(no subject)
Title: The Priestess (Chapter 1)
Recipient: muses_keeper
Prompt: I like to receive a story with a quest, where John/Elizabeth and maybe others are solving a Quest… Maybe something ancient related. The idea came from SG1, season10 episode “The Quest”
Rating: NC-13 (at least so far)
Word Count: Unknown, I'm still writing it!
Betas: Myself!
Spoiler: None
Notes: I decided it was going to be a much longer story than expected (at 22 pages I'm about 2/3rd of the way throught...) so I figured it was time to start posting and keep the keeper amused :D
There was definitely something off about it. Random new friends didn’t just give up information about ZPMs and were to find them just out of the kindness of their hearts. John knew it had to be trick - a trap, or there was a catch later to be revealed. Sort of like a dept to be repaired later, when something appropriate came along. Forever owing someone who claimed to be part of the alliance wasn’t exactly something John considered a reasonable request. Elizabeth however agreed to it, much to John distress and surprise, he’d convinced himself she’d never agree to the exchange and had stepped back into Atlantis with the idea that whole thing was ludicrous - at best. He’d been ready with his gun when he stepped through the gate following the information their ‘friend’ had given them and be a little surprised to find himself in a desert on the other side. Not a thing in sight for miles around.
“Well this looks like fun,” he said sarcastically. “Anyone bring a shovel?”
“A what?” Ronon asked.
“Chala did not say the ZPM would be here, someone here would know its location,” Teyla said ignoring both John’s comment and Ronon’s question.
“There’s no one here.”
“Except him,” John said. He’d turned to find a familiar and not very pleasant face grinning at him from the other side of the gate. He’d turned to look before and no one had been there, in fact, no one had been anywhere. Ronon and Teyla’s guns came up quickly to join his as he watched the Wraith move up through the gate and down the steps on their side. “Todd,” he said with a touch of fake pleasure and shock. “Nice to see you’re still alive.”
“You lie poorly,” Todd said, his grin widening with his arms to show he had no weapons. “I didn’t come to kill you.”
“Really? Well that just makes me feel so much better.” John didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm from his tone.
“If you don’t want to know where the power module is, I will just leave.” Todd turned, moving to the DHD.
“Wait.” John licked his lips tasting the horrible sand from this planet there and lowered his gun. “What’s the catch to you telling us where it is?”
Todd’s horrifying grin spread again and he turned back to the team with a glint of knowing in his eyes. Perhaps the time John spent captured by Kolya had taught this particular Wraith too much about him.
“I go with you to collect it and only you and one other selected by me step onto the planet in question.”
John swallowed. “Which other?”
“I believe Doctor Weir has knowledge of the variations of the Ancient language.”
“You want me to let you near Elizabeth with only me to protect her?”
“Suit yourself.” Todd turned back to the DHD.
“Elizabeth won’t agree to it,” Rodney spat. “She’d be crazy to agree to that.”
“We need the power module,” Teyla reminded him. They were almost out of power, among other things and their contact with Earth had been less and less frequent over the last six months or so. Todd turned back to study them.
“I can’t make that decision for Elizabeth,” John admitted. “Come back to Atlantis, we’ll talk to Elizabeth, if she disagrees, we let you go, and if not, then you go with us to get the ZPM.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“Trust is two way game. You want me to trust you on another planet with just me and Elizabeth you have to trust me to keep my word.”
“Very well.”
~*~
It wasn’t much of a shock that Elizabeth wasn’t in the control room when they returned, she hadn’t been well lately. John made sure Todd had a guard and somewhere comfortable to wait before he made his way to Elizabeth’s room. She wasn't going to be pleased about him bringing a Wraith to Atlantis. He paused outside her room wondering if he should knock, at night he didn't need to, but they had been in their relationship for almost a year now and no one knew about them. At least no one let on that they knew.
Several people turning the corner and heading his way made up his mind for him and he quickly reached out and activated the chime. He smiled at the group as he waited and turned back to the still closed door as they turned out of sight. Reaching out again he let his hand hover over the chime before he dropped it and opened her door.
“Elizabeth?” Noise from the bathroom told him she was still suffering. He swallowed hard before taking a seat on her ruffled bed. “Are you sure you're getting better?”
“Yes, I used to be sick every time I moved.” Any sign of joking had vanished from her voice and John quickly reconsidered their need for a ZPM. Elizabeth dropped back on the bed behind him and nudged him with a foot. “How did it go? Did you bring me a nice fully powered ZPM?”
“Not exactly. Todd wants to make a deal for it.”
“Todd! You brought a Wraith here!” He had hoped she would at least ask why he had brought the Wraith back. “John, what were you thinking?”
“That we needed a ZPM urgently. That we need allies, even if they are Wraith.” He turned and slid up the bed beside her and propped himself up on an elbow. “Todd isn't the problem,” he knew this was going to be worse, having to go ZPM hunting with an ill woman and a sly Wraith was going to be murder. “He'll share the ZPMs location if he can go with us when we collect it. And by us,” he continued not stopping to let her talk. “He means you and me.”
“Me? Why me?”
“I think he has a thing for you.”
“No, that's you,” she said quickly buying in on the small joke. “I don't think the Wraith have a 'thing' for anyone - unless it’s to ease their hunger.”
“True. He wants you for your brain. I think he advanced from life sucking to brain sucking.” She gave him a look as he teasing slid his hand up her arm and back again before moving across her stomach. “Something to do with languages.”
“I'm not a linguist.”
“No, but you are good with Ancient and Wraith languages and derisions thereof. You’re not pregnant are you?” He hadn't fully taken in the thought in his head prior to the words leaving his mouth. Elizabeth gave a small snort of a laugh.
“No, John. I'm not pregnant.”
He felt himself relax a little and was a little surprised that it had come with a sprinkling of disappointment. Elizabeth’s hand on the side of his face told him both emotions showed.
“Maybe we can talk about that when this is over.” John nodded, his eyes fixed on her shoulder. “So where are we going?”
“I don't know, Todd wasn't exactly forthcoming on the details, just on the bargaining for them.”
“Then I guess we should go have a talk with Todd.”
~*~
“Doctor Weir,” Todd said as they stepped into the room, he gave a small respectful bow and rose with a hideous grin on his face. “How good to see you well.”
Elizabeth quirked a brow, but didn’t reply. It was a show that the Wraith, or at least his section of the Wraith, new more about what was happening on Atlantis than they hoped. It was somewhat daunting to know. Keeping her tongue and carefully considering her words, Elizabeth moved to the other side of the room from the creature and took a seat. John had followed her in and opted for standing just behind her left shoulder, she knew him well enough to know it was to give him a faster response should Todd try anything.
She let her eyes take him in and the locations of all the guards at the door and the two in the room. Todd, seeming to realise her delay held his hands out to show he had nothing that could harm her. Literally. She knew from John he had been searched for weapons before setting foot on Atlantis and he’d long ago been deprived of the ability to feed as the Wraith usually did.
“I hear you have a deal in mind, in exchange for the ZPM.” Under normal circumstance she would have indicated for the other person to sit in the negotiation, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it for a Wraith. She didn’t want him sitting comfortably; she wanted him off her city and nowhere near their planet.
“Yes,” he said. The horrible grin returning as he lowered his hands back to his sides.
“Such as,” Elizabeth asked, leaving the sentence open for him to continue.
“Such as, allowing me to accompany you to the planet in question.”
Elizabeth waited for the catch, there had to be one. He couldn’t simply just want to go for a day trip to another planet with a couple of humans who clearly didn’t trust him. There was no give away in his expression, not a thing to indicate he was planning to kidnap her or kill them.
“Why?” She asked slowly, scrutinizing every twitch his face made. Todd grinned again.
“You’re a smart woman, Doctor Weir. I’m sure there are better questions you want to ask.”
“There are,” she said simply. “But I’m more interested in why you’re so eager to take a trip to an obviously humanoid civilisation with us, in particular.”
“Perhaps I’m just curious to know how you operate. Perhaps I would like to see you, Doctor Weir, in a negotiation.”
“Perhaps you want someone else to take the blame when you steal something else of value,” John said, voicing just what she was thinking.
“Or perhaps, you’re going to get hold of the ZPM first and use it as leverage over us.” She knew enough of this particular Wraith to suspect all of the above and not just any one of the four possibilities mentioned.
“What’s to stop you from killing us or kidnapping Elizabeth the second we’re off this planet? How do we know,” John said leaning forward on the desk, “that you haven’t already sent a hive ship to the planet and you’re waiting for us. There must be a lovely price for the two leaders of the Ancient city, the people who have given the Wraith more problems than food.”
“You have only my word.” For a moment, just a moment, Elizabeth considered getting up and walking out. There was too high a price on this ZPM, too many possibilities for trouble. “How much do you require this ZPM.” He knew he had the better of them, he had come armed with all his knowledge about them and used every ounce of it.
“What do you know about this planet?” Todd’s grin widened.
~*~*~
This is a bad idea.
The words had been repeating themselves almost continuously since Ronon started saying them. It was a bad idea. He was sat in the pilot seat of the Jumper, Elizabeth to his right and Todd right behind him, because Ronon had refused to let the Wraith sit behind Elizabeth. Of cause, given half a chance, John would have preferred Ronon’s idea of making him sit at the back of the ship, up against the rear hatch. But, they were currently allies, again, and he had to at least appear friendly. Shame he couldn’t say the same for the Wraith.
On the other side of the gate, the low sun made the horizon glow a strange huge of blues and greens and as John turned the ship in the direction of the nearest settlement he spotted a very blue looking moon, a single patch of orange off to one side of the globe gave it a stranger than normal appearance. Not that being on another planet wasn’t strange enough.
Keeping the Jumper low over the tops of the trees, John followed a path around to the small settlement and set the ship down in a clearing to the west. The crowd of people gathered before John could get out of his seat and he paused for a moment watching Elizabeth’s pallid face as she swallowed back the nausea.
“You okay? Wouldn’t go down well if you puked all over them on first contact.”
“I’m fine,” she told him, though he knew the strain in her voice all too well from the last couple of days.
Moving to the rear, he plucked a bottle of water from the storage racks and handed it to her before moving back and opening the hatch. When he turned back, Elizabeth had moved from her seat and was carefully making her way towards him. Todd eased himself out of his as she passed him and turned to look out at the people peering in on them. Glancing over his shoulder, John took in the mutters of people who had not only seen Todd, but realised what he was, it confused him for a moment, wondering why they didn’t scream and run, but the idea vanished as Elizabeth stopped in front of him and took a hold of his arm to steady herself.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” he said reaching out, one hand on her arm and the other on her waist.
“Just give me a minute.”
John turned, not taking his hand off her waist to watch a woman step carefully up the ramp, she had spoken, but for the life of him John couldn’t place the language, let alone understand what she’d said.
“You understand them?” John asked carefully.
“No, doesn’t sound familiar.”
“Good fun,” he said feeling Elizabeth sway in his arms. He turned back and wrapped an arm around her before lowering her to the bench. “No travel sickness please.” Elizabeth chuckled and flipped the lid on the water bottle to take a sip. A gasp and the sound of rustling turned him back to the opening and he creased his brow at the group of people, now down on their knees with their foreheads against fists on the ground. “Okay, this just got weird.”
“What are they doing?” Elizabeth asked.
“Beats me.” John moved down the ramp, close to the woman who had stepped up ahead of them. He reached down and coaxed her to her feet, watching as the woman’s eye flicked nervously to Elizabeth, that’s when it dawned on him that they’d seen her for the first time when he’d set her on the seat. “Stop grinning Todd, they’re not worshipping you, they’re doing this for Elizabeth.”
“What?” The shock on her face was not at all unexpected, but the grin that remained on Todd’s face told John he expected this. “Why?”
“No idea, but I think Todd has one.” He indicated the Wraith, still standing, grinning at the turn of events. Instead of answering the confusion on Elizabeth's face, Todd moved passed them and out the Jumper. The people scattered, crawling or shuffling away to make a path for him. John turned to follow as Elizabeth got up and was shocked to find the people quickly settle into the crouched pose where they had moved.
The settlement seemed a lot larger as they stepped in passed a barely standing wall that surrounded it. The people just inside it reminded John of places with shanty towns, the poor and desperate finding a way to live tagged on to large villages or towns. Whispers followed them, changing quickly from fear to wonder as they took eyes off the Wraith and set them on Elizabeth. For a fleeting moment John considered that someone would try and attack her, try and prove she wasn't whatever it was they believed her to be. Then he set eyes on the wall Todd had stopped by.
The strong stone structure spanned across the edge of the shanty town, almost as if to divide them from everyone else. The only way past would be to walk in either direction for two or three miles. The decorations on the wall were vivid and John suspected they were standing at the centre. Along the bottom of it lined hundreds of people, a mixture of armed and armoured guards, ladies in fine dresses and the poor, rag wearers all of which were holding their hands up to a woman in white towering over them. The city depicted in the background of the people, standing tall around the woman looked a lot like Atlantis made of brick instead of metal. But what caught john and seemed to completely stun Elizabeth was the woman herself.
Dressed head to toe, or as far as they could see, in an elegant and simple white dress was a slightly younger version of Elizabeth. It was unmistakable, the curly brown hair, fell over her shoulders and down to her stomach, green eyes looked caringly down at her people as her arms stretched to the side dropping food and coins over her followers. The sleeves of her dress fell away about half way between elbow and wrist leaving a long flow of material billowing out back towards her and the city. John’s comment about her being pregnant rushed back to his brain and he instantly turned the woman into their daughter instead of the woman he loved.
As if the idea struck him as sharp as lightning, John pulled open a pocket and extracted a camera. He stepped back several paces, lined up the shot and captured as much of the image as he could. He wouldn't show it to anyone in Atlantis, but there was nothing stopping him from using it as his laptop wallpaper.
A woman behind them spoke and they turned to see the woman who had been kneeling on the jumper ramp standing and beckoning them to follow. He exchanged a glance with Elizabeth before she turned to follow the woman. His mind ran wild with the ideas of what could be here, what these people would expect from her and it frightened him just a little. Keeping close to Elizabeth and a firm grip on the trigger of his gun, John followed the woman back out the village and down a dirt road trail to the opening of a cave.
When the women indicated they should go in, Elizabeth took a step forward and John instantly grabbed her arm. The look of shock and defiance on the woman’s face told him she expected Elizabeth to be treated with more respect. John ignored her and indicated inside with his gun as he turned to Todd.
“You first,” he said, making it clear neither of them were going to walk into some trap he’d set up on this world. It hadn’t passed John’s notice that these people didn’t seem nearly half as scared of him as they should. Todd hissed at him.
“Your distrust of me is becoming tiresome.”
“Your knack for deception is becoming predictable,” John retorted.
Todd grinned again. “Perhaps one day, you will trust that everything I do, is good for both our people.”
“Yeah, about the time hell freezes over.” He waved his gun back to the entrance. “So, are we going in or not?”
John waited for Todd to vanish into the cave before he released Elizabeth’s arm. When he stepped forward he had to stop and look back at her, she hadn’t moved from the spot and the woman who had shown them the way stood awkwardly to one side watching her.
“What?” John asked.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” she said.
“Of cause it doesn’t, Todd’s controlling this.” He turned back to look at the cave, then back at Elizabeth before he turned and moved back to stand close to her. “Well come back to figure out that wall.”
“You don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head just a little and looking down. “It feels right,” she explained meeting his eye. “The wall, this cave, it feels right and it shouldn’t. It feels as if I know this place.”
John swallowed. “Okay,” he had no idea if it was okay, there was no possible way any of this could feel right. He licked his lips to give himself a second to think. “Just stay close. Any urges to follow a path or crawl down a rabbit hole, let me know.” She gave him a small smile of amusement before following him into the cave.
“Interesting,” John said. They’d only walked a dozen steps into the cave before finding themselves in a room that clearly didn’t belong. The smooth walls and soft light were completely backwards from anything John would have expected to find. The cream walls were decorated with what looked like a city of people, the wall directly in front of them holding the more elegant area and a palace that resembled the two taller towers of Atlantis, but again in brick instead of metal. He stepped closer, studying the design of the tallest tower, it was different, the idea was the same, but the windows were taller and flowed better with the structure. Standing on the balcony was a small figure, a woman dressed in white, her eyes watching the flow of the city below.
John moved around, taking in the other tower, darker and squarer in comparison to the curves of the first. He took in the change between the people, the rich to poor and the evenly scattered guards who made sure everything was running smoothly. On the wall where they would have walked into the room - the doors absence being a fact John took a moment to take in - was an opening in the city wall, a large group of guards stood along the walls, patrolled along the ground and manned small buildings along the path just inside. Standing outside the city, amongst a few random people, were a Wraith and a man dressed in black with scruffy fly away hair.
“Alice through the looking glass.” John muttered before swinging around with his gun raised. Something had clicked behind him. “What was that?”
Todd stood in the middle of the room, his hands leisurely at his sides as he watched Elizabeth. A section of the wall were this city’s queen was looking had melted into something completely different. The now clear section was littered with patches of writing and John had to step closer before he realised they were a combination and mixture of Ancient and Wraith languages. Nothing seemed right though, as if the writings were in a language long since forgotten. Elizabeth’s fingers danced over the sections, seeming to read the instructions without effort. She pressed at a symbol and a small click echoed through the room.
“Elizabeth,” he said, more in warning than question. She hesitated, taking in his tone of voice and seemed to fight against an urge he hadn’t figured out. “Elizabeth.” This time he was more forceful and she managed, with effort, to turn and look at him. He fixed her with a look that normally would have told her to step back and leave it alone, but she simply squared her shoulders and turned back to press another symbol. John took a step forward a split second too late and in the blink of an eye, Elizabeth was gone and the wall had returned to its normal city view.
Recipient: muses_keeper
Prompt: I like to receive a story with a quest, where John/Elizabeth and maybe others are solving a Quest… Maybe something ancient related. The idea came from SG1, season10 episode “The Quest”
Rating: NC-13 (at least so far)
Word Count: Unknown, I'm still writing it!
Betas: Myself!
Spoiler: None
Notes: I decided it was going to be a much longer story than expected (at 22 pages I'm about 2/3rd of the way throught...) so I figured it was time to start posting and keep the keeper amused :D
There was definitely something off about it. Random new friends didn’t just give up information about ZPMs and were to find them just out of the kindness of their hearts. John knew it had to be trick - a trap, or there was a catch later to be revealed. Sort of like a dept to be repaired later, when something appropriate came along. Forever owing someone who claimed to be part of the alliance wasn’t exactly something John considered a reasonable request. Elizabeth however agreed to it, much to John distress and surprise, he’d convinced himself she’d never agree to the exchange and had stepped back into Atlantis with the idea that whole thing was ludicrous - at best. He’d been ready with his gun when he stepped through the gate following the information their ‘friend’ had given them and be a little surprised to find himself in a desert on the other side. Not a thing in sight for miles around.
“Well this looks like fun,” he said sarcastically. “Anyone bring a shovel?”
“A what?” Ronon asked.
“Chala did not say the ZPM would be here, someone here would know its location,” Teyla said ignoring both John’s comment and Ronon’s question.
“There’s no one here.”
“Except him,” John said. He’d turned to find a familiar and not very pleasant face grinning at him from the other side of the gate. He’d turned to look before and no one had been there, in fact, no one had been anywhere. Ronon and Teyla’s guns came up quickly to join his as he watched the Wraith move up through the gate and down the steps on their side. “Todd,” he said with a touch of fake pleasure and shock. “Nice to see you’re still alive.”
“You lie poorly,” Todd said, his grin widening with his arms to show he had no weapons. “I didn’t come to kill you.”
“Really? Well that just makes me feel so much better.” John didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm from his tone.
“If you don’t want to know where the power module is, I will just leave.” Todd turned, moving to the DHD.
“Wait.” John licked his lips tasting the horrible sand from this planet there and lowered his gun. “What’s the catch to you telling us where it is?”
Todd’s horrifying grin spread again and he turned back to the team with a glint of knowing in his eyes. Perhaps the time John spent captured by Kolya had taught this particular Wraith too much about him.
“I go with you to collect it and only you and one other selected by me step onto the planet in question.”
John swallowed. “Which other?”
“I believe Doctor Weir has knowledge of the variations of the Ancient language.”
“You want me to let you near Elizabeth with only me to protect her?”
“Suit yourself.” Todd turned back to the DHD.
“Elizabeth won’t agree to it,” Rodney spat. “She’d be crazy to agree to that.”
“We need the power module,” Teyla reminded him. They were almost out of power, among other things and their contact with Earth had been less and less frequent over the last six months or so. Todd turned back to study them.
“I can’t make that decision for Elizabeth,” John admitted. “Come back to Atlantis, we’ll talk to Elizabeth, if she disagrees, we let you go, and if not, then you go with us to get the ZPM.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“Trust is two way game. You want me to trust you on another planet with just me and Elizabeth you have to trust me to keep my word.”
“Very well.”
~*~
It wasn’t much of a shock that Elizabeth wasn’t in the control room when they returned, she hadn’t been well lately. John made sure Todd had a guard and somewhere comfortable to wait before he made his way to Elizabeth’s room. She wasn't going to be pleased about him bringing a Wraith to Atlantis. He paused outside her room wondering if he should knock, at night he didn't need to, but they had been in their relationship for almost a year now and no one knew about them. At least no one let on that they knew.
Several people turning the corner and heading his way made up his mind for him and he quickly reached out and activated the chime. He smiled at the group as he waited and turned back to the still closed door as they turned out of sight. Reaching out again he let his hand hover over the chime before he dropped it and opened her door.
“Elizabeth?” Noise from the bathroom told him she was still suffering. He swallowed hard before taking a seat on her ruffled bed. “Are you sure you're getting better?”
“Yes, I used to be sick every time I moved.” Any sign of joking had vanished from her voice and John quickly reconsidered their need for a ZPM. Elizabeth dropped back on the bed behind him and nudged him with a foot. “How did it go? Did you bring me a nice fully powered ZPM?”
“Not exactly. Todd wants to make a deal for it.”
“Todd! You brought a Wraith here!” He had hoped she would at least ask why he had brought the Wraith back. “John, what were you thinking?”
“That we needed a ZPM urgently. That we need allies, even if they are Wraith.” He turned and slid up the bed beside her and propped himself up on an elbow. “Todd isn't the problem,” he knew this was going to be worse, having to go ZPM hunting with an ill woman and a sly Wraith was going to be murder. “He'll share the ZPMs location if he can go with us when we collect it. And by us,” he continued not stopping to let her talk. “He means you and me.”
“Me? Why me?”
“I think he has a thing for you.”
“No, that's you,” she said quickly buying in on the small joke. “I don't think the Wraith have a 'thing' for anyone - unless it’s to ease their hunger.”
“True. He wants you for your brain. I think he advanced from life sucking to brain sucking.” She gave him a look as he teasing slid his hand up her arm and back again before moving across her stomach. “Something to do with languages.”
“I'm not a linguist.”
“No, but you are good with Ancient and Wraith languages and derisions thereof. You’re not pregnant are you?” He hadn't fully taken in the thought in his head prior to the words leaving his mouth. Elizabeth gave a small snort of a laugh.
“No, John. I'm not pregnant.”
He felt himself relax a little and was a little surprised that it had come with a sprinkling of disappointment. Elizabeth’s hand on the side of his face told him both emotions showed.
“Maybe we can talk about that when this is over.” John nodded, his eyes fixed on her shoulder. “So where are we going?”
“I don't know, Todd wasn't exactly forthcoming on the details, just on the bargaining for them.”
“Then I guess we should go have a talk with Todd.”
~*~
“Doctor Weir,” Todd said as they stepped into the room, he gave a small respectful bow and rose with a hideous grin on his face. “How good to see you well.”
Elizabeth quirked a brow, but didn’t reply. It was a show that the Wraith, or at least his section of the Wraith, new more about what was happening on Atlantis than they hoped. It was somewhat daunting to know. Keeping her tongue and carefully considering her words, Elizabeth moved to the other side of the room from the creature and took a seat. John had followed her in and opted for standing just behind her left shoulder, she knew him well enough to know it was to give him a faster response should Todd try anything.
She let her eyes take him in and the locations of all the guards at the door and the two in the room. Todd, seeming to realise her delay held his hands out to show he had nothing that could harm her. Literally. She knew from John he had been searched for weapons before setting foot on Atlantis and he’d long ago been deprived of the ability to feed as the Wraith usually did.
“I hear you have a deal in mind, in exchange for the ZPM.” Under normal circumstance she would have indicated for the other person to sit in the negotiation, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it for a Wraith. She didn’t want him sitting comfortably; she wanted him off her city and nowhere near their planet.
“Yes,” he said. The horrible grin returning as he lowered his hands back to his sides.
“Such as,” Elizabeth asked, leaving the sentence open for him to continue.
“Such as, allowing me to accompany you to the planet in question.”
Elizabeth waited for the catch, there had to be one. He couldn’t simply just want to go for a day trip to another planet with a couple of humans who clearly didn’t trust him. There was no give away in his expression, not a thing to indicate he was planning to kidnap her or kill them.
“Why?” She asked slowly, scrutinizing every twitch his face made. Todd grinned again.
“You’re a smart woman, Doctor Weir. I’m sure there are better questions you want to ask.”
“There are,” she said simply. “But I’m more interested in why you’re so eager to take a trip to an obviously humanoid civilisation with us, in particular.”
“Perhaps I’m just curious to know how you operate. Perhaps I would like to see you, Doctor Weir, in a negotiation.”
“Perhaps you want someone else to take the blame when you steal something else of value,” John said, voicing just what she was thinking.
“Or perhaps, you’re going to get hold of the ZPM first and use it as leverage over us.” She knew enough of this particular Wraith to suspect all of the above and not just any one of the four possibilities mentioned.
“What’s to stop you from killing us or kidnapping Elizabeth the second we’re off this planet? How do we know,” John said leaning forward on the desk, “that you haven’t already sent a hive ship to the planet and you’re waiting for us. There must be a lovely price for the two leaders of the Ancient city, the people who have given the Wraith more problems than food.”
“You have only my word.” For a moment, just a moment, Elizabeth considered getting up and walking out. There was too high a price on this ZPM, too many possibilities for trouble. “How much do you require this ZPM.” He knew he had the better of them, he had come armed with all his knowledge about them and used every ounce of it.
“What do you know about this planet?” Todd’s grin widened.
~*~*~
This is a bad idea.
The words had been repeating themselves almost continuously since Ronon started saying them. It was a bad idea. He was sat in the pilot seat of the Jumper, Elizabeth to his right and Todd right behind him, because Ronon had refused to let the Wraith sit behind Elizabeth. Of cause, given half a chance, John would have preferred Ronon’s idea of making him sit at the back of the ship, up against the rear hatch. But, they were currently allies, again, and he had to at least appear friendly. Shame he couldn’t say the same for the Wraith.
On the other side of the gate, the low sun made the horizon glow a strange huge of blues and greens and as John turned the ship in the direction of the nearest settlement he spotted a very blue looking moon, a single patch of orange off to one side of the globe gave it a stranger than normal appearance. Not that being on another planet wasn’t strange enough.
Keeping the Jumper low over the tops of the trees, John followed a path around to the small settlement and set the ship down in a clearing to the west. The crowd of people gathered before John could get out of his seat and he paused for a moment watching Elizabeth’s pallid face as she swallowed back the nausea.
“You okay? Wouldn’t go down well if you puked all over them on first contact.”
“I’m fine,” she told him, though he knew the strain in her voice all too well from the last couple of days.
Moving to the rear, he plucked a bottle of water from the storage racks and handed it to her before moving back and opening the hatch. When he turned back, Elizabeth had moved from her seat and was carefully making her way towards him. Todd eased himself out of his as she passed him and turned to look out at the people peering in on them. Glancing over his shoulder, John took in the mutters of people who had not only seen Todd, but realised what he was, it confused him for a moment, wondering why they didn’t scream and run, but the idea vanished as Elizabeth stopped in front of him and took a hold of his arm to steady herself.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” he said reaching out, one hand on her arm and the other on her waist.
“Just give me a minute.”
John turned, not taking his hand off her waist to watch a woman step carefully up the ramp, she had spoken, but for the life of him John couldn’t place the language, let alone understand what she’d said.
“You understand them?” John asked carefully.
“No, doesn’t sound familiar.”
“Good fun,” he said feeling Elizabeth sway in his arms. He turned back and wrapped an arm around her before lowering her to the bench. “No travel sickness please.” Elizabeth chuckled and flipped the lid on the water bottle to take a sip. A gasp and the sound of rustling turned him back to the opening and he creased his brow at the group of people, now down on their knees with their foreheads against fists on the ground. “Okay, this just got weird.”
“What are they doing?” Elizabeth asked.
“Beats me.” John moved down the ramp, close to the woman who had stepped up ahead of them. He reached down and coaxed her to her feet, watching as the woman’s eye flicked nervously to Elizabeth, that’s when it dawned on him that they’d seen her for the first time when he’d set her on the seat. “Stop grinning Todd, they’re not worshipping you, they’re doing this for Elizabeth.”
“What?” The shock on her face was not at all unexpected, but the grin that remained on Todd’s face told John he expected this. “Why?”
“No idea, but I think Todd has one.” He indicated the Wraith, still standing, grinning at the turn of events. Instead of answering the confusion on Elizabeth's face, Todd moved passed them and out the Jumper. The people scattered, crawling or shuffling away to make a path for him. John turned to follow as Elizabeth got up and was shocked to find the people quickly settle into the crouched pose where they had moved.
The settlement seemed a lot larger as they stepped in passed a barely standing wall that surrounded it. The people just inside it reminded John of places with shanty towns, the poor and desperate finding a way to live tagged on to large villages or towns. Whispers followed them, changing quickly from fear to wonder as they took eyes off the Wraith and set them on Elizabeth. For a fleeting moment John considered that someone would try and attack her, try and prove she wasn't whatever it was they believed her to be. Then he set eyes on the wall Todd had stopped by.
The strong stone structure spanned across the edge of the shanty town, almost as if to divide them from everyone else. The only way past would be to walk in either direction for two or three miles. The decorations on the wall were vivid and John suspected they were standing at the centre. Along the bottom of it lined hundreds of people, a mixture of armed and armoured guards, ladies in fine dresses and the poor, rag wearers all of which were holding their hands up to a woman in white towering over them. The city depicted in the background of the people, standing tall around the woman looked a lot like Atlantis made of brick instead of metal. But what caught john and seemed to completely stun Elizabeth was the woman herself.
Dressed head to toe, or as far as they could see, in an elegant and simple white dress was a slightly younger version of Elizabeth. It was unmistakable, the curly brown hair, fell over her shoulders and down to her stomach, green eyes looked caringly down at her people as her arms stretched to the side dropping food and coins over her followers. The sleeves of her dress fell away about half way between elbow and wrist leaving a long flow of material billowing out back towards her and the city. John’s comment about her being pregnant rushed back to his brain and he instantly turned the woman into their daughter instead of the woman he loved.
As if the idea struck him as sharp as lightning, John pulled open a pocket and extracted a camera. He stepped back several paces, lined up the shot and captured as much of the image as he could. He wouldn't show it to anyone in Atlantis, but there was nothing stopping him from using it as his laptop wallpaper.
A woman behind them spoke and they turned to see the woman who had been kneeling on the jumper ramp standing and beckoning them to follow. He exchanged a glance with Elizabeth before she turned to follow the woman. His mind ran wild with the ideas of what could be here, what these people would expect from her and it frightened him just a little. Keeping close to Elizabeth and a firm grip on the trigger of his gun, John followed the woman back out the village and down a dirt road trail to the opening of a cave.
When the women indicated they should go in, Elizabeth took a step forward and John instantly grabbed her arm. The look of shock and defiance on the woman’s face told him she expected Elizabeth to be treated with more respect. John ignored her and indicated inside with his gun as he turned to Todd.
“You first,” he said, making it clear neither of them were going to walk into some trap he’d set up on this world. It hadn’t passed John’s notice that these people didn’t seem nearly half as scared of him as they should. Todd hissed at him.
“Your distrust of me is becoming tiresome.”
“Your knack for deception is becoming predictable,” John retorted.
Todd grinned again. “Perhaps one day, you will trust that everything I do, is good for both our people.”
“Yeah, about the time hell freezes over.” He waved his gun back to the entrance. “So, are we going in or not?”
John waited for Todd to vanish into the cave before he released Elizabeth’s arm. When he stepped forward he had to stop and look back at her, she hadn’t moved from the spot and the woman who had shown them the way stood awkwardly to one side watching her.
“What?” John asked.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” she said.
“Of cause it doesn’t, Todd’s controlling this.” He turned back to look at the cave, then back at Elizabeth before he turned and moved back to stand close to her. “Well come back to figure out that wall.”
“You don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head just a little and looking down. “It feels right,” she explained meeting his eye. “The wall, this cave, it feels right and it shouldn’t. It feels as if I know this place.”
John swallowed. “Okay,” he had no idea if it was okay, there was no possible way any of this could feel right. He licked his lips to give himself a second to think. “Just stay close. Any urges to follow a path or crawl down a rabbit hole, let me know.” She gave him a small smile of amusement before following him into the cave.
“Interesting,” John said. They’d only walked a dozen steps into the cave before finding themselves in a room that clearly didn’t belong. The smooth walls and soft light were completely backwards from anything John would have expected to find. The cream walls were decorated with what looked like a city of people, the wall directly in front of them holding the more elegant area and a palace that resembled the two taller towers of Atlantis, but again in brick instead of metal. He stepped closer, studying the design of the tallest tower, it was different, the idea was the same, but the windows were taller and flowed better with the structure. Standing on the balcony was a small figure, a woman dressed in white, her eyes watching the flow of the city below.
John moved around, taking in the other tower, darker and squarer in comparison to the curves of the first. He took in the change between the people, the rich to poor and the evenly scattered guards who made sure everything was running smoothly. On the wall where they would have walked into the room - the doors absence being a fact John took a moment to take in - was an opening in the city wall, a large group of guards stood along the walls, patrolled along the ground and manned small buildings along the path just inside. Standing outside the city, amongst a few random people, were a Wraith and a man dressed in black with scruffy fly away hair.
“Alice through the looking glass.” John muttered before swinging around with his gun raised. Something had clicked behind him. “What was that?”
Todd stood in the middle of the room, his hands leisurely at his sides as he watched Elizabeth. A section of the wall were this city’s queen was looking had melted into something completely different. The now clear section was littered with patches of writing and John had to step closer before he realised they were a combination and mixture of Ancient and Wraith languages. Nothing seemed right though, as if the writings were in a language long since forgotten. Elizabeth’s fingers danced over the sections, seeming to read the instructions without effort. She pressed at a symbol and a small click echoed through the room.
“Elizabeth,” he said, more in warning than question. She hesitated, taking in his tone of voice and seemed to fight against an urge he hadn’t figured out. “Elizabeth.” This time he was more forceful and she managed, with effort, to turn and look at him. He fixed her with a look that normally would have told her to step back and leave it alone, but she simply squared her shoulders and turned back to press another symbol. John took a step forward a split second too late and in the blink of an eye, Elizabeth was gone and the wall had returned to its normal city view.