by Jo Graham
“Evacuate to the back caves!” Fenna yelled. “Get back! It may be the Genii again!”
Of course Elizabeth ran the other way, toward the gate. Why would it be the Genii? They had already taken everything worthwhile. Sora wouldn’t return for what was here. Elizabeth didn’t even pause a moment to wonder how she knew that. She simply hurried into the large chamber with the Ring.
The last chevron locked and light exploded out. Five or six miners had taken refuge behind boxes, two of them with Genii bolt action rifles and the rest with mining tools. One was Fenna.
“Hold your fire,” she said grimly. “Wait until you’ve got a good shot.”
Three figures stepped through the pool of light, dark against the brightness behind. They were not Genii.
“Wraith,” Dekaas said at Elizabeth’s elbow.
The one in the center wore a long black coat and his hands were empty and held to the sides. He was smooth faced, a tattoo like a sweep of leaves and tendrils up the side of his face, his hair pulled back with a single bronze clasp. The other pair were masked drones holding their stunners at port arms. “People of Lorvine,” the middle Wraith said loudly, “I have come to speak with you.”
“Obviously,” Dekaas muttered, “Or you’d have come through with stunners blazing.”
Fenna got up from behind the makeshift barricade. “What do you want?”
“You are their queen?”
“I’m the quartermaster,” she said, which seemed to satisfy him.
The gate deactivated behind him. “I have come to tell you that according to treaties recently concluded Lorvine lies within the mandate of my hive.”
“You want us to be filthy worshippers?” a man called out.
The young Wraith
—
for he was young, Elizabeth thought, from the way he hesitated
—
turned to face the speaker. “You are too few to Cull and we do not need your ore. Fortunately for you, you have fallen inside our mandate instead of some other. We will allow you to live in peace.”
“What treaty recently concluded?” Fenna asked with a frown.
“Between the members of the alliance that defeated Queen Death,” he replied.
“I thought the Genii defeated Queen Death.”
“So they say.” He lifted his chin. “But it was my queen who defeated her mind to mind in single combat, not the Genii.”
“Who is your queen and what’s her lineage?” That was Dekaas, his voice cutting unexpectedly through the hubbub.
The Wraith turned to face him. “Waterlight of the line of Osprey,” he said proudly. “And what would you know of such matters?”
Dekaas shrugged.
“What does she want?” Fenna cut in. “What’s the price of our lives?”
“She asks that you acknowledge her sovereignty. She asks me to pledge in her name that we will not feed on Lorvine except upon those who have agreed to be part of the trial of a retrovirus, and who have volunteered to do so.”
A babble of voices broke out. Dekaas’ brows knit. “A retrovirus? Why would we do that?”
“It strengthens the human body so that feeding upon a human doesn’t kill them,” the Wraith said.
“You mean like that enzyme?” Dekaas demanded. “We’ve seen the results of that. It’s as deadly as the feeding, just slower.”
“This is not the same,” the Wraith said. “It has been tested on many humans so far with no lasting ill effects. It does indeed allow feeding without death.”
“And why would we allow that?” Fenna asked. “That’s crazy.”
“We will feed in return for providing assistance,” the Wraith said. His eyes swept over the crowd. “I see that you have injured among you. We could heal your injured for a price.”
“That’s impossible,” someone said.
“It’s not,” Dekaas replied. His eyes never left the Wraith. “But life must be taken from one to give to another.”
“No longer,” the Wraith said. “Our scientists have rendered that unnecessary. A treated human may be fed upon with no ill effects, and thus life may be given to another.”
“And what do you get out of it?” Fenna demanded.
“Food, of course.” The Wraith looked over them again. “We will return. If any of you have chosen to participate in the trial, you may come with us then.” He gestured to one of the drones, who stepped forward to dial the gate.
One of the men with bolt action rifles rose to oppose him, but Fenna gestured him back. “Let them go,” she said. “No sense calling trouble down on us.”
“A wise choice,” the Wraith said.
SGA-22 Unascended
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Rodney glared at John across the desk in what was once again John’s office. “So basically you lost Elizabeth. You found people who knew a woman named Elizabeth who had lost her memory, but she went somewhere with somebody and you don’t know who or where.”
John shifted in the office chair uncomfortably, as though he were more worried than his words admitted. “Rodney, it’s not a problem. We know she’s on a Traveler ship belonging to a guy named Lesko. The ship’s probably in hyperspace or trading somewhere remote right now, but as soon as it rendezvous with Larrin’s ship she’ll give us a call and then we go get Elizabeth.”
“At least you admit Elizabeth is alive,” Rodney said.
Teyla thought it was time to put in a word. “It is highly unlikely that there is another woman named Elizabeth who has lost her memory, especially since it is a name from Earth and I have never heard it in this galaxy. So yes, Elizabeth is alive.”
“But is she a Replicator?” Ronon asked, and the other three turned to look at him. Ronon spread his hands. “I hate to say it. But I’ve got to say it.”
“We don’t know,” John said tightly. “We don’t have any idea whether she’s human or Replicator. And the only way we’ll know is to find her.”
“She’s human,” Rodney said.
Teyla closed her eyes for a moment. “Rodney, you cannot know that.”
“When Jackson unascended he was human.”
“He was human when he ascended,” John pointed out.
“Why would she unascend as a Replicator?” Rodney demanded. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“We don’t know!” John was actually shouting, what Teyla thought was clearly a measure of his frustration with the entire situation. “We don’t know, Rodney! We have no idea. We’re messing with stuff nobody has any idea about! All we can do is find her and then see.”
“You don’t have to yell about it,” Rodney said. “I was just pointing out…”
“Don’t you come back the way you went?” Ronon asked.
“We don’t know!” John snapped. “So how about everybody refrain from speculating while we look for her? Let’s put out another call for Larrin and ask her to let us know when she hears from Lesko’s ship.” When everyone just sat there he stood up. “Rodney! Go do it!”
“Right.” Rodney got up and left, a picture of injured dignity. “Don’t bother to say, McKay, you were right.”
“McKay, you were maybe kind of right,” Ronon said, clapping him on the shoulder as he followed him out.
Teyla waited until the door closed. “Do you think it is Elizabeth?”
“I don’t know.” John’s eyes were worried. “We might be chasing a red herring. Somebody who lost her memory and we supplied the name to the Mazatla. Or it might be a Replicator.”
“Or it might be Elizabeth,” Teyla said. “But I see your point that we must not rush to conclusions. There are many people in the galaxy who would like to lure us into a trap. Including some we think of as allies.”
“The Genii,” John said.
“Yes. I do not think they can repudiate their treaty with us at this time, but I am certain there are some who would like to. If we were to make ourselves vulnerable…”
“And there’s this business about the Asgard following us. We ha
ve no idea how they did that.”
“That is indeed disturbing,” Teyla said.
“Some kind of subspace… I don’t know.” John shook his head. “But you were right when you said it was too much of a coincidence. They’re following us because they want something and we have no idea what.”
“Maybe they found it,” Teyla said. “Maybe the device was what they wanted.” She paused. “Or maybe it’s Elizabeth.”
“How would they know about Elizabeth? Even if she were unascended?”
“I do not know,” Teyla said. “But it is possible that the Asgard are also hunting for her.”
“I know.” John looked down at his laptop like he could see some answer there. “I’d like to go charging off on this like McKay.”
“But you cannot. You are in charge of Atlantis.”
“Until further notice,” John said.
Richard Woolsey looked out the window at bumper to bumper traffic moving up Massachusetts Avenue toward Union Station, a cold February rain falling over DC, not quite cold enough to freeze. He supposed it was rush hour though it felt earlier in the day to him, his body still on Mountain Time. Or maybe on Atlantis time. Which he needed to put behind him, because he was here to stay. This was his office. Quickly emptied of former Governor Roy Martin’s things, this office in Homeworld Security in downtown DC was his until future notice, until he resigned, the President dismissed him, or he died.
There was a knock on the door and he turned to see the super-efficient Lt. Colonel Davis with a stack of briefing folders. “Come in,” Woolsey said. He went around behind his desk and sat down. “If you’ve got a moment, I’d like to hear from you what the most pressing issues are.” And that was a thing he’d learned in Atlantis: the papers could tell you far less about what was really important than an on-the-ball subordinate could.
Davis slid into one of the visitor chairs like he’d expected to be asked. General O’Neill probably employed this technique all the time. “The most critical thing is the logistical support for the expansion of Atlantis personnel.”
Woolsey blinked. “What expansion?”
“Atlantis is getting twenty-eight more people leaving on Daedalus tomorrow, to be assigned permanently, with another seventeen following on Daedalus’ next run in eight weeks,” Davis replied. “They’re all Indian. Sixteen of the current group are civilian scientists and five of the next group. The balance are Indian Air Force personnel who are assigned to support for the Asoka.” Woolsey must have looked blank because Davis continued. “The Asoka is the Indian research vessel that’s preparing to launch.”
“I thought that was next year,” Woolsey said.
“They’ve moved it up to summer,” Davis said. “So they’re sending out their support personnel and material beforehand. So that when the Asoka arrives in Atlantis there will be any necessary repair and maintenance equipment already there, as well as the people to use it.”
“Nobody’s told Atlantis anything about it,” Woolsey said.
“I don’t know why that is, sir,” Davis said. “But we’ve also been working out the logistical support. It’s only fair that India is supplying additional rations and supplies, so we’re getting a shipment from the Indian Air Force to the SGC.”
“Why aren’t they just using the Stargate instead of going on Daedalus?” Woolsey asked.
“The IAF thought that it would be a good idea for them to become acclimated to spaceflight,” Davis said. “Only four of them have been off-world before, and all of those are civilian scientists. So they’re riding along on Daedalus and seeing it operationally.”
And if Caldwell was fine with that, well and good. That was an Air Force problem, not his. His was to make sure that Sheppard knew that they were coming. They’d need quarters and lab space and storage for the spare parts for Asoka. If they wanted to be near the landing space on the south platform, there might be room in the tower just north of it to store parts and set up office space overlooking the landing pad…
But that was also not his problem. Sheppard would do that. He had to stop micromanaging Atlantis and think about the big picture.
“This is the first major cooperative operation,” Davis said. “The IOA is very invested.”
Which was code for ‘if it doesn’t go well, it’s someone’s head.’
“It’s an exciting opportunity,” Woolsey said. “And I’m sure it will go fine. Get me the documentation on who’s leaving on Daedalus tomorrow so I can brief Atlantis. Let’s make sure everything is ready when they arrive.” First impressions meant a lot, and arriving to prepared quarters and good food was the first step to a smooth working relationship.
This was the shape of the future, not an isolated expedition on a one-way trip but all nations venturing into the cosmos together, and here, sitting at his desk on Massachusetts Avenue, it was up to him. Richard Woolsey could make it work.
SGA-22 Unascended
INTERLUDE
Half the miners started packing up to leave Lorvine. Fenna made no attempt to persuade them to stay. “What can I say?” she asked. “Between the Wraith and the Genii, this has become a real dangerous place.” She looked around the well-lit caverns. “Those of us who are staying are staying because we’ve got no place to go.”
“You could come aboard the Durant,” Dekaas said. “We’ll be casting off soon. No point in staying longer.”
“Nor risking your ship.” Fenna’s eyes were suspiciously bright. “And do you speak for your captain then, that you invite us to crew?”
“You’ve skills we can use,” Dekaas said. “And I’d speak to the captain on your behalf. He’s a reasonable man.”
Fenna glanced around the caverns again, then sighed. “No,” she said. “I’ll stay. Thank you kindly for the offer, Dekaas.” She glanced at Elizabeth. “And you can dial out for Sateda. Just get in line. Lots of people going lots of places.”
“Thank you,” Elizabeth said, and watched her walk away. She squared her shoulders. “And I will be sorry to say goodbye to you, Dekaas.”
The old man smiled. “And I to you, Elizabeth. I hope you find the home you’re looking for.”
There was one more thing she wondered. “Why did you ask the Wraith about his queen?”
“I thought it might be someone I’d heard of.”
“Is she?”
Dekaas shook his head. “I’ve never heard of Waterlight. Her line
—
well, I’ve heard of that.” He dropped his voice. “The hive I served on once was an Osprey hive. But that was years ago, and there are many queens. Or were. I’d guess she’s young and wasn’t very important before this alliance against Queen Death.”
“Do you think the Wraith was telling the truth?”
“That she killed Queen Death?” Dekaas shrugged. “It could be. That’s how it’s supposed to work, mind to mind and hand to hand between queens. Not that it always does. There are plenty who are content to throw men and Darts at each other from a distance. But it could have happened that way. Which would make her much more prominent now, as many of Queen Death’s men would be obligated to follow her. She could have staked quite a large claim.”
“Including sovereignty over human settled planets?”
“For what it’s worth,” Dekaas said. “Hives often divide up hunting grounds, and it does make a difference. Some hives Cull recklessly. Others are more occasional hunters. Not that it matters to the prey.”
Elizabeth frowned. “What about this retrovirus?”
“That’s been tried before,” Dekaas said. “And the idea of strengthening humans against the feeding process…” He frowned. “Medically, the way it works is that when a Wraith feeds it injects the prey with an enzyme that temporarily
—
and I do mean very temporarily
—
strengthens the human so that it won’t die from shock immediately, before the Wraith has finished feeding. There have been many attempts, both by humans and Wraith, to synth
esize this enzyme so that humans can survive a feeding. It doesn’t work. And the effects of the enzyme on the human system in the long run are deleterious.” He drew her aside, away from anyone who might overhear. “Atelia’s husband was addicted to the enzyme when he first came aboard the Traveler ships. I helped him get through the withdrawal, and he just barely pulled through. He had continuing problems for months, and there are issues that are never going to go away. Most don’t live through the withdrawal. He was lucky and he was a physically fit young man. But messing with the enzyme is a very bad idea.”
“But they said this was a retrovirus.” Elizabeth frowned again. There was something this should remind her of, some problem, some dilemma she’d seen before. But it wasn’t there. Whatever the important memory was, it escaped her.
“And you know what a retrovirus is,” Dekaas said. He smiled unexpectedly. “Interesting.”
“You don’t think I’m Satedan?”
“You may be. But there are other places…” He stopped. “Does Hoff sound familiar?”
“Maybe?” And there was a dark story there too, lost somewhere in the black depths of her mind.
Dekaas put his hand on her shoulder. “I hope for your sake that your home is out there, and that there are people you love who are looking for you.”
“But you don’t think so?”
“I doubt it,” Dekaas said solemnly. “But I understand you need to know. And if you decide you want to come with us, there’s good work and a place for you here.”
“Thank you,” Elizabeth said, unexpectedly touched. “I’ll remember that.”
Elizabeth stepped through to Sateda at night. Unfamiliar stars shone over the ruined city, dimmed by the lanterns that surrounded the square where the Ring stood. The pavement was cracked but everything was swept clean, and the buildings surrounding the square showed lights here and there in the windows. A series of low fences directed inbound travelers to a kiosk with an awning
—
some kind of customs booth. Elizabeth looked around in surprise. Somehow she had not expected this. Surely everything should have been rubble? Surely there should be no people?