Sonny Whitelaw: Blood Ties

"That'll be a challenge, won't it?" Rodney trailed the General as far as his office door. "Pumping her for information when we can't give her any in return? I would think an FBI agent would have an acceptable security clearance."

With one hand on the handle of his office door, Landry replied, "Not high enough for blanket access to the Stargate program. We'll reassess her need to know after you've spent some time with her." On this topic, the SGC commander was immovable. "Dr. Weir will brief you on the cover story on the drive there. Colonel-" his gaze met John's- "you'll accompany Dr. Lam and her team. I'll have the necessary paperwork in place by the time you get there."

"Yes, sir," John replied automatically, only to shake his head once they were outside the briefing room and the door was closed. "We can try to play cloak and dagger with this for a while, but it won't be easy," he told the remaining group. "We don't honestly expect to be able to withhold the truth from this profiler for very long when we've got Wraith coming out of the woodwork everywhere, do we?"

"That depends on what the truth actually is." Jackson exchanged a glance with Radek and Elizabeth, and John got the familiar sense that he was still behind the power curve.

A pair of huge, golden eyes peered up at Teyla. She froze, uncertain whether to withdraw her hand from the mossencrusted remains of the wall or remain still-until a movement caught her attention. A second creature, this one with faceted eyes and four translucent insect wings each as long as her arm, flittered briefly around her head before settling on the broken wall. The lipless mouth of the first, golden-eyed creature opened wide, and a sticky pink tongue shot out at a blinding speed.

"Good God, did you see that?" Dr. Geisler asked for perhaps the fifth occasion since they had arrived on M1M-316.

The frog-Teyla classified the yellow and blue patterned creature as a frog, despite its size-snatched the unfortunate insect into its mouth. Gossamer wings dripping with moisture fluttered desperately for a moment before the victim was entirely consumed.

"I expected something bigger," Ronon said, joining them. "Didn't Sheppard say this place was full of animals called dinosaurs?" Water beaded his forehead and dripped from his nose, perspiration washed away by rain in the sticky, cloying heat. Blinking away a few more drops, he continued to sweep the nearby jungle with his gaze, alert for any dangers that had yet to make themselves known in this most unusual world.

Dr. Geisler turned to him with an indignant stare. "Young man, that amphibian was the size of a Labrador. In this lower than normal gravity, with such a high oxygen content in the air, be thankful that's all-"

"Get back here-now!" Major Lome called aloud from the entrance of the nearby jumper, putting an end to the discussion. "Something's headed our way."

Although the pelting of the rain and low rumble of a nearby waterfall served to mask the sounds of any large animals that might be approaching, Dr. Geisler did not argue with the Major's command. Indeed, despite his advanced years, the paleontologist turned and quickly made his way back across the remains of what once had been an Ancient structure.

"Perhaps we will have better luck at the next location," Teyla reassured him, thankful for the poncho that had kept her moderately dry-at least on the outside. Her shirt and pants were damp against her body, not from exertion but from the remarkable humidity. "Did you not say that the records pertaining to this world contained references to several different laboratories?"

"I'm not worried about finding something for McKay to go gaga over." Dr. Geisler grasped a twisted vine to steady himself and clambered over a rotting log speckled with a multitude of riotously colored fungi. Careful to avoid releasing any spores from the growths, which he had earlier warned them might contain poisons or hallucinogens, he added, "I'm just a tad perturbed by the familiarity of all this. The vegetation is exactly the sort of thing I'd have expected to see on Earth during the mid to late Cretaceous, right down to the masses of conifers, cycads and, most particularly, the huge number and variety of ginkgo trees. That rancid smell, by the way, is the butyric acid in the integument of the ginkgo seeds rotting all over the ground." With his other hand, he patted the plastic case he carried, already overflowing with samples. "Of course, I've yet to confirm my hypothesis, but I have a sneaking suspicion that much, if not all, of the vegetation on this world originated from Earth."

A curious frown accompanied his statement. Teyla was uncertain as to the reason why until the scientist, puffing slightly from his hurried effort, added, "Earth of sixtyseven to seventy million years ago. If I'm right, it means the Ancients were in the Pegasus Galaxy a long, long time before Atlantis left Earth."

"C'mon, we gotta get moving!" Major Lome was still standing at the jumper's hatch, gesturing for them to hurry.

That's when Teyla felt it: a rhythmic shuddering beneath her feet.

Seeing that the three of them were almost there, Lome darted inside and flung himself into the pilot's chair. Dr. Geisler lost his footing and slid on a rain-slicked layer of leaves at the base of the ramp, dropping his bag as he fell heavily to the ground. Ronon quickly dragged him to his feet and inside, while Teyla recovered the bag. There was no mistaking it now. Something large enough to send shockwaves through the ground was heading in their direction-fast.

Ronon slapped his fist against the mechanism that raised the hatch just as a terrible roar shattered the air. Teyla caught a whiff of something even fouler than the pervasive odor that had met them on arrival, and then the hatch was locked.

"We're outta here," Lorne announced, powering up the jumper for departure.

Teyla stripped off her poncho and looked through the windscreen, but there was little to see. Even the Stargate, only a hundred feet away, was all but invisible in the dense mist. Just as the jumper lifted into the air, however, she could almost make out a shape in the darker shadows beyond. The shudders through the ground caused by whatever creatures were coming their way now sent ripples through the fog itself.

When Jumper Two lifted into the air, Lorne ineffectually brushed sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. "That was close."

"What was?" Ronon asked, moving into the cockpit and taking the front seat beside the Major.

Eyes bright with excitement, Dr. Geisler answered Ronon. "The dinosaurs you were so anxious to see."

Satisfied that the scientist's sample box was properly stowed, Teyla went forward with Dr. Geisler to the passenger seats. On the Head Up Display, the life signs indicator showed such an abundance of life that it was nearly impossible to dis tinguish individual readings. Becoming evident, however, were several dozen creatures moving swiftly across the ruins, through and around the Stargate, while two additional animals followed several jumper lengths behind, presumably in pursuit. There was no scale on the display to indicate the size of either hunters or prey. If the echoes she'd felt through the ground and the power of that roar were anything to go by, she was very glad to be airborne.

Dr. Geisler unzipped his jacket and removed it, then tugged with distaste at the saturated shirt clinging to his chest. Teyla removed her own jacket. It had indeed been excessively warm outside, and for once she was grateful for the artificially maintained temperature and humidity inside the jumper.

Pointing to the HUD, which displayed an increasingly detailed topographic map as they gained height, Dr. Geisler explained, "The Stargate is situated in a valley carved out by glaciers tens of thousands of years ago. The river, fed by the melt water from glaciers in the nearby mountains, must periodically flood and change course, which would explain those uprooted tropical hardwood trees we saw. Deluges of that magnitude would flatten the vegetation in great swaths, allowing passage through the forest to large land animals. The result has been to create those semi-open areas like the one around the Stargate."