Action/Adventure, Week 1: Hope and a Hole in the Ground (1/2)
Title: Hope and a Hole in the Ground
Author: nottasha
Genre: Action Adventure
Prompt Catacombs
Word Count: 18,500
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: The team is trapped on an alien world, and the only escape is through the catacombs.
The town stretched through the valley, filling it with dark streets, houses, shops and little factories. The city of Ellik had existed for centuries with its old stone structures remained, heavy and foreboding, decorated with dark ornamentation. Newer buildings were crowded in, looking less formidable, but equally ugly.
Chimneys chuffed. Horse-like animals drew carts through rutted streets. Piles of manure dotted the byways. People stood along the filthy walkways, pressed against the buildings and holding their children close.
The streets stank. Litter was piled everywhere. The alleyways were filled with broken carts and other useless trappings. The walls that faced them were coated with years of soot, with centuries of grime. Narrow windows looked out on the narrow streets, and pale faces gazed out of them, watching the strangers who moved in their midst. Thin children sat in doorways, watching.
There was something so hopeless about these people, as if they knew this was their lot and there was nothing else left for them. Children should not be so listless.
Ronon’s eyes fixed on the faces. He didn’t like the situation. Too many people were watching. Too many people had the high ground. The place felt wrong. He was taut, ready for anything as his team moved through the town.
Beside him, Teyla mimicked his movements, looking upward, and then all around, keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. She wasn’t comfortable either.
Ahead walked McKay and Sheppard. McKay was talking, gesturing, pointing, and glancing to his scanner. “Look,” he said, indicating one big building. “This is the library that was listed in our information. That’s their central council building.”
Sheppard nodded to his words, but was watchful as well.
In the lead was a small delegation of Ellikans. They would turn and look over their shoulders to offer encouraging smiles. “It is just a short distance,” one of them, Gaispare, said. “We are nearly there.”
“Yes,” Rodney responded, glancing to his scanner. “I know. I downloaded a map.”
“Good to know,” Sheppard muttered and, distracted by movement in a doorway, almost stepped in some sort of mess.
“I swear to God,” McKay grumbled, “If anyone shouts ‘gardy loo’, I’m using Ronon for cover,” and he hooked a thumb in Ronon’s direction.
Ronon wasn’t sure what the phrase meant, but figured he’d duck.
Dex knew little of the particular planet. It was on his list of places that he didn’t need to visit - ever. Teyla had been the expert, having come to the planet in the past to trade. She made a sour face at the mere mention of the place, and that was telling enough.
But they had recently received intel that a ZPM might be located at the site - secretly worshipped by the upper caste of the planet. So, they’d come to check the idol.
McKay kept gazing at his scanner and fiddling with it. He groaned and held it out. “I’m not picking up anything. The ZPM must not be active because I’m not getting a power signature. Either that or these walls are too thick to allow any readings to get through.”
Gaispare’s eyes flitted to McKay’s device. “Can you see the Fire Glass with that?”
“Like I said,” McKay muttered. “I’m not seeing anything.”
“But it shows you the way?” Gaispare looked intrigued.
“We have a map,” Rodney said with a smile. “It’s probably a couple hundred years out of date, but it has the Temple on it.” He looked down in time to avoid some unpleasantness in his path. He ran into Sheppard in the process and nearly forced him to slosh through a particularly ugly pile.
“McKay,” Sheppard snapped as he made a little leap to avoid it. “Watch it!”
“I am,” Rodney replied. “What do you think I’m doing?”
Sheppard sighed noisily. McKay harrumphed. Teyla let out a slow breath. Ronon kept moving, watching the faces that peered at them - eyes the followed - mouths held tightly. A row of little children peered from a window, their grubby hands holding back grubby curtains.
There was something wrong. Something was terribly wrong here.
“Here!” Clarifor, another of the delegation cried. “We are here!”
Squat and ugly, the building sat at the end of the street, as if blocking them from going any further.
“This is the Temple of the Fire Glass,” Clarifor went on, smiling widely.
Sheppard cocked his head at the place. The building was black and bleak and as old as time. He turned to McKay and asked, “Does this look like a temple to you?”
“Sure, why not?” McKay answered as he held his scanner to check his map. “Yes, this is the place.” He frowned. “Even if the ZPM was active inside, I might not be able to get a reading from it. Those walls must be a yard thick.”
“Come,” Gaispare said. “We shall show you our treasure.” And he stepped into a dark open doorway.
McKay moved to follow, but Ronon shoved him back. The Satedan peered into the space, seeing an inner room, and a dim hallway beyond. The interior was even uglier than the outside.
Ronon turned to Sheppard. “I don’t like it,” he told him.
“You don’t like anything,” McKay huffed, folding his arms over his chest.
“Yeah,” Sheppard said, responding to Ronon. “What do you think, McKay. Is there a ZPM inside?”
With an exaggerated sigh, McKay held up his scanner and declared, “I don’t know. I can’t read anything through this rock. But this is the place described by the trader.”
“Not exactly the situation we want to go waltzing into,” Sheppard muttered.
“I’ll check it out,” Ronon said, looking into the building and glaring at Gaispare who waited within at the entrance of the hallway.
“Me, too,” Rodney said enthusiastically.
“Just Ronon,” Sheppard ordered.
Rodney rolled his eyes. “I am desperate to get out of this street! It’s disgusting here. It smells like a pit toilet, and by that I mean a particularly bad one. And do you think he’ll be able to find the ZPM?”
Ronon shrugged. “They’re worshiping it, McKay. It’ll be pretty obvious.”
Sheppard glanced toward Teyla. She nodded, and John stated, “Teyla will go, too. Will that make you happy?”
“Not entirely,” McKay responded. “But if you find the ZPM, just come back and tell me.” He made a little hand gesture, a flip of the hand. “And if you don’t find it… same thing.”
“Of course,” Teyla replied.
“Right,” Ronon responded and moved into the doorway, followed by Teyla. Gaispare, seeing their progression, smiled and continued deeper into the structure.
The hallway led to an inner room in the center of the building. The candle-lit corridor was narrow, and Ronon had to duck under the archways, careful of the sunken sill between the rooms.
He made his way toward the inner sanctum. Teyla kept close, moving almost silently behind him down the long hallway.
Ronon didn’t like it.
Maybe McKay was right - he didn’t like anything.
They came out of the hallway and into a smaller room. No windows. No other exit. It was dark and confining. Sooty candles guttered in sconces, on ledges and along what must have been an altar. The flames cast strange shadows and perfumed the room with the stench of old tallow.
His eyes fixed on the altar where something had been draped in an expensive cloth.
Teyla moved alongside him, and scanned the room briefly before her gaze also fell on the cloth and she smiled slightly at Ronon. It was the right size and shape to be a ZPM.
Gaispare gestured. “Here,” he said reverently, “Here is our sacred Fire Glass.” And he bowed, holding out his arms, palm down, and his lips moved quietly, the cadence of his invocations increasing in intensity.
Teyla waited patiently. Ronon glowered, watching the Ellikan unhappily.
Gaispare’s mutterings stopped suddenly and his head lifted. He looked hopefully at the others while the flickering candles cast his face in half-darkness. “Please,” he said. “It is time. You may approach the Fire Glass.”
Obsequiously, he backed away, allowing Teyla and Ronon to move forward.
Ronon sneered at the man and stepped toward the altar. Teyla came with him, eager to see as well, and Ronon smiled a little. If this was a ZPM…
There was a sound - a creeping, scraping, grating sound.
Ronon and Teyla spun around in time to see the stone doorway begin to drop. Gaispare was disappearing behind it.
Ronon shouted in rage, and dove toward the exit. He knew it was too late, even as Teyla flung herself at him, keeping him from getting crushed under the falling heavy door.
The stone slab crashed down, shaking the floor beneath them. He bellowed in rage as the candlelight sputtered in the rush of air as they were sealed inside.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
The shout and the crash sounded from within the building and Sheppard surged into it. McKay was directly behind him, calling into his radio, “Ronon! Teyla? What happened?”
Sheppard listened as he made his way quickly through the first room, and then into the hallway. No response. Damn. Damn!
He proceeded into the candlelit corridor, squinting into the dimness and leveled his weapon at the flailing form that came toward him. He lowered the 9mm, but only slightly, as he heard the voice - Gaispare.
“Help! Help! Oh, please, help!” The man looked horrified, terrified, bereft.
“What?” McKay sputtered from behind Sheppard. “What happened? Where are the others? What’s going on?”
Gaispare looked frantically between the two. “There’s been an accident. I… I’m going for help.” He gestured down the hallway. “Go to them! Hurry! They need help!”
And then the Ellikan shoved past McKay and ran toward the exit.
Sheppard resisted the urge to grab hold of the departing man, but his team was in danger, and he moved in the direction they had gone. A moment later, he deeply regretted the choice as a familiar sound filled the space.
Something groaned and scraped. Sheppard turned in time to see the daylight disappear from the far end of the hall with a huge crash.
Gaispare was gone, and darkness capped either end of their hallway.
McKay ran toward the shut door, reaching for it and gasping before he let out a despairing, “We’re trapped. He trapped us!”
Sheppard sighed, let his weapon lower, and said the only thing appropriate to the situation. “Crap!”
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
“Rodney?” Teyla called as her hand reached for her radio. “Rodney?” She’d heard him for a moment, but the voice faded and she adjusted the equipment. “John?”
Ronon stormed about the small room, growling, “I’ll kill him! I will kill that creature!”
Teyla nodded and kept her eyes on the stone door.
“If they’ve hurt either of them…” Ronon went on, clenching his hands at his sides.
“There will be retribution,” Teyla agreed, and keyed her radio again. “Rodney!”
“Teyla!” a voice finally called in return, and she felt flooded with relief. “You okay? Thank God! Thank God! Sheppard, she’s okay. Ronon? Is Ronon okay, too?”
“Yes,” Teyla said with a small smile, glancing toward the enraged Satedan. “Yes, he is fine.”
Ronon frowned as he touched his radio. “Can’t hear them,” he said.
Teyla showed him how to boost the transmission. The minerals in the stone must affect communications, she thought and obviously, Rodney had figured this out already.
“Rodney, we are trapped within the inner chamber of the building,” she explained quickly. “A stone door has lowered and I don’t believe we’ll be able to lift it.”
“Yeah,” Sheppard drawled. “They got us, too.”
Ronon looked alarmed. “Where are you?”
“Well, if I’m right, we’re just on the other side of your stone door,” Sheppard told him.
Teyla stepped closer to the door, and touched it.
“They dropped a door at the entrance to the hallway,” Rodney said quickly. “God, how much air do you think’s in here?” His voice became higher with that comment.
“Plenty,” Sheppard responded. “Look, Ronon, Teyla, we’re stuck in a hallway with nothing. All four sides are solid stone. What do you got in there?”
“Our situation is similar,” Teyla replied as Ronon started searching the room. “The walls are decorated with images of people performing ceremonies. There are no windows and the ceilings are low. I see no sign of ventilation.” And with that, Teyla moved to the candles that remained lit and started blowing out the flames.
“I’m going to need to see,” Ronon commented.
“We have flashlights and glowsticks,” Teyla reminded him, as she pulled her P90 from her vest. “And it might be wise to conserve our oxygen.”
“Yeah, right,” Ronon replied, and blew out the candles nearest him.
She paused at the covered shape on the altar, and even though she already suspected her answer, she pulled back the cloth - and was not surprised to find nothing more than a ZPM-shaped rock.
Like so many of their ZPM searches - they were going to come back with nothing. And she paused with that realization. They were going to make it back. She had no doubts. Now, they only needed a plan.
Under the glow of a flashlight, Ronon continued to examine the room. “Nothing,” he muttered unhappily.
Rodney and John were talking on the other side of the radio transmission - squabbling really. It made Teyla feel a little better. The panic had left Rodney’s voice as he argued with Sheppard, and as long as her teammates were fighting about something, there was hope.
They did their best thinking that way.
Ronon moved back toward the door and squatted beside it to examine the bottom edge.
“Is there any hope of lifting it?” Teyla asked.
Ronon glowered. “It’s recessed,” he grumbled. “The sill was at least a thumbs-width deep.” Reluctantly, he glanced at Teyla. “I won’t be able to get under it - even with a lever.”
“There must be some mechanism for lifting it,” Teyla remarked.
“Yeah,” McKay responded on the radio. “There’s a counterweight on this side.”
Teyla waited a moment, knowing that there was more to the story.
“Rope was cut,” Sheppard filled in. “We’re not going to be able to get it reattached.”
Rodney squeaked, So we’re really trapped? Trapped like rats! Like slowly suffocating rats! This is not the way I wanted to die. I can definitely think of a lot better ways to go! Old age! That’s a good one!”
The panic was back.
“Rodney, calm down!” Sheppard stated sharply. “Come on, think! You have any other ideas?”
“Even if we had some C4 with us, we’d kill ourselves before we managed to blow a hole in the wall,” Rodney raged on. “Ronon’s blaster isn’t going to get us anywhere either. This place is built like a fortress! I suppose Ronon could throw the ZPM at the wall, but that would kill just about everyone in this city, and I seriously doubt that the ZPM even exists. We’re going to die here. That was probably their plan all along.”
Their best hope was to get Rodney thinking.
“Rodney!” Teyla cut in, “We must not give up. We must have hope. We will get out.”
“Yeah?” Rodney shot back. “What makes you think that?”
It was John who answered, “Because we always do. You always come up with something to save our bacon.”
And Rodney responded with a quieter, “Well…”
”Of course, I help -- al lot.” Sheppard added. You couldn’t do it without me. I come up with all of your best ideas.”
”You are so full of it,” McKay grumbled.
Teyla went on, “What is the purpose of this building? Is it a temple as they described?” and her voice trailed off as she directed her flashlight on the decorated walls. The old paintings were faded, layered with grease from the candles. It was difficult to discern much, but one thing was obvious. “This room was used for ceremonies concerning the dead.”
“Great! That would be fantastic if it actually helped. I take it the Ancients didn’t leave any of their tools behind. We’re in a stupid hallway, at least you have pictures to look at!” McKay spat back. “And, hello, we’re going to be dead soon, so I guess we’re in a fitting location.”
“Rodney!” Teyla snapped. “Think about it! Is this helpful to us?”
Over the radio, she heard Sheppard say, “Yeah, Rodney. Think about it.”
“Fine.” Rodney seemed to draw in a breath, and his voice calmed a little as he thought. “So, it’s a funeral home, or something. But there’s no cemetery nearby, is there? Teyla, what do they do with their dead on this planet?”
Teyla frowned. “I am unsure,” she admitted. “It is possible that they cremate the remains. Some societies send their dead through the Gate, to the ‘Realm of the Dead’.”
“Remind me not to go there!” McKay shot back.
“These people wouldn’t send their dead away,” Ronon said. “They like hanging onto stuff too much.”
Teyla had to agree with that assessment. There were people who clung to their possessions, and the Ellikans were of that ilk. They would keep their ‘stuff’ and they would keep their dead.
“There’s another building that’s just like this in the town, right?” Rodney said.
Teyla had minimum exposure to this planet, but had walked through the streets on occasion, in search of certain traders. “Yes,” she remembered. “There is another, but on the opposite side of the Gate.”
“Sheppard, point your flashlight over there, would you?”
A few minutes of chattering followed, that amounted to Sheppard mostly saying that he saw nothing, but McKay insisting that he saw something.
Teyla and Ronon waited.
“It’s just a rock, McKay,” Sheppard finally announced. “A big flat piece of slate or something. There’s nothing to see.”
“Well of course,” McKay muttered. “We’re in a hallway. It would be worn away. Ronon! Teyla! What’s on the floor in there?”
They pointed their lights downward, and at first, Teyla saw nothing but the rectangles of stone. But she frowned as she discerned some differences. “There is a pattern, an irregular pattern on each stone,” she said. “It is too difficult to see. It has been nearly obliterated with time.”
“Check close to the wall. Look where nobody can walk easily.”
She moved around the altar and shone the light into the corner - and then it was obvious. “There are letters and what appears to be dates,” she declared. She couldn’t read the language, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what was recorded. “Names,” she decided. “Memorials.”
“There’s a face here,” Ronon stated, shining his light into a different area.
Teyla came alongside him and saw the faces looking back at her from another corner - a man and woman carved into stone, their features flat and strange. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she could find the nearly gone faces, names and numbers carved into every stone beneath their feet.
“There are many memorials here,” Teyla said softly. “I believe that every stone in the floor is a grave marker.”
“Great!” Rodney commented, sounding a little giddy.
Teyla stated seriously, “We are walking on memorials for the dead.” And she closed her eyes, sending quiet prayers to whatever deity might protect their souls.
Rodney went on, “Ronon, ah, you think you can… lift one?”
Teyla faced Ronon, aghast at the idea. “We will be desecrating graves, Rodney. And for what purpose?”
“Yeah, Rodney. Why?” Sheppard responded.
Ronon was already crouched beside the stones in front of the altar - picking one of the smaller ones with wide seams around it. He pulled a knife from his back and was worked the blade into the space between stones.
“Is this necessary?” Teyla persisted. “What do you hope to find in their graves?”
“If I’m right,” McKay replied, “And I usually am… it’s not just a grave under the floor. It’s something a whole lot bigger.”
There was a pause, and then Sheppard said, “You’re thinking it’s a catacomb?”
Teyla watched as Ronon ran his knife all along the edge of the stone, and then worked to wedge the blade underneath to lift the piece.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure of it,” Rodney went on. “Fairly sure.”
“And if we get down there, you think we can get out somewhere?”
“It’s possible.”
“The other building? You think they’re connected by the catacomb?”
“There’s a chance.”
“It’s not as if the other building is just next door, Rodney.”
“And these people have been living on the planet for centuries. I’m thinking there are a lot of dead people down there, and that’s going to take up some room. I mean, what else do we got? Do we just wait until the Ellikans deal with us? Yeah, we might be able to take ‘em, but honestly, if I was one of those guys, I’d just leave the prisoners walled up in this tomb like Fortunado until we suffocated or starved to death. Care for a cask of amontillado?”
“Yeah, and I’d rather take them on our own terms. But, Atlantis will check in. They’ll come looking for us.”
“Great, but will they find us? I couldn’t get any readings through that stone. Unless someone narks, they won’t have any idea where we went.”
“Didn’t you file a report about this ‘Temple’?”
“I didn’t know for sure that this was where they’d bring us. We really should check the catacombs. There should be more air down there. Do you think we’re running out of air?”
There was a long sigh, and then Sheppard said, “Ronon, you think you can get one of those stones lifted?”
Ronon already had his fingers under the plate and was pulling up on it. Stale air rose from the space as he pulled it out of place. He let the plate fall on the floor beside them, as he replied, “Yeah, no problem.”
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
Sheppard squatted, trying to get a knife worked in-between the floor stones. McKay paced the narrow hallway.
The stone just wasn’t moving. “You really think this is the way into the catacombs?”
“From here? Not necessarily,” McKay answered. “I mean, why would anyone put an entrance in the hallway? At least if Ronon and Teyla are done there, they might figure out how to get us out. Send for help. Something like that.”
“Yeah,” Sheppard answered, and then touched his radio. “Everything going okay?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Yeah,”was Ronon’s curt reply.
“If you can,” Sheppard said, “Make your way to the Gate. You can send reinforcements to free us and…”
“I think we got it figured out,” Ronon responded. And then, with a gritty, grinding noise, the floor next to Sheppard started to move.
Sheppard moved to one side, and McKay spun about and directed his light at the square of stone that started to shift.
“You were trying to move the wrong one,” McKay pointed out. “Probably only one of the panels can be lifted.”
Sheppard grimaced. “It was hard to tell with all the wear on the stones.” He moved in to help Ronon. “You think they’ve used the ceremony room recently to plant some new corpses?”
McKay crouched beside him. “They have to put their dead somewhere.”
“Why the big heavy doors though? Why do they need that?”
Rodney sighed. “Maybe this is meant to be a prison. Maybe it’s ceremonial. Maybe they have serious issues about the undead rising,” he said as they moved the slate aside.
“Hey,” Ronon said as he poked his head through the floor.
“So…” McKay started, looking a little queasy at the hole in the ground. “Is it okay down there?”
“Yeah,” Ronon said.
“No zombies or anything?” McKay tried.
“Haven’t seen any.” Ronon told him.
Standing near him, Teyla stated, “There are several small tunnels, but the largest goes in the direction of the other building.” And she pointed her flashlight. “I believe we might find our exit.”
Ronon studied Rodney. “If we’re going to another building just like this one, you think it has big stone doors on it, too.”
“Yes, probably,” Rodney admitted. “They might not have lowered them. I mean, the doors were open when we came in. Hopefully the other building is that way, too. They might not have figured out what we’re doing.”
“Well,” Sheppard said, “we’d better get moving then.”
And Ronon ducked out of the hole to allow the others to step in. Sheppard swiveled his legs in first.
McKay hesitated, wringing his hands. “Are there a lot of bodies down there?” he asked, his voice a squeak. “Like partially-decomposed, mummy things?”
“Bones,” Ronon told him. “Lots of bones.”
“Oh, okay,” McKay said quietly as Sheppard stepped down into the hole. “As long as they’re just bones. Nothing moving around or anything?”
“Just bones,” Ronon repeated. “They’re not doing anything.”
Sheppard moved out of the way once he was down. “Come on, Rodney,” he encouraged. “Faster we get to the other side, the better chance we have of getting out.”
And drawing a breath, McKay entered the catacombs.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
It was dark. The light from their P90s carved into the blackness, revealing the tunnels. Some of the corridors were short, only going back a hundred feet or so. Others seemed to go on forever, their ends swallowed up in darkness.
McKay shrunk away from the walls as he shined his light into one of the divots. The niches were three or four high, looking like berths on an old sleeper car - each was long enough to accept a stretched out corpse.
And within each repository, there were bones. McKay watched the play of light against the bones -- noticed the way his flashlight seemed to light the eye sockets of the skulls.
Rodney redirected his light to the next ossuary. Three skulls looked back to him, their eyeholes dark. Another space seemed full of skulls - eight or nine, all lined up -- a family crypt perhaps?
All totally creepy!
Ronon was moving. Rodney hardly noticed what he was doing until he heard the grating, horrific sound of stone being dragged over stone. Ronon was resetting the tablet above their heads. McKay cringed as he looked up, just in time to see the low candlelight from above being blotted out.
“Do you have to do that?” he asked weakly.
Ronon shrugged. “If they ever open those doors, it probably won’t take the Ellikans long to figure out where we’ve gone,” he said. “Still, it doesn’t hurt to screw with them.” And he moved to cover the other hole.
“Slow them down if nothing else,” Sheppard added, peering into the blackness all around them. When the second panel scraped against stone, Sheppard added, “And give us some clue that they’re coming.”
They waited as Ronon finished his work. McKay stepped closer to one of the niches, peering into the area behind the skulls, and frowned a little.
“Where are the rest of the bones?” he asked.
“The rest of them? This place is full of them,” Sheppard commented.
“No, really, they’re missing whole bodies back there. See? There’s on a few femurs and maybe some pelvic bones with all these skulls.”
“I guess there wasn’t room in these more crowded crypts,” Sheppard replied. “I wouldn’t worry about it.” And then he asked, “Do you really think we’ll be able to get out at the other building?”
Rodney shrugged. “Maybe,” he said. He looked at the crypts again, directing his light all around. “These bones look pretty old. The Ellikans have to be putting their dead down here somewhere, just not in this area.”
“Then it is reasonable to assume that they are opening the catacombs at the other location,” Teyla decided. “Closer to where they are interring their dead.”
And Rodney smiled, glad to hear her agree - if for no other reason than to believe they had a chance of getting out again.
“Let’s go,” said Sheppard. And so they started moving.
McKay fell in behind Sheppard, trying to not pay too much attention to what was around him, being sure that he didn’t accidently rub against any of the skulls. He hated the way the shadows moved, making it look as if something was moving within the crypts.
Rats? Were there rats in there? No, something smaller. Frantically, he shone the light about, catching nothing by the grin of a jawbone and the shadows thrown up by long bones. Just your imagination, he told himself, and gave Teyla a little reassuring grin before continuing on.
Stupid imagination!
Another skull greeted him, sitting a little askew in its crypt. It looked jaunty. Above it was a space with four skulls of graduated sizes.
Rodney talked, because he needed to talk. “Someone must come back to rearrange the skulls later on.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t like that job. Think about how gross that would be? There must be stuff and goo hanging off the bones sometimes. How long do you think it takes for a body to get to this state? So that just the bones are left?”
“Longer than you’d think,” Ronon said.
“It must smell to high heaven when they have bodies down here, doing their rotting away thing.” McKay winced at the thought. And then, he sniffed warily. He found a moldering odor of decay, but not exactly what he’d expect from a pit of decomposing body parts.
“They must use something to speed up the decomposition process, don’t you think?” McKay asked.
“Yeah,” Ronon responded. “Probably that.” And he pointed to the wall.
Rodney frowned and then pointed his light where Ronon had indicated. Something moved. Something small - tiny. He had to step closer to get a good look. “Ants!” he declared when he recognized the shapes.
“They’re called jiats,” Teyla corrected as she moved in alongside Rodney and they both peered at the little line of insects that crawled along the wall.
The insects were small, resembling sugar ants, but with huge mandibles. They moved in a line, climbing the wall and disappearing into some crack in the ceiling. Rodney pulled back in case one of them had any sudden ideas.
“This entire catacomb must be infested with them,” Teyla decided. “They are known to live in dark places and be carrion eaters. I have heard of them employed in this fashion before.” She nodded to the bones in on a nearby shelf. “They clean the bones.”
“Okay, that’s disgusting,” Rodney declared, but then considered the situation. “But, as long as they just eat the ‘carrion’, I’m okay with that. They probably keep this place a lot less disgusting, right? Just keep them away from me!”
He glanced to Sheppard and found him stepping away from the marching insects. “So,” Sheppard said evenly, “carrion eaters. That means they’re not going to eat any living flesh?”
“This is usually the case,” Teyla replied with a tight smile.
“Usually, huh?” Sheppard pursued.
“They have been known to take live prey when no other food is available,” Teyla told him evenly as she watched the creatures move.
Sheppard did not look happy. He sighed, and asked, “How much farther until we reach the other end?”
“We’re not even halfway,” Ronon noted.
“Okay. Let’s keep moving then,” Sheppard took point, hurrying into the darkness as if he wanted to get away from the ant-like jiats. “So, what was the purpose of these tunnels?” he asked. “Did they dig all of this just for the dead?”
McKay shrugged. “I’m thinking that this might have been a mine at some point. That would explain the weird little offshoot tunnels.” And he paused, shining a light into the side tunnel. It stretched out for a distance, and then either ended, or curved off in a new direction. “The main tunnel is pretty straight, so I’m thinking we’re on the right track.”
“Good,” Sheppard replied. “Keep moving.”
Rodney paused as he reached one vault. It seemed full-up with skulls - the front was a wall of faces. Many of the skulls were tiny- children, babies - a family with generations of heartbreak. God, how many children had they lost? He started to count them.
Teyla touched him lightly on the shoulder and he stopped the process and moved forward, blinking his eyes to try and rid himself of the image.
They journeyed onward. Rodney spotted little lines of jiats from time to time, as they meandered about the crypts, probably looking for some last scrap to eat. He gripped his P90 tightly as he considered that the other end of this tunnel, if it was the ‘active’ part of the catacombs, there might be some new bodies loaded in there. He really, really didn’t want to find any corpses, all crawling with ants.
He shuddered at the thought, and his steps quickened.
Their lights turned their shadows into giants. Their footsteps made hollow sounds. Their breathing echoed, sounding louder than normal, sounding like some great living thing was nearby.
And there was a drip. They could hear it - liquid falling from some ceiling. It sounded cold and terrifically forlorn. There was something lonely about the sound of water dripping onto stone. Rodney clutched his jacket shut and pointed his P90’s light into every side tunnel that they encountered.
“Might as well turn off that light, Rodney,” Sheppard said from in front.
“Why?” McKay shot back. “I need it!”
“You keep shining it in my eyes every time I turn my head,” Sheppard snapped. “Turn it off. Conserve the battery. You don’t need it if Ronon and I have ours on.”
Behind him, Teyla turned off her flashlight, and Rodney sighed as he did the same. The light from the two remaining sources was sufficient to see - with John in the lead and Ronon at the end -- but every time Ronon turned around, shining his light behind them to sweep the area, Rodney felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as darkness swallowed them up.
The group said little. Rodney kept his head high, not wanting to see any more of the skulls or the bones, or their lonely little holes on the wall. He didn’t want to see the little skulls all stacked together.
Suddenly, with the sound of a coconut being struck, his foot connected with something and he hopped a moment to catch his balance as the debris smacked into the wall.
“What was that?” he hissed.
Sheppard had already found the source, illuminating a skull near a dark water stain.
The team said nothing, and John started to move forward again.
“Wait, wait,” McKay called as he stooped down. “This has to go back where it belongs.”
“How are you going to figure that out?” Ronon asked shining his light into to the carved holes.
McKay sighed as he crouched beside the forgotten skull. “Because, it has a place. The family would want it put back.”
In all this strangeness, Rodney just wanted something to be right. How could he just kick a skull? Ronon was directing his light into the niches, but all of the sites appeared to be occupied. There was no obvious gap in any of the collections.
Rodney frowned. “I don’t want to put it in the wrong place. I mean, what if there’s a family feud or something?”
“Leave it then,” Sheppard said.
Rodney’s hand hovered near the thing. It didn’t seem right to just leave it on the floor - but he really didn’t want to touch it. At least, it wasn’t in the middle of the corridor anymore. Over by the side, it would be less likely to be drop-kicked again, right?
The water stain in the floor moved and McKay blinked. “Can you shine the light over here, Ronon?” he asked, and felt sorry he’d requested it when he saw what was illuminated.
Ants.
Not just a thin line, but hundreds of them, all squiggling and squirreling around, coming down the wall and pooling on the floor.
Squirked, McKay straightened quickly, stepping away rapidly until he slammed into the wall at the opposite side.
Sheppard, making the same realization, flinched from them, and tried to look cool about it.
McKay said nothing as the colonel came closer to him, but he frowned as the floor seemed to vibrate. He looked down, finding that they were suddenly standing on wood instead of stone, and he wondered why.
And then the ground gave way and they were plunged into darkness.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
“No!” Teyla shouted, lunging toward them as they disappeared. But they were gone.
“Sheppard!” Ronon shouted. “McKay!” The sound of the cave-in continued, rumbling like thunder, as if it would go on forever. Rodney and John shouted, their voices getting eaten up in the roar, growing fainter with incredible speed.
The wall on the far side crumbled. Stones near the hole collapsed. Bones and rock were tossed after them. Ronon tried to spring in and stop the wall from falling, but stopped short as the floor shuddered beneath him.
The crackling, rumbling, tumbling finally came to an end. The stones along the wall stopped tottering. The shelves were now empty of bone. Nothing else fell.
All was quiet except for the clatter and tumult in the hole, but even that faded to nothing. Teyla quickly edged forward, keeping a tight grip on Ronon’s arm. The Satedan played his part and provided an anchor for her.
“Rodney?” she cried, stretching toward the cave-in, sweeping her P90’s light over the ragged hole that seemed to steam with dust.
It was dark below, black as pitch. A pit, carved through the stone floor, had been covered with wood that had rotted through. Her light caught the motes and lit them like living things, making it impossible to see very far. She frowned, not finding John’s light. “John! Rodney?” she called again.
Finally, the dust cleared, revealing a strange chute beneath that sloped, twisting out of site.
“What is it?” Ronon asked tersely. “Are they okay?”
Teyla tried to keep her voice neutral, as she said, “I cannot see them.”
“Okay,” Ronon said and carefully stepped alongside Teyla.
Teyla knew that it would be wise to get around the hole and continue toward the exit. There was a chance it wasn’t blocked. If they could escape from the catacombs, get past the Ellikans and return to the Gate. They could return with help from Atlantis. At the very least, they could find a rope and climbing gear in the town.
And she continued to shine the light downward, seeing the darkness and the depth and hearing no further sound from their companions.
They needed help. They needed ropes. They needed to discover if the other end of the tunnel was clear. But Rodney and John might be hurt…
Ronon shrugged out of Teyla’s grip and leaned out over the hole. Then, seeming to form a plan, he crouched at the edge. He gave one look to Teyla before letting himself drop.
She watched him catch his balance on the steep floor. He braced his hands on opposite sides of the chute and looked up at her expectantly.
So she sat down at the edge of the hole. As she handed her P90 to Ronon, the light lit the ceiling.
The last thing she noted as she lowered herself onto the slope below was that the ceiling of the catacomb was alive with jiats. She ducked her head and followed Ronon.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
“Gah,” Sheppard voiced, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to force back the pain that engulfed him. Then his eyes shot open.
Blackness.
He sneezed, violently, and the pain hit his chest, nearly making him puke. He gasped and sneezed again, in agony.
Dust. There was too much dust.
“Rodney!” he called, his voice echoed in the close darkness. “Rodney!”
No answer. Where was he?
Light. John needed light, but where was his P90?
He was on sharp rocks. He tried to get a particularly pointed one out of the small of his back, but his shoulder spat at him in pain - radiating all through his chest.
God!! And he clenched his arm to his chest as he breathed through it, and tried not to sneeze again. Freakin’ great!
“Rodney!” he called again.
Nothing.
Dammit.
He felt about with his right hand, and suffered an electric buzz of pain through his collarbone. “Rodney? McKay?”
He touched his ear, looking for his radio, but couldn’t find it. Great.
Rocks. Just lots of rocks. And bones. Yeah, that one was definitely a bone. He kept searching in the blackness, trying to locate something that could help him. The back of his hand glanced on what might have been the barrel of a gun, but it turned out to be a femur.
God this sucked!
Bones and rocks. He needed to find Rodney. He needed light and he had to find Rodney. He shifted, carefully holding his arm to keep his clavicle from shifting as he got onto his knees to increase his range. His knees weren’t really happy about the change in position, but they would survive it.
He’d fallen, sliding down on some funhouse slide from hell with rocks and skulls and all sorts of crap raining down. He’d seen Rodney a moment and then blackness as he lost his P90 and the light. After that, there was only darkness and shouting and clunking and clattering and a lot of hurt.
And now, stillness.
Except, far off, he could hear a sound, a scrabbling, scraping sound that made his hair stand on end. What the hell was that?
“Rodney!” he called again, putting so much sharpness into the call that his chest ached. He was rewarded with a quiet groan.
He smiled a little. “Rodney?” he called again, softer, and he moved toward the sound. “Rodney? Where are you, buddy?” He kept crawling, holding his jaw tight to combat the pain across his shoulders and hoping he didn’t ram his head into something.
And he could still hear that sound, growing closer. Muffled muttering seemed to accompany it, like the voices of ghosts.
He reached out as he moved, feeling his way. Finally he touched something other than hard rock and bone - a boot.
Yes!
He moved, sliding across the rocks, edging his way closer to Rodney - shoving bones out of the way, swatting his hand above his head in case a stalactite wanted to crown him.
A boot, a leg, a knee. The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone.
Finally, he was alongside his friend, and he shook him gently, calling, “Rodney? Come on, say something.”
He heard a quiet, thick, “What?”
Good. Finally. “Where’s your P90?” Sheppard asked as he felt about, and found it still attached to Rodney’s vest.
“Where’s yours?” Rodney returned, his voice a quiet and annoyed slur. “Lost it? Always getting lost…”
“Never mind that. Yours will do,” Sheppard said as he unclipped it from Rodney and then flipped the switch. He let out a silent thank you as the light came on, and he instantly winced at the brightness of it.
He blinked, clearing his vision. First, he saw only the wall in front of him. They were in a room -- a small room. He lowered his gaze to Rodney, who was rolled up against the wall, looking limp. His face was covered with blood.
The scuffing noise continued. He swung the light around, trying to find the source. About six feet up, there was a hole in the wall, and when he directed the light into it, he saw that the hole angled upward -- the bottom of a chute.
Well , he thought, that’s how we got here.
Rodney groaned, and Sheppard returned his attention to his friend.
“Hey,” he called softly. “You okay?” He settled the P90 nearby, jamming it amid some of the debris to keep it upright.
“You blind?” McKay snapped. “Do I look okay?” Rodney squinted, turning his head slightly to look at Sheppard. His tight expression softened as he said, worriedly, “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah,” Sheppard responded, running the back of his hand over his cheek. It stung. The hand came back bloody. Great. “Figured as much. Mostly bruises. Might have broken my collarbone. That’s gonna smart for a while. You’re a mess.”
Rodney let out a breath and let his head rest again, only to jerk it suddenly up. “What? Oh God, we’re laying on bones!”
“Calm down, Rodney!” Sheppard ordered as he rested a hand on Rodney to keep him still. Bones? Yeah, there were bones, but… damn!
He was right. These weren’t rocks - it was a pile of human bones. Hundreds of them - filling the space -- small bones, vertebrae, rib bones, finger bones. “What is this place?” Sheppard questioned.
“It’s a garbage pit of bones!” McKay murmured. His eyes fixed on the shattered bones all around him. “Oh God, what level of hell is this?”
“Calm down, Rodney. It’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?” McKay’s voice got higher, and then he closed his eyes as he concentrated. “Okay, okay. They’re just bones. Yeah, that’s right.” his voice became calmer as he thought. He licked his lips and continued, “I didn’t think there were enough bones in the catacombs. The Ellikans must have just dumped the extra bones down here. Just swept them off the floor and down the garbage chute.”
“Frickin’ great,” Sheppard grumbled, trying to shuffle into a better position, but feeling really weird about it because he was kicking human bones out of the way.
He heard the scrabbling sound and looked to the black hole. The sound stopped and started and stopped again, and then he heard a voice call out, “Sheppard? McKay?”
It echoed hollowly, but the voice certainly improved John’s mood. “Ronon!”
“Sheppard! You okay?”
“Okay?” McKay squawked. “We’re almost dead!”
“We’re pretty banged up,” Sheppard shouted. “But we’re not dead.”
“We’re coming,” Teyla called.
“You guys think that’s the best idea?” Sheppard called. “We’re kinda stuck down here, and not really in shape to climb out. You might want to get help.”
“We’re coming,” Ronon repeated Teyla’s sentiment.
“There’s about a six foot drop at the end of the slide,” Sheppard told him.
Ronon chuckled. “That’s not going to be a problem. I’ll be able to get back out.”
“Fine,” Sheppard called. “Suit yourself. It’ll be good to see you.”
Rodney had sat up a little during the conversation, but he winced as if the effort was too much and returned to his original place.
Damn it. Sheppard leaned closer to Rodney, trying to get a better look at him. He looked horrible -- pale and bleeding from dozens of scrapes, the worst of which was a gashed and swollen side of his head. Yeah, it looked as if Rodney had whacked his head pretty badly.
That had to hurt.
Sheppard unzipped a pocket on Rodney’s vest and drew out a dressing.
“What are you doing?” Rodney asked.
“Going to see what I can do to patch you up. Don’t want you bleeding over everything.”
“Be sure you use antibiotic ointment!” McKay insisted. He brought up a hand to get the requested packet, but his movements were slow and sloppy.
Sheppard told him, “I’ll take care of it.” And batted away Rodney’s ineffectually reaching hand, and instantly regretted it as the action sent bolts of pain through his collar and he sucked a lungful of air through his teeth.
“Sorry,” Rodney said, his eyes filled with regret.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sheppard told him, trying not to be too concerned about the unevenness of Rodney’s pupils.
“The antibiotic ointment…” McKay returned to his pervious issue, “…use a lot. We don’t know what kind of horrible horrible old diseases are in this place. God! What do you think killed all these people? What if it was a plague? I might get Black Death! Or whatever the Pegasus galaxy calls it. I catch a cold every time someone sneezes in my direction. Oh, God, these people might have all been killed by some bone infection or Ebola or a flesh eating virus or...”
“These bones are old, Rodney. There’s nothing living down here. No bacteria or virus could still be here.” He picked up a bone for emphasis, and tapped it on the wall. It made a hollow ‘tonk’. “They are just lots of people who died over centuries.”
“And we’re lying on them. You think about that? Hundreds of dead people!”
“Don’t think about it,” Sheppard said as he dropped the bone and picked up the first aid kit with one hand.
“You’re going to sterilize your hands first, right?” McKay asked, looking at where the bone had fallen.
Sheppard signed, and dutifully opened an antiseptic wipe, cleaned his hands, and then tore open a wound wipe to clean the bleeding cut on Rodney’s head.
Rodney hissed and screwed his head further into the bone pile as Sheppard worked. The cut was pretty bad and the bleeding wasn’t stopping. “Ow!” McKay complained. “Ow!”
“Quit being a baby,” Sheppard told him, being as careful as he could. He tore open a packet of Neosporin with his teeth and squeezed the contents directly onto the bleeding cut. “Happy?”
Rodney winced. “Ecstatic!”
As he applied the bandage over the wound, Sheppard asked, “You hurt anywhere else?”
“I’ve probably bruised every inch of my body!” Rodney grumbled, but there was little strength in his comment.
“Okay, besides that…” Sheppard continued. He looked toward the chute, still hearing the scuffling - seeing light now. Ronon and Teyla were getting closer. Obviously, they were moving slowly to avoid falling. They weren’t idiots. “How are you feeling?”
Rodney sighed deeply. “I feel like my head’s going to split open. I’m seeing double. My back really hurts. My leg hurts. My arm really hurts. I can hardly move.”
“Do you think you broke any bones?”
“Probably broke a bunch,” Rodney said, one hand touching a shattered rib bone nearby. He lifted his eyes to meet Sheppard’s gaze.
“Any of your own bones?” Sheppard tried the question again.
Rodney blinked. “You’re bleeding,” he said again.
“Yeah, I know. We both are,” Sheppard said quietly.
“You should take care of that.”
“I will,” Sheppard said as he opened another wound wipe and tried to take care of some of Rodney’s other visible scrapes.
Rodney flinched as Sheppard worked and his voice became softer as he said, “And I’m … I just feel so tired. I feel… weird.”
“Weird isn’t anything new for you.”
“Yeah…” Rodney said, his voice trailing off.
“Stay awake, Rodney! Ronon and Teyla are coming.”
“They’ll get us out,” Rodney said.
Sheppard nodded at that statement. “We’ll figure out something.”
McKay blinked again, staring out in front of him, and he swallowed before saying, “Door…” And his eyes closed.
“Yeah, we could use one,” Sheppard said. “Think you can make one magically appear?”
Rodney didn’t respond.
“Rodney?” Sheppard said sharply. “Rodney, don’t you fall asleep! Wake your ass up!” He jostled McKay’s shoulder. “Rodney!”
McKay opened his eyes as if he was really trying to awaken, but the eyes were unfocused and his eyelids quickly fell.
“Don’t!” John pressed a hand against Rodney’s forehead, not finding a fever. The head wound continued to bleed, staining the bandage.
Unable to wake him, Sheppard leaned against the wall and looked toward the bottom of the chute, and smiled a little as Ronon peeked his head out, braced on either side of the passage. Ronon grinned at his victory
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
“Hey,” Ronon said, he balanced at the bottom of the chute, looking at the bone pile, and then he lifted his gaze to take in Sheppard and McKay. They were both bloodied and bruised. McKay wasn’t moving. “You guys look bad,” he said and carefully lowered himself down.
“Yeah, I know,” Sheppard responded, sounding a little annoyed at the comment.
Ronon couldn’t help it if he spoke the truth. He turned to give Teyla a hand and she easily made her way to the boney floor.
“You sure you can get back out of here?” Sheppard asked.
“I can brace myself,” Ronon told them, and he nodded to Teyla. “Not so easy for her, but we managed. Don’t know why you didn’t do it.”
Sheppard sneared. “You weren’t falling in total darkness with rocks and bones and a McKay and God knows what else coming down on you. It’s a miracle we survived.”
Yeah, that was true. Rodney looked especially rough - too pale and too still. Ronon moved carefully over the crunching bones and squatted beside Rodney. He rested a hand on his head, careful of the bandage, and Rodney flinched a little at the touch.
Dex couldn’t see any immediate signs of broken bones or any other excessive bleeding. That didn’t mean that something wasn’t seriously wrong. “How is he?” he asked, his gaze not leaving Rodney’s still face.
“I don’t know,” Sheppard said with a sigh. “He was talking for a while, but then he just drifted off and I can’t wake him. I think he’s mostly beaten up with the fall, but he hit his head pretty hard. He said he hurt all over, but didn’t offer any real specific information.”
Ronon raised his gaze to meet Sheppard’s. “And you?”
The colonel winced as he tried to shrug. “Pretty sure that I broke my collarbone,” he said, sounding embarrassed. “Other than that, bruises and scrapes.” He looked at his arms that rested in his lap. “I won’t be able to climb.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Ronon declared, returning his gaze to McKay. The head bandage was darkening with blood.
McKay was rarely so quiet.
“So,” Sheppard started, “We need to come up with a plan on getting us out.”
“Even once we manage that, we still need to discover a means of escaping the catacombs,” Teyla said from her place near the wall. She stood as if she didn’t want to disturb the bones. “Ronon can return to the upper level to search for an exit and I can remain with you.” She glanced to Ronon for approval. “Perhaps you can return to the Gate for help without catching the attention of the Ellikans.”
Ronon nodded, but Sheppard grimaced, saying, “Do we really want Ronon to go on alone?”
“I can handle it,” Ronon told him. “Teyla should stay with you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Sheppard shot back, trying to cross his arms defiantly, but failing as he ended up gasping and groaning and glaring instead. “Besides, I think we’re pretty safe in here. What could possibly happen?”
“Those jiats might get in,” Ronon reminded.
Sheppard expression fell, and he turned his head toward the chute. “Thanks for the reminder.”
Ronon focused his light on the on the walls of the room, searching for any sign of the insects. Nothing. Good. He narrowed his eyes as he got a good look at the surroundings. “What is this place?”
“Some sort of bone pit,” Sheppard told him. “A garbage dump.”
“Looks different from the other rooms,” Ronon muttered, looking about the space with his flashlight. “It’s smoother,” he finally pronounced.
Teyla nodded, and turned toward the wall, running a hand over the surface. “He’s right,” she said softly. “This is not carved stone.”
“What is it then?” Sheppard asked.
Ronon touched the wall and smiled a little in recognition. “It’s like Atlantis,” he stated.
Sheppard sat up at that comment, groaning as he clutched his arm, but he managed to turn and face the wall. He grinned a little. “Oh,” he said, “This is totally Ancient design. Rodney!” and he gave McKay a little shove.
“Ngrh,” McKay muttered.
“Come on, Rodney,” Sheppard called, sounding excited. “Wake up and look around. Do you have any idea what we’ve fallen into?”
“Wha?” Rodney responded, blinking at him, but his eyes still didn’t seem to focus and he really wasn’t with them.
“Rodney, wake up. Come on,” Sheppard cajoled. And then he seemed to remember something. “Door! You said something about a door.”
“Yeah,” Rodney said, his voice quiet. He licked his lips as if preparing to say something profound, and then said, “Drghn,” before he closed his eyes again.
Sheppard made a disappointed sound and sighed.
“Door?” Ronon repeated. He turned from the pair and scanned the room. There was nothing to see except bones for a floor, smooth walls with the opening to the chute above. A domed roof completed the room.
He didn’t see a door.
McKay’s head was at floor level. Ronon adjusted his gaze, staring at the wall directly in front of McKay, just above the bone floor. Nothing still. He moved closer to the wall.
And there, just barely visible, just above the scattered bones, he could see a line, a break in the wall. It didn’t look like much. Not really anything he’d bother with, but if McKay had seen a door.
He lowered himself to his knees and started digging through the bones.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
Part 2
Author: nottasha
Genre: Action Adventure
Prompt Catacombs
Word Count: 18,500
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: The team is trapped on an alien world, and the only escape is through the catacombs.
The town stretched through the valley, filling it with dark streets, houses, shops and little factories. The city of Ellik had existed for centuries with its old stone structures remained, heavy and foreboding, decorated with dark ornamentation. Newer buildings were crowded in, looking less formidable, but equally ugly.
Chimneys chuffed. Horse-like animals drew carts through rutted streets. Piles of manure dotted the byways. People stood along the filthy walkways, pressed against the buildings and holding their children close.
The streets stank. Litter was piled everywhere. The alleyways were filled with broken carts and other useless trappings. The walls that faced them were coated with years of soot, with centuries of grime. Narrow windows looked out on the narrow streets, and pale faces gazed out of them, watching the strangers who moved in their midst. Thin children sat in doorways, watching.
There was something so hopeless about these people, as if they knew this was their lot and there was nothing else left for them. Children should not be so listless.
Ronon’s eyes fixed on the faces. He didn’t like the situation. Too many people were watching. Too many people had the high ground. The place felt wrong. He was taut, ready for anything as his team moved through the town.
Beside him, Teyla mimicked his movements, looking upward, and then all around, keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. She wasn’t comfortable either.
Ahead walked McKay and Sheppard. McKay was talking, gesturing, pointing, and glancing to his scanner. “Look,” he said, indicating one big building. “This is the library that was listed in our information. That’s their central council building.”
Sheppard nodded to his words, but was watchful as well.
In the lead was a small delegation of Ellikans. They would turn and look over their shoulders to offer encouraging smiles. “It is just a short distance,” one of them, Gaispare, said. “We are nearly there.”
“Yes,” Rodney responded, glancing to his scanner. “I know. I downloaded a map.”
“Good to know,” Sheppard muttered and, distracted by movement in a doorway, almost stepped in some sort of mess.
“I swear to God,” McKay grumbled, “If anyone shouts ‘gardy loo’, I’m using Ronon for cover,” and he hooked a thumb in Ronon’s direction.
Ronon wasn’t sure what the phrase meant, but figured he’d duck.
Dex knew little of the particular planet. It was on his list of places that he didn’t need to visit - ever. Teyla had been the expert, having come to the planet in the past to trade. She made a sour face at the mere mention of the place, and that was telling enough.
But they had recently received intel that a ZPM might be located at the site - secretly worshipped by the upper caste of the planet. So, they’d come to check the idol.
McKay kept gazing at his scanner and fiddling with it. He groaned and held it out. “I’m not picking up anything. The ZPM must not be active because I’m not getting a power signature. Either that or these walls are too thick to allow any readings to get through.”
Gaispare’s eyes flitted to McKay’s device. “Can you see the Fire Glass with that?”
“Like I said,” McKay muttered. “I’m not seeing anything.”
“But it shows you the way?” Gaispare looked intrigued.
“We have a map,” Rodney said with a smile. “It’s probably a couple hundred years out of date, but it has the Temple on it.” He looked down in time to avoid some unpleasantness in his path. He ran into Sheppard in the process and nearly forced him to slosh through a particularly ugly pile.
“McKay,” Sheppard snapped as he made a little leap to avoid it. “Watch it!”
“I am,” Rodney replied. “What do you think I’m doing?”
Sheppard sighed noisily. McKay harrumphed. Teyla let out a slow breath. Ronon kept moving, watching the faces that peered at them - eyes the followed - mouths held tightly. A row of little children peered from a window, their grubby hands holding back grubby curtains.
There was something wrong. Something was terribly wrong here.
“Here!” Clarifor, another of the delegation cried. “We are here!”
Squat and ugly, the building sat at the end of the street, as if blocking them from going any further.
“This is the Temple of the Fire Glass,” Clarifor went on, smiling widely.
Sheppard cocked his head at the place. The building was black and bleak and as old as time. He turned to McKay and asked, “Does this look like a temple to you?”
“Sure, why not?” McKay answered as he held his scanner to check his map. “Yes, this is the place.” He frowned. “Even if the ZPM was active inside, I might not be able to get a reading from it. Those walls must be a yard thick.”
“Come,” Gaispare said. “We shall show you our treasure.” And he stepped into a dark open doorway.
McKay moved to follow, but Ronon shoved him back. The Satedan peered into the space, seeing an inner room, and a dim hallway beyond. The interior was even uglier than the outside.
Ronon turned to Sheppard. “I don’t like it,” he told him.
“You don’t like anything,” McKay huffed, folding his arms over his chest.
“Yeah,” Sheppard said, responding to Ronon. “What do you think, McKay. Is there a ZPM inside?”
With an exaggerated sigh, McKay held up his scanner and declared, “I don’t know. I can’t read anything through this rock. But this is the place described by the trader.”
“Not exactly the situation we want to go waltzing into,” Sheppard muttered.
“I’ll check it out,” Ronon said, looking into the building and glaring at Gaispare who waited within at the entrance of the hallway.
“Me, too,” Rodney said enthusiastically.
“Just Ronon,” Sheppard ordered.
Rodney rolled his eyes. “I am desperate to get out of this street! It’s disgusting here. It smells like a pit toilet, and by that I mean a particularly bad one. And do you think he’ll be able to find the ZPM?”
Ronon shrugged. “They’re worshiping it, McKay. It’ll be pretty obvious.”
Sheppard glanced toward Teyla. She nodded, and John stated, “Teyla will go, too. Will that make you happy?”
“Not entirely,” McKay responded. “But if you find the ZPM, just come back and tell me.” He made a little hand gesture, a flip of the hand. “And if you don’t find it… same thing.”
“Of course,” Teyla replied.
“Right,” Ronon responded and moved into the doorway, followed by Teyla. Gaispare, seeing their progression, smiled and continued deeper into the structure.
The hallway led to an inner room in the center of the building. The candle-lit corridor was narrow, and Ronon had to duck under the archways, careful of the sunken sill between the rooms.
He made his way toward the inner sanctum. Teyla kept close, moving almost silently behind him down the long hallway.
Ronon didn’t like it.
Maybe McKay was right - he didn’t like anything.
They came out of the hallway and into a smaller room. No windows. No other exit. It was dark and confining. Sooty candles guttered in sconces, on ledges and along what must have been an altar. The flames cast strange shadows and perfumed the room with the stench of old tallow.
His eyes fixed on the altar where something had been draped in an expensive cloth.
Teyla moved alongside him, and scanned the room briefly before her gaze also fell on the cloth and she smiled slightly at Ronon. It was the right size and shape to be a ZPM.
Gaispare gestured. “Here,” he said reverently, “Here is our sacred Fire Glass.” And he bowed, holding out his arms, palm down, and his lips moved quietly, the cadence of his invocations increasing in intensity.
Teyla waited patiently. Ronon glowered, watching the Ellikan unhappily.
Gaispare’s mutterings stopped suddenly and his head lifted. He looked hopefully at the others while the flickering candles cast his face in half-darkness. “Please,” he said. “It is time. You may approach the Fire Glass.”
Obsequiously, he backed away, allowing Teyla and Ronon to move forward.
Ronon sneered at the man and stepped toward the altar. Teyla came with him, eager to see as well, and Ronon smiled a little. If this was a ZPM…
There was a sound - a creeping, scraping, grating sound.
Ronon and Teyla spun around in time to see the stone doorway begin to drop. Gaispare was disappearing behind it.
Ronon shouted in rage, and dove toward the exit. He knew it was too late, even as Teyla flung herself at him, keeping him from getting crushed under the falling heavy door.
The stone slab crashed down, shaking the floor beneath them. He bellowed in rage as the candlelight sputtered in the rush of air as they were sealed inside.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
The shout and the crash sounded from within the building and Sheppard surged into it. McKay was directly behind him, calling into his radio, “Ronon! Teyla? What happened?”
Sheppard listened as he made his way quickly through the first room, and then into the hallway. No response. Damn. Damn!
He proceeded into the candlelit corridor, squinting into the dimness and leveled his weapon at the flailing form that came toward him. He lowered the 9mm, but only slightly, as he heard the voice - Gaispare.
“Help! Help! Oh, please, help!” The man looked horrified, terrified, bereft.
“What?” McKay sputtered from behind Sheppard. “What happened? Where are the others? What’s going on?”
Gaispare looked frantically between the two. “There’s been an accident. I… I’m going for help.” He gestured down the hallway. “Go to them! Hurry! They need help!”
And then the Ellikan shoved past McKay and ran toward the exit.
Sheppard resisted the urge to grab hold of the departing man, but his team was in danger, and he moved in the direction they had gone. A moment later, he deeply regretted the choice as a familiar sound filled the space.
Something groaned and scraped. Sheppard turned in time to see the daylight disappear from the far end of the hall with a huge crash.
Gaispare was gone, and darkness capped either end of their hallway.
McKay ran toward the shut door, reaching for it and gasping before he let out a despairing, “We’re trapped. He trapped us!”
Sheppard sighed, let his weapon lower, and said the only thing appropriate to the situation. “Crap!”
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
“Rodney?” Teyla called as her hand reached for her radio. “Rodney?” She’d heard him for a moment, but the voice faded and she adjusted the equipment. “John?”
Ronon stormed about the small room, growling, “I’ll kill him! I will kill that creature!”
Teyla nodded and kept her eyes on the stone door.
“If they’ve hurt either of them…” Ronon went on, clenching his hands at his sides.
“There will be retribution,” Teyla agreed, and keyed her radio again. “Rodney!”
“Teyla!” a voice finally called in return, and she felt flooded with relief. “You okay? Thank God! Thank God! Sheppard, she’s okay. Ronon? Is Ronon okay, too?”
“Yes,” Teyla said with a small smile, glancing toward the enraged Satedan. “Yes, he is fine.”
Ronon frowned as he touched his radio. “Can’t hear them,” he said.
Teyla showed him how to boost the transmission. The minerals in the stone must affect communications, she thought and obviously, Rodney had figured this out already.
“Rodney, we are trapped within the inner chamber of the building,” she explained quickly. “A stone door has lowered and I don’t believe we’ll be able to lift it.”
“Yeah,” Sheppard drawled. “They got us, too.”
Ronon looked alarmed. “Where are you?”
“Well, if I’m right, we’re just on the other side of your stone door,” Sheppard told him.
Teyla stepped closer to the door, and touched it.
“They dropped a door at the entrance to the hallway,” Rodney said quickly. “God, how much air do you think’s in here?” His voice became higher with that comment.
“Plenty,” Sheppard responded. “Look, Ronon, Teyla, we’re stuck in a hallway with nothing. All four sides are solid stone. What do you got in there?”
“Our situation is similar,” Teyla replied as Ronon started searching the room. “The walls are decorated with images of people performing ceremonies. There are no windows and the ceilings are low. I see no sign of ventilation.” And with that, Teyla moved to the candles that remained lit and started blowing out the flames.
“I’m going to need to see,” Ronon commented.
“We have flashlights and glowsticks,” Teyla reminded him, as she pulled her P90 from her vest. “And it might be wise to conserve our oxygen.”
“Yeah, right,” Ronon replied, and blew out the candles nearest him.
She paused at the covered shape on the altar, and even though she already suspected her answer, she pulled back the cloth - and was not surprised to find nothing more than a ZPM-shaped rock.
Like so many of their ZPM searches - they were going to come back with nothing. And she paused with that realization. They were going to make it back. She had no doubts. Now, they only needed a plan.
Under the glow of a flashlight, Ronon continued to examine the room. “Nothing,” he muttered unhappily.
Rodney and John were talking on the other side of the radio transmission - squabbling really. It made Teyla feel a little better. The panic had left Rodney’s voice as he argued with Sheppard, and as long as her teammates were fighting about something, there was hope.
They did their best thinking that way.
Ronon moved back toward the door and squatted beside it to examine the bottom edge.
“Is there any hope of lifting it?” Teyla asked.
Ronon glowered. “It’s recessed,” he grumbled. “The sill was at least a thumbs-width deep.” Reluctantly, he glanced at Teyla. “I won’t be able to get under it - even with a lever.”
“There must be some mechanism for lifting it,” Teyla remarked.
“Yeah,” McKay responded on the radio. “There’s a counterweight on this side.”
Teyla waited a moment, knowing that there was more to the story.
“Rope was cut,” Sheppard filled in. “We’re not going to be able to get it reattached.”
Rodney squeaked, So we’re really trapped? Trapped like rats! Like slowly suffocating rats! This is not the way I wanted to die. I can definitely think of a lot better ways to go! Old age! That’s a good one!”
The panic was back.
“Rodney, calm down!” Sheppard stated sharply. “Come on, think! You have any other ideas?”
“Even if we had some C4 with us, we’d kill ourselves before we managed to blow a hole in the wall,” Rodney raged on. “Ronon’s blaster isn’t going to get us anywhere either. This place is built like a fortress! I suppose Ronon could throw the ZPM at the wall, but that would kill just about everyone in this city, and I seriously doubt that the ZPM even exists. We’re going to die here. That was probably their plan all along.”
Their best hope was to get Rodney thinking.
“Rodney!” Teyla cut in, “We must not give up. We must have hope. We will get out.”
“Yeah?” Rodney shot back. “What makes you think that?”
It was John who answered, “Because we always do. You always come up with something to save our bacon.”
And Rodney responded with a quieter, “Well…”
”Of course, I help -- al lot.” Sheppard added. You couldn’t do it without me. I come up with all of your best ideas.”
”You are so full of it,” McKay grumbled.
Teyla went on, “What is the purpose of this building? Is it a temple as they described?” and her voice trailed off as she directed her flashlight on the decorated walls. The old paintings were faded, layered with grease from the candles. It was difficult to discern much, but one thing was obvious. “This room was used for ceremonies concerning the dead.”
“Great! That would be fantastic if it actually helped. I take it the Ancients didn’t leave any of their tools behind. We’re in a stupid hallway, at least you have pictures to look at!” McKay spat back. “And, hello, we’re going to be dead soon, so I guess we’re in a fitting location.”
“Rodney!” Teyla snapped. “Think about it! Is this helpful to us?”
Over the radio, she heard Sheppard say, “Yeah, Rodney. Think about it.”
“Fine.” Rodney seemed to draw in a breath, and his voice calmed a little as he thought. “So, it’s a funeral home, or something. But there’s no cemetery nearby, is there? Teyla, what do they do with their dead on this planet?”
Teyla frowned. “I am unsure,” she admitted. “It is possible that they cremate the remains. Some societies send their dead through the Gate, to the ‘Realm of the Dead’.”
“Remind me not to go there!” McKay shot back.
“These people wouldn’t send their dead away,” Ronon said. “They like hanging onto stuff too much.”
Teyla had to agree with that assessment. There were people who clung to their possessions, and the Ellikans were of that ilk. They would keep their ‘stuff’ and they would keep their dead.
“There’s another building that’s just like this in the town, right?” Rodney said.
Teyla had minimum exposure to this planet, but had walked through the streets on occasion, in search of certain traders. “Yes,” she remembered. “There is another, but on the opposite side of the Gate.”
“Sheppard, point your flashlight over there, would you?”
A few minutes of chattering followed, that amounted to Sheppard mostly saying that he saw nothing, but McKay insisting that he saw something.
Teyla and Ronon waited.
“It’s just a rock, McKay,” Sheppard finally announced. “A big flat piece of slate or something. There’s nothing to see.”
“Well of course,” McKay muttered. “We’re in a hallway. It would be worn away. Ronon! Teyla! What’s on the floor in there?”
They pointed their lights downward, and at first, Teyla saw nothing but the rectangles of stone. But she frowned as she discerned some differences. “There is a pattern, an irregular pattern on each stone,” she said. “It is too difficult to see. It has been nearly obliterated with time.”
“Check close to the wall. Look where nobody can walk easily.”
She moved around the altar and shone the light into the corner - and then it was obvious. “There are letters and what appears to be dates,” she declared. She couldn’t read the language, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what was recorded. “Names,” she decided. “Memorials.”
“There’s a face here,” Ronon stated, shining his light into a different area.
Teyla came alongside him and saw the faces looking back at her from another corner - a man and woman carved into stone, their features flat and strange. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she could find the nearly gone faces, names and numbers carved into every stone beneath their feet.
“There are many memorials here,” Teyla said softly. “I believe that every stone in the floor is a grave marker.”
“Great!” Rodney commented, sounding a little giddy.
Teyla stated seriously, “We are walking on memorials for the dead.” And she closed her eyes, sending quiet prayers to whatever deity might protect their souls.
Rodney went on, “Ronon, ah, you think you can… lift one?”
Teyla faced Ronon, aghast at the idea. “We will be desecrating graves, Rodney. And for what purpose?”
“Yeah, Rodney. Why?” Sheppard responded.
Ronon was already crouched beside the stones in front of the altar - picking one of the smaller ones with wide seams around it. He pulled a knife from his back and was worked the blade into the space between stones.
“Is this necessary?” Teyla persisted. “What do you hope to find in their graves?”
“If I’m right,” McKay replied, “And I usually am… it’s not just a grave under the floor. It’s something a whole lot bigger.”
There was a pause, and then Sheppard said, “You’re thinking it’s a catacomb?”
Teyla watched as Ronon ran his knife all along the edge of the stone, and then worked to wedge the blade underneath to lift the piece.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure of it,” Rodney went on. “Fairly sure.”
“And if we get down there, you think we can get out somewhere?”
“It’s possible.”
“The other building? You think they’re connected by the catacomb?”
“There’s a chance.”
“It’s not as if the other building is just next door, Rodney.”
“And these people have been living on the planet for centuries. I’m thinking there are a lot of dead people down there, and that’s going to take up some room. I mean, what else do we got? Do we just wait until the Ellikans deal with us? Yeah, we might be able to take ‘em, but honestly, if I was one of those guys, I’d just leave the prisoners walled up in this tomb like Fortunado until we suffocated or starved to death. Care for a cask of amontillado?”
“Yeah, and I’d rather take them on our own terms. But, Atlantis will check in. They’ll come looking for us.”
“Great, but will they find us? I couldn’t get any readings through that stone. Unless someone narks, they won’t have any idea where we went.”
“Didn’t you file a report about this ‘Temple’?”
“I didn’t know for sure that this was where they’d bring us. We really should check the catacombs. There should be more air down there. Do you think we’re running out of air?”
There was a long sigh, and then Sheppard said, “Ronon, you think you can get one of those stones lifted?”
Ronon already had his fingers under the plate and was pulling up on it. Stale air rose from the space as he pulled it out of place. He let the plate fall on the floor beside them, as he replied, “Yeah, no problem.”
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
Sheppard squatted, trying to get a knife worked in-between the floor stones. McKay paced the narrow hallway.
The stone just wasn’t moving. “You really think this is the way into the catacombs?”
“From here? Not necessarily,” McKay answered. “I mean, why would anyone put an entrance in the hallway? At least if Ronon and Teyla are done there, they might figure out how to get us out. Send for help. Something like that.”
“Yeah,” Sheppard answered, and then touched his radio. “Everything going okay?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Yeah,”was Ronon’s curt reply.
“If you can,” Sheppard said, “Make your way to the Gate. You can send reinforcements to free us and…”
“I think we got it figured out,” Ronon responded. And then, with a gritty, grinding noise, the floor next to Sheppard started to move.
Sheppard moved to one side, and McKay spun about and directed his light at the square of stone that started to shift.
“You were trying to move the wrong one,” McKay pointed out. “Probably only one of the panels can be lifted.”
Sheppard grimaced. “It was hard to tell with all the wear on the stones.” He moved in to help Ronon. “You think they’ve used the ceremony room recently to plant some new corpses?”
McKay crouched beside him. “They have to put their dead somewhere.”
“Why the big heavy doors though? Why do they need that?”
Rodney sighed. “Maybe this is meant to be a prison. Maybe it’s ceremonial. Maybe they have serious issues about the undead rising,” he said as they moved the slate aside.
“Hey,” Ronon said as he poked his head through the floor.
“So…” McKay started, looking a little queasy at the hole in the ground. “Is it okay down there?”
“Yeah,” Ronon said.
“No zombies or anything?” McKay tried.
“Haven’t seen any.” Ronon told him.
Standing near him, Teyla stated, “There are several small tunnels, but the largest goes in the direction of the other building.” And she pointed her flashlight. “I believe we might find our exit.”
Ronon studied Rodney. “If we’re going to another building just like this one, you think it has big stone doors on it, too.”
“Yes, probably,” Rodney admitted. “They might not have lowered them. I mean, the doors were open when we came in. Hopefully the other building is that way, too. They might not have figured out what we’re doing.”
“Well,” Sheppard said, “we’d better get moving then.”
And Ronon ducked out of the hole to allow the others to step in. Sheppard swiveled his legs in first.
McKay hesitated, wringing his hands. “Are there a lot of bodies down there?” he asked, his voice a squeak. “Like partially-decomposed, mummy things?”
“Bones,” Ronon told him. “Lots of bones.”
“Oh, okay,” McKay said quietly as Sheppard stepped down into the hole. “As long as they’re just bones. Nothing moving around or anything?”
“Just bones,” Ronon repeated. “They’re not doing anything.”
Sheppard moved out of the way once he was down. “Come on, Rodney,” he encouraged. “Faster we get to the other side, the better chance we have of getting out.”
And drawing a breath, McKay entered the catacombs.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
It was dark. The light from their P90s carved into the blackness, revealing the tunnels. Some of the corridors were short, only going back a hundred feet or so. Others seemed to go on forever, their ends swallowed up in darkness.
McKay shrunk away from the walls as he shined his light into one of the divots. The niches were three or four high, looking like berths on an old sleeper car - each was long enough to accept a stretched out corpse.
And within each repository, there were bones. McKay watched the play of light against the bones -- noticed the way his flashlight seemed to light the eye sockets of the skulls.
Rodney redirected his light to the next ossuary. Three skulls looked back to him, their eyeholes dark. Another space seemed full of skulls - eight or nine, all lined up -- a family crypt perhaps?
All totally creepy!
Ronon was moving. Rodney hardly noticed what he was doing until he heard the grating, horrific sound of stone being dragged over stone. Ronon was resetting the tablet above their heads. McKay cringed as he looked up, just in time to see the low candlelight from above being blotted out.
“Do you have to do that?” he asked weakly.
Ronon shrugged. “If they ever open those doors, it probably won’t take the Ellikans long to figure out where we’ve gone,” he said. “Still, it doesn’t hurt to screw with them.” And he moved to cover the other hole.
“Slow them down if nothing else,” Sheppard added, peering into the blackness all around them. When the second panel scraped against stone, Sheppard added, “And give us some clue that they’re coming.”
They waited as Ronon finished his work. McKay stepped closer to one of the niches, peering into the area behind the skulls, and frowned a little.
“Where are the rest of the bones?” he asked.
“The rest of them? This place is full of them,” Sheppard commented.
“No, really, they’re missing whole bodies back there. See? There’s on a few femurs and maybe some pelvic bones with all these skulls.”
“I guess there wasn’t room in these more crowded crypts,” Sheppard replied. “I wouldn’t worry about it.” And then he asked, “Do you really think we’ll be able to get out at the other building?”
Rodney shrugged. “Maybe,” he said. He looked at the crypts again, directing his light all around. “These bones look pretty old. The Ellikans have to be putting their dead down here somewhere, just not in this area.”
“Then it is reasonable to assume that they are opening the catacombs at the other location,” Teyla decided. “Closer to where they are interring their dead.”
And Rodney smiled, glad to hear her agree - if for no other reason than to believe they had a chance of getting out again.
“Let’s go,” said Sheppard. And so they started moving.
McKay fell in behind Sheppard, trying to not pay too much attention to what was around him, being sure that he didn’t accidently rub against any of the skulls. He hated the way the shadows moved, making it look as if something was moving within the crypts.
Rats? Were there rats in there? No, something smaller. Frantically, he shone the light about, catching nothing by the grin of a jawbone and the shadows thrown up by long bones. Just your imagination, he told himself, and gave Teyla a little reassuring grin before continuing on.
Stupid imagination!
Another skull greeted him, sitting a little askew in its crypt. It looked jaunty. Above it was a space with four skulls of graduated sizes.
Rodney talked, because he needed to talk. “Someone must come back to rearrange the skulls later on.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t like that job. Think about how gross that would be? There must be stuff and goo hanging off the bones sometimes. How long do you think it takes for a body to get to this state? So that just the bones are left?”
“Longer than you’d think,” Ronon said.
“It must smell to high heaven when they have bodies down here, doing their rotting away thing.” McKay winced at the thought. And then, he sniffed warily. He found a moldering odor of decay, but not exactly what he’d expect from a pit of decomposing body parts.
“They must use something to speed up the decomposition process, don’t you think?” McKay asked.
“Yeah,” Ronon responded. “Probably that.” And he pointed to the wall.
Rodney frowned and then pointed his light where Ronon had indicated. Something moved. Something small - tiny. He had to step closer to get a good look. “Ants!” he declared when he recognized the shapes.
“They’re called jiats,” Teyla corrected as she moved in alongside Rodney and they both peered at the little line of insects that crawled along the wall.
The insects were small, resembling sugar ants, but with huge mandibles. They moved in a line, climbing the wall and disappearing into some crack in the ceiling. Rodney pulled back in case one of them had any sudden ideas.
“This entire catacomb must be infested with them,” Teyla decided. “They are known to live in dark places and be carrion eaters. I have heard of them employed in this fashion before.” She nodded to the bones in on a nearby shelf. “They clean the bones.”
“Okay, that’s disgusting,” Rodney declared, but then considered the situation. “But, as long as they just eat the ‘carrion’, I’m okay with that. They probably keep this place a lot less disgusting, right? Just keep them away from me!”
He glanced to Sheppard and found him stepping away from the marching insects. “So,” Sheppard said evenly, “carrion eaters. That means they’re not going to eat any living flesh?”
“This is usually the case,” Teyla replied with a tight smile.
“Usually, huh?” Sheppard pursued.
“They have been known to take live prey when no other food is available,” Teyla told him evenly as she watched the creatures move.
Sheppard did not look happy. He sighed, and asked, “How much farther until we reach the other end?”
“We’re not even halfway,” Ronon noted.
“Okay. Let’s keep moving then,” Sheppard took point, hurrying into the darkness as if he wanted to get away from the ant-like jiats. “So, what was the purpose of these tunnels?” he asked. “Did they dig all of this just for the dead?”
McKay shrugged. “I’m thinking that this might have been a mine at some point. That would explain the weird little offshoot tunnels.” And he paused, shining a light into the side tunnel. It stretched out for a distance, and then either ended, or curved off in a new direction. “The main tunnel is pretty straight, so I’m thinking we’re on the right track.”
“Good,” Sheppard replied. “Keep moving.”
Rodney paused as he reached one vault. It seemed full-up with skulls - the front was a wall of faces. Many of the skulls were tiny- children, babies - a family with generations of heartbreak. God, how many children had they lost? He started to count them.
Teyla touched him lightly on the shoulder and he stopped the process and moved forward, blinking his eyes to try and rid himself of the image.
They journeyed onward. Rodney spotted little lines of jiats from time to time, as they meandered about the crypts, probably looking for some last scrap to eat. He gripped his P90 tightly as he considered that the other end of this tunnel, if it was the ‘active’ part of the catacombs, there might be some new bodies loaded in there. He really, really didn’t want to find any corpses, all crawling with ants.
He shuddered at the thought, and his steps quickened.
Their lights turned their shadows into giants. Their footsteps made hollow sounds. Their breathing echoed, sounding louder than normal, sounding like some great living thing was nearby.
And there was a drip. They could hear it - liquid falling from some ceiling. It sounded cold and terrifically forlorn. There was something lonely about the sound of water dripping onto stone. Rodney clutched his jacket shut and pointed his P90’s light into every side tunnel that they encountered.
“Might as well turn off that light, Rodney,” Sheppard said from in front.
“Why?” McKay shot back. “I need it!”
“You keep shining it in my eyes every time I turn my head,” Sheppard snapped. “Turn it off. Conserve the battery. You don’t need it if Ronon and I have ours on.”
Behind him, Teyla turned off her flashlight, and Rodney sighed as he did the same. The light from the two remaining sources was sufficient to see - with John in the lead and Ronon at the end -- but every time Ronon turned around, shining his light behind them to sweep the area, Rodney felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as darkness swallowed them up.
The group said little. Rodney kept his head high, not wanting to see any more of the skulls or the bones, or their lonely little holes on the wall. He didn’t want to see the little skulls all stacked together.
Suddenly, with the sound of a coconut being struck, his foot connected with something and he hopped a moment to catch his balance as the debris smacked into the wall.
“What was that?” he hissed.
Sheppard had already found the source, illuminating a skull near a dark water stain.
The team said nothing, and John started to move forward again.
“Wait, wait,” McKay called as he stooped down. “This has to go back where it belongs.”
“How are you going to figure that out?” Ronon asked shining his light into to the carved holes.
McKay sighed as he crouched beside the forgotten skull. “Because, it has a place. The family would want it put back.”
In all this strangeness, Rodney just wanted something to be right. How could he just kick a skull? Ronon was directing his light into the niches, but all of the sites appeared to be occupied. There was no obvious gap in any of the collections.
Rodney frowned. “I don’t want to put it in the wrong place. I mean, what if there’s a family feud or something?”
“Leave it then,” Sheppard said.
Rodney’s hand hovered near the thing. It didn’t seem right to just leave it on the floor - but he really didn’t want to touch it. At least, it wasn’t in the middle of the corridor anymore. Over by the side, it would be less likely to be drop-kicked again, right?
The water stain in the floor moved and McKay blinked. “Can you shine the light over here, Ronon?” he asked, and felt sorry he’d requested it when he saw what was illuminated.
Ants.
Not just a thin line, but hundreds of them, all squiggling and squirreling around, coming down the wall and pooling on the floor.
Squirked, McKay straightened quickly, stepping away rapidly until he slammed into the wall at the opposite side.
Sheppard, making the same realization, flinched from them, and tried to look cool about it.
McKay said nothing as the colonel came closer to him, but he frowned as the floor seemed to vibrate. He looked down, finding that they were suddenly standing on wood instead of stone, and he wondered why.
And then the ground gave way and they were plunged into darkness.
OooOoOooooOoOoOo
“No!” Teyla shouted, lunging toward them as they disappeared. But they were gone.
“Sheppard!” Ronon shouted. “McKay!” The sound of the cave-in continued, rumbling like thunder, as if it would go on forever. Rodney and John shouted, their voices getting eaten up in the roar, growing fainter with incredible speed.
The wall on the far side crumbled. Stones near the hole collapsed. Bones and rock were tossed after them. Ronon tried to spring in and stop the wall from falling, but stopped short as the floor shuddered beneath him.
The crackling, rumbling, tumbling finally came to an end. The stones along the wall stopped tottering. The shelves were now empty of bone. Nothing else fell.
All was quiet except for the clatter and tumult in the hole, but even that faded to nothing. Teyla quickly edged forward, keeping a tight grip on Ronon’s arm. The Satedan played his part and provided an anchor for her.
“Rodney?” she cried, stretching toward the cave-in, sweeping her P90’s light over the ragged hole that seemed to steam with dust.
It was dark below, black as pitch. A pit, carved through the stone floor, had been covered with wood that had rotted through. Her light caught the motes and lit them like living things, making it impossible to see very far. She frowned, not finding John’s light. “John! Rodney?” she called again.
Finally, the dust cleared, revealing a strange chute beneath that sloped, twisting out of site.
“What is it?” Ronon asked tersely. “Are they okay?”
Teyla tried to keep her voice neutral, as she said, “I cannot see them.”
“Okay,” Ronon said and carefully stepped alongside Teyla.
Teyla knew that it would be wise to get around the hole and continue toward the exit. There was a chance it wasn’t blocked. If they could escape from the catacombs, get past the Ellikans and return to the Gate. They could return with help from Atlantis. At the very least, they could find a rope and climbing gear in the town.
And she continued to shine the light downward, seeing the darkness and the depth and hearing no further sound from their companions.
They needed help. They needed ropes. They needed to discover if the other end of the tunnel was clear. But Rodney and John might be hurt…
Ronon shrugged out of Teyla’s grip and leaned out over the hole. Then, seeming to form a plan, he crouched at the edge. He gave one look to Teyla before letting himself drop.
She watched him catch his balance on the steep floor. He braced his hands on opposite sides of the chute and looked up at her expectantly.
So she sat down at the edge of the hole. As she handed her P90 to Ronon, the light lit the ceiling.
The last thing she noted as she lowered herself onto the slope below was that the ceiling of the catacomb was alive with jiats. She ducked her head and followed Ronon.
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“Gah,” Sheppard voiced, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to force back the pain that engulfed him. Then his eyes shot open.
Blackness.
He sneezed, violently, and the pain hit his chest, nearly making him puke. He gasped and sneezed again, in agony.
Dust. There was too much dust.
“Rodney!” he called, his voice echoed in the close darkness. “Rodney!”
No answer. Where was he?
Light. John needed light, but where was his P90?
He was on sharp rocks. He tried to get a particularly pointed one out of the small of his back, but his shoulder spat at him in pain - radiating all through his chest.
God!! And he clenched his arm to his chest as he breathed through it, and tried not to sneeze again. Freakin’ great!
“Rodney!” he called again.
Nothing.
Dammit.
He felt about with his right hand, and suffered an electric buzz of pain through his collarbone. “Rodney? McKay?”
He touched his ear, looking for his radio, but couldn’t find it. Great.
Rocks. Just lots of rocks. And bones. Yeah, that one was definitely a bone. He kept searching in the blackness, trying to locate something that could help him. The back of his hand glanced on what might have been the barrel of a gun, but it turned out to be a femur.
God this sucked!
Bones and rocks. He needed to find Rodney. He needed light and he had to find Rodney. He shifted, carefully holding his arm to keep his clavicle from shifting as he got onto his knees to increase his range. His knees weren’t really happy about the change in position, but they would survive it.
He’d fallen, sliding down on some funhouse slide from hell with rocks and skulls and all sorts of crap raining down. He’d seen Rodney a moment and then blackness as he lost his P90 and the light. After that, there was only darkness and shouting and clunking and clattering and a lot of hurt.
And now, stillness.
Except, far off, he could hear a sound, a scrabbling, scraping sound that made his hair stand on end. What the hell was that?
“Rodney!” he called again, putting so much sharpness into the call that his chest ached. He was rewarded with a quiet groan.
He smiled a little. “Rodney?” he called again, softer, and he moved toward the sound. “Rodney? Where are you, buddy?” He kept crawling, holding his jaw tight to combat the pain across his shoulders and hoping he didn’t ram his head into something.
And he could still hear that sound, growing closer. Muffled muttering seemed to accompany it, like the voices of ghosts.
He reached out as he moved, feeling his way. Finally he touched something other than hard rock and bone - a boot.
Yes!
He moved, sliding across the rocks, edging his way closer to Rodney - shoving bones out of the way, swatting his hand above his head in case a stalactite wanted to crown him.
A boot, a leg, a knee. The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone.
Finally, he was alongside his friend, and he shook him gently, calling, “Rodney? Come on, say something.”
He heard a quiet, thick, “What?”
Good. Finally. “Where’s your P90?” Sheppard asked as he felt about, and found it still attached to Rodney’s vest.
“Where’s yours?” Rodney returned, his voice a quiet and annoyed slur. “Lost it? Always getting lost…”
“Never mind that. Yours will do,” Sheppard said as he unclipped it from Rodney and then flipped the switch. He let out a silent thank you as the light came on, and he instantly winced at the brightness of it.
He blinked, clearing his vision. First, he saw only the wall in front of him. They were in a room -- a small room. He lowered his gaze to Rodney, who was rolled up against the wall, looking limp. His face was covered with blood.
The scuffing noise continued. He swung the light around, trying to find the source. About six feet up, there was a hole in the wall, and when he directed the light into it, he saw that the hole angled upward -- the bottom of a chute.
Well , he thought, that’s how we got here.
Rodney groaned, and Sheppard returned his attention to his friend.
“Hey,” he called softly. “You okay?” He settled the P90 nearby, jamming it amid some of the debris to keep it upright.
“You blind?” McKay snapped. “Do I look okay?” Rodney squinted, turning his head slightly to look at Sheppard. His tight expression softened as he said, worriedly, “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah,” Sheppard responded, running the back of his hand over his cheek. It stung. The hand came back bloody. Great. “Figured as much. Mostly bruises. Might have broken my collarbone. That’s gonna smart for a while. You’re a mess.”
Rodney let out a breath and let his head rest again, only to jerk it suddenly up. “What? Oh God, we’re laying on bones!”
“Calm down, Rodney!” Sheppard ordered as he rested a hand on Rodney to keep him still. Bones? Yeah, there were bones, but… damn!
He was right. These weren’t rocks - it was a pile of human bones. Hundreds of them - filling the space -- small bones, vertebrae, rib bones, finger bones. “What is this place?” Sheppard questioned.
“It’s a garbage pit of bones!” McKay murmured. His eyes fixed on the shattered bones all around him. “Oh God, what level of hell is this?”
“Calm down, Rodney. It’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?” McKay’s voice got higher, and then he closed his eyes as he concentrated. “Okay, okay. They’re just bones. Yeah, that’s right.” his voice became calmer as he thought. He licked his lips and continued, “I didn’t think there were enough bones in the catacombs. The Ellikans must have just dumped the extra bones down here. Just swept them off the floor and down the garbage chute.”
“Frickin’ great,” Sheppard grumbled, trying to shuffle into a better position, but feeling really weird about it because he was kicking human bones out of the way.
He heard the scrabbling sound and looked to the black hole. The sound stopped and started and stopped again, and then he heard a voice call out, “Sheppard? McKay?”
It echoed hollowly, but the voice certainly improved John’s mood. “Ronon!”
“Sheppard! You okay?”
“Okay?” McKay squawked. “We’re almost dead!”
“We’re pretty banged up,” Sheppard shouted. “But we’re not dead.”
“We’re coming,” Teyla called.
“You guys think that’s the best idea?” Sheppard called. “We’re kinda stuck down here, and not really in shape to climb out. You might want to get help.”
“We’re coming,” Ronon repeated Teyla’s sentiment.
“There’s about a six foot drop at the end of the slide,” Sheppard told him.
Ronon chuckled. “That’s not going to be a problem. I’ll be able to get back out.”
“Fine,” Sheppard called. “Suit yourself. It’ll be good to see you.”
Rodney had sat up a little during the conversation, but he winced as if the effort was too much and returned to his original place.
Damn it. Sheppard leaned closer to Rodney, trying to get a better look at him. He looked horrible -- pale and bleeding from dozens of scrapes, the worst of which was a gashed and swollen side of his head. Yeah, it looked as if Rodney had whacked his head pretty badly.
That had to hurt.
Sheppard unzipped a pocket on Rodney’s vest and drew out a dressing.
“What are you doing?” Rodney asked.
“Going to see what I can do to patch you up. Don’t want you bleeding over everything.”
“Be sure you use antibiotic ointment!” McKay insisted. He brought up a hand to get the requested packet, but his movements were slow and sloppy.
Sheppard told him, “I’ll take care of it.” And batted away Rodney’s ineffectually reaching hand, and instantly regretted it as the action sent bolts of pain through his collar and he sucked a lungful of air through his teeth.
“Sorry,” Rodney said, his eyes filled with regret.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sheppard told him, trying not to be too concerned about the unevenness of Rodney’s pupils.
“The antibiotic ointment…” McKay returned to his pervious issue, “…use a lot. We don’t know what kind of horrible horrible old diseases are in this place. God! What do you think killed all these people? What if it was a plague? I might get Black Death! Or whatever the Pegasus galaxy calls it. I catch a cold every time someone sneezes in my direction. Oh, God, these people might have all been killed by some bone infection or Ebola or a flesh eating virus or...”
“These bones are old, Rodney. There’s nothing living down here. No bacteria or virus could still be here.” He picked up a bone for emphasis, and tapped it on the wall. It made a hollow ‘tonk’. “They are just lots of people who died over centuries.”
“And we’re lying on them. You think about that? Hundreds of dead people!”
“Don’t think about it,” Sheppard said as he dropped the bone and picked up the first aid kit with one hand.
“You’re going to sterilize your hands first, right?” McKay asked, looking at where the bone had fallen.
Sheppard signed, and dutifully opened an antiseptic wipe, cleaned his hands, and then tore open a wound wipe to clean the bleeding cut on Rodney’s head.
Rodney hissed and screwed his head further into the bone pile as Sheppard worked. The cut was pretty bad and the bleeding wasn’t stopping. “Ow!” McKay complained. “Ow!”
“Quit being a baby,” Sheppard told him, being as careful as he could. He tore open a packet of Neosporin with his teeth and squeezed the contents directly onto the bleeding cut. “Happy?”
Rodney winced. “Ecstatic!”
As he applied the bandage over the wound, Sheppard asked, “You hurt anywhere else?”
“I’ve probably bruised every inch of my body!” Rodney grumbled, but there was little strength in his comment.
“Okay, besides that…” Sheppard continued. He looked toward the chute, still hearing the scuffling - seeing light now. Ronon and Teyla were getting closer. Obviously, they were moving slowly to avoid falling. They weren’t idiots. “How are you feeling?”
Rodney sighed deeply. “I feel like my head’s going to split open. I’m seeing double. My back really hurts. My leg hurts. My arm really hurts. I can hardly move.”
“Do you think you broke any bones?”
“Probably broke a bunch,” Rodney said, one hand touching a shattered rib bone nearby. He lifted his eyes to meet Sheppard’s gaze.
“Any of your own bones?” Sheppard tried the question again.
Rodney blinked. “You’re bleeding,” he said again.
“Yeah, I know. We both are,” Sheppard said quietly.
“You should take care of that.”
“I will,” Sheppard said as he opened another wound wipe and tried to take care of some of Rodney’s other visible scrapes.
Rodney flinched as Sheppard worked and his voice became softer as he said, “And I’m … I just feel so tired. I feel… weird.”
“Weird isn’t anything new for you.”
“Yeah…” Rodney said, his voice trailing off.
“Stay awake, Rodney! Ronon and Teyla are coming.”
“They’ll get us out,” Rodney said.
Sheppard nodded at that statement. “We’ll figure out something.”
McKay blinked again, staring out in front of him, and he swallowed before saying, “Door…” And his eyes closed.
“Yeah, we could use one,” Sheppard said. “Think you can make one magically appear?”
Rodney didn’t respond.
“Rodney?” Sheppard said sharply. “Rodney, don’t you fall asleep! Wake your ass up!” He jostled McKay’s shoulder. “Rodney!”
McKay opened his eyes as if he was really trying to awaken, but the eyes were unfocused and his eyelids quickly fell.
“Don’t!” John pressed a hand against Rodney’s forehead, not finding a fever. The head wound continued to bleed, staining the bandage.
Unable to wake him, Sheppard leaned against the wall and looked toward the bottom of the chute, and smiled a little as Ronon peeked his head out, braced on either side of the passage. Ronon grinned at his victory
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“Hey,” Ronon said, he balanced at the bottom of the chute, looking at the bone pile, and then he lifted his gaze to take in Sheppard and McKay. They were both bloodied and bruised. McKay wasn’t moving. “You guys look bad,” he said and carefully lowered himself down.
“Yeah, I know,” Sheppard responded, sounding a little annoyed at the comment.
Ronon couldn’t help it if he spoke the truth. He turned to give Teyla a hand and she easily made her way to the boney floor.
“You sure you can get back out of here?” Sheppard asked.
“I can brace myself,” Ronon told them, and he nodded to Teyla. “Not so easy for her, but we managed. Don’t know why you didn’t do it.”
Sheppard sneared. “You weren’t falling in total darkness with rocks and bones and a McKay and God knows what else coming down on you. It’s a miracle we survived.”
Yeah, that was true. Rodney looked especially rough - too pale and too still. Ronon moved carefully over the crunching bones and squatted beside Rodney. He rested a hand on his head, careful of the bandage, and Rodney flinched a little at the touch.
Dex couldn’t see any immediate signs of broken bones or any other excessive bleeding. That didn’t mean that something wasn’t seriously wrong. “How is he?” he asked, his gaze not leaving Rodney’s still face.
“I don’t know,” Sheppard said with a sigh. “He was talking for a while, but then he just drifted off and I can’t wake him. I think he’s mostly beaten up with the fall, but he hit his head pretty hard. He said he hurt all over, but didn’t offer any real specific information.”
Ronon raised his gaze to meet Sheppard’s. “And you?”
The colonel winced as he tried to shrug. “Pretty sure that I broke my collarbone,” he said, sounding embarrassed. “Other than that, bruises and scrapes.” He looked at his arms that rested in his lap. “I won’t be able to climb.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Ronon declared, returning his gaze to McKay. The head bandage was darkening with blood.
McKay was rarely so quiet.
“So,” Sheppard started, “We need to come up with a plan on getting us out.”
“Even once we manage that, we still need to discover a means of escaping the catacombs,” Teyla said from her place near the wall. She stood as if she didn’t want to disturb the bones. “Ronon can return to the upper level to search for an exit and I can remain with you.” She glanced to Ronon for approval. “Perhaps you can return to the Gate for help without catching the attention of the Ellikans.”
Ronon nodded, but Sheppard grimaced, saying, “Do we really want Ronon to go on alone?”
“I can handle it,” Ronon told him. “Teyla should stay with you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Sheppard shot back, trying to cross his arms defiantly, but failing as he ended up gasping and groaning and glaring instead. “Besides, I think we’re pretty safe in here. What could possibly happen?”
“Those jiats might get in,” Ronon reminded.
Sheppard expression fell, and he turned his head toward the chute. “Thanks for the reminder.”
Ronon focused his light on the on the walls of the room, searching for any sign of the insects. Nothing. Good. He narrowed his eyes as he got a good look at the surroundings. “What is this place?”
“Some sort of bone pit,” Sheppard told him. “A garbage dump.”
“Looks different from the other rooms,” Ronon muttered, looking about the space with his flashlight. “It’s smoother,” he finally pronounced.
Teyla nodded, and turned toward the wall, running a hand over the surface. “He’s right,” she said softly. “This is not carved stone.”
“What is it then?” Sheppard asked.
Ronon touched the wall and smiled a little in recognition. “It’s like Atlantis,” he stated.
Sheppard sat up at that comment, groaning as he clutched his arm, but he managed to turn and face the wall. He grinned a little. “Oh,” he said, “This is totally Ancient design. Rodney!” and he gave McKay a little shove.
“Ngrh,” McKay muttered.
“Come on, Rodney,” Sheppard called, sounding excited. “Wake up and look around. Do you have any idea what we’ve fallen into?”
“Wha?” Rodney responded, blinking at him, but his eyes still didn’t seem to focus and he really wasn’t with them.
“Rodney, wake up. Come on,” Sheppard cajoled. And then he seemed to remember something. “Door! You said something about a door.”
“Yeah,” Rodney said, his voice quiet. He licked his lips as if preparing to say something profound, and then said, “Drghn,” before he closed his eyes again.
Sheppard made a disappointed sound and sighed.
“Door?” Ronon repeated. He turned from the pair and scanned the room. There was nothing to see except bones for a floor, smooth walls with the opening to the chute above. A domed roof completed the room.
He didn’t see a door.
McKay’s head was at floor level. Ronon adjusted his gaze, staring at the wall directly in front of McKay, just above the bone floor. Nothing still. He moved closer to the wall.
And there, just barely visible, just above the scattered bones, he could see a line, a break in the wall. It didn’t look like much. Not really anything he’d bother with, but if McKay had seen a door.
He lowered himself to his knees and started digging through the bones.
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Part 2