[identity profile] shusu.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] sga_flashfic
(Speaking for myself, I'd love to see your favorite cities and highways and special spots, even if you don't live there anymore.  FYI, here's a map of military bases in the continental U.S.; worldwide; complete list with inactive bases.)

Gen.  All mistakes in geography and the military are my own. 
PG for language only; references to death.  1800 words.
Note: My icon is Teyla's view, looking up.
*edit*: Added a line that was somehow dropped from the lj draft.  Sorry about that.
Stargate Atlantis does not belong to me.  Unauthorized duplication and distribution prohibited.

Messengers
by Liondragon

        Though John lucked out when Reed claimed Ohio and the tristate area, his brief stint at Scott Air Force Base got him Des Moines through Memphis.  He took Teyla along, dutifully buying her bags of spicy pork rinds and settling for buckets of Wal-Mart cotton candy.  It didn't cut her displeasure at having nothing to do.  The most he allowed was her keeping him awake on the long night drive to Chillicothe.  They had to work fast, and even if she heard them crying from the car, he wouldn't let her come along.

        They stopped long enough in Kansas City to get his dress blues dry-cleaned and to call Rodney, who was now on his own in Minnesota.  (Normally a bad idea, but Rodney maintained it was painless enough if he talked fast.)  Despite getting a ticket for parking in a snow lane, he'd still finish before they would.  Several expedition members had come out of the U of M or the surrounding smaller colleges.  Rodney could check them off all at once.  In the meantime he was pleased they had finally accepted Krispy Kremes this far north, though it couldn't match Tim Horton's.  John spited him by slurping a Steak 'n Shake freeze over the phone.

        John passed it to Teyla when they got on the highway.  Around Sedalia, Rodney admitted to her that he missed his sidearm.  Teyla prudently ended the call soon after.

        It was fast driving if you could guess where the speed-traps were.  Florence, Versailles, California, a truck stop in Kingdom City, then up to Mexico and New London.  John took Teyla's picture with her face through a painted Tom and Becky wall, white-washed.  They got caught in traffic coming into St. Louis, and it was another half-hour before John recognized any landmarks.

        Teyla was getting bored, so John took their rental down I-70 till she gasped and pointed.  "It's an arch?" he said when she asked, and she actually rolled her eyes.

        They found parking on Laclede's Landing and John marveled at everything that was the same and wasn't, the bridges that were used or reused, all aging.  The trains now ran all the way to Scott from here.  They walked down to the Mississippi River, muddy as ever and running low.  "Rodney is upstream, is he not?" Teyla said.  She'd been reading the map.

        "Yup."  With a quirk on his lips, John edged down the cobblestones and spit into the water.

        Quite solemnly, Teyla did the same.

        Hands in his pockets, he followed her up the stairs and to the base of the Arch.  People had scratched their names into the stainless steel, but it hardly spoiled its curving sheen.  No one was out here; it was far from summer.

        It was funny how the light was pulled around and into the grey-blue sky.  "Gateway to the West," John murmured.  He felt homesick.

        "We have Major Lorne's family," Teyla said, eyes drawn up and up.

        "Let's see the sights first," John said.  "We can make good time to Arkansas."

        They drove past the light-strung trees -- slow, since Teyla had liked them in KC.  John was startled by the hulking pit in the middle of downtown, and the hulking brick stadium next to it.  Teyla frowned at the vagrants under the highway but didn't say anything.  They had the top closed; it was getting cold.

        They found the brewery still lit up and magnificently Christmas.

        "Is this a temple?"  Teyla squinted at the eagles and gargoyles and carousing bears.

        "Yeah, it's where they make beer," John said, and he managed not to grin.

        They drove around, picked up some giant pretzels, and got a hotel room overlooking the river.  John paid with cash, a smile, and his USAF identification.  Teyla raided the mini-fridge for a beer, which they split while checking in with Elizabeth, Dr. Bryce, and Sergeant Yamato.

        Rodney called again before dawn.  "What did Chuck want, again?"

        John pinched the bridge of his nose.  "Katamari Damacy.  And We Love Katamari.  Can't your big brain remember stuff like this?"

        "That place is huge!  It's like... home except you have to walk everywhere."

        They sniped, both of them pre-coffee, until Teyla came out of the bathroom and raised a brow.  "Listen, it's my turn in the can, I gotta-- hey Rodney, that second one's a title, not a statement of fact!"  John shook his head at the dial tone.

        Teyla's voice was soft as he passed her.  "We will leave shortly?"

        "Beat traffic."  It was easier to do it in the morning, when people were still muzzy with sleep.  John was wide awake before he hit the shower.  Lorne's would be tough.

        His mom lived in a leafy suburb that used to be surrounded by farmland.  John knew from what Lorne had told him that his sister might be home too; he steeled himself before knocking on the stormdoor.

        John took his hat off and held it at chest level, where his nameplate should be.  His mouth was dry, every time.  "Are you Mrs. Robert Lorne?"

        The woman had Lorne's big brown eyes.  John was glad he'd only had coffee; the look on her face made his stomach roll.  "Cassie!" she called over her shoulder.  "Cassie, come here!"  Her hands were shaking.

        John kept his hands relaxed, kept his voice even like it was a rough landing and it was just him and the stick.  "Ma'am, are you Mrs. Robert Lorne?"

        "What is it, Mom..."

        "Yes," the woman said abruptly.  John wasn't looking at her, and she wasn't looking at him.  He said the next line, and the next, the name and the numbers, and the stormdoor was creaking from the vibration of her hands.

        He was invited inside for breakfast, which sounded so much like Major Lorne that he nearly caved.  He wanted to sit and tell them all about him.  How proud he was of him.  Instead he handed them a datadisk.  "Because of the nature of his assignment," he started.

        "Yes, he told us," said his sister.  John fixed her face in his mind.

        "That disk contains his final message and instructions to claim death benefits," said John.  "We ask that you not talk to the press until the activities connected to his mission are brought to a close."

        "When will that be?" said the sister.  The mother was calmer now.  John remembered that too.

        "Give it a month, ma'am."  John let his expression loosen.  "It's lucky we got authorization for a personal notification."  Their faces twisted; they nodded to each other, probably having been at the receiving end of Stargate Command's vague MIA messages.  A few years ago those had gone out by e-mail.

        "I guess we'll destroy this one too," the mother said, the datadisk pinched between her fingers.

        "Yes, ma'am.  We appreciate your cooperation," and something sincere must have leaked out because she smiled.  Lorne's smile.

        John waited till they closed the door before tapping the top of the threshold.  In the car, Teyla handed him a water bottle.  "Show it to me," he whispered, gripping the steering wheel.  Silently she retrieved a folder from her satchel and opened it to Lorne's consent form, his quick, blocky handwriting next to each line item.

        Signed.

        Back on Atlantis, it had seemed like such a big fuck-you to the SGC.  Now it just felt like desperation, taking advantage of the fact that these families didn't even expect the chaplain, the lawyer, the medic.  It was better than an e-mail, still.  It was the least they could do.  John exhaled and started the engine.  He got on the highway, then on the old bridges over the old river, and Teyla didn't say anything when he drove northeast instead of south.

        Teyla noticed the totem before he did: an ancient marker on a relatively new overpass.  Before long a towering, grassy mound came into view -- an artificial hill where there should be forest.  A hundred feet high with a flat top, steps from the two-lane highway.  It wasn't even close to the size of some of the places in Antarctica, and nowhere near the long-toothed mountains of Afghanistan.  It wouldn't have been impressive if John didn't know it was man-made.

        They swung into the visitor's center.  John named a time limit, and Teyla nodded, surveying the landscape around them.  "There are other mounds over there, Colonel," she said.

        John squinted.  "Yeah, I guess there are."  If not for the visitor center, it could have been a settlement in Pegasus.  A culled settlement.  Rodney ought to be whipping out his scanner; Ronon should have been walking point, suspicious of the high ground in flat country.

        They watched the film with a couple of tourists; John didn't pay attention, his hand over his eyes, Teyla's intermittent touch on his shoulder.  She was bemused when the screen rose up and showed a fake walk-through village.  John chuckled as they wandered around, reading some of the more ironic captions aloud.  "Maybe they could levitate the dirt to build all those mounds."

        "Perhaps," said Teyla wryly.  She had beads and trinkets in her satchel which were really low-tech Athosian devices. 

        They were more subdued when they studied the possible causes of the ancient people's disappearance.  "The anthropologists know this by heart," John murmured.

        "It is not the same case," Teyla said mildly, "but it is useful to us."  She glanced up at him as though to include him in that 'us.'

        They went out and trudged up the giant mound, John's fingers twitching for his tac vest and P-90, the rest of him grateful that he didn't have to carry them.  The wind lifted Teyla's hair as she pointed to the west, where the downtown skyline was visible.  If not for the Arch dominating it all, it could have been Des Moines or Kansas City or Damascus, all alike from afar.

        He thought of Major Lorne, who would never see this sight again.  He raised his camera and took a picture.

        "Your world has the luxury of history," said Teyla quietly.

        "It does," said John wonderingly, standing atop a neolithic mound, light-years away from home.

        "When you leave this place," she said, touching his elbow, "and come to stay with us, you will be giving us that gift."

        John didn't think about it; he took her shoulders and they touched brows, Pegasus-style.  "So.  We make good time to Memphis, and maybe we can see Graceland before Caldwell picks us up for our last ride."

        "Another temple?"  Teyla said knowingly.

        "Yeah.  You think Lorne will like an electric guitar?  I mean, if he can't play, he can learn."

        Teyla took the camera and snapped a picture of the east side too.  "I am sure he will like whatever you bring back, John." 

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 03:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 2naonh3-cl2.livejournal.com
holy crap. fabulous. thank you for sharing. also, why is rodney all by his lonesome?

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] 2naonh3-cl2.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-06-22 03:24 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 03:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ceitie.livejournal.com
Wow, very nice. It took me a while to catch on; at first I thought most of Atlantis was actually dead, but little clues kept suggesting otherwise. I love the title, sums it up so well.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 03:33 am (UTC)
amalthia: (Default)
From: [personal profile] amalthia
I liked this story.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 03:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] greendreaming.livejournal.com
Oh, what a great idea! I like your style, too: clean and subtle. I really enjoyed this.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 03:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xxsignsoflifexx.livejournal.com
I think the ending was more of a punch in the gut than if John and Teyla really had been doing death notifications. You did a wonderful job with this.

Val

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 03:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] auburnnothenna.livejournal.com
I'd like to say something intelligent, but I'm coming up empty...Good story. I have a thing for colony Atlantis and the expedition members defecting to Pegasus, but I hadn't seen anything that handled it quite this way. I really liked it.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 04:50 am (UTC)
fairestcat: Dreadful the cat (Default)
From: [personal profile] fairestcat
Ooh, cool story. I love the premise and you pull it off nicely.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 05:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dine.livejournal.com
excellent premise - and nicely suspenseful to the very end! I love the idea of Colony Atlantis, and this scenario makes so much sense, given the secrecy of the whole project.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 05:49 am (UTC)
ext_134: by ladyjax (Default)
From: [identity profile] ladyjax.livejournal.com
I was prepared for death and destruction of Atlantis and instead I get the breakaway story. Colony Atlantis definitely has appeal and I love that Teyla goes with John on this journey. Fabulous. Thank you.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 08:57 am (UTC)
ratcreature: (stargate)
From: [personal profile] ratcreature
That was a great story, I liked how we didn't know at the start what exactly has been going on with Atlantis and then gradually find things out.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-22 09:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] auntiemeesh.livejournal.com
Great story! I love this 'last goodbye' of theirs, giving farewells to the families, but also making that one last pilgrimage to all the places that once meant home.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-23 12:36 am (UTC)
ext_975: photo of a woof (Default)
From: [identity profile] springwoof.livejournal.com
very well done!

my two favorite parts:
one:
"Your world has the luxury of history," said Teyla quietly.
"It does," said John wonderingly, standing atop a neolithic mound, light-years away from home.
"When you leave this place," she said, touching his elbow, "and come to stay with us, you will be giving us that gift."

I liked both Teyla's appreciation of Earth's history, and John, standing on Earth, being "light-years away from home". woah. spooky-cool...

two:
He was invited inside for breakfast, which sounded so much like Major Lorne that he nearly caved. He wanted to sit and tell them all about him. How proud he was of him. Instead he handed them a datadisk.
wow. what a punch in the gut. because at this point I thought Lorne was dead, but even afterwards, when you did the big reveal, it was still painful, because that poor family....

good job.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-23 12:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kitsune-tsuki.livejournal.com
Oh, wow. I love, love love this so much.

I love that John and the others are there to give the families a sense of closure (so many fics dealing with this sort of thing fail to do that) and to honor the last requests of the expedition members as well. I love that we get to see Earth through Teyla's eyes and that she helps John appreciate it one last time. I especially love that Rodney's going around doing the same thing and that he calls John to remind him what he needs to get.

Plus? Chuck! *loves*

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] kitsune-tsuki.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-06-23 01:46 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] kitsune-tsuki.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-06-23 03:06 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] kitsune-tsuki.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-06-28 04:44 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] kitsune-tsuki.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-06-28 05:04 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-23 01:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grey-bard.livejournal.com
Wait, what? Wow.

Don't suppose there'll be more? It stands alone, but I like where you're going.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-23 02:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] altorogue.livejournal.com
Oh, that is neat. You really should expand more in this universe, there's too much potential not to.

And hooray for towns in MO!

(no subject)

From: [identity profile] altorogue.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-06-23 02:18 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-23 04:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] smalldiver.livejournal.com
Wow. Now I really want to see a fic from Lorne's pov as he agonises over making the decision to make his family think he's dead...

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-24 02:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sundara.livejournal.com
Whoa! You got me. I knew something was odd, but was reading along, content to let it be revealed, and wham! That ending was the best. Thanks.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-24 10:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] plsteward.livejournal.com
I'm in StLouis right now, just two days ago I was in some little town in Colorado, yesterday I was in Salina, KS & my trip has followed I70 thus far, tommorow I drive through Illinois, Ohio into Pittsburgh (but I wish I was going back down south to Arkansas then Mississppi.) It's so cool to read fic that's matching my trip & I think I might go see the Mounds (you got me curious.)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-25 05:31 am (UTC)
tielan: (SG - JT starfall)
From: [personal profile] tielan
I'm not sure I'm cluey enough to actually get what this story is about, but damn, it's good all the same! The sparse sketchiness of the depiction makes the whole scenario really haunting.

Loved it.

Plus: John and Teyla as friends! ZOMG!

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] tielan - Date: 2006-06-25 11:54 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-25 11:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] burntcopper.livejournal.com
Oh, *interesting*. Faking their deaths to break away from Earth and the SGC, and the way you weren't sure until quite late on, because they kept talking about them in the present tense.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-26 01:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bantha-fodder.livejournal.com
This was beautiful. I could see the things you were writing about, and I loved the little moments that John shared with Rodney and Teyla, and even though he was travelling with Teyla it was clear that he was trying to do it on his own and it was just beautiful.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-26 08:30 pm (UTC)
ext_1788: Photo of Lirael from the Garth Nix book of the same name, with the text 'dzurlady' (Teyla beauty - thegrrrl2002)
From: [identity profile] dzurlady.livejournal.com
"Your world has the luxury of history," said Teyla quietly.
How true. This really made me think. A very cool line in a cool story.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-28 01:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] flyingcarpet.livejournal.com
I love this. I agree with the other commenters that there's more of an impact here than if the notifications had been about actual deaths. Really fantastic job.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-10 11:06 am (UTC)
zoerayne: (sga)
From: [personal profile] zoerayne
What an incredible idea, and the execution was great. I like the way your brain works. *g*

(no subject)

Date: 2006-07-11 11:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 30toseoul.livejournal.com
I missed this before, because I suck.

Dude. You're so good with the little details. I don't know if you do great research or you know them already or you're just lucky, but... yeah. With the dress blues and the nameplate and all. And Teyla being bored so quick; one of my friends married a girl from the Azores and brought her home, and she was fascinated for about three days and then bored as hell: "Your cities all look the same." Yeah.

And that sense of home so far away. This is just awesome. Much as I love so many things about Atlantis, that is my favorite thing. Home.

Thanks, yo. This is beautiful. And I hope John remembers to bring plenty of extra strings back home. *g*

Profile

Stargate Atlantis Flashfiction

April 2017

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags