FIC: Devil Inside - Chapter 1
Jun. 21st, 2007 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
x_erikah_xTitle: Devil Inside -
Word count: 1.270
Rating: PG
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex,
Genre: Drama, Angst, H/C, Suspense, Gen
Disclaimer: Stargate and all related characters are the property of MGM Television Entertainment. Not done for profit, just for fun.
Summary: A mysterious entity takes over the bodies of the members of the Atlantis Expedition. Season 3 pre-Sunday. No spoilers.
Thanks to lauriel01 for the beta!
…
Chapter 1
“So, what’s so special about these ruins?” John Sheppard asked, almost one hour after McKay started to mutter busy on the ancient panels.
“Hmmm?” McKay mumbled distractedly.
“Rodney!” John waved a hand in front of his eyes to grab his attention.
“What?” Rodney lifted his head from the console, annoyed.
“What’s up with the mumbling? Anything of importance?”
“I’ll let you know.” Rodney lowered his head back to work and gained a disapproving nod from the Colonel.
John thought it would be better to be spared from the stress, so he left the scientist alone. Rodney’s bad mood was highly contagious and often spread throughout the entire scientific staff. Now there were five scientists working on different parts of the ruins, all in the same large room, meaning John could hear the Czech curses from one corner, German from another and Italian from the center.
He exited the room through the long corridor and left the brilliant minds by themselves having all the fun while he had the guard duty. It had to be some kind of torture.
The ruin wasn’t big. It consisted of one long corridor of approximately fifty meters with ten big rooms coming out of it, two every ten meters, one on each side. It had the usual ancient design and feel, but was in a much worse condition than the normal ten thousand year old ruins. The planet had some very active tectonic plates that destroyed several parts of the place for the last few years. Add to that the accumulated dust and dirt of over ten millennia, which also contributed to the constant sneezing of one unfortunate allergic scientist that forgot the meds. A whole week having to stand this would make him go crazy.
How come Ronon and Teyla could get the week off and he had to ‘relax’ on ‘light duty’? It was immensely unfair, but discussing it with Carson or Elizabeth didn’t get him anywhere. Just here. Poor Lorne also got the guarding shift with five more marines. They were all outside the place with the most bored faces in the Pegasus Galaxy. John arrived at the camp set up for the week and sat down trying to look like he actually cared for this mission. Lots of dangers could be lurking around the pretty fields covered in grass and flowers. Maybe some wild animals, alien snakes and bugs. All these dangers to the scientific team required heavy security. It’s a totally justified waste of manpower. But of course, you can’t be too careful in this galaxy.
“The perimeter is set, Colonel.” Major Lorne reported after a few minutes. “Drake and Takafuji got the first shift.”
“Ok, Major.” John got up, he was tired of relaxing. “I’ll be inside the ruins.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Maybe some exploring would distract him.
…
“Aha!” Rodney shouted from under the console after hours working on the power settings. “I’m a genius!”
He got up, wiped the dust off his uniform, and connected the laptop to a terminal above the panel. A few seconds after that, the whole room lit up faintly. He looked around his staff to receive the looks of approval. His smile faded a second later when the Chinese woman whose name he could never remember accidentally disconnected a cable, plunging the place into total darkness. She quickly connected it again with a shy smile. He simply frowned and scowled in disapproval.
“So, what did you find?” Sheppard stood on the doorway with his usual rakish look.
“I fixed the whole power grid.” Rodney spoke in a condescending tone. “We can try to have a look on that ancient database now.” He turned to his laptop that now displayed a screen full of indecipherable ancient symbols and cursed.
Sheppard trailed inside the room. “What?” He peeked curiously over Rodney’s shoulder.
“It’s encrypted.” Rodney frowned. “It will take days to figure this one out.” He started typing on his notebook.
“Did you take a look at the other rooms?” Sheppard disrupted his concentration in an innocent voice that really annoyed him.
“Superficially. Why?” Rodney stopped his activity to look at the Colonel.
“It’s just that I saw something strange.”
“Define strange.” He was running out of patience.
“Don’t you know what strange means?” Sheppard said sarcastically.
“Haha. I’m laughing. Now what did you see?”
“A box with blinking colored lights.” Sheppard now had Rodney’s interest.
“Really? Where?”
“Just over in that lab.” The Colonel waved a hand to the corridor.
“Radek!” Rodney dropped his tools on the console and called the
Radek Zelenka lifted his dirty face from under another panel adjusting his glasses.
“Yes?” He looked around until he found Rodney.
“Continue with this encrypted data. I’ll be right back.” Rodney pointed his thumb over his shoulder then left through the door after Sheppard.
The other lab was just across the corridor and was a complete wreck. Some columns had fallen over a group of panels in the middle of the room and large pieces of the ceiling were scattered over the floor. There were several tables by the walls with some ancient devices. On one of these tables was the box the Colonel had mentioned. It had the size of a PC tower with a smooth black surface and five tiny lights at the bottom, each of a different color. It didn’t have any cables coming out of it, but it looked powered up.
“Did you touch it?” Rodney leaned his head back to look down the ridge of his nose at him.
“No…”
“Good.”
Rodney leaned over the table to have a closer look. He took out his ancient sensor from the vest pocket and started analyzing the object. Seconds later, he picked up a faint energy signal coming from the object. He smiled pleased.
“So, is it worth something?” Sheppard said from over his shoulder.
Rodney looked up and gave him a small smile from where he leant over the machine.
“Certainly is.” It was worth something. It had its own power source, but obviously it was almost depleted after ten thousand years. Only something very important would require a box with an independent power supply to contain it. It worked non-stop for all this time and didn’t have much more energy left. He touched the surface carefully and felt a buzz climbing his arm. He backed his hand away immediately.
“What?”
“It’s buzzing.” Rodney pointed his finger to the object.
Suddenly a bright light came from the top of the box in a beam that illuminated the whole room. Both men took a step backwards; looking at it and then to each other. The beam faded slightly and took the shape of a sphere floating over the box. The sphere flashed instantly and flew towards the two of them.
“Get down!” Rodney heard Sheppard’s shouted warning and dived to the dirt, covering his head with his hands. As the light in the room dissipated, he cautiously raised his head and to discover the sphere was gone. He grinned in relief. “That was close.” His smile faded as he turned to discover the Colonel lying on the floor, unconscious.
…
TBC…
( Chapter 2 )
