001 [Location: Mansion Lobby] Uninvited

[valaunbound]

"Never count your eggs while your chickens are still laying eggs?" Vala chirped out as she hiked her pace up to a jog to catch up to the others at the top of the ramp. By the time she reached the gate, Sam, Teal'c and Mitchell had already stepped through the event horizon. A simple reconnaissance mission to P3X-581 to check the inhabitants hadn'

Comments

[donttouchthebb]

"It's always a bit unexpected." the Doctor said to the military garbed woman. Just what he needed. The military. Always came in with guns blazing. "No Adria here, not from what I can tell from the ever updating list of contacts on the mobile. You should be getting yours from the Receptionist - 'ello!"

He nodded to the Receptionist then turned back to the device in his hand, glancing up at the woman. "Welcome to El Dorado, the most comfortable prison in the universe. They just let you live happily to death. No idea, not much of a prison, but you can't leave the city. Makes it a bit of a prison, don't you think?"

[valaunbound]

"Well, she's really not the type to have her number listed, trust me." Vala retorted skeptically at the Doctor as the Receptionist handed over one of the very cellphones he was referring to with an oddly pleasant smile given the apparent circumstances.

"A prison? Look if this has got anything to do with that crystal from the Nylus sector, I re-paid that debt in full.... and more!" Vala looked to the receptionist for some kind of confirmation, but simply got a shake of her head in return. It had been a knee-jerk reaction to being told she was in a prison and with hindsight probably not the best thing to say if this really was a prison. She backed off from the desk, seemingly just taking a look around, but getting herself out of earshot of the woman.

"Well I haven't ever been in a prison yet that I couldn't escape," she continued to the Doctor with an optimistic smile. "And by the looks of this place," she looked around at the distinct lack of either bars or armed personnel, "it's hardly high security. It should be as easy as

[donttouchthebb]

The Doctor crossed his arms. "Outside this mansion is a city. Around the city is a barrier, not one hundred percent air tight, but close enough to it. The city drops off at one point and all you can see for miles in front of you, above you and below you are clouds."

He walked up beside her before turning to look back at the doors. "If you think you can escape from it when I can't even get my ship out of the city? Good on you! Prove it."

[valaunbound]

"Oh you have to be kidding," Vala sighed and, now she really was convinced it was Adria, and if she'd ascended as they'd all suspected she had, then even more so.

"So who are our captors? And trust me, if anyone can get us out of this, it's me." Vala was always up for a challenge, shame she didn't really understand the brevity of El Dorado yet, but as yet she was still thinking she'd find a gate somewhere. She pulled out her radio from the pocket of her kevlar and attempted to make contact via a channel.

"Well that's option A eliminated," she added wryly after having no luck. "What kind of barrier?"

[donttouchthebb]

"Your standard invisible barrier. Not anything from Earth." He said, leaning back against the wall and watching her. She'd figure it out sooner or later. They might of been apes, but not even apes were that thick.

"It can stop a ship from materializing from the inside to the outside. Has some sort of EM like properties." the Doctor continued on. "Gods. Supposedly, the Gods who ccreated the actual city of El Dorado. Which you're standing in."

[valaunbound]

"Gods." Vala offered with an eyeroll, "where have I heard that before? So it's either the Ori or the Ancients then. Either way, this isn't going to be a walk in the park."

Then it occured to her the way he referred to Earth and that he had a ship that can supposedly materialise. "A barrier that powerful? And a city supposedly in the sky. Delightful backwater planet that Earth is, I wouldn't have thought it was even remotely of Earthly origin..."

She gave him a knowing glance and the beginnings of a smirk. "...Much like you or I. Vala. Vala Mal Doran," She extended her gun free hand, "and you are...?"

[donttouchthebb]

The Doctor took her hand with a smile. "The Doctor. Could you put the gun away? I don't like guns."

[valaunbound]

"The Doctor?" she questioned with a quizzical brow, in much the same tone he's heard the question thousands of times before .

"Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot anybody unless they shoot first," Vala offered, strapping the gun to her back. There wasn't exactly an immediate threat anywhere, so there seemed no harm in not having it quite so close to hand.

"So do we know why these false Gods have brought us here?"

[donttouchthebb]

"Just the Doctor." He replied cheerfully. The smile on his face widened as she placed the gun away. Good! That meant he didn't need to worry about her blowing up holes in walls or people. That was leaning towards a good day for him.

"We apparently are deserving enough for their attention."

[valaunbound]

"Well that makes sense," she gestured blithely with a hand. Vala's ego had no problem justifying that reasoning at all.

"Still, if we're so worthy it begs the question as to what they want from us."

[donttouchthebb]

"That is the largest unanswered question in the entire city." He said.

[valaunbound]

"I have a knack for that. Hitting the screw right on the head, probably comes from years of having to fend for myself after I escaped from Firenze, that or I'm just exceptionally astute. I suspect a combination of the two is probably true."

Vala shrugged, satisfied that her story snippet was enough to impress before she asked. "So they're just letting us live here, no interference, no brainwashing attempts, no forced slavery? It all sounds a little too good to be true if you ask me."

[donttouchthebb]

The Doctor nodded. "Seems to be the case, and seems to be mighty fishy. If they took the city from Earth because they were unworthy, why are people suddenly worthy? There's got to be a bit more than that going on. Any ideas?"

[valaunbound]

"Hang on a minute, I think I might be missing a huge chunk of the story here." Vala frowned in thought after visibly pausing to process the new intel. "They took the city from Earth? How do you take an entire city and stick it up in the air?"

[donttouchthebb]

"If you're a God, it's easy!" the Doctor said. "Or if you have transport technology, warping technology, or it's a city that floats all up on it's own."

[valaunbound]

"Well the God theory can be crossed off the list. No such thing, trust me I've been one." Which didn't really make any sense, but sense and Vala tend to come later.

"The Ori really don't have this kind of power, so it must be the Ancients. Maybe their strict no interference policy had an enforced rewrite for some reason." It was all starting to confuse Vala, and she really wished Samantha was here.