The basement room greeted us with silence, darkness, dampness, and the feeling that someone was watching our backs. Extremely unpleasant impressions, even if it were happening on our home planet, not thousands of light-years from Atlantis in a universe alien to me.
And even tactical flashlights didn't particularly save the situation. The feeling of a victim walking willingly towards their executioners did not leave. On the contrary, it grew with every step.
I tried to convince myself that it was just a trick of the mind. But judging by the panting of my companions and the tense atmosphere, I was far from the only one who felt out of place.
Slowly moving down the dark corridor, we didn't rush, examining every nook and cranny. And this pressed on my head even more.
"At this pace, we won't reach the entrance to the lower floors by tomorrow," Allvar complained.
I was inclined to agree with him.
"We need to restore the lighting," I quietly told Iha'ar. "With flashlights, you can't see anything properly here."
"Uh-huh," he grumbled. "Teila, did you happen to bring a couple of hundred candles with you?"
"No, I didn't," the Athosian replied. "They would have been very heavy to carry in a backpack."
Emagan's sarcasm still didn't "buy it."
"I'm talking about the standard lighting system," I had to explain to the Ancient.
"And how am I supposed to do that?" he asked. "This complex is thousands of years old! Nothing might work here at all!"
"Don't you think it's worth trying?" I asked. "If anything has survived here..."
"It has," Allvar reported, illuminating a massive console with his flashlight. It looked more like a huge cabinet with a slanted top. Not a single switch, not a single keyboard. But a lot of wires led to it right over the walls. "This must be something important."
"Possibly," Iha'ar agreed. "If I'm right, this could be a power control panel. Thick cables for high power..."
"Maybe you could come and take a closer look?" I suggested. "It's fine for me, but I'm sure Teila is stressed by the local horror."
"Who?" the Athosian asked.
"A very gloomy atmosphere, instilling dread and freezing blood from fear of the unknown," I explained as best I could. There are clearly big problems with the film industry here, so...
"Let's see," Iha'ar took out a connector with clips for connecting to non-standard equipment and pointed to the console. "Mikhail, shine the light..."
It took five minutes to open the decorative panels, examine the device inside and out, sigh heavily a few times, and...
"Done," Iha'ar said, just as lights began to turn on above our heads. "Well, the locals know how to build. Knew how to," he corrected himself. "Until they were all killed here..."
The complex's dungeons.
"It's a gloomy place," Teila said, looking around. The spot lamps on the walls and ceiling provided minimal light, creating sinister shadows in the corners and doorways. But it became easier to navigate.
"The energy output has increased," Iha'ar reported, checking his scanner readings. "That way."
The engineer pointed to a passage deeper into the network of corridors.
"I think the passage is there," he suggested.
And so it turned out.
A couple of minutes later, we were standing before massive doors with hidden locking and rotating mechanisms. If you didn't know that something bigger was hidden behind them, they were indistinguishable from the walls.
"It's a dead end," Allvar stated.
"No, it's a secret door," Iha'ar approached the end of the corridor and showed his scanner screen. The complex's schematic showed continuing tunnels behind the stone door. "We need to find a way to open it."
"And do we need to?" the Ermen asked. "On my planet, such doors were installed in places where it's better not to go without special permission and preparation."
"Exactly the same?" Iha'ar doubted. "Three by three meters, a meter thick, made of signal- and radiation-absorbing concrete?"
"One to one," Jensen said, not batting an eye.
An incredibly interesting way to hide their secrets. At least because without the technology of the Ancients, you can't understand that what you're looking at isn't a wall, but just a plug.
No buttons, no levers, no pressure plates... It's a bit irrational to build a complex, wall off part of it from the rest, and not leave a way to get inside.
There must be some secret button or lock that the conditional chosen ones, who knew and were allowed to go further, used. We were searching for such a secret, talking to each other.
"I readily believe it," Iha'ar grimaced. "There's clearly something behind this wall that they didn't want to show. And energy traces are coming from there, corridors are laid there. There's clearly something to hide! For example, it could be a data storage, or an arsenal..."
"Even more weapons?" Teila asked.
"That's a hypothesis," Iha'ar explained. "I don't know what might be there. I don't even know how to open this door..."
At first, the inspection yielded nothing. However, taught by Earth cinema, I began to tap the walls near the door. Allvar silently repeated my actions on the other side of the corridor. Teila watched our rear while Iha'ar pondered what he could do with science.
In one spot, about five meters from the secret door, the sound of hitting the wall was strikingly different from others.
"There's something here," I announced. "Some kind of cavity."
"Yes?" Iha'ar was surprised. "But the scanner didn't detect anything."
No traces of a lock, not even the slightest cracks in the wall that would suggest how to remove the decorative plate... There was, of course, the option to blow it up. But it's better not to do that while there are other options.
And an option was found.
When I pressed hard on the wall above the void, a piece indistinguishable from the others went inward, then slid to the side and disappeared into a groove in the wall.
"And here's the lock," I announced, giving way to Iha'ar.
"Display, keyboard," he muttered, examining a small console. "It's a code lock."
"Can you crack it?" Allvar asked. At that moment, Iha'ar was already dismantling the top cover of the device.
"Let's see," the Ancient continued to talk to himself, connecting the connectors to the equipment. "Wires with insulation, metallized cores, microchips... I don't know what these guys attracted the attention of the Lantians with, but their technology is backward. I thought maybe that console was just old, but this one is clearly in the same technological branch, which means it's either the most advanced equipment or the most used... Oh, it's still working!"
With a noise and a rumble, the false wall slowly rose, disappearing into the ceiling. The tactical flashlights of our quartet illuminated a long black corridor. And it, unlike the basement, looked more like a canonical depiction of secret underground laboratories.
Metal grates on the floors, metal cladding on the walls and ceiling, clear segmentation of the corridor... With a barely noticeable hum, lighting fixtures began to light up in the ceiling and walls of the discovered corridor.
Some of them immediately exploded, showering the corridor with sparks.
"Terrible technology," Iha'ar stated, checking the scanner data. "The air is clean, breathable. No allergens or excess particles in the air detected. Hmm..." he paused, looking at something on the display.
"What is it?" I asked. "Is the 'Red Queen' sending you greetings?"
"Huh?" the Ancient perked up. "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm studying the complex's atmospheric data here. It seems it was in conservation, and now its energy sources are being activated. The energy levels have increased tenfold."
"Is that dangerous?" Teila asked.
"The main thing is not to stick your head into the reactor and not to touch the energy rods with your hands," Iha'ar advised. "And then you'll have enough health for the rest of your life..."
"I think Teila was interested in whether the underground energy source would explode," I translated from Athosian to human.
"The readings are stable," Iha'ar said after thinking. "If the installation were faulty, the energy levels would rise uncontrollably. But here, everything is normal... So, are we going inside?"
"Are you even asking?" I chuckled, taking the first step into the sinister corridor. "Let's go, friends, let's rush into the breach and plunder a couple of tombs! And yes, if you see any locals, and they are eating other locals or asking for brains, shoot them in the head."
"Why?" Allvar asked.
"That's how they do it on my planet," I explained.
"I've somehow lost the desire to visit Earth," Teila admitted.
The virtual operator of the laboratory complex reacted to the appearance of strangers as soon as they entered the main corridor. The pseudo-intelligence, despite millennia of standby operation, acted strictly according to security protocols.
"Intrusion into the facility. Security codes not entered. Objects identified as hostile. Take security measures," it announced its own decisions.
Turning to the arsenal at its disposal, the pseudo-intelligence noted cascading failures in its matrix. The processor did not survive the long period of conservation and at the moment was unable to cope with the tasks at hand.
"A pseudopersonality matrix failure has been detected," stated the hologram, rendered as a golden human figure. "Risk of capture of laboratory data and memory archives. Initiating defensive protocols. Database erasure has begun. Error. Security system inaccessible. Error, malfunction in the seventh sector. Error, security systems were dismantled prior to conservation and connection of the pseudopersonality matrix. Error, countermeasures are useless due to their dismantling. The risk of data falling into the hands of hostile elements is increasing. Accelerate data cleansing procedure. Checking possible defense systems… Hidden weapons… Not installed. Laser traps… Dismantled. Neuroparalytic gas… Inert. Ventilation system… Error. Attention, unauthorized connection to the internal system detected. Life support services have been taken under control by hostile objects. Error, insufficient RAM. Searching for alternative ways to slow down hostile elements. Error, pseudopersonality matrix decay detected. Error, self-destruct system is not working… Error, unauthorized access to the historical database has been recorded. Blocking of other information transmission channels… Data bank isolation. Attention! Possible countermeasures detected. The defrosting procedure of Object Forty-One, second generation, has begun. Cryogen supply stopped. Nervous system stimulation. Positive dynamics of response to pseudointellect commands. Object's condition is satisfactory. Second-generation data bank loading has begun. Error, memory module is full. Analysis. Redundant information. Attention, one minute until matrix decay. Begin formatting non-critical information, begin loading combat protocols. Forty-five seconds until decay. Loading fifty percent. Begin arsenal calibration. Thirty seconds until decay. Memory loading complete. Object Forty-One, are you online?"
"Object forty-one is ready to carry out the assigned task," a second voice was heard. Movement appeared in the darkness of the cryo-storage compartment. Then, two sky-blue lights flashed in the darkness.
"Begin the destruction of physical data bank carriers," the pseudo-intellect informed. "Restore the self-destruct system. After that, destroy the hostile elements."
"Order understood," the blue light turned blood-red, and Object Forty-Two began to carry out the assigned task.
Inside, the underground part of the complex looked even more frightening. I would even say that it did not at all resemble the "high-tech" that we saw upstairs and at the entrance.
The interior of the complex.
It gave the impression that we were in some abandoned facility that they had tried to tidy up, modernize, but abandoned the task halfway through.
We examined only a small part of the complex before stumbling upon something that looked very much like an auxiliary control point. Actually, it was already better than the cluttered corridors, rusty pipes, and general unsanitary conditions. But the main thing was different – there were computers here that we could connect to.
"So, I'm in the system," Ihaar reported, sitting on the floor next to the console we had found. "Ascended, did their programmers have a penchant for sadism towards users or something?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Their operating system is a real nightmare," Ihaar complained.
"You can express your dissatisfaction later," I ordered. "We need to get information about what this place is as quickly as possible."
"Whatever it is, there was clearly a battle here," Alvar reported. He and Teyla had returned from reconnaissance on this floor. And both of them looked extremely unoptimistic. "A long time ago, but still…"
"Did you find something?" Ihaar worried.
"Corpses," Alvar said. "Several people in each corridor. Multiple injuries. Traces of explosions and corridor collapses."
"Wraiths?" I asked.
"All the corpses are clearly human," Teyla said. "Some skeletons are literally melted."
"That's bad," Ihaar said. "Whoever staged this massacre here clearly used energy or plasma weapons. This indicates high technology."
"A civil war among the locals?" I suggested.
"No," Ihaar rejected the suggestion. "I'm in their historical database. Salumai, though well-developed, had energy weapons limited to gas lasers. And these things are more like laboratory stands than real weapons. They can cut through an object, slice it into pieces, but not melt it. They were clearly attacked by a more advanced race. Maybe the Korae did all this? Shall we fly away and come back with reinforcements?"
"We found nothing that could pose a threat," Alvar reported. "If there was a massacre here, it ended a long time ago."
"Well, of course," Ihaar grimaced. "And those who won delicately closed the doors behind them? What gallant fellows."
"No panic," I ordered. "If there was something dangerous here, it would have attacked already."
"Or it might attack!" Ihaar said. "I don't know what the virtual intellect was doing before it cut off the communication channels."
"Virtual intellect?" I repeated. "Can you elaborate?"
"It's a pathetic imitation of a full-fledged artificial intelligence," Ihaar dismissed. "A dead end in the development of such technologies. Nothing more than a very large set of algorithms. But it's well-suited for the role of a guard dog if you need to guard something important for thousands of years. And the fact that it started blocking me further indicates that this is not a simple facility. There are cryo-storage facilities, an arsenal, huge data banks…"
"Stop," I said. "Let's go through everything in order. What did you find out?"
"We are in former mines for the extraction of the isotope naquadah, which the locals called naquad," Ihaar said. "I read fragmented information about it in the Atlantis database. An isotope that, ideally, could provide more energy than naquadah itself. But it is unstable and therefore dangerous. The Lantians conducted experiments with it on several planets. And, judging by all appearances, we are in one of their old mines, which the locals turned into their laboratory complex."
Naquad… More powerful than naquadah, but uncontrollable… Something like naquadria in the Milky Way.
"And what were they doing here?" Teyla asked.
"Just nonsense, to be honest," Ihaar said. "They spent most of their lives, if the historical chronicles are to be believed, not even knowing who they were or how they appeared in their world. Until they discovered the stargate under the ruins of an old complex under the Capital. They studied it when they had developed sufficiently and were planning their space program. For this, by the way, they began experimenting on humans."
"What kind of experiments?" I asked.
"Genetic mutations, cybernetic enhancements, and so on," Ihaar explained. "If I understood correctly, power on Salumai belonged to several corporations controlling city-states. When the stargate was discovered, a war broke out over its control. The locals used their super-soldier program creations against each other and destroyed most of the settlements on the planet."
"We didn't find any other ruins," Alvar reminded.
"Scanning is not finished yet," I explained. "Besides, it could have happened long before the current events."
"Fifteen thousand years ago, to be precise," Ihaar said, checking the text on his handheld device. "They almost destroyed each other and only stopped at the brink of complete and guaranteed mutual annihilation. The gates were damaged in that war, the population starved, radiation and all that. Well, then they came to their senses, put their weapons aside, and began to rebuild civilization from the ruins. As I understood it, they focused their efforts on one city. And they didn't need more – at their peak after the civil war, the population did not exceed fifty thousand people. Nuclear winter, climate change, extinction of animals, birds, fish, and all that…"
"Next," I asked. "I am particularly interested in the part where the stargate is mentioned and its restoration."
"Yes, I also didn't notice that the gates were destroyed and not working," Teyla realized. "Did they fix them themselves?"
"No, the Lantians did it," Ihaar explained. "This was already during the war with the Wraiths, towards the end. The records say that the expedition was commanded by Janus. He helped repair the gates, but in return, he asked for access to technologies and naquad. The locals and Lantians initially communicated quite normally, even managed to exchange some technologies, but they never managed to stabilize naquad. Here," Ihaar tapped the console, "it says that the locals were interested in becoming a junior race in the Confederacy, but the Council demanded that they stop research in the field of human augmentation, artificial intelligence, and so on. There's a list of two hundred items," the engineer clearly looked surprised. "I don't know what these guys did to offend Moros and the Council, but Atlantis was not compromising. And the Wraiths were approaching. In the end, the Lantians simply left, abandoning their experiments with naquad. And the locals, realizing that they were left alone with the enemy."
"Why didn't they leave through the gates?" I asked.
"And here's the most interesting part," Ihaar drummed his fingers on his device. "The gates stopped working. They neither received nor sent hyper-tunnels. The locals didn't have many spaceships, but they built an ark, loaded it with their prominent people, mostly corporate elite and their servants, guards, and so on. They were supposed to start on a new planet, but it didn't work out – the Wraiths arrived. The ark didn't manage to fly far, as they had no idea about hyperspace or even the speed of light…"
"The debris that the second 'jumper' found," I realized.
"Yes, most likely," Ihaar shrugged. "In short, the Wraiths arrived, and the collection began. And the locals unleashed their augmented soldiers on them. It indicates that they sent boarding parties to the Wraith ships, but without success. In the end, having lost a lot of infantry – historians write about millions of enemies killed, they are probably lying – the Wraiths resorted to total bombardment and clearing the planet. It seems they didn't like people with cybernetics… Well, and one can assume that the locals did not survive the cleansing."
"Sad," Teyla said.
"They are not the first and not the last," Alvar philosophically remarked.
"And what about this complex?" I asked. "Why did it survive?"
"And here's the most interesting part," Ihaar perked up.
"So, until now, you've only been talking about the flowers?" I clarified. "Saved the berries for later?"
"I am not familiar with this idiom," the engineer was upset. "You will explain later. Okay, to simplify, after the Ancients left, the locals rebuilt their old mine complex into their laboratory. Apparently, they started producing their super-soldiers well before the Wraith invasion. I think their danger was hinted at in the conversation with the Lantians. In short, they built an energy generation facility here as a diversion, and all the work took place inside, in this complex."
"And what kind of work?" Alvar asked.
"Creating augmented, genetically enhanced soldiers," Ihaar said. "Abominations, to be honest. I'm starting to understand the Council – the Lantians categorically rejected improving their bodies with augmentation."
"Why?" Teyla asked.
"Ascension is impossible to achieve if there is anything technical in you," Ihaar explained. "And it's fine if it's some kind of laser cutter built into a finger. But these guys," he gestured around the complex, implying the deceased natives, "are completely crazy. Brains, organs, musculoskeletal system – they changed everything they could replace in people. It's… disgusting, actually."
"It's not for us to judge them," Teyla said diplomatically, looking at me. "Especially since we ourselves were thinking about something similar."
"I'm not a retrograde," I explained to those present. "And we need any opportunity to counter our enemies. And it's not just about the Wraiths. The Jenai will also get angry when they find out who exactly snatched the palm of supremacy in raiding Ermen from them. And these two races are not the only ones who can get angry at us. Therefore…"
"If the soldiers agree, then why not make them stronger?" Alvar shrugged.
"Among my people, there are unlikely to be volunteers," Teyla warned. "We honor the precepts of the Ancestors about the purity of body and spirit…"
"We'll discuss it later," I assured. "In any case, if we don't find the recipe for making super-soldiers on this planet, then Project Spartan can be forgotten for many years. And, judging by all appearances," I looked at Ihaar, "we won't find it here, because someone quarreled with the local artificial intelligence?"
"Virtual," Ihaar corrected me. "And I didn't quarrel with him. He's quite stupid and decided we were enemies, he wanted to destroy us…"
Teyla, Alvar, and I exchanged glances.
"And you didn't mention it?" I clarified in a insinuating tone.
"Well, I didn't let him," Ihaar shrugged. "He tried to use his resources for defense, but, as it turned out, there's nothing here at all. Something was destroyed during the attack on the base, something was dismantled after it."
"And now tell me more about the attack," I asked. "Who attacked, with what purpose, and why was the base sealed?"
"The remnants of the locals after the Wraith raid dug in here," Ihaar explained. "They intended to use this place as a cradle for their race. But they were attacked. We entered through the main entrance, and the 'hostile subjects' – through the back."
"And who was it?" Alvar anticipated my question. "Wraiths?"
"No, the locals call the Wraiths Wraiths," Ihaar explained. "And the locals never understood who attacked. They were in armor, with energy weapons. They tried to defend the complex, but the attackers were too strong. They broke through the defenses, disabled the pseudo-intellect and surveillance systems. And then they did something here and left, blowing up half the complex."
"The rubble we found," Teyla realized. "In the far part of this level, the corridor is collapsed, and the stones are melted so much that they turned into a monolith."
"Apparently some kind of bomb," Jensen suggested. "But there are several passages to lower levels. We didn't go there so as not to split up."
"The right decision," I approved. "Let's see what we can find there."
"Nothing useful," Ihaar said. "The energy source we discovered is a simple energy collector. The locals couldn't figure out naquad, so they installed collectors in the mines. They absorb radiation and convert it into energy. At the same time, more than half of the collectors have been destroyed over time."
"In that case, let's take this pseudo-intellect with us," I decided. "And the data carriers. It's possible that we can restore the erased data."
"What's the point?" the engineer asked. "I skimmed through the catalog, what was here. There are no descriptions of procedures or technical maps. Only general recommendations, and very superficial ones."
"Better than nothing," I said.
"And how will phrases like 'Administer Metoforin in three general doses into the left vein under the armpit' help us?" Ihaar asked. "Everything here was clearly compiled for use by those who know what to do, not for guests from other worlds. No dosage descriptions, no chemical formulas, and so on. I would even say that their scientific base is just a reminder for personnel."
"But the historical database was detailed," Teyla noted. "Perhaps other sources have something similar."
"The historical database was probably written by someone local out of boredom," Ihaar admitted. "It wasn't even in the catalog. I found it in personal staff files, and even then under encryption. Sorry, but everything here is just garbage. And the pseudo-intellect is completely erased. And I'm not even talking about the fact that its processor burned out over time. And why do we need such junk?"
"How is it erased?" I clarified. "You said it disconnected from you and went into lockdown."
"Our appearance reactivated the object's virtual intellect, it considered us a threat," Ihaar explained. "I haven't figured out what it can do to us yet, so I launched one of the computer viruses to neutralize it. I thought I'd download the base while it was fighting for its life and all that. How was I to know that the locals don't know such a concept as 'antivirus' or software protection?"
"You erased the virtual intellect of a secret base of an alien civilization because you didn't know it was dumber than you," I massaged my temples. "Ihaar, on my planet, this is called 'Grief from intelligence'."
"Do you also erase virtual assistants of alien races on your planet?" the engineer was surprised. "And I thought you hadn't even started thoroughly studying your own star system…"
"No, we haven't," I confirmed what I had previously said about Earth. "But we also have smart people who, due to an excess of brains, cause very extravagant adventures for those around them. Did you even realize that you actually ruined our entire mission?!"
"How is it my fault?" Ihaar exclaimed indignantly. "Am I to blame that the Salumai turned out to be dumber than me? You yourself said not to treat other races as primitive! Don't blame me for wanting to save our lives!"
How I want to slap him… But I need to keep myself in check. And I definitely need to find a way to learn the knowledge of the Ancients. This guy will surely cause more trouble!
I need to think about what can be extracted from the current situation. For this, I need to be alone… Or at least move away from Ihaar's tempting nape and think. It's a shame you can close your eyes, but not your ears. I'll have to make myself earplugs and take them on missions.
"Or maybe the mission isn't failed yet," Alvar said thoughtfully, guarding the entrance to this room.
"Without precise descriptions of the methods and technologies of controlled mutations, their knowledge is useless to us," Ihaar repeated. "You can try various combinations for hundreds of years and not even know if you managed to replicate any of their medicines or mutagens."
"This failure will be a lesson for all of us," Teyla said conciliatorily, approaching Ihaar and placing her hand on his shoulder. Well, she's our well-known peacemaker. And I would prefer her to act, if not as the peacemaker from "Farscape," then at least as a UN peacemaker. Not as a caricature sitcom psychologist. God, how annoying this all is! Can I be given normal assistants, not this whole mess? "Perhaps it's even better that way, the way everything happened. It's not for nothing that the Ancients didn't want to deal with them."
What am I doing wrong? Well, besides the simple answer: "Living."
"We can always ask about it," Alvar suggested. "Since there's no database, why not talk?"
"He erased the local virtual intellect," I reminded. "And the natives are a little bit dead."
"Well…" Alvar stretched. "I wouldn't say that…"
My body reacted faster than my brain understood what was happening.
Spinning on the heels of my combat boots, I raised my assault rifle, aiming it at the figure standing in the doorway. Teyla, ceasing to concentrate her attention on Ihaar, who was muttering about his innocence, repeated my actions.
And Alvar, as it turned out, had been keeping our uninvited guest in his sights all this time. We're a dream team! And, okay, I have a shield, but what about the others!
"Who are you?" I asked, not taking my sights off the torso of the unknown figure.
"Damn black hole!" Ihaar exclaimed, jumping aside and pulling out his stun weapon – he denied firearms or pulse blasters in principle. "Where did it come from?"
"She," Alvar corrected, standing a little closer to us. "Don't look at her like she's defenseless – she walked through the garbage-filled corridor completely silently!"
Looking closer, I noticed that the Ermen was actually right.
In front of us stood a woman. You could even say a girl. Completely naked, with well-defined muscles (but without the excesses loved by bodybuilders), and a network of some kind of tubes running all over her body – from head to toe.
But it wasn't this that drew attention. Not even the attractive naked female figure.
But the eyes glowing with an unnaturally blue light.
"Summer Glau, I hope it's you," I said quietly, considering that we didn't need evil terminators here.