The Journey
Chapter 9
"Peter, what's our status?" Dr. Weir enquired.
"We are almost done evacuating all non-essential personnel to the emergency sites. We should be ready to start moving additional resources through the gate within an hour. Persuading the Athosians to leave their community on the mainland is a bit more difficult, Dr. Snoek is still on the mainland talking to them."
"We can't waste to much them on that. We can offer to help them to relocate for the time being, but if they refuse, there is nothing we can do. Recall Dr. Snoek, we need all the Jumpers we have here. We only have just under five hours left before the Wraith get here, maybe even less than that. What about the off-world teams, any news?
"No, still no contact with Bates' team or with the exploration team on Athos."
"We need everyone we can get. Once the Wraith attack, they can't come back anymore. Recall the security team from Athos. Major Sheppard and the others will make it back on their own. Anything on the MALP data from PX-860?" Dr. Weir asked about the planet Sergeant Bates and his team had been sent to in desperate search of an energy source to power Atlantis' defenses.
"The MALP was destroyed by enemy fire." Dr. Grodin replied in a somber voice.
"We don't have the time or the resources to send out a rescue team. Sergeant Bates and all of his team knew that they were on their own when they stepped through the gate. We'll try to keep the Gate operational for as long as possible before disabling the dialing the dialing system. Unfortunately there is no way of letting Major Sheppard and his team know what is going on here. We are going to give them as much time as we can, but that is all I can do for them."
The next four hours passed slowly. Everyone was exhausted. Teyla and Rodney were still fighting the effects of the paralyzing poison that the creature had used on them. Beckett's healing touch helped speed up recovery, but it still took hours for mobility to return. Beckett himself was exhausted. It had been an eventful day and it seemed that healing other people using the gene seemed to be physically quite demanding. Once he was assured that all of his team mates were going to be all right for the time being, he fell asleep as well.
As soon as Rodney, who had been the first to be exposed to the poised, managed to get up on his own, he made his way to the computer. He recalled clearly that the creature had been searching for a ship that was supposedly been hidden in this temple. If it had been right, it would be an amazing find that could be very useful to them, especially considering that the Wraith were about the attack Atlantis in about five hours. Gripping the edge of the console hard to steady himself he focused on the computer, willing it to show the layout of the temple along with all present energy signatures. It took him a few tries, but eventually he got the map of what he had been thinking of. As expected, there were plenty of energy signatures: various computer panels, the force field that covered the entire temple and then a cluster of energy signatures, some of them quite intense, others hardly readable at all in the lowest level of the temple, right at the centre of the structure. Rodney had no idea what those could be. They could belong to just another control room, but so far the Ancients had been consistent in their architectures, the control rooms on each level had been on top of each other, always in the left wing of the building. Each level was identical to the others, except for the lowest level, which was architecturally the same, but had different energy signatures.
John woke to a splitting headache. When he forced his eyes open, he saw Teyla and Beckett hovering over him.
"How are you feeling, major?"
"Like something exploded inside my head."
"I've given you a blocking shot just now. Your head should be feeling better any time. Teyla told me what you did. I'm no expert on telepathy, but I don't think you should take those kind of risks. At least not until you are more experienced in dealing with your abilities."
"There aren't exactly many people to learn from around." John answered wryly and propped himself up on his elbows. His head was already feeling better. As much as he disliked the telepathy blocking shots that the Aronans had developed, they were very effective against the violent headaches his abilities often caused him.
"Are you all right?" he asked Teyla, who was sitting on his side.
"Yes, I'll be fine. The poison will wear off fully soon." She squeezed John's hand.
"What's been going on while I was out?"
"Not much. Everyone is tired. Dr. McKay is trying to find the ship that the creature has been trying to find, he believes that it really is somewhere in the temple."
"Not just he believes that it is somewhere in the temple. It is in the temple and I actually think that I found it." McKay entered the conversation. "All I have to do is go down there and check it out myself. You'll see that I'm right." McKay grinned self-satisfied.
"Okay, I'm coming with you." John groaned as he slowly got up from his position on the floor. "Teyla and Beckett, you stay here and keep on eye on our friend. I don't think it will pose any danger since it's gone back to hibernating, but you never know. Rodney and I are going to check out the alleged ship." John grabbed someone's P90 off the floor and started to follow Rodney out the door, when Dr. Beckett called after them.
"Wait, do you think that is such a good idea, what if another one of those creatures turns up here." Beckett sounded mildly panicked. Sheppard turned back. "There is only this one. It is the last one. We are alone here now." He stated simply. "We'll be back as soon as we can."
John and Rodney took the quickest path to the lowest level. At first glance it looked just like the others levels did. The same maze of corridors, the same control room in the left wing, the same musty air left undisturbed for millennia. It was probably just John's imagination, but as they were nearing the central room, he could swear that the darkness was getting thicker and the air was getting hotter. Finally they reached their destination. Instead of a huge empty hall, a metal bulkhead blocked their way less than three meters into the room. The bulkheads surface was smooth safe for what looked like a hatch with a panel next to it. Given their previous experience with Ancient technology, John reached out and touched the panel. As expected it came to light, and started to display information in Ancient characters. John couldn't read the Ancient's language, so he turned to Rodney, whose face seemed almost white in the darkness.
"Oh no!" Rodney said faintly, staring that the glowing characters on the panel..
"What is it?" John was becoming concerned.
"By touching that panel there you just triggered a self-destruct mechanism. If I'm right the entire temple is going to be destroyed in fifteen minutes."
TBC
