**AUTHOR'S NOTE!- I'm sorry it took so long to get another chapter up! It's finals time for my classes so I've been swamped with homework! But, here it is. It's a bit shorter than usual but next chapter I'll make up for it. ^_~ Enjoy**
Dusting off the walls of the catacombs, Kait brushed some of the dirt from her face and let out grunt as she hoisted herself higher, her knees covered in the sludge of the dirty water in the area.
"They could have warned us that the entrance was in a damn sewer…" Rodney grunted, as Daniel, who normally was more laid back, emphatically agreed.
"If one more creature gets in my shoe…" Kait growled, pushing her hair out of her face and reading the Ancient text on the walls.
Over the radio, Zelenka popped in. "Rodney, we think that we've just about got the power running up here, are you all ready down there?"
"Well we'd like to not be ankles deep in sludge, Radek, so you tell me." Rodney said with a roll of his eyes, as Zelenka began swearing in Czech and got off the radio. "Swear to god, sometimes he's thicker than a stack of bricks."
Looking up, Kait reached up and grabbed the top of the ridge, and pulled herself up slowly… and reached forward, as she felt the door override. "Radek…" she panted, holding herself up. "I found the override, but I need power… I'm not going to be able to hold myself up here forever."
"Hold yourself up where?"
"The override is on a ledge." She said, propping herself on her elbows for a moment. After a moment, the lights in the catacombs flickered, then held steady.
"Go on and try it now."
She reached forward and hit the button, as a loud groan of the machinery started up. She slipped, and fell on her backside into the water, gasping as the cold water hit her chest and up her arms, and soaked her pants. She started swearing colorfully, as the water finally drained and the door opened, flowing down the hall and down into a drain. Daniel and Rodney helped her up, as she shook some of the filthy water from her hands and hair.
"You alright?" Daniel asked her, as she nodded.
"Oh I'm f&$%#%g peachy." she said, as she got a look down the hall. The floor was wet, but it was opened up, and in front of them, down the long hall, was a room. Rodney turned to Daniel. "Go up with Radek, make sure he's good, then get down here and join us. Grab Nichols something dry from … er… that girl with the red hair while you're up there." He said, as Daniel nodded and ran up and out of the catacombs.
Rodney and Kait looked down the hall. "Shall we?" she asked, biting back the lump in her throat that came from worry.
They headed down the long hall, as lights began to all fully activate, reacting to Kait's natural and Rodney's gene-therapy ATA genes. They stepped into the labs and the panels began to activate, turning on while displays powered up and began to show notes and text. They both began reading the control panels, studying the information that was coming on the screens.
"Rodney, are you reading what I'm reading?"
"Yeah… this was a bio-weapons lab." He said, his eyebrows together in concentration. "They were in the middle of a project when the Ancients left."
Kait nodded, her eyes darting across the information on the displays. She blinked after a moment, then re-read the information… and called Rodney over.
"Rodney… look at this."
Rodney walked forward, and read her screen. "That can't be right. It's saying the last known entry in here was… a few years ago." He got quiet. "We were lied to."
She nodded. "So it seems."
As she went to check another display, she sucked in breath and backed up.
"Rodney!"
At the panic in her voice, he rushed around the corner, and came face to face with the same body that Kait had just seen. "Holy crap!" he backed up, as she began to look at the body.
"He wasn't attacked, no signs of a struggle at all…" she said, biting her lip to avoid the rush of nausea. She was shocked by the lack of smell, then again, there was venting in the place and all it had reminded her of was mold. "Well, at least no obvious ones…"
"I think I figured out why… look at this." He said, a hint of panic in his voice. She got up and rushed over, taking a look at the screen.
"There was an exposure… right before the Ancients left. Any info of the virus's antibodies has been wiped… but the last readings showed it was spread by touch… and… it was last scanned… all over the lab."
"Rodney? Kait? We're coming down now-"
"NO!" she shouted, rushing to the door and hitting the red button next to it. The doors sealed, and Rodney stared at her with wide eyes.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! We've got to get out of here!"
"No, listen! Ignore your panic and listen. We have to stay…and send the info to Carson. He's going to have to work on this, because you know this is not our thing. Otherwise we'll all be exposed." She turned on her earpiece. "Nichols and McKay to Zelenka."
"Come in McKay, Nichols."
McKay sucked in a breath, and turned on his earpiece. "Listen Radek, we've been exposed to some kind of bio-weapon. Kait locked the doors to keep you guys from being exposed too, apparently it's currently only in this room and spread by direct contact, according to scans. We have a chance of stopping it in its tracks, but we can't leave this room. Carson needs to get to work with all the data, see if he can come up with an inoculation or something to keep anyone else from getting exposed, and an antidote. Find out what this virus does and stop it." Rodney said quickly, as Radek gave a note of affirmation and signed off.
"So… now what?" Kait asked.
"Let's hide… Mister meal worm food over there… and then send this data to Carson… and then we'll read it all ourselves and figure out what the hell is going on."
Carson and Elizabeth were on the way to the work site when the message had hit them on the radios. The lab was a biological one, and their people were trapped in there with that virus… They simply looked at each other before taking off for the lab site.
As they arrived, Carson quickly took the computer tablet from Radek, and began to go through the data. "I'll need to get all of this to Atlantis, I can't do anything of any use here..." he said, as Elizabeth nodded.
"Understood, Carson, head to the stargate. Contact the Daedalus, and get them here as soon as possible, maybe you can do some of your work on their ship."
He nodded, as Daniel looked to Elizabeth. "Let's go look at those towers… I don't care what they said, there's something there they don't want us to see." he said, as she nodded.
"Right, Zelenka, you keep the power on for them. Sheppard and his team will be here soon, I radioed them about the situation , they'll keep the villagers out of here until we figure out what's going on."
Zelenka nodded, and Elizabeth left with the others, heading up to the stargate, and those towers.
As soon as they got there, Daniel headed to the first one, and began to wipe off the moss. His face turned to a scowl, as he did the same to the next one… and the one after that… as Carson dialed the stargate.
"Hurry back on the Daedalus, Carson. We want them out of there as soon as possible." She said, as he nodded and rushed through the event horizon.
"Elizabeth, look at this… these markings…" Daniel called to her, as she walked beside him.
"What have you found, Daniel?"
"Look at this. Read it."
Scanning the tower's markings, she scowled. "It's a warning..."
"Exactly. I think they knew exactly what was in there, and didn't want us to know about it. That's why they got so jumpy when Kait touched these towers to read them. You know Rodney and Kait wouldn't have gone near the place if they knew it was a bioweapons lab… at least not without a LOT of timely scanning."
Elizabeth's mouth went into a straight, angry line, and she turned on her heels. "I think we need to go speak to the Governor.
Rodney studied the screens intently. He could swear he was already feeling the effects of this virus, which he was assuming was a sore throat, maybe dizziness, shaking of the limbs. He and Kait were spending every moment going over the screens, but with the door shut, the temperature was dropping, and it had already gotten cold. His eyes darted to Kait, who was shivering in her wet clothes.
"You know… you could always see if there's any lab coats or something." He said casually to her, as she shook her head.
"No, we don't know what germs and viruses are still alive on these items. I'm not risking double exposure." She shivered, and instead, shed the jacket she had been clinging desperately to for some residual warmth, hoping it would dry enough to keep her warm. Her blue t-shirt underneath, she kept working, tucking some errant hairs behind her ear.
"Here, just take my coat." Rodney offered, as she shook her head.
"No. You can keep working if something happens to me. You have a better chance of getting us out of here. You need it more than I do." She said, as he shot her a look, but continued to work.
As they worked, he came up to some of the specs of the virus… It seemed to be a slow moving thing…
"Hey, come look at this." He said, having her come closer to look at the screen. She peered at the display in front of her now, and cocked her head to the side.
"Interesting."
"What is?"
"Well, it's the virus's inner workings. I mean, I'm sure it's very interesting… to Carson. You know… the medical expert." She said before walking off and leaning against the far wall. "To be honest I've felt like I was reading calculus and physics for the first time ever since I walked in the room. It looks like freaking Klingon to me at this point, Rodney. I don't know." She rubbed her eyes tiredly, "I just want to sleep right now, to be honest…" she said, plopping tiredly into a seat.
"YOU LIED TO MY PEOPLE!"
"Dr Weir, please. Let me explain…"
"My people could DIE, so yes, you need to explain NOW!"
The Governor raised his hands up at his guards, signaling them to back down. "I understand your anger… I could not risk my people down there. We lost a brilliant scientist many a year ago, and sealed the building. But your people are more advanced than mine, I thought maybe, since you live in the City of the Ancients and carry their blessing, that perhaps you would be granted the knowledge, and share with us."
She stared at him. "The blessing of the Ancients?"
"Yes, since you live in their city, they must have given you permission and blessed you, the Tau'ri…" he noted her blank expression and his eyes knotted in confusion. "Do you mean to say you…"
"We have only met a few Ancients, and we never got their blessing. We are explorers."
He stared in shock. "To dwell in the City of the Ancients without their blessing is sacrilege!"
She gave him a defiant look. "Well, we've lived there for over a year now with no consequences."
"What of the Wraith?" he said, as she averted her eyes.
"Well, that was not all on us." That was true enough, to an extent…
As they were about to continue the verbal exchange, a voice cracked onto the radio in Weir's ear. "Just a minute, Governor…" she said, as she responded to the radio. "Go ahead."
"Beckett here… Elizabeth we have a serious problem."
She blanched… "I'm on my way…"
"Would you STOP that incessant humming?" Rodney shouted at her, as she stopped drumming her hands on the panel in front of her and shot him a look.
"So, are you going to make me?"
"I could… you KNOW I could."
She scoffed at him. "Please. You have a better chance of pinning a house fly."
As they were about to continue, their radios clicked to life. "Rodney? Kait?"
"Oh thank god, Carson! You've found an antidote?" Rodney said.
"No, Rodney… and we have a problem. The virus, from what I've deciphered so far, targets the brain… it begins with slowly removing inhibitions, the ability to stop yourself from doing an annoying habit, or… ahem… other inhibitions. Actually the inhibitions that are there to stop us as humans from jumping on the next attractive mate of the opposite sex are specifically targeted…"
"Translate, Carson." Kait said, shooting Rodney a nervous glance.
"Kait, it means that you very soon may not be able to restrain yourself from certain… activities… but you need to try. If you raise your adrenaline and other hormones related to that activity, you'll set off the next stage of the virus, organ failure. And there's no guarantee as to the order they'll start shutting down. This virus was made to kill in 2 days or so…"
"And we've been in here…"
"6 hours…" Kait finished for Rodney, slumping against the wall.
Rodney knelt in front of her, as he stared at her. "Carson, Nichols has been showing some of those signs…"
"Probably because she was exposed to the dead body before you were. She got the initial dose. All it takes is that first contact… and since she got wet, from what I hear, her immune system may have already been somewhat compromised."
He put a hand on her shoulder, as she stared down.
"Carson… you need to hurry."
"I know, Rodney… I'm doing my best here."
"No, Carson, you really need to hurry…" Rodney said, as his brain finished that line for him. 'Because I don't know how long I can be a gentleman if my inhibitions are taken from me…'