Team, Week 1: Icarus, On a Cloudy Day
Title: Icarus, On a Cloudy Day
Author: snarkydame
Genre: Team
Prompt: Ascension
Word Count: approximately 1100
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: The Stargate is the highest thing on this world.
Notes: Thanks to my beta (you know who you are). This is a pretty darn literal interpretation of my prompt. :D
* * *
"Tell me again why we can't just wait for Lorne and his team to come get us?"
Rodney's face was as red as the lichen that spread like fire over the rocks they climbed. Teyla rubbed a finger over the soft fuzz, more like moss than true lichen - it made the climb more treacherous, but the color was lovely, and it felt like the finest brevin weave.
"Because by the time they come after us, our camp will be under water." John's voice was strained, and Teyla looked up - but he was only stretching for the next handhold, and a bare spot to plant his boot. "And if the biologists are right, the bloodsucking bats that hunt in this area at night are bigger than a Labrador."
Rodney paused, squinting up in consternation. "Giant bats. Right. Was that in the report?"
Ronon huffed a laugh below him, and pushed off easily for the next toe hold. "I thought you would have noticed that part, McKay."
Rodney growled, and pulled himself up a little faster - he wasn't a graceful climber, but Teyla was impressed by the steadiness of his hands. She and Ronon had sandwiched him between them, but so far, he had given her no cause for real concern.
"I was distracted by all the fairy tales the survey team wrote down - the mysterious energy readings that only registered at dawn, the singing moths, the burning rocks." He slapped at the lichen under his hand in disgust. "I swear, Sheppard, they must have gotten into Zelenka's last batch of Lab Hootch - he told me he thought using that Allorean almost-barley might have been a mistake."
"I'll have a word with them later," John said. He was waiting now, catching his breath while the rest of them caught up to him. "Watch that ledge there, Teyla, I thought I felt it crumble."
She tested it - the rock was solid enough, but there was a fragile layer of fossilized shells that shifted alarmingly under her grip. "I think the xeno-paleontologists might find this fascinating," she said, and was careful not to damage them unduly.
"Oh, please, let's not encourage them," Rodney groaned. "They'll hijack the projector for another slide show."
Ronon craned his neck to inspect another ledge. "There's more here. How high did they say the tides got again?"
"Higher than this," John answered, voice dry over Rodney's heartfelt threats of humiliation and disgrace for the survey team who'd filled their report with fantastic hallucinations, but hadn't bothered to mention that the flat, inviting expanse of green grass where they'd landed the jumper was in fact grown across a thin layer of sediment over thick, soft mud.
Teyla privately agreed with him. The jumper had sunk into the mud with a distressing inevitability - slow enough for them to get most of their gear out of it, once they'd realized the peril, but quickly enough for the engines to foul before John could lift it. They themselves had been able to slog out of it with minimal difficulty - but then, they were so much lighter than the jumper.
"Take it easy, Rodney, they might not have noticed." John's face, for all the breezy delivery of his comment, was stern, and Teyla knew the survey team would have to explain themselves to him as well as Rodney. "They landed on the other side of this mountain range."
"That's a weak excuse and you know it!" Rodney yelled. His voice bounced oddly off the rocks around them, and his left foot slipped as he startled.
Ronon was there almost before Teyla could react - his hand was under Rodney's heel just as Teyla dropped low enough to grip Rodney's wrist. She looked past his wide eyes and met Ronon's - he let out a breath and gave Rodney's calf a pat.
Teyla could feel John staring down at them as Rodney's face slowly lost its shocked pallor. No one moved, until his lips thinned, and he grabbed at the next crack in the rock.
"They're sorry scientific specimens, and I vote we ship them back to Earth next time Caldwell brings the Daedalus around." And if his voice was shakier than normal, no one brought it up.
John let out a breath, and Teyla heard his boots scuffing a clear spot in the lichen. "He should come around next week sometime," he said, and his voice was bright.
* * *
She supposed the sun was starting to set - it was hard to tell. The sky was veiled with a thin layer of pearlescent cloud, and the sun was pale and diffuse behind it. But she thought that the vague shadows were growing longer.
They were all nearly silent now, breathing hard. The climb was not too steep, but it was arduous - the red lichen forced them to grip harder, to stretch farther. They were all tired.
Below them, the sea was encroaching on their mountain - the waters (green and gold - algae, Rodney said) had already covered the flats. They were lapping at the base of the rocks now. There were no booming waves - it was a gentle tide, as steady and inexorable as the mud that had swallowed their jumper.
Her muscled burned, and sweat ran in rivulets down her back, between her breasts. Her eyes ached with fatigue, but she climbed on. Higher and higher, following John. Birds - or something very like birds - flew around them, above and below them. Their membranous wings shone iridescent, like colored glass. Their fluting cries seemed thin and distant.
"We're above the high tide mark now," Rodney said. His voice was as thin as the birds', and no one answered. Or stopped climbing.
* * *
Eventually, Teyla found no more handholds. Only John's hand, reaching down over the lip of the cliff. He pulled her over, and for a moment, she lay with her face on the stone - smoothed and polished by the Stargate's vortex.
The stone was cool against her cheek, but she got up, ignoring her shrieking shoulders, and helped John pull up Rodney and Ronon in turn.
The four of them -- still silent, breathing open mouthed -- sat there at the edge of the cliff. Teyla tilted her head back. The curving arch of the Stargate was the only thing to mar the great expanse of pearl-gray sky - the highest thing in this world.
Ronon leaned over, knocked her shoulder with his own. He was reclining on his elbows, kicking his feet into space as though he were sitting on the dock back home. She could see Rodney on his other side, beginning to dig into his pack. He pulled out a power bar, took a bite; offered his canteen to John, who drank deeply, and passed it back.
When it reached her, she drank eagerly. The lukewarm water spilled down her jaw, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand before returning the canteen with a murmured word of thanks.
"We should head home soon," John said, but he sat cross legged, holding his chin in his hand. His eyes were focused on the horizon, far away and far beneath them now.
Rodney had already shifted around, his legs stretched out, his head propped on John's knee. His eyes were closed.
Teyla twisted her aching back, feeling the vertebrae crack. She sighed in relief, and rested her head on Ronon's shoulder. He was humming - a sound she felt more than she could hear.
Below them, the glass-winged birds sang, and far below the birds, she could hear the murmur of the sea.
fin
Author: snarkydame
Genre: Team
Prompt: Ascension
Word Count: approximately 1100
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: The Stargate is the highest thing on this world.
Notes: Thanks to my beta (you know who you are). This is a pretty darn literal interpretation of my prompt. :D
* * *
"Tell me again why we can't just wait for Lorne and his team to come get us?"
Rodney's face was as red as the lichen that spread like fire over the rocks they climbed. Teyla rubbed a finger over the soft fuzz, more like moss than true lichen - it made the climb more treacherous, but the color was lovely, and it felt like the finest brevin weave.
"Because by the time they come after us, our camp will be under water." John's voice was strained, and Teyla looked up - but he was only stretching for the next handhold, and a bare spot to plant his boot. "And if the biologists are right, the bloodsucking bats that hunt in this area at night are bigger than a Labrador."
Rodney paused, squinting up in consternation. "Giant bats. Right. Was that in the report?"
Ronon huffed a laugh below him, and pushed off easily for the next toe hold. "I thought you would have noticed that part, McKay."
Rodney growled, and pulled himself up a little faster - he wasn't a graceful climber, but Teyla was impressed by the steadiness of his hands. She and Ronon had sandwiched him between them, but so far, he had given her no cause for real concern.
"I was distracted by all the fairy tales the survey team wrote down - the mysterious energy readings that only registered at dawn, the singing moths, the burning rocks." He slapped at the lichen under his hand in disgust. "I swear, Sheppard, they must have gotten into Zelenka's last batch of Lab Hootch - he told me he thought using that Allorean almost-barley might have been a mistake."
"I'll have a word with them later," John said. He was waiting now, catching his breath while the rest of them caught up to him. "Watch that ledge there, Teyla, I thought I felt it crumble."
She tested it - the rock was solid enough, but there was a fragile layer of fossilized shells that shifted alarmingly under her grip. "I think the xeno-paleontologists might find this fascinating," she said, and was careful not to damage them unduly.
"Oh, please, let's not encourage them," Rodney groaned. "They'll hijack the projector for another slide show."
Ronon craned his neck to inspect another ledge. "There's more here. How high did they say the tides got again?"
"Higher than this," John answered, voice dry over Rodney's heartfelt threats of humiliation and disgrace for the survey team who'd filled their report with fantastic hallucinations, but hadn't bothered to mention that the flat, inviting expanse of green grass where they'd landed the jumper was in fact grown across a thin layer of sediment over thick, soft mud.
Teyla privately agreed with him. The jumper had sunk into the mud with a distressing inevitability - slow enough for them to get most of their gear out of it, once they'd realized the peril, but quickly enough for the engines to foul before John could lift it. They themselves had been able to slog out of it with minimal difficulty - but then, they were so much lighter than the jumper.
"Take it easy, Rodney, they might not have noticed." John's face, for all the breezy delivery of his comment, was stern, and Teyla knew the survey team would have to explain themselves to him as well as Rodney. "They landed on the other side of this mountain range."
"That's a weak excuse and you know it!" Rodney yelled. His voice bounced oddly off the rocks around them, and his left foot slipped as he startled.
Ronon was there almost before Teyla could react - his hand was under Rodney's heel just as Teyla dropped low enough to grip Rodney's wrist. She looked past his wide eyes and met Ronon's - he let out a breath and gave Rodney's calf a pat.
Teyla could feel John staring down at them as Rodney's face slowly lost its shocked pallor. No one moved, until his lips thinned, and he grabbed at the next crack in the rock.
"They're sorry scientific specimens, and I vote we ship them back to Earth next time Caldwell brings the Daedalus around." And if his voice was shakier than normal, no one brought it up.
John let out a breath, and Teyla heard his boots scuffing a clear spot in the lichen. "He should come around next week sometime," he said, and his voice was bright.
* * *
She supposed the sun was starting to set - it was hard to tell. The sky was veiled with a thin layer of pearlescent cloud, and the sun was pale and diffuse behind it. But she thought that the vague shadows were growing longer.
They were all nearly silent now, breathing hard. The climb was not too steep, but it was arduous - the red lichen forced them to grip harder, to stretch farther. They were all tired.
Below them, the sea was encroaching on their mountain - the waters (green and gold - algae, Rodney said) had already covered the flats. They were lapping at the base of the rocks now. There were no booming waves - it was a gentle tide, as steady and inexorable as the mud that had swallowed their jumper.
Her muscled burned, and sweat ran in rivulets down her back, between her breasts. Her eyes ached with fatigue, but she climbed on. Higher and higher, following John. Birds - or something very like birds - flew around them, above and below them. Their membranous wings shone iridescent, like colored glass. Their fluting cries seemed thin and distant.
"We're above the high tide mark now," Rodney said. His voice was as thin as the birds', and no one answered. Or stopped climbing.
* * *
Eventually, Teyla found no more handholds. Only John's hand, reaching down over the lip of the cliff. He pulled her over, and for a moment, she lay with her face on the stone - smoothed and polished by the Stargate's vortex.
The stone was cool against her cheek, but she got up, ignoring her shrieking shoulders, and helped John pull up Rodney and Ronon in turn.
The four of them -- still silent, breathing open mouthed -- sat there at the edge of the cliff. Teyla tilted her head back. The curving arch of the Stargate was the only thing to mar the great expanse of pearl-gray sky - the highest thing in this world.
Ronon leaned over, knocked her shoulder with his own. He was reclining on his elbows, kicking his feet into space as though he were sitting on the dock back home. She could see Rodney on his other side, beginning to dig into his pack. He pulled out a power bar, took a bite; offered his canteen to John, who drank deeply, and passed it back.
When it reached her, she drank eagerly. The lukewarm water spilled down her jaw, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand before returning the canteen with a murmured word of thanks.
"We should head home soon," John said, but he sat cross legged, holding his chin in his hand. His eyes were focused on the horizon, far away and far beneath them now.
Rodney had already shifted around, his legs stretched out, his head propped on John's knee. His eyes were closed.
Teyla twisted her aching back, feeling the vertebrae crack. She sighed in relief, and rested her head on Ronon's shoulder. He was humming - a sound she felt more than she could hear.
Below them, the glass-winged birds sang, and far below the birds, she could hear the murmur of the sea.
fin