by Jo Graham
“All right, good, someone believes me. Now all we have to do is figure out how to find her,” Rodney said.
Teyla put her head to one side. “Find her?”
“Ascended beings aren’t supposed to interfere. She even told me that she knew she’d get in trouble for it. If they’ve sent her back as a human, she’s out there somewhere. She wouldn’t know Atlantis’s current gate address even if she was trying to come home. I’ve asked Woolsey to authorize a search, but he’s dragging his feet about it.”
Teyla poured herself another cup of tea before she answered. “I believe Elizabeth is trying to tell you something, but you may need to look deeper to understand her message.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you feel the need to look for Elizabeth, perhaps you should try looking within. If you meditate, and open yourself to hearing the voices of your ancestors and guardians, you may find her there.”
“I am not talking about a spiritual experience,” Rodney said. “I’m talking about contact with someone on another plane of existence.” Teyla looked at him as if that didn’t make perfect sense. “She was there,” Rodney said. “Not as a voice or a guardian spirit or anything mystical. She was right there in the jumper with me, just like we’re sitting here right now, and she saved my life.”
“I am sure that you saw her there,” Teyla said patiently. “And I believe she did save your life, by helping you find a way to save yourself.”
“I didn’t transport myself off the jumper,” Rodney said. “There is no possible way I could have done that.”
“You have said yourself that the Ancestors knew far more about their technology than we do,” Teyla said. “Elizabeth may have learned things about it that we still have not discovered.”
“There is nothing you can do with a puddle-jumper’s systems that we haven’t figured out by now. And if there is, the Hammond would have detected the transport. I wouldn’t have just appeared.”
“There is another possibility,” Teyla said. “You came very close to Ascending yourself once.”
“Only because an Ancient device had given me superpowers and I thought was going to die if I didn’t,” Rodney said.
Teyla nodded encouragingly. “Is it not possible that under great duress, you rediscovered within yourself some of the same abilities
—”
“So why this time, and not during any of the other terrifying near-death experiences I have on an all-too-regular basis?”
“Perhaps because this time Elizabeth was there to guide you.”
“If you believe that, why don’t you believe she’s out there for us to find?”
“I believe that people we loved may watch over us and guide us,” Teyla said. “But the dead are still dead. They do not simply … come back.”
“Daniel Jackson did.”
“Then perhaps you should ask him what he experienced.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Rodney said.
Daniel cleared a chair of books, which made it possible for Rodney to actually sit down. “Sorry about the mess,” he said. He waved a hand at his tablet, which was lying on the coffee table still scrolling lines of Ancient text. “I’m reading up on everything we know about early Ancient settlement in the Pegasus Galaxy. I appreciate your team helping me investigate some of the settlement sites.”
“Woolsey ordered us to,” Rodney said.
Daniel’s voice grew dryer. “Yes, I knew that, but I thought we were being polite.”
“Let me start over,” Rodney said. “What do you know about Ascension?”
Daniel leaned back in his chair and considered him. “More than most people. Why do you ask?”
“I think Dr. Weir may have Ascended,” Rodney said. “When I was a Wraith, she appeared to me and spoke to me. And then when I was going to die, she appeared and saved my life. But she seemed to think she was going to be in big trouble for that. Like the kind of trouble where you get kicked out of a higher plane of existence.”
“It’s possible,” Daniel said. “I’m told that while I was Ascended — the first time — I appeared to some of my friends when they were in bad situations. And then when I tried to interfere more directly, I got kicked out. But I don’t remember much about what that was actually like.”
“You just appeared somewhere, right?”
“Yes, and that’s something that you could ask your allies if they’ve heard anything about. Naked amnesiacs don’t show up in the middle of somebody’s field every day.”
“How serious amnesia are we talking about?”
“I had no idea who I was or where I came from,” Daniel said. “I could talk, and I remembered some skills, but most of it was just … flashes, images. Nothing that made sense. Even after SG-1 found me, it took some time for everything to come back. Of course, it may not have helped that I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted everything to come back. In some ways it was restful having a break from remembering everything that had ever happened to me.”
“She may not even remember that she’s looking for Atlantis. We’ve got to find her.”
“All right. How?”
“I was hoping you’d have some ideas about that,” Rodney said, as humbly as possible.
Daniel drummed his fingers on the table for a minute. “When Oma sent me back, I think she wasn’t supposed to send me home
—
I was supposed to start a new life that didn’t involve causing any more trouble. But she put me somewhere that SG-1 was going to come sooner or later, because it was a possible site of Atlantis, which we were still looking for at the time.”
“She cheated?”
“Never play poker with Oma Desala. Now, we don’t know what Dr. Weir’s situation is. We don’t even know for certain that she was forced to unascend. But it’s possible that she, or whoever returned her to human form, wanted her to be found.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that your best chance of finding her is probably to continue doing whatever you were planning to do, and to keep your eyes open. I’m assuming that if she’d appeared on New Athos, you’d have heard about it by now.”
“They all knew Elizabeth.”
Daniel nodded. “I only met her briefly, but she was a remarkable person. I’d like to think you’re right.”
“As long as you don’t think I’m crazy.”
“Why does it bother you that people might think you’re crazy? I mean, I’m pretty much used to it. Pyramids built by aliens
—
it was never a popular theory.”
“That’s you,” Rodney said. “I’ve always
—” He was interrupted by his headset radio.
“Dr. McKay, this is Woolsey. Major Lorne has just reported back.”
“And?”
“I’m very sorry, Dr. McKay. Dr. Weir’s Replicator body was located along with the other Replicators. It appears to still be entirely inert.”
“Dead. You mean dead.”
“I am sorry.”
“Yes, well, so am I,” Rodney muttered, and he switched off his headset.
“Bad news?” Daniel said.
“They found Elizabeth,” Rodney said. “Still floating frozen in space. So there goes that theory, right? Chalk the whole thing up to an incipient
—
and well-deserved
—
psychotic break.”
“I don’t know,” Daniel said slowly. “I don’t want to give you too much hope
—”
“You know what, excessive optimism has never really been a problem of mine.”
“Okay, then. The body that’s floating in space isn’t Elizabeth’s original body. Her consciousness had already been separated from that body, in a state that allowed it to exist in subspace, and then to inhabit a new Replicator body. Yes?”
“As far as we understand, yes.”
“So, it’s possible that the part of her that makes her Elizabeth could have Ascended, and
not taken the Replicator body with her. I think the physical body goes with you in the first place because you’re used to thinking of it as part of yourself. But this was a new body for Elizabeth. She may not have identified herself with the body that way.”
“And there’s no way of knowing if Elizabeth is still in there, because we can’t risk thawing her out and asking her,” Rodney said.
“I don’t expect Woolsey’s going to authorize that,” Daniel said. “Not to mention that if she is in there, it would be pretty cruel to put her through being woken up when you still don’t have a solution for her problem.”
“Believe me, we’ve tried to come up with something,” Rodney said. “But if she didn’t Ascend, there’s nothing we can do that will make it safe to unfreeze her. She’s essentially dead, and she’s going to stay that way.”
“So let’s keep our eyes open,” Daniel said. “And keep doing what we’d be doing if we weren’t looking for Elizabeth, and hope she finds us.”
“That’s fair enough,” Rodney said. “Of course, that means that we’re going to be doing exactly what you wanted us to do in the first place.”
“As you pointed out, that’s what Woolsey already ordered you to do.”
“Great. Let’s go look for Ancient installations.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Daniel said.
SGA-22 Unascended
INTERLUDE
She lay in the tall grass, feeling it itch along her skin, and opened her eyes. Shadow. She lay face down, her head pillowed on her arm, and turned her head. She lay in a field of flowers. Golden stars surrounded her, deep in the tall grass, while above the largest stalks great pink flowers raised their heads to the sun, their centers black with seeds. They were no flowers she knew, nothing she had a name for. The sun was warm on her back and she lay in a field of flowers.
The sun was warm. Where had she been that it was so cold? Why couldn’t she remember? Perhaps it didn’t matter much.
There were the sounds of voices, children’s voices raised in song, the deeper voices of adults. They sounded happy. That was good. It was good for people to be happy on such a lovely day.
There were the sounds of running feet, and then they stopped. A child’s voice sang out very close at hand. “Gran! Gran, come quick! There’s a naked lady here!”
More footsteps. A woman’s voice. “Kyan, get back. Go to your father.”
A hand touched her neck from behind, careful fingers gentle as they felt her throat. Checking for a pulse. She knew that gesture, and she opened her hand against the earth.
“Ah.” A woman’s voice, then a man further away.
“Kyan, come here.”
“She’s alive,” the woman said.
She wanted to answer, but the words stuck in her throat.
Careful hands lifted her, turning her over, the sun unbearably bright on her face. “Can you hear me?” the woman asked.
A shadow, the man bending over. ‘I don’t see any blood. Is she hurt?”
Something settled around her shoulders, a cape of soft feathers. She opened her eyes.
An old woman bent over her, concerned brown eyes peering at her face. “Can you speak?”
“I…think so.” Her voice was hoarse, as if from disuse.
The cape settled around her, bright green feathers smelling like sunshine and some deeper scent of resin, covering her nearly to the knees.
The man held a little boy by the hand, the boy watching her curiously. Behind were other people and a three wheeled cart pulled by a pair of large dogs. The men’s heads were shaved except for the child, each carrying packs or bundles. “Where did you come from?” the man asked.
“Child, can you stand?” the old woman asked.
She took the offered hand, getting slowly to her feet. All around them stretched a plain of wild grass, a prairie filled with wildflowers. “Where am I?”
“Along the route to Iaxila,” the man said. “Were you lost from a caravan?” He looked at the old woman worriedly. “There haven’t been bandits on this route for a long time, but…”
The old woman held her hand gently. “You’ve fallen in among honest people. We won’t hurt you, I promise. The Ancestors charge us to treat the stranger as our own. What terrible thing happened to you?”
She stood in the bright sun, her hand in the old woman’s, looking across the grass from horizon to horizon, and no words came. No thoughts. They ran away like water, any moment before this. “I don’t remember,” she said.
They camped that night on the open plains, their fire small compared to the fires above. The sky was thick with stars, a wash of them across the eastern sky illuminating almost to twilight. There was a stew of grains and dried meat, some folded dried fruits passed hand to hand. She sat in the clearing where the tall grass had been cut for the fire, her hands around the hollowed gourd that held her stew.
They had found clothes for her, baggy trousers that tied at waist and ankles, a tight fitting top of knitted wool dyed in all the green shades of new growth, as though one skein had been dipped from dark to light and back again. She was warm enough. Everyone was very kind and very careful.
She slept beneath the stars, wrapped in a tanned hide with fur on one side, listening to the quiet sounds of the camp. Waking changed to sleeping and sleeping to dreaming so gradually that it seemed she was still awake.
She lay beside the dying fires, the tents lit from within by their battery powered lights while the adults talked quietly. The radio with its makeshift antenna played, a song about a girl with kaleidoscope eyes. Her parents were talking, nursing cups of strong British tea, while outside the circle of the fires she saw the reflected gleam of green eyes. They watched steadily.
She got to her feet. The green eyes were unblinking. She started toward them, away from the fires.
An arm around her waist, picking her up and carrying her back. “Let me go!” she said. “I want to see the lions!”
“The problem is if the lions see you, little one.” He put her down as her mother came hurrying.
“Oh Dr. Birna! Thank you so much. Elizabeth, you must never wander off like that. You have to stay by the fires.”
“I want to see the lions!”
“Lions are very dangerous,” Dr. Birna said, kneeling down so that she could see his face, dark beneath white hair. “They know better than to attack a camp, but a child who wanders off alone is fair prey. You must do as your mother says and stay by the fires.”
“…stay by the fires…” She turned, reaching out.
“You are by the fire. There is nothing to worry about.” A man’s voice, calming, and she opened her eyes. She lay under alien stars, wrapped in a shearling blanket. The boy’s father bent over her. “You’re safe,” he said. “There are no predators here that will attack a camp as large as this.”
“Lions,” she said, sitting up. The dream and the present folded together seamlessly. She thought he was Dr. Birna for a moment, but who was Dr. Birna? His face, his name, and then it was gone.
The grandmother had also sat up, turning to face her. “Did you remember something?”
“Kenya,” she said. The name was there suddenly. “We were in Kenya.”
The man frowned. “I don’t know this world, Kenya. Is it your home?”
“No.” She shook her head, certain of that. “We were visiting. Traveling. My father…” His face didn’t come, but the sense of him did, the shape of his hands with a brush in them, brushing away red earth from bones. “He studied old things. Bones. Looking for clues about how humanity began. We were in Kenya and I was very small.”
“Do you have kin there?” the old woman asked gently.
“No. It was a long time ago. And my father is gone.” She knew that. He had died a long time ago, an old sadness long healed over.
And that was all
—
the shape of his hands, the brush moving quickly and carefully over bone, the light of the fires, the eyes in the dark, the r
adio playing a song about diamonds.
The man put his hand on her shoulder gently. “You don’t remember any more?”
The dream was fading. There had been the lions and Dr. Birna and he had handed her to a woman, to her mother…
“My mother called me Elizabeth.”
SGA-22 Unascended
CHAPTER TWO
Ronon jogged along the upper catwalks of the city, John following doggedly at his heels. He could still outdistance John easily, maybe even a fraction more easily than he’d been able to four years before, but he preferred the company. He appreciated it, too, as a sign that he hadn’t burned too many bridges with John in the last few months.
He’d screwed up, he knew, letting himself be tempted to use Hyperion’s weapon, and even worse in keeping it hidden when half the city had been looking for it. He’d gotten people killed in the process, not on purpose, but he still wasn’t proud of it. And he had to admit now that while it would have been worth a lot to get rid of all the Wraith, it wouldn’t have been worth killing everyone with the Gift. Not worth killing Teyla and Torren, who were as much his family as if she’d been born his sister.
And his duty had been to turn the damned thing over to his commanding officer. If he’d started to doubt some of the decisions his commanding officers made, now that they were making treaties with the Wraith and working with them as allies, disobeying orders still wasn’t the way to handle that. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to handle that, but he was trying not to think about it very hard.
Apparently that wasn’t working. He picked up the pace, grinning fiercely over his shoulder at John. “You got soft while you were in charge of the city.”
“A few weeks in a desk job isn’t enough to get soft.”
“So prove it,” Ronon said, and listened for the sound of running footsteps speeding up.