The final bulkhead posed no more of a challenge than the previous one. Rodney removed the requisite crystals and it slid open with a gentle shove. The new corridor was identical to the one they currently stood in; knee high water and no lights as far as they could see.
Rodney was strangely silent as they made their way into the new passageway. John didn't speak either; he worried about Teyla, Ronon and Carson in the village and he worried that the rescue, when it arrived from Atlantis, wouldn't be prepared for the fire-power the Traders were capable of bringing to bear.
Elizabeth would not be pleased with the many ways the mission to this planet had gone wrong; a man-made plague, galactic arms dealers who included bioweapons as part of their inventory, and an Ancient Starship they would not be able to study. Rodney would be particularly disappointed about the last.
Speaking of Rodney…
John realized that the only sounds he could hear were his own splashing footfalls.
"Rodney?" He turned and saw the bedraggled figure some way behind. He showed no sign of hearing Sheppard, and continued trudging along until he was halted by John's hand on his arm.
"Earth to Rodney," John said as he steadied the other man. He waved hand in front of the scientist's face.
It was knocked away irritably. "You're not on Earth."
"Don't I know it?" John answered. "How much further is it to the airlock?"
Rodney glanced around vaguely. "Did we pass anything?"
John shook his head. The corridor was featureless.
"I thought we'd come further," Rodney said distractedly as he looked at the walls for some indication of where they were.
"We would have, if you'd kept up."
"Well, excuse me for not being my usual athletic self, but I'm wet, cold and hungry," Rodney said crossly, with a spark of the normal energy.
"It's not that cold."
"You obviously haven't been submerged recently then. It's freezing."
"That settles it," John said in concern. "We need to find somewhere to rest up."
Rodney didn't argue. "There should be technical areas up ahead."
They walked on. A couple of small storerooms opened up to their right, then a closed door on the left with Ancient text in the center. John looked at Rodney for a translation.
"Communications room," was the muttered answer to the unspoken question.
Sheppard pushed it open. The faint glow of the life signs detector illuminated darkened consoles lining the walls. There were a variety of abandoned items, mostly small pieces of Ancient tech that Sheppard didn't recognize. A large table in the center of the room caught his eye, an island in the still water.
"Come on," Sheppard said. He climbed onto the table, and then gave McKay a hand up.
Rodney's hands were freezing and he was shivering as he clambered up. Once on the flat surface, he sat heavily. He wrapped his arms around drawn up legs and rested his head wearily on his knees.
"Get your jacket off," John said, slightly sharper than he had intended.
Rodney looked up blearily, and then complied without argument.
"Now the sweater."
John had to help peel the wet clothes off. Rodney complained that his fingers were numb.
John took off his own drier jacket and sweater. "Do you have any idea how many women would sell their grandmothers to watch us do this?" he said light-heartedly.
Rodney eyes were dark holes in a pale face, but he managed a slight smile. "I think," he said through chattering teeth, "that Atlantis' grandmothers are safe for the moment."
John thrust his clothes into Rodney's hands, who looked argumentative, but the shivering precluded much conversation. John helped pull the dry sweater over the scientist's head, and then draped the jacket over his shoulders.
Despite Rodney's shivering, John found the ambient temperature comfortable enough to leave the soaking sweater and jacket on the table. He sat in just his T-shirt and watched the miserable form at his side.
"Carson will have called for Lorne and another Jumper when we didn't report in," Sheppard said.
"Great, just what we need. Hop-along and his merry men," Rodney muttered.
John smiled. "You're mixing metaphors, Rodney."
McKay ignored him, "Although maybe Biro will have given him a crutch he can use to beat up those Traders. A couple of strikes with a drone would be better, but I don't know if the Trader's have drones to fire back. If they do, here's hoping they shoot worse than Carson. Because I'm not sure Hop-along would be able to duck as fast as you. Except there's no sign of that kind of weaponry in the room we were in…"
"Rodney, you're not making sense."
Rodney paused and glanced across the table. "What?"
John shook his head. "McKay, stop talking. Have a rest."
He tried not to be too concerned that Rodney did as he was told. Of course, the muttering continued the whole time as he curled up, but the words were lost.
John spared the shivering form one more glance before taking up sentry on the door.
He was facing the wrong direction to see the row of the darkened consoles flicker from black to grey as though they noted the new presences in their room.
-
SGA
-
"There has been no word," Teyla said from her position at the radio.
Carson and Ronon had just returned from a look at the gate.
Carson had asked to see the destruction, and now he was sorry he had suggested it. There wasn't just a little bit of damage to the DHD that McKay could have fished around in its innards to repair. No, the innards were part of the soot stains on the nearby houses.
"The DHD is still destroyed," Ronon said simply. He hadn't approved of the visit.
Carson took a deep breath. He hated waiting around and certainly hated waiting for other people to save his ass, but there seemed to be no alternative. He started tidying away reagents. None of the treatments he had brought from Atlantis had shown any effect on the virus. He suspected it didn't respond because it was engineered with human DNA. With the lab on Atlantis he was sure he could come up with something, but that wasn't one of his options at the moment.
Teyla interrupted his thoughts. "Doctor, I would like to see the Sacred Site. Perhaps there is information to be gained from investigating source of the contaminated water."
He nodded. He gave her a couple of sample containers and some swabs. She nodded in thanks, and Carson wondered if she was using this as an excuse to get out of the overcrowded room. The smells were overwhelming.
She had been gone ten minutes, and he had almost completely cleared the table when someone clapped their hands at the door of the hall. The murmur of conversation faded away, and every person in the room turned towards the entrance. Everyone except Ronon, who continued to doze propped against the wall. All he needed was a cowboy hat tipped down over his eyes to complete the picture.
The focus of the attention was Rina. She entered beneath the woolen drape, wearing what Carson reckoned to be ceremonial robes. She was followed by another person veiled in dark cotton to obscure their face.
Oh, bugger, Carson thought.
"Dr. Beckett," she said formally and bowed low to the floor.
Carson stuttered some kind of reply. He was sure there was a properly worded response, and that "Err, ahhh, hi Rina," wasn't it.
She didn't seem at all put out, and continued. "It is the request of the Council that you attend a ceremony of thanks. We have discussed and agreed on recompense for your assistance."
Carson knew he was stuttering again. He fiddled nervously with the eye cap for the microscope. "That's not necessary," he said. He glanced back at Ronon, and the bugger was smiling with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep.
"We believe that it is. We have given the matter some thought, and we have decided on payment for your services. There is a cave we would like to show you. You may find something within that may be of benefit."
There was a sudden swell of conversation. Those who were well enough all had to share this development with their neighbors.
It seemed, Caron thought, close to near panic, to be a big deal Oh dear. He kicked Ronon on the shin. "My friend and I will be happy to attend," he said with a smile that he hoped wasn't too forced.
Ronon muttered, "Someone should stay and listen for the radio."
Rina nodded. "Tobin will do this for you," she indicated the veiled figure behind her, who nodded. "I have instructed him to interrupt the ceremony if there is any word from your friends. The ceremony is short. Only a few minutes."
Carson offered Ronon a friendly hand up but the former Runner stood up on his own.
Rina looked pleased. "And the young lady?" she asked, looking around for Teyla.
"She's gone to the Sacred Site," Ronon said. His tone made it quite clear that he wished he had gone instead.
"That is a shame," Rina sighed. "It is in the other direction. Well, come, come." She waved them out of the hall in front of her.
There was no escape. Carson looked back longingly at the few remaining pieces of apparatus on the table, and then his view was obscured by a small crowd who followed, chattering noisily.
The village looked much the same as it had on their arrival. It smelled the way Carson had imagined it would; thick smells of wood-smoke and close habitation. The ground was dry and scattered clothing fluttered in doorways. Now, however, there were a few children running about. Their calls and shouts echoed between the houses. It was strange how much hope those simple voices brought. It changed the nature of the place. There was less fear about Reliquary now. Carson lifted his head a little higher.
As they walked with the gathered crowd chattering behind them, Ronon muttered, "I'm no good at these religious things."
Carson nodded in agreement, but even the impending ceremony could not dent his hope. "Don't look at me," he replied. "I peed on the minister at my christening."
Ronon looked as if he was going to ask for an explanation, and Carson was preparing to tell the story of that first religious faux pas, when Rina raised a hand.
They had arrived at a clearing at the boundary of the village. The beginnings of a dense forest stretched out in front of them. The procession stopped behind them at a respectful distance, and only two of the assembled villagers stepped up with Carson and Ronon.
A hush descended. Even the nearby children's voices were stilled.
Rina began proclaiming towards the trees. "In the ways that have been passed to us from ancestors immemorial, we give thanks and payment to those who provide for us. In these dark days, you have given us the friendship of these people and they have provided succor. We present them to you now."
The assemblage murmured, "We give thanks."
Rina turned to Carson. "We must go to into the cave." She indicated a darkened area between the trees. He hadn't even realized it was anything more than a space between the trunks. The body of the cave was obscured by branches.
Carson couldn't help himself. "Why?"
Rina looked at the young men who had joined them. Her expression indicated that it should be obvious. "This is the Relic-Cave. You are to choose something from within as payment."
It was impossible to see inside, or gain any sense of the interior. "There are relics in there?" Carson asked.
She nodded. "They are all that we have left of the ancestors. They stayed on this planet during their last great war. Many of their artifacts are scattered through the villages, but we have the largest collection." She smiled. "Why do you think we named our village Reliquary?"
Carson didn't like to reply that he had thought they just liked the name.
He had a moment's indecision. He didn't want a relic. Where on earth would he put it? But there was another thing his Gran used to say: that it is gracious to accept a kind offer when it is given. And he didn't wish to insult the Padanarams.
"We have never revealed the relics to strangers before," Rina said. "My grandfather told me that we didn't even tell the gods when they walked among us. He thought they would have plundered them. I am concerned that is why they visited this plague upon us."
Carson wondered if he should tell her his suspicions about these 'gods', but she was still speaking.
"We have preserved the relics for thousands of years, and gathered those that came to us. We have decided to gift you one, as you offered us help without hope of reward. That is a noble cause."
He was intrigued, despite himself, as to what could be in the cave. Ronon, on the other hand, did not look impressed. He scowled.
"Come," Rina said and led the way.
Ronon followed her, indicating to Carson that he should stay. "Wait until I give the all-clear."
Carson nodded in agreement and watched as Ronon followed the elderly woman. The former Runner's hand floated around the stunner in its holster.
Rina swept back the branches so that the doorway was revealed. The darkness inside was absolute, and Carson strained to see inside as Rina entered, followed by Ronon. Beckett thought the entrance looked vaguely familiar, then the branches fell back over it again. The two men who had separated from the crowd began unwrapping torches.
From inside the darkness, came the gentle sound of
Rina singing.
Ronon called, "Seems safe," His voice echoed in the enclosed space.
Carson glanced at the torch bearers. They appeared to be in no hurry to go into the cave. Perhaps he needed to go in without the light first.
He glanced, once, back towards the village and the stargate and home. Then, with Ronon's "Seems safe," echoing in his ears, he walked up to the cave to get a look at these relics.
He took a step past the branches to stand in the entrance.
And as he did so, the interior of the cave flickered, then suddenly blazed with light.
Rina stopped singing, and the villagers gasped.
So it obviously wasn't meant to light up.
It had been a few months since Carson had stepped up to something and had it burst to life in his face. He had learned to be very cautious of things that did.
He glanced around the interior in bemusement.
He thought he heard weeping.
Ronon on the other hand was laughing. He thumped Carson on the shoulder and a grin split his face. "You did it, Doc!" he said.
Carson didn't understand. Rina was kneeling at the front of the cave and crying openly.
"Did what?" he muttered crossly. Then he looked behind her to something dreadfully familiar. "Oh, bloody hell…" he breathed.
The cave wasn't just a holding place for the Ancient's relics. It was a relic. The relic.
A Puddle Jumper!