"It's not a good idea," Elizabeth Weir told John Sheppard and Rodney McKay as they walked to the control room.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, John shrugged. "Rodney and I can handle it."
Rodney nodded excitedly. "The 'gate and surrounding area are protected by an EM field, much like M7G-677. We'll be perfectly fine!"
"Famous last words, Rodney," Elizabeth replied with a frown.
"It's simple recon, nothing serious," prodded John.
"I don't want to send in a two man team. Whatever has you so excited can wait until Teyla and Ronon come back from trading," she told them, crossing her arms.
"The anomalous readings may be gone by then," Rodney complained.
Stopping abruptly, Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the astrophysicist. "How could the MALP pick up any readings if there's an EM field?"
"That's why they're anomalous!"
Sighing, Elizabeth continued to the control room. Undeterred, the two men followed behind her.
"Well?" prompted John, raising his eyebrows.
Accepting a tablet from one of the technicians, Elizabeth didn't answer immediately. She refused to even look at them, but she was well aware of the barely contained excitement radiating from Rodney. John remained calm and collected, as usual.
Remaining silent, Elizabeth lead the way into her office. She sat down at her desk, John taking up his perch on the other side while Rodney fidgeted before her. She fixed her best poker face in place before meeting their eyes. "Fine."
"Excellent! I'm going to get my stuff," Rodney said, leaving the office like he was spring loaded.
Turning her gaze to John Elizabeth clasped her hands on top of the desk. "And where does your interest lie?"
The crooked grin that was synonymous with John Sheppard curved his lips. "Rodney promised to give me his dessert rations for a week if I helped persuade you."
The infectious smirk curled Elizabeth's lips as well. "Ah. Well, just make sure he doesn't get himself electrocuted or some other such thing. We'd never hear the end of it. And if there are any signs of danger—"
"Yeah, yeah. Get our asses back to the 'gate." John stood, offered a more sincere smile, and then followed after Rodney to get his gear.
Before abruptly loosing signal, the MALP had returned a few readings. Temperature being one of those readings, and their destination was on the warm side. John opted to forgo his jacket, slipping his TAC vest over his tee shirt. Strapping on his side arm, he double checked the supplies in his vest, retrieved a P90, and headed out to the 'gate room. On his way, he ran into Rodney. The scientist was carrying a heavy-looking pack.
"Are any of those computers even gonna work?" John asked, eyeing the cumbersome load.
"They will after I deactivate the EM field."
John rolled his eyes, pulling out a pair of dark sunglasses and slipping them on. "You know you have to carry that, right? We can't take the Jumper."
Hefting the pack, Rodney wrinkled up his nose. "Believe it or not, I did take that into account."
Gaze hesitating on the struggling man, John finally looked up toward the control room. He nodded at the technician to dial the 'gate. They watched the blue pool explode outward from the naquadah ring before snapping back to settle into a glimmering wall.
"John," Elizabeth called from the balcony before they could step into the Event Horizon.
John looked up while Rodney sighed impatiently.
"Be careful."
With a sloppy salute in her direction, John turned back to the 'gate. He paused briefly before stepping through the blue wall of plasma.
~oOo~
After being ripped apart and put back together in the worm hole, John and Rodney emerged unharmed from the Stargate on M8G-921.
"Looks like British Columbia," Rodney commented as they stepped away from the 'gate. "Except the extra sun, of course. The UV index must be through the roof. I should have brought sunscreen."
John took in the mountains and trees before turning his gaze on Rodney. "Don't you have something to do? I don't want to be here any longer than necessary."
"Mm. Right, of course." Rodney pulled a tablet from his pack to take recordings. John noticed it was working perfectly fine.
"Why isn't that thing dead?" he asked, peering over Rodney's shoulder.
"The EM field is intermittent around the 'gate. That's how we got MALP telemetry in the first place," Rodney answered, glancing over at where the machine now sat off to one side of the Stargate.
Nodding, John looked around for the Dial Home Device. It was about thirty feet away, partially obscured by tall grass. He admitted to himself that locating the planet side model of the device was usually an afterthought for him as the Puddle Jumpers came with one built in to the console.
While looking around, John felt an odd tingle on the back of his neck. There were too many places to hide here. Just because Wraith weren't a threat did not mean there wasn't something else they needed to be wary of. Like hostile villagers.
After studying his tablet for a few minutes, Rodney pointed in a direction that was roughly north east of their position. "That way. There's definitely something over there," he said as he stowed the tablet.
"How far?" John asked as they started toward the tree line.
"Not sure. My readings are all over the place. Could be anywhere between half a mile and thirty miles," replied Rodney.
"Helpful." This little trip was beginning to feel like a bad idea. Something nagged at the back of his mind, every snapping twig and bird call setting him on edge.
The two men trudged along in silence, suffering with the heat from the dual suns, and air that was so humid it felt like they were walking through water. The dense foliage in the forest wasn't making their trek any easier, and John was drenched in no time flat. He was relieved when their target became visible through the enormous, close-growing trees.
"Over there!" declared Rodney, unable to hide his heavy breathing.
"You think that's what's causing the readings?" John inquired as they approached the structure. He couldn't see it clearly yet, but it was tall, cylindrical, and had a smooth, shiny silver surface.
"Positive. And if we're lucky, it's powered by a ZedPM," Rodney replied, having to pick up his pace to keep up with John's stride.
Entering the clearing , John looked up at the obelisk-like structure. He let out a low whistle. "This thing's tall as the 'gate," he observed.
"I'd say taller," Rodney replied, dumping his pack onto the ground and running his hands over the smooth surface of the structure.
John shook his head, making a slow lap of the whatever-it-was. Despite its height, it wasn't very thick, maybe a bit more than double his arm span in diameter. The entire surface, except for a small screen, was smooth and polished. In addition to the screen, there was a panel set into the ground, in which Rodney was already elbow deep.
"So...any ideas?" John asked, eyes still scanning the area.
Rodney sat up, wiping sweat fro his brow as he cast a quick glare in John's direction. "I've been working on this for less than a minute, so no. No ideas yet," he grumbled before diving back into the open panel.
John shook his head, catching a glimpse of the crystals inside the panel where Rodney was working. "Ancient?" he now asked.
"I don't know yet!" came the muffled response.
Giving up his questioning, John turned his attention to the little screen. It was on the opposite side to where Rodney was working, set at roughly shoulder height. The screen was blank until John faced it, then it lit up with scrolling columns of unfamiliar symbols. "This doesn't look like Ancient," he said to himself.
Rodney was beside him quicker than seemed feasible. "What did you do?" he demanded.
"Nothing."
"What did you touch?" Rodney reiterated.
"Nothing! All I did was walk up to it!" protested John.
Shoving John out of the way, Rodney moved in front of the screen. His brow creased deeply as he studied the symbols.
"Well?"
"Definitely not Ancient."
"That's what I said."
"I've never seen these symbols before," Rodney continued, ignoring John. "Probably the language of past or present natives."
"Well, if there's nothing else you can do here, let's head back to Atlantis and—" John was cut off by an electronic hum."What the hell is that?" he asked as Rodney got back on his knees to start moving crystals around inside the panel.
"Give me a minute."
"I don't think we have that long," John growled through clenched teeth. The hum was rising steadily, quickly reaching deafening levels.
"It won't shut down!" Rodney shouted over the noise. His panic level was rising with the decibels, and his panic level was directly proportionate to his ability to overcome impending disaster. Usually.
"What do you mean 'it won't shut down'?" John demanded, eyes growing wide as the structure began to shake. "We gotta go!"
John yanked Rodney up by his TAC vest, grabbed his pack, and started back toward the 'gate. The humming continued to increase even though they were getting further away.
"Rodney, dial the 'gate!" John shouted when the DHD came into view.
The scientist didn't need to be told twice. When he reached the pedestal, he started slapping the symbols for Atlantis.
"Now would be good, Rodney!"
Glancing over his shoulder to retort, Rodney saw the dome of blue-white light extending from the top of the odd silver tower. "Crap." Turning back to the DHD, Rodney smacked the last symbol and the wormhole erupted from the Stargate.
"Go, go, go!" urged John, grabbing Rodney's collar and shoving him toward the portal. They were so close when the light overtook them, and John was blinded by white. He could hear Rodney next to him, and felt air rush past his face as the ground came up to meet him. A burning cold sensation overwhelmed his entire body seconds before everything around him vanished.
