The Dance of Dragons

Life As We Knew It

Carson was doing his best to get up to the conference room quickly, having been somewhat submerged in going over all the test results from the night before. They had already left him slightly bewildered and slightly excited all the same time. Yet his excitement had been cut off by Dr. Weir's radio call to head up to the conference room. The word spread fast of the jumper's return and the audience that had been requested. He had not expected them to return so quickly, they had been gone maybe three hours. His grip on the tablet he had with him tightening, as he deep down worried something negative had happened. He had watched many teams go through the Stargate in his time here, he always feared. Each time he waited for the urgent call for a medical team to be in the gate room. It left a slight feeling of constant anxiety that he had come to accept as part of life. Pushing it back and out of his mind as it happened. But not today, it gnawed at him in the back of his head all damn morning. Stronger than it had been in a very long time. Not since the last time someone he cared for more than the others stepped through the gate. Maybe that was why he found it so annoying, that it had returned once again without much reason, but deep down he knew, and just did not want to admit it to himself. Watching her get onto the jumper today had left him feeling somewhat alone, and his office had been quiet. Hearing one side of a conversation did have its entertaining moments, or when people came in and talked merely to Castiel. His infirmary had gained a new tone to it, with the arrival of the new pair. He did too.

He walked forward, one of the conference room doors swinging open to him as he got to it and then entered. It took him by surprise, to see the familiar frame of the giant black dragon. "Malco, it is good to see you again." But he was quickly caught off guard by the condition the dragon was in. He was thin, his colors dull, and his mane ragged and short. But the dragon greeted him back, the low trills a welcome sound. Forrest and Castiel stood on either side, the grey dragon next to his whiteboard as usual. The gnawing feeling that had been chewing on him the past few hours lifting almost instantly. Forrest offering him a small smile, but he knew better. He had learned to read her well enough in the time they had spent together; she was worried, and with how Malco looked, he had an understanding as to why.

He walked over Rodney, sitting down next to the scientist who was happily punching away on the keypad of his laptop. Not even acknowledging the doctor's arrival. "Well, since everyone is here. I guess we should start." Elizabeth speaking, just barely getting Rodney to look up from the screen. Her eyes looking to Malco, who walked carefully before her. The black dragon dipping his head low as the ever-unique sounds he made began to fill the room. Forrest quickly speaking. "Malco would like to express his gratitude for granting him an audience with you, and your people. It is a great honor." The dragon lifting his head, as he sat back on his haunches, tail wrapping around his feet. "The honor is ours, Malco. Our understanding is that your people have recently fallen to a hardship. I believe that Dr. McKay may have the answer as to why for you." She spoke, looking over at Rodney, who looked up quickly. The scientist a bit unnerved by the red eyes that now watched him. Malco waiting curiously for the issue the man had found.

"Oh, well. I was able to run enough scans on our way back to the gate, to get an understanding of what was happening. Along with what I was able to dig up in the university, I believe I know the problem." He said as everyone looked at him, "Loonrian's moon, apparently has a known history of a changing orbit. The records stating that slight shifts in it's proximity to the planet have been happening for as long as your people were able to track it. Slight differences in the weather patterns, but never anything drastic like what is happening now." He stood up, walking to the large screen behind them. Taping the screen with ease as he pulled up what looked like Loonrian's moon. "But this happened." He said pointing to a large crater on the surface of the moon. "It probably happened a bit before we showed up, but your moon was hit by a good sized asteroid. Now, the change was subtle. It hardly would have been noticed at first, but it was just enough of an impact to push the moon slightly closer to the planet." "Life as we knew it." Elizabeth stating as she looked at the screen, causing everyone to look at her with a confused expression. "It was a fiction book, about that, happening to Earth, only our moon ended up much closer." Rodney looked at her for a moment. "Sure, only this is a bit more, complicated than that. That slight drop in orbit has caused a very slight decaying orbit. Each day since the impact, the moon has drifted closer and closer to the planet. I am talking 40 to 60 feet per day, and increasing as it gets closer." Carson's eyes drifted to Forrest, who was trying her best to take in all that the scientist had explained. "What does that have to do with the seasons?" She asked as he shook his head. "Loonrian does not have much when it comes to large bodies of water, mainly freshwater lakes. We here know that on Earth, our oceans impact our weather patterns. While small, so do yours. As it gets closer, the gravity of your moon changes those weather patterns with the effects its gravity has on the water. But there is more." The screen changed, showing Loonrian. The scan shifted, showing a large wave of black ash running out from a single point far off from all the cities. "With the gravity pulling harder, it is forcing lava from the core of your world to come closer to the surface. Winter came early, because of the ash cloud from right here." He explained pointing at the small dot on the screen. "How did we not notice ash when we were there?" Ronon asking breaking the moment of silence. "The wind carries most of it North, Southious would be pretty much left untouched by it. Plus, it has been quite some time since the first eruption, a month ago maybe but not now." Rodney explaining as he pointed to what would have been Southious on the map.