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If I Die
Chapter 3 - Mental Notes
The source was discovered to be two engine-powered vehicles following a roughly hewn path up the mountainside. Sheppard, having led his teammates as close to the road as he dared, now knelt in the ground using a fallen tree as cover, binoculars fixed on the small convoy below.
They looked like jeeps, albeit jeeps with a different sense of style to the ones used on earth. They were slimmer and taller, standing above the ground in four thick wheels, but they were of a similar length. Two men rode in the front cabin, their faces partially disguised behind a metal grill that seemed to serve as a windscreen. The back resembled a trailer, little more than a box on wheels, with a metal cage-like structure giving it some form. Three men rode within, dressed in neutral colors of beige, brown and a deep green, trousers and sleeveless shorts. But even without the camouflage, the long, metal devices held in their hands labeled them easily.
"Soldiers," Sheppard breathed. "Looks like they're on patrol."
"Yet I saw no tracks by the Stargate," Teyla whispered.
"Maybe they don't know about Gate travel," Ford suggested. He shifted uneasily against the undergrowth, both hands on his gun.
McKay snorted softly. "They'd be one of the only people we've met who don't."
"How about we ask them?" Sheppard suggested, stalling a discussion before it could erupt.
"I will go," Teyla offered.
"We'll watch your back."
She nodded quickly, then rose, slipping soundlessly into the trees. Sheppard tried to watch her path but her movements barely ruffled a single leaf and he soon gave up and turned his attention back to the road.
A single "Greetings," called out down the hillside prompted the soldiers in the jeeps to raise their weapons, the vehicles pulling to a clumsy stop. Teyla emerged about ten meters to the left of their aim and waved.
"Hello there."
The weapons turned on her, prompting Sheppard to raise his own, but Teyla only smiled and started to walk towards the road, continuing to hold her hands in the air. "I am Teyla Emmagan. My teammates and I are travelers from distant lands. We mean you no ill will. Perhaps we can talk awhile?"
There was a brief commotion in the nearest truck as it occupants whispered to each other. "Where are your companions?" a voice called back.
Sheppard hesitated, but since Teyla was now within arms reach of the first vehicle and was still unharmed, he judged their risk of being target practice was an acceptable one. He turned to the others with a "that's our cue," and then rose, McKay and Ford following suit, weapon held down against his leg.
"Hi," he said, offering his best smile, but making no move forward.
The door to the first jeep opened and a man stepped out. He was tall, with olive skin, older than Sheppard with skin wrinkled by the years, and hair graying at the edges. He held no weapon, and at his signal ordered the other men to lower their own.
"My name is Haleel Jawesh," the leader stated, smoothly. He looked up at Teyla. "And your team?"
Sheppard started the short descent down the hill, Ford and McKay on his heels, and drew to a stop alongside Teyla. "Major John Sheppard. This is Lieutenant Ford, and Doctor McKay."
"Ah." Jawesh turned to Sheppard, his eyes flicking across the stranger's garb. "You are not native to this land."
"Not exactly." Sheppard hesitated, ready to assess Jawesh's reaction. "We came through the Stargate."
His comment earned a confused blink. "The Stargate?"
"Big, circular thing on top of the mountain," Ford explained. "You might have a different name for it."
"The Great Circle." The older man had taken a step back, looking at Sheppard appraisingly. "You say you are travelers? Not of this land?"
"Not of this planet, actually," said McKay.
Jawesh's eyebrows suddenly threatened to bury themselves into his hair line. "You are not of this world?" He shook his head, still disbelieving. "I did not think I would live so long as to meet travelers from the skies, although tales are told of trips through the Great Circle." He hesitated, then asked: "Have you heard of our planet? The great civilization of the Silani?"
"Um…" Sheppard's turn to hesitate.
"We have not been so fortunate," Teyla interrupted, smoothly. "However, we desire more knowledge of other worlds and are eager to learn all of your culture and history."
"And maybe do some business," Aiden added.
Jawesh's eyebrows continued to climb. "Traders as well as explorers."
"Well…" Sheppard glanced at the soldiers in the jeeps around him. "Medical supplies, food, that sort of thing."
Jawesh looked at McKay appraisingly. "Our people are also eager for knowledge. I know our scientists would be keen to exchange medical ideas."
"Ah," McKay began. "I'm not that sort of doctor. I'm a doctor of physics." He gestured vaguely with both hands. "Of, uh, gravity, and velocity, and…"
"McKay figures out why stuff does what it does," Sheppard summed up succinctly, earning himself a blue-eyed glare. "Machines, mostly."
Jawesh's expression of strength faltered, and he took a step towards McKay. "You are a doctor of machines
"Yes," McKay answered, briefly glancing meaningfully at Sheppard: "Basically."
Jawesh's mouth opened, ready to say something more, but then he closed it, clammed up, hiding his previous eagerness behind a controlled mask. The error was not lost on Sheppard, who silently filed the moment away under 'things to be examined later when there are less guns around.'
"The Silani government will be most eager to meet all of you," Jawesh said, quickly. "But it is not safe here."
Sheppard glanced about him, as though expecting Wraith to jump out of the bushes and shout 'boo.' "Really?"
"The Silani government has its," Jawesh hesitated delicately, "problems."
Huh. "Well then," with a gesture of his hand, "Lead the way."
"Our city lies some distance from here." Jawesh nodded at the two vehicles standing behind him. "You and I, Major, shall take this carrier, accompanied perhaps by your Doctor McKay?"
McKay blinked, as though astonished to hear his name, then nodded. "I'd love to see it's engines," he said, approaching the nearest vehicle, apparently oblivious to the shifting of weapons amongst Jawesh's men. A slight, almost imperceptible hand gesture from their leader and the weapons dropped, but Sheppard had noticed the movement, even if McKay had not.
"Perhaps later," Jawesh said, smiling. "I imagine there will be much of interest for you to see."
Sheppard nodded at Ford and Teyla. "You two okay to go together?"
"Yes sir," answered Ford, eyeing up his 'carrier' speculatively. "I'm looking forward to the ride."
The carriers, it turned out, not only looked but drove like jeeps. Battered, elderly jeeps. They creaked and clattered over both rocks and mud, oversized wheels grinding and crunching up and down hills, through ditches and squashing all beneath. Two of Jawesh's men sat in the front cab, next to the driver. Two others joined McKay, Sheppard and Jawesh in the back, and three clambered into the back of Ford and Teyla's carrier. The passengers stood gripping the metal rails of the cage, dividing Sheppard's concentration between the scenery around him, and trying to keep his balance. Periodically one of the men next to the driver would bang on the partition that separated them, reminding the carrier's passengers to duck to avoid low hanging branches.
Hardly the most dignified ride, John thought, although a thoroughly enjoyable one. A boys ride, although when he craned his head to watch the carrier behind theirs he saw Teyla, a look of unrestrained excitement on her face, hair whipping back to reveal a smile and bright eyes.
Sheppard lent into McKay's ear, having to shout above the sound of the wind. "You think Teyla's ever been in something like this?"
McKay, who was looking distinctly pasty, shook his head. "No idea." His hands gripped the metal railing tightly, his knuckles turning white. "Did I mention I was travel sick?"
Rolling his eyes, Sheppard turned his attention to the city ahead. As the distance between the carriers and their target decreased, more details revealed themselves through the trees. Several hundred small buildings of mud brick and metal sheeting housed the inhabitants, and crowded around a larger edifice. Four stories high, it was the only building made of the same stone as the city walls, and seemed to share its strength, roofed by green tiles and towering over the rest of the settlement.
"The great city of Silan," Jawesh said, his face beaming.. "Have you seen any finer?"
Sheppard thought briefly of Atlantis, emerging from the sea, silver spires glittering in the sunlight like some great, glass cathedral. "Not recently."
The carrier was moving at a faster rate, bumping along the track as it dove steeply down the hillside. The rough movement knocked Sheppard against the caging, prompted McKay to screw his eyes shut and flinch with each new shudder. It was only as the road started to flatten and widen, and trees started to thin, that the scientist relaxed enough to open one eye and peer at the city as it loomed ahead of them.
The road led towards an angular projection of the wall, a great stone archway as high as the tallest trees. Jawesh's proud smile now threatened to split his face. He gestured up at the wall as it drew closer, blocking out the sun. "This wall has stood for many generations, for a time beyond even our historian's remembering. But I like to imagine that my own ancestors had a hand in its creation."
"It's, uh, nice," Sheppard said back, wondering whether Jawesh would continue to wear that same smile if he had glimpsed Earth's Great Wall of China, or Atlantis itself. He raised his head and fixed himself with an expression of suitable awe, but this faltered as his gaze focused. Paying the wall closer attention, Sheppard began to see patches of paler stone, seemingly newer, bricks free of moss and of a coarser, clumsier craft. The city wall had seen damage, some recent, and the hasty efforts to cover the holes were less than successful.
Jawesh caught Sheppard staring, and his face darkened. "Not all respect Silani history," he said, gravely. "Some seek to destroy that which shelters and protects us." He glanced at McKay. "I imagine there are such fools on every world, however."
McKay, whose attention was focused on controlling his stomach contents, nodded vaguely. "Uh-huh. Completely." He stretched out a finger, pointed at a spot above the highest point of the stone arch. "What's that?"
Sheppard squinted, and with effort could just make out an image carved deep into the stone, and flecked with gleaming gold. A human figure, dressed in a long robe, held up a square, flat object with both arms. In the top right hand corner a simplistic sun beamed merrily, its rays reaching out to touch the flat object.
"That is a relic of times past," Jawesh said, his face gaining the same tight, pinched expression he had worn before. Dropping his gaze, he turned his back on Sheppard and McKay to address the driver in a quick, sharp tongue.
Second mental note of the day, Sheppard thought, privately. He glanced at McKay and saw the scientist wearing his frustration openly, chewing on his lip and staring up at the image above them with an intense look, nausea temporarily forgotten.
On Jawesh's instruction the jeep had begun to slow, traveling under the arch and finally drawing to a stop in the courtyard beyond. The second carrier pulled in alongside them, a cloud of dust rising form its wheels. One of the guards climbed out of the carrier's front cabin and was now unhooking the back flap, dropping the side to allow its passengers to clamber out. Sheppard followed Jawesh, dropping to the dirt neatly. Another guard did the same for the second jeep. Ford bounded out quickly, Teyla following with more grace.
Sheppard grinned at her. "Enjoy that?"
She did her best to brush the hair from her eyes, her cheeks flushed. "It was most exhilarating."
"Can we go again?" Ford asked, bouncing on his heels and grinning.
McKay was still, carefully, climbing out of the carrier, brushing off the offers of help from a nearby guard. He looked distinctly green. "I really hope not."
The two carriers and their cargo stood in a large, empty courtyard, surrounded on either side by towering stone. On the opposite side to the archway were two great wooden doors, and stood in front of them were a line of soldiers dressed in similar clothing to their compatriots, each one armed. Jawesh was busy talking excitedly with one of their number, occasionally gesturing towards the Atlanteans wildly, whilst the other man's eyes grew wider and wider.
Sheppard side-stepped to stand next to Ford. "So," he asked, in a low voice, "You think they're talking about us?"
"Don't know what we've done to deserve so much attention," said Ford, grinning. "I guess folks round here aren't used to visitors."
Teyla was frowning, studying the conversation between Jawesh and the stranger closely. "His reaction seems most odd considering the strength of this city. I have never seen a settlement so large or fortified as this without the people knowing of gate travel."
"And what about those?" McKay, now a healthier shade of pink, was nodding up at the walls around them. In the centre of each was a picture similar in size and style to the one above the arch. To the right, two figures rode what looked like an odd shaped lion, but with greater angles, with a face to its front and a tail at the back. Half-beast, half-carrier. To the left, a woman stood before a bountiful harvest of fruits and wheat, her arms held out wide. And before them, above the wooden doors, a male figure stood holding a long staff, his back bowed slightly in effort, as in the sky above him hovered…
"Wraith," Teyla said, grimly.
Sheppard studied the image of the dart, its neat lines contrasting sharply with the more organic curves of the figure below it. "Funny Jawesh didn't mention them," he murmured. "Us being the first travelers from the sky, and all."
"But look at the staff," McKay said, momentarily forgetting to lower his voice. "The way it's being held. Major, I think –"
"Visitors!" Jawesh called out to them, a smile plastered to his face. "Come! I shall lead you to our council halls."
Sheppard nodded, pulling his gaze away from the carving in time to see Jawesh's expression falter a third time, to see the man's eyes flick towards McKay, and then back when he realized he was being watched.
Hmm. Third mental note.
This, Sheppard decided, following Jawesh as the great doors opened for them, was going to be interesting.
