STARGATE ATLANTIS: Dead End (15 page)

“Do not fear,” said Teyla. “I do not believe we are hurt. We have been taken somewhere, but that appears to be all.”

Miruva looked around her, wide-eyed. “I remember the Banshee…”

“What do you remember about it?” Teyla said. “My recollection is unclear.”

Miruva paused and then shook her head. “It’s so hard. They were coming down the tunnels. You had your weapon, but it seemed to do no good. I can’t even remember whether you used it.”

Teyla looked around her, hoping against hope that the P90 had come with them. Unsurprisingly, it hadn’t. Whoever had abducted them wasn’t foolish enough to leave them their weapons.

“What did they look like?” said Teyla. “And why can’t I remember?”

“That is the way with the Banshees,” Miruva said. “Whenever they’ve come before, everything is confused afterwards. We can only recall our fear.” She looked down at her lap, ashamed. “I just ran. I cared nothing for anyone but myself.”

Teyla shook her head. “I do not believe you were a coward,” she mused. “I ran myself, and that is unusual. I suspect that these Banshees have some kind of power over people, a power over their minds. We shall no doubt find out more.”

All around them, the remaining Forgotten were beginning to stir. Some of them were very young, and cried out in fear when they awoke.

“Calm yourselves!” ordered Miruva. She didn’t speak harshly, but there was a tone of command in her voice. “We must remain in control. We don’t know where we are, or when those things might come back. So let’s keep quiet.”

The Forgotten listened to her, and roused themselves more quietly. The few remaining sleepers were gently awoken, and soon the entire band was fully aware, huddled together like children in the night. Teyla was impressed by Miruva’s air of leadership. Not for the first time, she wondered whether the next generation of Forgotten would lead their people more ably than the last.

“Let us take heart,” Teyla said, addressing the group. “None of us seem to be hurt. Whatever has taken us here clearly has no immediate desire to harm us. We are also together. I have traveled across many planets, and been in many dangerous situations. Believe me, if we stick together and do not lose hope, we stand every chance of coming safely back to the settlement and being reunited with our loved ones.”

The Forgotten looked back at her calmly. The first blush of fear on awaking seemed to have passed. They were refusing panic. This was good.

Teyla turned to Miruva. “We need to find out more about this place,” she said. “Without food and water we will soon begin to suffer. I should begin to explore.”

“I will come with you,” she said. “But what of the others? Some of them are merely children.”

Teyla smiled wryly. “Believe it or not, there are some worlds in this galaxy where children are all there are,” she said. “But I agree with you. We cannot all go together. The two of us should scout ahead, and return when we have found something of use. Is there someone among this group who can lead in your absence?”

Miruva looked over the huddled band. “Gretta,” she said. “Teyla and I are going to explore our surroundings, to see what kind of place we have been taken to. You will stay here and look after the young ones. We will not be long.”

A young woman with mouse-brown hair and a sensible look about her nodded in assent. Teyla and Miruva rose. There were walls around them on three sides, but in one direction the chamber simply disappeared into darkness. There was only one way to go.

“Keep close to me,” said Teyla, as they started out. The thought of running into the Banshees again was not a pleasant one, but at least she had some degree of martial arts training.

Miruva raised an eyebrow at the condescension. “And you to me,” she said. “I know how to look after myself.”

Teyla noted the gentle reprimand. “Then we should be well together.”

Together, the two women crept forward. After only a few paces, they were lost in shadows.

Sheppard jogged down the passageways of the settlement, McKay in tow. Things were calming down around them. The corridors were still full of grieving Forgotten, but they were less manic. He tried the radio again.

“Teyla,” he barked. “You copy?”

Nothing.

“Ronon?” he tried. “Anybody?”

And things had been going so well. Now half his team was missing and out of radio contact, and they were still no closer to getting the Jumper back working.

“This looks familiar,” said McKay from behind him.

Sheppard stopped, following Rodney’s pointing finger. The problem with the Forgotten dwelling chambers is that they
all
looked the same.

“You may enter, Colonel Sheppard,” came a familiar voice from inside.

He ducked under the low doorway, followed by McKay.

Aralen sat in the center of his modest quarters, clearly distraught. A few of his advisors clustered around him, also seated. None of them looked in great shape.

When he saw them enter, a cold smile crossed the old man’s features. “So you are safe,” he said. “You may sit.”

Sheppard didn’t feel like sitting. He found himself bursting with questions. While all hell was breaking out across the settlement, he couldn’t believe the Foremost was sitting quietly on his own with his council. This thing needed leadership, direction.

“We’re fine,” he said, staying on his feet. “But what the hell’s been going on here? And where’s Teyla?”

Aralen looked down at his feet. “I am sorry. Your friend Teyla has been taken. There was nothing we could do.”

John felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. For a moment, he struggled to find the words to respond.

“Taken? What do you mean,
taken
?”

“She is not the first. There are many…”

Sheppard held his hand up. “I don’t care about that!” he snapped. “Where’s she gone?”

Aralen’s face was hollow and Sheppard suddenly realized that all of the Forgotten seemed stricken with loss.

“My daughter was one of those taken,” Aralen said. “Just as her mother was before her. So you see, I have as much cause for grief as you. And others of my people have gone. We will never see them again.”

“The Wraith,” Sheppard breathed.

Aralen looked uncertain. “When you first arrived, you spoke of these Wraith. This term was unfamiliar to our people, but perhaps it signifies the same thing. Perhaps I should have told you of this earlier…”

“Damn straight,” Sheppard scowled. “Perhaps you should.”

“But we have no means of knowing when they will strike! We always hope they will leave us alone. When you arrived, I thought that perhaps they would no longer dare to come.” Aralen shook his head bitterly. “While you were away they swept through the whole place. I have never seen so many of them.”

Sheppard clutched the sides of his chair. If there were Wraith here, then things just got a whole lot worse…

“You’d better tell me everything,” he said, with a touch of steel in his voice. He didn’t like things being concealed from him, and now his team were suffering.

“We call them ‘Banshees’,” said Aralen. “They have been coming for us more and more. Even as the storms grow worse, so they plague us in greater numbers. At first, the few reports of them sounded like ghost stories. I myself was slow to believe the tales. Perhaps my faith in the Ancestors blinded me. It matters not. None of us question their existence now.” He looked up at Sheppard, his eyes imploring. “Truly, has any people had to endure as we have endured?”

Sheppard worked to curb his impatience. He needed to know about Teyla, but Aralen seemed crushed by Miruva’s loss. He had to tread carefully. “I’ve been on a few planets in my time,” he said. “You’ve got some problems, sure. But I’ve seen worse.”

“What were these… Banshees like?” asked McKay. “Did they come in ships? Wear armor? Did you get a look at their weapons?”

“Ships? No, they are ghosts, flitting between the rocks like a gust of wind. Every attempt to engage with them fails. We never know when they’ll come. Sometimes weeks pass with no visitation. Other times they are here for days on end. All we know is that they steal our loved ones away.”

McKay looked at Sheppard. “That doesn’t sound much like the Wraith to me.”

“Except the part about people going missing,” John agreed. He turned back to Aralen. “Look, if we’re gonna help you, you’re gonna have to help us. Can’t you fight back?”

“When the Banshees come into the caves, there’s panic. It’s only once we’ve recovered ourselves that we’re able to take stock. Then we notice the missing ones. They never come back.”

“You must see
something
,” McKay objected. “I can’t believe that in a place like this no one even catches a glimpse of what these things are doing.”

“You’ve never been present during a raid by the Banshees,” Aralen said tolerantly, “so your ignorance is forgivable. But, believe me, there is no time to watch. When they come, we all run for our lives. All of us.”

Sheppard saw McKay’s face redden at the word ‘ignorance’, and moved quickly to prevent him replying. “Do you have
any
idea what these things want?”

Aralen shook his head.

“No,” he said. “If I did, believe me I would tell you. Perhaps there is a link between them and the storms, perhaps not. Whatever the truth, it underlines how much we need the Ancestors. They will listen to our prayers. Whatever you say, Colonel Sheppard, I still believe your coming has something to do with our faith in them.”

Sheppard shifted uneasily in his seat. It was never fun being mistaken for emissaries from the gods. You were always liable to disappoint.

“Yeah, well maybe we’ll see about that,” he said. “Right now we need to figure out a way to do something about these Banshees.”

He hefted his P90 and gave Aralen a hard look that said, ‘Sitting around on your behind ain’t gonna get this sorted’. “Where I come from, we leave
no one
behind,” he said, his voice bleak. “I promise you this, Aralen. We’re getting Teyla back, and the rest of your people. I don’t care how big and scary these monsters are. We’re going after them.”

Teyla and Miruva crept forward. The light was so low that it was hard to see where they were putting their feet, and the ambient glow seemed to be unevenly distributed. It was relatively strong in the area where they had awoken, but the further they went, the dimmer it got. After some distance, the level surface beneath their feet began to slope downwards. It remained smooth and unblemished, and several times they nearly slipped on its flawless surface. The walls and ceiling were the same. It felt as if they had ended up in a beautifully carved black marble tomb. That wasn’t an image that Teyla enjoyed, and she worked to put it out of her mind.

After a while, the faint hum that had been audible in the chamber became more pronounced. The light increased, the size of the corridor grew and openings gaped on either side of them. Just as in the settlement, it was clear that they were in a substantial underground complex.

“Whoever made this must have been highly advanced,” whispered Teyla. “To carve the rock in this way requires extensive technology.”

“The Ancestors?” Miruva’s hope echoed in the corridor, the light gleaming in her eyes.

Teyla dared not answer and they kept walking in silence. Keeping to the central corridor, they continued to descend. After a while, the light grew bright enough that they were easily able to see each other’s faces again; it seemed to emanate from the smooth black walls, but it was impossible to see exactly how it was made.

From somewhere ahead there came a low noise, the ceiling rising with each step. Teyla reached out a hand to slow Miruva. “We must approach with caution.”

Miruva took a deep breath. “I agree.”

They carried on until the corridor turned to the right. Keeping Miruva behind her, Teyla peered around the corner and gasped at the sight before her.

The corridor opened onto a vast hall. The light was much greater and filled the entire space with a dull red glow. Mighty pillars, each three times the width of a person, soared upwards towards the distant rock ceiling. Every surface was the same as before: smooth, dark, and flawless. There was no decoration, no softening of the harshness, just endless, perfect stone. The tiniest noise — their footfalls, their whispered conversation — echoed around the huge emptiness.

Stepping into the hall, Teyla marveled at the engineering required to create such a space in the heart of the living rock. She had seen nothing quite like it in all her travels. Even the subterranean city of the Genii, despite its enormous size, was not quite as impressive. That was a natural cave system which had been appropriated by the people; this bore the look of something created from scratch, honed and carved to perfection.

Miruva looked awe-struck. The silent splendor of the austere hall was mightily impressive. “Who could have created this, on Khost?”

Teyla was going to reply, when a stranger’s voice broke in. Suddenly, Teyla realized that there were figures in the shadows, wreathed in darkness.

“Who says you are still on Khost?” The voice was harsh. “You have been taken by the Banshees, and your fate is sealed. This is the Land of the Dead — get used to it, you’ll be here forever.”

Ronon came round. It felt like he’d been out just a few moments — just a thump on the head, not major trauma. He blinked, watching his surroundings resolve back into focus. He was winded, his head was banging with pain and he saw a whole constellation spin before his eyes. But he was stationary, and alive. That was something.

The cascade of snow around him had ceased. Ronon had come to a halt on solid ground. Apparently solid, anyway. Gingerly, he looked around him. He was on a wide rocky shelf. Cliffs of ice reared up on either side, dark and slick, and the only light was from cracks deep within the glassy surface. Eerily, it glowed blue. For a moment, he thought he’d been transported to a Wraith Hiveship. He shook his head angrily. Now was not the time to hallucinate. The sudden movement send fresh spears of pain shooting behind his eyes.