SGA-fic: Ten Thousand Years of Solitude, pt 1 (PG-13)

[zinnith]

Title: Ten Thousand Years of Solitude
Author: Zinnith
Rating/Category: PG-13/pre-slash
Pairings: John/Rodney
Spoilers: Takes place between Epiphany and Critical Mass
Word count: ~12 000
Disclaimer: All I own is junk. SGA is not junk. Ergo: I do not own SGA
Notes: 
Originally meant for the sga_flashfic challenge 'Men and Machines', but it grew and grew until it wasn't a flashfic anymore. Also fits my sg_15_fics  prompt 008: Alone

The title is a reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez' A Hunded Years of Solitude. It's a great novel. Read it.

Love and cookies for the_cephalopod without whom this story would be significantly less good. She also writes great fic. Read it.

Summary: Rodney wished it could be just as easy to find out what was wrong with Sheppard. Just open him up and discover what makes him tick. Find the glitch and fix it. People were so complicated. No logic, no way to anticipate their reactions. It was so much easier with technology. Push a certain button and you knew you would get a certain response. With people, you never knew what to expect.      

They are on their way. She can feel them coming closer. Many hours away still, but hours do not concern her. She counts her time in decades, not minutes, centuries, not hours. Two of them are of no interest, but there are two others… One is a man of her kind with whom she can already feel a connection. The other has a mind bright as sunlight and sharp as razors; she will have to be careful with this one. 

 

They are still hours away, but she is patient. She has been waiting for so long, she can wait a little longer. 

 

* * *

 

”I hate hiking,” Rodney said, swatting the bugs away from his sweaty face. They were huge and fat, and a peculiar blue-green color; they would probably kill him if he got stung. “I hate nature, I hate alien mosquitoes, and, oh, did I mention that I hate hiking?”

 

“Only nine times in the past half hour, Rodney,” came Sheppard’s tired response. He was a little bit further up the trail, behind Ronon, who was plowing through the dense underbrush like a dread-locked bulldozer.

 

“We could have taken a jumper,” Rodney said as he stopped to stretch out his back. He had to find a lighter laptop. “We could have been there and back at least three times in the time it’s taken us to walk this far.”

 

"We couldn't have taken a jumper because there's nowhere to land," Sheppard said with that overly patient tone that had begun to creep into his voice a couple of hours ago. "We're in the middle of a rainforest. If we were in a jumper we wouldn't even be able to see the ground, and definitely not this Ancient research station of yours."

 

It was a five-hour hike between the 'Gate and the Ancient outpost Rodney had found in Atlantis' database. If he had known it would be a five-hour hike through a thick, humid jungle, he would never have suggested this mission in the first place. Well, maybe he would have suggested it, because the notes in the database suggested that the compound to which they were now headed had been the base for some pretty interesting research, but he would have sent Zelenka to be eaten by bugs and lose half his body weight in sweat.

 

"I find it refreshing to hike," Teyla said from behind Rodney. She sounded like she was trying to forestall the impending argument, something she had been trying to do since Rodney's sixth loud statement about his hatred of hiking. "As a child, I would often go hiking with my father and stay out for days."

 

"Mankind invented the engine for a reason," Rodney said.

 

"Are we there yet?" came Ronon's deep voice from the head of the line.

 

Rodney studied his hand-held scanner. The energy readings they had been following through the jungle were getting stronger. "It should be just around the bend," he said.

 

"That's what you said an hour ago," Ronon replied, forcing a sturdy branch aside so they could pass.

 

"One more word, kids, and I'm turning this car around," Sheppard said wearily.

 

* * *

 

The outpost wasn't just around the bend, or the one after that. Sheppard became more and more irritated with every passing minute. Rodney was beginning to think that he was coming down with something, but was too macho-stupid to admit it. He was working on a plan to make sure Sheppard got a thorough check-up in the infirmary as soon as they got back to Atlantis when Ronon suddenly stopped.

 

"Is that it?" the Satedan asked.

 

"Is what it?" Rodney replied, pushing his way past Sheppard to he could see what Ronon was pointing at.

 

It was a low cliff with a door, a metal door that was hidden in the vegetation. As they approached, Rodney could see that it was similar in style to the architecture of Atlantis. He checked the energy readings, and there was no doubt that they came from here. "Yes, this is it," he said.

 

"About time," Ronon muttered. Rodney glanced over at Sheppard to see if he was going to start acting like the long-suffering family father again, but the Colonel was staring at the door with a peculiar expression on his face.

 

"It will get dark soon," Teyla said, dropping her pack on the ground. "We should start making camp."

 

"Sounds good to me," Ronon answered. "Sheppard?"

 

Sheppard didn't respond. He hadn't taken his eyes from the door, and didn't seem to have heard anything of the conversation. Teyla walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

 

"Colonel?" she asked. "Is there something wrong?"

 

Sheppard shook his head like he was just waking up. Okay, that was weird - Sheppard might look like he was barely paying attention to what was going on around him but Rodney knew that he was always completely focused, sometimes even scarily so, when they were on a mission.       

 

"I'm not sure," Sheppard said slowly. "Can any of you hear anything... strange?"

 

Teyla cocked her head, listening. "I hear nothing out of the ordinary," she said.

 

"Me either," Ronon rumbled. "Nothing that doesn't belong here."

 

"And the LSD doesn't show anything," Rodney added. "Look, you're not going to have a sudden attack of paranoia and insist we head back, are you? I warn you, if you do, I swear I will stage a mutiny."

 

"Huh." Sheppard shook his head again with another glance at the door. He looked tense, like he was getting a headache. "No, it's probably nothing. Let's set up camp here. It's getting dark, we can look inside tomorrow."

 

"Tomorrow?" Rodney couldn't believe it. "We hike through miles and miles of jungle, almost get eaten alive by giant alien mosquitoes, and when we finally find what we're looking for, you want to sit outside and wait until tomorrow?" He walked over to the door and started tearing away the vegetation to find the control panel on the side. "You can stay out here if you want, but I am going to take a look inside."

 

Sheppard sighed, but obviously seemed to realize that Rodney was right. "Okay," he said tiredly, dropping his pack and grabbing his P-90. "Just a quick look. Remember, we're only here to find out what this place is and what they were doing here. I'll go in with you and take a look around. Teyla and Ronon can set up camp while we look at ten-thousand-year old dust."

 

"Come on then, Colonel, what are you waiting for? Get over here and get this door open." People could be so slow sometimes, Rodney thought. The frustration of trying to make them keep up with him was tiring. No wonder he got snappish – at times it was the equivalent of running a three-legged race with a paraplegic.

 

"All right, all right. Hold your horses." Sheppard came up to him and gave the door a look. It slid open easily; like it was only yesterday that the Ancient scientists who had lived and worked here had left.

 

Rodney got his out flashlight and shone it into the dark opening. The air was musty and dank, after being conserved for over ten thousand years. He couldn't very far inside, but it seemed to be a long corridor that led downwards, further underground. The compound must be much larger than he had first thought and he couldn't wait to find out what they would discover down there. He started through the door, only to be held back by Sheppard's hand on his shoulder.

 

"Wait, I'll go first."     

 

Rodney shrugged it off. "And protect me from what, the dust?"

 

"It's procedure, McKay. Just deal with it." Sheppard threw a look back towards Teyla and Ronon who had already started to get the tents out. He then lit the light on his P-90 and dived into the darkness with Rodney following close at his heels.   

 

* * *

 

They have arrived! Her insides are singing with anticipation as the man who is of her kind opens the door. It has been so long since anyone has entered, so long since human feet have touched her floors. The two uninteresting ones have remained outside; that suits her fine. She has no use for them. But these two... The man who is of her kind clearly belongs here, and the other one will learn with time. Her long lonely years have finally come to an end. The man who is her kind and the other one will keep her company for a long time to come.

 

* * *  

 

From what Rodney could see the inner walls of the compound were made of the same material as Atlantis. He wondered what the place had looked like when it had been in use. It was like a precious gem hidden deep underneath the rainforest. No one who looked at it from the outside could possibly imagine what was hidden within.

 

The corridor was fairly short and ended in a large round room, its walls lined with consoles. Other doors led from here into other parts of the station. Everything was dark, lit up only by the beams of their flashlights. The room would not have looked out of place in some horror movie. Sheppard walked around the room slowly searching for unseen threats, he reminded Rodney of some big predator out on the prowl. Rodney headed straight for the main console, unpacking his laptop as he went. New discoveries like this always filled him with childish glee, like he had been presented with an enormous Christmas gift just waiting to be opened. All right, time to see if this one contained Grandma's hand-knitted socks or the cool computer game. 

 

"Do you think I could get a little light over here?" Rodney asked. Connecting the laptop to the Ancient technology was bothersome when you were working with flashlights. There came a deep sigh from Sheppard, and then a fluorescent light flickered on.

 

Bathed in light, the room was different, less ghostly and more like the research station it was. There was a deep layer of dust on the consoles, but once he could see what he was doing, it didn't take Rodney long to hook his laptop up to the Ancient equipment.

 

In the meantime, Sheppard moved through the room without his usual curiosity. Most days, you had to forcibly keep him from pressing every button he came across just to see what would happen. Today, he looked unsettled, almost twitchy. There was something tense around his eyes, the fine lines there were more pronounced than usual.

 

Rodney got the interface working and looked up to inform Sheppard of his success when he caught the Colonel rubbing the temples and the bridge of his nose with one hand. Yep, definitely getting sick and not wanting to admit it. "Hey, what's wrong with you today?" Rodney asked. In his mind's eye he could see Sheppard collapsing from some mysterious illness and they would have to carry him back to the 'Gate. "Do you have a headache? I've got some Tylenol somewhere..." He started patting his pockets, looking for his personal supply of antihistamines and painkillers.

 

"It's nothing," Sheppard interrupted, still rubbing his temples. "I just... it's like I can hear something, but when I listen closely it's not there." He paused, and then turned to Rodney. "Are you sure this place is uninhabited?" 

 

"According to the Ancient database, no one has lived here since the scientist who ran the place died. Um... that is, died or ascended. The records are a little unclear as to the specifics."  

 

"Ten thousand years is a long time, Rodney," Sheppard said, letting his eyes roam over the consoles. "Something could've found the place since then. It doesn't even have to be something human. Remember that fog on M5S-224?"

 

"Yes Colonel, please tell me if you start thinking you're back on Earth," Rodney answered, eyes darting between the screen of his laptop and the seemingly dead consoles. "Hmm... this is interesting. Everything seems to be powered down, but I'm getting a strong energy reading. I think this place is just in an energy-saving mode. But then it should've powered up when we came in, just like Atlantis did. I wonder..."

 

"Rodney," Sheppard said, and then, when Rodney didn't answer immediately almost shouted, "Hey, McKay!"

 

Rodney looked up again. Why did everyone always have to interrupt him when he was doing important things? "Yes, what is it? Working here!"

 

Sheppard was looking, for lack of better words, spooked. "I think we should leave now," he said, grasping his P-90 like a security blanket. "I've got a bad feeling about this place." 

 

Rodney pointed at the LSD. "Look Colonel, there are exactly two life signs in here, me and you. So unless there is a hibernating Wraith hidden in some..." he paused, suddenly struck by the memory of the Wraith-ship they had found, the one where there had been no life signs until the ten-thousand-year old Super-Wraith had appeared out of nowhere. And then Abrams, and Gaul had... Rodney shuddered as he trailed off. "You don't think there are any Wraith here, do you?" he asked nervously.  

 

Sheppard shook his head. "No. This is something else. Are you honestly saying you can't feel it? It's like... I think there's someone here. Something. It feels kind of the same way Atlantis does, only different."

 

Sheppard had gone sickly pale and it wasn't just from the bluish fluorescent overhead lights. Rodney began to wonder if he really was getting sick or if this was something else entirely, something a lot less easy to explain. He had never had the same connection with Atlantis that Sheppard had, and, while it was a source of jealousy sometimes, it was also something of a relief. Having the presence of the city constantly in his head... that was something with which Rodney wasn’t entirely comfortable. Technology wasn't supposed to be half-sentient – it was a tool for people to use, not be used by.

 

Rodney put the LSD back into his vest pocket. "Okay," he said. "Let's get out of here. We can take a closer look tomorrow when it's light out."

 

It wasn't like he was worried, Rodney tried to assure himself. They had been walking all day and were tired. Sheppard was probably more tired than the rest of them, since he was obviously getting ill. A good night's sleep would make them see the place in a more favorable light.

 

And he definitely didn't hurry as he followed Sheppard through the corridor toward the fading daylight outside. 

 

* * *

 

The one who is of her kind has noticed her presence. She can feel his mind and it is delicious. So much passion kept reined in and harnessed. So human; the very thing she has longed for, has ached for. She wants to bury herself in that mind, bathe in it, wrap it around herself and never surface again. She does not know what to make of the other one. There is passion there too, but his mind is analytical, busy, eager for new discoveries. He might also make good company, given the time. There is certainly enough work here to keep him busy.         

 

But what are they doing? They are leaving! Rage wells up inside of her. She cannot allow it. She will not let them go.

 

* * *

 

Sheppard had almost reached the door when Rodney finally heard it. Or rather felt it. He couldn't quite put the feeling into words. It was a little like going to Russia – leaving USA and all his research there to be exiled in Siberia. A desperate feeling of ' please don't do this to me'.

 

It suddenly seemed crucial to reach the door and get outside as soon as possible. Sheppard must've felt it too, because he began to jog toward the exit. Something cold trickled down Rodney's neck, like someone was watching him. He didn't dare turn around for the fear of finding something behind him, some dark thing ready to rip him to shreds. And he had accused Sheppard of paranoia... 

 

Then it rang through the walls.

 

NO!

 

It wasn't quite a voice, more like a thought, a thought Rodney was absolutely certain didn’t come from him.

 

In front of them, the door slid shut with a bang. Sheppard was only inches away from hitting it face-first, and his sudden stop made Rodney slam into his back. They both lost their balance and ended up in a heap on the floor. 

 

"What did you do that for!" Rodney shouted, trying to untangle his legs from Sheppard's.

 

"I didn't do anything!" Sheppard replied, his voice also louder than usual.

 

"Didn't do anything?" Rodney got to his feet and brushed the dust from his pants. "Excuse me, Mr. Gene, but the door was open a moment ago, and now it's closed. I'm not the one who has Ancient technology granting my every wish!"

 

"Believe me, McKay," Sheppard said, anger evident in his voice. "I want out of here just as much as you do. But I didn't close the damn door!"

 

Rodney sighed. “All right, so it just magically closed itself. Will you get it open again?”

 

Sheppard’s face got a fleeting look of intense concentration. Nothing happened.

 

"Okay." Rodney ran his hands over the door. It remained stubbornly shut. He took a deep breath. "Okay, no reason to panic. It must've been a short somewhere. Maybe I overloaded a circuit when I connected my equipment to the console. It's okay, we'll just do it the old-fashioned way, by hand."

 

"I'm not panicking," Sheppard said sullenly. He had gotten up off the floor and was now standing behind Rodney, P-90 at the and ready, watching his back. Rodney wondered if he too felt like they were being watched. And what about that not-quite-a-voice? He shook his head irritably. No time to worry about that, right now he had to concentrate on getting them out of here.     

 

There was a control panel in the usual place by the side of the door. Rodney pried it open and surveyed the crystals inside. They all looked intact, maybe the problem lay somewhere else? Well, he might just as well start with the most obvious and try to bypass the circuits that controlled the door.

 

"Do you think you could hurry it up a bit?" Sheppard said behind him. He didn't sound scared; Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard didn't do scared. But there was a distinct sound of urgency in his voice that made Rodney's heart beat faster.

 

"Don't hassle me, Colonel, I'm working as fast as I can here!"

 

He carefully removed one of the crystals, intending to use it as a bridge for the two others. If that didn't work, he'd have to run a diagnostic on the system to find the problem, although, judging from Sheppard's nervousness, Rodney wasn't certain they actually had that much time.        

 

Sheppard was talking with Teyla over the radio, updating her on the situation, and assuring her that Rodney would have them out in a second, no need to worry.

 

Rodney could only hope that he would have them out in a second. He put the crystal in place, pressing it down to give the power a free path to the door, and...

 

... was thrown backwards, into Sheppard, sparks shooting from the control panel. Then there was the horrible feeling of not being able to breathe, the awful, awful smell of scorched flesh and pain pain pain...

 

Then darkness.

  
Part 2

Part 3

Part 4