THE ELEDGIAS

CHAPTER FIVE: BURIED ATLANTIANS

—————————————————————————

It was suddenly very quiet. After the loud tremors of a moment before, it was almost fantastically so.

Nothing moved within the silent darkness except for bits of cascading dust and the occasional shiver of a settling rock.

The loudest noise came from a fat horsefly buzzing down through the gaping hole in the ceiling, circling once across the newly created rockpile below. Like a pet sniffing for its dinner, it searched for something to keep its interest, but nothing did, and it rose once more into the light.

Then, abruptly, a radio crackled to life.

"…pard….read me? …ling….coming….Colonel Shep….?"

Something groaned, and a hand shifted. A moment later, a dust covered arm rose from the ashes and slapped across a filthy vest.

The radio continued to call, the signal coming in clearer now.

"Colonel Sheppard, do you….is Halling. We felt...We're on our….Where…you?"

"Halling," Sheppard whispered, just before coughing out a mess of smoke and dust from his lungs. The flailing hand caught the radio and depressed the talk button. "Halling, this is Sheppard." He coughed some more.

"Oh, thanks be to... Colonel,... all right? We...back to the site...just happened?"

"Heck if I know," Sheppard replied, coughing heartily once more. Then he looked up at the sunlight streaming down on his head…and remembered.

"Ronon!" he shouted, trying to sit up…but something pinned his left arm. He realized, with some horror, that he couldn't actually feel the limb. Pushing it from his mind, he turned his head from side to side, trying to see through the thick dust smoke glittering in the light streaming through the massive hole in the corridor ceiling. "Ronon?"

"Here," a deep voice moaned, "I'm here."

Sheppard turned his head to the right, blinking through the muck on his eyelids, and watched as what he had previously thought to be a pile of rocks lifted up, shards of fallen ceiling sliding off a rounded back. It was like watching a comic book hero emerging from beneath a building that had just fallen on him.

Ronon straightened up fully, dirt, rock and ash sliding off the muted yellow jacket, and staggered a little, shaking grey and black dust from his massive head of hair. When he finally turned to look at Sheppard, it was like looking at a wookie, so much dirt covered was the man's face.

Sheppard grinned. "Hey," his smile fell a little, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Ronon muttered. He blinked a bit, stared at Sheppard again, and then narrowed his eyes. "You?"

"Can't move my left arm, but," he experimentally moved his legs—slight twinge in his back but otherwise they seemed to be fine, "otherwise okay."

"Colonel," Halling's voice came in much more clearly now on the radio now. "We will be there soon. Ten minutes at the most."

"Thanks, Halling," Sheppard replied, then sighed.

"You can't move your left arm because part of the ceiling's on it," Ronon informed him.

"Ah," Sheppard looked to his left, seeing the massive chunk of metal and stone that, indeed, appeared to be covering his arm. It would explain why he could see the sky so clearly above his head. He hadn't really perceived it before because of all the mess. "Can you get me out?"

Ronon shrugged, "I can try." He took a step, wobbled a bit, then started climbing over the rocks and earth to get to Sheppard.

The colonel watched for a second, then his eyes widened. His right hand found the radio on his left shoulder again, hitting the talk button.

"Teyla? Rodney? You okay?"

He waited…but nothing but static echoed over the airwaves. Ronon had reached him by this point, and was inspecting the rock pinning the colonel's left arm, though his eyes glanced to meet Sheppard's when no reply came over the radio. The colonel grimaced, hitting the talk button again.

"McKay! Teyla! Respond! Can you hear me?"

He gritted his teeth, and Ronon felt beneath the slab of rock, feeling for the center, to find the best leverage.

"McKay! Damn it," he flipped the radio to another frequency, "McKay, Teyla, answer me!" He tried another, "McKay!"

"They're not responding," Ronon stated matter-of-factly, seeing the increasing agitation in the colonel's face. "Probably because they can't."

Sheppard glared at him. "Get me out of here," he growled. "Now!"

Ronon nodded, heaving up on the stone, and Sheppard yelled in pain.

————————————————————

TBC – nowhere to go but up, eh? Literally.