THE ELEDGIAS

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THWAP!

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Ronon followed Teyla at a discreet distance. He had agreed last week to meet her for a training session this afternoon, to teach some of his techniques to the Athosians, but, oddly, she hadn't shown up. He'd done the training, regardless, though he could tell that the group was not happy that their former leader hadn't even bothered to explain her lack of appearance. Finally, Ronon called it short, disliking their distraction, telling them they'd pick up at a later date.

And he'd gone in search of Teyla.

He found her in the last place he had expected to—walking purposefully through the science lab corridors, not too far from McKay's lab. If he hadn't decided to cut through the same corridors to get to the Gate Room, he would have missed her.

She seemed intent on something, walking without really seeing anyone around her. She even ignored someone who called her name in greeting at one point, though it's possible she didn't hear the person.

Possible, but unlikely.

It made him wonder if, maybe...McKay hadn't been so far off. Combined with the strangeness of earlier, when he'd chased after her to make sure she was all right, it really did suggest that there was something off about her. He hadn't wanted to say anything to Sheppard, but now...

Oh, he didn't believe that this woman wasn't Teyla, but...what if that place had messed with her head somehow too? He'd seen it happen enough times in his lifetime to know that technology could warp minds. If that so-called light McKay had seen did something to her...

He grimaced. He hoped it wasn't true. But, to be fair, as he told Sheppard, except for what happened on Doranda, he had yet to see McKay wrong about something. And, from what he heard from others around here, it was rare that the scientist even made mistakes. Sure, McKay was grating and obnoxious, but it hadn't taken Ronon more than a few days here to understand the depth of respect and faith that these people had in McKay's abilities. For the scientist to be that revered while also being the most annoying man Ronon had ever met...It told you something.

And then there was Sheppard. The colonel trusted McKay. He may joke about it, but even when McKay conjectured hypotheses out of thin air, Sheppard took whatever he said practically as gospel. The two were best friends, that was obvious, but, at first, Ronon could not figure out why...until he realized how much they relied on each other to see each other through. And together, they were formidable. He understood why Teyla stayed with these people, once he had a chance to see both McKay and Sheppard in action. She had told him it was because Atlantis was the best hope for them all...but it was not the City that promised hope--it was these two men, and the ones who followed them.

But when they were at odds...

Like now...

It made the whole City feel weaker.

So, he followed Teyla around. Not because he necessarily wanted to prove McKay right, but because he wanted to show Sheppard that his best friend possibly wasn't just, how had Sheppard put it back on the Mainland...whistling Dixie?

And...because, deep down, he was worried for Teyla. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. It was hard enough to admit it to himself. It meant he was getting close to these people, and to her in particular, and that scared him a little.

Regardless...here he was.

And she was heading towards a transporter.

Damn.

He saw her step in, hit a portion of the map, and the doors slid shut.

Running up to the transporter as soon as it opened again, he hesitated only a moment, not sure which of two destinations she might have hit, then took a chance...

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"Teyla, you there, lass?" Carson said, calling over the radio and sitting down heavily on the chair in his office. He waited a few moments, then tried again. "Teyla? It's Doctor Beckett in the infirmary, please respond."

When there was still no reply, he checked his watch. It was possible she was training in the gym, in which case she wouldn't have her radio on. Maybe he'd head down there to ask….This was probably better asked in person anyway.

Damn that man.

Carson sighed, standing up and stretching at his desk, before yawning deeply. Rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, he turned and glanced out of his office at the infirmary. For a moment, he just stared, then his eyes narrowed.

He ran out of the office, stopping with a whumpf as he ran into the end of the empty, mussed infirmary bed. For a moment, he just stared in shock at all the dangling wires and the loose IV drip, then his expression clouded over like a thunderstorm.

"MARIA!" he shouted, "Where the bloody hell is he!"

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With a handy stolen laptop from the infirmary, McKay quickly set about disabling the sensors so they wouldn't detect his presence, then turned and studied the unused lab he'd chosen to hide in more carefully. Adjusting the radio on his ear, careful of the bruising on his head, he made sure he could hear the others before continuing with his plan.

He had to find out what those ruins had been. Once he knew, he could understand better what had happened to Teyla. And why it had created that android to put in her place.

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Ronon simply watched for a few moment, his brow creasing. Teyla stood before one of the Ancient databases in what was clearly a non-occupied part of the City, the green screen before her casting her silhouette in a jade glow. She had stood there for about a minute, just watching the screen, before resting her hand on the console and…from the looks of it…turning it on.

The former Runner frowned, confused by this. He may be new here, but he was still fairly certain that Teyla did not have this so-called "gene" that many of the Atlantians had. The same gene that allowed McKay to access every database in the City with a wave of his hand and Sheppard to fly the puddle jumpers. Frowning even more, he watched as, with barely a movement from the Athosian, the screen flooded with information, which Teyla seemed to be reading with an ease that also seemed…odd.

He heard her make a strange noise after a few moments, then a tiny gasp. Her hands started moving then, shifting crystals around, as if looking for something particular. Then they stopped again, and more information flooded past.

Okay, that he knew she couldn't do. Teyla had told him, without any embarrassment, that she had no understanding of the work McKay did when he configured crystals or worked on lab stations. She had said as much to him on Doranda, when they left Sheppard and McKay in the main room while they had explored the rest of the complex.

Oh crap.

McKay was right. Either Teyla had suddenly acquired skills she didn't have before, or…this wasn't Teyla.

Stepping out from the shadow, he walked up slowly behind her, one hand resting on the gun at his hip, his expression still one of honest bewilderment.

"Teyla," he called quietly, just as he reached within a couple of feet of her. She flinched, then settled, but didn't turn around. He took another step forward, "Teyla, I think you'd better tell me what—"

THWAP!

Ronan gasped, staggering backwards, his hands pressed to his throbbing throat where Teyla's rock hard fist had just slammed into his larynx. How did she move so fast? No one had sucker punched him like that since he was a boy! He could only focus on breathing through the already swelling esophagus as he looked up, to see Teyla bouncing back and forth on her feet before him, arms raised defensively like a boxer's.

"You should not have followed me," she warned. "I would not have hurt you."

He tried to respond, but it hurt too much. Eyes watering, he tried to straighten, only to see her twist in a blur of movement which resulted in a booted foot impacting his head in a solid roundhouse kick.

He landed flat on his back, still conscious, amazingly enough. He could be damned stubborn about that sort of thing when he needed to be. She was by his side in a second, kneeling on one knee next to his head, staring down at him with soulless eyes.

He opened his mouth, trying one more time to talk to her.

The hand she cracked across his temple and cheekbone ended that attempt, and all he knew after that was darkness.

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McKay sighed, rubbing at his head. The orchestra had moved on from Grieg to Wagner. He was pretty sure it was something from the Ring cycle, involving lots of drums and screeching violins, played by a terrible high school orchestra. He dragged a cold, shaking palm across his tired eyes, then returned to the Database scrolling before him on the laptop screen.

He'd tried everything he could think of to bring up information about the ruins on the Mainland, but nothing had come up. References to something existing out there abounded, but not one of them actually said what it was. Every single reference simply called it by its name, Eledgias (which was how Elizabeth had pronounced it, and he was happy to go with it), but no indication as to purpose or point.

Scrolling back to the blue prints they'd found originally, he zoomed in and zoomed out on the image, trying to get a sense of what he was looking at. At the top, the same name, Eledgias, written in carefully printed Ancient.

He stopped, staring at the name for a moment.

Hang on….

Like everyone, he'd assumed it was a proper name. Like Atlantis. In their research, they'd learned that the Ancients had named many things in this City—each pier had a name, some of the towers, some of the residence wings within the towers—none of which they actually used. It was simply easier for them to use directionals, like north, south, east, and west. But it was fairly clear that the names used were honorifics—named after long, dead and gone Ancients who were probably leaders or great scientists or commanders….They'd assumed the same about this place.

But what if Eledgias wasn't someone's name? What if Eledgias was just a noun? Meaning, rather than being called Eledgias, it was simply an eledgias.

He zoomed out fully, taking in the whole site, eyes drifting to the six entrances, including the main one he and Teyla had found. They did indeed form a hexagon.

Eledgias …eh-ledge-ee-ass...With a flash of insight, he realized it sounded a little like…elegy. A song of mourning, a song for the dead. It was a Greek word, wasn't it?

Good lord….

He quickly called up the translator on his laptop, and searched for the Ancient equivalent of a word common in the English dictionary.

"It doesn't exist," he whispered as the search came up empty, his eyes widening. Of course not. Why would it? They just assumed all Ancients ascended, so why would they need….But the Ancients didn't always ascend, did they? They lived and died just like human beings. Of course, they'd found that crematorium on one of the piers, but it wasn't as old as the City was. He'd heard some of the archeologists wondering what the Ancients did with their dead if they didn't cremate them. The only two other options seemed to be burial at sea or...

"To bury them," McKay whispered again staring at the complex blueprints, finally making sense of a lot of the passing references he'd come across, their context suddenly perfectly obvious in his mind.

Eledgias ….

…meant tomb.

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TBC...he's such a clever little man, isn't he? LOL!