Almost done, I swear! Kudos to those who have been sticking around for so long! What troopers!
A silent panic spread throughout the tightly enclosed space. It was never a good sign to find remains.
Dr. Keller knelt down and studied them closely with her flashlight. "They're human alright," she sighed, "and fairly old."
"And idea of how they died?" Weir asked, heroically hiding her fear.
Jennifer went back to studying the bones but a good once over seemed to be enough. "I don't see any signs of blunt force trauma or anything like that – but then again it's hard to tell without moving them. The fact that they're sitting could allude to the fact that they were just waiting."
"Waiting to die," Major Lorne murmured. "Starvation, probably…"
Elizabeth inhaled deeply and snapped her attention elsewhere. "Any sign of the DHD?"
No one had found it. Someone suggested that it might be buried and others thought it could possibly be outside of the structure.
Major Lorne directed digging teams while Weir organized a team to try and seek a way out.
Keller didn't think there was much point in her assistance. She didn't know the first thing about things like this and she didn't believe for an instant there was anyway out. From what she could tell, the previous visitors had tried very hard.
xXx
Sheppard felt like his feet were ten kilos heavier with every step. And McKay's incessant whining wasn't helping matters.
"Please? Just for a little bit?" the scientist pleaded. "I swear…one more step and I'll pass out."
John turned around. "Rodney, we can't stop in the middle of the desert in the middle of the day. We'll have to keep going till it gets dark or find some sort of shelter first."
He reached down under his TAC vest for his t-shirt. He ripped off a strip at the bottom and constructed it as a makeshift bandana for his burning skin.
"I don't mean to be insensitive but the Afghanistan desert might be a little bit different from an alien desert billions of light-years away! You're not an expert!"
The colonel rolled his eyes and continued on. "Maybe I should have left you with Lilas. I'd like to see how long she'd put up with you before she'd have you euthanized."
"You know what? At least she was hospitable! We had good food, a nice bed, and protection."
"It was practically kibbles 'n bits Rodney! And there was one bed."
"I thought it tasted pretty good…"
"You want to go back?"
"…no."
"Then shut it."
There was a tense quiet for a bit before Sheppard started to feel guilty. "Look, I'm sorry but I'm just a little wired right now. At least we're far enough away from…"
As he turned to get a look at exactly how far they'd traveled from the town, his heart dropped and the hair on his arms stood up. From a distance, he could see a large group heading in their direction.
xXx
Ronon felt his body growing weaker with every step. He checked back on Teyla every now and then but Han was making sure that her every need was attended to. He knew how much she meant to Ronon and was willing to die for her at this point.
As he continued on, he was suddenly aware of Izra keeping in stride with him.
He looked at her only momentarily but it was enough for them to make eye contact. Before he could look away, she was offering him a water gourd.
Thirst always overtook pride and he snatched it from her, gulping down as much as he could without emptying the container.
He handed it back to her and she took her turn.
"You have seen many hardships," she said. He could feel her eyes boring into him as he stubbornly looked ahead.
"Everybody here has," he grumbled, hoping to drop the subject. But she was persistent.
"What about you? What happened to you?"
"Why do you care?" he snapped.
She was quiet and he took a quick glance at her to see if he had offended her. But she looked calm and content – even in the sweltering heat.
Suddenly she stopped and he couldn't help but follow suit. She was staring ahead at something and he looked in her direction.
Very faintly, two figures appeared over a dune. They were too far away to study very well but they were definitely not the yellow creatures of the Xanians' choice cuisine.
"Who do you suppose that is?" Teyla asked, catching up to him.
Ronon shrugged.
"Do you think that it is…?"
He shook his head vigorously. "No. All the remaining Atonashes were killed, remember? That means Sheppard and McKay."
"You did not even look to see if they were really dead."
"We didn't have time!" he yelled. The subject was very sensitive. Sheppard would never have abandoned him but Ronon had known he couldn't risk the many lives of their group by going back into the town to search for two others – or their carcasses.
"They do not look like Xanians," Izra offered. "It could very well be your friends."
Ronon sighed. He wanted more than anything to believe that. "Let's go find out then," he suggested and before he knew what he was doing, he was sprinting towards the figures.
xXx
"How's it coming over there?" Weir asked as she saw Major Lorne approach her with a face covered in dirt.
He sighed and placed his hands on his hips. "There's nothing beneath the sand but it's not possible. It's too much like the sand we're used to. Not tunnel material."
Elizabeth sighed. They knew that from the start but she was hoping, just once, for something from an alien planet to actually be different from the equivalent on Earth.
"How's your progress?" he asked, skillfully changing the subject.
Dr. Weir stood back, shining her light over every stone. "From what we can tell, there aren't any etchings or writings anywhere. Usually when the Ancients build something they place some sort of clues as to what they were used for or…"
"Or how to get out of them," Lorne offered.
She nodded. "Right."
xXx
"They're running towards us now!" McKay shrieked. "What do we do?"
John watched the figure as it gained ground, running impossibly fast in such a temperature. But as it neared, he could see that it wasn't a Xanian. As it neared to about ten meters, he could see the familiar face.
"Ronon!" he said aloud.
"What? Really?" McKay said in disbelief.
Sheppard didn't even bother starting to run as he could see the large Satedan was already running at near light speed.
However, he didn't expect the momentum and force behind the Runner to nearly crush him when the big man committed the closest thing to a hug that Ronon could.
"We thought you were dead," he explained after releasing the colonel in his tight grip.
"Same," John coughed and slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Is Teyla with you?"
He nodded. "That Yorshef guy told us there was a gate out here."
Sheppard was distracted by the big crowd coming from behind. "Did you bring everyone?"
"Everyone that wanted to come."
They waited for the group to catch up and then continued on their journey, hoping to find their target.
xXx
Weir slid down the wall to sit next to Dr. Keller, who smiled politely but looked too exhausted to do much else.
"How is everyone?" she asked her.
Jennifer sighed and smiled lopsidedly. "I gave everyone as much help as I could but the fact is the air is thin in here and with all this work –
"Right," Elizabeth let out a deep breath. "Maybe our friends died from oxygen deprivation before the starvation."
"Hopefully," Keller chuckled darkly. "That would be a much better death."
Dr. Weir raised her brow but didn't reply.
Jennifer moaned. "I'm sorry – I know; positive thoughts. I'm trying really, but I tend to, uh, freak out in situations like this – not that I've ever been in situations like this, I mean I've never –
"You're fine, Dr. Keller," she assured. "I think everyone's feeling that way right now. But we will find a way out."
"Even if Atlantis radioed back in though, they couldn't even send in a puddle jumper. This place is too small."
"They could send supplies –
"Major Lorne!" someone shouted.
Despite her exhaustion, Jennifer shot up like a rocket and rushed towards the scene. Elizabeth followed close behind.
The major was on his back and writhing in pain. Upon closer inspection, she saw that his arm was wedged underneath one of the giant brick walls.
"What happened?" she asked in amazement.
"He was trying to dig a whole under the wall, I think," Clayburn stammered.
"Why would he do that?" Weir said skeptically. That made no sense.
"We had just talked about it and I reminded him that the wall would collapse but I guess he –
"It's okay," Dr. Weir assured as she tried to get a good look at the wall with her flashlight. "Luckily I don't think it's going to fall in on us – I think that just affected the first two layers."
Jennifer bent down to try and help lift the pressure off the major's arm but it was no use – the limb was lodged securely underneath the weight.
In frustration, she let a muttered "idiot" slip through.
"I'm sorry," he replied strenuously.
Dr. Keller nodded but didn't reply.
"Maybe it's not so bad," Elizabeth mused as she bent down to inspect the scene. Just above the brick that had been moved, was a small speck of light. Upon further inspection, she saw that the shift had actually allowed for a small hole. "We won't die of oxygen-deprivation at least. Well done, Major Lorne, you've given us air."
Soon everyone crowded around to see Evan's accidental feat.
"If he can do that, maybe we can make the hole bigger," someone suggested.
"No!" Dr. Weir heard herself shout. "No one is to touch anymore bricks. One false move and this entire construction could fall on top of us."
That fact seemed to dishearten some as they stepped away and returned to brainstorming. Meanwhile, the major was still in intense pain as he hissed and bit his lip to keep from crying out.
Jennifer gave him some pain medication but that was about as much as she could do.
Some of the men offered to help lift the brick but Weir worried about what it would do to the infrastructure.
Lorne agreed. "Don't…too dangerous…"
Elizabeth let him know she was glad he understood but then pulled Dr. Keller aside for a brief consultation.
Before she could even voice her suspicions, Jennifer voiced hers.
"Dr. Weir, I think there's a lot more wrong with Major Lorne than the fact that there's a giant brick crushing his arm."
Weir nodded. "I agree. The major wouldn't ever do something so…"
"Idiotic," Keller finished for her, nodding. "There's something up with his head, I'm sure. Just a moment ago, after I gave him his meds, he called me Linda and winked at me."
"The stress could be getting to him," Elizabeth suggested. "Maybe it's getting to all of us."
"All I know is that if we don't get that brick off his arm soon, he's going to lose it."
xXx
"Where is this gate?" McKay wondered aloud.
"All I know is that it is in the desert," Teyla replied. "I do not know the exact location."
"Well that's helpful," Rodney muttered and received a quick slap to the back of the head delivered by the colonel.
"What do you think will happen to these freaks now?" Ronon asked Teyla. "They wouldn't even listen to Yorshef – something bad is bound to happen."
"Every civilization has its trying times," she responded, heaving as they started up an incline. "They will eventually see the error of their ways. Did Earth not have its days of slavery as well, Colonel Sheppard?"
John fell back to join in on the conversation. "Still do kind of," he shrugged. "It's just not socially acceptable anymore."
"Do you think they're really that much more advanced than us?" McKay asked. "It seemed to me the intelligence level was about the same."
Before Sheppard could reply, someone in the crowd already on the top of the hill cried out and pointed.
The team rushed up and hurried behind them.
Instead of seeing the building they had all been searching for hours for, they instead saw an alien vessel, heading towards them at top speed.