by Jo Graham
“Hey you!” Ronon shouted, running toward it, angling around the edge of the pool. He didn’t have a clean shot with William between him and the bear. “Hey you!”
The bear spun around, roaring, looking at this new, noisier interloper.
“Drop!” Ronon yelled again, and William did, falling to his knees with his head covered. The energy pistol spoke, flaring bright in the blue gray light. One shot, two, three… The bear went over on the fourth shot, toppling with a sound that Eva could hear from across the cavern.
“Oh my God,” she said, her heart racing.
Ronon grabbed William’s hand, dragging him to his feet. “You ok?”
“Yes.” William’s voice was a little shaky. “Just fine.”
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “That thing was pretty tough. Don’t you know any better than to mess with a predator’s kill? You see a carcass like that and whatever killed it probably isn’t far away.”
“Do you think those things can swim?” Laura asked as they drew nearer. She cradled her P90 watchfully.
“Probably,” Eva said. “Polar bears on Earth are good swimmers.”
“That would explain how it got in here,” William said. He dusted the snow off his jacket where he’d lain on the ice.
Laura’s eyes suddenly went wide, looking over Eva’s shoulder. “And how its twelve friends did,” she said.
Chapter Thirteen
Beneath the Ice
“Everybody back!” Ronon yelled. “Cadman, cover them!”
A pack of the bears — Eva wasn’t going to stop and argue with Laura about whether or not there were twelve — were pulling themselves out of the water. The first were already on dry land, rushing toward them at an alarming rate. For a moment time seemed to stop. I’m going to be eaten by a giant polar bear, Eva thought quite calmly. One always wonders how one will die. She’d considered a good many likely scenarios over the years. But somehow giant alien bears had never figured in.
“Get back!” Ronon yelled, grabbing her by the shoulder and shoving her after William. “Cover us from the door.”
William hadn’t needed to be told twice. He was sprinting for the entrance at a speed that would have looked good in high school track and field.
With a noise that sounded ear splittingly loud, Laura opened up with the P90. The ice dome amplified every sound, and to Eva it sounded like a dozen guns. Laura looked perfectly calm, the weapon cradled against her, as she fired again and again on the onrushing animals. Another thing for the file, Eva thought as she ran past. Laura might come in the office and flail about relationships, but at the bottom of it she was a Marine, the only Marine lieutenant in five years who hadn’t come home from Atlantis on a stretcher or in a body bag.
“Woah,” William yelled, skidding to an abrupt halt. Two of the bears had somehow come around behind them, or perhaps they’d already been inside the dome, white on white, camouflaged the entire time. However they’d gotten there, they were between William and Eva and the door blocking their escape.
Behind, Ronon’s energy pistol spoke again.
“It’s not dropping them,” Laura yelled to him. It ought to. Even Eva knew that. The bears ought not be taking five or six shots from a P90 to slow them down. Surely not.
Ronon pivoted. “Cover. I’ll clear the door.” He came tearing back, energy pistol in hand, drawing a bead on one of the bears between William and the door. William had his little 9mm in his hand.
“Tell me you’re not going to shoot bears with that,” Eva said.
“It’s better than nothing,” William said.
One of the bears charged. It couldn’t have been more than twenty feet away, and Eva stood stock still, remembering some old documentary she’d seen that said the worst thing you could do was run. The seconds elongated. She could see every detail of fur and snout, every tooth. Ronon fired again and again. Three times, four. Five. The bear fell, sliding across the ice carried by its momentum, claws raking almost at her feet.
Behind her, the clatter of automatic weapons fire stopped. Laura had fired the whole clip. And the bears were still coming, still six or eight of them.
At least the way to the doors was clear now. “Go!” Ronon yelled. “Get through to the other side!” He dropped back, dashing around Eva to cover Laura, who had to reload.
Eva ran for the door, William’s back ahead of her. He was almost through, dodging around the carcass of one of the bears Ronon had shot. How could every moment take so long? Surely it was only seconds. She was almost there.
Laura shouted something she didn’t understand, and in the next moment there was an explosion behind her, loud enough to make her ears ring, strong enough to make her lose her stride.
A grenade, some part of her thought. Laura was out of bullets so she threw a grenade. That ought to stop them…
There was a horrible rumble and cracking sound, blue suddenly splitting to bright gold.
“Oh crap,” she heard Laura yell, and then with a single dreadful heave the ice dome above them collapsed.
For one moment Eva saw blue sky above, sunlight streaming down as the enormous chunks of ice fell away. She had presence of mind to put her arms over her head as the pieces fell, huge as appliances or small cars, tumbling her into darkness.
And then there was nothing.
There were voices. It seemed like she ought to recognize them, but she didn’t. They were coming from so far away, from a place of pain that she retreated from. Her daughter? Maybe. It might be Desireé, heard through something heavy and muffling. A young woman’s voice, swearing and crying, begging forgiveness. Desireé might do that. Though she didn’t have anything in the world to blame herself for.
And that was worth coming back for, back from that dark, quiet place. Desireé mustn’t worry. She mustn’t blame herself.
She couldn’t draw a full breath. Something was pressing down on her, the weight against her back, shoving her down on her right side, her left leg on fire. She wanted to say that it was ok. There was nothing to blame anybody for. But she couldn’t draw breath for a single sound.
“Hang on, Eva! We’re coming to get you!” A man’s voice, a strong baritone with an English accent. William. Dr. William Lynn. And with that it came rushing back.
Snow against her face, ice digging into her… She must be trapped beneath the collapsed ceiling of the ice dome.
“Over to the left there. Lift.” A bass, roughened by strain as though he were shouldering something heavy. Ronon.
Snow pattered down, small crystals falling around her, touching her face. Not entirely dark. Through the few inches she could see, there was a faint light, one stripe of gold impossibly far away. She couldn’t even turn toward it, but it was there.
“Goddammit. Goddammit. Don’t be dead.” That was Laura, quick and desperate, the voice she’d taken for Desireé’s. She’d thrown the grenade that dropped the ice cavern ceiling.
At that she tried to speak, to say that she wasn’t dead, but all that came out was a whisper instead of a shout, a low moan.
“I heard something,” William said. “I think I heard something.”
“Don’t stand there,” Ronon said. “Careful! The blocks under it will shift.”
“Eva! Can you hear us?” That was Laura again. The sound of ice moving, of something heavy being thrown.
Ronon was strong. He would be lifting big chunks of ice. He’d get to her if anybody could.
“Ro…” It was a little louder this time. The weight seemed less. She could draw a full breath, though it sent stabbing pains through her side. Broken ribs, she thought. But she could breathe.
“Take this one. That end.” That was Ronon again, calm, unhurried, taking it apart like a puzzle.
“Ugh.” William, trying to take the other end. Blocks shifted. Light poured down a shaft that opened, dazzling and bright.
“Eva?” More swearing. Laura sounded like her voice was choked with tears.
“I can see her!” Willi
am exclaimed triumphantly. “I can see the top of her head.”
“Easy does it.” Ronon. “Cadman, move that there.”
“I’m here,” she said, and this time it came out. Thready, but she could speak. The weight pinned her, no longer crushing. She could take a full breath.
“Thank you, God,” Laura said. “She’s not dead. Hang on. We’ve got to get this stuff off you.”
“Ok.” She could hear her own voice, feeble but there.
Another crash, Ronon throwing an ice block aside.
The light wavered. William had climbed up on a block, stripping off his gloves as he reached down to touch her, his fingers against the side of her neck. She smiled into his hand. He had warm skin, and she could feel every bit of roughness.
“Good pulse,” he said. “Eva, can you talk to me?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes.”
“Don’t try to move her!” That was Laura, somewhere out of sight. “She may have spinal injuries.”
The blocks were lighter now, Ronon and Laura still lifting.
“Can you feel your legs?” William asked.
“Yes. They hurt like hell.”
“That’s good.” The lines at the corners of William’s eyes crinkled as he smiled encouragingly. “Just hang in there. We’re going to get you out and back to Atlantis in a jiffy.”
“How?” Talking to him was distracting, just as he intended. Ronon and Laura were still moving ice.
William frowned. “Ronon is going to go get the jumper and…”
“Ronon…can’t fly the jumper,” she said. A weight lifted off her legs and she gasped.
“You leave the rescuing to us,” William said.
The last piece. She could breathe, she could move her arms.
“Careful,” Ronon said.
Laura knelt down beside her, her face pink with exertion. “My God, Eva. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize when I threw that grenade…”
“It’s ok.”
Ronon squatted between her and William. “Ok, let’s have a look.” His voice was calm, snow clumped on his beard. “I knew you’d be hanging in here. Can you move your legs?”
“Maybe,” she said, and tried. Stabbing pains in the left one, but the right moved. She sucked in a breath and tried not to scream.
“Ok,” Ronon said. “No spinal cord injury, no broken neck. Looks like you’ve got a busted leg here. I’d guess it’s the left femur right above the knee.”
His hands hurt like fury patting down her leg, feeling the wrongness, and it was all she could do not to yell. Eva bit down on her lip hard.
“Maybe some busted ribs. Not coughing blood and you seem to be breathing ok.” Ronon gave her a lopsided grin. “You’re a tough old bird. How are the arms?”
“Ok, I think…” She flexed her hands, surprised that they worked.
“I think that big block that was sitting across her legs took the full weight off her head,” William said. “Ronon, how are we going to get the jumper down here? She’s the only one who can fly it and we’re out of range of Atlantis with the radios.”
“We’re going to go up and use the communicator in the jumper to call for backup,” Ronon said. “Get Kusanagi to bring another jumper out here.” He looked around. “There’s probably a place down here flat enough to land.” He looked down at Eva. “We’ll have Keller out here in less than half an hour. So you just chill and it’ll be good.”
“I’m on it,” Laura said, leaping to her feet. “William?”
“I’ll come with you,” he said. “If Ronon is staying here?”
“I’m staying,” Ronon said. “Cadman, tell Control that we need a second jumper pilot to get our jumper back, and a full medical team.”
“Got it.” Laura and William took off, presumably to retrace their steps upwards through the base.
“Thanks,” Eva said quietly. It hurt a lot.
“No problem,” Ronon said. He put his hand to her throat, checking her pulse. “I’ve done this before.”
“This?”
“Not exactly this.” He was keeping her talking, keeping her alert. Eva knew that. “Got trapped in a collapsed building with Sheppard once. He had a pipe in his side, real bad bleeding.” Ronon shrugged. “You just got to keep working at it, is all.”
“Did you…dig out?”
“Nah. Carter dug in. One of those sucks to be us moments.” He looked up toward the sky as if he expected to see the rescue jumper already. “No complaints. It worked.” He took her hand. “How’re you doing?”
“Hurts,” Eva said.
“You busted that leg pretty good.” Ronon nodded. “But not a pipe in your liver.”
“Sheppard had a pipe in his liver?”
“Oh yeah.” Ronon grinned. “Had Keller put transport sutures in and then he went back after Teyla. I thought Keller was going to kill him herself.”
Eva winced. Talking. Keep talking. The part of her that was professional applauded Ronon. He knew just how to do this. Keep them calm. Keep them talking.
“Didn’t Carter mind? A guy with a pipe in his liver…”
Ronon shrugged. “Carter’s ok.” Ronon looked up at the sky again. There couldn’t be anything there yet. The sky arched blue over the island, and Eva wondered how it had looked through barred windows.
“Hell of a place,” Eva said.
Ronon nodded. “Yeah.”
“The Count of Monte Cristo…”
“This place was a prison,” Ronon said. “Marking the walls like that. It’s how you measure time when you’re afraid you’ll forget it. Guys in isolation cells.” He shrugged. “I guess the Ancients had prisons too.”
“They…closed it down.”
“That’s what I figure.” Ronon was still scanning the sky and cliffs above. “Who knows? They might have closed it down hundreds of years before the war. Would make sense why it wasn’t in Atlantis’ database if it had been closed for a long time. They sure didn’t leave anything useful.”
“Looks like,” Eva said.
Ronon frowned. “I don’t get the bears though. They didn’t act right. They should have scattered when we started shooting, not rushed us. That’s the way humans act, trained humans who have a place to guard.”
“Guard bears,” Eva said. It was hard to stay distracted from the pain.
“Maybe so.” Ronon looked at her seriously. “Genetically engineered to guard this place.”
“That’s pretty creepy,” Eva said.
There was a clatter, and Ronon jerked up, energy pistol drawn.
“We have a problem,” William said.
“The explosion brought down the ice and snow over the doors,” Laura said, her breath coming in gasps as though they’d run back down. “We’re cut off from the jumper.”
Ronon didn’t swear. That was one of the things Eva had noticed about him. No matter what the pressure, he just didn’t. Maybe the words didn’t translate, or maybe it was more of a taboo and Ronon was too polite to use them. But he didn’t swear. Even now. He looked at Laura with an expression that spoke louder than words.
“We can’t get through the doors,” William said. “There are thousands of pounds of ice and snow in front of it. I don’t think the jumper is actually buried, because it was parked further away from the cliff wall, but there’s no way we’re going to get those doors open without heavy equipment.” He looked at Laura. “And don’t even say we could blow our way out. I have no idea how structurally sound the hangar bay is. We could bring the stonework down.”
“I wasn’t going to say it,” Laura said quietly.
“What now?” William asked. “We’ve got to get Eva out of here soon.”
Ronon glanced up at the cliffs as if trying to figure out another way to get to the jumper. It was seventy feet or more up to the plateau, and all of it nearly sheer rock coated with ice and snow. They had no climbing equipment. And Eva was willing to bet the Ancients hadn’t left a pile of rope sitting around somewhere for thousands of years.
“Eventually is the word,” William replied. “We weren’t going to do anything particularly hazardous and we weren’t even off world. It’s probably hours before anybody notices something’s wrong, and we can’t leave Eva lying in the snow with a broken leg for long. At the very least we’re going to have to get her indoors and keep her warm.”
“Oh good,” Eva said. The idea of being moved didn’t particularly appeal, especially not before Dr. Keller arrived with drugs.
Ronon frowned. “It’s going to be hours.”
“She might have broken ribs,” Laura said. “We don’t know if she’s bleeding internally. I don’t think we can afford to wait hours. We’re not even due to check in for two more hours, and they’re not going to worry until we’re significantly overdue.”
“Ok.” Ronon squared his shoulders, looking at Eva. “We’re going to have to move you. We need to get you off the ice and into somewhere we can keep warmer. It’s easy to get hypothermia when you have a serious injury. Some of the environmental controls inside are working. Dr. Lynn, see if you can figure out how to turn up the heat in one of the barracks or living quarters. We’ll move in there and wait it out. Carter will send a second team before long.”
Laura had a distinctly skeptical look about the last. Eva wondered how long it would be. Two hours overdue? Four? That would be four to six hours from now at least. Probably they’d send a second jumper if they were out well past planetary nightfall.
“Ok,” William said. “I’ll see what I can do. How are we…?”
“I’m going to carry her,” Ronon said. “Cadman, we need to tape up that leg as much as we can to keep it from shifting around when we move her.”
It hurt, of course. And being carried in hurt worse, though it was good to at least get out of the wind. They went back to the lab with the working terminal on the theory that was the best chance of getting environmental controls working. It wasn’t nearly as cold in there, probably not quite freezing, which was a big improvement from out on the ice.