“Any signs of life?” Sheppard asked.
Rodney was studying the scanner as he walked. “Nothing so far,” he said. “I…wait.” He tapped at the device and then glanced up.
“What is it?” Sheppard peered over his shoulder.
“There’s something alive,” Rodney said. “I’m getting a variety of readings, but they’re even weaker than the power signatures. I’m not sure, but they look as if they might be coming from behind some sort of shield.”
“You can’t tell what it is?”
Rodney shook his head.
“Alright,” Sheppard said. “Keep your eyes peeled. We don’t seem to be alone here, so let’s not have any surprises.”
Ronon glanced back over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. It was obvious from his expression that he’d like nothing better than a few surprises, but he kept his silence.
They headed up the trail slowly. Nothing moved. There were signs that others had traveled the trail before them, but they were aged and faded. They walked in silence, not wanting to give away their position, in case whoever else was nearby wasn’t friendly, and not wanting to accidentally muffle the sound of a potential enemy approaching. The trail wound up the hill before them and curved off to the left. Ronon disappeared around the bend, and then Teyla. Moments later, Sheppard reached the turn. He spun, scanned the trail ahead, and then gestured for Rodney and Cumby to follow.
“Look!” Teyla called out.
As they rounded the bend they caught sight of her and followed her gaze. In the distance the spires and towers of a city had come into view. They were so tall they speared the clouds overhead. The walls of the city rolled out to the right and left and curled in behind more hills. It was a magnificent sight.
Between where they stood and the city walls, a series of gardens and parks formed a trail of death and decay. Nothing had lived in any of them for a very long time, and the layout of the trees and the way the dead vines trailed up and over stone decorations and abandoned resting places was macabre.
“Those walls look familiar,” Ronon commented.
Sheppard shook his head in amazement. “Looks like you were right, Rodney,” he said. “If I didn’t know we’d just left it behind, and that we’d have to be standing in an ocean for it to be true, I’d swear that was Atlantis. The walls are different, but I suppose that’s because there’s no sea surrounding them. The gardens are…were…a nice touch.”
Cumby stared up at the rising spires. He didn’t smile, but his face was transformed. It was an awe-inspiring sight, and the implications of it were even more far-reaching.
“You could stand there gaping,” Rodney said, “or we can move on and see what’s over there. I’m guessing that the computer systems and artifacts will be even more intriguing than the picturesque skyline.”
Cumby shook his head to clear it, grinning ruefully. “Sorry but — ”
“Let’s move out,” Sheppard said, cutting them off. “We don’t have much time here.”
They all glanced up at that point toward the sun overhead. Normally sunlight was comforting, but given the circumstances it felt like the ball of fire and death might fall and crush them at any moment.
They hurried down the trail toward the city, moving as quickly as they could without compromising their safety. It was easy to believe, studying the desolate landscape they passed through, that nothing else could be alive nearby. Surely if there was a civilization here, there would be some sign? If people lived in or around the city, there had to be signs.
“There’s a gate ahead,” Ronon called back. “It’s open. Looks like the door is broken.”
“Broken?” Sheppard said. It wasn’t really a question.
Ronon was right. The gates leading into the city hung at odd angles. The one on the left was cracked at the hinges, as if it had been blasted by a high powered projectile. The right was still attached to its hinges, but the outer bottom corner had dug into the dirt. Debris was piled around it, holding it in place.
“That can’t be good,” Sheppard said. “No one I’ve ever met uses rubble for a doorstop.”
Teyla reached out to touch the gate. “Whatever did this, it happened a long time ago.”
“Yeah,” Sheppard said. “But you’d think if the ‘good guys’ won, they’d have fixed it eventually, wouldn’t you? Let’s get in there. We don’t want to spend any more time here than we have to.”
They moved ahead again, Ronon and Teyla disappearing inside the city. The gates were massive and loomed over them menacingly.
“What could have broken these?” Cumby wondered as he passed through, running his hand down the frame of the door.
“Let’s hope we don’t find out,” Rodney said. “The life signs are stronger now, and the power signatures are definitely from multiple ZPMs. I don’t know if anything still works in there, but there’s still power, and if there’s power, we should be able to use it to do something useful.”
Once they’d stepped over the gate’s threshold and could see beyond the still formidable walls of the city, they noted that the trail of ruined gardens and outbuildings continued on toward a large, central structure. The main entrance to the city was overgrown with plants and there were signs of damage, but it was in much better repair than the gates. Dusty marble stairs led up and into a huge main hall that was obscured in shadow.
“Whoever is in there,” Cumby said, “they aren’t much on yard work.”
“It looks pretty familiar,” Sheppard said. “Remind you of anything, Rodney?”
“Of course it does. It’s almost a duplicate of Atlantis, but on land. This is what the city might have been if it weren’t floating like an island.”
They climbed up the stone steps and entered the main hall, Ronon and Teyla moving ahead of the others. Inside the entrance they fanned out, Ronon to the left, Teyla on the right. They swept the huge chamber quickly. Nothing moved, but they didn’t relax their guard.
“Keep your eyes open,” Sheppard said. He stood aside and let Rodney and Cumby enter ahead of him, then brought up the rear, turning now and again to check the entrance behind them.
They moved in slowly. Rodney kept his eyes on his computer. Now and then he punched a button. Now and then Cumby gently urged him onward, reminding him to walk.
“If this was Atlantis,” Teyla said, pointing to the right, “The control room would be that way.”
They turned down a corridor that ended in another set of stairs. Their steps echoed eerily. The stairs were strewn with dust and small bits of rubble, as if they’d been abandoned and overrun by animals for decades. There were no footprints, or any other sign that anyone had passed that way for many years.
“Look at this,” Ronon called out.
They climbed up to stand beside him. He pointed to the wall beside the stairs. Cumby stepped closer and brushed his hand over the wall, removing a coating of dust. Beneath it was a colorful image. It had what was obviously a lighted frame, but the lights weren’t lit.
Teyla cocked her head, studying the image. “What is that thing?”
“It looks like a dragon,” Cumby offered, turning to Teyla and Ronon. “On Earth, we have legends of giant lizards that breathed fire — they never existed, but we have stories about warriors fighting them. Ancient legends are full of them.”
“I wouldn’t want to fight that,” Sheppard said.
In the picture, an alien with long dark hair and rippling muscles lunged at a giant scaled lizard. The man wielded an impossibly heavy broadsword that seemed to shimmer with some form of energy. The creature reared back, long neck rippling and jaws open wide enough to swallow the warrior whole. Cumby brushed the dust away from more of the image, revealing writing at the bottom.