A Million Miles of Sky and Time
Oct. 29th, 2008 11:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weaselettWritten for the Fandom Free for all - For ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brasslizard
Title: A Million Miles of Sky and Time
Author:weaselett
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: No real spoilers for B5 or SGA
Word Count: 1,967
Summary: Weirder than your average day in the Pegasus Galaxy
Author's Notes: Written forbrasslizard hopefully this fulfils what was asked for :) sorry it took so long!
Okay, so I may have spent a slightly obsessive amount of time trying to make this fic fit the canon of both shows and researching things *coughs*. Information was used from various sources including wikipedia, b5 tech and babtech online, though I failed to re-find a reference for a comparison I wanted to include, but hopefully it works without *crosses fingers*. Any errors are my own.
You don’t have to have seen Babylon 5 at any point to read this fic – or at least I hope so *g* - but you will have to have seen Stargate Atlantis. Technically set during s3 - but generally could be taken anywhere from mid-s2.
Unbeta'd - so any mistakes just let me know :)
“Elizabeth, there is something that you should see.” Radek Zelenka stood in the doorway of Elizabeth Weir’s office, his handheld laptop in one hand, his eyes bright with worry.
“What is it?” Elizabeth closed her laptop, giving the Czech scientist her full attention. Last she’d known he’d been running a check on the city’s systems.
“An object just appeared on the sensors.”
Elizabeth stiffened, “Wraith?” Objects appearing on the sensors was rarely a good thing.
Radek shook his head, “No, or at least not as far as we can tell,” he hesitated, lowering his gaze for a moment before he continued, “and there is more.”
“More?”
“Yes. The object appeared in orbit around the planet.”
Elizabeth frowned, leaning forward, “From hyperspace?”
Radek shook his head, “No, it simply, appeared.” He shrugged, unable to give any explanation as to how such a thing could happen.
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath before she asked the question that was in the forefront of her mind, “Is it hostile?”
“I can not say for certain, but it does not appear to be.” Radek answered carefully, his face betraying his uncertainty. “It is unlike any ship on record.”
“So we have no idea if it’s friend or foe.” Elizabeth commented absently, “And we have no idea how it got here.”
--
Less than half an hour later Elizabeth assembled her command staff in the Atlantis briefing room, waiting patiently for a few minutes until Radek and Rodney McKay finished their argument, knowing all too well that it would be a waste of time to try and interrupt them.
“What have you been able to find out?” Elizabeth questioned, once they’d both taken their seats.
“We have managed to capture a number of images of the object.” Radek brought up an image on the room’s main screen, showing an enlarged picture of the ‘object’.
“It looks big.” John Sheppard commented, eying the image on the screen critically from his seat in the Atlantis briefing room.
“That’s because it is.” Rodney replied glaring at the other man across the table, “It’s over seven kilometres long.”
“So it’s big.” John returned mildly.
“Yes it’s big.” Rodney rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath before he continued, “It’s also of a design that we’ve never seen before, anywhere.”
Radek nodded, face bright with excitement, “It appears to be based upon a concept similar to the O’Neill cylinder…”
Rodney waved his hand dismissively cutting Radek off mid-stream, “It’s design really doesn’t matter, what matters is that it seems to have engines, but we’re pretty sure it’s not actually a ship.”
“It’s not a ship?” John straightened in his chair, exchanging a look with Elizabeth/
“Didn’t I just say that,” Rodney replied, sounding exasperated, “no, it’s not a ship, if anything it seems to be a space station of some kind.”
“It’s a space station?” Elizabeth questioned, despite herself.
Rodney frowned at her for a moment before nodding, “It seems to be designed in a way that would, in theory allow it to create its own artificial gravity. Also, while it has an engine, it isn’t exactly designed to be travelling constantly through space. The engine seems to be there more as a means of moving it when necessary.”
“Though we can not be certain.” Radek added, ignoring Rodney’s glare.
“So how’d it get here?” Ronon questioned, tapping his fingers on the table idly.
The two scientists exchanged a look, neither seeming to know how to answer the question. After a minutes silence Radek finally answered, “As far as the city’s sensors are concerned, it just appeared.”
“So, you don’t know how it got here.” John provided.
Rodney snorted shaking his head, “Space ships don’t just appear in orbit around planets, it got here somehow, the city’s sensors just aren’t designed to detect whatever means where used.”
“Have there been any attempt at communication?” Teyla asked, gaze shifting between the picture on the screen and Rodney.
“No.” Rodney answered with certainty, “But, we think we have a way of finding out why it’s here and, more importantly, how it got here. Possibly even where it’s from.”
Elizabeth’s eyebrows rose, “How?”
Rodney grinned, standing and walking over to the screen to indicate a section of the picture, “This, is a docking bay.”
--
“You are certain that we will be able to gain access to this, ship?” Teyla checked as the puddlejumper approached the entrance to what Rodney had proclaimed to be a docking bay, while Ronon remained silent, toying idly with one of his knives.
“Yes, I am.” Rodney replied, not bothering to look up from his computer.
John glanced over his shoulder at Rodney before he refocused on the approaching docking bay entrance, eying the space available critically, “It looks like we can, I mean, if it is the entrance to a docking bay, it’s clearly intended to take ships bigger than a puddlejumper.” He offered Teyla a reassuring smile.
“And once we are onboard?” She questioned.
“We see if anyone’s home.” John grinned, neatly directing the puddlejumper through the entrance and on into what seemed to be a docking area. He landed the puddlejumper carefully, watching for any sign of life beyond his chosen landing position. “Plus, we’ve got the space suits if we need them.” He threw Rodney a questioning look, waiting for some indication as to whether they could safely leave the puddle jumper or not.
Rodney frowned at the readings for a long moment before he nodded. “It looks like there’s a safe breathable atmosphere out there.”
John brought up the jumper’s life sign detector, eyebrows rising slowly as he read the screen, “Well, we’ve got two life signs, I think.”
“You think?” Rodney lent forward examining the screen himself, “Huh, that’s weird, it’s like the computer isn’t sure about that one.” He pointed towards the fainter of the two blobs, which seemed to be in an enclosed space towards the centre of the station.
“Any reason in particular that it wouldn’t be able to decide?” John questioned, frowning at the blob.
Rodney shook his head, “Maybe the material this place is built from, or something in the room is distorting it somehow…”
“Okay, well I guess we’ll just have to see when we get there.” John interrupted as he stood and gathered his gear, motioning for Ronon to lead the way out of the jumper.
--
“Zathras has so much to do, but Zathras is good at doing.” The alien’s voice carried down the otherwise empty corridor as he sat fiddling with a piece of metal in his hands, the multiple pieces of fur draped over his shoulder shaking as he shook his head.
“Does he look familiar to anyone?” John whispered, crouching down behind one of the many crates lining the sides of the corridor. Teyla and Ronon exchanged a glance before Teyla shook her head, eying the strange alien warily.
“He does not appear to be aware of our presence and he does not appear to be armed”
Rodney snorted quietly, “He doesn’t appear to be completely sane either.”
John threw Rodney a warning look, “You heard Elizabeth back in Atlantis, we’re here to be friendly, not insult one of the only two, people, onboard.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be nice.” Rodney muttered, ignoring Teyla’s amused look.
“You’d better be.” John warned, before motioning for the others to step out from their cover, lowering their weapons. “Hi there, we’re here from the planet below.”
The alien looked up from his work, studying each in turn before smiling, exposing a set of sharp yellow teeth, “Zathras was expecting you.”
The team exchanged a look, “Zathras?” Teyla questioned carefully.
The alien nodded, “Yes, Yes, Zathras is pleased to meet you.” He motioned at himself with one hand, still smiling, “Zathras was told you would come.”
“Who told you?” John stepped closer, shifting his grip on his P-9 carefully.
“That, Zathras can not tell you.” Zathras shook his head, clicking his tongue.
“Why?” John pressed, confused.
Zathras opened his mouth before stopping and shaking his head, offering them what passed for an apologetic smile, “That Zathras can not tell you either.”
“What can you tell us?” Rodney demanded impatiently.
Zathras seemed to consider the question for a long time before nodding to himself, “Zathras must tell you to leave. Zathras has much work to do. Zathas and The One must get to right time, or is the end of all.” He nodded firmly as he finished then turned his attention to the device in his hands.
“We have only just arrived, we do not yet know why you are here.” Teyla reasoned, exchanging a quick glance with John.
Zathras shook his head, sighing, “Zathras in wrong place. Wrong place, wrong war, wrong time. Is bad. Zathras must fix.” He held up the object in his hand, clicking his tongue. “Is delicate.”
Rodney eyed the object for a moment before stepping forward, his thoughts clear, “We could help.”
Zathras looked up, eying each of them in turn before shaking his head, smiling, “No, only Zathras. You must go, this place is not for you.”
Rodney frowned, his displeasure clear, “So why are you here?” He demanded.
Zathras smiled again, shrugging and clicking his tongue, “Mistake. Many mistakes. But Zathras was told and Zathras does.”
Silence fell for a long moment, “Well,” John broached, “We’ll just go then.”
Zathras nodded, not looking up from his work. “Yes, Zathras will fix and then Zathras and The One go.”
John hesitated for a moment longer before giving in, he wasn’t about to spend hours trying to get a straight answer from Zathras, or whatever his name actually was. He motioned Rodney and the others back down the corridor, ignoring Rodney’s muttered objection and Ronon’s twitching trigger finger.
“Zathras has blocked other ways, Zathras was told, Zathras did not understand, but now, Zathras understands. You must leave, not meant for you.” Zathras called after them, rising his head once more for a moment before finally settling his attention on his work once more, muttering to himself and shaking his head.
“That would be a no to exploring the rest of this place then.” John commented idly to the others as he caught up to them, “It’s pretty clear we aren’t welcome.”
“This was a waste of time.” Ronon growled before he stormed off, leading the way back to the jumper.
--
Elizabeth frowned, leaning forward in her chair as John and his team finished their verbal report of what had happened, “I don’t understand, he said that he knew you were coming?”
Teyla nodded, “Yes, he also seemed to know what we intended, it was very…strange.”
“Not to mention annoying.” Rodney added glaring at the table.
“He made it pretty clear that we weren’t supposed to be there.” John reiterated.
“And he didn’t say why he’s here?”
Teyla shook her head, “No, though he seemed to suggest that it was a ‘mistake’.”
Rodney snorted, “Because it’s so likely that someone accidentally brought something that size to the wrong place.”
John shrugged, “It could happen.”
Rodney’s eyebrows rose, “It could happen.” He rolled his eyes, slumping in his chair.
John grinned, “Ignore Rodney, he’s just pissed that he didn’t get to see how it all worked.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth to reply only to stop as Radek stepped hesitantly into the room, “Yes Radek?”
He hesitated for a moment, glancing at Rodney before seeming to decide to give Elizabeth his full attention, “It’s gone.”
They all starred at him for a long moment until Rodney broke the silence, “It’s can’t just have disappeared!”
Radek shrugged hopelessly, “One moment it was there, now it is not. I do not know what else to say.”
“Well,” John commented after a moment, “Zathras did tell us he’d be leaving.”
--
brasslizardTitle: A Million Miles of Sky and Time
Author:
weaselettRating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: No real spoilers for B5 or SGA
Word Count: 1,967
Summary: Weirder than your average day in the Pegasus Galaxy
Author's Notes: Written for
brasslizard hopefully this fulfils what was asked for :) sorry it took so long! Okay, so I may have spent a slightly obsessive amount of time trying to make this fic fit the canon of both shows and researching things *coughs*. Information was used from various sources including wikipedia, b5 tech and babtech online, though I failed to re-find a reference for a comparison I wanted to include, but hopefully it works without *crosses fingers*. Any errors are my own.
You don’t have to have seen Babylon 5 at any point to read this fic – or at least I hope so *g* - but you will have to have seen Stargate Atlantis. Technically set during s3 - but generally could be taken anywhere from mid-s2.
Unbeta'd - so any mistakes just let me know :)
“Elizabeth, there is something that you should see.” Radek Zelenka stood in the doorway of Elizabeth Weir’s office, his handheld laptop in one hand, his eyes bright with worry.
“What is it?” Elizabeth closed her laptop, giving the Czech scientist her full attention. Last she’d known he’d been running a check on the city’s systems.
“An object just appeared on the sensors.”
Elizabeth stiffened, “Wraith?” Objects appearing on the sensors was rarely a good thing.
Radek shook his head, “No, or at least not as far as we can tell,” he hesitated, lowering his gaze for a moment before he continued, “and there is more.”
“More?”
“Yes. The object appeared in orbit around the planet.”
Elizabeth frowned, leaning forward, “From hyperspace?”
Radek shook his head, “No, it simply, appeared.” He shrugged, unable to give any explanation as to how such a thing could happen.
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath before she asked the question that was in the forefront of her mind, “Is it hostile?”
“I can not say for certain, but it does not appear to be.” Radek answered carefully, his face betraying his uncertainty. “It is unlike any ship on record.”
“So we have no idea if it’s friend or foe.” Elizabeth commented absently, “And we have no idea how it got here.”
--
Less than half an hour later Elizabeth assembled her command staff in the Atlantis briefing room, waiting patiently for a few minutes until Radek and Rodney McKay finished their argument, knowing all too well that it would be a waste of time to try and interrupt them.
“What have you been able to find out?” Elizabeth questioned, once they’d both taken their seats.
“We have managed to capture a number of images of the object.” Radek brought up an image on the room’s main screen, showing an enlarged picture of the ‘object’.
“It looks big.” John Sheppard commented, eying the image on the screen critically from his seat in the Atlantis briefing room.
“That’s because it is.” Rodney replied glaring at the other man across the table, “It’s over seven kilometres long.”
“So it’s big.” John returned mildly.
“Yes it’s big.” Rodney rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath before he continued, “It’s also of a design that we’ve never seen before, anywhere.”
Radek nodded, face bright with excitement, “It appears to be based upon a concept similar to the O’Neill cylinder…”
Rodney waved his hand dismissively cutting Radek off mid-stream, “It’s design really doesn’t matter, what matters is that it seems to have engines, but we’re pretty sure it’s not actually a ship.”
“It’s not a ship?” John straightened in his chair, exchanging a look with Elizabeth/
“Didn’t I just say that,” Rodney replied, sounding exasperated, “no, it’s not a ship, if anything it seems to be a space station of some kind.”
“It’s a space station?” Elizabeth questioned, despite herself.
Rodney frowned at her for a moment before nodding, “It seems to be designed in a way that would, in theory allow it to create its own artificial gravity. Also, while it has an engine, it isn’t exactly designed to be travelling constantly through space. The engine seems to be there more as a means of moving it when necessary.”
“Though we can not be certain.” Radek added, ignoring Rodney’s glare.
“So how’d it get here?” Ronon questioned, tapping his fingers on the table idly.
The two scientists exchanged a look, neither seeming to know how to answer the question. After a minutes silence Radek finally answered, “As far as the city’s sensors are concerned, it just appeared.”
“So, you don’t know how it got here.” John provided.
Rodney snorted shaking his head, “Space ships don’t just appear in orbit around planets, it got here somehow, the city’s sensors just aren’t designed to detect whatever means where used.”
“Have there been any attempt at communication?” Teyla asked, gaze shifting between the picture on the screen and Rodney.
“No.” Rodney answered with certainty, “But, we think we have a way of finding out why it’s here and, more importantly, how it got here. Possibly even where it’s from.”
Elizabeth’s eyebrows rose, “How?”
Rodney grinned, standing and walking over to the screen to indicate a section of the picture, “This, is a docking bay.”
--
“You are certain that we will be able to gain access to this, ship?” Teyla checked as the puddlejumper approached the entrance to what Rodney had proclaimed to be a docking bay, while Ronon remained silent, toying idly with one of his knives.
“Yes, I am.” Rodney replied, not bothering to look up from his computer.
John glanced over his shoulder at Rodney before he refocused on the approaching docking bay entrance, eying the space available critically, “It looks like we can, I mean, if it is the entrance to a docking bay, it’s clearly intended to take ships bigger than a puddlejumper.” He offered Teyla a reassuring smile.
“And once we are onboard?” She questioned.
“We see if anyone’s home.” John grinned, neatly directing the puddlejumper through the entrance and on into what seemed to be a docking area. He landed the puddlejumper carefully, watching for any sign of life beyond his chosen landing position. “Plus, we’ve got the space suits if we need them.” He threw Rodney a questioning look, waiting for some indication as to whether they could safely leave the puddle jumper or not.
Rodney frowned at the readings for a long moment before he nodded. “It looks like there’s a safe breathable atmosphere out there.”
John brought up the jumper’s life sign detector, eyebrows rising slowly as he read the screen, “Well, we’ve got two life signs, I think.”
“You think?” Rodney lent forward examining the screen himself, “Huh, that’s weird, it’s like the computer isn’t sure about that one.” He pointed towards the fainter of the two blobs, which seemed to be in an enclosed space towards the centre of the station.
“Any reason in particular that it wouldn’t be able to decide?” John questioned, frowning at the blob.
Rodney shook his head, “Maybe the material this place is built from, or something in the room is distorting it somehow…”
“Okay, well I guess we’ll just have to see when we get there.” John interrupted as he stood and gathered his gear, motioning for Ronon to lead the way out of the jumper.
--
“Zathras has so much to do, but Zathras is good at doing.” The alien’s voice carried down the otherwise empty corridor as he sat fiddling with a piece of metal in his hands, the multiple pieces of fur draped over his shoulder shaking as he shook his head.
“Does he look familiar to anyone?” John whispered, crouching down behind one of the many crates lining the sides of the corridor. Teyla and Ronon exchanged a glance before Teyla shook her head, eying the strange alien warily.
“He does not appear to be aware of our presence and he does not appear to be armed”
Rodney snorted quietly, “He doesn’t appear to be completely sane either.”
John threw Rodney a warning look, “You heard Elizabeth back in Atlantis, we’re here to be friendly, not insult one of the only two, people, onboard.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be nice.” Rodney muttered, ignoring Teyla’s amused look.
“You’d better be.” John warned, before motioning for the others to step out from their cover, lowering their weapons. “Hi there, we’re here from the planet below.”
The alien looked up from his work, studying each in turn before smiling, exposing a set of sharp yellow teeth, “Zathras was expecting you.”
The team exchanged a look, “Zathras?” Teyla questioned carefully.
The alien nodded, “Yes, Yes, Zathras is pleased to meet you.” He motioned at himself with one hand, still smiling, “Zathras was told you would come.”
“Who told you?” John stepped closer, shifting his grip on his P-9 carefully.
“That, Zathras can not tell you.” Zathras shook his head, clicking his tongue.
“Why?” John pressed, confused.
Zathras opened his mouth before stopping and shaking his head, offering them what passed for an apologetic smile, “That Zathras can not tell you either.”
“What can you tell us?” Rodney demanded impatiently.
Zathras seemed to consider the question for a long time before nodding to himself, “Zathras must tell you to leave. Zathras has much work to do. Zathas and The One must get to right time, or is the end of all.” He nodded firmly as he finished then turned his attention to the device in his hands.
“We have only just arrived, we do not yet know why you are here.” Teyla reasoned, exchanging a quick glance with John.
Zathras shook his head, sighing, “Zathras in wrong place. Wrong place, wrong war, wrong time. Is bad. Zathras must fix.” He held up the object in his hand, clicking his tongue. “Is delicate.”
Rodney eyed the object for a moment before stepping forward, his thoughts clear, “We could help.”
Zathras looked up, eying each of them in turn before shaking his head, smiling, “No, only Zathras. You must go, this place is not for you.”
Rodney frowned, his displeasure clear, “So why are you here?” He demanded.
Zathras smiled again, shrugging and clicking his tongue, “Mistake. Many mistakes. But Zathras was told and Zathras does.”
Silence fell for a long moment, “Well,” John broached, “We’ll just go then.”
Zathras nodded, not looking up from his work. “Yes, Zathras will fix and then Zathras and The One go.”
John hesitated for a moment longer before giving in, he wasn’t about to spend hours trying to get a straight answer from Zathras, or whatever his name actually was. He motioned Rodney and the others back down the corridor, ignoring Rodney’s muttered objection and Ronon’s twitching trigger finger.
“Zathras has blocked other ways, Zathras was told, Zathras did not understand, but now, Zathras understands. You must leave, not meant for you.” Zathras called after them, rising his head once more for a moment before finally settling his attention on his work once more, muttering to himself and shaking his head.
“That would be a no to exploring the rest of this place then.” John commented idly to the others as he caught up to them, “It’s pretty clear we aren’t welcome.”
“This was a waste of time.” Ronon growled before he stormed off, leading the way back to the jumper.
--
Elizabeth frowned, leaning forward in her chair as John and his team finished their verbal report of what had happened, “I don’t understand, he said that he knew you were coming?”
Teyla nodded, “Yes, he also seemed to know what we intended, it was very…strange.”
“Not to mention annoying.” Rodney added glaring at the table.
“He made it pretty clear that we weren’t supposed to be there.” John reiterated.
“And he didn’t say why he’s here?”
Teyla shook her head, “No, though he seemed to suggest that it was a ‘mistake’.”
Rodney snorted, “Because it’s so likely that someone accidentally brought something that size to the wrong place.”
John shrugged, “It could happen.”
Rodney’s eyebrows rose, “It could happen.” He rolled his eyes, slumping in his chair.
John grinned, “Ignore Rodney, he’s just pissed that he didn’t get to see how it all worked.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth to reply only to stop as Radek stepped hesitantly into the room, “Yes Radek?”
He hesitated for a moment, glancing at Rodney before seeming to decide to give Elizabeth his full attention, “It’s gone.”
They all starred at him for a long moment until Rodney broke the silence, “It’s can’t just have disappeared!”
Radek shrugged hopelessly, “One moment it was there, now it is not. I do not know what else to say.”
“Well,” John commented after a moment, “Zathras did tell us he’d be leaving.”
--
