Exogenesis

by Sonny Whitelaw;Elizabeth Christensen

  "Just a sec." Corletti managed to activate the HUD. "Oh, crap... Well, it could be worse. We could have gone right over the edge."

  It took Teyla a moment to interpret the inverted display, but it seemed they had landed atop the uneven cliff directly behind the main camp. A careless movement might send them plunging to the ground. With no inertial dampeners to cushion the fall, it could prove to be fatal.

  Under normal circumstances it would have been prudent to stay with the jumper, but Teyla knew only too well that a rescue was out of the question, at least until her teammates returned from offworld with a machine that might or might not exist. And while she had every confidence in Rodney's ability to operate such a device, it would take time. "Most of my people would have taken refuge in the gorge below us"

  "How far below?"

  "Perhaps two hundred feet."

  "Okay." Corletti fastened her with a determined smile. "We have rappelling equipment stowed in the back."

  "Your shoulder-"

  "Is fine. It was a dislocation, not a break. Like I said, it's happened before. Nothing to get excited about." Corletti was already moving to the rear of the jumper.

  Perhaps the Marine was being truthful on one level, but Teyla knew that the injury would be a hindrance. "I believe it is best if I climb down to the ground and locate a suitable anchor point." She found her pack and pulled it on, then crouched by the hatch, prepared for the onslaught.

  Corletti opened the hatch. "Don't climb back up. I'll throw down-"

  The howling wind tore the words away before they had fully left her mouth. Teyla had expected rain and wind, of course, but the water's impact on her face was like a million tiny punches, making it almost impossible to draw breath. The violent wind slammed her back into the bulkhead. Even the sound was like a physical force.

  Ignoring the fierce pain of shredded twigs and branches slapping against her, Teyla lunged across the jumper and hit the mechanism to close the hatch, for Corletti had lost her grip and also been flung back. When the jumper was once more sealed and some order reestablished, she looked back to see the lieutenant. The woman's dark hair was plastered back off her dripping face, and she was clinging to the bulkhead that divided the two sections of the jumper. Only inches from her face, one end of a splintered branch had speared deeply into a supply kit.

  Eyeing the near-deadly missile, Corletti spat out a mouthful of water and said, "Okay, let's rethink that. As much as I like shish kebabs, I really don't want to end up as one-whoa, what was that?"

  The jumper abruptly slipped another short distance, but that did not concern Teyla so much as the blast of noise that reverberated through the hull.

  Halling waited until everyone was clear of the shelter and making their way back down to the main camp before following. He understood that some of his people would be injured in the ferocious storm, but he also knew that the consequences of remaining under the shelter of the mountain would be catastrophic.

  "We must keep going," he declared. "Move as if the Wraith were in pursuit!" Through the flashes in the sky he could see people fall and slip in the mud, but none were left behind. By the time they had all reached the outskirts of the main camp, two ominous cracking sounds had come from higher up in the mountains. He looked back but saw nothing. The storm had eased for a time, which, though it made for a smoother journey, provided them with less light.

  At the main camp several hunting parties ran to greet them, wanting to know what was happening. Kwesi gesticulated wildly and pointed back the way they had come. When he motioned toward the river and headed in that direction, several people made as if to return to their tents.

  "No! We must stay together," Halling told them, looking around for those who had been up at the lakeside camp. "Has anyone seen Jinto?"

  "No one from the mountains has returned," replied a new arrival. "Perhaps we should stay here and wait?"

  Kwesi's normally soft voice broke through the discussion. "Listen to me! We must cross the river and take shelter in the caves on the far side. Staying here is dangerous. Look!"

  As a group, they turned and peered into the darkness. It took several moments, but the next series of lightning strikes confirmed what Halling had feared. Beyond the next valley, the entire face of two mountains had sheared away. He could not see what had become of the earth, but there was no doubt that it filled the valley beneath, cutting off the path to the lakeside camp. Any hope of going in search of Jinto was now lost.

  The despair that gripped Halling was like none he had ever known, not even when he'd seen his wife taken by the Wraith. Losing her had been devastating, but they had lived under that danger all their lives. To abandon Jinto in a storm-

  Cries and shouts of warning pulled him from his shock. Someone tugged at his sleeve, and he blinked away his momentary paralysis. His duty now lay with those still within his reach. "Make for the bridge!" he called unnecessarily. He would find another way of reaching Jinto, but to do so he had to stay alive.

  Ahead of him, people had reached the section where the path narrowed through the trees and were beginning to cluster together. Halling was alarmed by a new sound, one familiar to them all. Now that the wind had lessened, he could hear the gushing of the swollen river. The roar grew louder with every step. Branches slapped his face, and several times he stopped to help children who had slipped and fallen. At the next bend, the sound of water became a roar, and people stopped moving. Someone was urging them to go back the way they had come.

  Hailing made his way though the group. "...don't have any choice!" he heard Kwesi declare.

  "We barely made it across," replied one of the hunters who had spent the day on the far side of the river. "Uprooted trees have smashed into the embankment on both sides. Some of the places where the bridge is fastened are dangerously unstable. If anyone attempts to cross now, I believe it will break." The man shifted a brace of animals to his other shoulder.

  The sense of desperation Halling had been fighting off now engulfed him, smothering his ability to think clearly. He was not a leader of his people. Not for the first time, he felt Teyla's absence deeply, and he suffered a momentary flash of resentment. The Wraith would come as they always had, and the arrival of people from Earth would not change that inevitable fact, no matter what Teyla hoped. She should have remained with her own people. She should be here to lead them.

  "The risks of staying here are greater," Kwesi urged.

  A particularly bright lightning strike seized everyone's attention. A deafening roar of thunder and another, more explosive crack followed. Hailing saw a long, narrow rent, as if a large knife had slashed a horizontal wound, high up along the face of the mountain directly behind the camp. The rain in his eyes and temporary darkness combined to disguise the motion, but the next flare of storm light revealed a far greater rift, as if the gash were opening. But this was no mere injury. Like a monster stalking them in the darkness, the slipping mountainside was captured in a series of still images momentarily frozen in position by successive flashes. Each terrifying glimpse revealed that the avalanche was headed towards the camp-and them.

  On the next bolt, an involuntary cry tore from his throat. Mixed up among the cascade of earth and uprooted trees and boulders was a lifeless-looking puddle jumper. The awful realization turned Halling's stomach. Teyla had indeed come for them, but her ship had crashed on this most terrible of nights and was now being carried along by the torn mountain as if it were nothing more than a speck of dust.

  Kwesi was the first to pull everyone from their morbid fascination, screaming through the rain that they must run for the bridge. Someone slammed into Halling's shoulder, bringing him swiftly back to the situation at hand. There was nothing he could do to help Teyla and anyone else who might be in the jumper.

  Breaking into a run, Halling caught up with the others sprinting through the bushes. He now had his first glimpse of the river, swollen and churning at a great speed. Branches and darker objects, perhaps unfortunate animals,
were being swept along. Among the noise, he heard Kwesi's voice, then spotted the engineer directing people onto the bridge. It appeared intact, despite the great tangle of trees that had rammed up against both banks. Many of the supporting ropes had broken, causing the bridge to sway, but it was nevertheless negotiable.

  "You go across!" Hailing urged Kwesi. The engineer shook his head and helped a pregnant woman take her first steps. "Go! Help Ansi across and head for the caves. You have the radio-you must inform Dr. Weir of what has happened."

  Two-thirds of the way across, another supporting rope snapped, and the bridge sagged until it dipped into the savage waters. Gripping Ansi close, Kwesi shouted for everyone to space out more evenly. On the far side, people were scrambling up a path that led to solid rock and the shallow caves. There, though exposed to wind and rain, Halling knew they would at least be safe from avalanches.

  On the bridge, yet another rope snapped. Hailing could not be certain through the rain and flashes of lightning, but five or six people appeared to slip and fall into the tumultuous river. They were carried from view before anyone could react. Others clung to the ropes, their feet dangling in the water, while hands reached out to pull them to safety. Those on the far side, including Kwesi, pointed back the way they had come. Hailing could not hear their voices, but their faces twisted into awful screams.

  Hailing looked over his shoulder. Again, it took moments for the lightning strikes to illuminate the area, but when they did so, a vise clutched his heart. It appeared as if the crumbling mountain had swallowed a section of the permanent camp. Part of his mind registered the fact that there was no longer any sign of the jumper.

  Those negotiating the bridge-now little more than a few ropes and dangling planks-somehow managed to increase their speed, but then the last rope snapped, tossing many into the water. He rushed to the embankment, grabbing at hands and pulling people ashore, thankful to see that most had clung on and made it to the far side.

  His thanks were short-lived, though. In another moment, he and all of those remaining on this side of the river would be overwhelmed by the disintegrating mountain. In those few brief seconds remaining to him, Halling decided that at least this would be a more merciful death than that which he would have suffered at the hands of the Wraith.

  The rumbling grew so loud he could no longer hear the river. He stood quietly, waiting, and said a silent farewell to Jinto.

  Elizabeth leaned on the railing of the gallery and watched the jumper emerge from the wormhole. Through the windshield she could see John's boyish grin, while Rodney was gesturing excitedly. "Welcome back, Jumper One," she called through her com. "Can I take it from your expressions that you've located Atlas's second machine?"

  "Not exactly, but we may be able to go one better," replied the Colonel. "I'll let Rodney explain." The ship ascended from the control room floor to the jumper bay overhead, and Elizabeth left to go up and meet them, hoping that their news was better than hers.

  The team had already disembarked by the time she reached the bay. Her hope took an immediate hit when she found them mostly empty-handed and sporting what seemed to be varying degrees of sunburn. Upon closer examination, she noticed that their uniforms were also rather the worse for wear and Ronon's coat appeared to have been attacked by some truly ferocious moths. "Gentlemen." She stared pointedly at the container in Carson's hands. "That doesn't look like what we were hoping for."

  "This?" Carson lifted the vial. "Oh, no, on the contrary. Whatever this stuff is, it's quite dangerous." His gaze took in the others. "I want to see all of you in the infirmary as soon as you've gotten cleaned up and made your report to Dr. Weir. I'm sorry to be in such a rush," he added, moving past Elizabeth, "but I really need to get working on this."

  "Oh, and my time is somehow less valuable?" Rodney brandished his laptop. "I've only got a planet-wide transformation to halt, but yes, by all means, let's spend a few minutes to confirm that none of us is getting the sniffles from the killer sand."

  His atypical reaction set Elizabeth back a step. If Rodney, who was pathologically conscientious about his welfare, felt he had higher priorities than a post-mission exam, that was a weighty statement indeed.

  "I'm sure you can keep your computer open while you turn your head and cough," John assured him dryly, starting the group in motion toward the doors. Addressing Elizabeth, he asked, "How's the evacuation of the Athosians going?"

  As much as she hated being the bearer of bad news, Elizabeth had gotten a depressing amount of practice at it. "We've lost contact with Dr. Mane at the Athosian camp. Conditions deteriorated rapidly, and we had to recall the jumpers. Teyla and Lieutenant Corletti were unable to return. Based on their last known position, we presume their jmnper crashed on the mainland."

  Both John and Ronon froze at that, their expressions going carefully blank at almost the same moment. Their disparate backgrounds notwithstanding, it seemed the two men had similar traits, at least when it came to their concern for a teanunate and their desire not to make that concern obvious to others.

  "Corletti's good," John said resolutely. "If they were anywhere near land, she put it down all right."

  "And Teyla can take care of herself," added Ronon.

  Neither sounded fully confident.

  "I believe you're both right," Elizabeth said, leading them down the stairs. "Unfortunately, there's no way we can start search-andrescue operations right now." For John, who had SAR in his blood, she knew this was a particularly galling choice, but she also knew he would understand. "The other jumpers just barely managed to make it back ahead of the storm. We've had to power up the city shield in order to prevent damage to Atlantis."

  One of the large windows came into view, illustrating the magnitude of the storm and the glow of the shield. Rodney's pace slowed. "Tell me you're not operating it at full strength," he demanded. "Tell me somebody had the brains to-"

  "Of course," Elizabeth reassured him. "Radek is still fine-tuning the optimization, but he's certain he can keep power usage to a minimum."

  When they reached the briefing room they were joined by Caldwell, who acknowledged the team's return with a nod.

  "Good. Conservation and protection are our new goals in life," Rodney said, taking a seat and setting his laptop down on the polished table. "We need to safeguard every nut and bolt in the city if we're going to have any chance at what I have in mind. I'm going to pull Radek off his shield project. In fact, all work needs to stop, because I need everyone's undivided attention."

  "With the exception of the Daedalus repairs," Caldwell corrected.

  "No. When I say `all work,' I mean without exception." Rodney ignored the impending objection from the ship's commander and pushed ahead. "We may be able to get the star drive operational and turn Atlantis back into a space ship."

  His announcement was met with stunned silence. Elizabeth felt a rush of the same excitement that had accompanied her first steps into the city, nearly two years ago. Biting her lip in an effort to contain a smile, she sat forward. "Are you serious?"

  Looking faintly smug at their reactions, Rodney continued. "I'll admit that I didn't completely believe it was possible at first, but I know exactly what needs to be done. I didn't have any trouble firing up the engines in the sister city we found on that delightful, intrigue-laden Renaissance Fair planet. Our only constraint up to now has been our limited power supply-and we've just found a veritable mother lode of ZPMs. By my count, Polrusso has twelve."

  "Twelve?" Obviously the revelation had been played for maximum effect, and Elizabeth had to admit that it worked. "How solid is that information?" she asked.

  "The tech doesn't lie," John confirmed. "But before Scrooge McKay over here gets carried away, you should know that it'll be tough to get our hands on that many. For one thing, the Polrussons have built their villages around the ZPMs. Since the terraforming process was never completed there, they depend on the power."

  With even half that many ZPMs, they could conceiva
bly fulfill the Atlantis expedition's original mandate to enhance the defensive capabilities of Earth. God, what an opportunity! "Tell me about the Polrusson people." Elizabeth rested her forearms on the table.

  "Not the usual crowd." John shrugged out of his battered jacket. "They have a surprisingly good grasp of history, their own as well as the Ancients'. They're aware of the situation with the terraforming and have adapted well to a harsh environment. The government's democratic, with a group of Elders that hold down day jobs-one's a teacher. Artistic bunch, too. All in all, really normal and well-adjusted."

  "Sounds too good to be true." Caldwell folded his arms. "What's the catch?"

  "I had pretty much the same reaction." John grimaced. "Turns out they've got a hive ship parked somewhere on the other side of the planet."

  Blinking, Caldwell replied, "That's a hell of a catch."

  "The Wraith don't disturb the village all that often on the relative scale. The villagers tell ghost stories about a Wraith named Nabu, but the vast majority of the hive is hibernating." Rodney was dismissive. "For our purposes, it's a minor detail."

  "Doctor, when it comes to the Wraith, there's no such thing. If all the other hives are awake, why not this one?"

  "What makes you so sure that they're all awake?" Ronon asked.

  That proclamation was met with four worried glances. "Oh, wonderful. Thank you. That's just the positive reinforcement I needed right now," Rodney snapped.

  "Be that as it may, I have to agree with Colonel Caldwell," Elizabeth said. "If that hive is disturbed-"

  "Two birds, one stone." Her chief scientist clearly had no intention of letting anyone rain on his parade. "Three birds, actually. These people want the terraforming machine shut down. We want the ZPMs. The hive ship -well, we know what it wants, but that's irrelevant. More importantly, it's located in a pre-oceanic basin. Pulling the ZPMs will release the reservoirs. The Wraith will be underwater before they know what hit them."