Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, don't make money off 'em.
Genre: Adventure/Drama, AU
Rating: T/PG-13
Word Count: 2805
Archive?: Ask me first. Thanks.
Pairings: None (thought a bit of unrequited Zelenka/OC. Radek's completely clueless about it!)
Notes: Where are Evan and Radek, and why have they been taken? The team makes a disturbing discovery, and another member disappears.
Two
Warm air blew upon his face and it brought the fresh smell of wildflowers. Evan struggled to open his eyes, but exhaustion tugged them closed. Just a couple of more minutes, he told himself. I'll get up in a couple of more minutes.
A soft voice called, "Evan, it's time to get up. Come on, sleepyhead. I've got the canvases and the paints packed in the car. If we don't get moving, we'll miss the sunrise."
"Mom, just a few more minutes, okay?"
"Up, Evan. Now."
He groaned and struggled up to a sitting position. Instead of finding himself under a quilt in his mother's house, he was lying in a dimly lit room. Memories slowly filtered through his brain. He and his mother had found an amazing view of the ocean; they'd spent hours painting on their canvases, side by side. Neither of them talked much, and neither shared their artwork until they were finished. It had always amazed him how two people could take the same view and come up with two different interpretations of it.
Those times had been some of the best of his childhood.
Evan blinked as the present time materialized around him. He sat in the middle of a circular room, with a door set into the wall directly in front of him. The faint light sparkled on the carpet; he took a closer look and saw the thin filaments of gold and silver running through the fabric. Every other room in Atlantis he'd been in had bare floor, so this was unusual.
"Hello? Doctor Zelenka? Doctor Cezivic? Sergeant Van Maarten? Anyone?" His voice echoed in the small chamber, but there was no response.
Evan reached for the flashlight on his belt, but it wasn't there. He scowled as he made another disturbing discovery: his P-90 and its spare ammunition were also missing. He still had his canteen and a couple of Powerbars stuffed into his jacket, so at least he wasn't going to starve or die of thirst anytime soon. The pieces of his radio mike were strewn on the carpet behind him.
"That's just great. I'm stuck in here."
The only way to go was forward, so he got to his feet and headed towards the door. The lights came on and he saw the room clearly for the first time. Its walls were painted a light shade of blue, with faint white swirls running through like wisps of fog. The line of curves led his eye to a line of pedestals that stood along the entire perimeter of the chamber. Tiny pieces of tile were inset into the edge of the pedestals, but nothing had been set on top of them.
"Strange," Evan murmured. "I wonder what---" His foot depressed a square in the floor and a bright spotlight shot past him. The light brightened to the point where he had to shield his eyes with his hand, and when it faded, the image of a beautiful woman stood in front of him. She wore a long white gown adorned with a rose pink sash around her slender waist. The exotically slanted eyes reminded Evan a bit of Teyla Emmagan.
"Who are you?"
The woman smiled gently at him. "My name is Nadriya. Be welcome to my humble space. I am the owner of this wonderful collection."
"Owner?" he repeated. He looked over at the now-empty pedestal. "Of what?"
Nadriya didn't seem to hear him, but the amber-gold eyes flashed a warning. "You have been granted a special dispensation to enter these rooms. The treasures here come from a variety of worlds, a variety of cultures, some of which, unfortunately, no longer exist. If you are here, you must know that no word of this should ever reach the Council's ears. Ever. So I invite you to look, to take in the beauty that once was, and to remember.
."Wait! There aren't any---"
The image of Nadriya disappeared, leaving the room again in semi-darkness. Evan frowned and looked around the empty room. If this is supposed to be the Ancients' equivalent of a treasure vault, where is the treasure? And why was she so determined not to let the other Ancients know about it?
He made a slow circuit of the room, looking in the corners and crevices, around and over the pedestals. There wasn't even a trace of dust, which struck him as really odd. Evan came face to face with a pedestal at about eye level.
"Huh," he said aloud. "This isn't tile set into the edge of this. It's a single strip of something like paua shell." It certainly fit the room's ocean theme. He ran a thumb along the surface of the strip and felt a sudden jolt through his body.
An elaborate clay pot materialized in front of him. It was decorated with delicate gold lines and glossy red paint, with an unknown script running around its handle. Evan gasped, for he'd never seen anything like it. The paints were as vibrant as the day they were mixed. The pot had been lovingly made by a true artisan's hand.
He ran a gentle finger along the edge of the pot to find it solid under his touch. There was a symbol etched into the top of the handle: an upside down "V" with a dot in the middle. It reminded Evan of the Stargate symbol. His finger brushed it, then...
Pain drove him to his knees and his vision clouded with agony. When he was able to see again, he saw the brief flash of red-orange flame and felt a wash of heat pass over his skin. Sounds of battle rang all around, women and children screaming, men crying out to their gods. Evan stumbled forward and his knee hit a piece of brick. He managed to turn his head to see several others strewn around, along with shards of smashed pottery.
A kiln. Someone's destroyed the pottery kiln. The knowledge became clear: the potter's village had been attacked and destroyed. By whom? The Wraith? Nadriya had hinted that some of the cultures from where the treasure came no longer existed. Whoever the potter had been, he or she was long dead.
Yes, yes, you. You will see and you will remember.
Evan saw a blur of movement to his right, then a heavy object crashed into the back of his head. The fact that he immediately lost all control of his body was a very bad sign. He couldn't stop himself from pitching face-forward into the dirt, and something sticky began to flow across his cheek.
Oh, crap...was his last thought before darkness claimed him.
"Major, Major Lorne! Can you hear me?"
He tried to make sense of the voice, but it spoke in a language he didn't know. Cool water passed across his lips and it helped chased away the cobwebs in his head. "Gotta quit passing out," he muttered. "This is starting to get old."
"Thank God. I was beginning to really worry whether or not you were going to wake up."
Evan managed to open his eyes and saw Doctor Radek Zelenka kneeling over him. The Czech's glasses were sitting crookedly on his nose, and there was a fresh bruise on his left cheek. "Doc? What happened? You okay?"
"Bruised black and blue, no broken bones though." Radek pushed himself up to a sitting position and Evan could now see the faint outline of his flyaway hair in the dim light. "Got sucked in through the front door. Whatever has brought us here has stripped us of anything useful."
"Lost your equipment too?"
"All I have are my glasses." The scientist's tone was both sarcastic and darkly humorous at the same time, and Evan couldn't help but chuckle. "I got the water from your canteen."
"Thanks." Evan tried to get up, but Radek gently pushed him back against the wall. "I guess I hit my head somewhere and you found me sprawled on the floor?"
"Basically, yes. You must have struck your head hard enough to open a cut; it was difficult to clean and bandage it, but luckily, it's stopped bleeding." Radek sighed. "If Carson were here, he'd probably say you have a concussion."
Evan reached behind him and found a bulky bandage at the back of his head. "Did a good job there, Doc."
Radek blushed. "I found your medkit in your jacket. Spent several years in the Czechoslovakian army, before the liberation. I know how to field dress wounds."
"Then I'm lucky you're around." A hint of memory tried to break through to the surface, something about a clay pot, but he couldn't remember it. He sighed and let it go. "I take it we're cut off from the rest of the team?"
"Yes. We've both lost our radios."
"Great." Evan carefully turned his head to find himself and Radek in another circular room, this time devoid of any furniture. The effort was too much and he closed his eyes. Reality seemed to shift again and he floated above it, as if he was in a tank of warm water.
"Major! Don't close your eyes! You have to stay awake!"
But Evan didn't hear him at all as the world fell away again.
Elizabeth Weir didn't leave the main tower very often, but once Colonel Sheppard had told her what happened, she accompanied them to to where Major Lorne and Doctor Zelenka had vanished. She glanced down at Rodney McKay, who was taking energy readings of the door itself. He didn't look up at her until she spoke to him.
"Rodney?" she asked.
"Nothing yet. There's some sort of forcefield that's blocking our Life Detection Sensors, so there's no way of telling if Lorne and Zelenka are all right. I think they tripped some kind of security system."
"Could Lorne's ATA gene have triggered it? Is that why he was taken?"
"Maybe, but Zelenka's gone too, and he doesn't have the gene," Rodney pointed out in a brittle tone. "It could have been simple as just proximity, that they were the closest to the door."
"Keep working on it, Rodney." Elizabeth gazed at the scientist for a moment; McKay was worried, but as usual, he hid it under a brusque manner. She could see the tension in his features, hear the concern under the angry bluster. Of course, Rodney would never admit being worried for his second-in-command.
Carson Beckett approached her and she nodded at the doctor. "How's Van Maarten?"
"Just a wee bit of a bump on the head. He got the worst of it; the others have mostly minor bruises, but Marta did a good job." Carson looked over at Cezivic, who was next to El-Hamra at the doorway. "Any sign of 'em?"
"No, but Rodney's working on it." Elizabeth looked over at Cezivic; the woman's eyes were puffy and red, as if she'd been crying. "Is Marta all right?"
Carson hesitated, then answered in a low voice. "She's having a rough time of it. Radek pushed her out of way of the beam that swept him and Major Lorne into the building. I think she feels guilty."
"That it should've been her that was taken, and not Radek?"
Carson nodded. "I believe she has something of a sweet spot for him, but of course, you didna hear it from me."
She smiled, despite the circumstances. Carson picked up on little details like that, but he would never tell a soul. "Of course, Carson. I won't tell her. I'd better make sure she's all right." She joined Doctor Cezivic at the doorway to the building and immediately was intrigued by the elaborate inscription there. Cezivic gave her a tremulous smile as she approached.
"Doctor Weir! I am glad to see you!"
"I came as soon as I could, Marta. When Colonel Sheppard told me about the inscription, I thought I'd take a look for myself." She turned to El-Hamra. "Have you made any progress?"
El-Hamra nodded as she handed Elizabeth her tablet. "The ornamentation is part of the message. Quite clever, actually. I missed it the first time, but once I realized what it was, it was easier to understand."
"What does it say?" asked John Sheppard. The colonel had come up silently to stand next to Elizabeth.
"It's not clear, but it seems to be a private dwelling of some sort. The inscription has a string of numbers and letters, then the word 'Nadriya'."
John's brow furrowed as he said slowly, "You mean like a street address?"
"I think it may be, Colonel. This 'Nadriya' may have been the owner of this dwelling. There is more writing, Doctor Weir, but I haven't had time to translate it. It's quite complex. I would appreciate your assistance."
Elizabeth nodded and followed El-Hamra to where a second inscription had been chiseled into the wall. As she began to examine it, she heard Cezivic murmur, "He saved my life."
"What?"
"I said, 'he saved my life'."
"Major Lorne?"
"No, Radek. If he hadn't pushed me out of the way---" Cezivic was close to tears, though she tried to hide them. Elizabeth reached over and patted her on the shoulder.
"We'll get him back, Marta. We'll get him back."
Cezivic managed a smile at her, then turned back to talk to Carson. Elizabeth traded looks with John, who only nodded agreement, then she refocused on the job ahead of her. The inscription did include letters and numbers, and the name "Nadriya" appeared several times. The second set of symbols appeared much newer than the ones around the doorway. Elizabeth frowned, read it several times, then double-checked her translation.
"It's some sort of repository, a clearinghouse for objects no one wanted anymore."
John's eyes narrowed. "You mean like an Ancient junk shop?"
"More like an antique store," El-Hamra said. "or a highly specialized museum."
John's brow furrowed in thought. "Lorne told me his mom used to teach art and that she used to drag him along on her trips. You think that could be the reason why he got sucked in there?"
"Makes sense," Elizabeth said slowly. "But then, what about Radek?"
Suddenly, Rodney shouted a warning and waved his arms. "It's glowing again! Get away from the door!"
"Take cover!" John yelled as he grabbed Elizabeth's arm. The three of them retreated back a safe distance on the plaza and joined Rodney and Carson behind a row of marble benches. The Ancient writing seemed to flare brightly in the sunshine, then expand outward, like a soap bubble being blown from a pipe. It stretched to encompass the area where they'd been standing before Rodney's warning, then stopped abruptly, as if it had hit a wall.
Elizabeth shaded her eyes with her hand. Deep within the light was a shadowed figure of a woman. It looked directly at her, and Elizabeth shivered at the malevolence of that gaze. Then she heard a voice in her head, like the chime of bells.
"No, not you. You are like the others. You take and take and take, and never give. One day, you will reap the seeds of your arrogance." The figure turned and walked back towards the doorway, then the light faded into nothingness.
"It was that voice again," Rodney sputtered. "She said, 'No, not you. What the hell does that mean?"
"'You take and take and take and never give. One day, you will reap the seeds of your arrogance.'" John repeated the quote. "I wonder who's she referring to. The Ancients?"
Elizabeth shivered again. It made sense; many of the Ancients had believed in their inherent superiority, even if it wasn't true. "Maybe. But why?"
Cezivic touched her arm. "Doctor Weir, we're missing someone. Doctor Beckett is gone."
"Carson?!" Elizabeth whirled around. An open medkit was left where he'd been, with its contents scattered all over the pavilion. She met John and Rodney's horrified expressions. "Oh no. She's taken him too."