Martha Wells: Reliquary

The sun was already setting over the sea when they took the jumper up and dialed the Stargate back to Atlantis to transmit a report to Elizabeth. After a three-way radio conversation between her, John, and Rodney, they decided to go back for the night and return with a larger team when it was morning on the planet. This Heliopolis, ruined or not, was in no danger of falling into the ocean.

The next morning, John put the jumper down in the plaza near the entrance again, saying, “Everybody out. Last one to Heliopolis II is a rotten egg.”

Unbuckling her seat restraints, Teyla stared at him, smiling incredulously. “What?”

“It’s an old joke,” he explained.

“Don’t worry if you don’t get it, it’s not funny.” Rodney dug the life sign detector out of his pack and headed for the ramp.

Ford and the other two Marines exited first to walk a perimeter. Both Kinjo and Boerne had field experience on Bates’ recon team, and Boerne had received the Ancient gene therapy and had been training to fly the jumpers. Locking down the console, John heard Boerne’s startled “whoa” at the view of the repository and the ruined city spread out at the end of the plaza. Sitting in the back of the jumper, most of the team hadn’t been able to get a good view of it from above. John followed McKay and Teyla out, while Kavanagh, Corrigan, and Kolesnikova were still picking up their packs.

John paused on the plaza, taking a deep breath. The sun was out this morning, and the sea gleamed blue, though the color was duller than the sea around Atlantis. It didn’t have that crystal-clear morning of creation quality, of a world that had never been touched by pollution. Then the breeze turned and John winced and coughed. “Damn.” Atlantis doesn’t have that, either. The odor of rot was stronger today, worse than the dead fish smell usually associated with sea ports.

Dr. Kavanagh emerged from the puddlejumper, his expression torn between curiosity and wary disgust; John figured that was probably from the smell. Kavanagh was a tall thin man, with glasses, a high forehead, straight hair pulled back into a tail, and a sort of permanently pissed-off expression. He watched Rodney pace around with the life sign detector, asking sharply, “Anything?”

“Yes, there’s an entire horde of Wraith about to descend on us, I just failed to mention it because I was waiting to be asked,” Rodney snapped. “There’s no life signs except us. I’m checking for energy readings now.”

Kavanagh snapped back, “If you can’t answer a simple question, McKay, then don’t bother.” Kavanagh wasn’t exactly the best team player in the expedition, but sometimes biting McKay’s head off was the only way to deal with him. John frankly preferred scientists who bit; McKay had some of the less aggressive science team members cowed into hysterical submission, not counting the ones with Stockholm Syndrome.

“Boys, please, we’ve only just arrived.” Irina Kolesnikova shaded her eyes, looking up at the dark wall looming over them. She added worriedly, “Yes, the destruction is far more severe than the MALP indicated. We have a large job ahead of us.” Kolesnikova was short and plump, with a round plain face and short dark hair. She also had a deep voice for a woman, sort of like Lauren Bacall with a thick Russian accent, and John could have listened to her all day. Like McKay and Boerne, she had had the ATA gene therapy. This was her and Kavanagh’s first trip away from Atlantis; Corrigan was an archeologist and had been going out on ’gate missions with Sergeant Stackhouse’s team.

All the scientists were dressed in tac vests over the blue science uniform shirts and tan pants, carrying a small pack for tools and other supplies. It was warm enough in the ruin for John just to wear his tac vest over a t-shirt, and he was leaving his BDU jacket in the jumper. He also carried a P-90, like Teyla, Ford, Boerne, and Kinjo. The scientists had been issued 9mm sidearms, though Corrigan and McKay were checked out on the P-90; McKay just didn’t like to carry one, saying he could run faster without it.

John used the binoculars, scanning the ruined buildings around them, but there was no hint of movement. They hadn’t taken the time to look at the city much yesterday. Today the contrast between the bright sunlight and those empty dark windows reminded him of something straight out of a post-nuclear-holocaust or disaster movie.

Teyla came up to stand beside him. Surveying the scene with a preoccupied expression, she said, “I am not sure I like this place, Major Sheppard.”

“Oh, what’s not to like?” John teased her. She lifted a brow at him, her mouth set in an unamused line, and he gave in. “Yeah, I know. It’s going to be a logistical nightmare trying to explore this thing, even if there aren’t any…monsters and whatnot. I wouldn’t worry so much if it was just our team.” He looked back at the group by the jumper, frowning a little. The last time he had gone on a mission with inexperienced scientists, it hadn’t ended well. They had been investigating an Ancient Lagrangian Point satellite in orbit around the second planet in Atlantica’s system and found a downed Wraith supply ship on the planet’s surface. Unfortunately, there had been one last surviving Wraith, hibernating after having eaten all the stored humans on board and then all his Wraith friends. John and Rodney had managed to survive; the two scientists with them hadn’t. “Kavanagh and Kolesnikova don’t have any experience with field work, and keeping people from getting hurt in all that debris is going to be hard enough.”

Teyla nodded. “And I admit, I am glad to find this place deserted. If there are people who would choose to make this sad ruin their home, I do not think I would like to meet them.”

McKay arrived in time to hear Teyla’s comment, juggling his equipment to check for power signatures and to keep one eye on the life sign detector. “In most movies, a place like this would come equipped with a horde of cannibalistic mutants, possibly with psychic powers.”

“Oh, that’s ridiculous.” John snorted. “It would be zombies, flesh-eating zombies.”

Teyla sighed a little and refused to take the bait.

Corrigan joined them, using a small camcorder to film the wall of the repository. He lowered it, frowning. “This is a little odd. The surrounding structures aren’t Ancient, or at least not Atlantean. The Ancients might have built this place with help from another culture.”

Ford, Boerne, and Kinjo returned from their quick survey of the immediate area. John lifted a brow at Ford, who shook his head, saying, “Nothing, Major.”

“Good. Boerne, Kinjo, I want you out here with the jumper.”

John caught a flicker of disappointment on Kinjo’s face. He was Asian and looked nearly too young to be here; John knew he was one of the volunteers from the SGC, and probably hadn’t been there very long before the chance to join the expedition had come up. Boerne was big, blond, and older, and if he was disappointed, he kept it hidden behind a very correct poker face. “Yes, sir.”

McKay turned to yell at the other scientists, “Let’s get a move on, people, we’re on a schedule here!”

“Don’t shout, McKay, we can hear you perfectly,” Kolesnikova said, shouldering her pack and coming to join them with Kavanagh.

“Still nothing?” Kavanagh demanded, craning his head to look over McKay’s shoulder at the sensor. “No energy readings?”

“No such luck. If there’s anything still intact in there, it’s been shut down.” McKay eyed the repository grimly, apparently forgetting that he had just tried to eviscerate Kavanagh for asking nearly the same question earlier. “We’re going to have to do this the hard way.”