Rodney wasn’t willing to give up on his inquiries so soon, or to be distracted by a welcome to the city. He was still studying readouts on his computer screen, and he pushed forward so that he walked closely beside Saul.
“The city,” Rodney said. “It has a star drive?”
“It does,” Saul agreed. “How did you know that? Were you able to detect it as well?”
“We’ve come from the city of Atlantis,” Sheppard replied. “Admah is very… similar.”
“Almost identical,” Saul said. “Two cities with incredibly similar architecture and technology, but so different in other ways. Some used to call them the light and the dark. But I’d heard Atlantis was abandoned, sunken beneath the waves and forgotten?”
“The rumors of her demise were, exaggerated,” Sheppard said. “Atlantis is very much active and inhabited.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Saul said. “I never expected anyone from that city to visit us again. It is an honor.”
Teyla eyed him speculatively, eyes slightly narrowed. “Which were you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said they referred to Admah and Atlantis as ‘the dark and the light.’ Which were you?”
“That would depend on who you asked, I suppose,” Saul smiled.
When the lift doors opened, they stepped into another corridor. This one was clean and cheerful. There were colorful lights running along the ceiling and the floor was polished stone. The walls were lined with tapestries and, in stark contrast to the corridors of Atlantis, each doorway was ornate.
“Welcome to the real Admah,” Saul said.
The team stood in the center of the corridor, turned in a circle, and stared. Ronon walked over to one wall and examined something more closely.
Sheppard followed him, and then turned back to Saul. “We saw a lot of these on the upper floor. This one seems newer, though. They’re advertisements?”
The poster showed a beast with the head of a great cat and the body of something similar to a horse. Its fangs dripped saliva and its eyes gleamed as if lit from within. It was squared off against a tall, slender warrior with long blonde hair and a spear twice his own height. The spear had some sort of sphere midway down its shaft. The sphere glowed, and the man’s hand disappeared into its center.
“We’ve been here in this city for a very long time,” Saul said. “We’ve found ways to amuse ourselves. Entertainments, we call them. The problem with entertainment in any form is that they are limited unless you change either the milieu, or the stakes. Variety is the key. We have become quite adept at changing things up and avoiding boredom.”
“But what is this thing?” Cumby said, stepping up beside Ronon. “This creature? It can’t be real? I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You never will,” Saul replied cryptically. “It was one of a kind. If you like, I’ll tell you about it later on, but for now, if you will all follow me, I’d like to introduce you to some of the other citizens of Admah.”
“I’d like to get back out to the gate and get a report through to Atlantis,” Sheppard said.
“First, I must insist that you come with me,” Saul said. “I’ll arrange to have one of your people taken to the surface later — they can establish contact and set your people’s mind at ease. Will that be acceptable?”
He smiled at Sheppard, but there was something odd in the expression. They all caught it, but managed not to react, though Ronon glared at him openly. Teyla looked perplexed, Rodney turned from Saul, to Sheppard, and back to Saul.
“Alright,” Sheppard said at last. “Let’s go. It will have to be soon, though,” he added. “Commander Woolsey directed us to report in every three to four hours. If we don’t make contact, he won’t wait long before sending another team.”
Saul smiled and led them on down the hall. Ronon dropped back beside Sheppard. “I don’t like this,” he said.
“I don’t either, but we don’t have much time to find out what we need to know. If we return to the surface now…”
Ronon met Sheppard’s gaze and held it, then nodded. They passed by a number of the colorful posters. There were more warriors and more creatures, some familiar, others incredible, and still others that appeared to be amalgams of creatures they knew — sometimes mixed with those they didn’t. Rodney studied the images, scanning a few as he passed, and then hurrying to catch up.
“What do you think they are?” Cumby asked Rodney, his voice low. “Surely they aren’t images of actual creatures.”
“I don’t know,” Rodney admitted. “I’ve tried to scan farther out to see if I can locate any other life signs, but the signal seems to be dampened. The range of what I can reach is limited.”
“Have you analyzed the signal dampeners?”
Rodney turned, irritated. “How would you suggest I go about that? Let’s see, I use a signal to analyze it, but…oh! It’s dampened. Of course I’m trying to analyze it.”
Cumby frowned. It wasn’t an expression of irritation, he was thinking.
“What?” Rodney snapped.
“I’m remembering something. Almost everything I’ve learned as an adult is crystal clear…eerily so, I suppose. Things I saw and read when I was younger are still there, but it’s like the data is running in the background.”
Ahead, Saul had opened a door on the right side of the hallway. Light and sound spilled out of it. Cumby looked almost frantic and Rodney hung back, waiting.
“What’s not there!” Cumby said, snapping his fingers in relief. “Instead of trying to find what is available and what is there — scan for signals and think about what should be there. It’s an old game I learned as a boy. To find something that is there, you remove all of the things you expect to be there first. Whatever is left, that’s what’s different. I don’t know if it will help, but…”
Rodney was already walking, following Saul, Sheppard, and the others. Cumby followed after quickly. “Rodney,” he called. “Dr. McKay?”
The group disappeared through the doorway and Cumby scuttled to catch up. He entered the room just as the door closed behind them.
Chapter Eight
“Mr. Woolsey?”
Woolsey glanced up from his desk to find Zelenka standing in the doorway, a tablet computer in one hand.
“Yes,” Woolsey said. “What is it?”
“It’s the gate, sir,” Zelenka replied. “We’ve been trying to open it to receive Colonel Sheppard’s SITREP as you requested. It won’t open. We’ve tried everything, and we’ve been unable to reopen it, despite the fact we know the proper address. We haven’t heard from the team since their departure, and now we’re completely cut off. We had one short message from Colonel Sheppard right after they passed through the gate, but since then, nothing.”
“If they attempt to report in, and that attempt fails, they should return to the gate, open it, and re-establish communications.”
“I know sir. It’s not like the Colonel to miss a report — but he’s already half an hour late.”
Woolsey sat and forced himself to count to ten as he thought. His first instinct was to try and force the gate open and send another team through to be certain nothing had gone wrong. It wasn’t the first time that Colonel Sheppard or the members of his team had failed to act in strict accordance with regulations, and he didn’t want to appear to have a knee-jerk reaction every time it happened. He also didn’t want to fail to act if they were in trouble, and the irony of the moment wasn’t lost on him.
His own philosophy was one of strict adherence to protocol. He’d come to Atlantis with a very straight-forward, no nonsense attitude toward command, but over time he’d learned that there could be more than one set of rules. Time and again, when strict adherence to regulations would have ended in disaster, death, or worse, his people had come through in startling and spectacular ways that he himself could never have conceived. It wasn’t easy, but he’d brought himself, and them, to a sort of compromise.