Ace In The Hole
Chapter 9
Two days have passed since the cities arrival on 7AJ or Eden as Sheppard had called it when he saw that the surfing conditions on the western edge of the continent were as close to perfect as could be. Rodney had quickly discovered with the help of Lt. Weir that the planet was surrounded by a network of 12 Lagrangian point satellites but unlike the one found in the Lantia system these were fully armed shielded and each powered by there own ZPM.
At first Rodney thought that Alex had gone mad wasting 12 ZPM's when they could have used the same Naquadah and capacitor configuration that the Ancients had used but Alex had explained that it was Elizabeth that had insisted on it being ZPM's when she had spoken to him in the distant past, she had gone on to explain that it was the Ancients over confidence in their technology and half hearted approach that had lost them the war.
The Humans of Earth were going to be completely different they will be bold and fearless but they will never loose sight of the fact that they are the under dog, they will insist on making certain that if they draw a line in the sand that no one will pass, Alex had thought she was over exaggerating but after a couple of years he had seen she was right and his love of humanity especially those living within the cities walls had grown.
"Scheduled off-world activation" Chucks voice sounds out as the gate activates.
"Receiving Midway IDC…lowering the shield" Chuck says.
Down in front of the gate stand Mr Woolsey, Colonel Sheppard and the rest of his team. They smile warmly as General O'Neill, Colonel Carter, James Dunham and Shen Xoioyi step through the gate.
"Welcome to Atlantis….Colonel Carter…. Dr McKaye is waiting for you in his lab…. I believe he has a few things for you to see" Woolsey states knowing Carter is itching to see if Rodney's idea of equipping the 304's with drones is workable.
"General?" Carter asks knowing the answer.
"Yes…. Go play…." He sighs as she scurries out of the room.
"Mr Dunham…. Miss Xiaoyi…. if you would like to follow Teyla and myself we thought we would give you a quick tour of the outpost" Woolsey smiles warmly to the IOA representatives.
"I will see you later gentlemen…. Please lead on Richard…." Dunham smiles warmly too Teyla who instinctively takes his arm as they walk out the room.
"OK….Sheppard what you done now?" O'Neill sighs.
"The city is what?" Sheppard totally understands the Generals confusion he's had a couple of days to get used to the idea at least.
"Like I said its alive and self aware…. In fact its Avatar has been assigned too Lorne's team" Sheppard states.
"Avatar like 10ft blue alien with a tail…. Cool"
"No…. like 25 year old Lt. Alex Weir of the USAF"
"Think we can trust him?" O'Neill has seen enough crazy shit too not even bother to act shocked or surprised.
"Yes…. in fact he has already made things a lot easier"
"How so?" O'Neill cocks an eyebrow questioningly.
"Everything is running smoother…. less glitches…. like the cities finally woken up…. if you lived here sir…. you would understand" Sheppard offers a wistful smile.
"And this lieutenant?"
"He's cool…. Good in a fight" Ronon adds with a grin.
"So…. I guess you wanna keep this from the IOA?" O'Neill knows the IOA mean well but he trusts them like he trusts a Goa'uld,
Sheppard and Ronon just shrug their shoulders as O'Neill sighs.
"I don't know Rodney.… I think this is wrong and that is meant to go there" Both Carter and McKaye are going through multiple sets of blueprints over four different laptops she doesn't even notice the young lieutenant that has entered the room and is looking at them both with a look of bemused wonder.
"Will you please tell her that this is workable…. I mean I know she's only half as smart as me but even Radek would have understood it by now" Rodney huffs as Cater thumps his shoulder finally seeing the young officer.
"Watch it McKaye…. Hello lieutenant not sure we've met?" Carter asks staring into the young mans dark eyes.
"No.… Not in perso…." Rodney immediately cuts him off.
"Alex…. please tell her I am right…. and more importantly that she is wrong…. though of course blondie should be used to it by now" Carter glares once more at McKaye before looking back to Alex.
"Colonel Carter I must inform you that Dr McKaye is correct the interface will work as suggested though Rodney I have to point out that Colonel Carter is correct in saying that it may take some time to bypass the genetic code lockout built into the unit" Alex offers his opinion with a smile but quickly notices Carters frown.
"I'm sorry lieutenant…. But how can you be so sure?"
"I.… well…." Alex mumbles slightly.
"Oh Sam I didn't introduce you properly…. Alex… this is Colonel Samantha Carter…. Sam this is Atlantis"
A short time later Carter's mind is racing too catch up with Rodney's explanation as she looks into the young lieutenants eyes, the soldier in her is thinking of all the pitfalls and dangers but the scientist in her has completely won out and she is enthralled by Alex's charm, charisma and easy going nature, he explains his mission to her and points out why Colonel Sheppard believes that for the time being his identity should be kept a secret from the masses.
"So lieutenant.…" Sam finally offers a friendly warm smile to the now nervous looking young man in front of her "want to go get a bite to eat?…. You do eat I take it?"
"Yes I eat though I am not hungry at this moment…. Actually I came to ask you and Rodney to come with me.… I have something I thought you may want to see" Alex offers cheerfully at last relaxing after hearing Carters friendly invitation.
"Where we going?" asks Rodney impatiently as ever.
"Trust me Rodney…. I think you are both going to like this" Alex grins leading them out of the lab.
Alex leads them down the corridor to the nearest transport booth and once they have all stepped inside places his hand flat on the control panel and closes his eyes. Sam and Rodney both notice the small screen change momentarily as a flush of Lantean code radiates out from where Alex's hand is placed the doors to the booth close and when they open once more the group step out into a circular room around 20ft in diameter, to the left there are three pods each containing another copy of the same young man standing in front of them in the centre of the room is a large circular unit and to the right there is a small console with a large display fixed to the wall in front of it.
"That's me…." Alex points to the circular unit in the centre of the room and offers an impish shrug.… "Of I should say that is my primary core.… I do have backups"
"And they are?" Carter points to his duplicates in the three tanks.
"They are spares… anything happens to this body… and I just wake up over there…. It's not pleasant though.… I can assure you" Alex grimaces a little.
"It's happened to you then?" Carter asks.
"Colonel this city has existed for countless millennia and I have been its avatar since the day it was created…. I am the 101st Avatar of this city" Alex sighs suddenly feeling his true age.
"So…. If what you say is true then that would mean that this city is physically the same city that left Earth a little over 5million years ago…. That's impossible…. it would be dilapidated and falling apart by now…. no technology could function that long" Rodney can't help but sound a little unsure of what he's being told right now.
"What Rodney is trying to say is, that we assumed that the Ancients merely built a new city periodically and the name was passed on" Carter tries to clarify.
"You are partially right Colonel the city undergoes a rebirth of sorts every 112358 years" Alex explains.
"Those are Fibonacci numbers" Rodney clammers.
"Yes I believe they are Rodney…. the Ancients called them Valarias numbers but the date they chose was ultimately irrelevant… merely symbolic" Alex explains with a smile once more.
"So what happens?" Carter can't help her scientific curiosity.
"Down in the basement deep inside my superstructure.… spread out across various locations there is a small army of thousands of these" Alex holds hold's up a sphere roughly the size of his hand "They are called Renatus drones…. they wake up out of hibernation and go to work… each contains a miniaturised version of the Nautilus's construction technology"
"They fix any damage.…" McKaye chimes in.
"That and more…. they basically reset the city to how it was designed to be…. physically that is.… an army of 10000 of these little things basically rebuild me from the inside out without even having to remove a panel and the whole thing takes less than 12 days"
"Wow" Carter's can't help let out a whistle of approval "So what happens to these guys after that?" She points to the drone Alex is still holding.
"They go back to their storage bays to recharge" Alex smiles
"What about the people in the city?" Rodney blurts ever the pessimist.
"The work goes around them Rodney…. The Renatus drones are linked to my systems…. But they know the difference between a person and a bulkhead Rodney" Alex can't help roll his eyes at the neurotic scientist much to Carter's amusement.
"So… is this what you wanted to show us lieutenant?" Carter finally asks with a smile, she is still even now having a hard time believing that the young handsome man in front of her is not a normal run of the mill person.… its all the small things…. the roll of the eyes at Rodney's stupid outbursts the smiles and tender glances.… she would never have known if she had not been told, Alex looks at her with a smile and for an instant she wonders if he knows what she is thinking.
"I brought you here to entrust you both with one of these" he hands both Carter and Rodney a Renatus drone, "If you can figure a way to reprogram them I believe they may come in handy on board your 304's…. Nautilus can replicate them but re-tasking them…. Not gonna be so easy" He fidgets slightly before continuing and I was hoping you would replicate enough of them to help repair my sister you found.…" Alex looks both sad and worried at what their response will be.
"You mean the second city ship don't you?... the one on PJ3-735…. Eldred's planet" Rodney grins excitedly…. "You mean enough of these things and we could get that place fixed up and running?"
"Yes…. Enough of these and with enough power it is possible" Alex states with surety.
"Oh…. well there you go…. We are back to the same problem… power" Carter sighs.
"Ah well…." Alex smiles "That is the reason you are here…. as Rodney requested I have been combing the data base for information on the construction of the potentia's or ZPM's as you call them.…"
"And?... Oh come on what have you got?" McKaye can hardly contain his excitement.
"I have to admit…. the data base is unusually vague and there are very few references to them" Rodney's face drops as his excitement comes crashing down "However I do have one cryptic reference that I have found" Carter frowns slightly as Alex continues "I have noticed that your civilization uses symbols that have a universal meaning do they not?"
"Yes… some symbols can mean a specific thing to many different cultures…. they can be a universal form of communication… why do you ask?" Carter asks.
"Because the only reference I have found to Potentia's is this symbol and basically I am stumped" Alex sighs as an image appears on the screen.
The symbol is an elliptical circle with twelve short straight lines spaced equally below it both Carter and Rodney's eyes go wide.
"Stonehenge!… I went there in my teens with dad" Carter shrieks excitedly.
"You know what this means…. Wait … oh god PX8-9YU there is an exact copy of Stonehenge there except the rocks are laced with Naquadah…. They're almost weapons grade…. I wanted to use them but Weir said they were historic monuments…. oh god do you think they lead to some sort of ZPM factory…. oh god this could be the big one" Rodney is almost bouncing with excitement.
"You know what the symbol means I see" Alex chuckles looking at them with infectious excitement.
"Stonehenge is a stone structure back on Earth.… there have been many theories to what it is and why it was built from it being an ancient clock or calendar or a funeral complex but no one could ever say for sure" Carter explains with a grin.
"And you think that it could lead to a potentia lab or something?"
"It's possible…. the fact that there is an identical structure in Pegasus strengthens that hypothesis" Carter continues.
"Then I am glad to of been of help" Alex offers with a smile and a small nod, Alex's head suddenly cocks too one side as though he as heard something they have not he closes his eyes momentarily before he relaxes with a sigh and smiles as he opens his eyes to look at their slightly confused looks.
"Sorry…. I just detected multiple hyperspace windows above the planet….. Looks like your friends have arrived" Alex grins as he leads them back to the transport.