With an apprehensive shake of his head, Lome uncloaked the jumper.
"Are we nearing the Ancient lab, Major?" Teyla asked, reminding them of their priority.
"Coming up ahead of us, about thirty miles," Lome replied.
The next valley widened out to a coastal plain, and Ronon could see the ocean ahead of them. On the HUD, the signal describing an energy source appeared to be getting closer. Going by the map's topographic detail, the Ancient structure was about three hundred feet below them, sitting in the ocean between the mainland and a collection ofwave-battered rocky islands just offshore.
"This is going to be a tight squeeze," Lorne warned, slowing the jumper and then bringing them in carefully over the cliff face.
Ronon heard Teyla pull in a sharp breath at the sight. He had to agree that it was impressive. The rugged coastline resembled a jumble of millions of tiles, crudely stacked atop one another and then carved into grotesque shapes by countless storms. Clusters of spiky leafed plants sprouted along the outcrops and clung to crevices.
"Just like Pancake Rocks," said Geisler. "It's karst-limestone, or dolomite more likely-which means there'll be sea caves and blowholes right along the coast. The Ancients probably built the lab inside one of the caverns when it was inland, and in the ensuing millennia the sea ate the land away."
A spray of foam shot out from a large hole in the misshapen rocks. Lome eased the jumper lower, so that they skimmed just above the height of the waves coming in at a slight angle to the coastline. "There it is," he said, pointing to a shadow under a particularly large outcrop-which looked to Ronon like it was ready to crumble into the ocean at any minute.
The surf, filled with strands of thick black seaweed, pounded up against the rocks, then streamed back again, revealing a half-submerged sea cave. At the sight of the jumper, dozens of reptilian creatures gripping the battered outcrops dove into the water. Heads bobbed up here and there between the weeds, which swirled back and forth in the relentless movement of the ocean.
"Marine iguanas," Geisler said, gripping the back of Teyla's chair. "This is just incredible-some of them are the size of saltwater crocodiles!"
Ronon was more interested in the image on the HUD, which showed a force field of some sort protecting the Ancient structure about a hundred feet inside the cavern.
"According to this, it's intact," reported Lome. He brought the jumper around to face the submerged entrance of the sea cave. "I'm just not sure how we're supposed to get in."
"Can you not produce a force field around the jumper to match that of the facility?" Teyla wondered.
"Dr. Zelenka could, probably, but I don't have any idea how to modify the jumper's force field. And trying to fly in through that narrow gap, even protected by a force field… with the way the ocean is surging, I don't know if we'd make it."
While Lome examined the HUD for any potential alternatives, Ronon watched another wave slam up and over the cavern's entrance, sending a misty salt spray back across the jumper. "This world is a moon, right?"
"Of course!" Geisler favored him with an approving look. "The primary planet exerts a periodic gravitational force, which means that there will be tides-big tides, most likely." His eyes narrowed as he examined the rocks. "There's a definite high water mark-you see where those mussels and oys ters have stopped growing'? The bottom of that cave might very well be dry at low tide. If we check the position and phase of the primary planet-"
"It was fully visible," Teyla said. "And directly overhead as we left orbit."
"Well, then." Geisler folded his hands, pleased. "We're not likely to be too far off high tide, and it shouldn't take long to create a tide chart."
"According to the sensor readings," said Lome, "it looks like there'll be room to land a jumper inside once we get past the force field. There also looks to be another entrance through the rock on top, but it's too narrow to get a jumper through °"
He brought the craft up over the cliffs, but of the second entrance there was no sign, just an image on the HUD that indicated the rocks were absent. "Looks like it's also overgrown," said Lome, accelerating and flying along the cliff tops for several miles.
The image on the HUD kept changing. Ronon didn't recognize its meaning until Lome turned inland and added, "We got ourselves a big system of caves, here."
"That's to be expected." Geisler pointed to a series of deep ponds between large, sinewy trees. "Those are sinkholes. It's quite likely we'll find several entrances to where the lab is located. I'd imagine the network runs for dozens, most likely hundreds of kilometers underground. On Earth, spelunkers take years to chart such systems."
Lome raised the jumper's nose. "Okay, well, that tells us all we need to know for the moment. Let's head to the gate."
"Wait!" Geisler nearly leapt out of his seat. "Aren't you going to go back along the valley'? I simply have to see what other sorts of animals exist on this planet-there must be a reason why their size appears to be the only evolutionary change that's occurred since they were brought here."
Teyla turned to the scientist with an obliging smile. "I'm sure Dr. Weir would be most happy for you to return. For now, our mission is to report back that we have located an intact Ancient laboratory."
Tapping his fingers on his knees in frustration, Geisler nodded. "Yes, yes, of course, I understand. It's just…I'm a paleobiologist, you see, as well as an archeologist. This planet is like talking a journey back in time on my world. And it changes so much; really everything we know about when the Ancients came here."
"What makes you say that?" Lorne asked.
Outside, the sky darkened as the jumper climbed into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Presumably the Major was trying to avoid any more flying creatures while they crossed the ocean to the continent where the gate was located.
"We know the Ancients came to the Milky Way from their home galaxy," Geisler explained. "Then later, after the plague, they re-created all life there, which of course means they predated the dinosaurs." The finger tapping stopped. "And it stands to reason that when the Ancients left Earth in Atlantis, they didn't just pull up stakes and head off into the unknown. They must have set things up in the Pegasus Galaxy millions of years earlier."
"Makes sense." Lome kept his eyes on the HUD. "I mean, we've found cities like Atlantis on other planets, and a lot more outposts. For all we know there could be dozens of planets in this galaxy with Earth animals, all from different epochs, or eras, or whatever you call them."
"What an intriguing idea!" Geisler sat back in his chair. "If we found moas, we could reintroduce them back home."
Ronon began to lose interest in the discussion. Like Geisler, he wouldn't mind coming back to this world, but only to do some hunting of his own.
He'd had a long enough conversation with Radek to have some idea of why they'd been sent on this mission. Personally, he thought that breaking into an Ancient lab just to find out more about some Ancient named Lilith who'd played around with Wraith genes was a bad idea. The Wraith were predators, no more and no less. Trying to change them would be as useless as trying to reason with them. Nobody had listened when he'd said as much during the experiment with Michael. Even when they'd found the super-Wraith Michael had created, John had insisted that Ronon set his weapon to stun. After that incident Ronon hadn't bothered attempting to say anything further. One of these days, maybe the Atlantis expedition would finally shake off whatever strange sensitivities they'd learned on their home world and realize that around here shooting to kill was a much safer option than asking questions.