Fic: Puzzles (1/2)
Title: Puzzles
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~11,000
Characters: Rodney and Sam plus cameos by John, Ronon, and OCs
Summary: A newly discovered Ancient facility sends Sam and Rodney to a world with no stargate.
A/N: Set after Enemy at the Gate. Written for a fic/art exchange with astridv who wanted a friendship story featuring Sam and Rodney and a little McKay whump if possible (whump is always possible). Sorry it took so long! Many thanks to the fabulous coolbreeze1 for the lightning fast beta.
Puzzles
“Colonel, we are approaching the system.”
Sam set her data pad on the arm of the command chair and settled back. “Take us out of hyperspace.” Her bones vibrated as the ship decelerated into normal space. “When we reach the planet, put us in a geosynchronous orbit over the beam down site.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the helmsman replied.
She took a sip of coffee and picked up the data pad, confident in her people’s abilities to carry out her orders. Ferrying a stargate across the Pegasus Galaxy wasn’t exactly the most exciting assignment, but it did give her crew the chance to gel in a relatively safe environment, and she got to catch up on her reading. She’d finished the SG-1 mission reports during the trip between galaxies, pleased to note that Captain Hailey was keeping Mitchell on his toes, and Richard had been kind enough to upload the Atlantis reports to the Hammond’s Asgard core. Sam had downloaded the more colorful ones to her data pad.
“In orbit as ordered, Colonel.”
“Thank you, Captain. Lieutenant, contact Doctor McKay, please.”
Her comms officer nodded, already moving to comply. Moments later, he turned back to her. “I have Doctor McKay.”
“On speaker, please.”
Static hissed then McKay’s voice filled the bridge. “…told you to not touch anything. Did you actually earn your PhD or did you just find an extra one on the copier? I-”
“Hello, Rodney,” she called.
“Sam? It’s about time you got here. Did you bring the gate and the DHD?”
“Damn. I knew I forgot something.”
“Tell me that you’re joking.”
Sam grinned. “I’m totally joking. We actually stopped for pizza.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but we ate it all already. Sorry.”
“Figures. Well, I don’t have all day. You have the coordinates?”
“Yes. Have the aftershocks stopped?”
“Would I be here if they hadn’t?”
“Good point. Standby.” Sam switched channels. “Cargo bay, are we ready for beam down?”
“Affirmative, Colonel.”
“Then beam the gate and DHD to the specified coordinates.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sam toggled back to Rodney’s channel. “McKay, we are commencing beam down.”
“Copy,” Rodney replied. “Gate and DHD are here.”
“Have fun. Carter out.”
The connection cut, and Sam stared out the viewport at the planet below, trying to imagine how the settlement had changed since she had last seen it. She turned back and caught the wide-eyed look of her comms officer.
“Something bothering you, Lieutenant.”
“Is he always like that?”
“McKay? Actually, he’s softened a lot in the past few years.” Sam chuckled to herself, remembering their first encounter. “He…grows on you.”
The lieutenant didn’t look convinced as he turned back to his console. Sam picked up her coffee cup then set it back down, unable to shake the restlessness that had been growing inside her since they’d left Earth. Her crew might mutiny if she ran them through another battle simulation or training exercise. She needed a puzzle to solve, research to do, something to occupy her mind while they waited on McKay to get the gate working.
“Have you been here before, Colonel?” the helmsman asked.
“A couple of times. The Devikans are one of Atlantis’s longest-standing trade partners. They grow a variety of produce, including a bean for a near-chocolate that’s to die for.”
“Did the quake destroy their crops?”
“I don’t know. The rift swallowed their gate and about half the settlement, but I haven’t heard about their fields.” Sam drummed her fingers on her thigh, glancing between the viewport and her command chair. “I think I’ll go find out. Inform Colonel Sheppard that I’m on my way.”
She left the efficient bustle behind as she grabbed a radio and headed to the main transport area. Minutes later, she was standing in what used to be the center of town. The left side of the village was missing, not simply destroyed but completely gone. She grimaced when she peered over the edge of the gorge the quake had created. A landslide had buried everything that had fallen in; only the scraggly roots of a few trees poked through the tons of black soil. The right half of the village looked like piles of sticks scattered on top of square carpets of green. Toys, potted flowers, random articles of clothing, and shards of pottery were strewn in every direction.
“Colonel, good to have you planetside.” John wiped a dirty hand over his face, smearing grime from his hairline to his cheek. “Such as it is.”
“I haven’t seen devastation like this in a while. Anything salvageable?”
John walked toward a circle of standard military tents where doctors weaved through dozens of cots. “Not really. I have a couple of teams going through the debris to recover what they can, but the village is a total loss.”
Sam fell in step with him. “I’m glad we were still around when word of the lost contact reached Atlantis.”
“Yeah, but they’d gone almost a week without any help before we got here.” John’s jaw tightened. “We’re still pulling bodies out of the rubble, and we’ve got so many dead that we couldn’t bury them all. Had to burn them.”
She sucked in a breath. “How many?”
“Over a thousand.” John scrubbed at his eyes. “That doesn’t include the five thousand that are missing, swallowed up by the quake.”
“God,” Sam sighed. “And the rest want to stay?”
John nodded. “They think they can rebuild.”
“You don’t think so?”
“Actually, I do.” He shook his head, a half-smile forming as he watched the villagers around him. “Never seen people as resilient as the ones in this galaxy.”
“Sheppard, this is McKay.”
John stopped and tapped his earpiece. “What’s wrong, Rodney?”
“Wrong? Who said anything was wrong? You’ve got to come see this.”
Sam hid a grin at Rodney’s enthusiastic tone and John’s long-suffering sigh.
“Are we in imminent danger?” John asked.
“Um, no.”
“Are the Wraith coming?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Are you or anyone around you gushing blood?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
John pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can this wait?”
“Sure. I’ll just sit here in the middle of all the Ancient technology until you can find time to-”
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” John grinned at her as McKay spluttered in outrage. “We’ll be right there. Sheppard out.”
Sam laughed. “He’s easy to wind up, isn’t he?”
“Yep. Hours of entertainment right there.” John headed in the direction of the gate.
“What Ancient tech?”
“No idea. We haven’t spotted any before now.”
“Maybe it was uncovered by the quake,” Sam mused.
“Then it would be the only good thing to come of it.” John paused when a young sergeant jogged toward them. “What is it, Brukowski?”
“Major Teldy needs you, sir. Seems there’s a disagreement between two of the elders about crop ownership.”
“Tell her I’ll be right there.” John blew out a breath as he stared up at the sky. “Don’t suppose you brought Teyla with you.”
Sam shook her head. “Sorry.”
“Do you want to talk with-”
“Oh, no. They are all yours. I think I’ll go see what McKay has found.”
“Tell him not to blow up anything.” John trudged back toward the tent city then turned. “Follow that path over the next ridge. Gate’s over there.”
“Why so far?”
“Give the people a chance to hide if the Wraith come.”
“Right.” Sam waved at him then hiked her way over the hill. When she reached the bottom, she spotted tracks amid the freshly churned dirt from the quake. Trees had been snapped in half and boulders the size of jumpers had shifted enough to reveal the outline of a door in the hillside that slid open when she drew near. She stepped in, squinting while her eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Rodney?”
“Sam?” a muffled voice called. The beam from a high-powered flashlight danced then Rodney’s dusty face peeked over a console. “What are you doing here? Where’s Sheppard?”
“There was an issue with the elders.” Sam peered down at Rodney over the row of consoles that split the room. “I thought I’d keep you company until he could get away. Aren’t you supposed to be setting up the gate?”
“Please,” Rodney snorted. “I’ve already done the majority of the programming. Radek and the other minions-”
“Minions?”
“-are doing the testing. This is much more interesting.”
“What have you found?”
Rodney crawled back under the panel he was working on. “I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to get the power on.” He clipped connectors from his tablet to various crystals in the array. “The power source registers on my scanner, somewhere back there.” He gestured toward a rear door.
“Several of the crystals are burned out.”
“Yes, yes, I noticed that. A few are cracked, too. That’s why I’m testing them.”
Recognizing that Rodney was working on the main control panel, Sam opened the crystal array on the next console and pulled out the intact ones. “We didn’t get much of a chance to talk on the trip here from Atlantis. Are you glad to be back in Pegasus?”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “It’s good to be home.”
She still marveled at this Rodney McKay - the one who would think of another galaxy as home, the one whose face softened when he talked about his team, the one who wouldn’t leave you behind even if your leg was broken and his hands were shredded.
“Though we had some severely pissed off allies when we got back,” he continued. “We’re supposed to be the military arm of the Coalition, but it seems we forgot to mention that we were leaving town for a couple of months.” His hands stilled, and his chin dropped. “The Wraith had a field day while we were on Earth.”
“I heard. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well,” Rodney lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug, “it hasn’t been our best year. To be honest, we’ve never really had a good year. But this one…” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I guess Daniel told you about the Attero device. We went to all the worlds where I blew up-- where a stargate exploded, but there was nothing left. No people, no homes. Nothing. It’s where we got the idea for reseeding the gates we used for Midway, but the worlds are uninhabitable.”
“Not your fault, McKay. And don’t,” she held up a finger, “argue with me. I’ve already had this conversation with Daniel. I’ve read the reports. You couldn’t have known-”
“I knew, Sam,” he said quietly. “I knew Janus shut it down for a reason, and I turned it on anyway.”
“To save Daniel’s life.”
“And mine. Do you know how many people died as a result?” He looked up at her, his eyes filled with guilt. “Do you?”
Sam shook her head. She hadn’t wanted to know.
“Thirty-six worlds. Over two million people. And that’s the ones we know of. We still hear occasionally from our trading partners about a planet they can’t contact. When Halling called about this one…”
She squeezed his arm gently. “Can’t blame yourself for this one.”
“No kidding. Engulfed by a massive quake.” He blinked a few times then turned his attention back to his tablet. “Now, if I could just-” His head popped up when the dim illumination that lined the room came on and the consoles whirred to life. “Hello.”
Sam hurried around the bank of panels, the rush of a new find coursing through her. Lines of data in Ancient scrolled by too fast for her to follow on the main display while other monitors continued to boot up. She glanced at Rodney whose pinched expression was slowly morphing into a smile while his fingers blurred over the keyboard.
“Are you getting all this?” she asked.
“Every. Last. Word.” He accentuated each word with a jab to a key, and the feed on his tablet flipped from Ancient to English. “Much better.”
While Rodney busied himself with checking the main controls, Sam wandered around the room, wiping layers of dust from various displays. She caught a word here and there and was almost back to where she started when the niggling in the back of her mind solidified into a conscious thought. Some of the displays were duplicates. She frowned, backed up, and retraced her steps. Two consoles dealt with population, another two with climate, and yet another two with technology. A few were still powering up, but she suspected she’d find more duplicates when they went live since each set were back to back.
She moved to the population console and studied the readings. One word flashed repeatedly, and she finally dredged it from her mind: Updating. The rest of the data seemed to deal with age and health statistics, and after several minutes she decided it was looping - gathering information on the same set of records. People, she guessed, a few thousand. She walked around to the adjacent population console, gaping as the data stream flew by. It was also updating, but its set of records was much bigger, not repeating after ten minutes of careful scrutiny.
“McKay, I think this might have been some type of research facility.”
Rodney glanced up, dabbing at his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “Yeah. I found some mission logs. The translation is still running, but it appears the Ancients were studying the sociological and technological impact of having a stargate.”
“Really.” Sam rounded the bank of consoles and peered over Rodney’s shoulder, tingling with excitement as her brain latched onto the puzzle. “So they were monitoring this world, watching how using the stargate affected the people.” Her gaze wondered over the panels in front of them. “I think these read-outs tell that story.”
“Hmmm…” Rodney stood and dusted off his trousers, his eyes flicking from one display to the next. “I think you’re right. But what were they comparing it to? I mean, there has to be a control subject. We’ve seen a few worlds with space gates, but the Ancients were manipulating their development.”
“I don’t know, but I think these consoles,” she waved at the adjacent row, “contain their data.”
Rodney scurried around to the other side. “Have you seen this - the population totals, the technology levels, the different pollutants in the atmosphere? This world would be more advanced than Earth.” His eyes lost focus. “Elizabeth said there were technologically advanced planets in this galaxy, but we haven’t been able to locate any.” A sour expression twisted his features. “Except for the damn Asgard.”
“Have you found any information on where this world is located or is this just a simulation?” Sam asked, hoping to drag Rodney away from the memories.
He blinked at her then shook himself. “Oh, um…” He typed a couple of commands in his data pad. “Not a simulation. The data is downloading.” His eyes narrowed in thought. “The worlds the Ancients were manipulating used a series of satellites in orbit to upload and download information.”
“There are no satellites around this planet.”
“No, but this facility is here. The sensors are sensitive enough to monitor the entire planet. I’m sure it was cloaked so the population was unaware of being studied.”
“So you think satellites on the other world were transmitting-”
A loud hum from the rear reverberated through the room. Sam and Rodney exchanged curious glances and turned as one toward the sound. When they neared the door, she heard a voice speaking, but it was echoing so badly she couldn’t make out the words. She arched a brow at Rodney, and he shrugged. While he worked on opening the door, she wandered back through the consoles. The main console for the unknown world was flashing a warning.
“McKay, I’ve got something here.”
“What?” Rodney looked back at her. “I can’t hear you over that racket.”
Sam moved forward a few steps. “The read-out over there says something about a sequence being interrupted.”
“What sequence? Oh!” The door slid open and he stepped in to a large, empty room with a single console in the corner.
“I don’t know. I-” Sam frowned, trying to decipher the announcement blaring, the voice now clear since Rodney had opened the door. Sequence…reaquire…fifteen… Sequence stopped - no, interrupted. Sequence interrupted. Reaquire…ten…
“McKay!” She took a step forward. “Rodney!”
He glanced up from the console. “What?”
“I think we need-”
A bright light flashed.
“-to get out… Uh oh.”
They were standing in the same room, only different. Sunrays peeked through gaps in the ceiling, illuminating an otherwise darkened area. Dead leaves blanketed the floor and vines looped around the crumbling remains of the back wall. The air was thick with humidity and the scent of damp vegetation.
“Oh, God.” Rodney’s face was bone white as he stared at the dead console. “Please, not again.” He dropped to his knees and ripped open the array. “This is so not good.”
“What do you mean, ‘again’?”
Blackened shards of crystals shattered against the wall. “Last time something like this happened, we were trapped on the Daedalus as it moved between realities.” He pulled out another crystal and tossed it over his shoulder. “My team, one from another reality, was on there, dead.” He closed his eyes and swallowed thickly. “All four of us… them. We - my actual team - barely got off alive.” His eyes grew wide as his hands stilled. “No, this is different. The lab didn’t move. It changed. We moved through time, didn’t we? Oh, damn. And we’re the only two with any hope of fixing this.” His breath came in quick gasps. “We are so screwed.”
“Relax, McKay. I don’t think we moved through time.” She walked to a sunny spot and glanced up through the hole in the ceiling. “Yep, just like I thought. Different planet.”
He rounded the console and stood next to her, following her gaze. “Are you sure?”
She pointed. “Twin suns. Can you see the second one in the distance?”
Rodney squinted then nodded. “Yeah.” He tilted his head, his nose wrinkling as he studied her. “How’d you know?”
“That’s what happened the last time I was in an Ancient lab. Well, except for the ones on Atlantis.”
“You mean Merlin’s labs? I read about that, but I thought they were tied into the gate.”
“They were.” Sam headed back to this lab’s main control room. “This isn’t quite the same scenario. Merlin was trying to hide his research by constantly moving.” She kicked through the brittle leaves toward the dead control panels. “These scientists were going back and forth between two specific worlds. Assuming we’re on the control subject world.”
“Long range transporter? I wonder how far…” He moaned and muttered something that had to be a curse that sounded vaguely Satedan.
“What else is wrong?”
Rodney heaved a sigh. “My tablet and backpack are still on Devika.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“Yes,” he snapped, “yes, it does. We don’t know where we are or how to get back and the only tools that could help us do that aren’t here.”
“McKay, take a breath,” Sam said in her best command tone. “You’re so fond of reminding everyone that you’re a genius. Act like it.”
Rodney’s face flushed scarlet, but his breathing slowed and his eyes speared her with a death glare. Good, at least he was focusing.
He stomped over to the power console and pulled open the access panel. “Great. This is completely fried.”
“Are you sure?” Sam asked, moving around to peer over his shoulder. “Maybe… Oh, yeah. That’s never going to work again.”
The inside was a blackened mass of melted circuits and charred crystals.
Rodney rubbed his eyes then stared at the room they’d been in. “The problem isn’t power or this place wouldn’t have been able to transmit data or materialize us.”
Sam nodded, following his train of thought. “This panel overloaded when the system came on and suddenly had to deal with us.”
“Exactly. Between the exposure to the elements and the damn humidity,” he paused to wipe his brow, “it’s a miracle it managed to do that.” He stood, snapping his fingers as he paced in a tight circle. “This planet is supposed to be technologically advanced, right?”
“Yeah, but nothing’s going to... Ahhhh. They might have a way to contact Atlantis.” She grinned. “Let’s go for a walk.”
After a bit of searching - and a lot of cursing while they tried to pry it open - they found the manual release for the entrance. The doors screeched apart, and Sam gasped as a wave of heat blasted through the opening. She dabbed at the sweat that popped out along her hairline and stepped out into a pristine rainforest. Trees towered above her, their limbs heavy with fruit and chattering wildlife. Vines choked the space between trunks and dangled over thick underbrush dotted with fragrant flowers in a riot of colors.
“Where’s Ronon and that sword of his when you need him?” Rodney grumped as he pulled his scanner from a vest pocket. “Oh, wow.” He tilted it so she could see the screen. “I’ve never seen energy readings like this anywhere but Atlantis. Not a ZPM, signature’s wrong, but something more powerful than our naquadah generators.”
“Really.” Sam took the scanner and studied the wave pattern. “I don’t recognize the signature, either.” She adjusted the settings to capture atmospheric contents. “But whatever it is, it’s more efficient than anything we have on Earth. Levels of toxicity are minimal, no radioactivity to speak of.” She flipped back to the original settings. “It’s all around us.”
“Yes, I noticed that.” Rodney took the scanner from her, fine-tuning as he turned around. “It seems to be strongest…this way.” He waved vaguely to the left.
They pushed and kicked and tripped their way through the jungle for over an hour toward the energy readings. Sam hadn’t been in the field for months, and despite the buzzing insects, the lack of water, the ungodly humidity, and the non-stop ranting of one Rodney McKay, she found herself grinning from ear to ear.
“What?” Rodney demanded.
“What?” Sam echoed back.
“You’re smiling. Why?”
“I’m having fun.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t get it.”
“Get what, McKay?”
“The joke. There has to be a punch line in there somewhere,” he bent over to catch his breath,
“but I don’t get it.”
She patted him on the back then pushed a giant frond out of their way. “No joke. I haven’t been off-world like this in a while. I miss it.” She pulled him away from the hissing critter curled around an overhead branch. “Don’t get me wrong - I love my job. Commanding the Hammond is incredible and a natural progression for me, but I spent a lot of years in places like this,” she gestured around them, “and I miss the excitement. Wouldn’t you, if you couldn’t go off-world anymore?”
Rodney looped a vine around his arm to pull himself up the steepening terrain. “My team? Yes.” He slipped, clawing at the ground until his feet hit a tree root and he scrambled back up. “Hiking in a hotter than hell rainforest with no supplies? Not a chance.”
“Liar,” Sam snorted. “You’d…” She trailed off as they crested the hill. “Oh, my.”
A massive city sprawled before them. Spires that rivaled Atlantis rose in the distance, but the closer buildings were as impressive: architectural wonders of glass and gleaming metal that reached toward the sky and a plethora of smaller structures that were equally stylistic. Instead of a concrete carpet like most cities she’d seen - both on Earth and elsewhere - this one was filled with trees, flowers, and grass. Streets lined the perimeter while an elevated transit system connected the larger buildings. The sidewalks bustled with people, thousands of them everywhere she looked.
“My God,” Rodney breathed. “I didn’t think places like this actually existed in Pegasus.”
“How have the Wraith not found this world?” Sam asked.
“Probably sheer luck,” Rodney pulled up the hem of his shirt to wipe his face, “though they’d have to be looking in the right spot to know all this is here. Without the gate system to point the way, they’d have to stop nearby and detect the life signs or energy output. It’s a big galaxy.” He shrugged. “The goa’uld didn’t find Earth until we opened the gate.”
“Good point.” She grinned at him. “Let’s go say hello.”
After a few minutes of slipping down the hillside, Sam spotted a footpath through the trees that eventually led to the outer road. Tasteful landscaping bordered and separated the two lanes that ran in each direction. Vehicles that resembled round, opaque Smart cars zoomed by at a steady speed.
“I really want one of those,” Rodney whispered.
“You have jumpers.”
“Sheppard won’t let me fly them from building to building. These are small enough to drive down the hall.”
Sam laughed and shook her head. “You are very sad.”
Rodney rolled his eyes. “That’s the best comeback you’ve got? You are out of practice.”
“I know,” Sam said. “The price you pay for being in charge.”
“Speak for yourself.” He stopped and stared at the traffic. “You think they’d understand thumbing a ride?”
“I’m not sure they know we’re here.”
“Because you can’t see in the windows?”
“No, because no one is speeding.” Sam lifted the braid off her neck and sighed as a slight breeze stirred. “Makes me wonder who’s controlling the vehicles.”
Rodney pulled out his scanner. “They don’t register.”
“Or they are powered by whatever is powering the city.” Sam looked over his shoulder. “Does the energy signature wrap around the jungle?”
“I think so. Though why anyone would put a jungle in the middle of a city is beyond me.”
“Reminds me of Central Park in New York - a sprawl of green in the middle of all the concrete.”
Rodney snorted. “Except without all the smog.”
“The only advanced worlds I’ve seen with air this clean were the Tollans and the Nox,” Sam said. “I always wondered how they did it.”
While she and Rodney walked toward the nearest group of buildings, they tossed around various ideas on vehicle propulsion and the intricacies of auto-pilot on roads. When the street turned away from the city center, they trekked through a park filled with laughing children chasing each other. Rodney stopped, a bemused expression on his face.
“What is it?” Sam asked.
“Nothing.” His cheeks reddened and he hurried toward the sidewalk that would take them farther in. “It’s just…we don’t see that a lot here. I mean, kids are kids, I guess. Smelly and dirty.”
“Rodney.”
“Well, they are. Mostly. Anyway, the ones in Pegasus play but not with such, I don’t know… abandon. The ones I’ve met usually have one eye on the sky the whole time. It’s kind of depressing.”
Sam understood. She’d noticed the same thing in the Milky Way when she’d first started going through the gate. One of the highlights of her work had been watching the children of many different worlds run carefree after so many years of oppression. She hoped Rodney would have that opportunity in Pegasus one day.
As they made their way toward the heavier populated areas, the sidewalks grew busier. People flowed around them in a wide range of dress - simple tunics of beige, vibrant shirts over matching trousers, swirling pastel dresses, work clothes and play clothes and severely cut business clothes - speaking in a language she had never heard before, barely giving them a second glance. Sam listened closer and was surprised to discover they were not all speaking the same language, but several different tongues.
“Do you recognize anything they are saying?” she asked Rodney.
His head tilted and his eyes lost focus. “No. Languages are more Teyla’s area, but I know it isn’t Ancient, Satedan, or Athosian.”
She tried to concentrate on the conversations, but the scenery stole her attention. The elevated train whispered by overhead. Small teleport pads moved riders from ground level to train level instantly. With the touch of a finger, pedestrians guided hovering totes filled with their belongings, and several folks had a device that clipped over one eye, like a combo cell phone/video conference monitor.
“I’m in geek heaven,” she murmured.
“No kidding. What do you-” Rodney sucked in a breath. “It’s our lucky day.”
He grabbed her wrist and dragged her across the street. She tugged but couldn’t pull free from his grip; she always forgot that he was stronger than he looked. Prepared to break his arm, or at least sprain it a little, she reached for him then noticed where they were headed. One of the transport vehicles was parked on a side street, open, with puffs of steam escaping from its front.
A man and a woman were having a heated discussion off to the side. Rodney shot Sam a grin then casually walked by and peered inside. Sam followed. Most of the displays were dark, but a few glowed a soft green with blue squiggles that she assumed were symbols or words.
“I’d love to see this powered up,” Rodney whispered. “I bet the window is some kind of viewscreen.”
“Let’s see what’s under the hood.”
They moved to the front and leaned over the raised cover. Rodney glanced around then pointed his scanner at the mass of circuits and clear tubing. The steam was coming from a crack in one of the lines, and an iridescent liquid dripped from it to the ground.
“Anything?” Sam asked.
He adjusted the parameters and tried again. “I’m getting some kind of faint, wireless signal, and that liquid is ionized. Now, if I had a way to test it.” He slapped at his vest pockets. “To see what it’s made of.”
When the woman took a break from berating the man and glanced their way, Sam offered a weak smile and pulled Rodney away. He grumbled but followed her lead down the street and around the corner. Halfway down the block was a construction site. Dust wafted toward them as a large version of the hover tote deposited several pallets of metal beams around the lot. Mechanical constructs placed the beams while a few human workers applied a thick electric blue gel that hardened, holding the struts in place.
“What do you think they’re building?” Rodney asked.
“I have no idea, but I really want some of that gel. Do you know how much faster we could construct new 304s?”
“If it’s space worthy,” Rodney replied.
Sam scrunched her face. “You don’t think people this advanced have developed space flight?”
He shrugged. “It’s possible, but don’t forget the power the Ancients had over the people of this galaxy. They may have left some kind of instructions, making space travel taboo.”
“You think they’d do that?”
“Hell, yes. I’ve seen several cultures with ridiculous practices based on their interpretation of ‘Ancestor guidelines’.” He shook his head. “The Ancients are a hard group to figure out. They had the foresight and ability to create stargates yet they also managed to create the Wraith and the Replicators. Then they skipped town when things got rough, leaving the humans here, alone.” His face darkened. “Cowards.”
She nudged his shoulder. “You big softie.”
“I am not.” He sounded insulted and pleased at the same time. “I’m tired of cleaning up their mess. That’s all.”
She leaned close. “I don’t believe you.”
The flush at his neck climbed to his ears. “Fine. Don’t. What makes you think I care-”
Shouting interrupted him. When they turned, they found a tall man with heavily muscled arms waving and yelling at them. Unable to understand what he was saying, Sam smiled politely and held up both hands as she walked in the direction they’d come from, Rodney at her side. Instead of being appeased, the man seemed to get angrier, his shouts and gestures harsher.
“What is this guy’s problem?” Sam asked, glancing at Rodney.
“I have no idea, but-” Rodney’s eyes grew wide and he yelled inarticulately as he launched himself at her, knocking her to the ground and landing on top of her.
An explosion rocked the area, and everything went black and silent.
Part 2
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~11,000
Characters: Rodney and Sam plus cameos by John, Ronon, and OCs
Summary: A newly discovered Ancient facility sends Sam and Rodney to a world with no stargate.
A/N: Set after Enemy at the Gate. Written for a fic/art exchange with astridv who wanted a friendship story featuring Sam and Rodney and a little McKay whump if possible (whump is always possible). Sorry it took so long! Many thanks to the fabulous coolbreeze1 for the lightning fast beta.
Puzzles
“Colonel, we are approaching the system.”
Sam set her data pad on the arm of the command chair and settled back. “Take us out of hyperspace.” Her bones vibrated as the ship decelerated into normal space. “When we reach the planet, put us in a geosynchronous orbit over the beam down site.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the helmsman replied.
She took a sip of coffee and picked up the data pad, confident in her people’s abilities to carry out her orders. Ferrying a stargate across the Pegasus Galaxy wasn’t exactly the most exciting assignment, but it did give her crew the chance to gel in a relatively safe environment, and she got to catch up on her reading. She’d finished the SG-1 mission reports during the trip between galaxies, pleased to note that Captain Hailey was keeping Mitchell on his toes, and Richard had been kind enough to upload the Atlantis reports to the Hammond’s Asgard core. Sam had downloaded the more colorful ones to her data pad.
“In orbit as ordered, Colonel.”
“Thank you, Captain. Lieutenant, contact Doctor McKay, please.”
Her comms officer nodded, already moving to comply. Moments later, he turned back to her. “I have Doctor McKay.”
“On speaker, please.”
Static hissed then McKay’s voice filled the bridge. “…told you to not touch anything. Did you actually earn your PhD or did you just find an extra one on the copier? I-”
“Hello, Rodney,” she called.
“Sam? It’s about time you got here. Did you bring the gate and the DHD?”
“Damn. I knew I forgot something.”
“Tell me that you’re joking.”
Sam grinned. “I’m totally joking. We actually stopped for pizza.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but we ate it all already. Sorry.”
“Figures. Well, I don’t have all day. You have the coordinates?”
“Yes. Have the aftershocks stopped?”
“Would I be here if they hadn’t?”
“Good point. Standby.” Sam switched channels. “Cargo bay, are we ready for beam down?”
“Affirmative, Colonel.”
“Then beam the gate and DHD to the specified coordinates.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sam toggled back to Rodney’s channel. “McKay, we are commencing beam down.”
“Copy,” Rodney replied. “Gate and DHD are here.”
“Have fun. Carter out.”
The connection cut, and Sam stared out the viewport at the planet below, trying to imagine how the settlement had changed since she had last seen it. She turned back and caught the wide-eyed look of her comms officer.
“Something bothering you, Lieutenant.”
“Is he always like that?”
“McKay? Actually, he’s softened a lot in the past few years.” Sam chuckled to herself, remembering their first encounter. “He…grows on you.”
The lieutenant didn’t look convinced as he turned back to his console. Sam picked up her coffee cup then set it back down, unable to shake the restlessness that had been growing inside her since they’d left Earth. Her crew might mutiny if she ran them through another battle simulation or training exercise. She needed a puzzle to solve, research to do, something to occupy her mind while they waited on McKay to get the gate working.
“Have you been here before, Colonel?” the helmsman asked.
“A couple of times. The Devikans are one of Atlantis’s longest-standing trade partners. They grow a variety of produce, including a bean for a near-chocolate that’s to die for.”
“Did the quake destroy their crops?”
“I don’t know. The rift swallowed their gate and about half the settlement, but I haven’t heard about their fields.” Sam drummed her fingers on her thigh, glancing between the viewport and her command chair. “I think I’ll go find out. Inform Colonel Sheppard that I’m on my way.”
She left the efficient bustle behind as she grabbed a radio and headed to the main transport area. Minutes later, she was standing in what used to be the center of town. The left side of the village was missing, not simply destroyed but completely gone. She grimaced when she peered over the edge of the gorge the quake had created. A landslide had buried everything that had fallen in; only the scraggly roots of a few trees poked through the tons of black soil. The right half of the village looked like piles of sticks scattered on top of square carpets of green. Toys, potted flowers, random articles of clothing, and shards of pottery were strewn in every direction.
“Colonel, good to have you planetside.” John wiped a dirty hand over his face, smearing grime from his hairline to his cheek. “Such as it is.”
“I haven’t seen devastation like this in a while. Anything salvageable?”
John walked toward a circle of standard military tents where doctors weaved through dozens of cots. “Not really. I have a couple of teams going through the debris to recover what they can, but the village is a total loss.”
Sam fell in step with him. “I’m glad we were still around when word of the lost contact reached Atlantis.”
“Yeah, but they’d gone almost a week without any help before we got here.” John’s jaw tightened. “We’re still pulling bodies out of the rubble, and we’ve got so many dead that we couldn’t bury them all. Had to burn them.”
She sucked in a breath. “How many?”
“Over a thousand.” John scrubbed at his eyes. “That doesn’t include the five thousand that are missing, swallowed up by the quake.”
“God,” Sam sighed. “And the rest want to stay?”
John nodded. “They think they can rebuild.”
“You don’t think so?”
“Actually, I do.” He shook his head, a half-smile forming as he watched the villagers around him. “Never seen people as resilient as the ones in this galaxy.”
“Sheppard, this is McKay.”
John stopped and tapped his earpiece. “What’s wrong, Rodney?”
“Wrong? Who said anything was wrong? You’ve got to come see this.”
Sam hid a grin at Rodney’s enthusiastic tone and John’s long-suffering sigh.
“Are we in imminent danger?” John asked.
“Um, no.”
“Are the Wraith coming?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Are you or anyone around you gushing blood?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
John pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can this wait?”
“Sure. I’ll just sit here in the middle of all the Ancient technology until you can find time to-”
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” John grinned at her as McKay spluttered in outrage. “We’ll be right there. Sheppard out.”
Sam laughed. “He’s easy to wind up, isn’t he?”
“Yep. Hours of entertainment right there.” John headed in the direction of the gate.
“What Ancient tech?”
“No idea. We haven’t spotted any before now.”
“Maybe it was uncovered by the quake,” Sam mused.
“Then it would be the only good thing to come of it.” John paused when a young sergeant jogged toward them. “What is it, Brukowski?”
“Major Teldy needs you, sir. Seems there’s a disagreement between two of the elders about crop ownership.”
“Tell her I’ll be right there.” John blew out a breath as he stared up at the sky. “Don’t suppose you brought Teyla with you.”
Sam shook her head. “Sorry.”
“Do you want to talk with-”
“Oh, no. They are all yours. I think I’ll go see what McKay has found.”
“Tell him not to blow up anything.” John trudged back toward the tent city then turned. “Follow that path over the next ridge. Gate’s over there.”
“Why so far?”
“Give the people a chance to hide if the Wraith come.”
“Right.” Sam waved at him then hiked her way over the hill. When she reached the bottom, she spotted tracks amid the freshly churned dirt from the quake. Trees had been snapped in half and boulders the size of jumpers had shifted enough to reveal the outline of a door in the hillside that slid open when she drew near. She stepped in, squinting while her eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Rodney?”
“Sam?” a muffled voice called. The beam from a high-powered flashlight danced then Rodney’s dusty face peeked over a console. “What are you doing here? Where’s Sheppard?”
“There was an issue with the elders.” Sam peered down at Rodney over the row of consoles that split the room. “I thought I’d keep you company until he could get away. Aren’t you supposed to be setting up the gate?”
“Please,” Rodney snorted. “I’ve already done the majority of the programming. Radek and the other minions-”
“Minions?”
“-are doing the testing. This is much more interesting.”
“What have you found?”
Rodney crawled back under the panel he was working on. “I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to get the power on.” He clipped connectors from his tablet to various crystals in the array. “The power source registers on my scanner, somewhere back there.” He gestured toward a rear door.
“Several of the crystals are burned out.”
“Yes, yes, I noticed that. A few are cracked, too. That’s why I’m testing them.”
Recognizing that Rodney was working on the main control panel, Sam opened the crystal array on the next console and pulled out the intact ones. “We didn’t get much of a chance to talk on the trip here from Atlantis. Are you glad to be back in Pegasus?”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “It’s good to be home.”
She still marveled at this Rodney McKay - the one who would think of another galaxy as home, the one whose face softened when he talked about his team, the one who wouldn’t leave you behind even if your leg was broken and his hands were shredded.
“Though we had some severely pissed off allies when we got back,” he continued. “We’re supposed to be the military arm of the Coalition, but it seems we forgot to mention that we were leaving town for a couple of months.” His hands stilled, and his chin dropped. “The Wraith had a field day while we were on Earth.”
“I heard. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well,” Rodney lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug, “it hasn’t been our best year. To be honest, we’ve never really had a good year. But this one…” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I guess Daniel told you about the Attero device. We went to all the worlds where I blew up-- where a stargate exploded, but there was nothing left. No people, no homes. Nothing. It’s where we got the idea for reseeding the gates we used for Midway, but the worlds are uninhabitable.”
“Not your fault, McKay. And don’t,” she held up a finger, “argue with me. I’ve already had this conversation with Daniel. I’ve read the reports. You couldn’t have known-”
“I knew, Sam,” he said quietly. “I knew Janus shut it down for a reason, and I turned it on anyway.”
“To save Daniel’s life.”
“And mine. Do you know how many people died as a result?” He looked up at her, his eyes filled with guilt. “Do you?”
Sam shook her head. She hadn’t wanted to know.
“Thirty-six worlds. Over two million people. And that’s the ones we know of. We still hear occasionally from our trading partners about a planet they can’t contact. When Halling called about this one…”
She squeezed his arm gently. “Can’t blame yourself for this one.”
“No kidding. Engulfed by a massive quake.” He blinked a few times then turned his attention back to his tablet. “Now, if I could just-” His head popped up when the dim illumination that lined the room came on and the consoles whirred to life. “Hello.”
Sam hurried around the bank of panels, the rush of a new find coursing through her. Lines of data in Ancient scrolled by too fast for her to follow on the main display while other monitors continued to boot up. She glanced at Rodney whose pinched expression was slowly morphing into a smile while his fingers blurred over the keyboard.
“Are you getting all this?” she asked.
“Every. Last. Word.” He accentuated each word with a jab to a key, and the feed on his tablet flipped from Ancient to English. “Much better.”
While Rodney busied himself with checking the main controls, Sam wandered around the room, wiping layers of dust from various displays. She caught a word here and there and was almost back to where she started when the niggling in the back of her mind solidified into a conscious thought. Some of the displays were duplicates. She frowned, backed up, and retraced her steps. Two consoles dealt with population, another two with climate, and yet another two with technology. A few were still powering up, but she suspected she’d find more duplicates when they went live since each set were back to back.
She moved to the population console and studied the readings. One word flashed repeatedly, and she finally dredged it from her mind: Updating. The rest of the data seemed to deal with age and health statistics, and after several minutes she decided it was looping - gathering information on the same set of records. People, she guessed, a few thousand. She walked around to the adjacent population console, gaping as the data stream flew by. It was also updating, but its set of records was much bigger, not repeating after ten minutes of careful scrutiny.
“McKay, I think this might have been some type of research facility.”
Rodney glanced up, dabbing at his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “Yeah. I found some mission logs. The translation is still running, but it appears the Ancients were studying the sociological and technological impact of having a stargate.”
“Really.” Sam rounded the bank of consoles and peered over Rodney’s shoulder, tingling with excitement as her brain latched onto the puzzle. “So they were monitoring this world, watching how using the stargate affected the people.” Her gaze wondered over the panels in front of them. “I think these read-outs tell that story.”
“Hmmm…” Rodney stood and dusted off his trousers, his eyes flicking from one display to the next. “I think you’re right. But what were they comparing it to? I mean, there has to be a control subject. We’ve seen a few worlds with space gates, but the Ancients were manipulating their development.”
“I don’t know, but I think these consoles,” she waved at the adjacent row, “contain their data.”
Rodney scurried around to the other side. “Have you seen this - the population totals, the technology levels, the different pollutants in the atmosphere? This world would be more advanced than Earth.” His eyes lost focus. “Elizabeth said there were technologically advanced planets in this galaxy, but we haven’t been able to locate any.” A sour expression twisted his features. “Except for the damn Asgard.”
“Have you found any information on where this world is located or is this just a simulation?” Sam asked, hoping to drag Rodney away from the memories.
He blinked at her then shook himself. “Oh, um…” He typed a couple of commands in his data pad. “Not a simulation. The data is downloading.” His eyes narrowed in thought. “The worlds the Ancients were manipulating used a series of satellites in orbit to upload and download information.”
“There are no satellites around this planet.”
“No, but this facility is here. The sensors are sensitive enough to monitor the entire planet. I’m sure it was cloaked so the population was unaware of being studied.”
“So you think satellites on the other world were transmitting-”
A loud hum from the rear reverberated through the room. Sam and Rodney exchanged curious glances and turned as one toward the sound. When they neared the door, she heard a voice speaking, but it was echoing so badly she couldn’t make out the words. She arched a brow at Rodney, and he shrugged. While he worked on opening the door, she wandered back through the consoles. The main console for the unknown world was flashing a warning.
“McKay, I’ve got something here.”
“What?” Rodney looked back at her. “I can’t hear you over that racket.”
Sam moved forward a few steps. “The read-out over there says something about a sequence being interrupted.”
“What sequence? Oh!” The door slid open and he stepped in to a large, empty room with a single console in the corner.
“I don’t know. I-” Sam frowned, trying to decipher the announcement blaring, the voice now clear since Rodney had opened the door. Sequence…reaquire…fifteen… Sequence stopped - no, interrupted. Sequence interrupted. Reaquire…ten…
“McKay!” She took a step forward. “Rodney!”
He glanced up from the console. “What?”
“I think we need-”
A bright light flashed.
“-to get out… Uh oh.”
They were standing in the same room, only different. Sunrays peeked through gaps in the ceiling, illuminating an otherwise darkened area. Dead leaves blanketed the floor and vines looped around the crumbling remains of the back wall. The air was thick with humidity and the scent of damp vegetation.
“Oh, God.” Rodney’s face was bone white as he stared at the dead console. “Please, not again.” He dropped to his knees and ripped open the array. “This is so not good.”
“What do you mean, ‘again’?”
Blackened shards of crystals shattered against the wall. “Last time something like this happened, we were trapped on the Daedalus as it moved between realities.” He pulled out another crystal and tossed it over his shoulder. “My team, one from another reality, was on there, dead.” He closed his eyes and swallowed thickly. “All four of us… them. We - my actual team - barely got off alive.” His eyes grew wide as his hands stilled. “No, this is different. The lab didn’t move. It changed. We moved through time, didn’t we? Oh, damn. And we’re the only two with any hope of fixing this.” His breath came in quick gasps. “We are so screwed.”
“Relax, McKay. I don’t think we moved through time.” She walked to a sunny spot and glanced up through the hole in the ceiling. “Yep, just like I thought. Different planet.”
He rounded the console and stood next to her, following her gaze. “Are you sure?”
She pointed. “Twin suns. Can you see the second one in the distance?”
Rodney squinted then nodded. “Yeah.” He tilted his head, his nose wrinkling as he studied her. “How’d you know?”
“That’s what happened the last time I was in an Ancient lab. Well, except for the ones on Atlantis.”
“You mean Merlin’s labs? I read about that, but I thought they were tied into the gate.”
“They were.” Sam headed back to this lab’s main control room. “This isn’t quite the same scenario. Merlin was trying to hide his research by constantly moving.” She kicked through the brittle leaves toward the dead control panels. “These scientists were going back and forth between two specific worlds. Assuming we’re on the control subject world.”
“Long range transporter? I wonder how far…” He moaned and muttered something that had to be a curse that sounded vaguely Satedan.
“What else is wrong?”
Rodney heaved a sigh. “My tablet and backpack are still on Devika.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“Yes,” he snapped, “yes, it does. We don’t know where we are or how to get back and the only tools that could help us do that aren’t here.”
“McKay, take a breath,” Sam said in her best command tone. “You’re so fond of reminding everyone that you’re a genius. Act like it.”
Rodney’s face flushed scarlet, but his breathing slowed and his eyes speared her with a death glare. Good, at least he was focusing.
He stomped over to the power console and pulled open the access panel. “Great. This is completely fried.”
“Are you sure?” Sam asked, moving around to peer over his shoulder. “Maybe… Oh, yeah. That’s never going to work again.”
The inside was a blackened mass of melted circuits and charred crystals.
Rodney rubbed his eyes then stared at the room they’d been in. “The problem isn’t power or this place wouldn’t have been able to transmit data or materialize us.”
Sam nodded, following his train of thought. “This panel overloaded when the system came on and suddenly had to deal with us.”
“Exactly. Between the exposure to the elements and the damn humidity,” he paused to wipe his brow, “it’s a miracle it managed to do that.” He stood, snapping his fingers as he paced in a tight circle. “This planet is supposed to be technologically advanced, right?”
“Yeah, but nothing’s going to... Ahhhh. They might have a way to contact Atlantis.” She grinned. “Let’s go for a walk.”
After a bit of searching - and a lot of cursing while they tried to pry it open - they found the manual release for the entrance. The doors screeched apart, and Sam gasped as a wave of heat blasted through the opening. She dabbed at the sweat that popped out along her hairline and stepped out into a pristine rainforest. Trees towered above her, their limbs heavy with fruit and chattering wildlife. Vines choked the space between trunks and dangled over thick underbrush dotted with fragrant flowers in a riot of colors.
“Where’s Ronon and that sword of his when you need him?” Rodney grumped as he pulled his scanner from a vest pocket. “Oh, wow.” He tilted it so she could see the screen. “I’ve never seen energy readings like this anywhere but Atlantis. Not a ZPM, signature’s wrong, but something more powerful than our naquadah generators.”
“Really.” Sam took the scanner and studied the wave pattern. “I don’t recognize the signature, either.” She adjusted the settings to capture atmospheric contents. “But whatever it is, it’s more efficient than anything we have on Earth. Levels of toxicity are minimal, no radioactivity to speak of.” She flipped back to the original settings. “It’s all around us.”
“Yes, I noticed that.” Rodney took the scanner from her, fine-tuning as he turned around. “It seems to be strongest…this way.” He waved vaguely to the left.
They pushed and kicked and tripped their way through the jungle for over an hour toward the energy readings. Sam hadn’t been in the field for months, and despite the buzzing insects, the lack of water, the ungodly humidity, and the non-stop ranting of one Rodney McKay, she found herself grinning from ear to ear.
“What?” Rodney demanded.
“What?” Sam echoed back.
“You’re smiling. Why?”
“I’m having fun.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t get it.”
“Get what, McKay?”
“The joke. There has to be a punch line in there somewhere,” he bent over to catch his breath,
“but I don’t get it.”
She patted him on the back then pushed a giant frond out of their way. “No joke. I haven’t been off-world like this in a while. I miss it.” She pulled him away from the hissing critter curled around an overhead branch. “Don’t get me wrong - I love my job. Commanding the Hammond is incredible and a natural progression for me, but I spent a lot of years in places like this,” she gestured around them, “and I miss the excitement. Wouldn’t you, if you couldn’t go off-world anymore?”
Rodney looped a vine around his arm to pull himself up the steepening terrain. “My team? Yes.” He slipped, clawing at the ground until his feet hit a tree root and he scrambled back up. “Hiking in a hotter than hell rainforest with no supplies? Not a chance.”
“Liar,” Sam snorted. “You’d…” She trailed off as they crested the hill. “Oh, my.”
A massive city sprawled before them. Spires that rivaled Atlantis rose in the distance, but the closer buildings were as impressive: architectural wonders of glass and gleaming metal that reached toward the sky and a plethora of smaller structures that were equally stylistic. Instead of a concrete carpet like most cities she’d seen - both on Earth and elsewhere - this one was filled with trees, flowers, and grass. Streets lined the perimeter while an elevated transit system connected the larger buildings. The sidewalks bustled with people, thousands of them everywhere she looked.
“My God,” Rodney breathed. “I didn’t think places like this actually existed in Pegasus.”
“How have the Wraith not found this world?” Sam asked.
“Probably sheer luck,” Rodney pulled up the hem of his shirt to wipe his face, “though they’d have to be looking in the right spot to know all this is here. Without the gate system to point the way, they’d have to stop nearby and detect the life signs or energy output. It’s a big galaxy.” He shrugged. “The goa’uld didn’t find Earth until we opened the gate.”
“Good point.” She grinned at him. “Let’s go say hello.”
After a few minutes of slipping down the hillside, Sam spotted a footpath through the trees that eventually led to the outer road. Tasteful landscaping bordered and separated the two lanes that ran in each direction. Vehicles that resembled round, opaque Smart cars zoomed by at a steady speed.
“I really want one of those,” Rodney whispered.
“You have jumpers.”
“Sheppard won’t let me fly them from building to building. These are small enough to drive down the hall.”
Sam laughed and shook her head. “You are very sad.”
Rodney rolled his eyes. “That’s the best comeback you’ve got? You are out of practice.”
“I know,” Sam said. “The price you pay for being in charge.”
“Speak for yourself.” He stopped and stared at the traffic. “You think they’d understand thumbing a ride?”
“I’m not sure they know we’re here.”
“Because you can’t see in the windows?”
“No, because no one is speeding.” Sam lifted the braid off her neck and sighed as a slight breeze stirred. “Makes me wonder who’s controlling the vehicles.”
Rodney pulled out his scanner. “They don’t register.”
“Or they are powered by whatever is powering the city.” Sam looked over his shoulder. “Does the energy signature wrap around the jungle?”
“I think so. Though why anyone would put a jungle in the middle of a city is beyond me.”
“Reminds me of Central Park in New York - a sprawl of green in the middle of all the concrete.”
Rodney snorted. “Except without all the smog.”
“The only advanced worlds I’ve seen with air this clean were the Tollans and the Nox,” Sam said. “I always wondered how they did it.”
While she and Rodney walked toward the nearest group of buildings, they tossed around various ideas on vehicle propulsion and the intricacies of auto-pilot on roads. When the street turned away from the city center, they trekked through a park filled with laughing children chasing each other. Rodney stopped, a bemused expression on his face.
“What is it?” Sam asked.
“Nothing.” His cheeks reddened and he hurried toward the sidewalk that would take them farther in. “It’s just…we don’t see that a lot here. I mean, kids are kids, I guess. Smelly and dirty.”
“Rodney.”
“Well, they are. Mostly. Anyway, the ones in Pegasus play but not with such, I don’t know… abandon. The ones I’ve met usually have one eye on the sky the whole time. It’s kind of depressing.”
Sam understood. She’d noticed the same thing in the Milky Way when she’d first started going through the gate. One of the highlights of her work had been watching the children of many different worlds run carefree after so many years of oppression. She hoped Rodney would have that opportunity in Pegasus one day.
As they made their way toward the heavier populated areas, the sidewalks grew busier. People flowed around them in a wide range of dress - simple tunics of beige, vibrant shirts over matching trousers, swirling pastel dresses, work clothes and play clothes and severely cut business clothes - speaking in a language she had never heard before, barely giving them a second glance. Sam listened closer and was surprised to discover they were not all speaking the same language, but several different tongues.
“Do you recognize anything they are saying?” she asked Rodney.
His head tilted and his eyes lost focus. “No. Languages are more Teyla’s area, but I know it isn’t Ancient, Satedan, or Athosian.”
She tried to concentrate on the conversations, but the scenery stole her attention. The elevated train whispered by overhead. Small teleport pads moved riders from ground level to train level instantly. With the touch of a finger, pedestrians guided hovering totes filled with their belongings, and several folks had a device that clipped over one eye, like a combo cell phone/video conference monitor.
“I’m in geek heaven,” she murmured.
“No kidding. What do you-” Rodney sucked in a breath. “It’s our lucky day.”
He grabbed her wrist and dragged her across the street. She tugged but couldn’t pull free from his grip; she always forgot that he was stronger than he looked. Prepared to break his arm, or at least sprain it a little, she reached for him then noticed where they were headed. One of the transport vehicles was parked on a side street, open, with puffs of steam escaping from its front.
A man and a woman were having a heated discussion off to the side. Rodney shot Sam a grin then casually walked by and peered inside. Sam followed. Most of the displays were dark, but a few glowed a soft green with blue squiggles that she assumed were symbols or words.
“I’d love to see this powered up,” Rodney whispered. “I bet the window is some kind of viewscreen.”
“Let’s see what’s under the hood.”
They moved to the front and leaned over the raised cover. Rodney glanced around then pointed his scanner at the mass of circuits and clear tubing. The steam was coming from a crack in one of the lines, and an iridescent liquid dripped from it to the ground.
“Anything?” Sam asked.
He adjusted the parameters and tried again. “I’m getting some kind of faint, wireless signal, and that liquid is ionized. Now, if I had a way to test it.” He slapped at his vest pockets. “To see what it’s made of.”
When the woman took a break from berating the man and glanced their way, Sam offered a weak smile and pulled Rodney away. He grumbled but followed her lead down the street and around the corner. Halfway down the block was a construction site. Dust wafted toward them as a large version of the hover tote deposited several pallets of metal beams around the lot. Mechanical constructs placed the beams while a few human workers applied a thick electric blue gel that hardened, holding the struts in place.
“What do you think they’re building?” Rodney asked.
“I have no idea, but I really want some of that gel. Do you know how much faster we could construct new 304s?”
“If it’s space worthy,” Rodney replied.
Sam scrunched her face. “You don’t think people this advanced have developed space flight?”
He shrugged. “It’s possible, but don’t forget the power the Ancients had over the people of this galaxy. They may have left some kind of instructions, making space travel taboo.”
“You think they’d do that?”
“Hell, yes. I’ve seen several cultures with ridiculous practices based on their interpretation of ‘Ancestor guidelines’.” He shook his head. “The Ancients are a hard group to figure out. They had the foresight and ability to create stargates yet they also managed to create the Wraith and the Replicators. Then they skipped town when things got rough, leaving the humans here, alone.” His face darkened. “Cowards.”
She nudged his shoulder. “You big softie.”
“I am not.” He sounded insulted and pleased at the same time. “I’m tired of cleaning up their mess. That’s all.”
She leaned close. “I don’t believe you.”
The flush at his neck climbed to his ears. “Fine. Don’t. What makes you think I care-”
Shouting interrupted him. When they turned, they found a tall man with heavily muscled arms waving and yelling at them. Unable to understand what he was saying, Sam smiled politely and held up both hands as she walked in the direction they’d come from, Rodney at her side. Instead of being appeased, the man seemed to get angrier, his shouts and gestures harsher.
“What is this guy’s problem?” Sam asked, glancing at Rodney.
“I have no idea, but-” Rodney’s eyes grew wide and he yelled inarticulately as he launched himself at her, knocking her to the ground and landing on top of her.
An explosion rocked the area, and everything went black and silent.
Part 2