Thanks to everyone whose reviews so far: it's nice to know I'm doing something right.
Life Goes On
Part 4: Dead and buried
Chloe almost fainted as the Puddle Jumper started to pass through the Stargate. She'd expected the ship to fly through the wormhole like a regular jet, so the sight of the event horizon sweeping towards her, enveloping Sheppard and Ronan, had turned her blood to ice-water. She closed her eyes tightly, gripping her seat' armrests so tightly that her knuckles went white.
There was the same feeling of her body being ripped apart atom by atom, and them they were inside the wormhole, and the space-time continuum lay open before them. McKay and Sam had both explained that the transit time, even between Atlantis and the SGC, was almost negligible. But the human mind still interpreted the transition as a journey.
Something scientists would argue about for years to come.
The other Stargate was in orbit of an Earth-like world with no evidence of intelligent life other than the Kryptonian structure in the desert near its equator. Sheppard expertly fly the small craft through the upper atmosphere and brought it in low over the barren wasteland, on a direct course for the structure.
Clark sat transfixed by the view as the Puddle Jumper landed a short distance to what looked like an almost perfect replica of the Fortress of Solitude back on Earth, but he knew that this was misleading: there were no signs or directions inside the Fortress.
"Ok, let's get going." Slipping on a pair of sunglasses, Sheppard opened the rear hatch. Heat poured into the Puddle Jumper with a near physical force. It was almost noon, local time, and the planets sun was high in the sky, beating down relentlessly. Everyone except Clark and Ronon showed signs of being effected: Clark was not naturally bothered by extremes of hot and cold, while Ronon simply refused to let any such weakness show in front of strangers.
P90 held at the ready, Sheppard led the way to the same opening that they had found when they first detected the structure from orbit. The crystalline walls were worn into irregular shapes by the relentless sandblasting effect of the desert wind. The opening offered welcome shade as they made their way along a short passage. Clark looked at the walls, recognising the same signs as he had seen on the photos back on Earth.
"And this is the problem." Sheppard came to an abrupt stop in front of a section of wall that had collapsed, totally blocking the way forward, "We can't get round it, and there are no other ways into the structure."
"Let me have a look." Clark stepped forward, examining the blockage first with his normal eyesight, then with his X-ray vision. It didn't look too big, maybe a foot thick, buy it must have weight several tons. Certainly too much for any equipment the Atlantis expedition would have been able to fit into the back of a Puddle Jumper. Bending his knees, Clark took a firm grip on the debris and started to lift. It groaned and complained, but he was able to lift it back up into position. Holding it in place, he used his heat-vision to re-seal the joint, stopping it from collapsing back down again.
"Now that was something you don't see everyday." Sheppard looked genuinely impressed, "Care to explain just how you did that?"
"He eats a lot of spinach." Sam smiled, "Long story, most of which is classified way above even your clearance."
"Well, I don't like it, but ok." Sheppard nodded, knowing better than to press the issue. He looked at the corridor beyond for the first time, and saw that it branched off in two directions. "Ok, two teams. McKay, Teyla; you go with Dr Carter and Chloe along the left hand passage. Ronon, Clark and I will take the right hand passage. We find anything of interest; we radio it in and wait for everyone else to arrive. Are we clear?"
The others nodded their agreement, and the two groups went their separate ways.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"That sign back there said something about medical." Chloe pointed at some marking on the wall behind them, "Shouldn't we radio the others and let them know?"
"What? That we found even more signposts?" McKay asked sarcastically, "We'll let them know when we've found something worth reporting."
"Don't make me separate you two." Sam laughed, "Rodney's right Chloe: only you and Clark can read Kryptonian to any degree of accuracy, so we need to press on until we find something more important."
"Ok." Chloe nodded, feeling more than a little dejected. She was slight surprised at how professional Sam had become: living in Smallville, it was easy to forget that her partner was a highly trained physicist and the former leader of a Special Forces team. She was so deep in though that she didn't notice the ring engraved on the floor.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"This is the control room." Clark stood before a large podium like structure, surrounded by discarded crystals, "These need to be reinserted, and then we should be able to bring the entire complex back online."
"How do you know that?" Sheppard asked, "I thought you said you grew up on Earth?"
"I did." Clark nodded as he lifted an armful of crystals, "The rest is..."
"...classified; I know." Sheppard nodded, "You want me to call McKay and Carter back to help you?"
"No; I should be able to do this myself." Clark placed the first crystal into position, and it slid down into place. More followed, until the podium started to light up, long dormant systems slowly coming to life. The air shimmered as a holographic display came to life. Kryptonian glyphs hung in the air, almost glowing.
"Now that's something worth calling the others in on..." Sheppard reached for his radio.
"Not yet!" Clark held up a hand to stop the older man, "I think I can bring the rest of the systems online."
Picking up the last crystal, he slowly slid it into place.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chloe jumped backwards as the area of floor she was standing on lit up suddenly, and found herself surrounded by some form of force field. Sam turned round immediately and saw what was happening: she instructively started to run towards her girlfriend, not noticing the identical glowing patch on the floor. The moment her foot touched it, a second force field flashed into being, and the two women were isolated.
"Oh my God!" McKay blinked, "What the hell do we do?"
"This looks like some kind of control device." Teyla pointed her P90 at a bank of crystals lined up along one wall, "Maybe we can shut it down?"
"NO!" Sam yelled, "Just call Clark: he knows how to work Kryptonian machines."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Sam, but I think even I can work this out." McKay started to pull and press the crystals, seemingly at random, "There has to be some sort of sequence to these things..."
A bight light filled both force fields, enveloping the women trapped within. The light solidified into a ball of light that enveloped both Sam and Chloe. They pulsed for a few seconds, before shooting up into the air, passing each other before descending into the other force field. There was another flash of light, and the force fields faded, allowing Sam and Chloe to sink to the floor.
"Ok then." McKay nodded, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry, "Maybe we should call the others..."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Oh no..." Clark looked at the line of Kryptonian glyphs that hung in the air, "We have to get out of here: now!"
"What is it?" Sheppard asked, gripping his P90 tightly, ready for anything, "What does it say?"
"This was a Kryptonian outpost: a military outpost." Clark swallowed, "An outpost loyal to General Zod."
"Who was that?" Ronon asked.
"Zod was a madman who tried to stage a military coup on Krypton." Clark explained, "He was defeated and banished to a pocket-dimension known as the Phantom Zone. The only problem was, some of his followers escaped, and instigated the war that destroyed my people. There's evidence, quite dangerous evidence, that some of them survived. If this was one of their bases of operation, they may have left something behind to watch over it..."
"Sheppard, this is McKay!" The scientist's worried voice came over the radio, "We've got a situation here..."
"Oh, I'd say that that is an understatement." The all too familiar voice of a Brain InterActive Construct came out of the shadows, "Who dares defile the Temple of Zod?"
To Be Continued...
If you didn't like it, then so be it: it was my story to write and time to waste, not yours.