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miriel
Title: Preface to the Memoirs of General N.M. Lorne
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gen
Word Count: 765
Summary: For those who survived the first few years, Atlantis herself proved both a blessing and a curse.
Warnings: It's the Dark Side challenge, people.
A/N: Thanks towychwood for beta services. This is a short stab at a concept I've been playing around with for a while now; I hope it works for you.
There was a saying that was popular at the SGC when I served there:
Once you’ve gone through the ‘Gate, you can never go back.
It is disturbingly true; no one transfers out of the Stargate Program of their own free will. Most servicemen leave the program in body bags. This accounts for the fact that the program has remained a remarkably well-kept secret for as long as it has. The first words anyone learns upon transferring to any aspect of the program – Area 51, SGC, or Atlantis – is a variation on the theme of “What happens at the mountain, stays at the mountain.”
I have dedicated the last thirty years of my life to the Stargate Program, and they have been good years – first at the SGC and later in Atlantis. There are rumors that when (then) Colonel O’Neill was brought back into the Stargate Program, General Hammond asked him if he’d thought about writing memoirs. O’Neill is reputed to have said that he’d thought about it, but that he’d have to shoot anyone who read it because a large portion of his career up until that point had been classified. I don’t know if he ever followed up on the conversation or not. I find myself in a similar situation. Someday, the Stargate Program will be declassified and what I write may or may not be published. Regardless, I feel I have an obligation to leave a record of events as I have seen them.
I was not a member of the first Atlantis Expedition, I arrived on the USAF Daedalus following the expedition’s reconnection with Earth. All of us in the second wave were warned that there was a very real possibility Atlantis would be a one-way trip. Stories of life-sucking-aliens, a vindictively sentient city, and hostile natives were plentiful. We went out there fully expecting to end up on the wrong end of the city’s rumored AI. We ended up on the wrong side, all right, just not in a way anyone considered. The city loved those with the ATA gene, natural or artificial, and there were a lot of us. Everyone who shipped out for Atlantis received the gene therapy to allow interaction with Ancient technology; it took in just under 50% of us. The problem wasn’t that the city didn’t love us, it was that she loved us all too well.
When the world learns of Atlantis, they will learn of the brave explorers who risked their lives to establish the base there and befriend the natives. They will learn about the unspeakable enemy that so many of us gave our lives fighting against. They will learn about the mysterious and wonderful technology that was discovered. They will learn of the lives of brave volunteers lost to countless incidents whose details will never be remembered.
All of this is true. Every single expedition member faced hundreds of threats during their time in the city; we each surmounted innumerable odds to make it through a year alive, never mind five.
What they will not learn is that there were side-effects to living in the city that we never imagined. They will not learn about those who decided to rotate back to the SGC after a tour in Atlantis and collapsed in seizures on their first home leave in three years, because the chemical associated with Ancient Technology use (Known now as ATA-S) had built up in their bloodstreams and overloaded their nervous systems. They will not learn about the children born in Atlantis who received the therapy in their first year of life as a protective measure, whose parents learned far too late that they would never be able to take their children ‘home’ to Earth. They will not learn of the children whose parents decided to take them to Earth anyway, attempting to counter the ATA-S build-up with experimental treatments; children who invariably died of rare neurological diseases and inoperable brain tumors.
Atlantis has been a blessing and a curse to those of us who have lived within her walls. She welcomed us with open arms, but she is an unforgiving mistress. The stories contained within these pages may seem fantastical, even impossible, but believe me when I say that they are only a small portion of all that we have seen and done in the Pegasus Galaxy.
In closing, I dedicate this book to my children:
Thomas, who has never known the grandfather he was named for
&
Beth, who has grown up in the shadow of her namesake.
mirielTitle: Preface to the Memoirs of General N.M. Lorne
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gen
Word Count: 765
Summary: For those who survived the first few years, Atlantis herself proved both a blessing and a curse.
Warnings: It's the Dark Side challenge, people.
A/N: Thanks to
wychwood for beta services. This is a short stab at a concept I've been playing around with for a while now; I hope it works for you.Preface to the Memoirs of Gen. N. M. Lorne
There was a saying that was popular at the SGC when I served there:
Once you’ve gone through the ‘Gate, you can never go back.
It is disturbingly true; no one transfers out of the Stargate Program of their own free will. Most servicemen leave the program in body bags. This accounts for the fact that the program has remained a remarkably well-kept secret for as long as it has. The first words anyone learns upon transferring to any aspect of the program – Area 51, SGC, or Atlantis – is a variation on the theme of “What happens at the mountain, stays at the mountain.”
I have dedicated the last thirty years of my life to the Stargate Program, and they have been good years – first at the SGC and later in Atlantis. There are rumors that when (then) Colonel O’Neill was brought back into the Stargate Program, General Hammond asked him if he’d thought about writing memoirs. O’Neill is reputed to have said that he’d thought about it, but that he’d have to shoot anyone who read it because a large portion of his career up until that point had been classified. I don’t know if he ever followed up on the conversation or not. I find myself in a similar situation. Someday, the Stargate Program will be declassified and what I write may or may not be published. Regardless, I feel I have an obligation to leave a record of events as I have seen them.
I was not a member of the first Atlantis Expedition, I arrived on the USAF Daedalus following the expedition’s reconnection with Earth. All of us in the second wave were warned that there was a very real possibility Atlantis would be a one-way trip. Stories of life-sucking-aliens, a vindictively sentient city, and hostile natives were plentiful. We went out there fully expecting to end up on the wrong end of the city’s rumored AI. We ended up on the wrong side, all right, just not in a way anyone considered. The city loved those with the ATA gene, natural or artificial, and there were a lot of us. Everyone who shipped out for Atlantis received the gene therapy to allow interaction with Ancient technology; it took in just under 50% of us. The problem wasn’t that the city didn’t love us, it was that she loved us all too well.
When the world learns of Atlantis, they will learn of the brave explorers who risked their lives to establish the base there and befriend the natives. They will learn about the unspeakable enemy that so many of us gave our lives fighting against. They will learn about the mysterious and wonderful technology that was discovered. They will learn of the lives of brave volunteers lost to countless incidents whose details will never be remembered.
All of this is true. Every single expedition member faced hundreds of threats during their time in the city; we each surmounted innumerable odds to make it through a year alive, never mind five.
What they will not learn is that there were side-effects to living in the city that we never imagined. They will not learn about those who decided to rotate back to the SGC after a tour in Atlantis and collapsed in seizures on their first home leave in three years, because the chemical associated with Ancient Technology use (Known now as ATA-S) had built up in their bloodstreams and overloaded their nervous systems. They will not learn about the children born in Atlantis who received the therapy in their first year of life as a protective measure, whose parents learned far too late that they would never be able to take their children ‘home’ to Earth. They will not learn of the children whose parents decided to take them to Earth anyway, attempting to counter the ATA-S build-up with experimental treatments; children who invariably died of rare neurological diseases and inoperable brain tumors.
Atlantis has been a blessing and a curse to those of us who have lived within her walls. She welcomed us with open arms, but she is an unforgiving mistress. The stories contained within these pages may seem fantastical, even impossible, but believe me when I say that they are only a small portion of all that we have seen and done in the Pegasus Galaxy.
Thomas, who has never known the grandfather he was named for
&
Beth, who has grown up in the shadow of her namesake.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 06:22 pm (UTC)Very well done... :o)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 06:29 pm (UTC)I have this whole universe spun off from essentially looking at Atlantis through the lens of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, including 2 different longer fics that keep going in fits and starts. I may eventually have to start posting them in chunks.
Out of curiosity, what particularly do you want more of?
(no subject)
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Date: 2006-07-27 06:31 pm (UTC)Nicely written. It really does read like a preface.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 06:59 pm (UTC)I honestly don't know if I'll do anymore in this particular vein, but I'm glad it read well.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 06:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 06:58 pm (UTC)Yeah, it must have been hellish for those poor Marines who suddenly came down with inexplicable neurological symptoms. NM the poor kids
(no subject)
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Date: 2006-07-27 07:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 07:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 07:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 07:12 pm (UTC)You do realize that is how I ended up writing Ripples (http://www.mardahin.net/sga/Ripples/ripples.html), right? Yeah, this just has so many concepts to play around with.
*Weary* I'll see what I can do.
(no subject)
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Date: 2006-07-27 07:17 pm (UTC)(Although, I translated his full name initially as Neiman Marcus Lorne and think I hurt my brain. So doesn't fit his personality!)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 07:24 pm (UTC)ICK!! No, it was more my nod to the fact that there are 2 distinct first names floating around for Lorne as far as I know - Nick & Marcus. I figure this way people can read into it as they wish.
I'm glad you liked it, and I'm sorry I contributed to brain damage!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 07:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 07:01 am (UTC)(Oh, and I love your icon. *Shivers* Ivanova + Zelenka = Eastern European Axis of Evil)
I'm debating heavily on the "More" issue. I'll definitely post in the Noticeboard if I write anymore of the Memoirs stuff.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 11:50 pm (UTC)Interesting theory on the gene treatment. Those with the gene *literally* can't go back once they've gone to Atlantis. Kinda creepy and its too bad that there's a good chance they'll never delve into the possibilities of gene therapy side effects. Ooh, so question. The natural gene carriers, is it only exposure to Atlantis and its tech that hurts them in the end, but they would have been perfectly fine if they had never gone? Like the gene would have remained dormant if they had never gone?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 07:19 am (UTC)I know, it's a shame that the show's totally never getting into the long term side-effects of the gene therapy. It would be fun.
It's not so much that Atlantis hurts them (Naturals and Artificials alike), more that it's a physiological adaptation. Everyone who has the Gene produces seriously elevated ATA-S levels once they've been in Atlantis a while - you use the chemical in day-to-day interactions with the city on both a conscious and unconscious level (Ancient tech has both a physical and mental component in its use; it stands to reason that a chemical is produced in the bloodstream, a specific neurotransmitter, that's unique to Ancient Tech usage. Over prolonged exposure, 'normal' production levels of the chemical (which is burned off in usage of the tech) become much higher).
Given the SGC's tendency towards 'lifers', and the need for ATA+ people in Atlantis to start with, no one who has the Gene rotates back to Earth much. Those who do so while in their first year have only minor side effects; they were mild enough that no one realized it was Ancient Tech withdrawl. It's when you've spent 2-3 years stationed to the city that your 'normal' biochemistry permanently shifts to higher ATA-S production.
The trick of it, is that those with the natural Gene also have the ability to reabsorb what ATA-S they don't burn off. Those who got the therapy didn't get that feature because they didn't know about it. "Naturals" have step-down side effects, but their bodies are designed to handle them so they're non-lethal. It's the "Artificials" who begin showing symptoms at 3 weeks away from tech - the amount of time it takes the chemical to build up to critical levels in their system.
See, it was assumed everything to do with ATA-S was on the one gene. It wasn't. Now, hypothetically, they could put the adults who received the treatment into a 2-3 year stepdown program in Antarctica. But the children whose bodies have known only the high ATA-S levels and who don't have the gene for reabsorbtion are never going to be able to function at a lowered level. It's affected the development of their nervous system. The adults who got the therapy already had fully developed nervous systems, so it was a lesser adjustment. "Natural" kids who grow up in the Ancient Tech heavy environ *can* adapt down, but it's a painful process.
In this particular instance, I don't think Atlantis is intentionally vindictive so much as thoughtless. It doesn't occur to the city that people would have the gene artificially, and the city doesn't realize the harm it's doing to the "Artificials" by providing so much stimulation. The dark side isn't so much that the city is cruel, but that there's a price to pay for access to all of this technology - for the 'magic' gene therapy.
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Date: 2006-07-28 01:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 07:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-07-28 01:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 07:30 am (UTC)The reference to Elizabeth's shadow is because she grew up with the legends of her mother, but not her presence (Her mother having died when Beth was too young to remember, or possibly in childbirth (leading to the desire to name her after her mother). Beth could also be a middle name that came into prominant usage after Elizabeth died when the child was small - maybe on a diplomatic mission off-world).
I hadn't actually considered that before, but it's definitely an interesting reading on it.
Of course you could also choose to read it as "She grew up known as 'Dr. Weir's Daughter' and never really had the freedom to chart her own course in the way her parents might have wished." Or something else entirely.
How did you read it?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 06:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 06:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-07-28 07:56 am (UTC)Can't wait to read more! *wink*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 08:35 am (UTC)If there's ever an attack, you want your child to be able to open doors and activate tech. Do you deny your child the chance to bond with their surroundings in a unique way that might ensure their survival? Or do you cross your fingers and pray it all turns out all right?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 09:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 11:50 am (UTC)I'll keep this in mind and see if anything flags my attention as good source material for this.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 12:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 12:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 08:16 pm (UTC)Thank you!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 11:35 pm (UTC)I have to say, I can see Lorne making General (especially Major General) far more easily than I can see Sheppard doing so. Lorne's got the kind of background that passes Rank Review Boards.
*Hearts far future fics*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 08:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 11:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 08:58 pm (UTC)My addition to the mix however, is that I read the dedication differently - my take on the naming of Beth wasn't necessarily that Elizabeth was the mother, only that Beth was named in her honour - so theoretically anyone could be her mother (at the back of my mind is the thought that it is not so common for women to be so egocentric as to name their daughters after themselves. When I had my daughter and my (now) exhusband suggested my name, I was quite revolted by the thought). I wonder if the Lorne and mystery mother might have owed a debt of special thanks to Elizabeth, or, at the least, Elizabeth would be a role model a lot of parents would choose for their girls. However, I can see that if Elizabeth died in childbirth it would be a distinct possiblity. Actually, once you start thinking about it, the possibilities are endless - did Elizabeth donate ova to the couple? Did Elizabeth die saving Altantis and Beth the first baby born at that time? Did Lorne donate sperm and he and Thomas not really have much involvement at all with Beth who grew up part of a different family? etcetera etcetera :)
Poor Carson, it's so easy to see how devasted he would be once he learned of the incompleteness off the gene therapy and the damaging side effects of leaving the City. I supposed that means that if for some reason (some or all of) the Atlantis crowd had to relocate (or wanted to relocate) somewhere else in the Pegasus Galaxy, they would have to ensure that their new site encorporated a certain level of Ancient technology? I can see Carson dedicating what spare time he had to trying to come up with, firstly, a new version of the gene therapy without the side effects for future use, and secondly, trying to retrospectively effect a cure or at least mitigate the side effects for first recipients of the gene therapy. I would imagine he would only be able to use his spare time, because you can bet the PTB wouldn't let him devote all his time and resources to a cure when he could be researching ways to defeat the Wraith.
I am very much looking forward to future installments - thanks for sharing.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-28 11:22 pm (UTC)On the topic of Beth being named for Elizabeth - It's never stated that Beth is her first name. I'd been figuring if she were Elizabeth's daughter she might have her mother's given name as her middle name; that's a lot more common in a lot of societies. Following that, it could easily have been someone not-Lorne who started calling her "Beth." Otherwise it could have been anyone. Up to and including the mother not being female - you never know what kind of tech they'll find in the next 20 years. Parrish/Lorne is a popular pairing, for example.
You're exactly right, the possibilities are endless.
Carson? Would spend all his free time trying to 'fix' the Gene Therapy, although the children raised in Atlantis would never have an easy time re-acclimating to a non-Tech intensive environment since their neurosystem formed with a standard high level of ATA-S. Could they adapt? Possibly. Would it be a long and painful process? Almost certainly.
I'll bet one of Lorne's jobs as things (hopefully) settled down in later years would be finding intact Ancient Outposts and Settlements that they could bring back to functional with a ZPM or a few Naquadah generators. It would greatly change the parameters of a new Alpha Site, all right.
I shall endeavor to tell more tales of this particular future, thanks for reading! And thanks for the wonderfully detailed feedback; it makes creating a world so much more rewarding when people really read and analyze and ask questions.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-29 12:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-30 09:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-30 05:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-30 09:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-30 08:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-30 09:51 am (UTC)*Whimpers*
I so totally don't have time to write the memoirs of General Lorne. Honest. *Eyes them speculatively*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-02 03:03 pm (UTC)there's nothing I can say in the face of this. I have goosebumps all over--it's just....so so stirring, and shocking, and something I'd never thought of. Of course activation of the AT gene could do something like this---and I wonder why no one thought of it before. Amazing, scary-beautiful work...especially the Lorne's POV...it makes it all the more personal. This will become a part of my personal canon *nod*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-03 02:52 pm (UTC)I think the initial concept popped up in Ripples (http://www.mardahin.net/sga/Ripples/ripples.html), specifically the end of Extraordinary and in BAND Camp dealing with Kat Weir (http://www.mardahin.net/sga/Ripples/band_complete.html#Qilin) (Who couldn't be away from Atlantis more than a certain period or she suffered acute and severe withdrawl), although she was the aberration as opposed to the norm in her universe.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-20 04:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-24 08:24 pm (UTC)Loved the build up of menace and to finally find that those who loved Atlantis they, and their descendants, became essentially trapped there!