of blue eyes). On the other side of Adamus, there was Leolinus (possibly the youngest of the group with solid brown hair), and the last was Nicholas (a tall fellow with salt and pepper gray hair) Adamus spoke, “The Portal Guards tell us that you once came from Atlantis.”
Lorne nodded, “That’s right, Sir. It um… was destroyed to keep it out Wraith hands.”
The leader leaned back in his chair, “I see,” he seemed thoughtful for a moment, “Where is your homeworld? Certainly you don’t hail from Atlantis originally. Lorne glanced at his team, one of which shrugged subtly, “No, Sir. We don’t. We discovered the city over about three years ago.”
Adamus, noticing that the Major failed to answer his question, leaned his arms on the table before him, “But where is your homeworld?” The Grand Councilor noticed that Lorne was reluctant to say, “I understand your reluctance, Major. But understand that you are on my homeworld, and I wish to know from where visitors come from.”
Finally, the Major gave in, “Earth.”
“Interesting,” Nicholas started, “I wasn’t aware the humans there were capable of space flight – much less capable of reaching the galaxy you came from.”
Lorne peered at the Councilor, “The galaxy we came from, as in Earth’s galaxy?”
“No. I refer to the galaxy that Atlantis was left in ten-thousand years ago.”
Lorne was confused, “So what galaxy are we in now?”
Adamus smiled slightly, “Earth’s, as you say. I believe your people call it, the ‘Milky Way’.”
Lorne looked between the Councilors, “The portal, did your people make that?”
Adamus nodded, “Yes, many years ago, when we first came to this planet. There is no Stargate on this world, so we devised another means of transport between the two galaxies.”
Impressive seemed to be the word of the day. Once again, a thought ran across Lorne’s mind, and this time he couldn’t help but asking, “Who are you?”
TBC
A/N: 1610 words according to M$ word, and over 4 pages long
