Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish it was, but its not. Except for the stuff you don't recognize, i.e. the plot and the original characters which I won't name because there's just so many and you haven't even met all of them yet. But that's not the point. The point is that I do not own Stargate Atlantis, its places, people, or things.
A/N: Hi again. This is chapter… six I believe. This chapter is the build up to the chapter when I will reveal what's going on. But it's not quite there yet. That'll be one of the next two. Probably the next one. Back to this chapter. I had a hard time finding a title for it. Revelations would have been good but I'd already used that. So I thought. Hard. I came up with Defiance because… well, you'll see. This chapter also marks the end of what I have typed. So the time between the last update and this one… may very well be nothing compared to this one and the next one. Which I apologize for profusely but school and work are kind of swamping me. Sorry. I do get chapters up as fast as I can so you can count on the fact that the second its ready to go it'll be up. I'm putting this up now because I'm going to be out of town until late on Monday and when I get home, I probably won't want to mess with it. So please, enjoy.
Thanks: As always to Bann, Chibi, my many friends and my reviewers. I would love to write something more profound, you guys definitely deserve it, but my brain is drawing a blank. Sorry. I love you guys. In place of sugary words, I give you actual sugar. (Offers e-candy)
Defiance
The three of us starts off down the passageway. I'd decided almost as soon as we'd gotten back to the city that the best place to go would be the lab that had been designated Del's. Why a sixteen-year-old genius had a lab in a city full of brilliant people was really confusing to some people. Of course, those people don't actually know Del, and therefore don't realize that she's as brilliant at sixteen as they are at full grown adulthood. Del being in school is really just a bit of an excuse to keep her busy.
So, anyhow, one of the empty, out of the way labs was designated Del's because she's too much like Rodney to have underfoot all the time. Plus, this way when he gets to be to much to handle and there was very little to no hope of rescue by one of the other senior staff, it's perfectly acceptable for Radek to suggest that he go check on his clone child (and I swear Radek really does call her that) because she had been left alone too long. I was hoping very hard that Del's lab also had an access to this network of secret passages.
I'm brought out of my reverie very quickly when I nearly walk into a wall. So far I've been guessing at where we should turn and when based on the way I would have taken to get from the Jumper bay to Del's lab. Now, however, I would have turned left but was being face with a dead end. The wall bore only a map of the city like the ones in the transporters and symbols along the border on the sides.
"Oh, great. A dead end. Should have realized this would be a bad idea. I mean its not like we actually know where we're going. Not to mention the fact that we are three floors above my lab."
"Yes, Del. I know that. My plan was to worry about that once we actually got to the right area of the city."
"Well, your plan needs to be revised now so by all means…" Del trailed off and gestured around her in a way I think was meant to indicate revising the plan. I considered sticking my tongue out at her and, deciding it would only lead to a headache, took in the surrounding walls instead.
Other than the map the walls were completely blank, but there was something about that map that drew me to it, made me think it was the answer to the question I had about where to go know and how to get there. My eyes were drawn to the symbols on the left side of the map. A 'V' at the top and then… Atlantean numbers? Could it be? Was it possible?
I reached out with one hand and gently pressed the Atlantean equivalent of '3'. There was a bright flash of light. When it cleared we were standing in a hallway that looked identical to the one we'd been in. Only this one wasn't a dead end.
"Okay, what just happened?" Del looked somewhat uneasy, and yet curious at the same time.
"I could be wrong, but I think we were transported down three floors." I don't know much more than her, but I should at least act like I do. Just to, you know, keep her off my back about it.
"Seriously?" Del demands in disbelief.
"We are in a place different than where we were, and Ashlei pressed the 3 so…" As usual, Rayne seems neither phased nor bothered by what's happened.
"So the network of secret passages has a transporter system separate from the public one that stopped working with everything else a few hours ago?"
"You sound surprised, Del." I say off-handedly.
"I'm not, just…" I raise an eyebrow. "Okay I am. I'm surprised. Happy?!"
"Nope." I smirk at her.
"Figures. You—"
"Guys!" Rayne cut her off. "Shouldn't we be headed for Del's lab?"
"Oh. Right." Sometimes I wonder if Del and I could work together and actually get anything done without Rayne. "Ummm…" I closed my eyes and tried to create a mental picture of the layout of this floor. Then I tried to figure out where we were. Not as easy as it sounds and Del made it all the harder with her constant background commentary on why peoples shouldn't just run off into secret passageways without knowing their way around. As per the usual when she starts ranting, I ignored her and started walking in the direction that I hoped would lead to Del's lab.
I didn't look behind me but I knew Del was following because she was still ranting about one thing or another, and, while Rayne was quiet, she was walking right beside me. We continued our walk in relative silence. Occasionally Rayne would inquire as to where I thought we were in relation to the outside hallways, and Del had given up her rant to theorize on how the transporter system in here could possibly be on a separate power source than the main one.
Finally, we came to a stop at what I was almost entirely sure was Del's lab. There were lines in the walls that would indicate a door, and an outline of a hand in the center. Hesitantly, because I had no idea if it was just there for show or if it had a purpose beyond what I thought it as, I put my hand into the outline. There was a whirring and then the door slid towards us a little then sideways into the wall.
On the other side of the door was, unfortunately, not Del's lab; however, it was at least the hallway outside Del's lab. The three of us walked out into the hallway, starting in surprise as the door slid back into its place.
"Okay, not my lab."
"Yes, but it is just down the hallway a ways. Ashlei did well."
"Thanks Rayne." She smiled warmly at me in reply. "Well, come on. I think we might be able to get the door to the lab open if Del and I both think at it really hard." Del groaned and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'freaking optimist' under her breath. To which I merely grinned in response.
It took less than two minutes to walk through down the hall to the door of Del's lab. We stopped in front of it and just kind of stared. No one, as far as we know, had yet been able to get any of the doors open. Del and I, though, we're different. Del's own ATA gene was weaker only than mine and my dad's. No one is entirely sure if she got it randomly, as some do, or inherited it, like I had. Carson's been looking into it because some of the children of people who received their genes through the gene therapy do have the gene, but others don't.
"So what now?"
"Umm. I guess we just do like normal?" Even to me it sounded more like a question than a suggestion. Del just shrugged in agreement, but before I could even start to think 'open' at the door, it activated. I stared at the open doorway in amazement before turning an inquiring glance at Del, who shook her head to indicate it hadn't been her. I considered for a minute, and then shrugged, deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Upon entering the room, I made straight for the laptop on the desk. Del flopped into one of the comfy chairs Rayne and I had brought in here so the three of us could just kind of hang out in the lab and be comfortable. Rayne sat in another. I sat on the stool and flipped the top up on the laptop and turned it on. As I waited for it to load I turned my radio back on.
"How's it coming?" I inquired. More to let them know I was back on the frequency then anything else, because, despite what had just happened, I had a feeling no one else was gonna be able to get through any doorways. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rayne and Del give me confused looks before realizing I was talking into my radio and turning theirs back on as well.
"Ah. Mi-chi. Given up on trying to get out yet?" Rodney. Always so smug and sure of himself. This time he's wrong; I'm going to love proving it to him.
"There was never any trying involved, Rodney." I purposely add a faint drawl to my response, sounding very much like my dad, who, knowing me as well as he does, must have realized something was up.
"Ash, where are you? Why did you turn your radio off?" Dad sounded suspicious, but calmer than he had earlier. Probably mother had talked to him and clamed him down some. He was still obviously not happy, but he was also apparently resigned to the fact that I was going to do this and he couldn't stop me.
"My lab." Trust Del to just cut into a conversation. "To be specific, she's sitting in front of my laptop waiting for it to load completely. It's taking longer than usual, likely because of whatever's going on with the system." Bored, I spun the stool around.
"How the Hell did you get down there?!" Rodney would deny it to his dying day, but he most definitely screeched.
"Ahh…. Call it a trade secret." I look at my friend in surprise. Yes, we'd decided to keep it a secret but, to openly refuse to tell her dad in such an… annoying way. Well, let's just say it wasn't something I'd expected her to do.
"Del."
"Look, it happens to be Ashlei's secret. If you want to know, you have to convince her that you should. Until then, well, you're ever so good at figuring things out on your own so…" To my surprise, Del actually winked at me. I shrugged. I didn't know what was up with her and Caleb, but whatever it was, I sort of liked it. I spun the stool the other direction idly.
"I don't suppose I could convince Rayne to give it up could I?"
"Not likely Daddy." I told him as I spun the chair the first way again; it squeaked. Del glared. I just blinked, smiled innocently, and spun it again. Del was about to say something, probably along the lines of 'stop it before you break it moron', when the laptop beeped.
I turned my attention to the screen and blinked in surprised confusion. Whatever the text was, it wasn't a language I could read. Yet, somehow, in someway, it looked familiar. "So nobody can read this then? No one at all. No one even thinks it looks familiar?"
"That's right. Why?"
"Daddy, it looks familiar. I don't understand it but… it's familiar."
"Do you happen to know why it looks familiar, honey? Like where you may have seen it before?" Mother inquires calmly.
"I— I'm not sure that I've ever actually seen anything like it before."
"Then how could it possibly be familiar!" Rodney demands.
"I don't know. It just is."
"It just is? What the heck kind of answer is that. 'It just is.' Please. That's like saying that the Stargate just works."
"Which it does." Del protests, "Unless, of course, you have a deeper understanding of the thing, in which case there are a lot of things to factor in but otherwise… it just works."
"What are you saying?" Rodney gently demands of his daughter.
"I think Ashlei's right. Whatever these symbols are… they aren't anything I recognize, and, yet, for some reason, I feel like she should know what it means."
"I feel much the same." Rayne chimes in from behind us.
"So… What now? Have hit dead end." Radek's voice fizzled over the comms. I was glad to hear him talking. A very close bond exists between the people out here in the city. It is a strong and resilient bond of loyalty, but a stronger bond exists between the senior staff, their seconds, and their children. Radek is as dear to me as Ronon or Rodney.
Speaking of Ronon, he and Rayne seemed to have switched over to a separate comm line and were apparently having a very heated discussion in which he was apparently demanding that she cease all activity and just stay put before she got hurt and she… well, in true Dex fashion Rayne was point blank refusing to do anything of the sort and was imploring her mother for help.
"Radek? When did you regain consciousness?"
"Just a few minutes ago when you were screeching like hawk diving for food."
"I wasn't screeching."
"Aye, laddie, you rather were." Carson's brogue added to the many voices on the open channel, and there were many more people who were remaining silent. It was rather disconcerting to realize that right now all those live might very well depend on us. On somebody recognizing where those symbols were from. So this was what it felt like to be in my parents shoes. I gained a new found respect for their ability to keep a cool head and make rational decisions in the midst of chaos.
"I was—"
"Now is Not the time, McKay." Dad interrupted.
"General's right." Marcus. Good to know he was still okay. "Ashlei, think really hard. Are you absolutely certain you've never seen the symbols anywhere before?"
"I am one hundred percent certain I have never in my life even seen something like them."
"I'll go back to my early question of how that's possible. Changing my reasoning to the fact that you've been everywhere in this city and have a penchant for even being where you aren't supposed to be." Rodney mutters irritably.
"I have been everywhere. We-" here I made a sweeping gesture to include Rayne and Del, which was entirely pointless because they were the only ones who could see me anyhow. "-have been everywhere. Made it a point to get familiar with the city. We've been everywhere. Seen everything. But this is familiar to Del because she's seen it and me because it just is. How is that possible? I've been everywhere." I have a tendency to ramble along and think out loud (A/N: yes for those of you who have read my other author's notes, that part came from me. But I think that's the only bit that did)
"No, actually, Ash, now that I think about it… you haven't been everywhere I have." Del was looking at me with a look in her eyes I couldn't recognize. After a moment I realized what she meant.
"The chair room." I stated without feeling.
"You've never been in the chair room?" I wasn't entirely sure who had spoken because I was too distracted to discern the voice.
"She isn't supposed to go near it." that, I was almost certain was my dad. I had been forbidden to enter the chair room at a young age. I was, as dad had said, not even supposed to go near it because every time I did, the place went a little crazy. Much like it was now. Teyla commented as such.
"There can't possibly be a connection. She's a child." I wasn't entirely sure but I think that was probably the voice of Colonel Anthony Merric, the guy who took over the Daedalus when Caldwell retired here to Atlantis a few years back. Picture your average, strictly by- the-book, cranky drill sergeant looking guy with semi-non-existent light brown hair, ice cold brown eyes and a scar on his right cheek and you've basically got Merric. But he really isn't important now… or ever as far as I'm concerned.
"No, she has a point." Whether Rodney actually believed this or was just using it as a way to irritate Merric, whom very few in the city like, was unclear, but as usual Rodney has reasoning for everything. "Sheppard. Maybe you should have let her in there a long time ago. Maybe the city is doing this because she hasn't been allowed to heed its earlier callings."
"I think, given the fact that the city has previously attempted to contact Ashlei, whatever the message reads, it is meant for her."
"Agreed."
"Right." I mutter. "So, um… how exactly do I talk to the city?" Dead silence answered my inquiry. "Rodney?" No answer. I turned to look at Del and Rayne, who had finally finished her argument with her father, but they looked just as clueless as I. "Daddy?" My voice pitched upward in fear that something might have happened.
"No, its okay Ashlei. We're still here." I relaxed.
"Ashlei, are you saying you've never talked to the city?"
"Of course I haven't!" I notice the disbelieving looks on Rayne and Del's faces and sigh, adding, "I tried, but I never got a response."
"Okay. This? This could be a problem"
"Thank you, Rodney, for stating the obvious."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me if our impending doom is forcing me to think out loud."
"That wasn't thinking that was—"
"Gentlemen!" Mother demanded silence of my dad and Rodney. Some things never change no matter the level of 'impending doom' or amount of time, daddy and Rodney will still bicker like children with each other. "Now is not the time. Ashlei," and just like that her tone softens; I can practically see the gentle look of calm on her face in my mind as she speaks to me. "Are you sure you never got any response at all? Ever?"
"I only tried once or twice, but I'm pretty sure."
"Why did you only try twice?" Again the voice was so cold it could only belong to Merric.
"What I want to know is why this is the first time she's mentioned anything of the sort." Rodney snaps. Del shakes her head and drops it into her hands after she flops down on a chair. She's very fond of her dad, but even she can see that sometimes his priorities get a little out of whack. In this case, worrying about the past over the present which is so very rare for him.
"If you think about it," Lorne's voice cuts in smoothly. "The answer is probably the same for both."
"Aye. We da never believer her if she had said somethin'. And if someone woulda seen her talkin' to nothing we da likely sent her down to Psych." Carson agrees.
"At least someone understands it." I mutter dryly, irritated at having my actions analyzed.
"Ash, why don't you just try talking to the city again now, sweetie? Maybe it will work now because Atlantis wants to talk to you." Dad suggested softly. Over the open line I thought I may have heard someone grumble something about how they were staking their lives on the insane theory of a 17-year-old-girl that the city they'd been living in for over twenty years was alive. No one said anything louder, though, so I decided I may as well try it.
"Ummm. Okay." I stood up. Rayne had flopped into the chair Del had previously occupied, and Del had moved over to lean against her table. She was staring into space, her arms crossed across her chest, chewing absently at her bottom lip, lost in thought. She had that look on her face. The one that said the pieces were starting to slot together in her mind, which was good, because I was pretty sure I knew what I was going to have to do if this didn't work, but I wanted someone else to be the one to suggest it. "Ummm…" What did you say to a 10,000 year-old city? "Hi, uh, Atlantis. I got your message, and, well, here I am." I paused. "Ready to talk." This was starting to sound stupid even to my own ears. "Waiting on you." The silence stretched on. "Atlantis?"
"Enough, Ashlei." Del's voice echoed in my ear as she spoke both to me and to the radio. "That isn't going to work."
"Delilah, why do you think it won't work?" Teyla asked gently. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Del cringe at the use of her full name like she always does.
"Because there's only one way to interface with the city" She states calmly. Inwardly I let out a sigh of relief. I knew I could count on Del to figure this out. "And that's the chair."
"Absolutely not." Dad didn't yell, he didn't snap, he didn't bark it out like an order. He just said it, but the way he had said it left no room for debate. I wasn't doing this.
"Daddy, please." I begged.
"I said no."
"Sheppard, maybe we should think about this. Del's right. The chair is the only direct neural interface in the city. It may very well be the only way to find out what's going on." Rodney tried to reason.
"No."
"John-" Mother started.
"Please. Please let me do this." I begged again. I was beginning to get angry. Why was he doing this? Why couldn't he see? This may be the only way to save the city.
"No means no. Absolutely not. Elizabeth you've seen the way it gets when she goes near there."
"Yes, but with the way things are-"
"With the way things are the chances of something happening that she can't handle are just that much higher. We've already had one injury from a power spike. Imagine what would happen if her brain was linked to the city!"
"General, I hate to be rude but-" Del protested.
"NO! Any other way you girls want to try, any other ideas, fine go ahead. But Ashlei is not sitting in that chair!" he was yelling now. I was surprised to find that I didn't care. I was more angry than I could ever remember being. I had a moment to realize that this was probably what it felt like to be in a blind rage before I stopped thinking and just acted.
"I'm really very curious, Daddy," I snarl as I walk over to the back wall of Del's lab and palm a panel I somehow know will open one of the doors to the secret corridors. "You are trapped in some hallway two floors down from us and maybe half a mile away. The doors won't open," if I'd had any presence of mind at the time I would have noted the irony of seeing the secret door open before at just that moment. "the transporters don't work, and no one even has a way to tell where I am except for what I tell you. How exactly," I step into the corridor and, without looking behind me to see if Del and Rayne are following, start off in and angry half-walk, half-run. "do you plan to stop me?" I tore angrily off down the corridor.
I ran and I just kept running, ignoring the angry voices in my ear yelling at me and each other over the radio. I whipped along the turns, faint lines representing the doors flew by, maps that I slowed just long enough to look at began to blur. I have to say that even on a good day running the entire way from Del's lab to the chair room was something that I would never even consider. It was just too far. But I was so mad, mad at my dad for being so overprotective, mad at my mom, Del, and Rodney for not being able to reason with him, mad at Carson, Teyla, and Ronon for not even trying. I was mad at just about everyone. Hell, I was even mad at myself for not doing something for the city sooner. So I ran, allowing the echoing beat of my feet against the floor to lull my thoughts to calmness.
Finally, I reached the chair room. How I knew it was the chair room when I'd never been there, I wasn't sure. I just knew this was it. I set my hand into the handprint in the middle of the faint lines representing the door and the wall dissolved.
I hesitated before stepping into the room. I had never been a particularly obedient child. At the same time I had never been particularly disobedient. Sure, I played with things I wasn't supposed to in the labs, but I had the gene and, oddly enough, Rodney never seemed to care too much unless I actually damaged something. It was true that I spent a lot of time in the outer reaches of the city, but I never went alone and it was impossible to resist the need to explore. Yes, I've skipped classes and snuck out in the middle of the night and read reports I wasn't supposed to just so I could know what was going on. But there were two things I have never done, stepped inside this room, and directly defied my father. Indirectly, yes. Directly, no.
If I took even one more step in the direction I was headed, I would do both. If I took one more step there would be no turning back. I was about to cross a line here and not only was I not even sure if I wanted to, I wasn't entirely sure that I could. I heard a soft sound behind me and turned to see Rayne and Del come to a halt behind me. Rayne said something into the radio, actually yelled is probably a more correct description, and silence fell as everyone stopped arguing. Del put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a supportive look that was mirrored on Rayne's face. I gave them appreciative glances and turned back around. I could do this. I had to do this. Most importantly, I wanted to do this. I inhaled slightly and stepped over the threshold and into the room.
A/N: Oh. Cliffhanger. blinks in confusion and looks at multiple copies of story Wow. I didn't even see it coming. Sorry guys, I know this is cruel, but it is the only really bad cliffie you've had to put up with so far. I promise if I get lots of nice reviews I won't make anymore cliffhangers on this story. I may even post everything that's left minus the epilogue all at once. But that will take Many nice reviews. So it's in your hands. Whatever you want. Reviews will also inspire me to get the next chapter up sooner. If you've read the other author's notes you know that all of this up until now was typed by early January. Posting happens when I feel like it and have the time. Reviews inspire me to feel like it and make time. So review, because we all hate cliffhangers.
Nimeria OUT!!