WORST CASE SCENARIO - by NotTasha
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CHAPTER 2: HOW TO SEARCH A ROOM USING A TWO-MAN TEAM
The place was damn eerie, Sheppard decided, mostly because the place was also damn familiar. It looked too much like an 'Earth' town of yesteryear. There were brick buildings with little architectural embellishments – grocery stores, stables, clothing stores and hardware stores -- a town square, a little park in the middle of town, something that looked like a firehouse – and all of it was desperately empty. Even the 'livery', where some sort of horse-like animals were once kept, was barren of life.
The fog wended between the buildings, ghostlike.
The situation made John's chest tighten a bit as he moved through the empty town, thinking of Earth, wondering if it would be like this if the Wraith ever…
"Look," McKay said, sounding almost cheerful, "They had a bakery!" And he moved toward the door that hung open. He made a tsking sound when he found the place bereft of dainties. "Too bad," he muttered, standing in the doorway. "Still…" he paused and looked over his shoulder. "Where did it all go?"
"Where did what go?" Sheppard asked tiredly.
"The donuts," McKay responded, "The pies, the little…cakes." He furrowed his brow in thought as he glanced around the room. The glassed in cabinets that once held pastries, now displayed only a few crumbs and empty plates. The glass was filthy around the bottom, but only dusty otherwise. A sliding door in back was ajar, showing how something must have entered.
"Whatever raided this place must have been relatively small," McKay went on. "No bigger than a cat, judging by the size of the opening. Didn't really break anything… just got in and… ate."
"Not rats though," Sheppard stated.
McKay shrugged. "Maybe the rats recovered from the near mass extinction." He gazed longingly at the empty bakery case.
"Anything can come back," Sheppard decided. After a moment, he commented, "Let's keep moving," and, somewhat dejectedly, McKay turned from the bakery and they continued on their way.
They moved onward. From time to time, they could hear Ronon and Teyla's quiet conversations in their earpieces – so far the other two had said little. In fact, the pair had been almost silent in their search – perhaps to make up for the racket that they were forced to endure on the other end of the transmission.
McKay commented as he walked, "It's a good thing we're getting regular supplies from the Daedalus, otherwise I'd think about picking up some of the clothing and other things that was left behind in the stores. Imagine what we'd be wearing now if we didn't have contact with Earth. Remember the beige jackets?"
"I didn't have to wear one."
"Hmmph. Well, some of us had to. It wasn't good. Alright, forgetting that, everything edible here seems to be gone. Something went through this town and picked it clean."
"Yeah," John replied.
McKay fiddled with his scanner. He bit his lip a little and mentioned, "There does seem to be some life forms hanging around. Not much of anything, but… something is out there."
Sheppard looked up as a seabird with an incredibly wide wingspan soared over them. "Birds," he said, pointing upward.
"Yeah," McKay replied. "I guess."
The next business was a clothing store that looked almost untouched, except for a toppled rack at the back of the store. And after that, a butcher shop was cleaned out – the bones reduced to shards. The next store tempted McKay. It appeared to be filled with goods imported from other worlds, so they spent some time messing about in that place, considering that maybe the site had housed the sought-after device – but they found only shelves of knick-knacks, gewgaws and other dust collectors. They kept moving.
The label they'd applied to the 'firehouse' proved, after a closer inspection, to be even more fitting than they first surmised.
"Fuel of some sort," McKay decided as he looked at the big tanks in the main room. "For cooking, heating. Ah! For the stoves, of course."
"Of course," Sheppard echoed.
There was a large cart designed to be pulled by their local 'horses', outfitted with further tanks – a delivery vehicle, no doubt. "Must be a distribution center," McKay surmised. "A fuel depot."
"Yeah," Sheppard agreed, without sounding as if he'd thought about it much.
The scientist touched the controls on his radio to turn up the volume. "Teyla, Ronon? Have you made it to the factory?"
"We are nearly there, Dr McKay," Teyla responded. "So far we have found nothing worth recording. We shall search that building once we finish with the present location."
"Hmm, well, keep your eyes open when you get there. It's probably the most technologically advanced location here. Most likely it's a fuel refinery, so be careful. Probably not petroleum," McKay said thoughtfully, considering what he'd seen so far and judging the advancement of the people. "Most likely they process some sort of sugar-rich vegetation – sugar beets, sugar cane. You said they had sweet vegetables, didn't you Ronon?"
"Yeah," the answer seemed almost reluctant, as if Dex suspected he'd be quizzed further on the subject.
Sheppard saved him, asking McKay, "You can make fuel from that?"
With a put upon expression, McKay continued, "Yes. Ethanol is used for fuel on Earth. Look, we don't know what we're dealing with there, so tread lightly, okay? It could be rather…"
"Explosive?" Sheppard tried. "Beets can blow up?"
McKay's voice had become a little shriller, "We have no idea what sort of properties this substance may or may not have. Does that mean we can just mess around and pretend that all is safe and hunky-dory? I don't think so! Maybe we should hold off on exploring that building. Wait until we have a more experienced crew."
"They can handle it," Sheppard told him.
Ronon's voice came over the comm, "We'll be fine."
"Perhaps we should bypass the building if it is…" Teyla started.
"No," Sheppard countered. "There's a good chance that the device we're looking for is in there. We're not passing it up."
McKay turned to Sheppard and asked, "Shouldn't we be down there? I mean, I kinda know what I'm looking for."
Sheppard shook his head, and spoke to the radio, "You and Ronon take care of it, Teyla." He raised his gaze to McKay and winked. "They'll be careful."
"We will be careful," Teyla echoed, sounding as if she was speaking only to placate a jumpy scientist.
"Yeah," McKay told her. "I mean, really careful. That place hasn't been entered for a year and things might be a bit touchy."
"They're aware of that, McKay," Sheppard said tiredly.
"Could be booby trapped!" McKay insisted.
There was a pause. "I've dealt with such traps before," Ronon answered tersely.
"My people are also familiar with booby traps," Teyla added.
"They got it figured out, McKay," Sheppard commented.
"It doesn't hurt to offer a little caution when in the presence of inflammables!" McKay shot back.
"Why do they call it inflammable anyway?" John asked. "It always makes me think something's not flammable."
"Combustible then!" Rodney almost growled. "Just, watch out, and be on the lookout for…"
"Anything that might be of Ancient design," Teyla completed for him.
"Something that doesn't fit in with the rest," Ronon continued. "And boobies."
After a shocked silence, McKay squeaked, "Just… just be careful."
"Got it?" Sheppard asked.
"We understand, colonel," Teyla told him.
"And no burning materials around there, and nothing that'll give off a spark…" McKay went on, his voice sharp.
"Yeah, we got it," Ronon added.
John shook his head. "Okay then, you got it. Sheppard, out," and he turned down the volume on his radio a bit to smirk at McKay. "They got it," he told him. "Let's keep moving."
"I just wanted to make sure they understood," McKay added, sounding a little pissy. "All I needed to make me happy is for them to agree to be careful."
"That's all it takes?" Sheppard asked leadingly.
"Yes, people listening to me always makes me happy!" McKay scowled, turning away to glare out into the street. Before he stepped through the doorway, he pulled his collar close to his neck and walked into the moist fog. He let out a sigh, and added, "Okay, that and better weather. And maybe a nice doughnut or something." With a miserable groan, he continued forward, with Sheppard beside him.
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"So," Ronon started, and nodded toward the factory. "You in any hurry to get there?"
Teyla raised an eyebrow. "We will have to search it soon enough," she told him.
"Yeah, take our time," Ronon commented as they continued their current search of the harbormaster's office. They had divided the room, and started the search back-to-back, searching outward. They followed a pattern, beginning at floor level and then going over the same area again at furniture level, and then scanning the area further up. From there, they moved inward, to search around the furniture in the room.
It was a thorough procedure, well-practiced and efficient. They would not be meeting up with McKay later to be berated for forgetting to look behind the desk. So, they were careful – precise. And as of yet, had found nothing noteworthy. They left the office without a word, the nattering of McKay and Sheppard still in their ears over the radio. They'd learned to tune it out, to not listen. They turned down their radios and accepted the accompanying noise as just one of the aspects of being with this team.
It was, in a way, comforting. Sometimes, of course, it was just annoying. It wasn't unusual to catch very strange bits of conversation, words that might be thought very offensive if taken in the wrong manner. Such remarks mostly came from the physicist. Other times, the discussions just made no sense, and valuable time was wasted trying to discern their meaning. The colonel usually started those conversations.
Thus, volume control was a wonderful thing on their radios. As McKay and Sheppard's voices buzzed, Ronon and Teyla continued on their way.
The buildings were a mix of structures, built onto piers that jutted into the harbor, hosting all manner of seaside business. Most of the piers were in good repair, but here and there were structures that had been abandoned long ago, leaving the wood to rot to pieces over the water. They'd been careful as they entered such places, finding more than one with unsafe flooring. The harbormaster's office had been in good repair, but the cannery beside it had probably failed a decade earlier. They walked along it, stepping carefully over the faulty platform.
"We're not going to find anything here," Ronon commented, as he studied the dark place. "Think our best bet is to check out that factory that McKay was all fired up about."
With a nod, Teyla headed in that direction. "Perhaps we should not mention 'fire' in conjunction with a place such as that."
The Sedatan laughed. "You're not getting as suspicious as them, are you?" he asked. "They seem to have a lot of problems with the wording of things."
"No, my people do not believe in such charms," Teyla responded. "But I do not wish to press my luck." And she smiled over her shoulder at him before facing forward again to move toward the next building. "Let us be careful of traps."
Ronon just chuckled and muttered, "Boobies…" under his breath, amused with himself.
The refinery was set further back than the rest of the buildings, fully on land instead of set up on pilings in the harbor. The fog still hung around the building, obscuring much of it, and denying any hope of the haze 'burning off' before afternoon.
The two continued along the decrepit walkway to reach the land and the front entrance. Teyla pulled at her jacket, gazing through the gray moist air that hung everywhere.
It was most uncomfortable weather – not that she would have mentioned that in the presence of Dr. McKay, of course. There was no reason to give him fodder for further complaints against the fog. The mist was unpleasant and she couldn't wait to get back to the warmth of Atlantis, but she wasn't going to be the one to complain about it. She sniffled softly, hoping that the sound didn't carry.
Beside her, Ronon kept a quick pace. He lifted his chin slightly at her quiet sound, and smiled. He walked with one thumb jammed into his pocket, the other hand rested on the hilt of his weapon, and turning to her, he asked, "Think we'll find anything?"
"I would certainly hope so," she responded, "To make this venture worthwhile." And after a moment she added, "What we seek will prove very valuable."
"Yeah," Ronon responded, "Anything that keeps the Wraith away is good, right?" And then regarded her. "Cold?" he asked.
Realizing that it would do no good to deny it, she adjusted her mic's volume to ensure that no one could hear, and responded, "Yes. Very."
With a snort, Ronon commented, "Let's find whatever we're looking for, and get out of here. Sooner the better."
Teyla checked her companion's expression and then smiled quietly to herself. "You are not fond of this weather either," she deduced.
With a grimace, Ronon declared, "Makes my hair soggy." He gestured to his dreadlocks that seemed to be hanging rather lower than usual. "Takes forever to dry. Don't like it."
That fact made Teyla feel a little better and she continued at the Satedan's side toward the building that had interested the scientist. They approached it slowly, cautiously, wondering about what might possibly meet them. Ronon was careful at the door, checking it thoroughly, squatting down low to observe the narrow space between the sill and the door, then carefully eyeing all around the doorframe. Satisfied that nothing was there to trip, he grasped the latch, turned it slowly, and eased the door open.
Neither were quite prepared for what met them – for as the door swung, a pleasantly warm wall of air enfolded them – shocking enough to make both step back as they peered into the heated, but otherwise dim interior of the facility. They turned to each other in surprise at this development.
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TBC -See, everything is fine. There's no reason to worry