THE ELEDGIAS
CHAPTER THREE: RUINED TROUSERS
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"Is there any reason why you had to park the jumper ten miles away from the ruins?" Rodney griped, shifting his pack up on his back and glaring at the back of Sheppard's head a couple feet in front of him.
"There was no other clearing close enough, Rodney," Sheppard snapped back. "And it's not ten miles. It's barely two."
"Two miles! Two miles is still half an hour of my life I'll never get back, tromping through underbrush, ruining yet another pair of trousers, getting scratched up by every low lying branch or bramble bush…."
"Well, if you looked where you were going, you'd probably avoid all that, considering we're on a perfectly obvious path!"
"Path? Path? This? This isn't even a goat track, Colonel! There see, your hair just got attacked by a branch and…ow…you did that on purpose! Flicking that branch in my face, didn't you?"
"Did it hurt?"
"Yes!"
"Then I did it on purpose."
"Oh, ho, very witty. Ack! There, see? Now I've ripped these pants on a thorn bush. And we have a limited supply, I might add. I was just getting used to this pair and then you force me to slog through the muck and mire—"
"Muck and mire? We're in the woods, McKay! Not the black lagoon. Do you even hear what you're saying?"
"Not while you keep deliberately trying to blind me by flinging branches into my face, no. I'm too distracted by the pain you seem so happy to inflict!"
"I'm not deliberately—"
"There! Ouch! See? You just did it again!"
"Okay, that's it. You really need to shut up now," the colonel growled, his shoulders tensing as he threw a glare back at McKay.
"Or what?" McKay rebounded, "You'll shoot me? Please. Elizabeth would have your hide."
"No," Sheppard whirled his head around, shooting daggers at the scientist, who sneered back, unfazed, "but I could make your life hell in other ways."
"You? Ha! Who's the one who knows how to run the City, Colonel, hmm? You think I don't know how to make your life hell in return? Even Zelenka admitted once, much to his embarrassment I might add, that I know more about the City than anyone else. You try anything, and I mean anything, and—"
"Colonel, Doctor McKay, please," Teyla interrupted, turning around from her position on point to stare at them entreatingly. "We are not far now."
Both men screwed their faces up a little, but, for the time being, didn't continue their usual sparring match. In back, looking bored and now grateful for Teyla's interference, Ronon gave the woman a smile. She met his eyes briefly, acknowledged it, then turned again, returning to leading the way.
"There, see?" Sheppard hissed over his shoulder after a much too brief pause. "Now you've got Teyla mad at us. And it's all your fault."
"Me?" Rodney hissed back, reaching Sheppard's side. "You're the one who parked the jumper in no man's land."
"It was the closest clearing!" Sheppard snapped, still keeping his voice low. "Besides, you could use the exercise."
"What I could use is more time to study these ruins, Colonel! Especially seeing as I'm going to be doing most of the work myself. Parking us fifteen miles away from them doesn't help—"
"Two miles! Not even!"
"Then how come we're not there yet? Surely we should—"
"We are here," Teyla announced a little more loudly than necessary, a tension in her voice that wasn't lost on Sheppard and McKay. The two men reached her side, and the sneer on Rodney's face immediately melted away to wonder as he took in the ruins up close for the first time. He barely noticed as Halling and two other Athosians approached from the side.
"This is wonderful," he breathed softly, lifting the scanner in his hand. It told him exactly what the jumper's scans had told him before—power, faint, but there, still ran something underneath all this, and he was determined to find out what it was. Looking up again, he stepped forward and gently touched a free standing, ivy colored column, fingers running lightly down the side. Trees and bushes, ferns and moss had overgrown this place, but they couldn't hide it completely.
Teyla allowed herself a small smile. Rodney made a show of being a jerk, but he was reacting to the ruins exactly as she knew he would, even if he wasn't aware of it himself—reverentially.
Ronon and Sheppard stood just behind Teyla, the former keeping an eye on the wandering scientist while the colonel met Halling's gaze with a welcoming smile.
"Hey, Halling, long time no see."
"Colonel," the tall man smiled beatifically back, "it is good to see you as well. Jinto has missed your stories." Turning, Halling smiled at Ronon, "And you must be Ronon Dex?" The former Runner simply nodded in return, noting their equal heights only cursorily, then refocused on Rodney. Halling's smile didn't falter at the cool greeting, and he turned to look towards Rodney as well.
"McKay," Sheppard barked, recalling the scientist. Rodney glanced up from where he'd been kneeling, uncovering a dead circuit board on one of the columns, and a brief flash of annoyance crossed his face before he closed the panel back up and stood, brushing the earth from his knees. He trotted over, raising a hand in hello to Halling and calling out a distracted, "Hey." The Athosian smiled some more.
"As you can see," Teyla said to Halling, "only my team is here. However, I have told Doctor McKay that if he discovers something important enough that a small scientific team should follow up this visit, that we would not hinder them."
Rodney was staring off to the side, at some other part of the ruins, fingers twitching at his sides with impatience, but Sheppard was watching the interchange between the Athosians keenly. He saw the underlying tension in both Teyla and Halling—something he hadn't seen since the Athosians first left the City for the Mainland. Ronon, new to all this, just absorbed the interaction, cataloguing it for later.
Slowly, Halling inclined his head. "A small scientific team," he repeated. "I suppose that would be acceptable."
Teyla arched an eyebrow at him—it clearly said she did not needed his permission to make such a promise to the Atlantians.
"In the meantime," she continued, brushing over the moment, "as Doctor McKay will tell you, we are more interested in what is beneath these ruins rather than above. In your explorations of this place, have you found any stairs or entrances leading down?"
Halling stared at her a moment longer, then nodded. "Yes. Several."
"At least six main ones, yes?" Rodney interrupted, glancing up at Halling, eyes focusing once more on the tall man. He was clearly completely oblivious to whatever was going on between the tall Athosian and Teyla, stepping up to Halling's side and pulling out his scanner. On it was the blueprint of the site. "According to what we found in the database, there should be entrances here," he pointed to a spot not far from their position, "here," another spot about a hundred feet away from the first, "and four more up here," he scrolled up the screen, zooming out, and four more dots appeared, all about a hundred feet from each other. "Forms almost a hexagon."
"We have located three of those," Halling said, almost reluctantly, "the first two and one of the entrances further north." He gestured vaguely in that direction. "Only the one you pointed out second does not appear to be as blocked as the others." He glanced at McKay. "Do you need us to help you find them?"
"No, no," McKay waved a hand, "We'll find them easily enough. But thanks for the offer." He stepped away, once more absorbed completely in the scanner.
"Wait," the Athosian called, and Rodney looked back at him. Halling's eyes softened a little, "Did…did the City tell you what this site was used for?"
McKay shook his head, "No. It would appear that the purpose was kept out of the main database, though we don't know why." He flashed a quick smile, "But we'll soon find out. Now, the first entrance," he pointed in off to the left, "that-a-way?"
"Yes."
"Great."
Halling followed the hunched figure as Rodney wandered off in that direction--the scientist stopping when he reached another almost perfectly intact column to run his scanner over the surface.
"Well," Halling said, focusing once more on Teyla, Ronon and Sheppard, "I suppose you do not need us any longer. We will let you explore."
"Thank you, Halling," Teyla said.
"We'll call you if we need you," Sheppard added. He tapped the radio on his chest, "Do you have your radio?"
"Of course," Halling lifted his radio out of a pocket.
"Good, and, uh," the colonel stepped forward, lowering his voice, "thanks again. We will treat this place with the respect it deserves, I promise you. Teyla's trust in us is not misplaced."
Halling's eyes squinted for a second, then, slowly, he smiled. "Of course, John Sheppard. Thank you." And he turned and nodded once at Ronon, then finally to Teyla. He inclined his head to her in farewell, and she did the same. A moment later, and all three Athosians were disappearing into the forest, headed back to their camp.
"Okay, okay," Rodney put his scanner away, clapped his hands together and started rubbing them in anticipation. "How are we doing this?"
"Well, you're the scientist, Rodney," Sheppard said, already sounding a little bored, "You tell us."
"Ah, right," he pulled out his scanner again, then pointed to Sheppard, "And you have yours, yes?"
"My scanner, yes." The colonel pulled his out.
"Give it to me," Rodney snapped his fingers, holding his hand out. Sheppard gave him a dark look, but did as he was told. The scientist fiddled with it for a moment, then handed it back. It now showed the same blueprint screen that Rodney's did. "Why don't you and Ronon take the north side, the three entrances up there, while Teyla and I look at the three here on the South side."
"Works for me," the colonel glanced at Ronon, "and you?"
"Fine," Ronon stated. Sheppard grinned, and, holding up the scanner, led the way to the first entrance.
Teyla stayed with Rodney, who was once more fiddling with his own scanner. When he didn't move for a few moments, she couldn't resist a small smile.
"Doctor?"
"Hmm?" he looked up, then blinked. "Oh. Yes, yes, we can go."
She raised both eyebrows, "Lead the way?"
"Right, right." And, shifting the pack up again on his back, McKay turned and started off.
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TBC – can you feel the impending doom? Because there's always impending doom, isn't there?(bg)