"You know I hate it when these things are in Outer Space." Major Sheppard said over his shoulder as the Puddle Jumper exited the Event Horizon.
"Well, I don't particularly care for it either." Rodney rolled his eyes.
"Especially if this is the only planet that we can use as an Alpha Site." Aiden reminded them. "If there are any planets that we can use out here ..."
"Let's try to be a little optimistic." Teyla felt like grinning her teeth, but she managed to force a smile instead.
"Just be sure that there aren't any Wraith in the vicinity and I'll be as optimistic as they come." Rodney rubbed his hands on his pants.
"We'll start by scanning of the planets and moons of this system." John started to press his hands on the panel in front of him.
"I do not sense them." Teyla had her eyes closed as she took a deep breath.
"Why don't we just start with the planet closest to the Gate, wouldn't that make sense?" Aiden looked between Rodney and John.
John raised a brow, as he looked out the front window at the planet as they came about. "I don't think that one is habitable..."
Below them was a planet that appeared to be entirely white except for the patches of ocean that could be scene though the cloud coverage.
"How far away are we from the sun?" Aiden's eyebrows came together.
"About the same distance as Earth is." John nodded his head back and forth, "give or take several thousand miles."
"Why is the planet white?" Teyla tilted her head.
"Maybe the sun is a Dwarf." Rodney suggested.
"Nope from these readings it is about one billion years older then the sun in our solar system. It is also close to the same size, give or take." John frowned.
"Nuclear winter, Sir..." Aiden shook his head.
"Nuclear winter?" John narrowed his eyes, "are you saying these people blew themselves up?" The tone of his voice made it sound like he thought that was the stupidest thing that anyone could ever do.
"Given the choice, being eaten by Wraith over thousands of years or being incinerated by nuclear explosions." Aiden shrugged his shoulders as he pretended not to care. "Or they had a civil war and did it to themselves." He then sat forward in his seat as he rubbed his eyes.
"Neither if you ask me." John turned the Jumper away from the planet.
"I don't understand how the Wraith were not able to detect them building Nuclear weapons." Teyla tilted her head.
"The same way that they haven't detected the Genii's." Rodney was starting to feel like this was all a waist of time.
"Hello there... detecting two moons." John pressed his lips together as he turned the Jumper towards the closest moon. "That one looks like a ball of fire..." The light coming off of the moon was so bright that it could have been considered a small sun by the untrained scientific eye. John just thought that the moon had a lot of volcanic activity and that is why it looked the way it did.
"I don't see the other moon." Teyla stood and was now behind Aiden as she peered out the window.
"It's on the opposite side of the planet." John started to fly the Jumper in that direction, but stopped after about twenty minutes. He then turned away and started to fly into space towards the next planet.
"Why are you flying away?" Teyla looked at John.
"Scanners show that there aren't any life signs on that planet and when there is no life signs then there is no need to check." He started to run scans on the fourth planet in the system.
"Is there life there?" Aiden asked.
"I need to get closer, there appears to be vegetation, but I don't know if it is enough to support human life." John looked up at the screen as he flew towards it. This one looked like it was going to be a problem. There were thirteen moons orbiting it.
Eight Hours Later
"Well that was a big waist of time..." Rodney looked rather annoyed. "Did you have to check all of those planets and moons?"
"I wanted to be sure that I didn't miss anything." John was flying directly back towards the Stargate.
"I doubt that we could evacuate everyone just in Jumpers anyway..." Aiden rested his elbows on his knees.
John started to dial Atlantis. "If we had found one I'm sure we could have figure something out."
Teyla tilted her head as she looked out the window. "Major Sheppard... wait..."
"What is it?" He looked at Teyla.
"Didn't you say that moon was like a fire ball earlier?" She pointed out of the window.
Rodney stood to get a better look. "It doesn't look like fire to me..."
The moon wasn't very large, but it was also not on fire anymore. "I'm going to go in and have a closer look." John turned the Jumper towards the moon
"Yes, do that..." Rodney said as he sat down, his face was twisted into pure puzzlement.
As they flew closer John started to scan it, "There are levels of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere..."
"The air's breathable!" Aiden's eyebrows shot up with surprise.
"That's not all, I'm reading vegetation along with animal life." John shook his head. All of this just didn't make sense to him. He started to scan for volcanic activity. "There is minor volcanic activity along the moon's fault lines, but that's it."
"I don't understand, how can a planet... or rather a moon go from being on fire in one moment and then being perfectly fine the next?" Teyla looked at the three others that were in the Jumper with her as she tried to figure it out as well.
"Maybe the moon has rotated and the fire is on the opposite side?" Aiden suggested.
"I don't think so. You see when a moon rotates around a planet, it is in constant tug of war with the system's sun or suns could be plural." Rodney shook his head, "the point is that only one side of the moon faces the planet that it is facing. The sun's light travel's across the surface due to the position it's in when it's rotating around the planet."
"All you had to say is that a moon doesn't spin, Rodney." John took in a deep breath and let it out slowly enough that the others wouldn't notice. He started to circle the moon just to be on the safe side.
"We're in another galaxy perhaps the rules are slightly different here?" Aiden shrugged as he sat back in his chair.
"It's still the same basic principals as our own galaxy. That still hasn't changed." Rodney rubbed his chin with his hand.
"Why don't we take a closer look?" Teyla suggested; she didn't want this entire trip to feel like a waist of time, especially with the Wraith coming any day now.
"All right boys and girls... we're going in." John finished passing the dark side of the moon, which showed only light volcanic activity along one ridge. He brought the Jumper into the atmosphere with the sun rising on their backs.
"It looks like a jungle down there, Sir." Aiden stated the obvious.
"I can see that..." John moved a bit closer to the tree line.
"I'm no Botanist, but it looks to me like that forest is rather young..." Rodney thought out loud.
"Well I've seen enough, I'm going to head back. We'll let Weir make the call." John guided the Jumper back into Outer Space.
From the surface, several pairs of eyes watched the Jumper disappear into the clouds.
Dr. Weir's Office -- Atlantis
Sergeant Bates stood in front of Elizabeth's desk. "We weren't even there for fifteen minutes when the Wraith made their presence known." He sounded angry and frustrated.
"Do you have any idea how they knew you were there?" Elizabeth frowned as she thought about how many times this same situation has happened on other worlds.
"I don't know. The only thing that I can think of is that they have the Gate monitored some how." He shook his head.
Elizabeth thought about it for a moment. Her mind drifted back to when they had been accusing Teyla of being in league with the Wraith. Lucky, they were wrong about her, but at the same time they did find out that the Wraith processed the ability to detect a person with the Ancient gene.
She looked up at him and then tilted her head, "How about on your next mission, you go though without anyone who has the Ancient Gene. If we can determine that the planet is Wraith free, then we can send someone who has the Gene. If they show up after wards then we can at least assume that there is some technology present on the planet that makes them aware of the movements of those with the Gene though the Gate."
Bates thought about it for a few moments, "sounds reasonable enough... However if you are right and they do have some sort of technology that detects the Gene, finding an Alpha Site will have become all that more difficult."
Elizabeth gave him a small smile, and then nodded her head, "I agree. Good luck Sergeant, I look forward to hearing about the results of your next mission."
Since Bates didn't have any other productive comments to make, he kept his mouth shut. He just nodded his head and left the office.
Elizabeth sat back in her seat as she thought about the situation. She prayed that they would find a suitable place for an Alpha Site soon. There was always the possibility of putting themselves at the mercy of one of the societies that they had come in contact with, but she didn't like that idea. Especially after what happened the last time.
Outside her office the Stargate started to spin.
Elizabeth took a deep breath as she stood. She walked out of her office to the control section of the upper floor, as the Puddle Jumper appeared though the Event Horizon. She needed to hear good news so she decided to head up to the Puddle Jumper bay.
Puddle Jumper Bay
"I'm telling you it really was on fire when we passed it the first time. I wouldn't make up something like that Rodney." John shook his head. Had he been seeing things? Now he wasn't sure, but he wouldn't say other wise until he was certain.
"Perhaps you saw the reflection of the sun off of the windshield of the Jumper?" Aiden suggested.
"I sincerely doubt that." John made a face that suggested that he thought that was impossible.
Elizabeth walked into the Jumper Bay. She hadn't heard anything that they had been talking about. "Major Sheppard please give me some good news."
John shrugged, "Well we found a moon in the vicinity of the Gate that had the ability to support life."
Teyla walked out of the back of the Jumper, "I did not sense any Wraith."
Elizabeth started to smile, finally a break! But the looks on their faces suggested other wise so she tilted her head, "What's the catch?"
"Well, Major Sheppard believes that the moon was on fire when we first came though the Gate. When we came back eight hours later it wasn't." Rodney sounded annoyed.
Elizabeth's brows came together, "Did you take a closer look?" "It was absolutely beautiful." Teyla smiled.
"There didn't appear to be any large forest fires if that's what you're asking." Rodney smirked.
"Well, we'll just have to send in a survey team to make sure that the moon is capable of hosting us long term if necessary. Since you all have been there already I want you to be apart of it. Rodney, I want you to pick several scientists to go with you."
A Day Later - The Moon's Surface
"Primary observations show that the northern continent appears to be in the humid subtropical climate range. Currently we are traveling though a temperate forest collecting various plant samples for later study." Dr. Lynet Ryley clicked the pause button on her hand held recorder. She took in a deep breath as she walked in a circle looking up at the treetops. She then tilted her head and unpaused the recorder. "The growth rate of the trees appears to be at the late young forest stage... in fact all the trees look to be at the same stage of growth. Note to self, when looking over the soil samples look for signs of disturbances in the environment." She clicked the pause button again.
Aiden was standing several feet away. "Dr. Ryley we should keep up with the group." He frowned; he didn't want to lose sight of those a head of them even if they do keep in radio range.
"Ah, my apologizes Lt. Ford. I was just making some primary observations." She held up the recording device. She turned away from him and rolled her eyes. How did they expect her to do her job when they rush her? Although she understood that they didn't have much time until the Wraith arrive.
Aiden looked back at the top of the hill that they were walking up. He narrowed his eyes; the others had disappeared over the other side.
Lynet started to walk forward, she could tell that Lt. Ford's patients were starting to wear thin.
After traveling about two or three hundred yards, the others still were not in sight.
Lynet was still making observations into her recording device. "There appears to be birds, although I have only heard them." She shook her head, but as she stepped around a tree she froze.
"Dr. Ryley, is everything alright?" Lt. Ford started to walk up towards her.
She held up her hand to stop his approach. Then she slowly placed down her recorder on a near by rock.
Aiden wasn't going to just wait there to see what was going to happen. He slowly edged his way over to her. "What's the problem?" He whispered.
"There is no problem. Look at the tree about twenty five yards away, ten o'clock, in the upper branches." She crawled several more feet and then raised her camera to take a picture.
In the tree was a bright red bird. Its bone structure was similar to a peacock's, however its wings had bright blue tips on them. Its plumage flowed from its tale bone much like a petcock's as well. Although it's feathers were like a rainbow from bright red, to orange, yellow, light blue and then dark blue at the tips.
The bird shifted its head and looked directly at Lynet with its electric blue eyes. It watched her slowly raise her camera.
Right before Lynet took the picture the bird spread its wings and flew off above the tree line. Lynet would have had a good shot, but when the bird took off it had been blocking the sun. Its light filtered directly into her lens. "Damn it!"
"Now that was really something. Don't worry Dr. Ryley, I'm sure that there will be plenty of opportunities to take pictures once this place has been deemed a proper location for an Alpha Site." He gave her an encouraging smile. He tilted his head as he thought he heard a giggle. He quickly brushed the thought out of his head, and went back to thinking about calling Major Sheppard on the radio to have them hold up and wait for them.
Lynet sighed, "You're right. Although I want to record what my initial observations of the bird." She went back to retrieve her recorder when she realized that it was nowhere in sight.
Another Location on the Moon
John, Rodney, Teyla and several scientists were walking though the forest. John let out an impatient sigh. "Have you found a good place to dig yet?"
The scientists ignored his question.
John shook his head and continued to walk. He didn't like moving too far away from the Jumper. They had already taken samples of the area that they had landed in, and now they wanted to take samples of a location about five miles away to make sure that everything remained consistent. As far as John was concerned, he didn't have a good feeling about this place.
After several minutes they reached a point where they had to cross a stream.
One of the scientists stopped and took out a container to take a water sample. While another one started to scrape some moss off of one of the trees. The last scientist started to take soil samples from the edge of the stream.
"Okay then, this looks like the perfect place to take a break." John raised his brows as he saw the scientists all start to get to work.
Teyla gave John a look that suggested that no one was paying attention to what he had to say.
John shook his head, "tough crowd." He turned to say something to Aiden but stopped. His brows came together as he turned in a circle looking for him.
"Is there something amiss Major Sheppard?" Teyla looked at him with concern.
"Ford's missing." He squeezed the button on the radio to talk to Aiden. "Ford this is Sheppard, do you copy?" There was nothing but static as a response.
Rodney started setting up on a pretty decent large flat stone. In all likeliness he thought that it had been dumped in that location during the last ice age. He used it as a desk while he waited for his Laptop to turn on.
"Lt. Ford, please respond." Teyla spoke into her radio too. The only thing that she could hear as a response was static.
Rodney started to run scans on the area.
"McKay, Teyla and I are going to back track to see if we can find Ford. Apparently our radios aren't working." John frowned. "Try to find out what's interfering with our signal."
"Alright, I'll run electric interference scans first." Rodney looked up at John and Teyla. His facial expression gave away how worried he was. Right now it wasn't all that apparent, he looked like he was concentrating more than anything else.
John nodded, "if you need anything, just yell."
"Will do!" Rodney called after them as he watched them move though the densely packed trees.
John turned to Teyla as they walked. "Will you be able to find your way back there?"
"Of course." Teyla smirked, "It is rather easy to track a person's foot prints on the ground unless it's raining."
"Good because I would hate to be walking in circles for hours on end." John scanned in-between the trees with his eyes.
"Why do you think that Lt. Ford and Dr. Ryley were separated from the group?" Teyla didn't think that it was like Aiden to linger in one place for too long especially when they had orders to stay together.
"I don't know, maybe Big Foot got them..." John sounded skeptical, although he was actually worried. He would never let Teyla know that though.
"What is Big Foot?" Teyla smirked; she thought that John said the strangest things some times with all of his different earth references.
"Well it's a large hairy gorilla man thing..." John thought he saw something move though the trees as he saw flashes of red and blue. "Did you see that?" He whispered.
"See what?" Teyla started to scan the forest better. She turned around to make sure that nothing was following behind them.
"I don't know, maybe I'm seeing things... just keep your guard up." He answered her in a low voice.
Teyla nodded, and kept her mouth shut for the moment. She held her P-90 ready to fire at anything that might be hostile. She was concentrating so hard that she heard someone giggle. "Major Sheppard there is nothing to be laughing about." She whispered harshly.
"You mean that wasn't you?" He quickly looked at her and then back towards the direction that they were heading in.
"It was defiantly not I." Teyla was starting to get a bad feeling about their situation.
John held up his fist as he stopped. He pointed his P-90 in the direction of a tree.
Teyla stopped short and then looked in the same direction that he was pointing in. One of the branches sat an elegant bright red bird. "I would not point that thing in its direction."
"Right... let's keep on moving." He didn't feel threatened by the bird so they walked pass the tree that it was perched on.
The bird watched them for another moment before it flew off threw the trees towards Rodney and the scientists.
About A Mile Away
Lynet was on her hands and knees searching for her tape recorder. She looked over her shoulder, "Lt. Ford please tell me that you picked it up."
"I never touched it Ma'am." He moved over to help her look for it. "When was the last time you had it?" He crouched down on the ground as he examined the terrain.
Lynet moved over to the exact location. "I was kneeling right here. Then I placed it down on this rock to lift my camera up to take a picture."
"We're on a hill, maybe it rolled down that way." Aiden suggested as he frowned hearing static coming out of his radio. "Major Sheppard, this is Lt. Ford, are you trying to reach me?" More static could be heard. He shook his head out of frustration and then tried again. "Can anyone hear me?" After that there was nothing.
Lynet was too busy looking for her recorder. She started to crawl down hill to see if she could see it from this angle. But instead of finding her tape recorder, she found something else. A pair of skinny little legs at her eye level.
Stream
Rodney stood there frowning at the results of the scans that he was conducting. It appeared that they would be able to use some of their technology but not all of it. Anything that had to send out any sorts of waves, for example a radio wave, would not work. At this point he didn't even know if his scans were working correctly.
Down by the stream one of the scientists was studying the side of the hill that the stream cut directly into. About four feet of dirt was exposed facing the water. "Dr. McKay, you should have a look at this." He called out to him, his voice held a thick French accent.
"I'm trying to concentrate, can it wait?" Rodney was rubbing his chin; his eyes never left the screen.
"I don't think so, this is most important." He took his hat off of his head and scratched the bald spot on the top.
Rodney rolled his eyes, and then turned towards the scientist. He stepped in the surprisingly warm water. "What is it?"
"Something is defiantly odd here. Look at these lines." He held a magnifying glass towards a dark line in the soil. Then he moved several centimeters to the next and then the next one after that. "They are all exactly the same distance apart."
"Meaning?" Rodney had an idea, but he wasn't exactly sure.
"Meaning that this is impossible. I measured it as well; nature tends not to be so precise. If it was then we would be able to predict exactly when natural disasters are about to occur on Earth." He placed his magnifying glass back into his bag and then took out a container to collect a sample.
"I don't understand what you're talking about. Yes, it's odd that there is a dark line ever so often but that can mean any number of things." The look on his face suggested that he was starting to take him seriously. "Maybe the locals use a slash and burn technique at exactly the same interval."
"All I'm saying is that there is some sort of catastrophe that happens about every hundred years. Now if I'm reading this right, it's only been about ten or twelve years since the last time it happened. Besides that there is no proof that could back up the slash and burn theory since there has been no evidence of locals or agriculture anywhere on this moon." He pushed up his glasses frame on his nose.
"Well at least if we know not to over stay our welcome." Rodney frowned anyway. This place was starting to give him the creeps the more he learned about it. "Well see what else you can learn, I'm going to get back to work." He started out of the stream when he stopped short. His laptop was gone.
About a mile and a half away
Lynet looked up to see a young girl with dark blond hair and sky blue eyes. She was wearing a dark blue jumper with an orange long sleeved shirt and red tights. On her feet were blue shoes that matched her jumper.
The girl tilted her head as she watched Lynet crawl on the ground. She just started to giggle before she extended her hand. "Are you looking for this?" She giggled again.
Lynet slowly stood up; she then took the recorder out of the girl's hand. "Thank you."
Behind them Aiden had backed up into the tree and raised his P-90 for a moment. Then he relaxed seeing that it was a child. "Dr. Ryley?"
The girl tilted her head and smiled. "You're silly," she said as she looked at Aiden.
Lynet just stared at her for a moment before the words came to her mouth, "you're welcome.... Where are your parents?"
"Parents?" The girl looked at her as if she were speaking another language.
Aiden walked over to them. "Hi there, where did you come from?"
"I live here, where did you come from?" The girl asked.
"Lt. Ford!" John called from about twenty yards away. He thought that he saw him, but wasn't exactly sure.
Aiden turned towards the sound of John's voice. "Over here, Sir!" He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, at least now they would be reunited with the Major. He thought that maybe John would know what to do with the girl.
John turned towards Teyla, "We'll that didn't take very long." He moved ahead of her.
Teyla simply smirked. She had faith that they weren't going to run into any problems finding Aiden and Lynet.
"Hello, who do we have here?" John walked up to them. He was surprised to see a child with them especially since they didn't see any structures as they flew overhead.
Stream
Rodney stared at the rock for a moment before he turned towards the other scientists. "Did any of you touch my laptop?"
They all stopped what they were doing and looked at him as they each shook their heads.
Rodney sighed with frustration. He turned back towards the rock and walked over to it. Maybe a strong wind knocked it off and over to the other side, but he sincerely doubted that as he scanned the area with his eyes.
From behind the rock, a boy walked out holding it in his hand. "What is this item?" The boy had sunny blond hair with bright blue eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt with a blue jacket, pants, and shoes.
Rodney's brows came together. "Excuse me that is delicate, you shouldn't be touching it..." He shook his head and then realized that there was a child standing in front of him.
"Oh... I'm sorry." He placed it back down on the stone.
"Wait a minute, who are you and where did you come from?" Rodney asked. He could feel the eyes of the other scientists watching them. He scanned the tops of the trees to see if there were any structures up there that they hadn't noticed, but given the height and likely age of the trees in that area he doubted if they could hold any tree houses for very long.
"I don't understand the first part of your question." The boy looked puzzled.
"Your name. Mine's Dr. Rodney McKay." He frowned; he couldn't imagine that he wouldn't have one.
"Are their names' Dr. Rodney McKay too?" He tilted his head as he watched the each of them in turn.
"No, they each have their own name. Don't tell me that you don't have one. What do other people call you?" Rodney was starting to feel very uncomfortable. He wished that Teyla were here to talk to the boy; he really didn't know what to say.
"What do other people call me... what do other people call me..." The boy was looking at Rodney's shoes when he was thinking about the question. His eyebrows were together as he concentrated on what he was going to say. "Athan, you may call me Athan" He looked up at Rodney and smiled.
"Well, Athan, could we talk to your parents?" Judging by the type of clothing the boy was wearing he would say that they must be around here somewhere because his cloths looked fairly new.
"Dr. Rodney McKay, what are parents?" The boy looked up at him with the sincerest look on his face.
A mile and a half away
"She basically appeared out of no where, Sir. We had just begun to question her when you showed up." Aiden stood at ease as he explained the situation to John.
"I did not see any structures when we were flying over head..." Teyla walked over to them with a puzzled look on her face as she studied the girl for a moment before turning her attention to John.
"Perhaps her people live underground." Lynet suggested.
"Why don't we ask her?" John tilted his head as he looked at Lynet. He thought that it would be best to not jump to conclusions. When he shifted his eyes to look at the girl, she was no longer there. "Where did she go?" He turned about a hundred and eighty degrees to see that the girl was walking towards the direction of the stream.
Lynet quickly joined the girl. She wanted to find out as much as possible about her and her people. The girl may not know much, but at least she was first step to establishing communication with them.
Teyla followed the path that the girl had taken with her eyes and frowned. "No footprints..." She shook her head slightly and followed several feet behind her.
John stood there for a moment as he tried to think his way though the situation. The first thing that came to his mind was that if the child's people were living underground, then why would they allow her to roam around the forest unsupervised. The next thing that came to mind was that he was going to have to keep mindful about where possible entry points to the underground caverns in the area might be. He then noted to himself that he was going to have to bring that up with Dr. Ryley and McKay.
"My apologies, Sir for getting separated." Aiden wasn't about to offer up an excuse to the reason of their separation, but he was going to note it in his report later on.
"Apology accepted." John started to walk behind the women. He turned to Aiden and asked, "Does any of this seem strange to you?"
"Now that you mention it, yes it does, Sir. Quite frankly, this whole place seems.... Well odd, Sir." He quickly fell into step with John. He wondered if all of Dr. Ryley's preliminary observations weren't getting to him.
"I agree, what feels odd to you?" John asked to see if he was getting the same type of vibes.
"Well, first of all we haven't encountered many animals. In fact the only one we saw was a big red bird. Next, it's just a little too quite around here for my tastes. And lastly, Sir, I would never send out a young girl to meet up with strangers." Aiden gave a shutter as his mind filled with thoughts about how much danger she would have been in if it were another group of strangers.
"We came in contact with the same type of bird as well, and you're right it is a little too quite around here. As for the girl, she may have come out without the others knowing, or being that you were with Dr. Ryley her people might not have thought that she was in danger." John frowned anyway. If he were a father, he knew he would be worried sick about his family in a similar situation.
"I don't think I would be so trusting, Sir. I would show myself and take the attention off of the kid." Aiden sounded sincere in his declaration.
"They might just not know any better. For example, when the Spanish entered what we now know as the South Western United States, during their colonial period. They carried a portrait of the Blessed Mother. The locals didn't think that they were a threat because they held such reverence for the female image that they brought with them." John then pretended that he was cleaning his throat so that he wouldn't have to continue what he was saying.
Aiden shook his head, "Boy were they wrong..." He looked up at the Major; he had no idea that he was familiar with much that much history. "Where did you learn that, Sir?"
"College... I dabbled in military history." He quickened his steps to catch up with the girl.
Aiden shrugged his shoulders as he
covered their rear.
Lynet and Teyla were currently trying to talk with the girl. "... so if you don't know what a name is, then what do your people call you?"
The girl looked up at Lynet, she didn't really understand why they kept asking her this.
"Dr. Ryley, not all cultures give formal names to each individual person. I have traded with some that they don't name their children until they reach maturity." Teyla said with a matter of fact tone to her voice.
"I can not imagine what that must be like." Lynet shook her head. This was one of her first off world missions so she wasn't familiar with other cutlers outside of the ones that she had read in authorized mission reports.
"Not everything is set in a straight and ridged line, Dr. Ryley. If you are born to it, then it is all that you know. Your way of life has been certainly strange for my people to adapt to, just as ours is hard for yours. I'm sure that both parties have benefited from our exchange of culture and knowledge." Teyla gave her a smile as John joined them.
"Has she said anything?" John looked at the girl who was now walking several feet in front of them.
"She turns our questions around on us, so no we haven't learned a thing." Lynet pressed her lips together.
"Hold up." John ordered. All eyes turned towards him. "Dr. Ryley over here," He motioned with his head towards Aiden.
Teyla watched them speak to one another. She wondered why they didn't include her on their conversation, but then again John might have left her out because he knows that she is good with children.
The girl looked up at her, "why did we stop?"
"I'm not sure." Teyla crouched down next to her. "When was the last time you ate?"
"Umm..." The girl watched Teyla pull out a packet. "What is that?" She wiggled her nose.
"This is a meal, we carry a few of them with us in case we get separated from our friends for a few days. Would you like to share mine with me?" She gave the girl a smile. Teyla kept in mind that all the technical terms would likely confuse her, so she tried to speak as simple as possible.
The girl nodded as Teyla broke off a piece for her. She took it with her clean hands and bit off a small piece. She chewed it very slowly as she decided what to make of it.
Teyla ate a piece as well; she smiled as she saw the girl wince with disgust. "It is not the most palatable substance, but it has all the vital ingredients to keep one healthy and strong." She looked up as Aiden joined them.
"I'm sorry, but I don't like it." She swallowed it instead of spitting it out.
"We're going to move on." Aiden nodded and then started to work forward.
Teyla looked back over her shoulder, she saw John and Lynet heading in the opposite direction.
Stream
"What do you mean, what are parents?" Rodney stared at the boy as he wondered why he would ask him such a strange question. "Who were the people that raised you and that look after you?"
The boy thought about what he was saying for a moment, "I was raised by the forest. My parents are all around you."
Rodney rubbed his face and said to himself, "Why does this always have to be so difficult?" He raised his eyes heaven ward and then looked back at the boy, "are there any other people around here that look like you? That wears the same type of clothing?"
"Yes." Athan blinked.
"Okay, we're getting somewhere. Exactly how far away are they from here?" He crouched down in front of him.
"Not far." He tilted his head as he watched all of Rodney's different facial expressions.
"Can you take me to them or bring them to us?" Rodney was trying his best to maintain his cool. The last thing he wanted the other scientists to see was him freaking out on a child.
"No, but she is coming with your friends." The boy stared at Rodney for several more seconds before looking at the other scientists. "Why are they taking pieces of this forest with them?"
"You mean the samples? We are going to study them. Look at them closely to find out what they are made out of." Rodney braced himself the onslaught of questions that he knew the child was bound to ask.
"You need to keep them here, it is important." Athan blinked again. "Everything here is important to everything else that is here."
"I don't understand." Rodney thought that this was a very strange turn in their conversation.
The boy appeared to be frustrated. "Maybe she has learned to say it better..." He sat down on the ground to wait.
Rodney wasn't really sure of what to do, so he just went back to working on scanning the area.
The other scientists started to pack up their samples. After a few minutes each of them had walked over separately towards where Rodney and Athan were located.
The French scientist cleared his throat. "Dr. McKay, do you know when Major Shepard will be returning?"
"I'm not sure, I would try to reach him on the radio, but apparently it isn't working." Rodney closed the laptop out of frustration. None of his scans were coming out the way he would have hoped they would have. "Just sit tight for a few minutes, I'm sure that they'll be back as soon as they have found Ford and Dr. Ryley."
The French scientist nodded his head, and then went over to the other two. They began talking about their observations of the vegetation in the area.
About less then five minutes later, Teyla, Aiden and a young girl came out of the visible tree line and stood before them. Aiden did a bit of a double take seeing the boy he looked a lot like the girl. The only differences that he notices was that their coloring was slightly different.
"Ford, where's Sheppard and Dr. Ryley?" Rodney asked him as he slipped his laptop into its case.
"They went back to see how Dr. Becket is doing with setting up the field lab." Aiden answered. He knew that they had a bit of alternative reason for going back over there but he didn't want to startle the children.
"See, Athan, we won't be taking anything home with us... at least right now." Rodney looked at Teyla and Ford. "He was confused about what we were doing here and why we were taking samples."
Teyla nodded her head, "Naturally."
The girl sat down next to the boy and whispered as low as she could, "Athan?"
"It seemed important to them to have something to call me. You should come up with one too." He responded in a like matter.
Teyla knelt down next to the kids, "How would you two like to come and see what type of tests we are going to do on the plants?"
The two looked at one another, and then they looked at Teyla. Athan answered her, "We would be happy to accompany you."
Teyla smiled at them and then stood. "Gentlemen, when ever you are ready to leave."
"We're ready now." Rodney stood there with his shoulder bag in place. He was happy to get back to the Jumper. He hoped that he could figure out some way to hook up his laptop to the computer so that he could see what was exactly blocking the radio waves.
The children stood and then started to walk together in front of the others.
Rodney stared at the two as they moved a head. He noticed all the similar features, blue eyes, and straight blond hair. He quickened his step to catch up to them. "Are you two related?"
"What is related?" The girl looked up at him as she kept her facial expression neutral.
"Well, that's when people have the same relatives, they are apart of the same family." Rodney tried to explain but midway though his explanation he remembered the problems that they had when he asked Athan about his parents.
The girl tilted her head, "Everything is related, the trees, the stream, everything." She seemed pleased with her explanation so she turned forward with a smile on her face.
The boy giggled, "They don't understand." He kept his voice low.
"I don't see why not, it's rather simple." She replied in the same tone.
"Hey what are you whispering about?" Rodney tilted his chin up as he tried to hear what they were saying.
Both Aiden and Teyla gave him a look. Neither one of them thought that it was anything more then them just whispering about them.
Puddle Jumper
"What do you mean, you found a child roaming the forest. That's bloody insane if you ask me." Carson was finishing setting up the equipment.
John shrugged, "You can't make this stuff up."
"I saw her, Dr. Beckett. She looked as healthy as they come. Her clothing even looked tailored. However I didn't see any flora that could produce the types of dyes necessary to color that much cloth." Lynet informed him.
"Well, maybe the flora is a seasonal thing around here." John suggested. "Dr. Ryley thinks that her people live underground."
"It's possible, however we haven't seen anything yet to prove that possibility. For all that we know there might be some Ancient technology shielding their dwellings from our sensors." Carson stood there with his hands on his hips.
"Wouldn't the Jumpers be able to scan for that?" Lynet looked at John.
"Well, I think that I'll just go and find out." John tilted his head and then left the tent to walk over to the Jumper.
Sometime Later
Lynet was looking though a microscope at one of the samples that they had taken of the meadow where the Jumper was located. She was thinking about a strange chemical compound that she noticed was apart of the cell wall. It was extremely fascinating, but she needed to step away from it to focus better on it. She walked outside to take a sip of water from of her canteen when she saw the group heading out of the tree line. She turned towards the tent and called, "Dr. Beckett, here they come!"
"Well, it's about time." He walked out of the tent, and watched the approaching group. He felt as if he had been wasting his time on this moon when there were so many things that still needed to be figured out on Atlantis. However his thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that there was also a boy with the group. The child appeared as the children moved a head of Aiden. He then turned towards Lynet. "You never said anything about a lad as well."
Lynet shrugged, "I don't know where he came from." Though she noticed that the two of them looked similar, but at the same time different. His features were bright, while hers were a bit duller, although equally both looked impressive.
John walked back over to them from the Jumper. "Well, I can't pick up any underground caverns with the sensors. I'm not sure if they are working right..."
"Can you show me the data from the Jumper, Major Sheppard? I'm sure Dr. McKay will be interested as well." Lynet adjusted her stance. She hadn't collected many samples, but she did make many observations. She was highly interested in learning more about Atlantian technology, and thought that it would benefit their mission to be able to make it possible to cross-reference her observations with the results from the Jumper.
"Sure, go get McKay, I'll meet you two back at the Jumper." John nodded and headed off towards the Jumper.
Lynet saw that Carson was studying the children as they approached so she just walked off in the direction that Dr. McKay was heading in. "Dr. McKay!" She called to get him to stop.
Rodney turned towards her, "Yes Dr. Ryley? I'm very busy I hope that this is important." He took out a sandwich and started to munch on it.
"Major Sheppard has reported that there are no underground caverns according to the sensors. However he isn't entirely sure that they are working properly. He wants you to look at them." She smirked as she anticipated what he was going to say.
"Well of course he would want me to look at it. I am the most qualified for the job." Rodney smiled as he started to walk towards the Jumper, but then his smile turned to a frown as he thought about the possibility of the Jumper's sensors being off as well. He turned back towards to Lynet and saw that she was following him. "Where are you going?" He asked as he chewed a mouth full of his turkey sandwich.
"I want to have a look at the sensors as well." She responded.
"You're a nature type, go run some tests on that." He pretty much brushed her off and then continued towards the Jumper.
Lynet narrowed her eyes before she rolled them. She then turned and went to join the other scientists to find out what they had learned.
Back at the Tent
Teyla walked up to them with the boy and girl behind her. She stopped and smiled at the children, "I would like to introduce you to a good friend of mine." Teyla motioned towards Carson, "This is Dr. Carson Beckett."
"Pleasure, and you two are?" He looked from one to the other.
"I'm called, Athan." He turned and looked at the girl.
She was looking at the ground. "Tansy."
"Lovely. Teyla a word." Carson walked several feet away out of hearing range.
Teyla turned towards the children, "Don't worry I'll be right back." She nodded to them as she walked over to join Carson.
The boy turned and looked at the girl. "Tansy? Could you be more obvious?"
"Like Athan isn't obvious enough. They mean the same thing, and besides I could have just used the feminine version of your name, Athanasia." She narrowed her eyes for a split second before turning her attention back to Teyla and Carson. "I don't think they know anything yet."
"They took pieces of life with them." He sounded quite upset.
"That's not good. Do you think that they will leave soon?" She asked after she took a deep breath.
"From the looks of things... I don't think they will." Athan sounded annoyed.
"The cycle must continue without any problems." She held a distant look in her eyes.
"I just wish they knew that." Athan narrowed his eyes as he looked at them.
"We could inform them." She suggested, although she sounded doubtful.
"They might want to stay then. Or at least keep coming back." He frowned at the thought. They could not possibly be able to maintain the cycle properly with this much interference.
"What do we do then?" She sounded desperate.
"We find out as much as possible about them while we can, see how we can manipulate them to leave." He nodded.
"I do not recommend that we stay with them more then several hours. They might notice..." She held her tongue as John walked over to them.
"Hey kids are you board yet? I got something that I think you will find to be pretty cool." He stopped in front of them, as he stood with his legs apart. He had to distract himself from all of Rodney's scientific talk so he told him that he was going to go for a little walk.
"Cool? I don't understand." Athan gave him a pleasant smile; "please explain."
"Oh... well where I come from, 'cool' is a word we use when we like something." He smiled at them. "Come on, I'll show you. It's called a Puddle Jumper."
"What a silly name." Tansy sincerely smiled as she followed John.
Meanwhile Several Feet Away
"Those two look as if they are in perfect condition. Are you sure you found them wondering the forest?" Carson was baffled. He had thought that Dr. Ryley had been exaggerating.
"I am positive. I believe that they know each other very well." Teyla watched them converse amongst themselves. She did not like the frustration that was apparent on their facial expressions.
"I wouldn't mind doing some scans on them back at Atlantis. Perhaps there is something in the local vegetation that makes them look like that or they have some natural physical properties that we haven't encountered before." He raised his eyebrows as he thought of that possibility.
"If there is something in the vegetation that they consume. I might want to think that it affects their memories as well." Teyla thought out loud. She thought that might be the reason why they didn't know their names and now do.
"It's possible." Carson noticed John approaching the children. "What do you suppose he wants with them?"
Teyla turned and smiled, "I think the Major is trying to become their friend."
"Good, maybe he can find out some answers." Carson watched them walk towards the Jumper.
Jumper
"Oh come on!" Rodney flapped himself down in the chair and then he stroked his chin. He just couldn't figure out what was wrong with the sensors. Granted he had only been working on them for a short period of time, but still he felt that they should be working properly. After all he did run a full diagnostic of them before they left Atlantis. The only thing that he thought that could be causing this kind of readings was something external. Although it was frustrating because he felt that they didn't have enough time to be worrying about this especially with the Wraith coming, but what choice did they have? With a heavy sigh, he stood back up and tried to do it again.
Outside the Jumper, John was walking up to it with the two children. "This is called a Puddle Jumper."
"What is it?" Athan's eyes went wide as he looked at it.
"Well, it's a machine that can take you from one place to another. It's shaped so that it can move though the Stargate without any problems." John explained.
"How does it work?" Asked Tansy as she walked over to touch it.
"What's a Stargate?" That was Athan's response. He watched the girl examine the Jumper.
"Okay, okay, one at a time. The Jumper flies though the air..."
"Like a bird?" Tansy cut him off during his explanation.
"Sort of, it flies much faster then any type of bird that you can imagine. In fact it can circle this entire moon in a matter of a few minutes. That's how we came here, see there is a Stargate located in outer space somewhere in-between this moon and the planet it orbits around. Now, a Stargate links one point in space to another point in the blink of an eye, no matter how great the distance is. It's really something." He pressed his lips together and smiled.
"Interesting..." Tansy ran the palm of her hand over the haul.
"We have no memory of encountering anything like this before." Athan looked up Major Sheppard with slightly widen eyes.
"Well, I couldn't imagine that you would have." John looked inside the Jumper to see Rodney scratching his head. "Hey McKay, maybe Zelenka would have better luck."
Rodney turned towards John and gave him a murderous look. He would be damned if Zelenka figured out anything before he did. "Ha ha, very funny, Major." He started to mutter to himself before he moved to a different area of the front compartment of the Jumper.
"Who is this Zelenka," Athan asked.
"Well, he's a really smart guy. Kind of eccentric looking, but most guys like him are like that. I think..." John shrugged.
"Are there more like you where you come from?" Tansy turned away from the haul and looked directly up into his eyes.
"I'm one of a kind, of course, but yes there are many different people where I come from. In fact we were wondering if we could stay here on your moon for a visit."
Tansy and Athan exchanged a worried look.
John didn't miss it. He thought that maybe they were worried that their parents may not approve. "You see these bad guys called the Wraith are coming to our home, and we need to make sure that everyone is safe until they leave."
Tansy looked at Athan for a moment, and then slowly said. "We would like to see your home."
"But only for a few hours," Athan added in.
"I would love to take you there, but I would have to ask your parents' permission." He looked at each in turn.
By now, Athan had a pretty good idea about what he was implying. "They won't be back for many hours. You see they will be proud if we presented them with evidence to support your request."
John frowned, "I don't know about that, it just seems weird to me." The last thing he needed right now is for Elizabeth to yell at him for kidnapping these two kids.
Tansy seemed to understand where Athan was going with this. "The reason why we were so confused before with all of your questions was because among our people we have a tradition. When one reaches a certain point in their development, if they show independence and survival skills they are considered to be their own entity. Athan and I don't need to relay on anyone else for our survival because we have proven ourselves to be capable of fending for ourselves. It makes the transition between being nomadic in one season to being stationary in another much easier. If one place has enough food or water for only a certain amount of people, then only a certain amount stay. We don't really hold firm to family ties that might complicate things. If anything the eldest members of our Fraction look out for the younger ones if it is absolutely necessary, they are what we might call parents."
"Tansy is absolutely right, I think that there is only one person in our Fraction that I am related to by blood." Athan quickly added that in.
"Who's that?" Tansy looked as if this was new information to her.
"Anstice, you know, the new girl." Athan responded with no emotion on his face.
"Ah, yes, I remember. She's a bit short. Though I guess that's because she is so much younger than us." Tansy gave Athan a pleasant smile.
"Hold up, if you all are traveling in a group, why are you two separated?" John asked. Something about this didn't feel right to him.
"Well, we were looking to see if there was any palatable vegetation in this forest. It is very large so they left us here and will be back later to find out what we learned." Athan nodded his head.
"How long have you been here?" John asked as he thought over bringing them to Atlantis. He felt that Carson might be interested in learning about their genetics in comparison to Teyla's people to see if they had any special natural abilities as well.
Tansy looked at the ground and then back up at him. "Many cycles around the planet."
"Well, we could fly over to where your people are and ask if we may borrow you two for a little trip." John studied their reactions carefully.
Athan shook his head, "That would be impossible. Our people are very good at hiding, I sincerely doubt that they will be easy to find."
"We could always fly around looking for them with this..." John took a device out of his hand and pressed it. The Jumper shimmered for a split second and then remained visible to the eye. "What the...?" John's eyebrows came together as he tried it again. Upon seeing that same result, he turned towards the kids. "Excuse me for a moment." He walked around the side of the Jumper and entered into the back, "Hey McKay the cloak's not working!"
Athan and Tansy exchanged a look. When John appeared to be out of hearing range, Tansy walked over to Athan and whispered, "Do you think he believes us?"
"I'm not sure. Even if he doesn't he can't prove otherwise." He shrugged and then gave her a smile, "Nice job thinking all of that up like that."
"Thank you. Given what I've learned so far from them, they don't seem to believe that we are capable of making our own choices. Whatever these parent things are, they are likely to be much like them." She sighed, "I only wish that they had come a bit later in the cycle so that we wouldn't have to make up answers to those questions." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"It could be worse, they could have come earlier." Athan reminded her.
"True..." She stopped talking when she saw John walk out of the back of the Jumper.
"I guess that plan is out of the question." He frowned as he spoke out loud to himself.
"It would have been a waste of time." Tansy told him with a matter of fact tone to her voice.
"Why is that?" John tilted his head looking at them.
"Well, the time that you spent looking for them could be used more productively by bringing us to see where you come from and then taking us back here." Athan looked him straight in the eyes.
"You might be right." John shook his head. If he were going to bring these kids to Atlantis he didn't want to be the only one who would be responsible for wanting them there. He smiled as he saw Carson and Teyla approaching them. "Hold tight, I'll be right back I just want to have a word with Dr. Beckett and Teyla." He walked over to join them while Tansy and Athan waited for him to rejoin them.
Several Minutes Later
"So, that's what they told me... do you think that they are telling the truth?" John turned his gaze from Teyla to Carson and then back again.
"I have encountered many different types of societies during my travels, but this is the first time I have heard of this type. Although since they do live on this moon away from a Stargate it is possible that they had to develop these ways to suit whatever their needs are." Teyla said in a thoughtful tone. She didn't like the idea of taking them to Atlantis, but she didn't see any harm in it.
"It's quite the dilemma." Carson frowned as he thought the situation over. He glanced at the children, and though that Tansy looked slightly taller than before. He blinked several times as he thought that his mind was playing tricks on him. "However I wouldn't mind taking a look at them to make sure they are in perfect order."
"Alright, it's settled then. I'll take them on a quick field trip. Dr. Beckett if you would be so kind, I would like you to join us. " John nodded, and then turned towards Teyla. "You too Teyla since you seem to have a way with kids." John raised his eyebrows and then pressed his lips together as he smiled.
"Would that not leave only Aiden to protect the scientists? If the Wraith happen to come they would be nearly defenseless." Teyla was concerned. It wasn't like they had the Gate to dial in if they ran into trouble. Their only way on or off this moon was by Puddle Jumper and they only brought one.
"I'm sure that Ford can handle it, but to be on the safe side, I'll leave Dr. Ryley a P-90. She's got a great shot, in fact I think her's is better than mine." John frowned. "Worst comes to worse, they know to head for the tree line until any danger is past. Besides if our sensors can't pick up very much, I doubt that the Wraith can."
Teyla took in a deep breath; she tried to sense if the Wraith activity had increased in the system. "I don't sense any Wraith near by. It should be safe to leave for a few hours."
Twenty Minutes Later - Inside the Puddle Jumper
"Since it is your first time into Outer Space, why don't you two sit right here behind Major Sheppard and Dr. McKay." Teyla smiled at them as she watched them sit down. She knew that it was safer for them in the back, but since they had a better view of Outer Space she thought that they would all right for the short trip to the Stargate. Especially since she didn't sense any Wraith.
John smirked as he heard Teyla. "Ladies and Gentlemen this is your caption speaking, during our flight you are to remain seated at all times. Thank you and enjoy your flight."
Carson smiled and shook his head as he sat down in the back of the Jumper across from Teyla as the door closed.
John slowly lifted the Jumper off the ground. He kept it right above the treetops for about a mile before slowly taking it into orbit.
Tansy and Athan could barely stay in their seats. They kept trying to see around the chairs in front of them as they slowly saw the stars start to appear before them. Athan tilted his head as he saw the white plant in front of them. It looked so much larger to them then when they were on the moon. "Wow, look how big it is!"
"It's so pretty!" Tansy smiled.
John punched in the Gate Address for Atlantis.
Athan took his eyes off of the planet and glanced at the Stargate. He had to do a double take, "Is that the Stargate?"
"It sure is Athan." Teyla answered from behind him.
"I think that looks even prettier then the planet," Tansy looked back at Teyla.
Rodney was sitting shotgun. He was lost in thought. He just couldn't explain why the sensors were malfunctioning the way they were. He decided that he would look over all the equipment again and then have Major Sheppard try again on their return to the moon. He turned in his chair as thought about their past missions. "Have either one of you ever notice any strange ruins, like stone pillars lying around anywhere?"
The children looked at each other and then at Rodney. They shook their heads at the same time. "You are the first visitors from the stars." Tansy said with a twinkle in her eye.
"We have forever been alone." Athan added in. He wanted to say more, but he held his tongue. It was not the right time to tell them, although at the same time he hoped that they would not have to tell them. However it seemed like that was not going to be an option the more he thought about it. "As far a we know, anyway." He quickly glanced at Tansy and then back at the windshield.
"Huh... well, it was worth a try." Rodney shrugged and then turned back towards the Stargate.
John picked up his radio, "Atlantis, this is Major Sheppard. Punching in IDC, now. We are bringing back visitors and require a decontamination unit to be set up in the Jumper Bay.
"Reading you loud and clear, Major Sheppard." Grodin's voice could be heard over the radio. There was a pause, "Dr. Weir has agreed, and we will do as you requested. Atlantis out."
"How long will it take to set up a decontamination unit?" Athan asked out loud not to anyone in particular. He gave Tansy a worried look.
"Oh, not too long. Nothing to worry about." Carson smiled.
Atlantis - Jumper Bay
"What do you mean, they are brining back visitors! This should have been cleared by me first Ma'am, with all due respect..." Sgt. Bates appeared to be extremely upset. He was in his off world gear ready to depart to check out another possible Alpha Site.
In the background, a large team of personnel was setting up the decontamination unit so that the Jumper door would open up into it. "I heard Major Sheppard's transmission he did not appear to be in any type of distress. I trust that these visitors are sincere, and if we are able to use their moon as a possible Alpha Site, then I don't want to appear more hostile then it is necessary. We tried to reach you on your radio but it wasn't turned on. I want you to have a security detachment." Elizabeth said in a stern voice as she watched the team finish setting the unit up.
Bates narrowed his eyes, "yes, Ma'am."
One of the medical personnel came forward. "Dr. Weir we're finished."
She smiled, "It's a good thing we began setting this up after they left." Elizabeth turned away and turned on her radio, "Grodin, tell them to come home."
Within a few moments the Puddle Jumper came in from over head, and landed. When everyone had been decontaminated they started to walk out of the unit.
Elizabeth turned towards Sgt. Bates after she recovered from a momentary surprise at seeing two children exit the unit. They looked like siblings. She assumed that the girl was the eldest since she was at least several inches taller than the boy. She smirked, "you have your orders, Sergeant." She turned towards them. "Welcome to Atlantis. I hope you had a pleasant ride in the Jumper." She smiled at them, from experience she knew that representatives came
in all ages.
Bates blinked several times as he looked at them.
Tansy nodded her head, "Oh yes, it was very pleasant. We got to see the planet up close and the stars as well. Everything looks different from outer space." She gave Elizabeth a bright smile.
"I agree it was a pleasant trip. By the way I'm called Athan, my counter part is Tansy." Athan slightly bowed his head.
Tansy just stood there and kept on smiling as she looked up at the new people. She liked how the woman was smiling back, but it bothered her that the other one was wearing a frown. So, she doubled her efforts to be nice and polite.
"My name is Dr. Elizabeth Weir." She motioned next to her, "This is Sgt. Bates."
Bates was still recovering from his initial shock so he just nodded to them. He couldn't believe that they would actually bring children to Atlantis, especially at a time like this.
Behind the children, Carson emerged from the decontamination unit. "Well, first thing's first." He smiled at Elizabeth and Bates. "I am going to escort this lad and lass to the infirmary to make sure that they are working in the proper order." He nodded and than placed his hands on their shoulders to lead them in the direction of the infirmary.
Elizabeth watched the children walk towards the hallway with Carson. She turned towards Sgt. Bates and raised a brow seeing that he was still standing there. "Sergeant, you have your orders. If there is any trouble, let me know." She turned and walked out of the Jumper Bay in the opposite direction.
John and Teyla followed after here to give her the Intel that they had gathered already.
Rodney was the last to come out of the decontamination unit. He looked around to see only Bates standing there. "Where did everyone go...?" He said to himself, "Huh... I guess I'll just get to work..." He shrugged and then went to go find Zelenka.
A Half Hour Later - The Infirmary
Athan was lying on top of one of the Ancient beds, while Carson was trying to work the controls. "When can we look at other places?" He sounded impatient and frustrated.
"When I figure out what's wrong with this... I can't explain it, it's just not working." Carson scratched his head. He wished that he had a better understanding of Ancient technology, but unfortunately he didn't. "Well, I guess we'll just have to do this the old fashion way, won't we?"
Tansy was pacing back and forth. She turned and stared up at Carson. "The old fashion way?"
"That's right, it may take a bit longer but it should tell me about the same results." He noticed Tansy pacing back and forth like that so he decided to get her something to keep her mind occupied. "I'll be right back."
Athan sat up and waited until Dr. Beckett was out of hearing range. "This is taking too long..."
Tansy turned towards him with a hand on her hip. "Agreed." She walked gracefully over towards him. "We can always allow the machine to work." She raised a brow.
"That would tell them too much." Athan sighed, "Let's see what this old fashion way is all about."
"Alright, but it won't do us any good." She tilted her head.
Athan slid off the bed, and then looked up at her. She was now a full head taller than he. "We can't stand together anymore. You're growing too fast."
Tansy twisted her lips together, "I'm sorry about that." She turned and walked several meters away. "Apparently the females of their species develop first. There is nothing we can do about it now." She continued to walk towards where she saw light coming into the room from outside. When she reached the window she shrieked in horror.
Athan ran across the floor towards her, "What is it?"
"Athan, look!" She pointed out the window. "I feel so... so..." Tansy felt the wall spin around her. She was completely shocked by what she had seen.
Athan didn't notice her predicament. He was looking out the window.
Carson ran back over to them caring a laptop and earphones. He quickly placed it down as he saw that Tansy was about ready to faint. "What's going on?"
Athan turned towards him. He was looking as white as the aura of an ascendant being. "Wha..what's that?"
Carson helped Tansy to sit down; he started to check her pupils with his flashlight. "Out the window? That's an ocean, I know it's a bit shocking to see that we are floating on top of it, but there is nothing to be concerned about?"
"There isn't?" Tansy looked frightfully worried.
"There isn't." Carson confirmed. "We don't even feel the spray from the water. I'll have you know that for about ten thousand years, this city was submerged in all of that water. There was a shield that protected it from having the water coming inside." He smiled as he saw the color returning to her face. "The water won't harm ya, that's a promise."
Tansy reached forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, Dr. Beckett. I feel better now." She smiled as she sat back.
"I think you should know, that this city wasn't even built by us. Some of us are descendents of those that built it, aye that's true enough, but it was left here for us to find all nice and safe under the water." Carson stood and went over to pick up one of the computer pads. He wrote down several notes about the girl, and then placed it down. "I'm going to listen to your heart and lungs to make sure that they are working properly, nothing to worry about lass." He put on his stethoscope to listen to her heart.
"Tell us about your world, please." Tansy asked with a very sweet smile on her lips.
"Well, it's quite different then your own. We have many large cities like this on land, but none have the technology that this one has. There are many different people with different religious and ethnical beliefs. Many people speak different languages, and have different customs. Some people are very educated while others aren't. We are all quite different in one aspect or another, but the beauty of it is that you get to learn a lot about many different things. It gives one a unique perspective on life and a tolerance for those who are not the same as yourself." He slid the metal piece under the back of her jumper. "Breath in."
She did as she was told.
"Breath out." He repeated the process for both lungs, but when he checked her heart rate he become very concerned. Its rate was faster than anyone he had ever checked before. He did his best to smile at her, he wished he had more time to figure out why the Ancient machine wasn't working, but he knew that they had to be back in a couple of hours and didn't want to worry them if there was nothing he could do.
Athan was standing there taking in deep breaths. He was pleased with what he heard; perhaps people that were sophisticated as they were might understand them. It gave him a shred of hope that if they were discovered for what they really were that they would let them live in peace.
"Anyway, while I'm running tests on you lass," He turned towards the boy, "I brought over something for you to look at. It will tell you a bit more about my world." He walked Athan over to a small table, and opened up the laptop. One the screen appeared a map of the planet Earth. "Now, what you do lad is you take your finger and move it on this little pad right here."
Athan placed his finger on it, and then saw the arrow on the screen move.
"When you find a place you want look at more closely you press this button here that has the sticker on it. It will tell you several facts about the place. To look elsewhere press the button with the sticker on it again and it will bring you back to larger map." He handed him the earphones. "You can listen to what it says though these."
"Thank you." Athan placed the earphones on his head and then started to look at the different places on the map.
Meanwhile, Carson continued to give Tansy a physical. "Now, I don't want you to be worried, I'm going to take a small sample of your blood to see what type it is." He had the needle in his hand. He was actually planning on looking at it more carefully, but he thought that the simplest explanation was the best.
"Is that necessary?" She looked at the needle and the vial in his hands. "I rather you didn't do that..."
"I know, dear, but it's just going to be a little prick. All I am going to do is take this much blood that's it. No harm done." He tilted his head looking at her.
"Will I get it back?" She didn't like this one bit. She needed to keep all of herself, but there was no way of telling him that unless she told him why.
"You won't miss it, trust me. I'll be taking the same amount of blood from your friend as well." He tilted his head, and then placed the needle and vial on a tray near by. "Now I need you to stick out your arm." He picked up a large rubber band to tie around her arm.
Tansy thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head as she stuck out her arm. She didn't like this, but she didn't see any way to argue her way out of it.
An Hour Later - Back on the Moon
"The cellular structure is amazing!" Lynet was looking though a microscope at a plant sample.
"The water sample is most strange, I don't detect any micro organisms in it what so ever. Nor is there any appearance of any types of metals. You don't find water like this kind of biosphere..." The French scientist was scrunching his nose while scratching his head.
Aiden poked his head into the tent. "Dr. Ryley and Dr. Sylvain, you should take a look at this." He had a frown on his face.
Lynet and Garner Sylvain exchanged looks. Lynet stepped forward, "What is it?"
"See for yourself," Aiden held the flap of the tent open for both of them to exit. Outside the other two scientists stood there paralyzed in shock.
"Good heavens..." Lynet covered her mouth with her hand as tears started to stream out of her eyes. In front of her laid the forest in a state of decay. The grass under her feet was brown and rotting. "I don't understand, what could have done this...?"
"I... I don't know. Perhaps our very presence distributed the ecosystem... it's too late now to do anything about it." Garner crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"We have to contact Atlantis." Lynet rubbed the tears from her eyes as she got a hold of herself.
"We can't, and Major Sheppard won't be back for a couple of hours." Aiden shifted his weight on his feet.
"What do we do until then?" Garner put his hands on his hips as he looked towards Aiden for leadership.
"How should I know? I'm not a scientist!" Aiden turned towards him.
"Gentlemen, we make the best of the situation. We came here to learn about this moon, I suggest that we do that. Perhaps there is something here that can explain what's happening." Lynet turned and went back into the tent.
Atlantis - Infirmary
"There you go lad, you're all done here." Carson smiled at Athan as he finished up the physical. He made some quick notes on his Ancient pad.
Tansy took off the earphones and motioned Athan to come over to where she was seated. "You have to see this."
Athan walked over and joined her; he placed the earphones on his head as he looked at the screen. In front of him was a map of the United States of America.
Carson was watching the children out of the corner of his eye as he finished up the paper work. He looked back and forth at the test results. Both children were taller than he had previously estimated in his head, and their heart rates and blood pressure were extremely high. With out having a look inside of them, he was not sure what the problem could be.
Teyla and Elizabeth walked into the Infirmary. "Dr. Beckett, are you finished here?" Teyla asked with a smile on her lips.
"Quite done, in fact I'm eager to look at this blood work." He looked at the ladies and then at the children who were whispering to one another.
"Then you won't mind if we borrow your guests?" Elizabeth crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Athan noticed Teyla and Elizabeth standing there, so he took off the earphones and then closed the laptop. He walked over to stand on the one side of Elizabeth as Tansy went to stand next to Teyla.
Elizabeth looked down at them, "Athan and Tansy, are you ready for your tour of Atlantis?"
"Oh yes, very ready." Tansy nodded her head as she gave them a pleasant smile.
"What are we going to look at first?" Athan asked.
"I was thinking that we go and get some dinner." Elizabeth smiled. "We'll give you part of the tour on the way to the food court."
Tansy felt like wincing but she didn't. She remembered how awful the rations that Teyla had given her tasted.
Carson smiled, "Have fun, and remember to stay with Dr. Weir and Teyla. It's a big city, you wouldn't want to get lost."
Tansy turned and walked over to Carson. She gave him a hug, "Don't worry, we won't let them out of our sight." After she gave him one last smile she walked out of the Infirmary and into the hall. Elizabeth smirked as she saw the look of confusion on Carson's face. Obviously he didn't know what to make of the girl's show of affection.
Athan stood there and frowned for a moment, but then shook his head and followed Teyla out of the room. He didn't understand what he was feeling, so he did his best to ignore her actions.
Carson sighed and then turned to get to work. Children... he hoped that Dr. Weir knew that he didn't encourage that type of behavior even though it was a very sweet gesture.
Jumper Bay
"What do you mean nothing is wrong with it?" Rodney was standing outside of the Jumper door. The Decontamination Unite had been removed and was now several feet away from the Jumper to be used upon their return with the other scientists.
"All that I'm saying is that the sensors are running perfectly fine. I don't think that there is anything wrong with the Puddle Jumper." Dr. Zelenka tilted his head as he looked at Rodney.
"Have you finished your diagnostics?" Rodney crossed his arms in front of his chest and rubbed his chin with one of his hands as he thought the situation over.
"No, but I can tell you this much. The sensors were working fine before the diagnostic started." Zelenka took in a deep breath to try to keep as calm as possible. Sometimes he felt like ripping the hair out of his head, but then he would remind himself that what he did have was a precious commodity to be kept in an unkempt manner. This way he felt that it wouldn't fall out as fast.
"There must be some kind of waves or radiation that is emitted from the moon to cause the sensors to become disruptive." Rodney was thinking out loud again. "For all we know it may be coming from the planet that it orbits around."
"There is only one way to be certain of that." Zelenka was about to make a suggestion, but knew better.
Rodney snapped his fingers as the thought came to him, "We'll try another Jumper. Two of them can't be malfunctioning at the same time."
"Any progress McKay?" John walked over to them from the Jumper Bay door.
"Ah, Major Sheppard, perfect timing." Rodney turned towards him. "According to Zelenka there is nothing wrong with the Jumper. So, what we want to do is take another one to the moon and see if the results happen to be the same."
"Another one?" John asked.
"Well, yes, a different one." Rodney tilted his head as he spoke.
"And do you know if the damage done to the first Jumper is reversible?" John wanted to make sure that if the first jumper was damaged in anyway that they could fix it. Plus he didn't want to make the same mistake twice and ruin the sensors on a second jumper.
"As far as I can tell, Major Sheppard, the sensors have returned to normal. I believe that it is relatively safe to take a different Jumper to the moon without any lasting damage." Zelenka was starting to get tired of repeating himself.
"Alright then, let's go." John raised his eyebrows. "When can you be ready?"
Rodney looked at Zelenka, "Is now good?"
Zelenka nodded, "now."
Rodney turned towards John, "yeah, now's fine."
"We'll leave now then. Let me just tell Elizabeth." John stepped away and then spoke into his radio. "Elizabeth, come in please."
After a short pause, John heard her voice over his radio, "yes John."
"McKay wants to take a different Jumper to the moon to test it out to see if the sensors are working properly. Are the children with you?" He shifted his weight on his feet.
"They are several feet away from me, we just started our tour. When does he want to leave?" She spoke in a lowered voice.
"Actually we were thinking of leaving immediately. I don't think it'll take to long to test this out. We should be back in about a half hour to an hour to pick them up. Give or take a few minutes." He placed his hands on his hips.
"Are you sure you don't want to take them with you?" She sounded concerned.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll check in with Ford to make sure that their people haven't shown up. If they did we'll come straight back here to get them. Sound fair enough?" John had heard that the Ancient machines weren't working in the Infirmary and that he had to waist time doing things the old fashion way. He figured that after going though all of that the kids deserved to get a proper tour of the city. "Sounds fair. Good luck, Major." The radio transmission ended.
John smirked slightly before turning around. Rodney and Zelenka had already loaded up their equipment into the current Jumper Two. John saw Rodney standing there staring into thin are. He knew that he was likely going over things in his head so he just said, "Everything in Jumper Two?"
"Mmhmm." He turned as John walked past him.
"Good, let's go." John walked towards Jumper two and landed it.
Atlantis - Causeway
"Is everything well, Dr. Weir?" Athan asked with concern in his voice. He was starting to feel bad about being suspicious about these people. They had done nothing to them except for welcoming them into their home. In return they had not been completely truthful with them.
"Everything's fine Athan." Elizabeth gave him a warm smile. "So tell me, what is your favorite part of the city so far?"
"That is hard to say, it is all quite fascinating." Athan eyed the tall buildings on one of the distant piers.
"Could you tell us more about your world?" Tansy asked, as she watched the other people that were dressed similarly to Dr. Weir hurry about from one place to another.
"Dr. Weir and I come from different worlds." Teyla spoke first.
"Are they very different from each other?" Tansy asked in a nonchalant matter.
"Quite." Teyla smiled, "My people are few. We rely on agriculture and hunting to maintain our way of life."
"There are more people than you can imagine on my world. We live in buildings like these, but they aren't as technologically advance." Elizabeth smiled; she was glad that the children were trying to find out as much as possible about them before they reported to their elders.
Athan was a bit puzzled, "if you two come from different worlds then why don't you return to them instead of wanting to stay on our little moon?"
"My world has recently become uninhabitable." Teyla said with sadness in her voice, but she gave the children a weak smile so that they did not worry. "Since then we have been living on the main land of this world."
"Why can't you go back to Earth?" Tansy asked.
Elizabeth was a little bit surprise that they knew the name of her planet, but then again they had been around other people. She guessed that one of them told the children the name of their world. "Earth is in another galaxy. The power requirements to travel there by Stargate are by far too great."
The children both sighed at the same time.
"What is it?" Elizabeth thought that was rather peculiar.
There was a pause as they exchanged looks. Tansy spoke up first, "well, Dr. Beckett showed us a program that allowed us to look at different locations on Earth. We were hoping that we would be able to visit there for a few hours at another time."
Elizabeth raised her brows in surprise, "Where exactly did you want to go?"
Athan smiled, "Phoenix. We would like to see the city of the firebirds."
Elizabeth would never have guessed that. "Please don't misunderstand the name of the city with the mythological bird. There are no firebirds living there, I'm sorry."
The children both appeared to be very disappointed. "Oh...." They said at the same time.
Tansy sighed, "At least tell us about the mythological bird."
Teyla was curious to the reason why they would want to know about something that didn't seem to have much relevance to the situation. "Why would you like to know this?"
Athan had a distant look in his eye. "It's important." He would say no more.
"From what I can remember, the Phoenix was said to be able to regenerate its life force upon its death. When it became to old, it would burst into flames and from the ashes it would rise again." Elizabeth said with a bit of excitement in her voice. "There were also tales of how their tears could heal, and that they were incredibly strong. I wish that they were real, and not just myth."
Teyla shrugged, "Perhaps they are in this galaxy, Dr. Weir. Remember, you thought that mermaids were just myth as well."
"True, we can only hope can't we?" Elizabeth smiled as she looked at the children. They appeared to be lost in thought.
A thought crossed Teyla's mind, "Dr. Weir what does the Phoenix look like?"
Orbit Around the Moon
"Ford this is Sheppard, we are approaching the moon to conduct several scans. Is everything fine down there?" The sun's rays were reflecting off of the moon's atmosphere so it was very difficult for them to see anything more than the shape of it.
"Major, it's good to hear from you. We have an emergency situation down here." Ford was coming in loud and clear.
Rodney's brows came together, "emergency?"
"What's happened?" John asked.
"It would be better if you saw it for yourself, Sir."
John turned towards Rodney and Zelenka. "Looks like we're going to have to delay those scans." As they approached the sight of the away team, the appearance of the moon became clear.
"Is that the location of the possible Alpha Sight?" Zelenka asked as he looked at the large spread of decaying plant life from orbit.
"Yes... this doesn't make sense, only a few hours ago everything was bright and green, now it looks like a..." John interrupted Rodney.
"A waist land." John started to dial the gate as he continued to approach the moon.
Meanwhile - Infirmary
Carson thought that he had to get a second opinion, but no... he was certain that this wasn't possible by any medical standards that he knew of. He shifted his weight once more and looked though the microscope lens again.
Below the cells kept undergoing mitosis at a rapid rate.
He shook his head once more and then hurried out of the Infirmary.
Food Court
Elizabeth, Teyla and the children had just finished picking out a table to sit at for dinner. The security escort that had been assigned to the children sat down at a separate table so that they would not alert them of their presence.
Elizabeth stopped short when she heard John's voice on her radio. "Major is there a problem?"
"Unfortunately, Elizabeth there is. It looks like we're going to have to cross this moon off the list of possible Alpha Sites."
"Why, did you speak with the children's people?" Elizabeth stepped away from the group as she spoke.
"No, there haven't been any sightings of them. The thing is... everything on this moon is dying."
"What?!" Elizabeth's eyes widened. She turned to look at the children but saw that they were talking to Teyla and had not noticed her outburst.
"The scientists can't seem to explain it. They say that the cellular structure of the plants have begun to destabilize and break apart." He paused, "Worst of all the sensors still aren't working. We need to find the children's people and take them back to Atlantis."
"Major are you sure there isn't anything that we can do?" Elizabeth closed her eyes; it was her fear that they were responsible for what was happening there.
"There doesn't seem to be."
When Elizabeth opened her eyes again, she saw Carson briskly walking towards her position. "I need a moment Major."
"Take your time..."
"Dr. Weir I need to speak to you." He looked around to make sure that no one was in hearing range.
"What is it Carson?" She asked.
Tansy had noticed Carson's entrance and started to make her way over to him as they begun to walk towards the food distribution line with Teyla.
Athan noticed Tansy slip away and did the same.
"I've been going over the children's blood work, and it is the most uncanny thing. Their cells are multiplying at a rate far more rapid then any sample that I have ever seen. At first I thought that perhaps they had nanocytes in their blood, but they don't. They also have high blood pressure and a rapid heart rate." He looked down as he shook his head, "I also noticed that there is a very strange chemical compound that makes up their very cellular membranes."
"Wait Elizabeth, Dr. Ryley said that she noticed something similar in the plant cellular membrane structure."
Elizabeth forgot that John could hear what was being said. "So, what does this exactly mean?"
"We're not human." Tansy was standing a couple of feet away. Athan moved in front of her. It was obvious now that he was much shorter than she. His head only came up to her shoulders.
Carson and Elizabeth turned to see them standing there.
Teyla noticed after a moment of talking to herself that they had wondered away. She was now standing behind them. "I have a feeling that we must get the children back to the moon as quickly as possible."
Elizabeth's brows came together as she looked at them. Tansy was clearly not a child anymore; she looked more like a young adolescent. "Alright, but I want you two to explain what's going on when we get there."
"We will." Tansy nodded.
"That's a promise." Athan took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. He turned towards Carson. "I need you bring those vials of blood with you, that you borrowed from us.
About Forty-five Minutes Later - Moon
Carson was brining in Jumper Three for a landing several meters away from Jumper Two. Below the different scientists were finishing packing up the Jumper. Rodney and Zelenka were having a heated discussion about what they thought the problem was while Aiden and John were helping the scientists with their heavier equipment.
When the back of Jumper Three opened, Tansy and Athan ran out.
Lynet and Aiden turned to watch, and were stunned to see that the children no longer appeared to be children but were adolescents.
"This is worse than I thought it would be." Tansy placed her hands on her hips.
"We couldn't have known." Athan shook his head.
Elizabeth came out of the Jumper. "Now that we've brought you back here, could you explain what's going on?"
"I think I might be able to answer that Dr. Weir." Teyla came up from behind her.
Elizabeth looked at the children then at Teyla as everyone else began to form a semi circle around them.
"I believe that Athan was the bird that Major Sheppard and I came across in the forest earlier today." Teyla kept her eyes on him as warm smile touched her lips.
"Your telling me that he is a bird, that is ridiculous!" Rodney shook his head.
Elizabeth looked at McKay, "Rodney." She said with a hard tone to it.
Athan nodded, "You are most observant, and you are correct."
Rodney was stunned. "She's what?"
John turned towards McKay, "Let them speak."
"Wait, are you saying that they are changelings or something?" Rodney thought that idea was ridiculous as well.
Teyla lifted her eyes towards Rodney, "They are what you would call, Phoenixes."
Elizabeth smirked, "Is that why you wanted to visit that city? Because you wanted to meet more of your kind?"
Tansy nodded, "yes, for as long as memory has existed we have lived only to repeat the cycle of life over and over again. We coexist with every form of matter, gas, and liquid on this moon. But as far as we know, we have always been alone in the universe."
"When anything is removed, the delicate balance of life is broken. Now we must begin the next cycle early to correct our mistake." Athan started to step backwards from the group along side with Tansy. "We shall wait until you have departed. We only request that you leave all your samples with us."
"Wait a second, what do you mean, the next cycle must begin early?" John was a little confused.
Aiden moved next to John, "looks like you were right, Sir. This moon was on fire when you first saw it."
Tansy bowed her head, "The cleansing flames will restart life here once more."
Before anyone could say another word the children were enveloped in flames. Their shapes shifted into the birds that they once were as they flew into the sky.
Elizabeth turned towards the scientists, "you heard them, leave all of your samples behind. Let's go home." She turned and walked back into the Jumper.
Several moments later as both Jumpers ascended into orbit around the moon. The meadow and forest that they had left behind burst into flames. Once they were at a safe distance they turned to watch the flames spread across the horizon before they turned around and returned back to Atlantis.
Cleansing Flames von Amanda Eros
Story Bemerkung:
This is my second Atlantis Fic. Please let me know what you think of it! Thank you for reading!
Featured Stories
Fortune\'s Favor by Offworlder FAM
Winner of the Atlantis challenge for the December 2007 fic challenge contest.
Winner of the Atlantis challenge for the December 2007 fic challenge contest.
Most Recent
Alisa - The College Years by LE McMurray 13+
Having left Atlantis to go to college in no way meant Alisa McKay's life would...
Having left Atlantis to go to college in no way meant Alisa McKay's life would...