Not finding the first in the direction I initially headed, I returned to the gate room. Probably need to search on the floors in the other part of the tower.
But since I had time...
Up the side staircase I ran to the second level of the Gate Room. From there—to the floor above.
And ended up in a dimly lit room where light from the turning-on lighting lamps barely broke through.
Standing for a few seconds, letting the lighting drive away the darkness to a state of twilight, I finally saw the Jumper bay in all its glory.
Jumper bay/hangar in Atlantis (coudn't find eng version)
Made in the traditional angular style of Atlantis's creators, the hangar housed a good dozen vehicles capable of traveling through the gates. "Puddle Jumpers," as the expedition dubbed them. The Ancients' self-name is unknown to me.
Puddle Jumper.
Each such ship the size of a KamAZ, and in terms of comfort, there's nothing to compare it to. A spaceship capable of flights through gates, in space, performing submarine role, and also armed with self-guiding projectiles—drones. Good thing.
And I set myself the goal of inspecting each of them to clarify one point for myself...
After thirty minutes of inspecting the aft compartments of each of the transports in the hangar, I came to a discouraging conclusion.
I'm in that time when the Earth expedition that arrived on the planet drowned. The city didn't surface.
And direct proof of that is this massive installation in the aft compartment of one of the Jumpers. The internal space of the Jumper is divided into cockpit and cargo-passenger compartment.
Eh, how I hoped not to see what I saw...
The thing is, in the series events, the system that raised the city to the surface when the shield failed worked only because of time travel. And it was provided by that very thing resembling an oval piano that I discovered in one of the ships.
According to the series plot, after the time jump, the surviving expedition leader traveled ten thousand years into the past, to the time when the city's native population still lived there. Who really didn't like jokes with the space-time continuum. They dismantled the time machine.
But that prompted one of the Ancients named Janus to help his distant descendants. He programmed the city to surface.
And since the machine is here, there was no time jump. And knowledge of how to raise Atlantis from the very bottom... Well, understanding that process took the series heroes five seasons. Or four... Or three...
Doesn't matter—I don't have that much time.
But on the plus side, there's a time machine, which I also don't know how to operate. And I don't dream of becoming a pioneer. The butterfly effect isn't canceled. The fact that the series heroes managed to jump in time completely by accident—and as always successfully—didn't inspire me for experiments either.
Looks like my white streak ended along with discovering personal belongings.
For several minutes I sat on the floor in the hangar, pondering everything I'd seen. The situation frankly didn't please me. Not at all.
"To hell with it," I squeezed out, getting to my feet. "I need answers."
And I knew from whom I could get them.
***
I found the room I needed another hour of searching later. The expedition managed it almost instantly. Well, they had several hundred curious comrades.
I crossed the threshold, gazing with bated lust at the rounded room whose walls, like most of the city's interior furnishings, were made of material in various shades of brown, with veins of blue and green.
A small pedestal in the center of the room, and on it—a tiny, compared to those I'd seen in the control room, control panel. Transparent glass over which numerous switches awaited the user.
The trapezoidal keyboard lit up with a pleasant bluish glow, and before me appeared, as if woven from light, a hologram of a young woman in white robes...
"Greetings," she favored me with a meaningless smile. "Allow me to tell you our story..."
Frame from the series' pilot episode. The action is happening right in the holographic hall.
"Stop!" I ordered.
"...we came to this galaxy..."
"Pause!"
"...many millions of years ago..."
"Stop the hologram!" I barked. But it didn't work. Annoyed, I stepped away from the console, and the hologram dissolved in an instant.
Oh, these conventions. It annoys me when instead of answers to direct questions, the Ancients invent a whole pleiad of riddles, rebuses, puzzles, and scatter them across dozens of planets.
But unfortunately, I can't do anything about it.
To my great regret, I depend very heavily on whether I get answers here and now. Or if I'll be left with nothing.
Looks like I have to listen to the recording no matter what. Regardless of who I am and by what supernatural means I got here.
The light-radiating image of the Ancient continued her unusually short story about how the Ancients arrived in Pegasus, populated it with life, and set about their usual business.
"...in the hope of sowing life in a galaxy that was lifeless until then," the hologram intoned familiar speeches. Looking at her emotionless face, I thought: isn't it strange that she and I are speaking in Russian? Though... On the other hand, in the series everyone—from Ancients to the ugliest creatures—understood American English. And nothing, the brain boiled but accepted the information. And how is our great and mighty worse? "Soon the new life strengthened and flourished..."
Uh-huh. We know these do-gooders.
The hologram spoke for a few seconds about how the Ancients observed the development of civilizations, guiding them on the true path. And for the umpteenth time I wondered: why did civilizations of genius scientists, who millions of years ago already knew how to cross the boundary of mortality by turning into pure energy, need to do all this over and over? New galaxy, appearance of human life in it, help and support... I believe in altruism, but... The Ancients at that time had a bit more problems than you can carry with you. They had just survived the plague. And here again...
"...so that young civilizations could exchange knowledge. Life appeared on thousands of worlds. But one day we found a dark world where terrible creatures waited in hibernation..."
Under the ceiling of the holographic hall, an interactive map of the Pegasus galaxy was already in full display. I'd seen it in the series more than once, but live... Beauty!
And again frames from the series.
"We had never encountered such beings before," the hologram continued the historical excursus. It really itched to ask her—weren't these "terrible creatures" created by you by chance? After all, you claim to have given rise to all life in Pegasus? Or not all, and the "terrible creatures" were here before you? If so, maybe not only them? But I was silent, understanding that the recording wouldn't answer my questions. But someone else might...
"We were overly self-confident and unprepared for battle. They overwhelmed us with numbers. The enemies devoured the people populating thousands of worlds," the colorful specks of light under the ceiling, showing planets across the galaxy, began turning red. "Only Atlantis survived. The city's protective field withstood their blows. But we were besieged here for many years. And, trying to save the last representatives of our race, we submerged the city in the ocean. The Stargate of Atlantis remained the only way to Earth from this galaxy..."
Such was the voyage of the Ancients.
They appeared in a distant galaxy, but there they didn't get along with another part of their own people. So they set off wandering the universe. First they found the Milky Way galaxy, which they also populated with life and lived there for some time. After which a plague broke out among their people, and the survivors and uninfected fled on Atlantis to Pegasus. And started everything anew, but met "terrible creatures."
It was naive to think the hologram would tell about the horrifying experiments the Ancients conducted. And what they led to.
Though... They were dreamers and scientists. If I were in their place, with their philosophy that everyone is free to do what they want and bear responsibility for it, would I act differently?
Ha-ha-ha... May polonium in my food! I'm in their place now!
"...with their help the survivors returned to the world that was once our home. There the last Atlanteans spent the rest of their days. This city fell asleep..."
With that, the hologram favored me with a short nod of the head and froze. Looks like she was waiting for some instructions from me.
Well, time to get answers. At least try to do it. Circumstances indicate that I certainly won't get answers just because I'm such a good isekai protagonist.
Sloughing off my backpack, I addressed the hologram again.
"Who is your image based on?"
"The prototype of this hologram is Melia, member of the High Council of Atlantis," the figure of light particles came alive. Wow. Turns out there are other "named" characters in the universe besides the "plot" ones. Or I was that attentive while watching the series and movies on "Stargate." "Would you like to know something else?"
"Some water," I tossed out, pondering the next step. I'd hoped to see a completely different woman here. Well, let's start the "game." And perhaps it's worth forgetting that this room's operation eats energy, of which there's already not enough. "I want to change the holographic avatar. Is that possible?"
"As you wish," Melia nodded almost imperceptibly. "You can specify a specific name, and the tutorial hologram will be updated."
"Now that's what I call a user-friendly interface," cracking my stiff neck, I said:
"Let your hologram be replaced by Morgana."
"I'm sorry," the hologram replied in the same indifferently polite voice. "But no one with a similar name was found in the database."
What do you mean not found?!
"Fairy Morgana! Morgan le Fay!" I tried.
"I'm sorry..."
Your damn low gear... Right, that's not her real name. That's how she entered the history of earthlings and several other planets when performing her "especially needed mission" in the Milky Way.
But what was her name...
"Lalos Gal!"
"I'm sorry..."
"Pagos Tal!"
"I'm sorry..."
Come on! I remember it was something like that. But... Exactly how... Something connected with persecution of lol... Exactly!
"Ganos Lal!"
"Query received," the light figure smiled. "Replacing hologram."
The projection melted away like the galaxy map overhead, but in the next second, an analogous one appeared before me. Only the expression on her face was more... mature, perhaps.
Right in front of me appeared the figure of a pleasant-looking middle-aged woman in snow-white robes. Woven from light, the hologram dutifully smiled at me, looking straight into my eyes and as if through me. Not the most pleasant sensation, especially when you know what you're dealing with.
Ganos Lal. Also known as Morgan le Fay. Also—the Fairy Morgana.
The holographic hall I'd come to hid many secrets. And now, before me, perhaps the most important one opened.
"Hello!" Ganos Lal's hologram, like an echo of the past, broke the silence of the room. "You can enter your query verbally or in writing."
"Verbally, if possible," I jabbed. Fine, let it be your way—the show continues.
"Of course," a nod of the head. "A written query requires more system operations."
So that's how it is? Fine, let's see who outplays whom.
"Tell me," licking my dry lips, I asked. "What is the appearance in Atlantis of a person from a universe where everything happening in this city is just events from a series?"
A short blink of the eyes, gaze into the void.
Well, fine. Let's get to the truth.
"Is this too complex a question for a tutorial hologram?" I asked, taking a small step to the side. A tiny one, just shifting from foot to foot, nothing much.
"Conducting such research requires prolonged time and energy expenditure," the hologram stated impassively. "Calculations are being performed..."
"Abort operation," I ordered, running a hand over my face. The tension didn't leave it that way. Nerves continued to play up, and it poured out into tapping some rhythm with my feet.
"Are there any other people in the city?" I asked, turning slightly to the side.
"A full-scale scan of the city for life signs requires additional resources and energy," was the answer I received.
"What needs to be done to raise the city to the surface?" I inquired, shifting slightly to the side again. Just a little. Even unnoticeable from the side.
"A complex of measures is required to launch the sublight engines," the hologram reported. "I'm sorry, but my functionality is limited. Please refer to the city control center."
"I've already been there. Just emptiness, and dead with scythes stand," I smirked, looking at the extinguished glow of the lighting on the holographic room control console. Shifting my gaze to the figure of pure light, I chuckled softly.
Ganos Lal continued to drill the wall, looking past me.
"Have you realized you're caught yet, or not?" I asked.
"Enter your query verbally or in writing," she articulated.
"Verbally," I said. "Compare the energy expenditure used by this room over the last five minutes with data on the same expenditure over the last ten seconds. Approximately that much time has passed since I stepped away from the control panel, and the system shut down. And last time Melia's hologram disappeared at that exact moment..."
The light figure twitched almost imperceptibly. Did she blink, or did it seem so?
"You're caught, Morgana," I said. The "hologram's" head turned slightly toward me. "I know perfectly well that you're not a tutorial program. You're just fooling other Ascended with such a simple and bold method. So, shall we talk, or keep playing innocent?"
***
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