Official 'From The Waters of Atlantis' Blog
January 6th 2005
It’s all back to serious busy work now. Past few days most of the Science Team have been recovering from their hangovers still. It’s been very quiet in the labs for once, it’s been actually really nice to work in an atmosphere where everyone has mutually agreed not to talk to you, I’ve actually got a lot done.
We’re heading out on an away mission this afternoon and Rodney has asked me to come along. There’s apparently some life signs on this little tiny planet that John wants us to check out. You never know there might be a ZPM there, it depends on what the energy readings are like when we get to the other side.
I’m beginning to really enjoy Gate travel, don’t get me wrong, the first few times I went through the gate I was on the verge of passing out. When we first came to Atlantis and I first went through the Stargate, I followed the rest of the crowd…that is the crowd of cowards like me who went last because they’d never been through the Stargate either. The second time was much better, Ford was so sweet, helping me through the Gate like that. Now I’m totally not bothered by it.
So yeah, busy work, and then maybe Rodney and I can sneak off for a few hours seeing as we were so rudely interrupted the other evening.
-oOo-
Rachel appears through the event horizon of the Stargate and makes a little, “Oh” noise as she takes in her surroundings. Instead of the usual clearing around the Stargate there were dense trees and bushes surrounding it. Even the D.H.D. is covered in a thick ivy. Rachel tries to make her way through the thick bushes but stumbles over their thick roots. Behind her Sheppard grabs hold of the back of her vest to steady her. “Thanks.” she says, holding onto him as she pulls her leg out of a particularly dense bush that seemed to have grabbed hold of her foot.
Rodney was clearing away the ivy on the D.H.D. when the gate closes. “It looks like nobody has been here for, centuries. Look at the size of the trunks of the trees around us.” Rachel says, a little out of breath. Rodney takes a look around and nods. “Hmm,” he hums, “I hope the undergrowth gets clearer further on.” Rachel pulls out a detector and holds it up. She frowns and widens the parameters of the scan. “Okay, no life signs in the surrounding areas, looks like we’re in for a bit of a walk. Hell it’s not as if we can bring a Jumper out here.” she says her brow furrowed.
“Any energy spikes?”
“Uh…not really, there are low level radiation spikes every now and then.”
“Radiation?” Sheppard asks, a twang of concern in his voice.
“Oh its nothing to worry about I’m talking about uh…mobile phone level radiation, it’s just spiking that’s all, like there is something, transmitting.”
“We haven’t picked up any transmissions on the scan.” Rodney says frowning.
“Maybe the scan didn’t have wide enough parameters.” Rachel shrugs.
“I highly doubt that, I oversaw the scan and I worked out the parameters of the scan.” Rodney replies. Rachel puts the scanner away and narrows her eyes a little at Rodney. “Maybe you were wrong…I think this transmission is so low level that a regular scan wouldn’t pick it up.”
“Like I said I highly doubt it.”
“So which way do we head?” asks Ford, tilting his hat back and looking up at the tree line. Rachel and Rodney look around at the trees. “I think that way,” says Rachel pointing ahead of the D.H.D. “The trees look thinner that way.”
“Rodney?” Sheppard asks, just checking on his opinion.
“Sounds good to me, thin trees, anything to get out of this undergrowth.” Rodney replies.
They walk towards the thinner tree line, their going slow. It’s not too long until they get out of the bushes and onto even ground comprising of mulch and leaves. There is a rustling in the large bushes on the edge of the tree line and John, Ford and Teyla pivot on the spot, pointing their guns at the shrubbery. Rodney makes a little worried noise in his throat and secretly Rachel slides her hand into his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
A pair of hands appear out of the shrubbery followed by a pale face. Rachel frowns and leans forward, peering in shock at the appearance of the person who startled them. Sheppard and Teyla take the safety off their guns with a click.
The figure stood before them is pale green in complexion, short white hair and there are deep black welts in his cheeks. It was a Wraith, a terrified looking Wraith.
Rodney stares wide eyed, his chest heaving in fear. Sheppard and Teyla frown angrily at the wraith. Rachel however frowns in a puzzled way, tilting her head on one side. She wanders forward. Panicked, Rodney puts a hand on Rachel’s arm, but she shakes him off and pushes in between Sheppard and Teyla.
Rachel fishes her glasses out and shoves them onto her face. Rodney frowns, “I didn’t know you wore glasses.” he mutters.
“I hate them so I don’t wear them often, and really Rodney, is now the time to be talking about it?” Rachel replies, shaking her head in disbelief. He did pick his moments. She darts forward and grabs the Wraiths hands, pulling them towards her face and looking at them carefully. Rodney pulls his pistol out and aims it at the Wraiths head, his hands shaking in fear.
Rachel, however, ignores him and just continues to look at the Wraiths hands, running her fingers over it’s palms. “Huh…” she mutters under her breath. She looks into the Wraiths eyes and frowns. Then she does something very foolish and very brave. She unzips her flak jacket and unbuttons the top button of her shirt and places the Wraiths hand on her chest. John, Teyla and Rodney gasp, Rachel just smiles. “Is this some sort of greeting on your world?” the Wraith asks puzzled. Rachel smiles widely and turns to Rodney, Teyla and John, who are looking at the Wraith open mouthed. “My name is Rachel, what’s yours?” she asks it, kindly. The Wraith looks at the three pointing guns at him and gulps hard. “M-my name is Loreal,” the Wraith replies, “Why did you do that?”
“It was a test.” Rachel replies.
“A test for what?”
“It’s hard to explain.” John butts in dropping his weapon down slowly.
It turned out that Loreal wasn’t one of the Wraith at all, his kind - who were known as the Phantasm - were descended from the Wraith, however they didn’t possess the need to feed from humans to survive. “But this isn’t possible.” Rodney surmises after the short explanation. “What isn’t possible, Rodney?” Rachel replies a frown on her face and emphasis on his name, letting him know it was a very pertinent question to ask. However it goes straight over Rodney’s head. “Well the Wraith were studied extremely well by the Ancients and they knew quite a bit about them, but there’s no mention of the Phantasm in the Atlantis Database.” Rodney explains, with a shrug. Rachel rolls her eyes and sighs. Rodney snaps his head round and frowns at her. “Rodney, think it through, the Ancients left Atlantis 10,000 years ago, whose not saying that Loreal’s people came AFTER the evacuation of Atlantis? It is possible that you haven’t found information about the Phantasm because of that exact reason…” Rachel replies snappily. Rodney narrows his eyes, and throws Rachel an irritated look.
Ah what did she care? She was right…Rodney was just being difficult, but now he was being incessantly difficult and it was starting to get on her nerves. They’d been going out for a few weeks now, but there was still that niggling annoyance when Rodney contradicted her.
The village that Loreal leads them to is rustic and actually quite homely. The buildings are made of wood and there are several stalls along the small street. The villagers keep their distance from the visitors, scared by their sudden presence in their little community. “Forgive them, we so rarely get visitors, especially from the Ring. It‘s been many, many moons since we have had anyone visit us.” Loreal explains.
“That doesn’t explain why they are so scared.” John replies.
“They fear you will bring the Wraith to us. The beacon was only meant to shield our own kind.”
“Then why did you lead us to your village? We’re putting you in danger! You‘ve put your people in great danger.” Rachel says, shocked by the admission. Loreal looks at her reproachfully, then drops his gaze. “I had to, I read your mind, you and the complaining one. You are scientists, you can help us fix the beacon, help protect my people and in return, we happily supply you with a good crop of our fruit and vegetables.” he says glancing over at Rodney. Rachel also looks over at Rodney and raises her eyebrows expectantly. “Okay, I’ll take a look at it.” Rodney says reluctantly.
We’re heading out on an away mission this afternoon and Rodney has asked me to come along. There’s apparently some life signs on this little tiny planet that John wants us to check out. You never know there might be a ZPM there, it depends on what the energy readings are like when we get to the other side.
I’m beginning to really enjoy Gate travel, don’t get me wrong, the first few times I went through the gate I was on the verge of passing out. When we first came to Atlantis and I first went through the Stargate, I followed the rest of the crowd…that is the crowd of cowards like me who went last because they’d never been through the Stargate either. The second time was much better, Ford was so sweet, helping me through the Gate like that. Now I’m totally not bothered by it.
So yeah, busy work, and then maybe Rodney and I can sneak off for a few hours seeing as we were so rudely interrupted the other evening.
-oOo-
Rachel appears through the event horizon of the Stargate and makes a little, “Oh” noise as she takes in her surroundings. Instead of the usual clearing around the Stargate there were dense trees and bushes surrounding it. Even the D.H.D. is covered in a thick ivy. Rachel tries to make her way through the thick bushes but stumbles over their thick roots. Behind her Sheppard grabs hold of the back of her vest to steady her. “Thanks.” she says, holding onto him as she pulls her leg out of a particularly dense bush that seemed to have grabbed hold of her foot.
Rodney was clearing away the ivy on the D.H.D. when the gate closes. “It looks like nobody has been here for, centuries. Look at the size of the trunks of the trees around us.” Rachel says, a little out of breath. Rodney takes a look around and nods. “Hmm,” he hums, “I hope the undergrowth gets clearer further on.” Rachel pulls out a detector and holds it up. She frowns and widens the parameters of the scan. “Okay, no life signs in the surrounding areas, looks like we’re in for a bit of a walk. Hell it’s not as if we can bring a Jumper out here.” she says her brow furrowed.
“Any energy spikes?”
“Uh…not really, there are low level radiation spikes every now and then.”
“Radiation?” Sheppard asks, a twang of concern in his voice.
“Oh its nothing to worry about I’m talking about uh…mobile phone level radiation, it’s just spiking that’s all, like there is something, transmitting.”
“We haven’t picked up any transmissions on the scan.” Rodney says frowning.
“Maybe the scan didn’t have wide enough parameters.” Rachel shrugs.
“I highly doubt that, I oversaw the scan and I worked out the parameters of the scan.” Rodney replies. Rachel puts the scanner away and narrows her eyes a little at Rodney. “Maybe you were wrong…I think this transmission is so low level that a regular scan wouldn’t pick it up.”
“Like I said I highly doubt it.”
“So which way do we head?” asks Ford, tilting his hat back and looking up at the tree line. Rachel and Rodney look around at the trees. “I think that way,” says Rachel pointing ahead of the D.H.D. “The trees look thinner that way.”
“Rodney?” Sheppard asks, just checking on his opinion.
“Sounds good to me, thin trees, anything to get out of this undergrowth.” Rodney replies.
They walk towards the thinner tree line, their going slow. It’s not too long until they get out of the bushes and onto even ground comprising of mulch and leaves. There is a rustling in the large bushes on the edge of the tree line and John, Ford and Teyla pivot on the spot, pointing their guns at the shrubbery. Rodney makes a little worried noise in his throat and secretly Rachel slides her hand into his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
A pair of hands appear out of the shrubbery followed by a pale face. Rachel frowns and leans forward, peering in shock at the appearance of the person who startled them. Sheppard and Teyla take the safety off their guns with a click.
The figure stood before them is pale green in complexion, short white hair and there are deep black welts in his cheeks. It was a Wraith, a terrified looking Wraith.
Rodney stares wide eyed, his chest heaving in fear. Sheppard and Teyla frown angrily at the wraith. Rachel however frowns in a puzzled way, tilting her head on one side. She wanders forward. Panicked, Rodney puts a hand on Rachel’s arm, but she shakes him off and pushes in between Sheppard and Teyla.
Rachel fishes her glasses out and shoves them onto her face. Rodney frowns, “I didn’t know you wore glasses.” he mutters.
“I hate them so I don’t wear them often, and really Rodney, is now the time to be talking about it?” Rachel replies, shaking her head in disbelief. He did pick his moments. She darts forward and grabs the Wraiths hands, pulling them towards her face and looking at them carefully. Rodney pulls his pistol out and aims it at the Wraiths head, his hands shaking in fear.
Rachel, however, ignores him and just continues to look at the Wraiths hands, running her fingers over it’s palms. “Huh…” she mutters under her breath. She looks into the Wraiths eyes and frowns. Then she does something very foolish and very brave. She unzips her flak jacket and unbuttons the top button of her shirt and places the Wraiths hand on her chest. John, Teyla and Rodney gasp, Rachel just smiles. “Is this some sort of greeting on your world?” the Wraith asks puzzled. Rachel smiles widely and turns to Rodney, Teyla and John, who are looking at the Wraith open mouthed. “My name is Rachel, what’s yours?” she asks it, kindly. The Wraith looks at the three pointing guns at him and gulps hard. “M-my name is Loreal,” the Wraith replies, “Why did you do that?”
“It was a test.” Rachel replies.
“A test for what?”
“It’s hard to explain.” John butts in dropping his weapon down slowly.
It turned out that Loreal wasn’t one of the Wraith at all, his kind - who were known as the Phantasm - were descended from the Wraith, however they didn’t possess the need to feed from humans to survive. “But this isn’t possible.” Rodney surmises after the short explanation. “What isn’t possible, Rodney?” Rachel replies a frown on her face and emphasis on his name, letting him know it was a very pertinent question to ask. However it goes straight over Rodney’s head. “Well the Wraith were studied extremely well by the Ancients and they knew quite a bit about them, but there’s no mention of the Phantasm in the Atlantis Database.” Rodney explains, with a shrug. Rachel rolls her eyes and sighs. Rodney snaps his head round and frowns at her. “Rodney, think it through, the Ancients left Atlantis 10,000 years ago, whose not saying that Loreal’s people came AFTER the evacuation of Atlantis? It is possible that you haven’t found information about the Phantasm because of that exact reason…” Rachel replies snappily. Rodney narrows his eyes, and throws Rachel an irritated look.
Ah what did she care? She was right…Rodney was just being difficult, but now he was being incessantly difficult and it was starting to get on her nerves. They’d been going out for a few weeks now, but there was still that niggling annoyance when Rodney contradicted her.
The village that Loreal leads them to is rustic and actually quite homely. The buildings are made of wood and there are several stalls along the small street. The villagers keep their distance from the visitors, scared by their sudden presence in their little community. “Forgive them, we so rarely get visitors, especially from the Ring. It‘s been many, many moons since we have had anyone visit us.” Loreal explains.
“That doesn’t explain why they are so scared.” John replies.
“They fear you will bring the Wraith to us. The beacon was only meant to shield our own kind.”
“Then why did you lead us to your village? We’re putting you in danger! You‘ve put your people in great danger.” Rachel says, shocked by the admission. Loreal looks at her reproachfully, then drops his gaze. “I had to, I read your mind, you and the complaining one. You are scientists, you can help us fix the beacon, help protect my people and in return, we happily supply you with a good crop of our fruit and vegetables.” he says glancing over at Rodney. Rachel also looks over at Rodney and raises her eyebrows expectantly. “Okay, I’ll take a look at it.” Rodney says reluctantly.
