The Long Way Home
A Stargate story by Humphrey66th
Bale understood the value of observance. His home village was primitive enough to figure out that all people who visited from beyond the horizon weren't always friendly, or filled with goodwill. Even those from the incredible city of Pell.
The village elders taught them about their world, a place called Ariannia, and that there were other worlds similar, and very, very different to their own. Bale would ask question after question during these lessons, trying to glean every bit of information from the elders about what these other places were like. The elders, particularly Mephis, would always end the questioning with promises of answers later, trying exhaustively to quell the young boys fervor. But this never put the issue to rest, and Bale would always try and corner them for more later on. During this years harvest though some visitors came that no one had met before. They arrived after mid day, dressed in clothing that was odd. Dark colours and vests with many pockets, all with packs on their shoulders, they carried strange devices which Bale, and some of the other children presumed were weapons of some kind. Of the four visitors, he heard Mephis talk to their leader, a Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. Mephis had led the four visitors into the long house, which served as a meeting hall, festival hall, and other such generic functions as was want. Luckily for Bale it was also where his Mother worked cleaning and sewing with the other ladies of the village, to which he used this excuse to gain entry.
He greeted his Mother and some of the other village women, and took a spot off to one side of the large table at which the elders and the visitors sat. Sheppard had introduced his party to the elders Mephis and Treely, as Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, and Ronon Dex, who by Bales estimation was the biggest man he'd ever seen.
"So tell me sir. From where do you hale?" Asked Treely, the oldest of the elders, easily marked by his hunched back from years of working in the mines.
"Well sir," began Sheppard, "we're from a place called Atlantis, which is pretty far from here."
"I would say you came through the gateway." said Mephis. "I wouldn't be remiss in assuming that now would I?" Sheppard looked a little uncomfortable, but nodded in affirmation.
"No sir you would not. We're explorers looking to find... friends... allies, and trading partners."
"Yes, allies mostly." chimed in the one called McKay. "Especially ones who don't have stone age technology." Sheppard smiled, somewhat annoyed with McKays statement. Bale sat in the shadows near the wall enthralled.
"Technology would be nice Rodney, but I think we need more than that." rebutted Sheppard. McKay started to speak, but the woman named Teyla cut him off.
"You see, we're looking to barter trade for food, tools and such. It has been a while since we've met new people, what with the war going on." Bale sat up, straining to hear.
"What war?" asked Mephis.
"Well surely you must have heard that the wraith are on the move." said Teyla leaning in. "They have destroyed many worlds thus far."
"We have heard of no such thing. Neither have we heard tell of a 'wraith'." Mephis leaned back in his chair, and stroked the stubble on his chin, considering the claims of the strangers. Teyla nodded and smiled, giving a sidelong look to Sheppard as she sat up.
"Consider yourselves lucky." rumbled Ronon, his arms crossed across his massive torso. Mephis looked to Treely, who smiled and nodded.
"We know naught of these things, but we will be happy to trade depending on our mutual needs." Bale listened to the entire conversation over the next while, as boring as it did seem. The visitors were very polite, especially Teyla, and not so much McKay who at one point claimed he would likely expire if he didn't get a snack. Some of the ladies brought a small meal which they continued to talk over. The elders negotiated for materials to create new wells for irrigation of the village fields. Sheppard did them one better, and told them he could have some engineers build, and furnish the wells in exchange for some food stuffs: meats, vegetables, maybe some spices if they could spare them. The quantities were haggled over for a long time but eventually an agreement was made. Treely had made a final offer of shelter and another meal for the night, as the sun was closing out the day. Sheppard kindly refused, saying he had to return to Atlantis to begin preparing the engineering team to return and help with the wells. Bale decided not to let his chance go and followed them out to the edge of the village. The party shook hands with the Elders and departed down the rocky path that led out through the fields. Bale knew that the sun would not last, and wagered he knew exactly where the strangers were going.
Taking a short cut through one of the fields, and past the quarry where much of the village got it's stone for building, after a while he stood at the forests edge willing himself to go further. The elders had taught the children to stay out of that part of their lands as that was where the gateway was, and that it was dangerous. There was always one child in every group who asked why, to which they always replied 'A great menace would appear and take them.' The children never asked much more, letting the mystery sink in with fearful awe. If any did they would tell the story of a boy named Parus, who went against the elders edict, entered the forest and disappeared. So instead of entering right away, Bale decided to watch to see if he was right, as he could observe the entire tree line for quite a distance.
Not long after finding a hiding spot in the dying light, Bale saw the four strangers walk down the path which ended at the forests edge. Not missing a step or even slowing, they entered so nonchalantly that this give him courage. Doubting the elders word, he braved the bracken of the tangled bushes, skirting the path of Sheppard and his group, following the conversation that he could hear as they didn't appear to be worried about being heard. They spoke of food, and the fact that McKay couldn't beat someone named 'Zelenka' at something called 'chess'. McKay seemed to whine much at this. The others spoke as well, but in much lower volume so that Bale had trouble hearing. He followed a rise that seemed to run parallel to their intended path, and after some time, the rise ended at a cliff near a clearing. What Bale saw made him gasp, realizing what it was, but never realizing its size.
In the middle of the clearing was a giant ring, presumably the gateway, symbols etched across its surface. In front of it was a pedestal with a large red polished dome in the middle of it, with more symbols etched in a couple of circles around it. Bale grinned and waited, understanding that he got there before Sheppard and the rest. So he waited as the light got dimmer.
After a moment or two he heard them walk into the clearing, and peeked over the edge of the cliff. His eyes were adjusting nicely, and he watched as McKay approached the pedestal. He appeared to be tapping some of the symbols, and Bale being very quick of mind, tried to remember which symbols they were. He had trouble taking it all in, since the ring began to move, aligning symbols with several clamp like pieces spaced around the outside, each glowing when it found a particular symbol. On the pedestal once seven of them appeared to be glowing, McKay placed his hand on the dome in the middle. A loud roar emanated from the ring, coupled by a whooshing sound, and a flash which to Bales eye appeared to create a fountain of crashing water which erupted from the ring. No sooner had the fountain splashed, it had quickly settled into this glowing vertical pond of sorts. Bale had never imagined the like, and his excitement was almost unbearable.
Sheppard stepped into the pond, and the rest followed, flowing through the apparent fluid, to which Bale was sure they would just end up on the other side. A moment later the glowing pond disappeared in a flash of light and a snap of sound. The clearing was dark once more and Bale looked as best he could. The sun was gone and the light from the ring made spots dance in his eyes. He made his way down to the clearing as quietly as he could, the elders warning still echoed in his memory. Sneaking about, he made his way on to the pedestal and looked at the symbols he thought were pressed. His vision still adjusting, he hastily grabbed a stick, and memorized the symbols that he believed were the ones touched by McKay. Without a word he ran to a soft patch on the ground under a tree, and marked the symbols into the dirt. Checking again, and then a third time that he got them right, he turned his attention to the ring.
After seeing it in action, he dare not go up to it, fearful something would happen that might be terrible. His imagination ran wild with childhood stories of beasts, and monsters kidnapping little children from their beds. He was giddy. Examining what he could in the dark, he began understand that it wasn't just some kind of stone, not some monolith left over from a previous age. But something more. He didn't dare stay any longer, as the dark of night seemed to close on his mind. Overhead the stars twinkled and glimmered in the clear sky, and Bale decided to make the best time he could to get home and plan for his return.