This Has Happened Before by soapbox_solo38 (Strange New Worlds & Alien Geography Challenge)
“I still do not understand why you continue to do this,” Teyla repeated with a frown. She sat with her back against the bars of their prison, crouched on the shelf in a ball that said more than anything else she had reached the point of defeat, of breaking. The fact that her P90 still dangled from her fingers only meant that she hadn’t been able to convince herself to drop the now-useless weapon.
“C’mon, Teyla, haven’t you ever done something just because?” He squinted and bit the tip of his tongue, concentrating with all his ATA-gene might on the challenge that faced him. Blood stained the ragged tears in his jacket but it was old, crusted and dried now, like the wounds that had enabled it to leave his body in the first place. Fibers from the fabric were trapped in the scabs, meaning that taking the jacket off would hurt like hell.
That wasn’t why he hadn’t shrugged out of it, though.
“No, Colonel Sheppard, I cannot say that I have.” She replied, the barest hint of frost coating her words like sugar. Frustration boiled there, underneath the dirt and grime slicked across her face like war paint. Her boots left wet imprints on the grey rock as she swung the gun like a pendulum, not worried about the fact that her finger was on the trigger. The lack of activity, of space in their cold cell had only brought out the caged animal in her, and it was clear that she was having trouble understanding his laid-back attitude.
A minute passed in silence while he chewed on his lip and tried again, careful, intent on his task. Finally she could stand the quiet no longer and burst, the angry words falling from her cracked lips like raindrops.
“How can you be so calm? How, how can you sit there and pretend that nothing is wrong? Our time is short, Sheppard, and instead of fishing for peanuts you should be trying to find a way out of here!”
Unsurprised by her explosion, John merely looked up to meet her haunted gaze and lifted an eyebrow, his hand stilling in the white bowl.
“Teyla, we’ve already done that. As I remember, you said that there was no way out because of the cave’s natural formations, and that if we tried to climb out the chimney it might collapse on us. So what’s wrong with me having a little bit of fun?”
Chastised by the use of her own words against her but unsatisfied by his response, Teyla shifted her weight and surveyed their prison again, raking her gaze across the jutting blue stone as if by will alone she could break down the walls that stood between them and freedom.
“Besides, we just have to wait. I’m sure that Rodney and Ronon have realized that we’re not making radio contact with them anymore and come after us. Once they’ve called in back-up, of course.” His fingertips brushed aside the empty shells of the peanut-like nut, diving into the bowl and coming back up like a flesh-colored hydra. At his words, Teyla snorted.
“Sheppard, we fell down an acidic waterfall, crossed at least one volcanic mountain range while floating downriver, and ended up in some yhalim cave over thirty miles from where we started. It was a miracle that we survived, but there is no way they’re going to be able to find us, not without radio contact or the Odyssey. Given the fact that our radios are gone and the Odyssey is still two weeks away from Atlantis, we’re going to die here.”
“Hey, at least the trip was fun.” He offered, continuing his apparently fruitless search for an unbroken shell. “And if we hadn’t slipped on the purple slime, we would never have known that not only are there intelligent beings on this planet, but they have great peanuts.”
“For all we know they could be trying to poison you,” she retorted, leaning forward unconsciously to emphasize the force behind her words. “It is an alien food from an alien planet; you have no idea if it will kill you.”
“That’s what everyone said about going to another galaxy.” His left shoulder lifted and fell as he picked up a shell, inspected it, and then tossed it back into the bowl and rooted through the remainder. “Anyway, if they wanted me dead I think they would have let us starve to death instead of feeding us. We have to bring some of these back to Atlantis,” he mused as she fidgeted with contained annoyance.
A few more moments slipped by; her lips remained pressed together in a white line as she stared at him. Then a sigh escaped, as though she was throwing up her hands and handing in her resignation.
“Believe what you wish, John. It makes no difference to me; we will be dead soon enough.” The dying flicker of their shields was obvious in the dark of the cave; without that protection the acidic water in the partially-submerged cave would quickly strip any flesh off their bones and make short work of their gear. In an effort to save some of the battery she had climbed up onto a rock shelf above the waterline; he himself had claimed a small patch of sandy ground to stretch his legs out on.
“Worst case scenario, Rodney and Ronon come looking for us when it’s too late. The natives give them the lowdown once the two have gotten over the shock of seeing five-limbed birds and then they go home. Everyone’s happy- well, except for us.” John added. Before she could respond, a grin broke out on his face.
“Ha!” Pinched gently between two callused fingers was a perfect, unbroken shell. She stared at it for a moment as he beamed at her.
“I fail to see how that is an accomplishment in any way, John.” Teyla said finally.
“That’s because you haven’t noticed what I’ve been doing with half of the peanuts. You should pay more attention.” He deftly cracked the shell and shook out the speckled nuts onto his scarred palm, inspecting them like an appraiser with a 14-carat diamond.
“And that would be…?” The dubious expression underneath her mud-covered bangs was visible even in the dim light.
“Oh, this.” John flicked a peanut into the water and it sank quickly below the surface, hissing. They gazed at the spot where it had entered for a moment. “Just wait,” he admonished her when she would have spoken. She rocked back onto her heels, the tired but pitying expression on her face saying she thought he had finally cracked. But there had been a boyish lift to his words and she studied his face, trying to piece together the pieces of the puzzle he had offered her.
Bubbles began to pop, the noise sharp and unexpected in the silence of the cave. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the rising fountain, saw the splash of water that sent a foaming wave crashing over them. When she had shaken herself to dry off the shield and lifted her P90, the hideous head with slit eyes that stared back at her made her blood run cold.
“Sheppard, what is that?” Her voice was tight, her mind knowing instinctively that bullets would not penetrate scales formed to withstand pure acid. She kept her words soft, however, because she didn’t know what would trigger the beast’s inevitable attack.
“Relax; he won’t eat us. See? No sharp teeth. This guy’s an herbivore, and he’s got a thing for peanuts.” As if to agree the creature inched closer, small nostrils flaring as though it could smell the single peanut still in John’s hand.
“This is an alien planet, strange to both you and I; this… thing might have a digesting fluid of some kind that it uses first, or fangs, like your ‘snakes’ back on Earth.” She snapped, his nonchalant air rubbing her the wrong way. The thing blinking golden eyes at them was big enough to eat her in one bite, if it wanted to, and John had deliberately lured it to them. Did he have a death wish?
“Point.” John agreed, but he still didn’t seem worried. With more effort than it should have taken he stood, brushing clumps of sand off. Teyla opened her mouth and shut it again.
“So why have you been feeding a potentially deadly creature peanuts?” She asked after a moment, studying the animal in question with a wary gaze.
“The reason we haven’t been able to get out of this cave is because the river flows directly into it; the force of the current is too strong. Right?” At her nod, he continued talking while checking to make sure everything on his person was secure. “So we need something strong enough to swim against the current and bring us out of the cave.”
“And this… river dragon will do this for us? In return for what?” Teyla began to do the same, wondering yet again if this was one more insane situation they might just make it out of.
“Well, I still have a few more peanuts left, but that’s not the best part. I guess the Ancients must have been here some time in the past, because this guy?” Sheppard patted the river dragon on the head like one would a heualr, or a puppy. “He likes people with the Ancient gene.”
“How do you know this?” Now she was curious.
“I saw him when we were floating downstream; he was following us. At first I thought he was going to eat us, but then he attacked one of the big shark-carp things when it tried to swallow me. I ‘thought’ at him to move the boulder you were going to hit, and he did. We got along pretty well after that.”
“Why did you wait so long to tell me this?” To others, it might sound like the tale of one who has been smoking uythe’ for too long; Teyla had been around the Atlanteans for long enough to accept such outrageous things with ease. Had she stopped to think about it, the fact that it seemed perfectly logical might have scared her.
“After we washed up here I started thinking- no comments on how rare that is, Teyla.” She smiled.
“That’s Rodney’s line, I believe.”
“Yeah, well, I noticed that there were recent water marks on the sides of the walls, which could mean tides. Odd ones for a river, but as you’ve pointed out, this is an alien planet.” He gave her a smirk, more ‘see you were right’ than ‘back in your face’. “So I waited, figured out how fast the water level was dropping, and picked the window of time when it was going to be lowest.”
“I wish you had told me about this,” Teyla said, only somewhat reproachfully. John didn’t look at her but that could be because he was tightening the make-shift bandage around the gash in his leg.
“All right, Fido, let’s go.” At his words and thoughts, the river dragon slithered up the bank and offered a fin for him to hold. John motioned for her to do the same; she did, face slightly disapproving but trusting.
“Look, Teyla, I’m sorry.” Sheppard meant it, regret and weariness in his shadowed face. His hands lifted, palms up, an apologetic gesture that asked for forgiveness, proclamation of innocence. “I should have told you. It’s just…”
It was just that ever since her incarceration by the Wraith they had been leery, slow to trust her again, trying to find the bits of the woman they knew among the shards left by her captors. Not without reason, she knew, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
The fact that she had single-handedly escaped hadn’t helped either.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.” His vehemence surprised her. The dragon lay on the sand between them, like the untouchable barrier that had been raised made flesh, turned tangible. “I want to believe it’s you. You have no idea how hard it’s been for me to convince the others that there is no Wraith lingering in you, that you’re not being manipulated by them-“
“And what if I am?” She shot back, bruised hands clenching into the fists that she had been longing to make since she got back. “What would you do then?”
“I’d tear the Wraith out of you.” He replied, voice intent, and didn’t flinch away from her angry gaze.
“It is a part of me, John. You cannot tear that out.” And here was her fear, her secret nightmare: that what she inherently was would force her to always remain that way. To be alienated from those she wanted to be near.
“Watch me.” Now it was almost a growl, a threat… a promise.
A promise that she desperately needed.
For a long moment she studied his face, seeking and finding the resolve behind his words. Things had changed; they would never be the same again.
But, sauélo’, wasn’t that the story of her life?
“There is no Wraith in me.” …for now.
“See? I knew I was right.” And the tense atmosphere was gone as quickly as it had built up. “All right, grab a fin. We’re heading off.”
Five minutes later they were being pulled upstream, passing the smoggy yellow mountains, heading towards the shimmering waterfall, the Stargate.
Towards pfauras.
Towards home.
“C’mon, Teyla, haven’t you ever done something just because?” He squinted and bit the tip of his tongue, concentrating with all his ATA-gene might on the challenge that faced him. Blood stained the ragged tears in his jacket but it was old, crusted and dried now, like the wounds that had enabled it to leave his body in the first place. Fibers from the fabric were trapped in the scabs, meaning that taking the jacket off would hurt like hell.
That wasn’t why he hadn’t shrugged out of it, though.
“No, Colonel Sheppard, I cannot say that I have.” She replied, the barest hint of frost coating her words like sugar. Frustration boiled there, underneath the dirt and grime slicked across her face like war paint. Her boots left wet imprints on the grey rock as she swung the gun like a pendulum, not worried about the fact that her finger was on the trigger. The lack of activity, of space in their cold cell had only brought out the caged animal in her, and it was clear that she was having trouble understanding his laid-back attitude.
A minute passed in silence while he chewed on his lip and tried again, careful, intent on his task. Finally she could stand the quiet no longer and burst, the angry words falling from her cracked lips like raindrops.
“How can you be so calm? How, how can you sit there and pretend that nothing is wrong? Our time is short, Sheppard, and instead of fishing for peanuts you should be trying to find a way out of here!”
Unsurprised by her explosion, John merely looked up to meet her haunted gaze and lifted an eyebrow, his hand stilling in the white bowl.
“Teyla, we’ve already done that. As I remember, you said that there was no way out because of the cave’s natural formations, and that if we tried to climb out the chimney it might collapse on us. So what’s wrong with me having a little bit of fun?”
Chastised by the use of her own words against her but unsatisfied by his response, Teyla shifted her weight and surveyed their prison again, raking her gaze across the jutting blue stone as if by will alone she could break down the walls that stood between them and freedom.
“Besides, we just have to wait. I’m sure that Rodney and Ronon have realized that we’re not making radio contact with them anymore and come after us. Once they’ve called in back-up, of course.” His fingertips brushed aside the empty shells of the peanut-like nut, diving into the bowl and coming back up like a flesh-colored hydra. At his words, Teyla snorted.
“Sheppard, we fell down an acidic waterfall, crossed at least one volcanic mountain range while floating downriver, and ended up in some yhalim cave over thirty miles from where we started. It was a miracle that we survived, but there is no way they’re going to be able to find us, not without radio contact or the Odyssey. Given the fact that our radios are gone and the Odyssey is still two weeks away from Atlantis, we’re going to die here.”
“Hey, at least the trip was fun.” He offered, continuing his apparently fruitless search for an unbroken shell. “And if we hadn’t slipped on the purple slime, we would never have known that not only are there intelligent beings on this planet, but they have great peanuts.”
“For all we know they could be trying to poison you,” she retorted, leaning forward unconsciously to emphasize the force behind her words. “It is an alien food from an alien planet; you have no idea if it will kill you.”
“That’s what everyone said about going to another galaxy.” His left shoulder lifted and fell as he picked up a shell, inspected it, and then tossed it back into the bowl and rooted through the remainder. “Anyway, if they wanted me dead I think they would have let us starve to death instead of feeding us. We have to bring some of these back to Atlantis,” he mused as she fidgeted with contained annoyance.
A few more moments slipped by; her lips remained pressed together in a white line as she stared at him. Then a sigh escaped, as though she was throwing up her hands and handing in her resignation.
“Believe what you wish, John. It makes no difference to me; we will be dead soon enough.” The dying flicker of their shields was obvious in the dark of the cave; without that protection the acidic water in the partially-submerged cave would quickly strip any flesh off their bones and make short work of their gear. In an effort to save some of the battery she had climbed up onto a rock shelf above the waterline; he himself had claimed a small patch of sandy ground to stretch his legs out on.
“Worst case scenario, Rodney and Ronon come looking for us when it’s too late. The natives give them the lowdown once the two have gotten over the shock of seeing five-limbed birds and then they go home. Everyone’s happy- well, except for us.” John added. Before she could respond, a grin broke out on his face.
“Ha!” Pinched gently between two callused fingers was a perfect, unbroken shell. She stared at it for a moment as he beamed at her.
“I fail to see how that is an accomplishment in any way, John.” Teyla said finally.
“That’s because you haven’t noticed what I’ve been doing with half of the peanuts. You should pay more attention.” He deftly cracked the shell and shook out the speckled nuts onto his scarred palm, inspecting them like an appraiser with a 14-carat diamond.
“And that would be…?” The dubious expression underneath her mud-covered bangs was visible even in the dim light.
“Oh, this.” John flicked a peanut into the water and it sank quickly below the surface, hissing. They gazed at the spot where it had entered for a moment. “Just wait,” he admonished her when she would have spoken. She rocked back onto her heels, the tired but pitying expression on her face saying she thought he had finally cracked. But there had been a boyish lift to his words and she studied his face, trying to piece together the pieces of the puzzle he had offered her.
Bubbles began to pop, the noise sharp and unexpected in the silence of the cave. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the rising fountain, saw the splash of water that sent a foaming wave crashing over them. When she had shaken herself to dry off the shield and lifted her P90, the hideous head with slit eyes that stared back at her made her blood run cold.
“Sheppard, what is that?” Her voice was tight, her mind knowing instinctively that bullets would not penetrate scales formed to withstand pure acid. She kept her words soft, however, because she didn’t know what would trigger the beast’s inevitable attack.
“Relax; he won’t eat us. See? No sharp teeth. This guy’s an herbivore, and he’s got a thing for peanuts.” As if to agree the creature inched closer, small nostrils flaring as though it could smell the single peanut still in John’s hand.
“This is an alien planet, strange to both you and I; this… thing might have a digesting fluid of some kind that it uses first, or fangs, like your ‘snakes’ back on Earth.” She snapped, his nonchalant air rubbing her the wrong way. The thing blinking golden eyes at them was big enough to eat her in one bite, if it wanted to, and John had deliberately lured it to them. Did he have a death wish?
“Point.” John agreed, but he still didn’t seem worried. With more effort than it should have taken he stood, brushing clumps of sand off. Teyla opened her mouth and shut it again.
“So why have you been feeding a potentially deadly creature peanuts?” She asked after a moment, studying the animal in question with a wary gaze.
“The reason we haven’t been able to get out of this cave is because the river flows directly into it; the force of the current is too strong. Right?” At her nod, he continued talking while checking to make sure everything on his person was secure. “So we need something strong enough to swim against the current and bring us out of the cave.”
“And this… river dragon will do this for us? In return for what?” Teyla began to do the same, wondering yet again if this was one more insane situation they might just make it out of.
“Well, I still have a few more peanuts left, but that’s not the best part. I guess the Ancients must have been here some time in the past, because this guy?” Sheppard patted the river dragon on the head like one would a heualr, or a puppy. “He likes people with the Ancient gene.”
“How do you know this?” Now she was curious.
“I saw him when we were floating downstream; he was following us. At first I thought he was going to eat us, but then he attacked one of the big shark-carp things when it tried to swallow me. I ‘thought’ at him to move the boulder you were going to hit, and he did. We got along pretty well after that.”
“Why did you wait so long to tell me this?” To others, it might sound like the tale of one who has been smoking uythe’ for too long; Teyla had been around the Atlanteans for long enough to accept such outrageous things with ease. Had she stopped to think about it, the fact that it seemed perfectly logical might have scared her.
“After we washed up here I started thinking- no comments on how rare that is, Teyla.” She smiled.
“That’s Rodney’s line, I believe.”
“Yeah, well, I noticed that there were recent water marks on the sides of the walls, which could mean tides. Odd ones for a river, but as you’ve pointed out, this is an alien planet.” He gave her a smirk, more ‘see you were right’ than ‘back in your face’. “So I waited, figured out how fast the water level was dropping, and picked the window of time when it was going to be lowest.”
“I wish you had told me about this,” Teyla said, only somewhat reproachfully. John didn’t look at her but that could be because he was tightening the make-shift bandage around the gash in his leg.
“All right, Fido, let’s go.” At his words and thoughts, the river dragon slithered up the bank and offered a fin for him to hold. John motioned for her to do the same; she did, face slightly disapproving but trusting.
“Look, Teyla, I’m sorry.” Sheppard meant it, regret and weariness in his shadowed face. His hands lifted, palms up, an apologetic gesture that asked for forgiveness, proclamation of innocence. “I should have told you. It’s just…”
It was just that ever since her incarceration by the Wraith they had been leery, slow to trust her again, trying to find the bits of the woman they knew among the shards left by her captors. Not without reason, she knew, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
The fact that she had single-handedly escaped hadn’t helped either.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.” His vehemence surprised her. The dragon lay on the sand between them, like the untouchable barrier that had been raised made flesh, turned tangible. “I want to believe it’s you. You have no idea how hard it’s been for me to convince the others that there is no Wraith lingering in you, that you’re not being manipulated by them-“
“And what if I am?” She shot back, bruised hands clenching into the fists that she had been longing to make since she got back. “What would you do then?”
“I’d tear the Wraith out of you.” He replied, voice intent, and didn’t flinch away from her angry gaze.
“It is a part of me, John. You cannot tear that out.” And here was her fear, her secret nightmare: that what she inherently was would force her to always remain that way. To be alienated from those she wanted to be near.
“Watch me.” Now it was almost a growl, a threat… a promise.
A promise that she desperately needed.
For a long moment she studied his face, seeking and finding the resolve behind his words. Things had changed; they would never be the same again.
But, sauélo’, wasn’t that the story of her life?
“There is no Wraith in me.” …for now.
“See? I knew I was right.” And the tense atmosphere was gone as quickly as it had built up. “All right, grab a fin. We’re heading off.”
Five minutes later they were being pulled upstream, passing the smoggy yellow mountains, heading towards the shimmering waterfall, the Stargate.
Towards pfauras.
Towards home.