Part 2 – Crying out Loud, It's Only a Statue!

Elizabeth had stopped talking when John first answered the call. "What's the problem, Colonel?" she asked as he clicked off his radio.

He went over to Weir and quietly whispered. "The usual, McKay's done something he shouldn't have and is in a spot of trouble. Look, I'd better go and check this out. Will you be okay here?" Sheppard finished.

"Of course, go and sort it out. Oh, and keep me posted."

"Will do and I'll leave Macklin and the men with you."

"I'll be fine, John. Just be careful," she whispered.

Giving her a quick smile, he left the meetinghouse and quickly made his way towards the monastery.

-SGA-

Reaching the top of the long stone stairway, Ronon was waiting for him by a large entry. "Okay…fill me…in," Sheppard puffed, trying to get his breath back.

"What's there to say," Ronon gestured, "All he did was touch some damn statue and they all went crazy."

"Define crazy?"

Ronon thought for a few seconds. "Well, they were a pretty placid bunch until that moment and then all of a sudden they started ranting on about blasphemy and how McKay had dishonored their goddess."

John suddenly had a very bad feeling as he asked. "Where's McKay now?"

"They took him to another room and locked him in. I was ready to fight them off but McKay warned me against it."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best at the moment. Maybe, we can get him out of this without resorting to violence." Suddenly wishing he were back to being bored, he sighed. "Okay, let's go talk to these people."

Ronon lead the way to an arched walkway that surrounded a large stone courtyard. Around the perimeter, were a number of wooden doors obviously leading to rooms beyond? In the middle of the courtyard, a lone fountain tickled a small amount of water, which flowed tranquilly into the fish filled pond surrounding the fountain. Nearby were several wooden columns for which purpose was anyone's guess.

Striding towards a large door at the far end of the walkway, Ronon knocked loudly but didn't wait for someone to answer before entering a room beyond.

Several monks wearing bright orange colored robes rose to meet him as Ronon turned and introduced the colonel. They reminded John of some Buddhist monks he'd seen once on a mountaineering trip to the Himalayas.

"You are the leader of these people?" one of the monks asked. From his slightly different attire of orange and brown, John concluded that the man was probably the head priest or whatever he was called but he rudely failed to introduce himself.

"Yes, I am. Now can you please tell me exactly what the problem is?"

"The problem is with the one who talks far too much for him own good." John had to smile a little at that. "Come I will show you what he touched and then I will tell you what his punishment will be."

The bad feeling returned full force as Sheppard and Ronon followed the monks out to the courtyard and into another much larger room. From the seating arrangement and other furnishings, the room obviously served as a place of reverence and prayer to whatever Goddess these people worshiped.

Leading Sheppard over to an alcove, the head priest pointed to the offending object and immediately John could see why Rodney had touched it. For there, embedded in a niche between the arms of a beautiful angelic figurine was a perfectly intact, although seemingly depleted, ZPM.

-SGA-

Trying to keep his tone respectful in the sanctuary of this obviously holy place, Sheppard asked. "Can you please explain why this object is so important that it can't be touched?"

The priest looked at him as if he had a marble lose or two before answering. "I suppose we can forgive your ignorance seeing as you came from the ring of standing water. Tyleen," he gestured with outstretched hands, "is our protector and between her arms sits the key of life. To touch her could destroy that key, so let it be known that no one may ever touch her again."

"She protects you against what?" John asked, although he had a good idea he knew the answer even before the priest replied.

"Why against the sky demons, of course."

"Sky demons?"

"Surely you have heard of the Valcos who come from the sky to devour our people?"

Sighing, John answered. "Yes, we have but we call them the Wraith. So how does Tyleen save the people?" he enquired.

"It has been a long time since she has been called upon to use her powers but it is written in the holy book that a powerful light shines from her arms to ascend and destroy the evil Valcos before they can touch the ground."

Sheppard could see the holy man wasn't the youngest any more, maybe seventy-eight years or more. "So you've not seen a culling…err…coming of these Valcos in your lifetime?"

"Thankfully, I have not and my family before me did not but the holy book does not lie. It would be unwise to insinuate that this is just a story."

Trying not to lose his cool with the touchy old priest, Sheppard patiently replied. "Oh, I believe you. My team and I have seen similar things on other worlds. What I'm trying to say is I'm surprised the Wraith…the…Valcos haven't been in recent years?"

"Praise be to Tyleen, they have not and if they were to return then she would save us from them."

John thought it best to agree with him at this time. He needed to talk to McKay and get his opinion on the state of the ZPM but if they weren't allowed to go near it again then it was probably speculative to say the least. "May I talk to Dr. McKay?"

"I see no reason why not. However, he must face his punishment before he can leave this place."

Sheppard wanted to ask what that was but the priest had ready turned to leave, moving remarkably fast for an old man. He and Ronon quickly moved to follow him.

-SGA-

A few rooms later, the old man stopped before a sturdy wooden door. Producing a large set of heavy metal keys, he opened the portal and gestured for Sheppard to step in. Ronon wanted to follow but the priest held up his hand to stop him. "I will allow your leader to speak to him alone."

"Its okay, Ronon. Wait out here until I come out."

Not liking it, Ronon slouched against the wall and glared at the monks surrounding him.

John entered the room to find McKay sitting quietly studying his laptop. "So you couldn't keep your wondering hands off a ZPM?"

"What, what, oh, it's you. Glad you're here, we can go now? Huh?"

"Not exactly. First off, I still have to work out your release from these highly religious folks. It seems you touched their beloved protector and that was bad…really bad, Rodney."

"Yes, yes, I know but I still don't see why they're so upset about me touching their precious statue? The thing's dead anyway."

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes, as sure as I can be without actually being able to examine the ZPM and the statue surround in more detail, but that doesn't seem like an option now, does it?"

Sheppard sighed and rubbed his tried eyes. "Nope, these people seem very adamant in their beliefs, so maybe it's best to leave them alone. And Rodney, we wouldn't want to take their ZPM even if it was full, now would we? So the question is immaterial."

Rodney gave a look like a child who'd lost his favorite toy. "Yes, yes, I suppose so, but they're going to find out the hard way when the Wraith show up."

"Yep, unfortunately, but we couldn't do much for them anyway. Look right now, my main concern is getting you out of here in one piece."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"They didn't tell you? You're facing some kind of punishment for touching their precious shrine."

John watched as Rodney's face lost its entire color. "No, they didn't," he whispered.