Streaming through the quantum foam, she senses something familiar. Hopefully she heads toward it and finds the footprint of a Stargate. In another galaxy. Curious. Passing through an event horizon of her own making, she materialises in a vast cathedral of stained glass.
Surrounded by armed men in uniforms. She slowly raises her hands. 'Not again.'
"Hello," she says neutrally.
"Hello," a medium-build, dark-haired, rakish-looking man walks down the staircase opposite the gate and right up to her. "How the hell did you get into my city?" he asks charmingly.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to arrive unannounced…."
"That's not exactly what I meant. That usually keeps out any unwanted visitors," he nods to the gate behind her; it shimmers with a force field. "So, how did you get into my city?"
"I mean no harm. I'm just an explorer."
"What a coincidence, so are we," he smirks.
"Ville? Is that you?" Samantha Carter descends the same staircase.
"Sam?" She turns to the charming young man, "wait, you're Air Force? This doesn't look like a military base. It's rather lovely, actually."
"Thank you, we just painted. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard," he introduces himself and stands aside for Carter.
Carter approaches with her hand out to Ville. "This is incredible. Why, the possibility of meeting you twice in a lifetime must be astronomical."
"Uh, yeah, for most people." Ville shakes her hand.
"Must be our lucky day then," Sheppard replies warmly, then asks his commanding officer, "You know her?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. Let's take this to the conference room. John, have Rodney join us." Carter leads the way; Sheppard gestures for Ville to follow her.
"If you don't mind my asking, Sam, what is this place? For that matter, what're you doing outside the Milky Way?"
"Wow," Carter smiles genuinely. "Us having to answer your questions for a change? Interesting."
"I'm sorry, but if you don't mind my asking?"
Cater waves her to a seat and sits nearby. "Actually, I'm going to have to ask you to go first. This is a highly secure base and I really need to know how you found us."
"By accident. I was searching, for signs of my father if you must know, and I sensed another one of those gate things," she gestures towards the gate room.
"Long story," Carter shares a little more information. "The Gate Builders, whom we call the Ancients, built this city on Earth and flew it to the Pegasus galaxy several million years ago as far as we can tell." She beams, "Welcome to Atlantis."
"Atlantis? As in Plato? That was a metaphor."
"We figure the Greeks must've heard about the city from a survivor who returned to Earth when this city was abandoned ten thousand years ago. Our people rediscovered it about three years ago. Ah, here comes our lead scientist. Ville, this is Dr. Rodney McKay. Rodney, our visitor's name is Ville and at this time, I'm raising your and Colonel Sheppard's security level so she can share the following information. Ville? You know the drill."
"Hi, my name's Ville and I'm an Immortal." She waves weakly. 'And this sounds like a bad support group introduction.'
"Immortal?" McKay echoes. "Is this a joke? Who is this?" he demands of Carter.
Ville continues, "I am also known to your species as a Guardian or Watcher. My father created me from the energy of a star. I learned to take corporeal form from him. We watched your species evolve from hominids. When you learned to walk upright, I began taking my first steps. We studied you; I learned to interact with your kind. I've been following your progress with a great deal of interest."
"Energy? Really?" he asks with interest. "Oh no, she's not an Ancient, too, is she?" McKay looks to Carter for confirmation.
Carter considers the timeline. "The Ancients left Earth long before we ever evolved."
Sheppard cuts in, "Then how did you get past the gate shield?" He leans a little closer.
"She what?" McKay asks in consternation.
"I was in my native form, energy. At the quantum level, interacting with an energy shield is a lot easier than passing through the molecules of the titanium iris on the Earth gate, by the way," she informs Carter.
"I'll pass that along to Stargate Command," Carter replies sardonically. She fills in more detail for Sheppard and McKay, "About a decade ago, Ville appeared in the SGC's gate room, too. Once the Pentagon cleared her, she joined SG-1 for a short time, serving under Colonel O'Neill. Things didn't end so well." She directs her attention back to Ville. "What happened after we left you in San Francisco?"
"I went looking for my father." She added for McKay and Sheppard's sake, "He, uh, dispersed his consciousness centuries ago and I haven't had any contact with him since. I thought if I kept looking…." She trails off with an air of sadness.
"So, not an Ancient?" McKay asks for clarity's sake. "What else can you do?"
Ville rolls her eyes, "I can turn you into a frog, if you like."
Carter cuts her off, "That's a fair question."
"Very well." Ville translocates to the other side of the table. "I can materialise and dematerialise at will. That's how I got through the gate."
Sheppard draws on his experience with the Ancients' descendants, "Healing? Moving things with your mind?"
"As a matter of fact." She materialises a cup of hot coffee in front of McKay, who nearly jumps out of his skin. "I can also transform energy into matter and vice versa." She begins to levitate. "And play around with local gravity."
"Holy crap," McKay blurts out.
"I can glean thoughts or, if necessary, go into someone's mind, which I try not to do without permission," she folds her legs beneath her and floats down into a chair.
"I think that's enough of a demonstration," Carter concludes.
Ville fixes Sheppard with a curious stare. "You don't seem so surprised."
"I've had a little experience," he confides.
"What is it with you and ascended women?" McKay asks him.
"What do you mean by ascended?" Ville asks.
Carter answers for them, "Ascended to a higher plane of existence. I believe now that's what happened to Daniel, based on your debriefing after he died. He was returned to human form years later by the way."
"Daniel's alive?" Ville repeats breathlessly. "How is that possible?"
Carter grimaces. "Uh, he was sort of kicked out of the club by the Others."
"There are others? Of these ascended beings?" Ville persists.
"How come you don't know that?" McKay asks Ville suspiciously.
"Because I've never visited a timeline where human evolution had progressed that far."
"Timeline?" Sheppard and McKay react in stereo.
"Oh, yeah, I sometimes shift timelines but don't ask me how because that I don't know. I'm not omniscient." She turns to Carter, "This is incredible, humans ascending to another plane of existence?"
"Well, not all of them. Some returned to Earth instead," Carter allows.
"Apparently it takes a lifetime of boring meditation to reach that level," Sheppard adds.
"And we're only talking about the Gate builders. Daniel was helped by one of them; he didn't do it on his own."
"Oh." Ville sounds disappointed, "but I felt him go. Never mind." She shakes her head to avoid tearing up. "Can I see the rest of the city?"
"Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay can show you around. I imagine they'll have more questions."
"And so do I," Ville counters.
"I thought you might. They have more experience with the city and the Pegasus galaxy than I do. In the meantime, I'll let the SGC know you're here."
After the basic tour with Sheppard, Ville leans on a railing looking out over the city and the ocean. She shakes her head, "This is so fantastical."
Next to her, Sheppard replies, "Yeah, it takes some getting used to."
She studies him closely. "And yet you're used to it."
"I wouldn't say that. My job here is pretty simple - fight the bad guys."
"Life sucking aliens," she rubs the palm of her hand.
"Yeah. Look, maybe you're here to help us with—"
She shakes her head. "I don't know why I'm here. That's usually the case, actually. Mostly, I observe. My father taught me not to interfere with the natural course of things."
"Getting the life sucked out of you isn't natural."
"I know what you're trying to do, Colonel, but I can't make that kind of commitment." When he looks away in consternation, she apologises, "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard that before." He changes his attitude and invites her to lunch.
"Actually," she demurs, "I have an appointment with Dr. McKay. He said he would help me with the Ancients' database. I'd really like to learn more about them."
"Well," he smiles disarmingly, "raincheck then?"
"Sure."
"Maybe I could take you for a ride in a puddle jumper later."
"I'd like to see that, too, thank you."
As she's sifting through the images in the hologram database, a familiar face startles her. "Oh my…," she resumes her search and finds the face of her father. "He was Atlantean," she breathes.
"Are you sure?" Carter asks when Ville reports this news to her. "Well, that's a hell of a coincidence."
Ville sits across from her. "Actually, it may help explain why I'm here. I must've detected his connection to this place."
"So…are you claiming to be an Ancient now?"
"No, I was never human. I never realised my father had been at one time. To be honest, I don't know what to think, Sam."
An alarm begins blaring. "Follow me," Carter requests. As they approach the control room, she asks, "Chuck, what's going on?"
"We're getting an alarm from the power room."
She activates her comm. "Carter to McKay. Rodney, what's going on?"
"We have a big problem, Sam! The ZPM's going critical. I don't know what's causing it!"
"Colonel, we're getting warning lights on other systems, now."
"Rodney, pull the ZPM and run a diagnostic."
"I don't think you understand. The ZPM's going to explode. We've got to get rid of it. Preferably off-world."
Colonel Sheppard, listening in on the channel, arrives in the control room. Carter nods to him; he heads upstairs to the jumper bay. "Okay, Rodney, get the ZPM up here.…"
Ville shakes her head, "No, Sam, there's no time." She relocates to the power room. "Here, Rodney, give it to me."
Too shocked to ask questions, McKay continues to disengage the ZPM and hands it over to her. Then he asks, "What are you gonna do…?" but she's gone again…
…to the jumper bay, where she hands off the ZPM to Sheppard. "What about power to the gate?" he asks.
"The wormhole's already open," she says breathlessly. "Go" Fading to a diaphonous field of energy, she follows the jumper down to the gate room. As soon as the jumper goes through, the wormhole closes. A few seconds later an incoming wormhole forms.
"That's impossible," McKay insists, arriving in the control room. "Wormhole mechanics doesn't work like that. What's she doing?"
"Spreading herself too thin, I think," Carter replies. The jumper returns. "Raise the shield" she orders but the wormhole has already disengaged and Sheppard's jumper ascends to the bay. "Rodney, how are we on reserve power?"
"Huh, I'm reading full power. I mean, we have everything Gate, shield, sensors…." He gives Carter a look of amazement. "We're good."
Carter looks down into the gate room. Ville stares up at her.
"You're…powering the city?" McKay asks Ville as they all sit in Carter's office. "Really?"
"Yes, I am, Rodney." Staring at nothing, she says tiredly, "I'm interfaced with the city's operating system now, trying to make it more efficient."
"I thought I did a pretty good job of that," he protests.
"It's delicate; I've never done anything like this before," then she murmurs, "the power conduits are a mess."
"Well, you have the Replicators to thank for that," McKay informs her.
Sheppard scolds him, "I thought you would've fixed those by now."
McKay barks, "We patched as best we could. We haven't had time to replace them."
Carter waves him off and tells Ville, "We've evacuated the outer piers so you can concentrate on powering the tower until Zalenka's teams have the naqueda generators online to take some of the strain."
"Thank you. They're coming online now."
"Okay, this is weird." McKay shifts uncomfortably.
"You're just freaked out because an alien is in control of the city."
"You're damn right, I am"
"Ville, how long can you keep this up?" Carter wants to know.
"Once I get the hang of it, you won't notice a difference." She focuses on the here and now. "Like it or not, I am Atlantis now. Your expedition can evacuate back to Earth if the SGC and IOA don't like it."
Sheppard shifts in his chair. "But you're saying you don't mind if we stay?"
"No, of course not. I want to help anyway I can; I'm sure now, this must be why I'm here."
"Because your father's people built this city," Carter surmises.
"Not just that. This is the Grand Adventure for the Human Race. Of course, I want to be around for that." she enthuses.
"Okay, then. I think we can make this partnership work."
"This is amazing" Ville peers out the window of the jumper at the ocean below.
Sheppard grins, "It's not like going out in space though."
"Well, I think Rodney would have a cow if I tried going off-world. I'm not sure what my range is yet. So, you manage the ship through your neurobiology?"
"That's what they tell me."
"You must be a hell of a pilot."
"You built a Replicator?" she repeats.
McKay says modestly, "Well, it couldn't replicate, so that term is inaccurate."
"Still, that's quite a feat Rodney."
"Not really," Zalenka mumbles. "He used a template that was already programmed in the machine."
McKay ignores him. "Let me tell you about the time I got super-smart…."
Sheppard catches up with Carter for their mobile morning briefing.
She opens with, "How's the competition going?"
"Competition?" he feigns ignorance.
"Between you and McKay?"
"Oh. Which competition would that be?" he asks innocently.
Carter rolls her eyes. "For Ville's attention? I noticed you two have been taking turns trying to impress her."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Ah."
Sheppard gestures, "And I happen to think this is the best view of the city at night. It's something, isn't it?"
Ville breathes, "Yes, it is." Then she turns to him mischievously, "Colonel, I realise you do have other duties…."
"Well, I would be remiss if I allowed an alien to roam around the city unescorted."
"You mean like Teyla or Ronan?"
"You're a little bit different, don't kid yourself."
"Do you trust me, John?"
"Me? Well, let's just say, I don't not trust you. I mean, you did save our asses."
"So it's the military. You don't think they'll trust me?"
Sheppard shrugs. "The Daedalus arrives in a few days. I'm sure Colonel Caldwell will have something to say."
"An alien is in control of this base and you don't think that's a threat?" Caldwell is rather calmer than Sheppard expected. Carter replies, "No, I don't, Steven. She's pledged to protect this city. General O'Neill and I have vouched for her."
"Besides, why would she blow it up after she went through all the trouble of saving it?" Sheppard adds wryly.
"She's also helped us advance our understanding of the Ancients' research and technology by years," Carter continues without skipping a beat.
"Well, the Daedalus is off limits." Caldwell informs her.
"She's not interested in Asgard technology," Sheppard points out, "and she doesn't want to leave the city vulnerable."
Caldwell confirms, "She can't leave the city without the power shutting down?"
Carter confesses, "She's still finding her range. Her energy is not infinite; she uses whatever help we can give her. The naqueda generators could provide power to basic systems like life support, but as for defenses, no. It's a mutually beneficial relationship."
Her sparring match with Ronon went on for three hours before Sheppard complained they'd be late for dinner. They called it a draw. "How'd you get so good at fighting?" Ronon asks.
Ville shrugs, "I was just mirroring your techniques."
"You don't get tired? Ever?" He towels off.
"Not true. I just don't have to expend energy on bodily functions like you do - sweat, pumping blood, breathing."
"So you cheated," he grins at her.
"I just promised you a good workout," she grins back. "Let's go to the mess hall."
"You don't eat either, do you?"
"I can, but no, I just go to socialise and be polite."
Meditating with Teyla proves to be much more conducive to running the city. No humans occupying her cognitive functions.
One day though, she asks Teyla, "I am curious about your gift, your ability to sense the Wraith. Is it like telepathy? Or genetic, like John's ability with the Ancient technology? Do many of your people have it?"
Teyla tells her the story of the Shunned Ones and the Wraith who experimented on her ancestors.
Ville later asks John to tell her about the Ancients' descendants with whom he inadvertently spent time. He shakes his head. "You know I don't get your fascination; those people never actually lived in the sense that we do. All they did was meditate all the time until they finally 'released their burden'. Not what I call living."
Ville responds, "There are ascetics on Earth that spend their lives in the same manner. It's not an easy life."
"Yeah, well these people were spoiled if you ask me. They didn't have to worry about the Wraith like the rest of the galaxy. Now if someone at risk of being culled managed to ascend, that would be something."
"It's not about achievement, John. Not everything is a competition."
"Who's been lying to you?"
"Of course, everything's a competition," McKay retorts. "Did I tell you about the time I invented an entirely new math?"
"When you were on the path to Ascension?" Ville asks. "But all the machine did was rewrite your DNA."
"All? It nearly killed me The damn machine doesn't work properly."
"Maybe because it's not just DNA involved in the process."
"No, there are physiological parameters that have to be met. Brain activity and whatnot."
"So mastering one's own brain activity naturally is the lesson we take away from this episode. Manipulating Ancient technology must be a help since the same principle is involved. That must be what started them down that road."
"And we input instructions on these consoles and the commands get transmitted to the 'Oracle' consoles on the planet. The satellites in orbit gather data and return the results in real time."
"The Ancients manipulated the inhabitants this way? That doesn't sound very ethical," Ville replies.
McKay counters, "They seeded an entire galaxy. No hubris there."
Sheppard adds, "They made a lot of mistakes, too. Don't go idolising them."
"I take your point," she agrees.