*Sneaks in and drops a new chapter, hoping no one notices it's been seven months...
Hey, guys... So, uh. Sorry about that long hiatus. It was completely unintended. I would excuse it, but it was just my brain not wanting to cooperate. Hoping to get back on track here and finish this story out. If you've left a review for me, thank you so much. Knowing that someone out there wants to read the rest of this really motivated me to come back to it.
And now, on to part 2!
Part 2
"The thunderbolt without the reverberations of thunder would frighten man but little, though the danger lies in the lightning, not in the noise."
-Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
"You know, when Joab said he was going to follow us, I didn't think he meant he'd follow quite so closely."
Rodney glanced over at Sheppard, who was frowning at the HUD as if he was watching at a tailgater in his rearview mirror. Which he basically was, because Joab's ship was right up against the back of their ship.
Jushi didn't bother to tear her gaze from the ocean in front of them. "Joab has always taken a literal interpretation to his orders," she said, a slight annoyance to her tone.
"Yeah, I know some guys like that," Sheppard muttered, not bothering to hide his own irritation. "Always seem to get all the awards, yet they're always the biggest pricks."
"He will do as he was ordered," Jushi assured him. "He will not attack us until our time has expired."
Sheppard sighed, still looking unhappy. "Yeah. I'm sure he won't."
They had rendezvoused with Stackhouse's team and sent them back to Atlantis about an hour ago, and now were onto the actual search and rescue part of the mission. So far, there hadn't been a lot of conversation, other than Jushi pointing out which direction they should go. How she knew which way to go was still a mystery, one that Rodney would like answered sooner rather than later when they were being attacked by giant sea creatures or run off the planet by the trigger-happy guardsmen. Rodney didn't like not knowing things, and so far Jushi hadn't offered much explanation for the obvious secrets she was harboring.
"So you don't seem all that surprised by the existence of this Ancient temple," he noted, not necessarily trying to be subtle about the information he wanted. If he was going to risk life and limb for Lorne, he should at least know why.
Jushi tore her gaze from the front window, studying him as if she was weighing whether or not she should tell him more of her cryptic lies or come clean. "No," she finally said. "I am sure it comes as no surprise that the Administration knows more about the Stargate than we pretend to."
"What?" Rodney asked, sarcasm heavy in his voice. He held a hand to his chest as if wounded. "No. You mean to tell me that your shady government is keeping secrets from your people?"
"Rodney," Sheppard warned, but there wasn't much heat behind it. He was just as irritated by the run-around they were being given.
Jushi didn't seem to be offended in the slightest. "It is a complicated matter," she told them. "The Administration has kept the secret for so long that we hardly know truth from legend anymore."
"Okay, but why all the freaking out about us being here?" Sheppard asked. "Why continue to keep your people in the dark?"
"Traditions are hard to break," Jushi said. "Especially when our way of life has been built upon them for so long. In the beginning, it was necessary to lie to the people, to keep them safe. It was the only way to be certain that we would remain hidden. And now, your arrival… The Administration fears that you will draw the enemy back to Ola'we."
Well, Rodney couldn't deny that they didn't have the best track record when it came to keeping the Wraith away from the people of the Pegasus Galaxy, so he couldn't exactly argue with that. Still, there was no reason to think that their mere presence on this planet would suddenly bring on an attack. Hell, he didn't even know that the Wraith would be capable of attacking them underwater.
"We have no interest in changing your peoples' way of life," Teyla said. "We fight the same enemy, and we understand your fears. I myself am not of the city of the Ancestors, but I joined with them when I realized their desire to fight for the freedom of all who live in this galaxy. If anyone can bring about peace, it is these."
"Were it my decision alone, things might be different," Jushi answered. "But there is much to consider. The Administration is only doing what they believe they must to protect the people of Ola'we."
This conversation was going frustratingly nowhere, and Rodney decided he'd had enough of her careful rhetoric. "So where exactly are we going?" he asked, changing the subject back to the matter at hand. For all he cared, these people could pretend fluffy bunnies controlled the universe. He just wanted to find Lorne and get out of here.
Jushi leaned forward in her seat, studying the map on the HUD. "The records we have speak of a Lantean structure near the Teknor trench. There has not been an expedition in five hundred years, but it should still be there."
"Oh good. So how long is this little trip going to take us?" Rodney had set up a clock on his tablet to keep track of the time they had left. Sheppard had called it overdramatic, but Rodney didn't care. He wanted to know exactly when those guards were going to switch from annoying escorts to killer threats.
"If it has not moved, it will take us about five hours to reach the temple if we maintain our current speed," Jushi said.
"Five hours?!" Rodney complained.
"Rodney—" Teyla started.
"All I'm saying is how do we even know for sure they came this way?" Rodney argued. "I haven't been able to pick them up on our scanners at all, and that's an awfully long way to go out of the way if they went a different direction."
Ronon abruptly moved from where he was leaning in the doorway, listening in to the conversation, to the back of the ship where Lorne's sergeants were sitting.
"Hey, it's a fair question!" Rodney pointed out.
"You're right, McKay," Sheppard said. "We don't know for sure they came this way, but we also don't have anything else to go on. And we know this is what they're looking for, so I say we take a risk and follow this lead, and in the meantime, you can work on boosting our scanners in case they went somewhere else."
Rodney snorted indignantly. "You expect me to just magically make the scanners work over the entire ocean? That's, like, the entire planet in case you hadn't noticed!"
"Yes, it is a lot of ocean," Sheppard said. "And according to your countdown clock of doom, we only have 31 hours left. So let's get to finding them so we can all go home, huh?"
Ronon suddenly reappeared over his shoulder, holding out a powerbar. Rodney gawked at him, half offended that he thought he could simply pacify him with food, but he snatched the bar out of his hand anyway. It had been a few hours since the last time he ate, and if they were going to be stuck in here on the road trip from hell, he was damn well going to be getting some snacks.
Hunkering down over his tablet, Rodney chewed on his peanut butter flavored bar and tried to think of a way to figure out yet another way to do the impossible and save the day.
It was amazing how quickly the Ancient outpost warmed up. Partially because that meant the place still had power after all these years and partially because the bay they'd docked in was pretty damn big and to be this warm already meant the heating system had to be incredibly efficient. A hell of a lot better than the single space heater Travis had shared with his sisters growing up.
Of course, just like in Atlantis, Travis was sure the environmental system in this facility sensed the comfort level of the strongest gene carrier present. Back in the city, that typically meant that Colonel Sheppard controlled the thermostat, though on occasion when he was off-world it fell to Beckett or Captain Ski. One time Doctor Kusanagi had been the strongest carrier actually in the city, and she'd kept the place at a balmy 78° for two days.
Right now, Travis was fairly certain the heat was blasting a lot warmer than that, but then, the strongest gene carrier present was just as soaked with freezing sea water as Travis was. The two of them had shed their sopping coats, boots, and socks, but they'd come to the unspoken conclusion that the risk of hypothermia was low enough to avoid stripping all the way down. The wet clothes were uncomfortable, but running around in their underwear would be more so.
Estie and Zeb didn't seem to be bothered by the cold, but it was entirely possible that they were too busy being in utter awe of the Ancient outpost to feel it. Since climbing out of the ship, they'd been walking around the hanger reverently, as if they were walking on sacred grounds.
It was kind of funny, since what they'd landed in basically amounted to a garage, but it hadn't been so long since Travis' own first encounter with aliens and technology and other things he'd always thought only existed in the collective imagination of generations of Earth-trapped humans. He'd been pretty wide-eyed with wonder, too.
While the two Tal'weans were distracted, wandering around taking it all in, Lorne went straight for the puddle jumpers. As Travis joined him, he noted that these weren't exactly like the puddle jumpers they knew and loved. They were the same basic shape and configuration, but were lacking some of the features that Atlantis' jumpers had.
"What's the verdict, sir?" Travis asked, watching Lorne poke at various buttons on the console.
"Seems to be dead." The major opened a panel overhead, in a similar location to the one Travis had seen McKay plug his tablet into on more than one occasion. "Or I can't find the on switch. It's different from our jumpers. Feels… Older. A lot older."
Travis didn't pretend to understand how the Ancient gene worked. Most of the time, it seemed fairly inorganic, like a passcode that allowed certain users access to a computer or piece of technology, or a switch that could turn things on and off. But then sometimes the major said weird shit like that, and Travis got the sense that the gene might be more like a genetic memory, passed down through the milenia, that allowed those who carried it to not only use Ancient technology, but somehow communicate with it.
"Do you think Estie's rover is salvageable?"
Lorne grimaced at him. The little ship hadn't looked so good when they'd finally managed to extricate themselves from it. And, on top of that, Travis knew his commanding officer was hoping to take back control of the situation by being the one to fly them out of this place.
"I suppose we could look around the facility and see if there's another power source?" Travis suggested.
Giving up on the panel he'd opened, Lorne sighed. "Yeah. Should probably take a look around while we're here anyway."
Travis was just as eager as the major to get back to Atlantis, but he wasn't too sad about not going straight back out into the tumultuous ocean. At least inside the outpost, he could pretend he wasn't buried under thousands of feet of water.
Not to mention, now that they'd made it down here, he was a little curious about what was here.
Following Lorne out of the jumper, Travis couldn't help but smile at the way Estie and Zeb were now talking over each other and waving their hands excitedly at a computer terminal. Typical scientists. They'd just survived a harrowing, near-death experience and were hopelessly trapped at the bottom of the sea, and yet there they were, nerding out over their research.
"Major Lorne, Lieutenant Kennel, you must look at this!" Estie said as they approached. "It is like that device you have. Imagine the information that could be stored here!"
The major sauntered up to the terminal and pressed a couple buttons, but the screen remained dark. He glanced back at the two Tal'weans with an apologetic wince. "Doesn't seem to be working," he said. "Could be that there's not enough power. Or it's just really old."
Estie's shoulders slumped slightly, but her optimism came back quickly. "Perhaps we will find another terminal? I'm certain there will be something."
Lorne looked around the hanger with a shiver, and Travis wondered if it was from the cold or if his gut was telling him something else about this place. "Yeah, I'm sure there will." He let out a huff as if this was merely an annoying inconvenience rather than a life or death situation and nodded toward the large door at the end of the bay. "Let's go see the wizard."
Thankfully, the doors worked, and they found themselves in a hallway that lit up as soon as Lorne opened the door. Again, it looked so similar to Atlantis, but had that strange older feeling to it.
The way the hallway was curved out in either direction indicated that it was circular. They hadn't really gotten a good look at the facility on the way in, since they'd been busy trying not to die, but if it was a circle, it probably wasn't all that large based on what they were seeing now, even if there were multiple floors. If it was anything like other outposts they'd encountered before, it would probably only take a few hours to get through.
They went to the right first, coming upon a room that seemed to be a lab based on the scientific equipment it contained. Lorne couldn't get any of these computers to work either, but Estie and Zeb were so slack-jawed in wonder they didn't seem to notice. After a quick search for anything that might be useful in getting the hell out of here, Lorne simply moved on, making the two Tal'weans chase after him while protesting that they needed more time.
"Once we figure out how we're getting out of here, you can come back," Lorne told them in a tone Travis had heard a thousand times with their own scientists. "Unless you want to split up…?"
Estie looked irritated, but followed without complaint. Zeb still had that wide-eyed look that was halfway between terror and amazement. Travis smiled to himself. Oh yeah, Lorne had officially taken control again.
They hit a couple more labs before coming to a larger door that led to the center of the circle. Upon opening it, they were greeted with a larger room that appeared to be a command center.
Travis could definitely see how one might interpret this as a temple. The Ancients may have been advanced technologically, but they had never given up aesthetics for practicality in the way human society had. This room, similar to Ops back in Atlantis, was decorated with stained glass windows on the ceiling (dark now, because they were far too deep for any light to be coming through) and patterns along the walls that gave it a certain sacred feeling.
The difference between this room and Atlantis was that this one not only contained computer terminals, but shelves all along the walls with hundreds and hundreds of books. Actual, physical books. That wasn't something they saw everyday.
There weren't only books. As Travis walked along the shelves, he noticed there were a decent number of maps and scrolls as well. Curiously, he pulled one of the maps out and unrolled it to see what it was. A star map of some kind.
"This is unbelievable," Estie breathed, standing in the middle of the room frozen with awe.
"Kennel," Lorne called from one of the terminals at the other side of the room. "This look like what I think it is?"
Travis put down the map, moving to see what the major was looking at. As he rounded the terminal, he saw that in the very center of the room, in a lowered partition in the floor, was what appeared to be a command chair.
Lorne raised an eyebrow at him and hopped down into the partition, crouching down to touch a circular cutout in the floor. The circle raised with a hiss, revealing…
"A ZPM," Travis said, smiling in relief.
They might make it back to Atlantis after all.