“And you say it is possible to drink fully, to drink deeply, and not kill?” Alabaster was leaning forward, her face alive with avid interest.
Oh crap, John thought. Teyla’s told her about the retrovirus.
“Yes,” Teyla said. She looked like herself, not Steelflower, but her posture mimicked Alabaster’s, an old trick of trading.
“And could this retrovirus be given to those who seek intercession before I feed upon them?” Alabaster asked. “So that I might drink completely and not shorten their lives?”
“That is our understanding,” Teyla said. “For a human under its protection, being fed upon is both painful and traumatic, but it is not fatal for someone who was already in good health. It is an injury that one may heal from in days or weeks and suffer no consequences in the long run.”
“It is already painful and traumatic,” Alabaster said thoughtfully. “But if it could be made not to shorten their lives, it would be an improvement. Those who seek intercession now are already willing to endure much for their loved ones’ sakes. And I should prefer it.”
John halted in the doorway, motioning Ronon quiet behind him.
“And why is that? Why do you not kill?” Teyla asked quietly. Rodney stood still as a statue behind her.
“I shall give you two reasons,” Alabaster said, lifting her head in the firelight, the red glow casting shadows around her. “And you may pick which you like. When I came here I was alone. I was hurt, and I carried my firstborn. If I had killed they would have risen against me and hunted me, hundreds of them against me. I would not have survived.” Alabaster pushed strands of long red hair back from her face. “And the other is this. Twenty one years is a long time. If you were left alone on a planet with none but your son for twenty one years, would you not come to feel a fondness for the kine? Would you not give them names and speak to them, notice who is sick and who is well, follow the tales of who has mated with whom and watch their young grow? They are my friends. They are all the company I have known for twenty one years. I do not wish to kill them.”
The boy looked up from where he was playing by the fire. “Are we going now?” he asked, his yellow eyes reflecting like a cat’s. “Are we going like you said we would?”
“We are, Darling,” Alabaster said. “But first I will help Teyla find what she came to get.”
There was a light in the darkness, the wavering light of a flashlight skimming over the stones. Teyla held it, flashing it ahead of them, Alabaster beside her.
Osprey had walked thus, the passage whispered, the stones whispered in her memory. She had descended this way, through sea caves hollowed out by the booming ocean. The ways had changed in ten thousand years, but not their purpose. Not the thing at their heart. The sea roared against the walls, a continual presence.
*We must be very close,* Teyla said to Alabaster beside her.
*Yes.* Alabaster put her hand to the stone. *The ocean is just on the other side of this wall. We are below the water level now except at lowest tide, thrice a year when this world’s moons are both at aphelion.*
“I don’t have a power reading yet,” Rodney said, turning this way and that with his scanner, standing behind Teyla.
“How big would it be?” John said from behind him. “The ZPM isn’t plugged into anything.”
“Not big,” Rodney acknowledged. “But I should.... Yow!” Rodney screeched, jumping backwards straight into John.
“What the hell?” John said, his P90 swinging up instinctively.
“What’s that?” Rodney trailed his light on the wall where a pale, whorled creature seven or eight inches long was leaving a trail of slime. “Oh my God. I put my hand on that!”
“That is a cochlea,” Alabaster said. She sounded amused. “There are many of them in these caves. They will not harm you.”
“Giant bugs,” said John grimly. He didn’t look any happier than Rodney.
“I believe they are mollusks,” Alabaster said. “I assure you they are not harmful. They eat miniature sea creatures and fish eggs.”
“Fascinating,” Teyla said, bending close. It was not intelligent, not in any way she knew, not even so much as a bird might be. But it could hear her when she thought at it. *Turn toward the light,* Teyla thought, and watched as its head turned about, antennae wiggling, seeking Rodney’s flashlight.
*Amazing, is it not?* Alabaster thought in return, and her mind was bright with pleasure. *I believe it is from these that we derived many of the things we use, perhaps even some of the genetic material that went into the design of our ships. So much from such a small thing!*
The cruiser Eternal was much more intelligent, Teyla thought. Trying to explain to John, she had likened it to a horse. This was like comparing some sort of small mammal to a horse, a little animal that lived on seed in the woods. And yet Carson said they were related, that long enough ago horses were derived from tiny mammals.
*Horses! Squirrels!* Rodney shouted in her head. *Tiny Wraith Snail Hive Ship Things!*
Teyla and Alabaster both turned and looked at him.
“What is wrong with your cleverman?” Alabaster said aloud.
“He has been genetically manipulated,” Teyla said. “Given the DNA of the Returned, and now it is wearing off in part, and he must learn to control his Gift as I have. Rodney, please speak quietly. You do not need to shout.”
John and Ronon, who had heard nothing, looked at one another in bewilderment.
Rodney looked sheepish. “Sorry,” he said. “Some of the work I was doing with Ember — a lot of the genetic makeup of the hive ship hull looked similar to a mollusk. Now I see why. I wonder if these guys’ shells weren’t the original prototype.”
“That is well reasoned,” Alabaster said aloud. She put her head to the side. “Are you a Master of Sciences Biological?”
“Of Sciences Physical,” Rodney said, and Teyla thought he almost added an honorific. “I was made to serve Queen Death as Chief of Sciences Physical, with a specialty in the Subcorporia and Ratiocination. Of course I’ve done a good deal of engineering over the years, so I got stuck with some of that too, though let me tell you I’m glad to be rid of it. Though some of the bioengineering…”
“That is so?” Alabaster looked up at him with new interest. “Were I a cleverman I should have chosen the Subcorporia myself, and I learned a great deal about it for my own pleasure, though of course a queen must concentrate on the Sciences Biological, particularly what you call bioengineering, in order to fulfill her duties. But I have long been fascinated by stellar phenomena and by the manipulation of the subcorporial particles.”
“Really.” Rodney stared at Alabaster. “Really?”
“Can we keep our eyes on the ball here?” John said, giving Rodney a push on the shoulder. “Let’s find the ZPM. You and Alabaster can geek out about physics later.”
“Yes, let us,” Teyla said, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice even if she could not keep it out of her mind.
*Why are you amused?* Alabaster asked curiously.
*There is a long story of a queen who is a Master of Sciences Physical whom Rodney has pursued fruitlessly for years,* Teyla said. *You will see her soon, I expect.*
*Ah.* There was a long pause as they climbed deeper into the caves, over stones now faintly moist from the receding tide, before Alabaster spoke again, cautiously as though careful not to give offense. *But is it not true that among your people it is most generally the men who rule?*
*Generally, but not universally.* Teyla shone her light ahead. Alabaster could see in the dark, but she could not. *It depends upon the world and people. Among the Lanteans this one holds high status as a warrior and leader of men. Most often such positions belong to men, and those women who have attained it are extraordinary indeed. Rodney has desired her for many years, but she will not choose him.*
*And you are her ally?*
*Her ally, and I should like to think her friend,* Teyla said. She paused in turn. *Though you must not th
ink we lack strife and inner politicking, or that we all love one another as brothers and sisters. We are not so different from you, all of us children of the Ancestors.*
“I’m getting a power reading,” Rodney said, blessedly aloud and without shouting. “Very small. I think it’s this way.”
“That’s through a solid wall,” Ronon said, shining his flashlight over it.
“It should be,” Teyla said. “It was sealed.” It was true that the stone looked different, not the weathered limestone of the surrounding walls, but paler colored, streaked and striated in a different pattern.
“I think this is the place,” Alabaster said.
“I think so too,” Teyla said. It was hard to tell from her memory. One bit of cave looked very like another. And yet…
“Definitely a power reading,” Rodney said with barely suppressed excitement.
“Ok,” John said, flashing his light around it. “C4.”
“C4? In a sea cave? Have you lost your mind?” Rodney demanded. “You’ll bring the ceiling down on us! And if you rupture the retaining wall, then here we are in a cave twenty minutes underground that’s filling up with ocean!”
John just looked at him. “Rodney, I am not that stupid. I’ll use a small shaped charge. Have I ever blown you up?”
“Is that a serious question? Because if it is…”
“McKay,” Ronon said. “Do you have a better idea of how to get through that wall?”
“Um.” Rodney looked around. “No.”
“Then we blow it,” Ronon said.
“You guys back off,” John said, “Up the corridor that way.” He surveyed the wall with his hands on his hips.
“Around the corner is best,” Teyla said, ushering Alabaster back. “We do not wish to be hit by flying chips of stone.”
They waited, Ronon carefully staying far away from Alabaster, until John came back. “Ok,” he said, “Cover your heads. Fire in the hole.”
It was a very small explosion, though it sounded loud in the confined space. Still, the ceiling did not come down. Not that Teyla had believed it would. John was better at this than that.
“Careful,” John said, picking his way through the settling dust over the rubble from the door.
And it had been a door. It was easy to see now how thin it had been, a few inches thick at most, a veneer of bone as hard as stone. His flashlight played over the chamber beyond, an alcove not even a meter wide. On the floor lay two metal boxes side by side.
“Let me get by.” Rodney pushed past Teyla, his instruments in hands, taking hold of the first case and opening it reverently. The Ancient bindings gave way. On a background of soft black material lay a gleaming ZPM, its surface traced with red and gold and orange like stained glass. Rodney laid his instruments over it, frowning and adjusting. Then a beatific smile spread across his face. “It’s at 97%,” he said.
“Sweet,” John said, looking down at it with a bemused expression as though he could hardly believe it.
“And there is this,” Teyla said. Her hands were sure on the bindings. She had closed this box before. Osprey had closed this box. Her fingers had been the last to touch it. Alabaster bent too, eclipsing the light of the flashlight as she leaned. It did not matter. Teyla could see what lay within, a scepter of dark metal, the cold sheen of naquadah. “Hyperion’s weapon,” she said.
Chapter Twenty-three
Osprey’s Daughters
They came out of darkness into bright afternoon sun slanting across the cliffs behind them, though the cave mouth lay in shadow. “We’d better get moving,” John said, looking at his watch. “We’re ten minutes late for check in, and Woolsey will get worried.” He looked at Teyla. “I can’t call in from here. It’s an orbital gate.”
“It will take us some time to prepare to leave,” Alabaster said.
John was on the verge of saying hurry it up, but Teyla gave him a look. And what was the hurry anyhow? Well, ok, there was a hurry, but not so much of one that an hour or two would make any difference.
“I’ll go call in,” John said. “Ronon, you’re with me. Rodney, you stay here and help Teyla and Alabaster get ready to go.” And Darling of course. John had learned there was no way to go somewhere with a kid quickly. “It should take a couple of hours for us to walk back to the jumper, go up to the gate, talk to Woolsey, and come back.”
“Thank you,” Teyla said graciously, as though he’d actually had any choice about it.
John made his report to Woolsey as brief as possible, knowing that every word he said was being heard by the gateroom duty crew. Found a ZPM at 97%, super terrific should make your day. Also found Todd’s daughter, big bargaining chip, bringing her back. Not a word about Hyperion’s weapon. That was something best discussed in private.
Teyla had told him about it, told him what she remembered. He didn’t think she’d told Ronon.
A weapon that could destroy all the Wraith, forever, for all time… The only thing you could say to something like that was holy crap. He didn’t know what he’d do if that kind of power was in his hands.
Yeah, you do, some inner part of him said. You already decided, or you would have told Woolsey in front of the gateroom. You already decided, or you would have told Woolsey in front of Ronon, sitting beside you in the jumper. He knows it’s an Ancient weapon, but he doesn’t know what it does. And if you meant to use it, you would have told him. But you don’t, do you? You would have shot Alabaster and the kid and taken it. You could have. No one would have stopped you.
John looked out at the glimmering orbital gate, his mind only half on what Woolsey was saying. Once, Teyla had asked him why he had brought the Athosians to Atlantis when the Wraith attacked, why he had stayed to talk to her in the first place. “I needed intel,” John had said. “Asking you seemed like the best way to get it.”
Teyla had smiled as though he were being very thick. “And why did you not ask me at the point of a gun? No one could have stopped you. No one could have stopped you and your men from simply taking what you wanted. Why all the talk of tea and Ferris wheels, when you could have simply demanded from people who could not resist you?”
“It didn’t occur to me to do that,” John had said after a long silence.
“You could have taken instead of asked. You could have held Jinto hostage and required that Halling tell you want you wanted to know. But it did not occur to you.” Teyla had shaken her head. “Because you are a good man.”
He hadn’t said what was on the tip of his tongue. “Because I know where that goes.”
And he never wanted to go there again.
John cast a sideways look at Ronon, frowning slightly as he listened to Woolsey droning on through the radio. Ronon, buddy, he thought, if you want someone to kill all the Wraith, it won’t be me. He would defend Atlantis to his last breath, and sooner or later it probably would come to that. But he’d made his decision in the split second the barrel of his P90 had jerked up, bullets ringing off the hanging bells, missing the kid by inches. He was going to stand with Teyla and Keller on this one.
There was an obscure comfort in knowing where he stood. The decision was made. He just had to live with it, be willing to pay the price for it. But he’d been there before too.
“Sheppard?” Ronon prompted.
“I said, what is your ETA, Colonel Sheppard?” Woolsey repeated again. “When should we expect you?” He sounded impatient. Probably couldn’t wait to get his hands on the ZPM.
“Give me two hours,” John said. “Sheppard out.”
He landed the jumper as close to Alabaster’s cave as possible, figuring they were probably going to have to carry a bunch of baggage with them. Before they were halfway down the path to the cave they heard voices raised in anger. What could possibly have gone pear-shaped already? He should never ask that. Motioning Ronon to back him up, John came around the final corner with P90 at the ready.
The cave was filled with about two dozen big blond guys arguing. Filled, as in there wa
s hardly room to step inside. The whole place smelled of sheep, wool, and Iron Age hygiene.
In the middle of it, Teyla and Alabaster were both gesturing and talking, a pile of packed bags around them. The kid, Lyra, and her brother were watching in fascination. Rodney stood near the door, also apparently fascinated, holding the ZPM’s case in his arms.
“McKay? What the hell is going on?” John demanded.
Rodney came over to them in the door. “Not long after you left, these guys showed up. Apparently Lyra told her dad that she was worried that the rude foreigners would hassle the Bride, so they all turned up to make sure we were properly respectful. That was all ok until Alabaster said she was leaving with us. Then they got upset.”
“You cannot leave us,” one of the men said, his voice almost breaking with emotion. “Do you not know how many people would have died if you were not here? You are the mercy of the gods. You are our proof that they love us! They sent us you so that our children would live!”
Jasen’s dad, John would bet. Oh boy.
“I must go,” Alabaster said. “Pesei, this has never been my home, and you know it! I have lived here for a time in exile, but I cannot remain! Even now my father summons me from beyond the stars.”
“But what will become of us?” another man demanded. “We are your people. We have relied on you for a generation! What will happen now when someone is injured as I was on the boats last year? You know that my legs were crushed and I would never have walked again! Who would have cared for my family if I had been left thus?”
Alabaster looked rattled. Her long red hair spread over her shoulders and she shoved it back with one hand. “Others need me too, in that place beyond the stars. My sister has come to tell me of their need and to bring my father’s summons.”
Teyla did not move as the man turned to her. “What right have you to take the Bride from us?”
“There are many worlds,” Teyla said. “And there are many things that she must do. Her concerns cannot be limited to just this one world.” Teyla shook her head. “In the heavens there is a celestial war, and she is our best chance of averting tragedy that could kill more people than all those this world has ever known.”
STARGATE ATLANTIS: Secrets (Book 5 in the Legacy series) Page 24