THE END OF BEGINNINGS

SEVEN

Daniel Jackson tried to imagine what life had been like for the Ancients that had called the city of Atlantis home.  He wondered how crowded and bustling the corridors and walkways must have been.  He marveled at what a normal day amongst the most advanced race to ever exist was like in the spectacular metropolis.  But that was more than a few millennia ago.  the echoes of their voices, their laughter, and lives had long since faded.  Daniel knew that despite the volumes of knowledge he and others had learned about the Ancients, so much more was lost.
He quickly crossed a sunlit foyer, arriving at a pair of doors that slid open before him.  The sight that was revealed on the other side made Daniel smile.  "Really," he said, walking into the spacious lab.  "I take fifteen minutes to go put my stuff down, grab my notes, and come down here to find you guys playing...Yahtzee?"
Dr. Radek Zelenka looked up at the archeologist, an expression of innocent confusion meeting Daniel's gaze.  "What," the chief scientist of the Atlantis Expedition asked.  "It's quantum Yahtzee.  Much different."
"Oh," Daniel said sarcastically.  He looked around at the other faces around the table.  His eyes settled on Jonas Quinn.  "And you're a part of this, too?"
Jonas held his hands up.  "I'm just continuing my education in Earth culture."
"Besides," Zelenka added, "we were waiting on you."
"So you really did find something?"
"Yes.  Well...maybe," Zelenka said awkwardly.  "Here.  We'll just show you."
Across the lab from the octagonal table the scientists had been sitting at was a bank of idle computer monitors.  Daniel followed the cluster of physicists, engineers, programmers, and Jonas (who could easily fit into any of the fields of the others) as they quickly left their game behind.  Zelenka mumbled something to one of the programmers walking beside him.  She nodded her head before veering away to the left.  Daniel watched her sit an angled console.  Half the surface of the small area was nothing more than an oversized keypad.  The other half was littered with papers covered in hastily scribbled notes.
The attention of the others was centered on three of the five monitors mounted together midway up a stout, wide column.  Daniel lined up in the tight semi-circle of scientists that had gathered in front of the monitors.  Zelenka stood next to the displays, watching as they lit up.  Daniel recognized the search screen of the Ancient database on two of the monitors.  Between them, on the largest of the three, was a digital map of the city.
"So, it turns out your theory is proving correct," Zelenka said.
Daniel put his hands on his hips.  "About the answer being in a specific part of the database?"
Jonas and Zelenka nodded their heads simultaneously.  "In a matter of speaking," Jonas replied first.
Daniel glanced at the two men incredulously.  "I don't know.  That seemed fairly obvious.  Hopefully this new urgency wasn't just to show me what we already suspected.  Tell me you actually found something specific relating to the Destiny or its stargate."
Zelenka hesitated, then said, "No.  Not yet."
Daniel was about to protest.  Jonas didn't give him the chance.  "We think we know where that information is, though."
"Oh," asked Daniel.  "In the database?"
"No," Zelenka answered.
"Well, this isn't getting confusing," Daniel said sarcastically.
"Okay, let's start with what we already know," said Jonas.  "So, most of the basic information like city systems, diagnostics history, and the like that the Atlantis teams have been using since the first expedition are on server banks in the central section of the city."
"Right," Daniel said, patiently.
"All other information is stored on remote server banks in three of the city's six piers," Jonas continued.  On the central screen over his shoulder, a series of glowing dots appeared on three of the six, long peninsulas that stretched away from the city-ship's wide core.  Each circle of light was filled in except one.
"In all but one case, a pair of the data centers act in tandem, feeding requested information into the central servers in the spire," Jonas said, pointing to the hollow dot at the end of one of the piers.
"That one was damaged in a fire fight a few years ago," Daniel said questioningly, trying to remember the details he had read on exactly what had happened.
"It didn't seem to affect any vital information in the database," said one of the technicians in the group.  She blushed slightly when everyone glanced toward her.  "That section is slated for repairs, but it isn't high on the priority list."
Daniel nodded his head.  "So that leads us into what we-or I-don't know."
Zelenka cleared his throat.  "While you were gone, we placed power meters on each of the satellite server banks."
"I ran a series of searches through the database using keywords that you had listed," Jonas said, glancing at Daniel. 
"And with each search we were able to gather data on the power usage of the server banks feeding the information to Jonas," Zelenka added, his accent getting a little thicker.
Jonas turned his body more toward the central screen.  "So far, information relating to pre-wraith activities, exploration, and early experiments are on the East Pier server.  Personal logs, various city accounts and records, plus other technical information-including records on the nanite projects-are on the South Pier.  What little information there is on the ninth chevron, other city-ship designs, mentions, and programs, plus possible obscure references to the Destiny are on the West Pier."
"So what does any of that mean?  You know where the information in the database is stored," Daniel said.  "But how does that help us find the information that isn't there?"
"But what if it is there," Jonas asked with a smile.  "There is a lot in the database on Merlin-err, Myrddin; his time as High Councilor, his research and a lot of his personal writings.  But there's almost nothing about his youth.  Almost the reverse is true for Ganos Lal.  The majority of their records are on the East Pier server."
"But..." Daniel said, waiting for the point of Jonas' presentation.
"Not all of it is coming from there.  In fact, it doesn't seem to be coming from anywhere, if you went by this map alone."
"I don't know what that means," said Daniel.
"There is more to the database on Atlantis than we're seeing.  The more I searched for subjects related to the ninth chevron and Destiny and even Merlin's youth, the more we found that the information was coming from someplace other than a main server."
"The power levels at the server locations changed with these searches," Zelenka said.  "The majority of them, essentially, powered down."
"Except for the sever bank on the West Pier," added Jonas as the map on the central screen zoomed in closer to a pair of the glowing dots.
Daniel glanced at Zelenka again.  "The servers themselves weren't drawing enough power to be processing the request and delivering the information," the chief scientist explained.  "They were using just enough power to move the information along into the network from another source."
"The internet of Atlantis," Daniel said.
"Pretty much, yes," said Zelenka enthusiastically.
"And you're sure there isn't a chance that what we're looking for isn't on the damaged server?"
Jonas shrugged.  "I mean, there's always a chance.  We just don't know-and may never know-what's on that server.  But what we do know is that there is more information that isn't in the main database and it's trying to come from somewhere on the West Pier."
Daniel watched the looping graphic on the central screen for a long and quiet minute.  Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "Then we should probably find it."

*         *         *

Pink sunlight and chilled air flooded the small, crowded box the team was standing in a short while later.  The transport system of Atlantis resembled a mostly unimpressive elevator.  Yet, there were no cables or tracks pulling it up, down, or anywhere along to the desired destination.  The reason: it wasn't an elevator at all.  It was a way to get from point to point within the city that would have made even Willy Wonka's eyes sparkle with impressed wonder.  In less than a second, matter with the quietly ornate box is broken down and shifted to a reciprocating box receiving the signal.  The particles of the occupants are put back together molecule by molecule in a fraction of a second.  From the perspective of the person inside, the lights around them get a little brighter for a pair of seconds.  Then the doors open, revealing their intended destination.  In this case, it was an open air plaza in a windswept borough of tall, ancient buildings.
Dr. Zelenka led the group out of the transport.  He pointed up toward the upper floors of one of the nearby structures.  "The mess hall is up there," he said, directing his voice over his shoulder.
Daniel nodded in acknowledgment from near the back of the line.  At the center of the small square, he stopped and looked around.  "How long until it gets dark?"
One of the scientists looked up toward the sky while another looked at her watch.  "About four hours until the sun sets," she said, raising her voice against a gust of wind that rushed over the square.
Daniel peered past the tops of the metal high rises.  Dense, sagging clouds drifted swiftly past the city and the churning waters surrounding it.  "Maybe we should split up.  We'll cover more ground that way."
Zelenka nodded in agreement.  "Umm, how about two go that way," he said, pointing down the block to his right.  "Two go this way," he said, looking to his left.  "Two check out the structures around the power station.  Jonas, Dr. Jackson, we can head toward the Ascension Lab if you like?"
"Sure," Daniel and Jonas answered.
"Where are we meeting up," one of the other scientists asked.
"What about the mess hall," Jonas asked.  "That way no group has to stand out here in the cold and dark waiting on the others."
Everyone agreed.
"Good.  Let's go," Daniel said.  "You guys have explored most of this area so no one should get lost.  Radio in anything you might not have noticed before-wall panels out of place, strange lights, voices..."
"The usual unusual," one of the technicians said without sarcasm.  "Noted."