Jason Andrew40,000 wordsChapter One:

John Sheppard had learned months ago that the best way to survive a dull mission briefing with Rodney McKay was to avoid direct eye contact as long as possible. He listened to Teyla Emmagan describe her recent successful off-world trading mission. "The proposal will benefit both of our peoples and I think that they will be fair trading partners," she said.

McKay shuffled his papers, anxious to share his newest discovery with the team. Sheppard resisted the urge to smile at his predictability. Football games and ferris wheels were generally unavailable in the Pegasus Galaxy, but riling McKay could be done anywhere. "Good job, Teyla," Sheppard said. "It sounds as though the Nerioians are the kind of people we can be in business with. And we could use all of the friends we can get."

Elizabeth Weir serenely nodded her agreement. Politics and mutual cooperation always seemed to come easy for her. "Carson, can we spare the negotiated amount of antibiotics?"

Doctor Beckett checked his datapad. "I think we should be alright for short term, Doctor Weir," he said with an enthusiastic brogue. "I'll double the order for the next shipment from the Daedalus next month."

"How long will it take to prepare a shipment for the Nerioians?" Weir asked.

Beckett thought a moment. "Two days, I expect. Some of the supplies we'll have to dig out of storage. There's been a bit of a tumble lately."

Weir turned to Teyla. "I'll leave it you to let the Nerioians know the good news."

"It will be done," Teyla said.

Weir smiled warmly. "And for the record, I concur with Sheppard. Well done, Teyla."

Teyla kept her poker face on, but Sheppard knew that she was very relieved. It hadn't been easy for Teyla to find acceptance among the Atlanteans, especially after her connection to the Wraith experiments had been revealed. He had trusted her from almost the first moment they had met and he was very glad to see the others coming around. "If that's settled, I'd like to see if we could bump up Puddlejumper 2 on the repair schedule," Sheppard said.

McKay bristled. "I'm only waiting to discuss possibly one of the most important discoveries in the history of humanity and you want to discuss maintenance schedules."

Sheppard resisted the urge to check his watch and instead slowly grinned. It was a tactic well honed while growing up with his brother David. "Rodney, you always say that."

McKay's face began to turn red. "Quite possibly because it's true."

Sheppard leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "And the last time you said that, you destroyed an entire solar system."

McKay scoffed. "Technically, it was five-sixths of that solar system. And actually, this gate address might be linked with Project Arcturus."

Weir's eyes narrowed showing equal parts apprehension and curiosity. "I think we can skip the maintenance schedule, Rodney. What did you find?"

McKay coughed and stood to present his findings. "While performing a diagnostic on the Atlantis DHD, I came across an unusual gate-address that had been blocked."

"There are dozens of blocked gate-addresses, Rodney. What's so special about this one?" Weir asked.

McKay grinned. "The other blocked gate-addresses all have notations explaining specifically why they are blocked."

"Why is that important?" Ronon Dex asked.

"Many DHDs are coded to block gates that are dangerous, such as P3W-451," Weir explained. "That's to prevent accessing a gate in a dangerous location, like a black hole."

McKay nodded his approval. "The Lanteans were quite detailed in their other notations as to why it would be dangerous to gate to a specific address. Why block a gate-address and then erase the reason why?"

Ronon raised an eyebrow. "To keep a secret."

McKay snapped his fingers. "Exactly! In fact, all entries regarding this gate-address were deleted shortly before the Lanteans left for earth. I wrote a recovery algorithm and discovered who deleted the references."

"Rodney, you have our attention, don't leave us in the dark," Sheppard said.

McKay smiled smugly and crossed his arms. "Janus."

Teyla's eyes widened. "That's the ancient that the alternative Doctor Weir met ten thousand years ago."

Weir nodded calmly. "My alternative self seemed to trust him quite a bit. If Janus blocked it, he must have had a good reason."

"Possibility. Or he knew it would be ten thousand years until there would be friendly company onboard Atlantis," Sheppard suggested.

Ronon grunted. "And it sounds like he had no idea if you'd survive. The Wraith or anyone else could have found that address at the bottom of the ocean."

McKay smirked triumphantly. "I also managed to discover the file name associated with that address. The Lanteans designated it R'lyeh."

Ronon stretched and then shook his head. "I've been to many worlds and I've never heard of that place."

"Nor have I, Doctor McKay," Teyla agreed.

"Which suggests that the Lanteans did a very good job keep this place a secret," McKay countered.

Something about that name seemed very familiar to Jon Sheppard, but he couldn't quite place where he had heard it before. "I think I've heard that name before."

McKay tilted his head just like the time Sheppard had beaten him in chess. "Oh really? Care to share where?"

Sheppard shrugged. "I don't remember."

"Rodney, you said that this had to do with Project Arcturus," Weir said, trying to keep the meeting on track.

"Uh, yes. I was getting to that. While I was examining the notes on Project Arcturus, there was a reference to zero point energy and R'lyeh."

"And you think R'lyeh is a research project?" Weir asked.

"I think R'lyeh might be where the Lanteans built Zed-P-Ms."