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Dark and Light, Day and Night - Stargate: Atlantis - Gen (Sheppard's Team & Lorne's Team) - Words: 3,081
Written for Scifiland's Come to the Dark Side Challenge
Summary: John Sheppard figured that going off-world was kind of like gambling in Las Vegas; you went in with a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, but sometimes it could still catch you completely off guard.
Content Notes: None. PG.
On AO3: Dark and Light, Day and Night
The cave wasn't that different than the sloping field turned forest that they'd been walking through only minutes before. Evan looked down at the scanner in his hand, resisting the urge to rub at his eyes. Long days and longer nights were part of the Stargate program, whether at the SGC or on Atlantis. Disaster struck, and they dropped whatever they were doing and did whatever it took to save lives and possibly the world. "This way," he called to his team and motioned deeper into the cave.
David Parrish was by his side almost instantly, his flashlight tracing jagged lines across the walls of the cave. "Do you think they're in here? Does it show life signs?"
Evan glanced down at the scanner in his hand, glad that he had the ATA gene and could use the technology with a minimum of fuss. The gene therapy hadn't taken with anyone else on his team, but he was grateful that he hadn't had to rearrange his team in order to accommodate a gene carrier. But, the closer they had gotten to the cave, the more the scanner had been behaving oddly, showing phantom readings and things he couldn't even make sense of. "I can't imagine that Dr. McKay would have let them go anywhere else without coming here first."
"Yeah, but do you think they're here?" David asked again, turning his light to Evan's chest so that he could see Evan's face without blinding him.
Evan took a moment to glance at David, seeing the fear that was almost masked. Being called out in the middle of the night to go on a search and rescue mission was never something any of them enjoyed, and somehow it was even worse when it was a mission that was supposed to be safe, or as safe as going through the 'gate could be. "I think they're here. Hopefully just needing a hand climbing out of a pit or something. Or a rockslide, maybe." He gestured to the areas of the caves that had crumbled down into the floor.
David nodded and looked away, using his flashlight to sweep along the ground for pitfalls and evidence that Sheppard's team had been there before them.
Glancing back, Evan saw Coughlin and Reed swinging their lights as they joked about not crossing the beams. He shook his head, not able to begrudge them the joking and levity that they used to make their jobs tolerable, but wondering if a Ghostbusters marathon had really been a wise choice on the last team movie night. Ever since then, there'd been pretty much constant jokes about the Wraith being related to Zuul and the possibilities of using marshmallow creme to prank some of the other teams. Evan didn't know where they were planning on getting marshmallow creme from, and he didn't want to know either.
"I've got something," David called as they rounded a corner, Evan a few steps behind.
Evan walked forward as David held up what he'd picked up off the ground.
"I nearly fell over it," David said, letting Evan take it from his hands.
"A flare. They were here then. But where are they now?" Evan asked as he examined the end. The marks suggested that they had tried to light it but there was no sign that it had burned. He moved his flashlight to the ground and traced the footsteps with the beam of light. There were his own and David's fresh prints in a straight line from where they'd entered the section of the cave, but there were prints he recognized as standard issue tread for the expedition in all directions across the floor.
Darkness enveloped them before Evan had a chance to realize that his flashlight had gone out, as well as David's. "Coughlin, Reed, Parrish?" he called out as he clicked the switch on his flashlight, and then shook it vigorously.
"David?" Evan's voice echoed as he reached out to where David had been only second ago. He'd only been a few feet away when their lights had gone out. Their radios had pretty much stopped working completely when they'd reached the base of the mountain. "David?" He asked one more time, quieter this time, the probably useless flare clutched in his hand as he shuffled across the floor.
*****
Two Hours Earlier
Evan looked out over the 'gate room, his team gathering near the 'gate and double checking their gear. He was still blinking a little, his eyes adjusting to the light. He'd gotten dressed in the dark and the lights in Atlantis dimmed automatically at night, everywhere except for the 'gate room it seemed.
"They missed both their check-ins, we haven't heard from them since they let us know that they made it to the planet safely. We sent a MALP already, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary and no Wraith activity that we could detect, but no indication of where the team went either," Dr. Weir's words tumbled over each other as she spoke. She kept her calm leader mask in place, but Evan could see the dark circles under her eyes and see how tired and worried she was.
Not that he could blame her on either count. It was the middle of the night, he'd gotten the call to assemble his team just before one in the morning, and whenever anyone went missing stress was high. The fact that it was Colonel Sheppard's team only made things worse. "We'll find them, Ma'am," Evan put as much confidence in his voice as he could muster.
Dr. Weir nodded, her calm mask slipping just for a moment. "I know you will. Regular check-ins, let us know if you need anything. I can have another team mustered and through the 'gate within five minutes and I have a puddle jumper on standby."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Evan nodded. "We'll keep in touch."
"Dial the planet," Weir gave the instruction to the 'gate technician.
Evan hurried down the steps, pausing to tuck away a loose strap on David's vest and adjust the clip that was holding a folding shovel to Reed's pack. "Standard search and rescue op. We have no intel on the planet other than there is no indication of Wraith activity. Flashlights out, it's night on the planet."
His team checked their flashlights and Evan did the same as the 'gate whooshed into the room. He looked up and met Dr. Weir's eyes and nodded again, silently assuring her that they would come back either with Sheppard and his team or with news of some kind. "Let's move out."
Evan walked to the few steps to the 'gate, checked one more time that his team was ready to go, and stepped through.
*****
Twelve Hours Earlier
"Sheppard!" Rodney's voice, filled with panic, was only underscored by a frantic clicking sound.
As John pressed the switch on his flashlight, which had been functioning perfectly well until just seconds ago, he realized that Rodney was doing the same thing. "Right here, Rodney."
"Right where? I can't even see my own hand and I'm holding it right in front of my face!" Rodney sounded a little less panicked, but was still clicking and shaking his flashlight.
"To your left," John guessed as he directed himself towards where he thought Rodney's voice was coming from, although the twists and turns of the caves made it difficult to tell for certain. "Ronon? Teyla? You with us?"
"Here," Ronon replied from somewhere behind John.
"Teyla!" John called after a silence where she should have responded.
Ronon shouted Teyla's name, reminding them all of how loud he could be when he chose, the sound echoing and multiplying off the cave walls. There was still no answer. They heard Ronon starting to move, his footsteps unnaturally loud.
Belatedly, John remembered the sections of walls that had crumbled away, and pieces of the floor that were uneven and disappeared entirely in some places. He tried to picture their surroundings, remember where the drop offs were, and the path they had taken to get there. "Careful, I'm not to sure about the structural integrity of this place."
Ronon's footsteps stopped. "I can't track anything in here."
Rodney made a soft whining sound. "This shouldn't be happening. Even if all of our batteries somehow managed die at the same time, and I'm not even going to go into the odds of that happening, the scanner should still be working."
Sometimes John thought that 'This shouldn't be happening' should be the motto of 'gate travel. He doubted that he could get it on t-shirts or anything, but figured that most anyone who went through the 'gate knew it anyway. "What about some kind of suppression field that keeps the technology from working?" he suggested, swinging his pack down to rest at his feet and feeling his way through to find the emergency wind-up light that was somewhere in there. If not that, he had some flares that should do the trick.
"What is this, Star Trek? First of all, why would someone put that in a cave in the middle of nowhere, it makes no sense? Besides, for something to effectively stop a battery powered flashlight as well as an Ancient scanner, let's just say it's highly improbable," Rodney snapped.
A quiet whirling sound filled the air as John wound up the light, and then a clicking as he tried to turn it on. Swallowing down the frustration and the fear that was starting to build, John situated the emergency light back in his pack and pulled out one of the flares, twisted off the cap and held it away from his body, stricking the end against the cap and turning his head away so he wouldn't accidentally blind himself. When nothing happened, other than the sound of the flare scrapping against the striking surface, John tried twice more with the same result, carefully feeling his way up the flare to make sure it hadn't actually lit and he just couldn't see it.
"I think this more than just technology related. I can't get a flare to light," John explained, dropping the flare on the ground. "Alright, let's retrace our steps, get back to the surface. We're going to have to move slowly, test where you put your feet before you put all of your weight there."
"What about Teyla?" Ronon asked gruffly.
John sighed and twisted his head around futilely, as if he could actually see anything but a thick dark grey that completely surrounded him. "We can't do anything for her like this. As soon as we get out we'll get Atlantis to send a rescue team and we'll all go back in and find her. Alright, let's go. Try to retrace your steps the best you can." He turned and took a few shuffling steps in the direction that he thought was the way out, though he really wasn't sure anymore.
Ronon's footsteps were somewhere to John's right, and he could hear a small pebble being kicked across the floor and then either stopping or disappearing.
"Rodney, are you with us?" John asked, his head swinging automatically to where he thought Rodney was by instinct, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to see him. "Rodney? McKay!"
John's voice echoed through the caves just like Ronon's had when they were calling for Teyla, but again there was no response.
"Well, great. This is just great." John took a moment to gather his thoughts, placing his hands over his eyes and exhaling heavily. There wasn't a noticeable difference between when he had his eyes closed and his eyes open. "Let's get out of here before we all get completely separated. The sooner we reach the surface, the sooner we can find them."
John took three steps before he stopped, his chest tightening when he didn't hear Ronon's footsteps anymore. "Ronon? Buddy?"
There was no response, and John didn't bother calling out, knowing he'd only hear his own voice answering. He held his hands out in front of him and carefully started shuffling forward again, repeating to himself that he just had to reach the surface and get to the 'gate, everything would be fine if he could just do that. He didn't know how long he'd been walking when he found himself repeating that under his breath.
*****
Three Hours Earlier
"I should have brought more sunblock," Rodney said as he raised his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. "I need to make another batch anyway, and one of the botanists says he knows of a plant that should help protect from a wider spectrum of UV rays."
John was caught somewhere between a smile and rolling his eyes as he scanned the area around the 'gate. There hadn't been any reports of Wraith activity in this region of the Pegasus galaxy, but that didn't mean a whole lot. Many of the civilizations they encountered avoided the 'gate entirely and were very wary of travelers who came from it, and as a result, the Wraith could easily only be a solar system away and no one would have any idea. "See, I knew you could play nice with the soft-scientists," he said as he decided that the area was clear of immediate threat.
Teyla and Ronon's more at ease postures, as relaxed as they ever were off-world at least, indicated that they too hadn't come up with anything when they surveyed their surroundings.
"Playing? Do you even have any idea what scientists actually do?" Rodney sounded more than a little outraged. "And besides, I have nothing against botanists. It's just that botany isn't an actual science."
"I am unsure that you would want to say that in the company of Major Lorne. I believe he's become quite attached to the botanist on his team," Teyla said. She said it with a completely straight face, but her tone indicated that she was at least a little amused by Rodney's derision of fields of inquiry outside of his own.
John smiled to himself as he unhooked his sunglasses from his vest and put them on, blinking as he adjusted to the different shade of the world through the lenses. He took a second look around, one that was more interested in his actual surroundings instead of just scanning for signs of movement or imminent threats. The world itself was stunningly Earth-like, reminding John of the park he'd visited once during a vacation. They'd driven through, his parents more interested in getting to their next destination than stopping and looking at the trees and the sky. About halfway into the park, they'd pulled over for a rest break and John had gotten out of the car, stretching his legs as he walked through the thick grass; the sounds of his family lost as he moved into the trees. He remembered the sky being the brightest blue he'd ever seen, the trees stretching up impossibly tall as their green leaves brushed against what seemed like eternity. Eventually, his father had called out, and John was brought back to Earth and walked back to the car. This world had that same sense of brightness, the light permeating through the trees and the grass and the woods stretching towards the horizon.
When John turned, he found Ronon watching him, not paying any more attention to the sound of Rodney and Teyla talking than he was. "Been here before?" John asked, using the words to mask the sudden and unexpected emotions that had risen from remembering Earth. A type of home-sickness, he supposed, even though Atlantis had become home almost instantly. Earth-sickness, maybe; missing the idea of something that hadn't really been there. He frowned a little, wondering if it might be time for a short vacation, spend a day or two just surfing on one of the beaches of a friendly planet. The idea of going back to Earth for a vacation just seemed ridiculous and far-fetched, even though the trip back and forth was no longer as time consuming and improbable as it used to be.
"No. This isn't a well-known address on any of the planets I stopped on," Ronon replied, looking around again before focusing back on John.
It took John a moment to remember what he'd asked and he nodded belatedly. From the glance Ronon gave him, John knew he wasn't fooling anyone. Not much got past any of the members of his team, even though they all had their own ways of responding. Ronon just clapped his hand on John's shoulder, squeezing briefly before wandering away, still looking around the trees in his constant search of his surroundings. John wondered if his odd moment of reminisce had been as clear to Ronon as the moments when Ronon would tuck his head down slightly when something reminded him of Sateda, or when Teyla would briefly press her hands together when the subject of her people was brought up, or when something was actually really bothering Rodney he'd grow silent and still. He suspected that his own tells were just as obvious to them as theirs were to him, and strangely, that didn't bother him as much as he'd expected it to.
"I'm getting some kind of energy reading, the scanner can't make heads or tails of it. I've tried recalibrating, but it's just not coming through," Rodney called, his fingers working quickly over his scanner and his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Something worth checking out?" John asked as he wandered over, taking quick note of where the rest of his team was located.
Rodney tipped his head to the side. "Well, I can't say for sure, since the scanner isn't giving me a lot to work with. But, yeah, I think that something that messes with Ancient technology is worth taking a look at."
John glanced at the scanner and looked in the direction of the reading. The location was uphill, leading up into sloping mountains, but not far enough away that walking would be difficult. The weather was clear, the sun warm but a gentle breeze that rustled the trees kept things from getting too warm.
"Let's go check it out," John motioned to his team, and they started walking. Rodney and Ronon were in the lead, Rodney providing direction while Ronon kept watch over him and the way ahead. John and Teyla followed, moving in a companionable silence. John thought he kind of liked this planet.
Sequel: Noon Bright
Written for Scifiland's Come to the Dark Side Challenge
Summary: John Sheppard figured that going off-world was kind of like gambling in Las Vegas; you went in with a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, but sometimes it could still catch you completely off guard.
Content Notes: None. PG.
On AO3: Dark and Light, Day and Night
The cave wasn't that different than the sloping field turned forest that they'd been walking through only minutes before. Evan looked down at the scanner in his hand, resisting the urge to rub at his eyes. Long days and longer nights were part of the Stargate program, whether at the SGC or on Atlantis. Disaster struck, and they dropped whatever they were doing and did whatever it took to save lives and possibly the world. "This way," he called to his team and motioned deeper into the cave.
David Parrish was by his side almost instantly, his flashlight tracing jagged lines across the walls of the cave. "Do you think they're in here? Does it show life signs?"
Evan glanced down at the scanner in his hand, glad that he had the ATA gene and could use the technology with a minimum of fuss. The gene therapy hadn't taken with anyone else on his team, but he was grateful that he hadn't had to rearrange his team in order to accommodate a gene carrier. But, the closer they had gotten to the cave, the more the scanner had been behaving oddly, showing phantom readings and things he couldn't even make sense of. "I can't imagine that Dr. McKay would have let them go anywhere else without coming here first."
"Yeah, but do you think they're here?" David asked again, turning his light to Evan's chest so that he could see Evan's face without blinding him.
Evan took a moment to glance at David, seeing the fear that was almost masked. Being called out in the middle of the night to go on a search and rescue mission was never something any of them enjoyed, and somehow it was even worse when it was a mission that was supposed to be safe, or as safe as going through the 'gate could be. "I think they're here. Hopefully just needing a hand climbing out of a pit or something. Or a rockslide, maybe." He gestured to the areas of the caves that had crumbled down into the floor.
David nodded and looked away, using his flashlight to sweep along the ground for pitfalls and evidence that Sheppard's team had been there before them.
Glancing back, Evan saw Coughlin and Reed swinging their lights as they joked about not crossing the beams. He shook his head, not able to begrudge them the joking and levity that they used to make their jobs tolerable, but wondering if a Ghostbusters marathon had really been a wise choice on the last team movie night. Ever since then, there'd been pretty much constant jokes about the Wraith being related to Zuul and the possibilities of using marshmallow creme to prank some of the other teams. Evan didn't know where they were planning on getting marshmallow creme from, and he didn't want to know either.
"I've got something," David called as they rounded a corner, Evan a few steps behind.
Evan walked forward as David held up what he'd picked up off the ground.
"I nearly fell over it," David said, letting Evan take it from his hands.
"A flare. They were here then. But where are they now?" Evan asked as he examined the end. The marks suggested that they had tried to light it but there was no sign that it had burned. He moved his flashlight to the ground and traced the footsteps with the beam of light. There were his own and David's fresh prints in a straight line from where they'd entered the section of the cave, but there were prints he recognized as standard issue tread for the expedition in all directions across the floor.
Darkness enveloped them before Evan had a chance to realize that his flashlight had gone out, as well as David's. "Coughlin, Reed, Parrish?" he called out as he clicked the switch on his flashlight, and then shook it vigorously.
"David?" Evan's voice echoed as he reached out to where David had been only second ago. He'd only been a few feet away when their lights had gone out. Their radios had pretty much stopped working completely when they'd reached the base of the mountain. "David?" He asked one more time, quieter this time, the probably useless flare clutched in his hand as he shuffled across the floor.
Two Hours Earlier
Evan looked out over the 'gate room, his team gathering near the 'gate and double checking their gear. He was still blinking a little, his eyes adjusting to the light. He'd gotten dressed in the dark and the lights in Atlantis dimmed automatically at night, everywhere except for the 'gate room it seemed.
"They missed both their check-ins, we haven't heard from them since they let us know that they made it to the planet safely. We sent a MALP already, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary and no Wraith activity that we could detect, but no indication of where the team went either," Dr. Weir's words tumbled over each other as she spoke. She kept her calm leader mask in place, but Evan could see the dark circles under her eyes and see how tired and worried she was.
Not that he could blame her on either count. It was the middle of the night, he'd gotten the call to assemble his team just before one in the morning, and whenever anyone went missing stress was high. The fact that it was Colonel Sheppard's team only made things worse. "We'll find them, Ma'am," Evan put as much confidence in his voice as he could muster.
Dr. Weir nodded, her calm mask slipping just for a moment. "I know you will. Regular check-ins, let us know if you need anything. I can have another team mustered and through the 'gate within five minutes and I have a puddle jumper on standby."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Evan nodded. "We'll keep in touch."
"Dial the planet," Weir gave the instruction to the 'gate technician.
Evan hurried down the steps, pausing to tuck away a loose strap on David's vest and adjust the clip that was holding a folding shovel to Reed's pack. "Standard search and rescue op. We have no intel on the planet other than there is no indication of Wraith activity. Flashlights out, it's night on the planet."
His team checked their flashlights and Evan did the same as the 'gate whooshed into the room. He looked up and met Dr. Weir's eyes and nodded again, silently assuring her that they would come back either with Sheppard and his team or with news of some kind. "Let's move out."
Evan walked to the few steps to the 'gate, checked one more time that his team was ready to go, and stepped through.
Twelve Hours Earlier
"Sheppard!" Rodney's voice, filled with panic, was only underscored by a frantic clicking sound.
As John pressed the switch on his flashlight, which had been functioning perfectly well until just seconds ago, he realized that Rodney was doing the same thing. "Right here, Rodney."
"Right where? I can't even see my own hand and I'm holding it right in front of my face!" Rodney sounded a little less panicked, but was still clicking and shaking his flashlight.
"To your left," John guessed as he directed himself towards where he thought Rodney's voice was coming from, although the twists and turns of the caves made it difficult to tell for certain. "Ronon? Teyla? You with us?"
"Here," Ronon replied from somewhere behind John.
"Teyla!" John called after a silence where she should have responded.
Ronon shouted Teyla's name, reminding them all of how loud he could be when he chose, the sound echoing and multiplying off the cave walls. There was still no answer. They heard Ronon starting to move, his footsteps unnaturally loud.
Belatedly, John remembered the sections of walls that had crumbled away, and pieces of the floor that were uneven and disappeared entirely in some places. He tried to picture their surroundings, remember where the drop offs were, and the path they had taken to get there. "Careful, I'm not to sure about the structural integrity of this place."
Ronon's footsteps stopped. "I can't track anything in here."
Rodney made a soft whining sound. "This shouldn't be happening. Even if all of our batteries somehow managed die at the same time, and I'm not even going to go into the odds of that happening, the scanner should still be working."
Sometimes John thought that 'This shouldn't be happening' should be the motto of 'gate travel. He doubted that he could get it on t-shirts or anything, but figured that most anyone who went through the 'gate knew it anyway. "What about some kind of suppression field that keeps the technology from working?" he suggested, swinging his pack down to rest at his feet and feeling his way through to find the emergency wind-up light that was somewhere in there. If not that, he had some flares that should do the trick.
"What is this, Star Trek? First of all, why would someone put that in a cave in the middle of nowhere, it makes no sense? Besides, for something to effectively stop a battery powered flashlight as well as an Ancient scanner, let's just say it's highly improbable," Rodney snapped.
A quiet whirling sound filled the air as John wound up the light, and then a clicking as he tried to turn it on. Swallowing down the frustration and the fear that was starting to build, John situated the emergency light back in his pack and pulled out one of the flares, twisted off the cap and held it away from his body, stricking the end against the cap and turning his head away so he wouldn't accidentally blind himself. When nothing happened, other than the sound of the flare scrapping against the striking surface, John tried twice more with the same result, carefully feeling his way up the flare to make sure it hadn't actually lit and he just couldn't see it.
"I think this more than just technology related. I can't get a flare to light," John explained, dropping the flare on the ground. "Alright, let's retrace our steps, get back to the surface. We're going to have to move slowly, test where you put your feet before you put all of your weight there."
"What about Teyla?" Ronon asked gruffly.
John sighed and twisted his head around futilely, as if he could actually see anything but a thick dark grey that completely surrounded him. "We can't do anything for her like this. As soon as we get out we'll get Atlantis to send a rescue team and we'll all go back in and find her. Alright, let's go. Try to retrace your steps the best you can." He turned and took a few shuffling steps in the direction that he thought was the way out, though he really wasn't sure anymore.
Ronon's footsteps were somewhere to John's right, and he could hear a small pebble being kicked across the floor and then either stopping or disappearing.
"Rodney, are you with us?" John asked, his head swinging automatically to where he thought Rodney was by instinct, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to see him. "Rodney? McKay!"
John's voice echoed through the caves just like Ronon's had when they were calling for Teyla, but again there was no response.
"Well, great. This is just great." John took a moment to gather his thoughts, placing his hands over his eyes and exhaling heavily. There wasn't a noticeable difference between when he had his eyes closed and his eyes open. "Let's get out of here before we all get completely separated. The sooner we reach the surface, the sooner we can find them."
John took three steps before he stopped, his chest tightening when he didn't hear Ronon's footsteps anymore. "Ronon? Buddy?"
There was no response, and John didn't bother calling out, knowing he'd only hear his own voice answering. He held his hands out in front of him and carefully started shuffling forward again, repeating to himself that he just had to reach the surface and get to the 'gate, everything would be fine if he could just do that. He didn't know how long he'd been walking when he found himself repeating that under his breath.
Three Hours Earlier
"I should have brought more sunblock," Rodney said as he raised his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. "I need to make another batch anyway, and one of the botanists says he knows of a plant that should help protect from a wider spectrum of UV rays."
John was caught somewhere between a smile and rolling his eyes as he scanned the area around the 'gate. There hadn't been any reports of Wraith activity in this region of the Pegasus galaxy, but that didn't mean a whole lot. Many of the civilizations they encountered avoided the 'gate entirely and were very wary of travelers who came from it, and as a result, the Wraith could easily only be a solar system away and no one would have any idea. "See, I knew you could play nice with the soft-scientists," he said as he decided that the area was clear of immediate threat.
Teyla and Ronon's more at ease postures, as relaxed as they ever were off-world at least, indicated that they too hadn't come up with anything when they surveyed their surroundings.
"Playing? Do you even have any idea what scientists actually do?" Rodney sounded more than a little outraged. "And besides, I have nothing against botanists. It's just that botany isn't an actual science."
"I am unsure that you would want to say that in the company of Major Lorne. I believe he's become quite attached to the botanist on his team," Teyla said. She said it with a completely straight face, but her tone indicated that she was at least a little amused by Rodney's derision of fields of inquiry outside of his own.
John smiled to himself as he unhooked his sunglasses from his vest and put them on, blinking as he adjusted to the different shade of the world through the lenses. He took a second look around, one that was more interested in his actual surroundings instead of just scanning for signs of movement or imminent threats. The world itself was stunningly Earth-like, reminding John of the park he'd visited once during a vacation. They'd driven through, his parents more interested in getting to their next destination than stopping and looking at the trees and the sky. About halfway into the park, they'd pulled over for a rest break and John had gotten out of the car, stretching his legs as he walked through the thick grass; the sounds of his family lost as he moved into the trees. He remembered the sky being the brightest blue he'd ever seen, the trees stretching up impossibly tall as their green leaves brushed against what seemed like eternity. Eventually, his father had called out, and John was brought back to Earth and walked back to the car. This world had that same sense of brightness, the light permeating through the trees and the grass and the woods stretching towards the horizon.
When John turned, he found Ronon watching him, not paying any more attention to the sound of Rodney and Teyla talking than he was. "Been here before?" John asked, using the words to mask the sudden and unexpected emotions that had risen from remembering Earth. A type of home-sickness, he supposed, even though Atlantis had become home almost instantly. Earth-sickness, maybe; missing the idea of something that hadn't really been there. He frowned a little, wondering if it might be time for a short vacation, spend a day or two just surfing on one of the beaches of a friendly planet. The idea of going back to Earth for a vacation just seemed ridiculous and far-fetched, even though the trip back and forth was no longer as time consuming and improbable as it used to be.
"No. This isn't a well-known address on any of the planets I stopped on," Ronon replied, looking around again before focusing back on John.
It took John a moment to remember what he'd asked and he nodded belatedly. From the glance Ronon gave him, John knew he wasn't fooling anyone. Not much got past any of the members of his team, even though they all had their own ways of responding. Ronon just clapped his hand on John's shoulder, squeezing briefly before wandering away, still looking around the trees in his constant search of his surroundings. John wondered if his odd moment of reminisce had been as clear to Ronon as the moments when Ronon would tuck his head down slightly when something reminded him of Sateda, or when Teyla would briefly press her hands together when the subject of her people was brought up, or when something was actually really bothering Rodney he'd grow silent and still. He suspected that his own tells were just as obvious to them as theirs were to him, and strangely, that didn't bother him as much as he'd expected it to.
"I'm getting some kind of energy reading, the scanner can't make heads or tails of it. I've tried recalibrating, but it's just not coming through," Rodney called, his fingers working quickly over his scanner and his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Something worth checking out?" John asked as he wandered over, taking quick note of where the rest of his team was located.
Rodney tipped his head to the side. "Well, I can't say for sure, since the scanner isn't giving me a lot to work with. But, yeah, I think that something that messes with Ancient technology is worth taking a look at."
John glanced at the scanner and looked in the direction of the reading. The location was uphill, leading up into sloping mountains, but not far enough away that walking would be difficult. The weather was clear, the sun warm but a gentle breeze that rustled the trees kept things from getting too warm.
"Let's go check it out," John motioned to his team, and they started walking. Rodney and Ronon were in the lead, Rodney providing direction while Ronon kept watch over him and the way ahead. John and Teyla followed, moving in a companionable silence. John thought he kind of liked this planet.
Sequel: Noon Bright
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