Author's Note: I'm back in class as of Thursday, 8/19, and my major (physics) keeps me busy, plus work plus kids; what I'm trying to say is don't look for updates every day...maybe even every other day...maybe weekly...sorry! And on test weeks, maybe not even then. I honestly wasn't going to start another fic but the responses encouraged me and I know a lot of you out there are waiting for more so I figured I'd give it a try. I love to write, almost as much as I love physics, but I'm not confident enough to write for a living so my first priority is physics. Please keep R&R, it's what keeps me going, and I want to give a HUGE thanks for those of you who have done so. You don't know how much it helps, well, maybe some of you do but now I'm rambling.
Ice Planet
Chapter One
Hidden
Major John Sheppard was leaning against the balcony railing, watching the waves crash against the edge of the city. He twisted his wrist, looking at his watch to make sure he wasn't late for the briefing. He felt a slight twinge from his arm reminding him that it wasn't one hundred percent healed from their disastrous mission to the planet that jokingly earned the name Rose Garden, a tribute to the pollen that had induced the planet into catastrophic fighting.
"Major Sheppard?"
He hadn't heard her approach. It didn't surprise him. He didn't turn or take his eyes away from the water, "Teyla."
"Are you not going to the briefing?" She came alongside him, looking at the path his eyes followed.
"It hasn't started yet." He replied.
"I see."
John looked at her, she was now studying the same surf he had been, choosing to be the one not looking at the other, "Penny for your thoughts?"
"Penny?"
He wondered how long it would take for him to remember she didn't know many things about his world; probably as long as it took her to learn most of it. "It's a saying on my world, when we are curious about what someone is thinking."
She smiled, "Is a penny much?"
"No...not really...it's supposed to be cheap...not that your thoughts are cheap..." John groaned, "Maybe we should have the money lesson later."
"I was thinking about why you were staring at the ocean." She said, startling him, and turning away from the blue depths, to look at the different depths of blue in his eyes.
Sheppard stared back, holding her gaze, an intensity there that always took him by surprise. He looked at his watch, "We're going to be late."
She acknowledged his unspoken message by accepting the turn in conversation, "We should go."
He held a hand, gesturing for her to go, "Ladies first."
"Ladies?"
"The MALP has relayed a breathable atmosphere of sixty percent nitrogen, twenty percent oxygen, and trace amounts of other elements that are found in our own atmosphere. The temperatures have ranged from twenty degrees to forty degrees Fahrenheit, you'll need to dress warm." Grodin said, making sure the people at the table were listening, "It gets cold there."
"Tell me again, why are we going?" McKay said.
Sheppard shot him a dirty look, "Because Doctor Zelenka discovered mention of this planet as a possible Ancient's outpost. We need ZPM's, remember?"
"It's an ice planet, what are we going to do, melt it hoping to find a ZedPM?"
"Rodney." Doctor Weir warned.
"That's your job McKay." Sheppard said, "We're just your babysitters."
McKay glared at Sheppard, "Funny." The inside joke to their last mission wasn't lost on any of them, but left Weir and Grodin looking confused.
Sheppard grinned, "You had to be there."
Weir looked at them critically, not sure whether she should pursue the joke. "Have your team ready in an hour Major...and Doctor Beckett will be accompanying you this time."
Ford sat up, having remained unusually quiet through the briefing, "Why?"
"Training. He hasn't been off-world, we need everyone capable in the field." Weir explained.
"Why isn't he at the briefing?" Sheppard asked, not thrilled with an extra tag-along for the trip. He liked Beckett but it was one more person to worry about.
Weir stood, taking her file off the table, "He had patients to get settled, I'm sure you'll pass along any relevant information." She paused, "Be careful."
Sheppard stood, and nodded, "I'm always careful."
"Tell me again, why are we going to this planet?" McKay was approaching the gate room, wearing enough cold weather clothing that he looked like the kid from A Christmas Story, wrapped in so many layers he could hardly move.
"McKay." Sheppard growled.
"I hate the cold Major. " He said, ending lamely when he couldn't find a better way to express his dislike for the situation.
"I see we're all ready!" Beckett's Scottish accent thickened his words, he was standing beside the MALP, which was loaded with supplies they may need. Beckett stared at McKay, "You do realize being mobile is important?"
"We'll see how mobile you are when you're suffering from hypothermia."
"Doctor McKay, I told you the parka would provide sufficient protection from the temperatures." Beckett was smiling despite his lecturing tone.
"If it's all the same to you, I prefer over-cautious to being a popsicle." McKay zipped his outer layer, "Freezing to death is not my idea of a good time."
Sheppard didn't comment, coming up to Ford's left side, where the Lieutenant was checking his gear, "Lieutenant, you've been awful quiet."
Ford zipped a pocket, "That's because I...uh...actually agree with McKay." He kept his voice low.
Sheppard raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Weir was standing at the balcony, "Major, you have a go...make a snowman for me."
"That'd be a snow-woman for you." Sheppard joked, giving a mock salute, as he waved for the team to move out.
Weir shook her head, trying not to laugh, she didn't want to encourage him, "Take care of the Doctor, we don't want to lose him."
"We will, I promise." Sheppard gave Beckett a shove, and followed him through the wormhole.
"Lieutenant, set up a security perimeter. Teyla, Beckett and McKay; we'll set up camp." Sheppard ordered, after the team had arrived from the gate.
Ford nodded, and began heading out from the gate to do a security check. It wasn't going to be hard. He squinted, trying to minimize the glare from the light reflected off the snow. Snow blind...something he had heard of but never experienced before. He hoped he wouldn't now.
Sheppard led his group about forty feet from the gate, "This looks good."
McKay was looking at the snow covered ground with distaste, "How long are we going to be here?"
"Until you find something." Sheppard said, starting to unpack his tent.
"What if there's nothing here?"
"Then we'll be here for a very long time." Sheppard was teasing McKay, and everyone knew it, but McKay.
He turned a color similar to the snow, "You're joking."
Teyla leaned down to help John straighten the fabric, "You could always build...igloos."
Beckett looked at her in surprise, "I didn't know you knew what an igloo was?"
"Major Sheppard explained it to me, before we left Atlantis...that and...what did you call it...snowball fights?"
Sheppard knelt in the snow, his cold weather pants crinkling from the cold, studiously avoiding looking at the others. Beckett looked at him, "He did...did he."
"Major, the area looks clear...all you can see for miles is ice and snow. I doubt there's anything alive on this planet." Ford approached the group from their front, rubbing hands together, trying to keep warm despite his gloves.
"We've been fooled before." Sheppard pointed out, not wanting to lower their guard, and be caught unaware again.
The team fell quiet as they set up camp, placing the tents close together to form a ring, with the center as protected as possible. When it was finished, they sat in the middle, hovering over a sterno heating up lunch.
"McKay, did you unpack your...power reading...thing?" Sheppard asked, stirring the soup vigorously, anxious to eat something warm.
McKay was huddled as close as possible to the sterno, he dipped his head to indicate he had, while cupping his hands to stay warm, "I'll begin looking after lunch. If I had to guess, if there was an outpost it's under the ice, similar to Antartica."
"Didn't they have to drill through with the ring device on the Tel'tak?" Ford asked, clapping his hands together, keeping the blood flowing.
"Yes, they did." McKay said, not pointing out the obvious, they didn't have that technology here.
Sheppard poured the soup into each bowl, and held it tight in his hands, now gloveless. The heat seeped through to his skin, spreading warmth that was much appreciated. They had been on the planet for only a few hours and he was all ready looking forward to gating home, though he'd never admit it to McKay.
"Mmmm, what is this? Tastes great." McKay took another long sip.
"I think its tomato." Ford wasn't a big fan of tomato soup but anything hot was good today.
"Yeah, its tomato. I'm saving the good stuff for tomorrow." Sheppard figured he'd cook his least favorite today, save the chicken noodle for later.
"Just as long as there's nothing with lemons." McKay muttered.
"Lemon soup?" Beckett asked, looking at McKay like he was nuts.
"I've heard of it. Some places it's a delicacy."
"If you're finished, we should get going. The sooner we do this, the sooner we get back." Sheppard stood, and put his bowl down by the sterno fire that was sputtering, almost out of fuel.
McKay took a last gulp, and set his bowl by Sheppard's, "It wasn't my idea to be here."
"Teyla, Ford, stay with the camp, maintain radio contact every hour. McKay and Beckett with me." Sheppard pulled his gloves on his cooling hands, thankful for military issue cold weather gear. Cost a fortune but he wasn't paying the bill.
"Be careful Sir." Ford said, standing as the three moved out towards McKay's tent where he stopped and gathered his equipment. Sheppard didn't reply, instead a quick wave of his hand acknowledging Ford's concern.
McKay was shuffling in the snow, his boots dragging marks through the fine powder. He had the energy detector in his left hand, reading only the background levels from the planet itself. He was cold, and worse yet, he knew his nose was getting bright red and starting to drip. He looked like a clown when he got cold. He took an irritated swipe at his nose with his right sleeve, and stepped forward again, sweeping the instrument in a circular arc.
"Hello." He muttered, as the needle spiked. "Major, I think we've got something!" He hollered, studying the readings.
Sheppard and Beckett jogged to McKay's side, and looked over his shoulder, "The outpost?" Sheppard asked, gazing away at the unblemished horizon.
"Could be...who knows." McKay tapped the display as the needle spiked further to the left, "Hang on..."
Sheppard turned back to McKay, when they heard a distinct humming sound, one they were all familiar with from Atlantis; the transport device. The icy landscape was gone, and they found themselves in an underground cavern that looked remarkably like the one on Earth.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think we were back in Antartica." Beckett said, shuddering at his disastrous introduction to Ancient technology. Almost destroying the Commander of the SGC was not a good mark on a record.
Sheppard recognized the décor as well, "What'd you do?" He accused, shifting his attention to McKay.
"It wasn't me! The energy readings spiked before...I didn't do it." He finished, wishing more than once that he knew more about the Ancient technology. An idea occurred to him, "You did it!" He said, pointing the instrument towards Sheppard's chest.
"Me? You're the one with the...instrument."
"And you're the one with the gene. The one who activates all kinds of Ancient technology without thinking about it."
"Bloody hell, he's probably right Major." Beckett swore.
"Great." Sheppard began heading towards the interior of the outpost, "Let's find a way out of here."
"Can't you think us out?" McKay asked, following behind the Major.
Sheppard paused; scrunching his face, then opened one eye at a time, looked at McKay, who winced, "I take that as a no."
"Yeah." Sheppard said.
"Maybe there'll be one of those...power sources...a zm." Beckett remembered the outpost on Antarctica had one.
"ZedPM." McKay corrected.
Beckett shot McKay a dirty look then turned towards the Major, who had paused again, "Major?"
Sheppard had a thought; he toggled the radio, "Lieutenant Ford?" He was met with silence. "Lieutenant, do you read?" He tried again, raising his voice.
McKay was watching him, "This isn't good."
"No it isn't." Sheppard sighed. Ford would search for them after they failed to make contact. And Ford didn't have the gene, which meant he wouldn't find them.
"Doctor...you didn't happen to do the gene therapy on Lieutenant Ford?" Sheppard asked, hopeful.
Beckett shook his head, "Not yet Major."
"I thought so."
McKay was following their train of thought, "Which means that the three people who could activate the transporter..."
"...are down here." Sheppard finished for him.
McKay's face fell, "Oh no."
"Won't there be controls?" Beckett figured there was a way back to the surface. The Ancients had proven there were always options in their technology.
"Probably. Finding it...that's the problem." Sheppard pulled his gloves off and tucked them in a pocket, "McKay, what's that thing reading?"
McKay looked at his hand in surprise, having momentarily forgotten the device, "It's reading the same level of energy that I saw on the surface, before you activated the transporter. There's something here."
"Let's find it." Sheppard adjusted his P90, and made sure the light was pointing straight ahead, "Stay alert."
McKay watched his retreating form, "You don't need to remind me." He muttered, hoping they could find a ZedPM and a way out before Ford returned to Atlantis and reported them missing.