sga_flashfic | The Twilight Kingdom by trinityofone (Missing Persons Challenge)

trinityofone.livejournal.com posting in

Title: The Twilight Kingdom
Author:

trinityofone
Rating: PG-13
Category: gen
Spoilers: Through 'Inferno'
Length: ~1600 words
Summary: It was our city first. We lived and loved and died here. A tour of Atlantis.
A/N: Huge thanks to

siriaeve, who knew just what to change to make it better.

THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM

By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms
—T.S. Eliot, 'The Waste Land'

TEYLA EMMAGAN'S ROOM: ALGOL

Outward appearance

Heavyset, greying at the temples. Looks like a state senator with delusions of grandeur, with an added touch of Bedford Falls' Mr. Potter.

Inside information

Member of the Ancient high council. Not the senior member, much to his disgust. Uses room for sleeping and little else, though in his youth, he was a champion player of Roche, an Ancient strategy game that the current group of Lanteans haven't yet discovered. (Eventually, Radek will prove to be very good at it.) Algol kept a Roche set at the back of his closet for years after he stopped playing; it was not there when Teyla moved in, although Algol was certainly not the one to move it.

Algol leaves Atlantis several months before its scheduled sinking, on the transport ship Lyrae, a vessel intended to charter the very most important of the Ancient VIPs. Algol uses his last favor to finagle his way on. Six days into its journey, the Lyrae suffers mechanical malfunction (wartime manufacture is rushed, shoddy) and drifting, is captured by the Wraith.

Algol is what Teyla, borrowing from John, would call "an utter tool," but he does not deserve this death.

What he would say to the current occupant

Nothing. He'd be so shocked and furious to find an Athosian using his quarters that he wouldn't be able to speak.

RODNEY MCKAY'S ROOM: TREBAL

Outward appearance

Hot. I mean, seriously hot.

Inside information

Recently promoted to First Officer aboard the Aurora. Trebal takes this advancement very seriously. When she was of lower rank, she was known as a practical joker, someone always on the verge of getting in trouble but saved from it by the good her games and pranks clearly did morale. Now, though, that is going to have to stop: she can't abuse her position of authority, shouldn't make light of it. She is going to be just and fair, and with her help, Captain Brieuse will be able to complete the top secret mission on which they are about to embark. Yes, she tells herself, straightening her shoulders in front of the mirror: they will complete the mission, get what they need to defeat the Wraith, and return safely home. She'll see to it.

What she would say to the current occupant

Stick around until I get back, 'cause you're pretty hot yourself.

RADEK ZELENKA'S ROOM: TSEEN

Outward appearance

Monkish, if it's possible for a woman to be monkish. Bald head, sack-like clothing. Her feet are bare, scarred.

Inside information

Tseen's mind is a litany:

The Wraith kill our physical bodies but our physical bodies are meaningless. It is only through Ascension that we can escape the pain and the punishment of physical existence. To Ascend is to become mighty, to cast off our corporeal bodies and the things that make us weak. If we follow the path to Ascension we shall not be weak. We will rise. We will rise above pain, above loneliness, above fear, above death.

Please listen: Ascension is the only way.

What she would say to the current occupant

Oh–! I want to be touched. I want to be held. Please hold me; I'm so scared.

CARSON BECKETT'S ROOM: LANX

Outward appearance

Frat boy who wasn't particularly talented at dressing for the toga party. A slightly wild, manic look in his eyes, like he might either be on the verge of doing a keg stand or going for your throat.

Inside information

They're going to die. Everyone knows it and is just too much of a coward to say it out loud. Lanx is sick of people like super-serious Trebal, who suddenly thinks she's better than everyone else, or eternally optimistic Alcor, who's always so sure he's solved the problem, even though he's barely old enough to know what to do with that little minion of his who's always following him around. Well, Lanx knows. Lanx knows exactly what he's going to do today, tomorrow, every day he has left: he's going to enjoy himself. Right before a warship or a transport leaves is always a good time; everyone's desperate for one last fuck, and well, Lanx is the fucker to give it to them. Call it his contribution to the war effort.

This is no time to be prudish.

What he would say to the current occupant

That's not a back massager.

JOHN SHEPPARD'S ROOM: REGOR

Outward appearance

Distinguished businessman who spends his free time working out. His white uniform is immaculately pressed, unblemished, wrinkle-free.

Inside information

Supervises gateship development, manufacture, modification. Sometimes misses his early work as an engineer: getting right in there, getting his hands dirty. Soon he will be relieved of even this task; everything is moving so quickly—people packing up, preparing to leave, evacuating the city. The gateships are all being left in silence in their bay, like abandoned children, tucked into bed by parents who will be long gone by morning. More than once Regor has considered staying with them: missing the last call to the gate and instead curling up in the back of one of his beautiful creations. Warship captains are allowed to go down with their ships—why shouldn't he?

Regor worries that he's losing his mind. He keeps his clothes immaculate but his brain is a jumbled mess. The other day he called one of his engineers by his son's name. The boy's been gone for over a year.

They're leaving in less than a week. Regor's not sure he'll still be here by then.

What he would say to the current occupant

Mizar? Is that you?

RONON DEX'S ROOM: CYGNUS, GIENAH & ALBIREO

Outward appearance

Cygnus: Assistant to a college football coach. Sandy hair, slightly weak chin. Very bright, eager eyes.

Gienah: Recovered goth, or soon-to-relapse goth. Very dark hair, long, though already greying in places. A certain world-weariness to her face, although there is evidence of a sense of humor in the curve of her mouth. Looks like the type of woman who would wear lots of bracelets on her arms if her work, responsibilities, etc. didn't make impossible the wearing of lots of bracelets.

Albireo: A small boy. Small enough, young enough, that one could all-too-easily project oneself onto his tiny frame. Ronon Dex would see Ronon Dex. Rodney McKay would see Rodney McKay. John Sheppard would...look away.

Inside information

A young married couple and their son. Gienah wasn't sure whether she really wanted to marry Cygnus, but her pregnancy decided her: not because she would be ostracized if she bore the child outside of wedlock (although these days, with the population dropping, abortion is newly looked down upon), but because she wants Albireo to have two parents who love him in case...well. In case.

Lately Gienah has been waking up to find herself wrapped tighter and tighter around Cygnus' body: her head tucked under his chin, her torso draped possessively across his chest. Her fingernails bite into the fabric of his nightshirt, prick his skin, so that he wakes and asks her, bewildered, what's wrong. Sometimes she'll look up at him and realize that she is crying.

Albireo likes baked grus for breakfast and daddy's faces and the song mommy sings about the wormhole going WHOOSH! When he grows up he wants to fly a spaceship just like his daddy flies on the Hippaforalkus.

What they would say to the current occupant

Don't run from happiness, don't hide from love.

ELIZABETH WEIR'S ROOM: MIZAR & ALCOR

Outward appearance

Like night and day: Mizar is small and slim and dark; Alcor flaxen-haired and ruddy-cheeked. Both are incredibly, heartbreakingly young.

Inside information

Best friends all their lives, they grew up here, played here, learned and trained here, ran through Atlantis' halls like they owned the place. Alcor is the more outgoing of the pair, from an early age roping Mizar into helping him with various experiment/games, and as both friends entered their teens, Alcor became highly in demand to help the increasingly harried adults with various projects, every one of which Alcor excitedly tells Mizar could be the one: the key to defeating the Wraith, the thing that saves them.

This morning Alcor left for Doranda to help complete the final stages of testing yet another secret weapon. Mizar sits alone on the empty bed. When he closes his eyes, he can see himself in this room: him and Alcor, in happier times, warmer times, safe ones. But when he opens them, everything is silent and dark.

He is seventeen years old.

What they would say to the current occupant

In Mizar's more mature moments: Keep fighting. Don't give up.

The rest of the time: How dare you forget us? This was our city; we fought and died for it; now we're just the name you curse when you can't get our toasters and transporters to work. There was life here, and love here, and if I could find a way to come back and haunt these halls, I— I would—

I would do anything to see Atlantis as it was, before the Wraith came, when I was young and we were happy. Anything.

Excuse me. I have to go talk to Tseen.

Style totally ripped off from Geoff Ryman's 253, which I am currently reading. Thanks, Geoff!