Elizabeth Christensen: Casualties of war

"Only mutant crickets say that," Rodney grumbled from the front of the group. Teyla didn't bother asking for an explanation of the peculiar statement.

John shook his head. "I bet you traumatized a lot of babysitters as a kid, Rodney."

"Only one. I was ten, and she couldn't figure out my trig workbook. I merely pointed out to her that I might have been better equipped to supervise her than vice versa." When Rodney finally deigned to glance up at the sky, he frowned. "Huh. You know, that might not have been a meteorite."

He swung his pack to the ground and hunted inside. "So-called falling stars are usually nothing more than chunks of rock, heated to the point of glowing as they fall through a planet's atmosphere," he explained, finally coming up with a pair of binoculars.

"I have seen a starfall before, Rodney." On occasion Teyla had to remind the scientist that she did not lack for knowledge simply because she had not gained it on his world.

"Not like this, I suspect." Rodney put the binoculars to his eyes. "The database suggested a fair amount of space junk remained in orbit after the battle."

Having already lifted his own viewing device, John gave a low whistle. "You're saying you think those are ships?"

"What's left of them. It's impossible to tell at this level of magnification, but it's likely." Rodney passed his binoculars to Teyla. She attempted to focus on a tiny dot high above them and could only make out an indistinct shape that might indeed have been a spacecraft.

"Might the second gate be among those ships?" she asked.

With a shake of his head, Rodney took his equipment back. "According to the database, the gate's in a geosynchronous orbit. From the ground it would appear to stay stationary over a specific point, one that happens to be a considerable distance away from here."

Ronon accepted John's binoculars and studied the sky for himself. "Guess they weren't kidding about this being a major battlefield."

"If those are ships, they're not going to come down on our heads in a fireball or anything, are they?" John asked warily.

"I think they're in too high an orbit. If we didn't have the highest-powered binoculars that taxpayer money can buy, we wouldn't even have been able to see them. What you saw falling earlier was probably a Dart." Rodney repacked the binoculars and slung the bag back onto his shoulder. "They've been up there for ten thousand years-they'll probably last another few hours. Besides, most of the mass would burn up and disperse in the atmosphere."

"Okay." John didn't sound entirely convinced, but he resumed walking. "Back to tracking some squirrelly EM readings."

Although the team remained on alert, the brief walk was rather pleasant. A cool breeze rippled the tree branches, and birds chattered musically overhead. Coarse grass brushed against Teyla's ankles as she moved across the ground.

Finding himself at the edge of the slope, Rodney glanced downward and stopped abruptly. "If that turns out to be what we came for, this'll be a bit anticlimactic."

Teyla looked below them to where the forest met the rising terrain and saw a building nestled against the foot of the ridge. Its architecture might have been Ancient, but it was small, hardly the size of Atlantis's gate-room.

"Maybe there were more buildings, and this is the only one left." John started down the hill.

"Hold up!" Rodney suddenly ordered.

Startled, John halted and pivoted to face him.

Bent over his scanner again, the scientist frowned. "Now this is just getting creepy."

"Want to explain?" asked Ronon.

"If I could, it wouldn't be creepy." Rodney scrubbed a hand through his short hair, clearly frustrated. "Something's messing with the scan. For a second there, it was showing a group of life signs set back in the forest, but only for a second. It's like the equivalent of getting a noisy signal, or static, or…something."

"Is the effect more pronounced now that we are closer to the building?" Teyla suggested.

"Hard to tell, but I think so. In any case, there's an easy way to find out." He motioned for the group to continue.

Teyla noticed that Ronon watched the forest more carefully while they made their way down the slope.

As they neared, the true state of the building became clear. The single-level structure was intact, but clearly damaged. Great gashes had been torn in the roof, and scorch marks marred the material that made up the walls. Teyla recognized the burn patterns; this was the work of Wraith Darts.

Making a circuit around the building, John reached out to touch a charred section of wall. "Feels like the same stuff we have on Atlantis," he said. "If this is the research facility…"

Ronon finished the thought. "The Wraith must have come back after it was abandoned."

"Question is, was that ten thousand years ago or ten days ago?" John bent to examine an errant piece of roof lying near the entrance, where the door was oddly undamaged. "I'm betting it was closer to the first option, but it'd be nice to know for sure."

A row of delicate flowers growing against one wall captured Teyla's attention. She looked closer and found them surrounded by freshly tilled soil. "Someone has been here recently," she called to the others. "Look at the ground."

"I doubt the Wraith are taking up gardening as a hobby," Rodney said.

"No, she's right." John adjusted his grip on his weapon ever so slightly. "If this area had been left alone for even a few years, it would be completely overgrown with plants by now. And we've see a few thousand years turn a hive ship into a mountain. Somebody's keeping this place up.

"Maybe they should have started by fixing the roof instead."

A soft click caused all of them to turn toward the door, which Ronon had opened. "Oh, great!" Rodney's eyes bulged. "Thank you for carefully considering the possibility of a booby-trap before going full speed ahead."

"Who would set a trap in a ruin?" Ronon retorted.

"I don't know-maybe the same type of person who does landscaping on ruins?"

"Well, it's open now, and we're still here," John said reasonably. "And we didn't come all this way just to take pictures for Better Homes and Gardens."

"I'll stand guard." Ronon took up a post by the door. As always, Teyla appreciated his instincts. The fleeting life signs Rodney had noted earlier had not strayed far from her mind.

Activating the flashlight on his P-90, John eased forward, Rodney close behind. Teyla entered the building last, her vision adjusting gradually. Some sunlight filtered through the damaged roof, but Rodney switched on a flashlight to improve matters.

As the light beams played over the room, Teyla felt a pang of disappointment. If there had been anything of value in this place, surely it was beyond recovery now.

Laboratory equipment and computers similar to the ones found in Atlantis were strewn across the floor in pieces. Long countertops had been ripped from the walls and splintered. One corner held a number of warped, sagging cabinets which must have been consumed by a fire.

John let out a long breath. "Damn," he said quietly. "I guess it was a long shot, but-"

"Don't start moping just yet." Rodney was still taking readings. "If this place is dead, why is my scanner going six kinds of crazy right now?" He crossed the room, stumbling only once over the rubble while continuing to track the elusive signals. "Aha-what do we have here?"

The back wall, which appeared to Teyla to be flush against the hill behind the structure, nevertheless contained two more doors: one with a standard handle, and one with no handle and a familiar-looking panel mounted beside it.

"At the risk of opening myself up to more Monty Hall jokes, there's something behind this door." A trace of excitement crept into Rodney's voice as he edged closer to the panel door. "I should have known. Why build a critically important facility out in the open if you don't have to?"