Good news, I've finally finished splitting this into chapters and reviewing/editing them to make them fit for reading!
When Elizabeth's consciousness came back to her she was aware of a crushing coldness, the air around her damp and chilly. Her arms and legs ached as she sat up and when she ran her hands over her elbows she found grazes, still bleeding and tender to the touch. Squinting to try and see through the gloom Elizabeth identified three solid walls surrounding her, the fourth open but with equally solid bars running horizontal to the floor and fitted closely together. She couldn't find a door. Lying beside her Elizabeth was relieved to find Lt. Shann, her eyes still closed but her chest was rising and falling with each breath she took. The young woman's presence helped to ease the anxiety clawing in Elizabeth's mind. Standing, she went over to the bars of their cell peering out into the gloom. There were no lights outside and the small strip of light emanating from the ceiling only offered a slight glow. She could hear soft sounds, whispering she thought, but not like the whispering back on Atlantis, more human, more warm. Part of her wanted to call out, to see if anyone responded, the other part of her was afraid to, afraid to call her captures to her. Retreating to the back of her cell, Elizabeth slid down the wall and carefully pulled Shann's body closer, her head settled on her thighs. It was then that Elizabeth realised she'd never asked the young woman her first name, couldn't even recall it from when her file crossed her desk and she approved Shann for the expedition. She couldn't help the sudden well up of guilt in her chest; It was her who'd approved her to come to Atlantis, to this. Eventually the warmth from the lieutenants' body was enough to lull her into a daze, content to wait for now. For what though she wasn't sure.
It could have been hours later or just minutes when Elizabeth noticed a change in the lieutenants breathing. She watched as her eyes opened, her pupils hardly contracting as they adjusted to the light, before she slowly sat up and glanced around. Elizabeth pulled her knees up to her chest and couldn't help but regret the loss of warmth that Shann had been providing in her unconscious state.
Elizabeth gave her a few minutes, watching as she walked around the cell, following the same checks and search that she herself had done only a short time ago. When, finally she sat back down beside her Elizabeth couldn't help but say, "I don't know you given name Lieutenant," even without realising it Elizabeth had whispered, her voice as hushed as those she thought she heard earlier.
"Jennifer, ma'am. Most people call me Jen, though." Her voice was just as quiet as Elizabeth's but it held the traces of a smile.
"Well then, Jen, do you have any ideas how to get out of here?"
"Unless you can squeeze though a six-inch gap, ma'am, then no. I can't even see a way to open those bars. No hinges, no imperfections, not even a dent. The only thing I can think of is that they slide straight into the walls."
"I'd assumed pretty much the same thing," Elizabeth replied, her voice soft, "about not being able to get through, not them sliding into the walls." Beside her, Elizabeth felt more than heard Jen chuckle. Elizabeth couldn't help but replay their last moments in Atlantis over, trying to work out what the hell was happening. It had all happened so fast back in the city, most of the time spent running. The 'gate room was especially vivid, how they'd been surrounded, forced backwards, unable to do anything but surrender. Elizabeth glanced at Shann, her fingers twisted together, impatiently moving, gripping into how she'd held her gun before. "You shot one of them," Elizabeth couldn't help but say, "why?"
"Last ditch effort," she murmured quietly, watching Elizabeth out of the corner of her eye, seeing when she didn't quite believe her answer. "You're my superior officer, it's my duty to defend you." Her voice was calm and level, as though she'd never given it a thought. "Not that it did much good," she grumbled after a moment, her face pulled in an expression of disgust. Elizabeth took that in, unsure of what to say. It wasn't the answer she'd been expecting, although she wasn't sure what it was she had been expecting.
Finally, with nothing else to say, Elizabeth mumbled, "so now we wait."
For minute they sat still, the silence ringing in their ears, before Elizabeth felt Jen's muscles tense. "I've never been the waiting type," Shann said before she sprang up again and went to the bars of their cell. Elizabeth waited a moment before joining her.
"What are you hoping to find?"
"No idea," she said, "hopefully, something." Elizabeth watched as she pushed her arm through one of the gaps between the bars, sliding her arm along until her shoulder was pushed up against the wall, the rest of her arm disappearing into the darkness. "I think there's something on the wall," she said in hushed voice. "I can feel something. Maybe if I can-" she trailed off.
Elizabeth waited a moment, "maybe if you can what?"
"I think I can move some of the switches, but I can't find them again." For a while she was quiet, her eyes flicking back and forth in concentration, the muscles along her upper arm tensing occasionally. Suddenly she yelled, jumping away from the bars causing Elizabeth to flinch back too.
"What happened," Elizabeth demanded as Shann pushed her arm back though.
Ignoring her Jennifer raised her voice, "Hello?" For a few moments there was silence before someone spoke.
"Hello?" The voice was quiet, nervous, but most definitely human.
Lt. Shann turned her head to Elizabeth, smiling slightly in encouragement. "It's Dr. Weir and Lt. Shann," Elizabeth said, her voice raised but gentle. "Who are we speaking to?"
"It's Dr, Harris, from the bio-mechanics department. Everyone else is gone."
"Gone?" Elizabeth asked, a sudden chill running down her spine, "What do you mean gone?"
"They take us and most of the time, we don't come back. Tom didn't, neither have Ashlee, Eric, or Maria." Beside her Shann shut her eyes and bowed her head, her arm still pushed through the bars. "Captain Burren and Dr. McNeil were taken a few hours ago."
"Have you tried moving any of these switches?" Shann asked suddenly, her fingers clinging onto one.
"Sgt. Quill did, but he couldn't move them." Elizabeth saw Shann pull a face and heard her smack the wall in frustration before she pulled her arm back through, her skin red where the bars had been pressed. Suddenly the lights came on, flooding the rooms with blinding brightness causing both of them to squint. For a moment Elizabeth couldn't see anything and she brought her hand up to shade her eyes while they adjusted. When, finally, she could see again, Elizabeth looked around. Across from the cell they were in were another line of unoccupied cells, the bars missing.
Beside her Shann had her face pressed against the bars as she looked down one end of the corridor before she pulled back, "they're coming," she whispered urgently. Grabbing the lieutenants' shoulders, Elizabeth pulled her to the back of the cell as they heard the footsteps of several people getting closer and the bars blocking the cell blinked out of existence. "So much for that theory," Shann muttered under her breath. From the cell next to them they could hear Harris pleading followed by silence then the same harsh whispering from Atlantis. Elizabeth watched as Shann dropped into a defensive stance and tried to creep forward a few steps, intending to see what was happening, confused when her feet refused to move. Elizabeth was just about to try herself when the creatures came into view.
Part of Elizabeth wanted to scream at the sight of them. Without their cloak of shadows Elizabeth could finally make them out. The long fingers she had seen before in the 'gate room followed up to equally long, thin arms and shoulders. Ink black skin covered the torso which was nothing more than bones, the skin stretched over something similar to ribcage. Where there should have been an abdomen containing internal organs there was nothing, the skin cutting in under the ribs and twisting around the spinal column in grotesque, uneven layers before flaring out again and encasing the hips and traveling down immensely long legs that were built more like a dogs than any human she had seen. The creature seemed to balance on the balls of its feet, walking in jerking motion, the sharp curved nails on its toes clicking on the floor with every step. Finally, pulling her eyes back to the 'face' Elizabeth made sure to look it in the eye, no matter how terrified she felt. The eye's she looked into though had no pupil or iris, just large white spheres pressed into a smooth black skinned skull that made up its head. There was no nose nor ears, but for a mouth there was an oversized split in the skin extending way up past where any human mouth would go, the lips parted by long needle-like teeth that protruded out at an angle.
The sight made Elizabeth shiver and in front of her she could see Jen shaking, but still holding the position she'd taken up. When one of the creatures raised its arm and pointed at the lieutenant, Elizabeth could feel the terror that ran through the young woman, could feel it mirrored in her own body. Another two of the creatures swept in with clicking steps and took a hold of Shann by the arms and began to half carry, half drag her out of the cell, her legs flailing as she kicked and screamed. Elizabeth tried to rush forward to help Shann but found she couldn't move, her feet frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch as she kicked and writhed with no success. When the bars reappeared Elizabeth ran up to them, glad she could move her feet, and pressed her face to them, hearing more than seeing as Jennifer disappeared down the corridors before the lights blinked out.
