paradisa | If only to see the sky again

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todd

If only to see the sky again - One [Dictated]

So far I have managed to figure out that speaking into this book means anyone else may hear me. Therefore I ask where I am and how did I come to be here?

If you're attempting to hold me captive, this new set of quarters and the fact that the door is unlocked is a very poor way indeed to do so. If not, I thank you, it is a far cry more comfortable than the prison and the metal bench.

Also if Doctors Keller or Beckett would be so kind as to come forward and take credit for their ability to remove my ability to feed on humans, please do so. I would like to hear the details of it and be assured that I will not keel over in the next week from certain side effects like last time.

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We are held here without locked rooms or guards. But there is still no way home that anyone has discovered.

What do you mean by feeding on humans?

You mean this world has no Stargate?

What's the name of this planet?

What is a stargate?

I have never heard a name for this world. More often I have heard it described as a nexus. The name of this castle is Paradisa.

[Conan hasn't forgotten his original question, but is willing to hold onto it for now.]

[He hasn't either but he likes having his questions answered first]

Paradisa...

[He rolls it around trying to figure out if he's heard of it before. No luck]

So you are...implying I was brought here without no knowledge of that by another way other than by hyper drive or by Stargate? Interesting but improbable.

Explain further.

This castle has a mind. It brings people here from other realities and takes something from each person in the process.

[Conan pauses.]

At least that's what lots of people have told me! I'm just a kid, so I don't know enough to understand everything.

[All lies, but it was necessary to maintain his cover as a child.]

Fantastic story but I believe I will wait until an actual adult speaks to me.

Human or otherwise.

[As an afterthought...]

Yes, I feed off humans

Or, I did. We shall see how this new retrovirus plays out. Are you acquainted with doctors Beckett or Keller?

[Oi. Conan would never like the lack of respect he got from most adults, even if he'd been forced to get used to it by the circumstances.]

Why?

I know Dr. Beckett.

He was the original creator behind a type of virus that would change a wraith's feeding ability.

A diet change would give us an advantage in the civil war and limit or cease the need to feed upon humans, which your object to.

[Conan makes a note to talk to Carson about this. In all their conversations together the doctor had never mentioned a civil war or a species that ate humans.]

Of course I object to something like that. There is no good reason to ever kill anyone.

[Todd will be insulted at that. Really Carson, you ought to share stories!

A throaty chuckle]

A typical human statement. Do you humans not breed and feed off the likes of poultry and livestock? Do you not raise them to maturity and cull your herds when they have reproduced sufficiently? Do you not hunt for sport or to feed your families?

It is no different for the Wraith.

You are making the comparison that your kind consider humans to be nothing than a domesticated animal. What is your reasoning for that?

Because that is what we have viewed your race as since the dawn of our species. We feed upon humans as you do bovine. We sleep through the centuries to allow the populations to recover between cullings, awakening to feed and ensure humans know their place.

For ten thousand years this was how we lived with minimal problems since the hundred year war with our great enemy.

[Wait.

Waitwaitwait... That's a Wraith. That's a Wraith's voice coming over the journal. Carson would know that odd-sounding vocalisation anywhere.]

You can rest assured that the last thing I'd want to do is to come anywhere near a Wraith, thank you.

[Yes, there's a tiny bit of fear in his voice.]

Doctor Beckett...

So I take it you were not the one who has removed me of my ability to feed?

I wouldn't even know how to.

Which brings me to my next question. Why would a Wraith know my name?

I assumed you would recognize me by my voice.

I am the wraith Sheppard helped escape the Genii prison with.

You and your people call me "Todd"

Considering that I only saw you the bloody once doesn't explain how you know my name.

We met a handful of times awhile after that and Doctor Keller has spoken much of you since you were the one who initially created the retrovirus.

Have you lost your memory?

[Retrovirus? What retrovirus? This is probably part of his loss... But this was also a Wraith.]

I have no idea what you're bloody talking about, but it's likely that the castle has us pulled from seperate times.

Of course, you're a bloody Wraith, and could just be making all of this up.

[Its quiet on the other end as he contemplates what Beckett has said.

The lack of knowledge about himself and the retrovirus could be explained by taking Beckett from a time before he discovered it, but it wouldn't explain how he'd lost his ability to feed upon humans.

...The castle's fault?]

Really doctor, do you consider humans are no more capable of lying any less than a wraith can? That seems rather petty.

I have great respect for you and Keller. Don't ruin it.

All I have is your voice and I don't even know where you are in the castle, if you're even in it. Also feeding on humans for the foreseeable future has come to a stand still. Keep your head, I'm not hunting you.

Now, what can you tell me of this place? I have spoken to one young boy who was more hindrance than help and Doctor Keller has been here for just a little longer than I have and has not gathered much more than the basics.

[He has a point...

Wait... A Wraith has a point? ...Okay, fine, he does. But Carson isn't going to be revealing his location in room 606 any time soon.

Instead, he just sighs.]

From what we know, Paradisa is a small pocket dimension that has the power to manipulate space/time and abduct people. We're not sure how, or what powers it, but we do know that the castle somehow draws energy from us being here.

Everyone loses something important to us. Skills, memories, abilities. Your loss is likely the ability to feed on humans. How that affects you genetically, I have no clue. Not without examining you. [Over his dead body without a weapon.] You'll have to book an appointment.

You can wish for simple things, food, water, small luxuries, but the castle seems to add it to a debt which it takes from you at some point.

[Todd listens, making mental notes.

Ah, that would explain his lack of feeding hand. Well, understandable, don't want one of your guests feeding off the guests. At least they were kind enough to not provide any side effects.

That he knew of yet anyway.

Another dimension with special abilities. The idea didn't seem too far-fetched.]

What sort of debt?

We're not sure. There's definitely a price for wishing, because it happened not long ago, people got sick, lost things, wishes went wrong...

It wasn't bloody pretty.

[A small pause]

Has anyone escaped from here, doctor?

Not by their own means. The castle decides.

If you die, are you sent back? Or are you dead in both lands?

From what I've heard, when you die, you come back here, only with a second loss. As though the castle's bloody punishing you for trying to escape it.

So, even death has no dominion here.

That is rather unsettling.

That's not the only bloody thing.

[And he's talking to one of the other things now. Sorry, Todd. You're going to have to prove you're harmless. :|]

[Oh why would he want to prove that? A predator doesn't stop being a predator over night just because his canines were yanked out.

A chuckle]

Let me know when you feel you have equipped yourself for a visit by me. I'd like you to run some blood work if you have the ability.

[Talking medical stuff is a good way to distract him]

Aye? To check for what?

[He'll remember that]

To ensure there aren't any unforeseen side effects. Last time the retrovirus gave myself and my crew a type of cancer, and I had to resort to allowing a queen iratus bug feed on me to return my body back to how it was before the drug.

Sheppard seemed thrilled to hear that it was an excruciatingly painful process.

I'll have to get Dr. Keller to collaborate the results and make sure they're all fine, but I don't see a problem.

Just give me a wee while to get... ready. A few days. [And by 'ready' he means 'secure a gun'.]

Contact me when you are ready.

Until then doctor Beckett.

... Todd? You're here, too? [She sounds both surprised and disgusted.]

I don't know what happened, but it wasn't me. I didn't exactly have a lot of time to work on perfecting that formula after our first attempt.

Edited 2012-08-07 21:33 (UTC)

Doctor Jennifer Keller.

Well if it wasn't you nor Doctor Beckett, who then?

Any ideas on what planet we are trapped on?

That's a good question- because as far as I know, we- as in myself, Dr. Beckett, and some of our team members- were the only ones who knew enough to do such a thing.

Not yet.

Curious...

No knowledge of where we are or how we got here and I am seemingly unable to feed...

I would appreciate it if you kept me informed of any developments, Doctor Keller.

I was told the Castle just... brings people here. It doesn't make any sense, though.

Of course.

A new transporter of some sort then?

Where's the entry point? I remember only waking up in this lavishly decorated bedroom after speaking with Colonel Sheppard on Atlantis.

That seems to be the most logical explanation- but I don't remember where I came in, either. One moment, I was in the city, and the next... in this giant castle.

We will just have to find out more then, won't we?

I definitely plan on it.

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If only to see the sky again - One [Dictated]

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