The sound of a body hitting the ground caused Major Hughes to stop dead and spin around. He called out to his team, "What happened?"

Davenport and Lt. McLaughlin came running, confusion on their faces. Hughes did a quick once over to make sure they where okay then asked, "Where's Dr. Dunham?"

McLaughlin shrugged and Davenport pointed to a far row of panels, "I last saw her over there."

Hughes nodded and ran over to the area being gestured at; nothing. "Hey Lizzy! Where are you?" He walked along the panels, looking over and under in a thorough search. The rest of the team began to scour the rest of the room.

As Hughes neared the end of the panels he stopped short, then darted forward yelling over his shoulder, "Over here! Quick!"

Before him on a dark, raised platform was Lizzy, sprawled unconscious. Davenport and McLaughlin ran up behind him as he checked her vitals, "Got a pulse, and she's breathing. Looks like she passed out." He rolled her over and after a thorough check for injury of any kind he picked her up, "Cutting this one short guys, we're heading back."

Hughes was mildly surprised that the trek back to the gate took only ten minutes. Especially considering it took them well over an hour to make it to the lab in the first place.

Davenport dialed up Atlantis and sent through his GDO code. Hughes flicked on his radio, "Major Hughes here, we're coming home early. Dr. Dunham passed out while we were exploring an ancient lab. She is still unconscious but her vitals are stable. Requesting a medical team to stand by."

A voice spoke over the radio, "Copy that Major. You're clear to come through."

Hughes stepped up and into the wormhole with Lizzy in his arms. On the other side he was instantly swarmed by a medical team.

Dr. Carson Beckett immediately took charge, guiding Hughes to a gurney. "Ye done good lad, just set 'er here." He patted the bed. Once he had her situated how he liked he was gone. Before you could blink the entire medical team was down the hall way and off to the infirmary.

Dr. Weir approached Hughes, who was now standing in awe at the efficiency at which Beckett operated. She glanced towards the infirmary, then back to the Major. "She'll be fine, Lizzy is in the best care now." He nodded and Weir continued, "So, what happened out there? An ancient lab you said?"

He took a breath, drawing his thoughts away from his team member. "Yes. Ma'am, that place is gorgeous. We had wandered up the valley and found the river, and that led to... well, long story short we found some sort of ancient outpost or lab, but it wasn't ancient, was something else, different. Dr. Davenport could probably tell you all about it."

At the mention of his name Davenport perked up, "Yes, yes, it was most fascinating! Like an advanced version of Atlantis, if you can think of that, I was mo..."

He was cut off by Hughes, "Anyway... We didn't touch anything, just looked it over and they took some notes. Dr. Dunham was looking at this far row of panels, I heard her fall, found her, and here we are back home. I don't know what happened to her, maybe she just got to excited. I just don't know ma'am."

Dr. Weir nodded, "That's okay. We'll debrief as soon as I get word from Dr. Beckett as to Dr. Dunham's condition."

Hughes nodded and walked off to his quarters.

- - - - -

At the knock on her door Dr. Weir looked up. She smiled and invited Dr. Beckett in with a wave of the hand, "How's Dr. Dunham?"

He set a folder down on the table. "Well, as far as I can tell, she's perfectly fine. She simply fainted. She regained consciousness shortly after we left the gate room." He looked at Weir with a slightly concerned looked on his face, "You should 'ear her story though."

Weir cocked her head and frowned, "Which is?"

Beckett nodded towards the door. "I'll let her tell you herself."

In the infirmary Lizzy was laying on a bed resting. When she saw Weir and Beckett approached she sat up and smiled. "Hey," she said, somewhat embarrassed about her situation.

Weir smiled and patted her leg, "Glad to see you alert and awake." She cast a slight glance to Beckett, "Carson says you have a story about what happened."

Lizzy frowned and looked at her hands, "Yeah..." She looked up, "We found this ancient lab of some sort. Everything was turning on as we came in. Dr. Davenport and I were taking notes on the displays to bring back here to Atlantis. I was checking out some panels, at the end was like a platform, no more than a step high, I didn't think anything of it and stepped up to have a closer look at the display screen." She looked wide eyes at both her visitors, "I swear to you, I didn't touch anything!

"But as soon as I stepped onto the platform it lit up and I couldn't move. It was like a tractor beam or something. I felt, well, like I was next to a hot fire that kept sending sparks onto me. I don't know what it was, but all of a sudden I just went blank." She looked at Beckett, "I guess I fainted and then the next thing I know I am waking up back here in Atlantis."

Weir looked from Lizzy to Beckett then back again to Lizzy. "You're sure you didn't touch anything?"

"Positive."

"Alright, I believe you." She turned to Beckett, "Get some blood work done, I want to be sure."

The doctor nodded, "Already on it, I'll let you know as soon as I get the results back."

"Good," she turned to Lizzy, "Get some rest, we'll figure this out." She said, smiling at Lizzy who nodded before walking out.

- - - - -

An hour later Major Hughes, Lt. McLaughlin, and Dr. Davenport joined Dr. Weir in her office. For the next hour they went over the details of the expedition, the who what and when of everything they had done and observed. Dr. Davenport ended up doing most of the talking, almost tripping over himself in his eagerness to share what they had found. Weir as well informed them of Lizzy's condition and related to them what she had said about the platform.

Weir nodded to Davenport. "So, your conclusion is that it's ancient technology, but at the same time it isn't?"

"Yes, it contains all the features of what we have here at Atlantis, and at first glace it looks exactly the same. But the language, the sentence structure is entirely different." At this he pointed to the photographs already on the table, "I couldn't understand a word. I think it's some sort of top secret experimentation lab, which would explain it's location."

"Yet you have no problem getting in, obviously whoever made it wasn't anticipating visitors."

"Exactly, it was engineered to detect the ancient gene, since obviously Lizzy was able to get in without a problem once we activated the front door. So anyone not having the gene wouldn't have been able to get in. A great security measure in my opinion if you factor in the remoteness of the planet.

"It's almost as if this race is a cousin of the Ancients we know. Both would be descended from the same ancestors, but the too groups took different paths, like races on our own world."

Weir nodded, "I see what you're saying." She sat back in her chair, "However, as important as this find my be I don't want what happened to Dr. Dunham to happen again. Especially since we don't know what this lab was for. I don't want anyone going back for the time being. Not until we know more." She motioned to the tablet, "We've got your notes. I want you to work with Dr. McKay and Dr. Dunham when she is back to work. Focus on the text and see if you can't come up with something. It would be very helpful if we can learn how to read it." She leaned forward. "If this really is a new ancient race then I want to know who they are, and I want to know what they where doing. Everything and anything about them. But, for now, lets proceed with caution. Understood?"

A chorus of "Yes ma'am" filled the room.

She nodded, "Dismissed."

As they left Dr. Beckett appeared at the door, "Dr. Weir?"

She looked up, "The test results?"

Beckett nodded, "Yes, and they are all clear, everything is normal. No abnormalities or foreign substances. I cleared her to leave, and she can go back to work in a few days." Weir nodded and he continued. "I also want to run some follow up tests in a month, just to make sure."

"Good idea. Thank you Carson."

He nodded and smiled then left the office leaving Weir sitting behind her desk staring blankly at the pictures that Dr. Davenport had left behind on her desk. What this find meant for the expedition she did not know, or of what importance it might mean.