Chapter 8
John would be the first to admit that this plan was badly thought out and had very little chance of succeeding. But he also knew that they had very little choice and even less time. Even now, as they were making their way through the dirty, gloomy alleys that constituted a city on this world, he could hear Rodney's worried voice in his head.
Shortly after they had reached the dubious safety of the rebels' safe house, another scruffy-looking rebel had burst into the room. After a few moment's quiet conversation with the Satedan leader, Draven and the man had turned towards the group of Atlanteans. The big Satedan smiled at them.
"It seems the Ministry has proclaimed you enemies of the state," Draven informed them.
John grimaced. "That sounds unpleasant," he had remarked.
Draven grinned even more and somehow John had known that whatever the big man had been told, it was not very good news. "It seems that the Ministry is unhappy at you for damaging the chromulus," he told them.
John did not like the sound of that. Neither, it seemed, did the rest of his team. "If the Ministry would return the control crystals, I am sure the stargate would once more work as it should," Teyla piped up. She had that worried look on her face John dreaded.
"I doubt that," Draven remarked. "It seems whatever you did to it, the stargate," he said, using their word, "will not shut down."
It was Rodney who had first recovered his wits at the news. "That's impossible. Are you sure it is still active?" he quickly asked; looking grim. But then again, Rodney usually looked grim.
The scruffy newcomer nodded. "I passed the chromulus only a minute ago. I could see the blue light coming from the Ancestors' Ring reflecting off the ceiling inside," he confirmed.
Okay, so something was wrong with the stargate. But before John could suggest any course of action, Rodney leaned over so that only SGA-1 could hear him.
"The only way for the gate to stay open beyond the thirty-eight minutes is if it had some immense source of power keeping it open," he told them seriously. At first John could not see what it was – beyond the obvious defect in the gate – that was worrying Rodney.
"Yes, so we..." he began. But Rodney interrupted him with that sneer John hated: the one that informed John he was an idiot and Rodney was not.
"You don't understand," the scientist snapped. "Do you see this community having any power sources like that?" he sneered. Before anyone could answer, though, he waved a hand to silence any remarks. "Don't answer. The point is," and he looked each of them in the eye for a moment as if he could transfer the importance of what he was about to tell them through that stare. "The only source of power that can supply the gate with enough power to stay open beyond the thirty-eight minutes is Atlantis."
Though not the genius Rodney was, John instantly knew they needed to shut the gate down immediately. Atlantis could not afford to lose even a single ZPM at this moment – not with the city sunk beneath the ocean. Though they now had the ability to make their own ZPM's, it took a few weeks to grow the crystal: weeks they would never have if the shields failed.
"How much time do they have?" he asked his friend, referring to Atlantis.
"Well, that depends on..." Rodney began, but John was too worried to let him finish.
"Just your best guess," he told the man. Rodney did not even look hurt at the interruption.
"I would estimate less than forty-five minutes before the shields fail," he had informed the small group of Atlanteans.
Thus they had set out on this half-baked mission to retrieve the crystals and break into the chromulus to shut the gate down.
As they were nearing the Ministry buildings, a sudden, violent tremor shook the ground. Seeing as most of the buildings were little more than shaky shacks to begin with, the alley around them had become a minefield of falling debris and shifting shelters. Their group, which consisted – much to John's dismay and over his objections – of the entire rebel force, now scattered as they tried to avoid being crushed, trampled or cut off from the rest of the group. Their numbers, which had moments ago been sufficient to ensure they had the right of way through the alleys, now became their hindrance. With all of them crammed together in the alley, they had nowhere to go and so ended up milling together like sheep.
By the time the tremor had subsided, SGA-1 and the Satedans had managed to form a circle around the natives, their weapons ready. A falling piece of wall had cut John's arm and he could feel the warmth of the blood seeping down to his wrist. Next to him Rodney was helping one of the Satedens from under what appeared to be a zinc sheet that had served as a roof moments ago. Teyla and Ronon were crouched on his other side, their borrowed rifles pointed down the alley.
"John, look," Rodney suddenly spoke up. Turning to face whatever it was that the scientists were looking at, John found that the small contingent of Sheaban rebels were crouched together in pathetic attempt at finding shelter. Some of them were wailing and others were openly crying.
"Draven," John called as he watched the pathetic group. As he quickly looked around at the rest of the people in the alley, it appeared that most, if not all, of the Sheab were acting the same way. Apparently the tremor had shaken them more than it should have. "What's wrong with these people?" he demanded from the Satedan man, hoping he would have a better understanding after having spent some time on this panet.
"I'm not sure," Draven replied. Stealing a look at the large man, John discerned he was as confused as the Atlanteans were.
But already Teyla was dealing with the matter. The woman now crouched next to the only female member of the Sheaban resistance. Very carefully she removed the wailing woman's hands from her face and looked into her tearful eyes. "What is it?" she asked of her. "Why are you so afraid?"
The woman seemed ready to resume her wail of anguish, but then her eyes focussed on Teyla's. "The Ancients are punishing us!" she cried.
Teyla once more took hold of the other woman's hands and held them tightly. "You think the tremor was caused by the ancients?" she worriedly asked. The woman nodded vigorously.
"First they sent the brown clouds that would not bring rain and now they are trying to tear the earth apart!" she desperately explained. John could see a frown cross over Teyla's face.
"You are not used to tremors?" she carefully asked. The woman merely looked blankly at the golden warrior. "This world has never experienced the earth shaking like that before?" she tried again. The terrified woman shook her head.
"No," she replied. "The priests told us that as long as we looked after the chromulus, we would experience perfect weather." For a moment her eyes darted towards John before looking at Teyla again and explaining. "About five years ago the rains started becoming irregular. Then it suddenly stopped." She looked around the broken alley. "Our world was once beautiful. But as water became scarce everyone started to come to the city – we had no choice."
John looked around him at the temporary shelters that crowded in around him. Behind many of them he could see the towering shadows of larger, permanent buildings. The woman's words explained so much, he realised. As the people gathered in the city for water, housing became scarcer and scarcer until finally people started putting up shelters wherever they were in order to stay close to where the water was being doled out.
"Wait!" Rodney suddenly piped up from beside John. He seemed unhurt by the tremor, but the Satedan he had helped limped over to his own team. Without bothering to explain, Rodney typed at his tablet. Idly John wondered how Rodney's tablet could store the massive amounts of information the scientist seem to have crammed onto the memory board and still work at the speeds Rodney required of it. He had a suspicion the inside of the machine only resembled earth technology in the passing. Just because the box it had come in had said that you shouldn't open the casing in an attempt to upgrade the tablet, does not mean Rodney hadn't improved it since he had been issued with it years ago.
With large eyes Rodney now turned the tablet over for John and the rest of SGA-1 – as well as a number of the Satedans – to see the picture open on it. "Is this the other object stored within the chromulus?" Rodney fearfully asked.
"Yes," Draven spoke up. John agreed: it was an image of the same device they had seen in the large room before being arrested.
"Seems like it," he added. But he narrowed his eyes in an attempt to read more of the file open on Rodney's tablet. In the moment before Rodney turned it back around to continue fiddling with it, John had time to recognize not only the prominent heading marking it as field report, but also the distinctive emblem of the SGC. "Let me guess, one of the SG teams on earth found something like it?" John asked. He had spoken in a slightly sarcastic tone, but he felt far from sarcastic. Instead the look on Rodney's face had him slightly terrified. He had seen it a few times before and knew Rodney saved it for times when they were really in deep...trouble.
"SG-1 once retrieved this device from earth after it had been stolen from its original planet," Rodney said with wide eyes and this mouth pulled down slightly at the corners. "It is used to terraform planets," he continued. "Without it this world will revert to the state it had been in before the terraformation. John," he looked at John and the leader of SGA-1's heart sank. "This device would have the power to keep the gate open as long as Atlantis has energy to supply to the gate. If we don't fix it soon, both worlds will perish."
It took John only a moment to consider their options. Suddenly their mission to find the crystal controls seemed even more important than ever. Now not only one world depended on them, but two.
"Damn," he finally managed. He looked at his team. He looked at the Satedans. "You are sure you know where the crystals are kept?" he once more asked Draven. The big Satedan glowered at him.
"I have seen such as you described," he loftily replied. The lofty answer was enough for John. He nodded.
"Very well, let's go rob the Ministry," he told them. He looked at the fearful Sheab. By now they had regained some of their courage and most looked ready to follow – if not confidently, then at least bravely.
Once more the group set off down the alley. Only this time they were more careful, more aware of their surroundings. Every footstep suddenly seemed filled with danger. Though the rest of the group was used to tremors, the Sheaban fear seemed to somehow transmit to the rest of them. Besides, if Rodney was correct, the tremors were more than just regular earthquakes. They might mean the end of a world.
Unfortunately John suspected Rodney was correct. All the signs seemed to point to just such a device somehow intersecting with the wormhole. It would also explain the sudden acceleration of the planetary regression.
As they neared the Ministry buildings, the frequency of patrols dressed in black increased measurably. Yet, this once, they did not seem to take any notice of the group of rebels. Instead they were busy keeping frightened locals from looting and rioting. John suspected many people will die that day.
"I wish there was something we could do for these people," Ronon voiced the thought uppermost in John's mind. As leader of SGA-1 and second in command of Atlantis, John did not have the luxury anymore to fall into gloomy thoughts. So he merely nodded at his friend.
"We are doing something for these people," he stoically told Ronon. He might not believe it was enough, but there was nothing else they could do.
Finally they approached the large building housing the Ministry. It seemed to be the only place in the city that had kept its doorstep free of squatters. But the dark clouds had taken its toll on the once lofty building, smearing it with dust and soot. The big building looked like a beggar dressed in rags.
As the group was much too large to sneak into the building, John told the Sheab and the second group of Satedans to stay outside and guard the perimeter. In fact, he had managed to convince Draven to leave his Satedans outside with them. Only the leader would be accompanying SGA-1.
The five stealthily made their way to the back of the series of buildings. Though it had been frightening, the earthquake had actually worked in their favour. Everyone was out front trying to calm the growing mob. Even the men Draven pointed out as Ministry were out on a balcony, telling the people the tremor had been nothing to worry about.
The building they were heading for was very badly protected and they only had to knock out two guards to get in. unfortunately, just as they entered the building, another tremor shook the earth. Very courageously Rodney stood beneath an arch, hoping the strength of the arch would keep him from getting hurt. But the Sheaban people had built a very shoddy arch and it collapsed around Rodney. Only because of his quick reactions did Draven manage to save the scientist from serious harm.
"Who builds an arch like that?" Rodney complained as they made their way among wailing and sobbing people. Stealth was no longer necessary, as everybody seemed to be occupied by the tremor.
"If this world has never before experienced tremors..." Teyla began, her eyes worried.
"...and this is the second tremor in an hour..." Ronon continued.
"...then we have very little time left," John finished the sentence. "I think we'd better hurry."
"You know, the effect of the artefact keeping the gate open could have exponentially accelerated the collapse of this world," Rodney remarked as they hurried along a faded corridor that had a large part of the ceiling littering the floor.
"As I said: we'd better hurry," John repeated.
By now the group had worked their way to the front of the building. They had met a number of people, but none of them had challenged them.
"In there," Draven suddenly said, pointing at a fancy, but faded, door to one side. Quickly they hurried through it, encountering nobody. Their luck did not hold, though, as a fat man sat behind an ornate desk inside the room. Though he was dressed fancily to fit with the opulence of the room, the riches of it was more the memory of it than real riches and the man stood out starkly against the faded and dirty room. He seemed as out of place as a butterfly in a pigsty. At their entrance he rose from his plush chair.
"What do you want?" he demanded. Obviously not interested in a conversation, Ronon sprinted over the carpet at the man. Before he could respond, Ronon was sliding across the large desk. In what appeared to be the continuation of the same move, the warrior hit the fat man on the side of the head. With a delicate sigh from his large body the fat man slumped back in his seat; unconscious.
"Here are the crystals," Rodney spoke from behind John. He was standing in front of a glass display case, looking at the three missing crystals delicately arranged on a velvet pillow. "Help me look for the key," he continued as it turned out the doors were locked. Even now the scientist was looking wildly about, perhaps hoping the key would not be hidden, but conveniently placed nearby for him to use.
Aware of how little time they had left, John merely used the butt of his weapon and smashed in the glass. "Or that can work," Rodney shrugged as he picked the crystals from the shards now littering the velvet.
With their trophy in hand, the five retraced their steps to the back of the building. Once more they met with no resistance. Relieved they rushed out into the perpetual gloom of the world. Outside Heran Telkin greeted them, looking very worried.
"The troops have captured the rebels," he reported to Draven. "As they were rounding up the crowd, the troops somehow managed to surround our group. We of Sateda managed to escape, but the Sheab were still too shaken by the tremor to resist."
"Look, not to be the cynic, but their lives hardly matter now," Rodney piped up as the group fell silent. "If we don't get the gate shut down, all of us will die."
John knew Rodney was correct, even if he was indeed the cynic. He nodded at the people around him. "Rodney is correct. Let's go."