John stood and stretched, then packed up the remnants of his barely edible lunch. A glance in Ronon and Teyla's direction showed the two of them busy eating their own lunches, the former wolfing down the contents of his MRE and the latter delicately picking at hers, nose wrinkled in thinly veiled disgust. "I'm going to go check on McKay and Elizabeth," he called, eliciting a grunt from Ronon and a nod from Teyla.
After he had made his way over to the opposite end of the ruin, he was surprised to see Rodney working alone. "Where's Elizabeth?" he queried.
The scientist didn't take his eyes off of the technological doohickey he was holding. "Huh?" he mumbled, clearly lost in his own world.
John rolled his eyes. "You know, medium-height, slim, green eyes, brown hair…"
Rodney cut him off, "Thank you Colonel, I'm aware of her physical attributes."
John bit back a hasty retort. "So where is she?"
McKay shrugged, "How should I know? The last time I saw her she was with you."
Now John was starting to get worried. He clicked on his radio, thanking his lucky stars that he had had enough foresight to insist Elizabeth be outfitted with at least the minimum amount of gear each team member wore on missions. "Elizabeth?"
His radio responded with static. "Elizabeth please respond," he tried again, and again there was no reply.
Fear formed a cold knot in the pit of his stomach. Rodney looked up, concern etched in his features. "What is it? What's wrong? Why isn't she answering?"
Ignoring the scientist's panicked questions for fear the tenuous hold he had on his own emotions would be lost John radioed the rest of his team. "Ronon, Teyla?"
"We are here Colonel," Teyla's reply was immediate.
"Elizabeth's gone missing," he relayed tersely.
There was a moment of silence on the other end then, "Ronon suggested that he and I search the woods along the edge of the clearing."
John considered it briefly, but decided against such an action. "That's a negative; we should stick together as a group. Anything could be out there."
McKay made some sort of a strangling noise, but John ignored it.
"Understood Colonel, we are heading for your position now."
"Do you think something took her, like an animal or something?" Rodney was becoming more agitated by the minute.
John raised a hand to try and still the scientist's alarm. "I don't know McKay, I'm just covering all the bases," he soothed, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.
Rodney shot him a look. "Are you patronizing me?"
"Rodney," John sighed, exasperated. He didn't need this right now. It was already taking every ounce of his self-control not to go rushing about haphazardly in an attempt to find Atlantis' leader.
Suddenly his radio came to life. "Colonel Sheppard? Ronon has found something."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Her footprints end here." Ronon crouched in the dirt by the ruin wall.
"So what, then she just walked through solid stone?" McKay was incredulous.
"Perhaps she discovered a way in?" Teyla suggested.
"Rodney, can you translate this writing?" John asked.
McKay snorted, "I think I can handle it Colonel."
Ignoring the scientist's sarcasm, John simply replied tightly, "Then do it."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
As she slowly regained consciousness, Elizabeth became aware of two things; one: she was laying on a hard cold surface, and two: the temperature had dropped substantially. Wincing, she opened her eyes and pushed herself up. A quick perusal of her surroundings told Elizabeth that she was inside some sort of a large building. The floor she was sitting on consisted of cool marble, and the stones that made up the walls and the ceiling that vaulted high above her were similar to the ones she had been touching before she'd ended up here, leading her to believe she was inside the same large ruin she had been standing outside of in the not too distant past. What appeared to be flameless torches lined the wall, which Elizabeth found a little creepy. Standing, she flicked on her radio. "John?"
"Elizabeth?" He sounded immensely relieved.
Guess they already knew I was gone, she thought wryly.
"Are you okay?" John's concerned voice floated over the airway.
"Yes I'm fine. I'm inside the ruin."
The next question came from Rodney. "Can you tell me how you got in? We found the last place you were standing, near the writing, and for all intents and purposes it looks like you walked through the wall."
Elizabeth furrowed her brow, thinking back to her last moments in the outside world. "There was a square object protruding from the wall. I was cleaning it off to get a better look and the next thing I knew, I was laying on the floor in here."
There was a long silence on the other end; so long in fact, that Elizabeth began to wonder if they'd forgotten about her. She was reaching for her radio when it crackled again.
"Uh, Elizabeth?" It was McKay, "We found the device, and the good Colonel ignored me and touched it, but as you can probably tell since he's not standing there next to you, it didn't work. In fact…." He hesitated.
The suspense grated on her nerves. "Rodney?" she prompted.
"I'm not getting any energy readings from the device at all."
Well that's just peachy. Apparently she wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon.
The fact that Elizabeth was feeling increasingly uneasy only added to the situation. Something about this place was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She cleared her throat, "Did you translate the passage?"
This time it was John who answered. "Rodney's working on it." She could practically feel the frustration he felt at his inability to do anything.
Elizabeth was about to reassure him when her sense of unease suddenly increased exponentially. Something was definitely not right. Her eyes did a sweep of the large room she was currently in, but she didn't see anything that would be causing her to feel like a tightly wound spring.
"Dr. Weir?"
Elizabeth almost leapt out of her skin. Taking a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, she responded, "Yes Teyla?"
"Dr. McKay would like me to inquire as to whether or not there is a device similar to the one you touched present anywhere in the area around you."
Elizabeth was turning to look at the wall nearest her when she heard it, a clatter that came from one on the hallways leading into the room. She froze mid-turn. It couldn't be possible; there was no way. How could something have survived down here for so long? Unless it hadn't been in there since the time of the Ancients. Maybe who or whatever it was had only recently found its way in the same way she had, or maybe there was some animal on the mainland that could pass through solid matter. Her mind racing with possibilities, Elizabeth slowly backed up against the wall. She sat absolutely still, ears straining for sound. A couple of minutes had passed when Teyla hailed her again, "Dr. Weir?"
Elizabeth waited a few moments more; still nothing. Thinking maybe she'd imagined it, she reached for the switch to respond. Suddenly she heard it again, what sounded for all the world like the footfall of hooves, and it was getting closer.
