“Or to us, it seems like.”
Radek spread his hands. “We did not have a lot of choice. We had to set down somewhere.” His hands were moving swiftly over the keyboard. “As much as our power had been depleted by malfunctions at that point, we were lucky to find a habitable planet and make a safe landing. And as for taking off again — ”
“I’m not saying we have to,” Lorne said.
“No, but you are not the only person to suggest it.” Radek shook his head. “This was the best planet we could reach with the power we had at the time. And now that we have landed and would have to factor in the power required to take off again…”
“We’re stuck here.”
“Unless you have brought a spare ZPM in your luggage.”
“Afraid not.”
“All right, I have reduced the sensors’ range, which should provide a stronger signal in our immediate area.” He zoomed in on one of the piers. “You see here? That may be ice.”
“Sea ice?” Lorne said, frowning. “It’s not that cold.”
Not nearly cold enough for the sea water around us to freeze, no, Radek said. I would like to get some samples of the ice. Assuming it is ice.
Always assuming, Lorne said. What are we looking for, here?
Saltwater ice has a different concentration of salt than freshwater ice, Radek said, his hands sketching what might be chunks of ice in the air. If this is freshwater ice, we are probably looking at pieces of ice that have calved off an ice shelf. Oceanography is not exactly my field, but…
But you're worried about icebergs. Lorne shrugged in answer to Radek's quick sideways glance. it's not my field either, but I do know something about problems that ships can run into.
I will ask Dr. Bryce to take a look, Radek said. He adjusted the sensors again, frowning, the display zooming in on another part of the city, high on one of the towers. that cannot be ice.
Probably not, Lorne said. Switch over to life sign readings, will you?
Radek raised his eyebrows. I would not think so, there is nothing. Unless… He tapped at the keyboard again. We keep the sensors programmed to ignore life sign readings below a certain size. That was after we found that alarms were going off every time a bird landed on the city.
That birds going to be out in this weather?
The weather is not so bad as that, Radek said, sounding a bit frustrated. We are not talking penguins, here. And there should be few available food sources to attract birds to the city, although it could be that because of the storm.
He trailed off as the blur suddenly sharpened and resolved itself into what looked like dozens of small, moving blobs of light.
That's a lot of birds, Lorne pointed out.
It could be just the local equivalent of a flock of seagulls, Radek said hopefully. Nothing to worry about, just a perfectly natural phenomenon with no effect on the city's systems whatsoever. That is possible, yes?
Sure, Lorne said. They both watched the small moving forms cross and recross the display.
After a moment, Lorne sighed. I'll get together a team to check it out.
Radek looked weary. That is probably best.
Before he could head out to do that, alarms sounded, making Salawi's eyes widen as she looked down at her board. Unscheduled offworld activation, Lorne prompted.
Unscheduled offworld activation, she repeated over the communications system, her voice growing more confident as she spoke. We are receiving Colonel Sheppard's IDC and a radio transmission.
But him on, Lorne said.
This is Sheppard, Sheppard said.
Good to hear from you, sir, Lorne said. Or. Woolsey just went down to lunch. Let me get him up here for you.
That's all right, Sheppard said. Must tell him that Radim may have some information for us, but he wants us to do a favor for him and go check out a wrecked Ancient spaceship that he thinks he can salvage. We are going to take the jumper and go take a look. We'll report in after we are checked it out.
Yes, sir, Lorne said. He wondered what about this plan Sheppard expected Woolsey to object to. Will you need a science team?
We are just going to take a look, Sheppard said. Radim's sister has been investigating the wreck, and we think with her help we may be able to get the thing working. Zelenka's eyebrows rose, and he looked like he was about to say something, and then like it had occurred to him that doing so would mean volunteering to go wander around wreckage offworld. He frowned and bent over his console again instead. We are waiting on her right now.
Okay, sir, Lorne said. I'll let Mr. Woolsey know.
Zelenka met Lorne's eyes again as the transmission cut off. I hope they know what they are doing.
Lorne shrugged. There wasn't much he could say, and certainly not in front of Salawi, who was smart enough to pick up on any hint he might drop that he thought Colonel Sheppard might not have entirely thought this through. We'll sure they do, he said.
Dahlia Radim didn't keep them waiting long. She was a few years younger than Teyla, in her mid thirties, blond hair pulled back in a long pony tail, wearing a serviceable jumpsuit and carrying a large pack. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, she said, pulling herself up the last rungs of the ladder into the barn.
No trouble, love, Carson said, bending to help her the last little way. We've just called in by radio and let them know where we're going. He gave her a warm smile.
Teyla approved, both of the smile, and of letting Radim know that Atlantis would know exactly what agreement they made and where they were going. Carson was much better at the iron hand in a velvet glove than John was. He had an iron hand and a velvet glove, but there was no meeting between the two.
Are we ready? John asked by way of greeting.
I'm ready, Dahlia said, letting Carson lift her pack for her so that she could slip her arms through the straps.
That's pretty heavy, Carson said.
It's my equipment, Dahlia said. I led the expedition that did the repair work on the Ancient warship. Of course without the ATA gene we couldn't initialize systems, but I think we have both sublight and hyperdrive working, though we have no shields or weapons, and only limited power outside of certain sections. There are hull breaches we haven't been able to repair, though it appears that the ship has airtight bulkheads that have sealed off those areas.
John frowned. Are you sure this thing is spaceworthy? If there are decompressed sections and any of those bulkheads are damaged, it's going to be a serious problem.
No, Dahlia said frankly. I'm not sure. But I can't be sure without initializing systems. We've been all over the ship three times, and its as tight as I can make it without being able to turn it on and get readings. She glanced from John to Carson. That's where you gentlemen come in. We're gone as far as we can go without a pilot.
We'll give it the old college try, Carson said.
Dahlia gave him a brilliant smile. I'm sure you will, Doctor. She looked back at John. If the ship proves unspaceworthy, we'll return and tell Chief Radim that it needs more work. The ship is a four day journey overland from the Stargate, so as you can imagine it’s been an effort to get crews out to work on it, especially given the environment.”
Teyla felt her brows rise. “Is the planet hostile, then?”
“A planetary day is forty of your hours long,” she said. “And the atmosphere is thin. It’s not impossible, but it’s thinner than most human inhabited worlds. Given the length of day and the atmosphere, there are extremes of daytime and night time temperature, from very hot to very cold in a matter of hours, and day and night are each twenty hours long. We found it a challenging work environment.”