Notes: See? I told you I'd get back to this. Had the back surgery, feel better than I have in twenty years. It's positively amazing how much better a body can feel when the pain you've suffered through day-in and day-out for nearly nineteen years is gone.
Disclaimer: It's still theirs. But I'm fine with that. I'm havin' fun just playin' with these worlds.
THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES : THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD
By screaminheathen69
Chapter the Seventh
Turns out there were dinosaurs.
Fairly intelligent dinosaurs too, as luck would have it, and none too fond of folks that wandered into their temples. They'd been worshipping the Great Shiny Thingamabob for centuries, after all.
Of course, since the complete SG-1 was along for the ride, they should've known things wouldn't go smoothly. It had long since been decided that SG-1 and Chaos Theory went hand in hand.
Jack got a kick out of the fact that he got to pull Daniel's bacon out of the fire again, though. He really missed going off-world.
At any rate, after the inevitable running was over with and everybody was safely back aboard the TARDIS, well, that would be when the Doctor discovered the ZPM they'd nearly gotten themselves killed for was nearly dead.
"I was afraid that might happen." The Doctor chucked the ZPM to Hailey and started punching coordinates into the console. "Next stop Athaelious. Always wanted to go to Athaelious. Supposed to have sentient oceans. Imagine that! Oceans that think!"
Jack grabbed the nearest column as the TARDIS lurched into motion. "So what are we gonna do with a dead ZPM?"
The Doctor waved an absent-minded hand. "Not to worry. I'll have it charged by the time we get there."
Carter looked at the Doctor, stunned. "You know how to charge a zero point module?"
"Of course. Simplest thing in the world," he said, big goofy grin firmly in place.
Carter lit up. "How? Can you show me?"
"Certainly. Come with me to the lab."
The whole group followed him through the labyrinthine corridors, finally arriving at the lab after two wrong turns, the Doctor muttering something about 'the old girl making up her mind about which way she kept her innards'. He took the ZPM from Hailey and walked over to an odd looking device sitting off in a corner. Facing the group, he put on his best teacher voice. "Now then. Step one in re-charging a depleted Zed-PM. Find yourself a Zed-PM recharging unit." He thumped a hand down on the dusty piece of equipment. "Sorted. Step two; insert the depleted Zed-PM into said re-charging unit," which he proceeded to do, with just a bit of a flourish. "Step three; (and here's the difficult bit) press the 'on' button, step back, wait twenty hours for the re-charging device to go 'ding', remove the now fully charged Zed-PM from the re-charging device, and go about your business."
He hit the on button. The charger lit up and started humming quietly. The Doctor turned and sketched a little bow. "Questions? Comments?"
Jack was looking back and forth between the machine and the grinning Time-Lord. "It actually goes ding?"
"Well," said the Doctor, dragging out the 'well', "more of a bong, to be honest, but you get the idea."
Carter was beside herself. "Where did you find this? The Atlantis team has torn the city apart trying to figure out how to charge their ZPM's. They can't even find anything about them in the database."
The Doctor perched on a stool. "The Ancients, in their infinite wisdom, took all of their re-charging units with them when they went back to Earth. They also deleted everything about manufacturing and maintaining Zed-PM's from the database, along with some of their more dangerous technologies. I think they were worried about the wrong people stumbling across the city and mucking about with technologies that were beyond them." He gave his human traveling companions a meaningful look, then gave a little shrug. "It was all in the repository I hacked into, though."
He nodded at the charging unit. "Found this old thing stashed away in a storeroom on Gallifrey back before the Time-War. Thought it prudent to 'borrow' it."
Willow laughed. "You do a lot of 'borrowing' like that, don't you?"
The Doctor pulled a face. "It's not like anyone was actually using the silly thing. Just wish I'd made off with a few more spare Type-40 parts while I was at it. I was refurbishing the Console Room at the time. I rebuilt a number of the old girl's systems in the process, but I do find myself wishing I'd done a more thorough overhaul while the parts were actually available."
The TARDIS groaned, just a bit. The Doctor patted the wall behind him. "Now, now. You know you're still my girl." Carter swore she could hear the TARDIS sighing. Willow knew she could. Goddess-ey powers and all that.
Just about then, the TARDIS lurched to a stop, sending everybody crashing to the floor. The Doctor popped up, all grin and teeth. "Ah Yes! Athaelious, here we come!" He sprinted out the door, only to pop back in about two seconds later. "Coming? Or would you rather finish your naps first?" He deftly avoided the thick manual Willow chucked his direction. "In your own time, then." And with that, he was off.
Jack thumped his head back down on the floor and crossed his ankles. "If anybody's asking, I'm all for that 'nap' idea."
Willow floated Jack up off the floor, then headed out the door with him in tow. "Nap later. ZPM now." Daniel and Sam managed to stifle their snickers as they listened to Jack gripe all the way back to the console room.
The empty console room. They found the Doctor outside. He was kneeling down at the edge of the surf, one hand in the water, eyes closed. Without opening his eyes, he held his free hand out to Willow. "Take my hand."
She did, then gasped as she connected to the worldwide consciousness that was the living ocean of Athaelious. "Oh my goddess…"
"Welcome to Athaelious, Willow. I have long awaited the arrival of the Red Goddess."
"You know who I am?"
"Of course. Your coming was foretold long ago. We have much to discuss, you and I, if you are willing to stay while your companions go in search of their power source."
Willow looked at the Doctor, who was nodding. "I think it's important, Willow. We shouldn't be too long. The Ancient lab we're here for is just over that rise. Back in a jiff."
Willow looked out across the ocean, then nodded. "Sure. How often do I get a chance to commune with a living ocean?" The Doctor grinned, gave her a quick hug, then plodded off in the general direction of the lab, curious group in tow.
Willow started to kick off her shoes, then paused. "Do you mind?"
"Not at all."
"Thank you." She took off her shoes and socks, then rolled up her pants and waded in. The direct contact was like touching a live wire. She felt as though she could lose herself in the meld forever, in the sheer power and immensity of it, but knew instinctively that she was safe. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever experienced, and considering that this is Willow we're talking about here, that's saying something. She's friends with God, after all.
"So. What'd you wanna chat about?"
"Well…"
'To thee no star be dark…'
Happy Holidays kiddies!
