Chapter Four

Fire rained down from the sky as she lurched through Atlantis. People were streaming out of buildings or jumping out of windows of the burning spires above her. Emily was pushing her way through the pedestrian traffic, fighting the current that threatened to take her in the opposite direction.

Drones light up the sky above her, momentarily droning out the sounds of screaming people. The ground beneath her feet shook violently. Emily was thrown underfoot of the merciless mob. She fought to regain her footing. She had to get up. She had to keep moving. Bloodied, but not broken, Emily forced herself to her feet and kept running.

"Atlantis is falling!" screamed a woman as she clutched onto her screaming infant.

"The wraith are going to take us all!" screamed a man.

People were dropping to the floor everywhere, ascending on their own will, trying to escape the end. The shields had fallen, the ZPMs suddenly overloaded. Darts screamed through the night sky. Each sucked up a group of frantic people. All Emily could do was trust her knowledge of the city to escape. There was somewhere she had to be, something she had to do.

Another explosion rocked the ground she stood on. In slow motion, she saw herself flying toward a nearby ledge. She felt herself slam into the railing and flipping over the edge. She caught one glimpse of the ground speeding forward before clamping her eyes shut.

"EMILY!" a strange but familiar voice screeched.

She sat up in her bed, suddenly aware of the real world around her. Icy sweat covered every inch of her body and her heart was beating a mile a minute.

"EMILY! OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

She shook her head, trying to get the image out of her head before she faced the owner of the voice. "What is it, Rodney?" she questioned with a sigh.

"Open the door right now."

"I'm not-"

"I don't care. Just open the door."

She sighed. "It's your funeral." She pressed a button on her bedside table that she had installed way back when back.

Rodney marched through the door. "Where the hell were you? Didn't you remember- oh dear." He suddenly turned away, thoroughly embarrassed.

"I warned you," Emily remarked with a smirk.

"Yes, but . . . but you could have put something on over it at least."

"Well a housecoat isn't exactly something in my closet. I never got a late night visitor before."

"Oh how would you remember?"

Emily adjusted the sheets covering her stark-naked body. "Why else would I have the compulsion to sleep in my birthday suit if I always had company at night?"

"Okay," Rodney replied uncomfortably. "Just put some clothes on and meet me in the gate room."

"Fine."

A few seconds passed before she said something.

"You can leave now, Rodney.

"Oh, yes, right." With that, he shuffled out of the room, careful to keep his back to her.

Emily sighed. It was going to be one hell of a day.

"I don't recognize that one, either," Emily replied with a sigh.

"Okay, how about this one?" Rodney asked as her moved through the computer system's list of gate addresses.

"P4X-579. That looks vaguely familiar. I think that was a testing sight for the weapons researchers and their students. It was deserted when the testing was done."

"Okay, we'll have to check that out later. How about this one?"

"Nope."

"This one?"

"No."

"This one?"

"Ye-no."

"Okayyy. How about this one?"

"P7Z-421. It's so familiar . . ."

"Hello Emily," Zelenka interrupted with a smile. "Rodney," he added in as an after thought.

"Hi, Zelenka. What is it?" Emily replied with a slight smile, happy to get away from the planet interrogation.

"Rodney, I need to talk to Emily," Zelenka said, quickly turning away from her gaze.

"Not now. We're-"

Zelenka cut him off by clearing his throat.

A light suddenly flickered across his face, as if he suddenly remembered something. "Oh yes. We'll finish this later. Goodbye." With that, he got up and left.

"What is it, Zelenka?" she asked in his native tongue, slightly confused at what had just gone on.

"Come with me."

Emily got up and the two began to walk.

"I want you to see the psychologist."

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"No, you need to talk to someone, someone who can understand what's going on in your head."

She gave a humorless laugh. "No one can understand what I'm going through. I'm a lot more complex than you humans."

"That may be true, but to have to give us credit for something. When it comes to the mind, there's a lot our people can do."

"But have they ever dealt with someone who could ascend at the drop of a hat?"

"Well-"

"Well nothing. I'm not going."

Zelenka stopped next to a door. "I'm afraid you are."

"Wha-"

"Hello Emily!" a calm voice began.

She turned to see a blonde woman standing in the doorway. Emily had been totally blind sighted.

"Why don't you come in and we can talk," the woman said with a smile as she nudged her thought the threshold.

All Emily could do was allow herself be guided in. She gave Zelenka a look of death just before the door slid closed.