As a candle flickered against the dark room, a pencil scratched against the paper. The dim light shone upon a gold gauntlet on the table. The woman continued to write as the wind made a tree knock on the window. The room was filled with old manuscripts and books stacked on the shelves and ancient paintings covered the walls. The woman wrote of how a terrible creature known as the Bunyip ravaged the Outback. It swam through the silent rivers and preyed upon hikers lying unknowingly on the shore. Before the man can turn around the bunyip has him and pierces his chest with sharp claws. The woman brushed the long, curly, brown hair out of her face. She looked at her watch and saw the time.
She stood up and blew the candle out, then walked out of the room and up the dreary steps from the research room into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. As she opened the cap and took a sip, her teeth ached from the ice cold water but it felt good to her parched throat. She looked at the large mahogany clock and decided that it was time to get to bed. After she walked upstairs to her bedroom and changed into her Eeyore pajamas, she got into her bed and turned off the light. The woman fell asleep with the last thought of the Bunyip crawling through her mind.
Colonel Samantha Carter got ready as the Daedalus, an Asgard battleship, dropped out of hyperspace. Like all members of the Stargate program, she never liked addressing the I.O.A., International Oversight Advisory. They were always so contradictory, even to their own decisions.
"Are you ready to beam down?" Colonel Steven Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus, asked.
"Yes," Carter replied.
Caldwell gave the signal and a bright light beamed upon Carter. She was then beamed down into Stargate Command where the I.O.A. would be waiting.
"Welcome back," Major General Hank Landry welcomed.
General Landry and Colonel Carter walked towards the I.O.A.'s office. As Colonel Carter entered the room, she could feel the silence clench against her bones.
After explaining to the I.O.A. that the city of Atlantis had a stardrive and that it was used to bring Atlantis from Earth to the Pegasus galaxy, she explained that both of the planets that the city have laid rest upon were not the orignal planet. Dr. Rodney McKay of the Atlantis expedition discovered this while exploring the database on Atlantis. Carter explained that they have found the original planet's address and were going to explore it as soon as they could gather a team. The I.O.A. seemed fine with everything besides the fact that they were not going to do any more research.
"Do you even know what could lie upon that planet?" Chen Xiaoyi, from China, inquired.
"Well, we know that if this was the original planet, it might have more ZPM's which we desperatly need if the wraith discover that Atlantis still exists," Colonel Carter explained.
"What if there is something there worse than the wraith, and that was the reason that they left that planet?" Russel Chapman, from the UK, asked, "Would it not be safer to just wait until you get more information?"
"We've searched the entire database and all the information states that it is safe. We've sent a MALP through and everything turned out okay," Colonel Carter was beginning to feel impatient.
After the meeting with the I.O.A., Colonel Carter went into the room in which she was staying and lied down on the bed. She had finally convinced the I.O.A. to continue with Atlantis's expedition of the planet. Carter felt more relieved as she thought about how they might be able to find a ZPM on the planet. If they could find that and more drones, they might have a chance at defeating the wraith, once and for all.
General Landry went into his office and pulled out a small notebook. He flipped to a page with a bunch of numbers and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and waited for the phone to pick up.
"Hello?" An older woman answered.
"Is this Doris?" He asked.
"Yes, it is," Doris replied happily.
"Can I please talk to Sibella?"
"Of course, just wait one minute."
After several minutes a younger woman's voice answered, "Hi, General Landry! What do you need?"
"You sound more tired than usual. What were you doing last night?" The general asked jokingly.
"I was studying the Bunyip and didn't realize what time it was," Sibel laughed.
"What is it with mythologists and staying up late?"
"Well, the longer we study them, we take on the characteristics of the monsters we study," Sibel answered.
"Ah, I see. Well, I need to ask you a question. Do you remember the Atlantis expedition?" General Landry asked worried.
The conversation ended with Sibel saying, "Are you kidding me?! I'm heading over right now!"
Sibel ran into her garage and opened the door. She grabbed her keys from her pocket and jumped into her fully tuned-out RX-7 and drove away. After driving all the way to Stargate Command, she grabbed her notebook and jumped out of the the car. She ran in and almost right into General Landry.
"Well, I didn't expect you to be here in less than 20 minutes," Landry greeted.
"I took backroads, no stop signs or traffic lights," Sibel replied nearly out of breath.
"How fast were you going?!"
"Easily over 120. If I was in my Lambo I'd be going much faster," she laughed.
"Well, Colonel Carter is right over in the gateroom," General Landry informed her.
"Thank you, uncle," Sibel said as she scurried towards the gate room.
Colonel Carter was speaking to another scientist when Sibel came into the room.
"Excuse me, Colonel Samantha Carter?" Sibel asked politely while trying to breath as evenly as possible.
"Yes?" Carter answered.
"My name is Sibella Callimaeve. I'm a mythologist employed by Stargate Command as a reference."
"I see. Well, it's nice to meet you, Sibella."
"You can call me Sibel," she replied sincerely.
"Alright, well what can I do for you, Sibel?" Carter asked.
"I understand that you found the original planet that Atlantis laid rest on."
"Yes, we believe that we might be able to find a ZPM or a couple. Possibly some drones as well," Carter explained.
"I understand your concern but I have to advise you to wait," Sibel warned nervously.
Colonel Carter was somewhat astonished. She wasn't sure if she could trust this young woman.
"You see, I have a theory that the creatures we call 'mythical' are not mythical at all. I believe that the majority of them simply left. I'm not going to go into detail at the moment, but I have a very specific creature to tell you about," Sibel revealed.
Colonel Carter spoke in a whisper now that she was worried, "Alright, let's talk about this in my room."
As they reached Carter's temporary quarters, they shut the door.
"You see," Sibel began, "At the end of WWII, an ancient manuscript disappeared. Many had read it, so those people knew and memorized the contents. My grandfather was one of those people. He memorized every word and picture, then recreated the manuscript."
"That's very interesting and impressive but I'm not sure what this has to do with the Atlantis expedition."
"Well, within that manuscript, there was information about a creature called the Peryton. It was part bird of prey and part stag. It's shadow takes the form of a human until it takes a human being's life," Sibel explained, "It inhabited the lost island of Atlantis."
Carter was flabbergasted. She flopped into a seat and tried to grasp the situation.
"How do you kill them?" Carter asked.
"Nobody knows," Sibel told her solemnly, "Nobody who has seen one has gotten the chance to try."
"Then what can we do?"
"Honestly, I'm not quite sure. I'm just a mythologist but they can't be invincible... At least, I hope," Sibel said as she stared into the dim light at the corner of the room.
Carter was nervous about trying to tell the other members of the Atlantis expedition about this. All of them, especially Dr. Mckay and Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard (the leading scientist and the highest ranking military officer) would be devastated. She sat at the table on the Daedalus and watched the magnificent blue colors fly by the window as they traveled through hyperspace.