Memories of times past - [Open]

[atadiscoverer]

If one were to enter one of the Sensoriums today, they may walk in on a surprising sight. They will come across a wide room, with a ring-like device at the end, a stain-glass window behind it, depicting a night's sky. To those who know it, this device is a Stargate.

The room is the embarkation room of the lost City of the Ancients; Atlantis. It's staircases leading up to the control room, and to a balcony looking out over the oceans. It's on this balcony that one may see a figure leaning on a railing, staring out to sea, the simulated breeze blowing in his hair.

This figure is Dr. Carson Beckett, and the man seems a bit down as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Dare you disturb the peaceful tranquility of this scene?

Comments

[governorkang]

Kang remembered this room from the times he and Ronon had done Warfare Training and used Atlantis as their setting. He knew whose it was immediately, and it didn't take long to spot Carson up on the balcony. He made sure to move quietly, but not so quiet he'd surprise the human, as he made his way up the stairs to join him and look out at the water, waiting for Carson to speak whenever he was ready.

[atadiscoverer]

If Kang wanted to hide the sound of his approach, the gentle sounds of the tide washing against the piers of the city would have done sufficiently to mask any other sounds.

As it was, Carson hears someone come in and turns slightly, smiling. "Ah, Councillor, good morning." He says, politely.

There's some light on the horizon, sending splatters of colour against the night-time background. It looks like a sunrise.

[governorkang]

"I'm not on Council duty. You can drop the title," Kang smiled.

[atadiscoverer]

"Kang it is." Carson chuckles, before looking back out over the sea. "I always liked Lantea's sunrises." He remarks. "Over the sea, it was always so beautiful."

[governorkang]

The railing was too low for Kang to lean his elbows on, being designed for human height, but he could at least rest his hands on it. "I never had time to appreciate a sunrise or a sunset. It is beautiful here."

He knew exactly what Carson was doing. He'd imagined up his own home on more than one occasion.

[atadiscoverer]

"Atlantis was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Everything about it was... amazing." Carson says, whistfully.

The sky was slowly changing colour as the sun rises slowly over the oceans, reflecting off the water, the ocean glowing.

[governorkang]

Nodding, Kang stayed silent, watching the colors and letting Carson have his moment.

[atadiscoverer]

The colours brighten as the sun starts to peak over the horizon. The simulated sky looks brilliant, with reds, golds, purples, blues. The wind blows with the tide, the air salty and fresh.

And there's something muttered, quietly.

"I'll never see it again."

[governorkang]

Kang spoke up, giving Carson a serious look, "We don't know that for sure yet. Don't ever give up. The moment you do, you're finished."

[atadiscoverer]

"I know it as a near-certainty." Carson says, before looking back to Kang. "For myself, at least. I'll never give up, for the others."

[governorkang]

"...was there some sort of danger to it before the Ohm came around?" Kang asked, tilting his head to one side slightly. "You may be from a later point in the timeline than Ronon."

[atadiscoverer]

Carson is silent for a while once again, before he turns back to look at Kang.

"The last thing I remember before waking up in the pods, is the heat of an explosion on my back."

[governorkang]

"What was happening?"

[atadiscoverer]

"I had just removed this volatile tumour from a patient's body. He was exposed to some kind of radiation that created an explosive just behind the heart in the chest."

He pauses, staring out at the sea. "I had just delivered it to the bomb disposal team when it..."

He trails off, but it's easy to guess what.

[governorkang]

Well. Kang frowned. "It must have been very powerful, to possibly take out Atlantis."

[atadiscoverer]

"It wouldn't have taken out the city, but it could have easily damaged some vital systems."

A pause. "The scientist in question was part of the power distribution team." Which means he had direct contact with the power plants and the ZPMs. If Atlantis lost the power gained from a ZPM? Big trouble.

[splendid_roman]

Ian didn't see the other person when he entered the room. He was distracted by the ring to start with, walking over to it and touching it. It was only after that that he wondered what else was here.

Upstairs he ran his fingers over the consoles before he saw the man on the balcony. Ian stepped out there and looked out at the water for a moment before he asked, "What is this place?"

[atadiscoverer]

The Stargate glows slightly, but doesn't react none to Ian's touch, and the consoles and control panels likewise don't react.

Carson looks down as he hears someone enter, spotting them by the Stargate, but not disturbing them, going back to staring out at the sea. As Ian makes his way up and turns and smiles as he asks.

"Welcome to Atlantis." Carson replies.

[splendid_roman]

Ian blinked. "As in the lost city of Atlantis?"

[atadiscoverer]

"Aye. Where I'm from, we found it." The Scotsman looks out over the oceans again. "Granted, in another galaxy."

[splendid_roman]

"Really?" He looked out over the water but he couldn't tell that this was another galaxy. "That would be why it was lost, then."

[atadiscoverer]

"Aye." He says, smiling. "Where I'm from, Atlantis was an alien outpost from a race of super-intelligent beings who colonised the Earth. They sent Atlantis out here to the Pegasus Galaxy."

He looks back at Ian. "They submerged it to protect it from a race called the Wraith, and returned to Earth using the Stargate when things got a wee bit hot here."

He then offers a hand. "I'm Dr. Carson Beckett."

[splendid_roman]

It really shouldn't have surprised him to learn that there were aliens on Earth, but it still did. But he managed to shake Dr Beckett's hand. "Ian Chesterton. You're from Atlantis?" He sounded Scottish, but that didn't always tend to mean anything.

[atadiscoverer]

"Not originally, no." He smiles. "I was born in a wee town near Glasgow, I've only been on Atlantis for the past three years."

A pause. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Chesterton."

[splendid_roman]

"You have a way of travelling to another galaxy?" Ian asked, eyes wide. "Back home I'm still waiting for the Russians or the Americans to put a man on the moon."

[atadiscoverer]

"D'you see the ring?" Carson jerks a thumb over his shoulder at the device. "We call it a Stargate. It connects to hundreds of other Gates that form a network. With enough power, it can dial another galaxy."

[splendid_roman]

Ian looked round at it. "That far with something that size?" Okay, so he was on a sentient spaceship in a room that could show you anything you wanted and he was more impressed with the Stargate. "Can anyone go through them?"

[atadiscoverer]

"Anyone and everyone." Carson says. "I can show you how it works. We won't be able to go through it, but..." He looks towards the control room.

[splendid_roman]

Ian's face lit up at that idea. "Yes, please."

[atadiscoverer]

"Step this way, then." Carson motions to the control room, leading the way before standing in front of a console.

"Okay, let me see if I can remember how to bloody work this thing..."

[splendid_roman]

"I'm sure it'll come back to you." Although Ian couldn't make head nor tails of the controls. "I wonder if all alien controls are impossible to understand."

[atadiscoverer]

A smile. "You get used to them." He was more comfortable using the Ancient Medical equipment he found in the Med bay.

"Okay. Here goes." He starts pushing the symbols on the console in front of him. As he does so, the ring whirs into life. A set of lights spin around the ring before locking beneath one of the nine chevrons on the gate. Each symbol on the console matches one on the Gate.

Carson inputs 6 symbols before hitting the centre button. The Stargate activates with it's trademark 'ka-woosh', before settling into the puddle-like event horizon.

((OOC: Example of the Atlantis Stargate dialling is at the end of this video. Because I have no idea how much you know about Stargate canon. XD))

[splendid_roman]

Ian watched which buttons Carson pressed and how the ring spun and then when the Stargate activated he took an involuntary step back. "And that's connected to another galaxy now?"


((OOC: Sorry, should have said, I've seen Stargate Atlantis :)))

[atadiscoverer]

"Another world in the same galaxy. The only other Gate that I know the address of is Earth. This wormhole is connected to a world called Athos."

He grins at the involuntary step back. A normal reaction.

((OOC: No problem! I enjoy linking stuff.))

[splendid_roman]

"A real wormhole?" Ian went over to the Stargate to look at it more closely. "Can you travel in time as well as space?" He poked the puddle and watched as it rippled.

[atadiscoverer]

"Aye. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but it establishes a stable wormhole between two gates." He follows Ian down to the Embarkation Room. "Time travel? There have been a few cases, aye, but it's not meant to." There was the instance when SG-1 traveled back to the 60's.

[splendid_roman]

"I thought wormholes were only theoretical." He turned away from the Stargate to look around the rest of the room. "This must have been an amazing place to work."

[atadiscoverer]

"I'm not sure of the science behind it, but the Stargate needs an awful lot of power for an Interstelar Wormhole. A lot more for travel between galaxies."

Carson smiles slightly. "It was. It was amazing and terrifying, and I wouldn't trade a second of it for the universe."

[splendid_roman]

Ian wasn't sure how the science related to Stargates, but it didn't matter. It was still something worth seeing and knowing about.

He smiled. "I know that feeling. Until I woke up here I was travelling around space and time. I never intended to be a wanderer, but I'm glad I did."

[atadiscoverer]

"I very nearly didn't join the Atlantis Expedition." Carson comments, smiling. "It took Dr. Weir to persuade me to join. I'm glad I did, too."