STARGATE SG-1 STARGATE ATLANTIS: Points of Origin - Volume Two of the Travelers' Tales (SGX-03) (STARGATE EXTRA (SGX-03))

by Karen Miller

  “Best guess,” Carter said, crouching to pull off an access panel on the arch, “is that McKay’s trying pull power from this end.”

  “Obviously it is not working.” Teyla made her way to stand behind Carter, adding the beam of her flashlight to the colonel’s to help her work.

  Carter nodded her thanks, but only said, “If he’s reversed the polarity of the crystals, then he’s trying to transfer energy in two directions at once, which is probably creating a feedback loop and that —” The lights on the arch flared, the floor shook, and the fissure beneath their feet jerked a fraction wider. “That’s the result,” Carter said grimly.

  “Can you stop it?”

  The colonel glanced over her shoulder. She did not smile, but her eyes glittered. “Let’s find out.”

  “Stay under the arch!” Sheppard yelled, grabbing McKay’s jacket and yanking him back under the only scrap of shelter in the cave. Not that it would make much difference if the whole roof came down on them.

  McKay coughed, his face barely visible through the wild beam of the flashlight. “…feedback loop…” he gasped, trying to reach the panel, but another grinding wrench obliterated anything else he might have said and threw them both onto their hands and knees.

  Dust was everywhere: in John’s mouth, his nose, his lungs. He felt McKay convulse as he coughed, slumping sideways. Their last flashlight went out and the world turned black.

  So this was how it would end, suffocated to death inside an earthquake, on a planet light-years from home. Not exactly glorious, but —

  Light, all around, diffuse through the rock dust. McKay’s face, eyes wide and ashen with shock. And then the familiar white disintegration of a transporter beam and John was sprawled on another rocky floor, cold water seeping into his clothes, onto his lips.

  He rolled over, coughed out a lungful of dust, and looked up into Teyla’s smiling face.

  “Welcome back, John.”

  She helped him to his feet, then over to a large rock where he could sit and catch his breath.

  McKay lay flat on his back, eyes closed, and a beatific smile on his face. “I can’t believe that worked,” he said. “Sometimes I even amaze myself.”

  “Well, you had a little help,” Teyla said, trading an amused glance with John.

  McKay sat up. “What?”

  Teyla nodded toward the back of the cave, where Colonel Carter was examining the Ancient archway. It was tilted at rather a jaunty angle, and the panel at its base was wide open. She raised her hand in greeting. “Hi.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” McKay said. “What are you doing here?”

  The colonel rose to her feet, but before she could answer Teyla said, “Colonel Carter saved your life, Rodney.”

  He blinked, frowned, and rubbed a hand over his face. “I had everything under control.”

  “Under control?” John echoed.

  “I —”

  “Dr. McKay’s right,” Carter said, stepping over a large fissure in the floor of the cave and coming to join them. “He came up with probably the only solution to an impossible situation. He did all the hard work. I just controlled the feedback loop so that the terminal this end could receive the signal correctly.” She gave a self-deprecating shrug. “Anyone could have done it.”

  John doubted that was true because otherwise Zelenka would be there instead of Carter, but he appreciated her giving Rodney the credit.

  “Yes, well,” McKay said, brushing dust from his sleeves. “Exactly.”

  Feeling the need to change the subject, John glanced at the cave mouth and beyond it he saw a line of robed figures. His heart sank. “Colonel,” he said, getting to his feet and scrubbing some of the dust out of his hair, “there’s something we need to tell Qafsiel and the Reverents…”

  McKay scrambled to his feet. “Really? You think we need to tell them about… that?”

  Teyla and Carter looked at him, waiting for more. With a sigh John said, “The place we ended up? It was a bunker. There was no way out, except for the transporter, and it hadn’t been working for a long time. I mean a long time.”

  Carter’s face tightened a fraction ahead of Teyla’s. “How many people were down there?”

  “Impossible to tell, but probably all of them.”

  Teyla put a hand to her mouth. “That is horrible.”

  For a moment, no one spoke. Outside, the Reverents were moving closer, probably because the ground had stopped shaking. John didn’t relish breaking the news that their sacred shrine had, literally, been a death trap. But someone had to do it, and he —

  “Colonel.” Carter put her hand on his arm. “Take your team back to Atlantis, I’ll talk to Qafsiel.”

  “You don’t —”

  “And report to the infirmary when you get there,” she added, encompassing McKay in the order. “Both of you.”

  “Sheppard!” The shout came from outside; Ronon was pushing through the shell-shocked Reverents. “What happened? You look… dusty.”

  John glanced again at Carter, who just nodded him toward the cave mouth. Outside, Zelenka and a couple of SFs were moving up behind Ronon. There was a story here, John figured, but now wasn’t the time to hear it. “I’ll fill you in on the way to the gate,” he told Ronon. “McKay, Teyla — let’s go.”

  “I would rather stay,” Teyla said, “if it is alright with you, Colonel Carter?”

  Carter looked surprised, but pleased. “Thank you. I’d appreciate your advice. This is going to be sensitive.”

  “It is,” Teyla agreed. “But it is a job to which I believe you are well suited, Colonel.”

  Carter flashed a brief, self-conscious smile. “Thanks,” she said. “I hope so.”

  There was a spot Sam had found on one of Atlantis’s many balconies where she could be alone with her thoughts. The sea stretched wide and untroubled in all directions and she could imagine her thoughts and concerns floating out across its surface, straightening out and untangling until she could make sense of them.

  Today, on this breezy morning with the sun glittering low across the water, she was musing once more over Jack’s advice.

  Great leaders lead from behind.

  She thought she understood him now. He hadn’t been talking about leaders in the field, about commanding a four-man gate team. He’d been talking about leading from behind a desk, about enabling your people to be the best they could be, and about having their backs when things went wrong.

  It was a difficult adjustment, which he probably understood all too well. Sam found she had a new respect for that year he’d spent in command of the SGC, watching SG-1 head out through the gate without him. It must have been hell.

  “Colonel Carter?” She turned to find Teyla standing close to the balcony door. “I hope I am not disturbing you?”

  “Not at all,” Sam said with a smile. “You’re back early.”

  Teyla nodded and came to stand with her at the railing. “The ceremony was not long,” she said. “The cave beneath the shrine is now sacred ground too. Reverent Joqun believes that their lost people shed their mortal bodies in order to dwell with the Ancestors.”

  Sam turned her gaze back to the sea. From what she knew about ascension, that was basically true, but somehow she doubted ascension was the fate of Talaverna’s lost people. The Reverent’s insistence on the lie frustrated her; it reminded her too much of false gods. “I’d have thought,” she said, “that discovering the truth about the shrine might have opened his eyes to the truth about the Ancients.”

  For a while, Teyla was silent and Sam was afraid she might have offended her. But when she glanced over, she saw that Teyla’s thoughtful gaze was fixed on the horizon. “Perhaps it will change some minds,” she said. “However, I believe that the commercial benefit Talaverna deriv
es from the presence of the shrine outweighs their more… spiritual concerns.” She offered Sam a wry smile. “This is Pegasus. Surviving the Wraith has taught us to be pragmatic in everything, including our faith.”

  Sam wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but Teyla was right about one thing: this was Pegasus, the rules were different here.

  After a silent moment, Teyla said, “Would you care to join us for breakfast, Colonel? I believe they are serving tuttleroot pancakes today.”

  It was a tempting offer, but Sam knew she had to decline. This wasn’t the SGC, and she wasn’t part of Teyla’s team. She was separate — she had to keep herself separate if she was going to do her job. “Thanks,” she said, “but I’m just getting some air before I hit the paperwork.”

  Teyla nodded in perfect understanding. “Then I wish you a productive day, Colonel.”

  Sam smiled and let her go, turning back to the sea, allowing herself another minute of sunlight and peace.

  It was still dislocating to be this far from home and the people she cared about, but she didn’t feel so alone anymore. Not just because of her developing friendships on Atlantis, but because now she understood her place here better.

  Jack’s advice about great leaders had been right on the money; her place wasn’t out front, her place was standing behind everyone on Atlantis and covering their backs.

  She just hoped she could do it as well as the great leaders who stood behind her.

  Our authors

  Jo Graham is the author of nine Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1 novels. With Melissa Scott, she is the author of The Order of the Air series, a historical fantasy aviation team adventure set in the 1920s and 1930s. She is also the author of the Numinous World series of historical fantasies, beginning with the critically acclaimed Black Ships. She lives in North Carolina with her partner and their daughter.

  Peter J Evans was born in southern England and has been there ever since, although not entirely by choice. He wrote his first novel in 1999, and since then has completed nine more that the world knows about, including STARGATE SG-1: Oceans of Dust and STARGATE ATLANTIS: Angelus, plus an undisclosed number that must never be seen or mentioned again. During daylight hours Evans does something terribly complicated involving navigational radar, while at night he listens to Japanese pop songs and writes horror stories. He has heard of sleep, but only as an abstract concept.

  Geonn Cannon is the author of over twenty novels, as well as numerous short stories which can be found for free at his website (geonncannon.com). The first time he traveled out of his home state was to attend the 2004 Stargate convention in Vancouver. He lives in Oklahoma.

  Amy Griswold is the author of STARGATE SG-1: Murder at the SGC, STARGATE SG-1: Heart’s Desire and the co-author of STARGATE ATLANTIS Legacy series novels The Lost, Allegiance, Inheritors, and Unascended. She has also written two gaslamp fantasy/mystery novels with Melissa Scott, Death by Silver and A Death at the Dionysus Club (Lethe Press). Find her online at amygriswold.livejournal.com or follow her on Twitter at @amygris.

  Suzanne Wood In the leafy greenness of the world’s most livable city, Melbourne, Australia, Suzanne lives and works surrounded by books. Author of STARGATE SG-1: The Barque of Heaven and the first official short story crossover between STARGATE SG-1 and STARGATE ATLANTIS for the Official Stargate Magazine, she is currently undertaking a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing while working on two new original novels. She has long-standing interests in Egyptology, ballet and watching Aussie pro cyclists, a new-found passion for family and Australian history, and occasionally rescues stray dogs. Her website is www.suzannewood.net.

  Aaron Rosenberg is the author of the best-selling DuckBob SF comedy series, the Dread Remora space-opera series, and, with David Niall Wilson, the O.C.L.T. occult thriller series. His tie-in work contains novels for Star Trek, Warhammer, World of WarCraft, Stargate Atlantis, and Eureka. He has written children’s books (including the award-winning Bandslam: The Junior Novel and the #1 best-selling 42: The Jackie Robinson Story, educational books, and roleplaying games (including the Origins Award-winning Gamemastering Secrets). He is a founding member of Crazy 8 Press. You can follow him online at gryphonrose.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/gryphonrose, and on Twitter @gryphonrose.

  Karen Miller lives in Sydney, Australia, and is the author of two STARGATE SG-1 novels: Alliances and Do No Harm. She has also written three Star Wars novels and many mainstream fantasy novels, including the internationally bestselling Mage series, the Godspeaker trilogy and the Rogue Agent series under her pen name, KE Mills. Currently she’s working hard on her new epic fantasy series The Tarnished Crown. Book 1, The Falcon Throne, is available now. She’s also preparing to start book 5 of the Rogue Agent series. When she’s not busy writing, Karen travels for research and enjoys directing with her local theatre company. You can find her at www.karenmiller.net.

  T. Fox Dunham lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Allison. He’s a lymphoma survivor, modern bard and historian. His first book, The Street Martyr, is being made into major motion picture by Throughline Films. Destroying the Tangible Illusion of Reality or Searching for Andy Kaufman, a book about dying, is out in November 2016 from PMMP. He’s an active member of the Horror Writers Association and does political writing for senate campaigns. He’s the co-host of What Are You Afraid of? True Ghost Stories and Horror Podcast. His motto is wrecking civilization one story at a time. Blog: tfoxdunham.blogspot.com. Facebook: www.facebook.com/tfoxdunham. Twitter: @TFoxDunham

  Laura Harper lives in Glasgow, Scotland, where she is a copywriter by day and travels through the Stargate outside of normal working hours. She has co-authored three novels with Sally Malcolm: Stargate SG-1: Hostile Ground and Stargate SG-1: Exile from the Apocalypse trilogy, and Stargate SG-1: Sunrise (writing as JF Crane). This is her first short story for Fandemonium Books. She is occasionally assisted in her writing by her cat, Steve, who believes an open laptop is an excellent place to sit. Follow her on Twitter @harperthewriter

  Sally Malcolm has written prolifically within the Stargate universe, penning novels, short stories, audio dramas, and video game scripts. Her Stargate novels include Stargate SG-1: A Matter of Honor, Stargate SG-1: The Cost of Honor, Stargate Atlantis: Rising (novelization), Stargate SG-1: Sunrise (writing with Laura Harper, as J.F. Crane), and Stargate SG-1: Hostile Ground. Sally and Laura’s most recent title, STARGATE SG-1: Exile, was published in August 2015 and is the second in the STARGATE SG-1: Apocalypse trilogy. They are currently working on the final book, due for publication in September 2016. Follow her on Twitter @Sally_Malcolm.

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