STARGATE ATLANTIS: Lost Queen (SGX-04)

by Melissa Scott

  “The big question is how it got here,” Ronon said.

  “Through the Stargate, perhaps,” Forge countered.

  “Highly unlikely,” Beckett said. “The first cases occurred in villages several hundred kilometers from the gate, and when we arrived with treatment, there were only a handful of cases here. This village is closest to the gate.”

  “I’m betting the Wraith brought it,” Ronon said, to the Young Queen. “If they’ve lost a ship — and a queen — that means they could just have been sick, they didn’t even have to have brought the fever here on purpose.”

  It was just barely possible, Forge thought. Moonwhite had not been sick when she visited her sister, but this more virulent strain might have a shorter incubation period, and queen and crew might have been overcome on their way back to their own hive. Which could mean that his own hive was in danger — or that Light Breaking had deliberately infected her sister. He shoved that thought away. If Light Breaking were behind her sister’s death, she would have claimed it openly. He had to believe that. “Perhaps. Moonwhite was well when she left our hive, but — it could be. And that is all the more reason to find her as quickly as we can. Though we are all at risk of infection.”

  “Dr. Beckett has developed a vaccine,” the Young Queen said. “We are not at risk.”

  “We are.” Forge suppressed a snarl.

  “You’d — I’d be willing to let you take the injection,” Beckett said, “but frankly I’ve no idea if it would work. Or what else it might do.”

  “We have no time for that,” Forge said. He shook his head. “Let me take supplies for this treatment you have developed, just in case. Otherwise — we will have to take our chances.”

  The Lanteans returned to the field beside the Stargate a few hours later, as the sun approached the zenith. The Wraith had retreated to the shelter of the trees that edged the clearing, glad of the shade that cut the light, but when Blaze saw the figures coming across the field, he gathered the others with a glance.

  *They are returning.*

  *And Forge is well, I see,* Everlasting answered, with some asperity. He was fond of the cleverman, Blaze knew, as well as an ally.

  *Let’s hope they’ve found something useful,* Salt said, with a glance at Guide, and the group made their way out into the blinding light.

  “Blaze!” Sheppard lifted a hand briefly, but returned it almost at once to the stock of his weapon. “We’re willing to help you search for this missing queen.”

  “We are grateful,” Blaze said. He glanced once at Forge, who met his eyes squarely.

  *They’re right, the virus has been modified. I fear it is Death’s work. The Lanteans have developed a treatment which they have shared with us — and they have a vaccine for themselves — but we should be cautious.*

  Blaze heard Everlasting hiss softly, and barely kept himself from showing teeth. *And our queen?*

  *No sign of her. The one called McKay has a possible search vector.*

  Blaze took a breath and made himself focus on Sheppard again. “We have an area we would like to investigate first.”

  “McKay’s got some ideas, too,” Sheppard said. He gave his wary smile. “I’ll be interested to see how they line up.”

  “And I will take the opportunity to leave you at this point,” Guide said.

  “And here I thought you’d want to come along,” Sheppard said.

  Guide shook his head. “This is not my concern, though of course my queen takes some interest. I have performed the introductions. The rest is up to you.”

  For a moment, it looked as though Ronon was going to protest, but Sheppard said, “Suit yourself. We’ll let you know what happens.”

  “I have no doubt that I will hear the story,” Guide answered, with an oblique smile, and turned back to the scout. *We will wait in orbit until you return.*

  Blaze took a deep breath, knowing better than to reveal his anger, though he suspected Guide could feel it well enough. “Let us see how our ideas compare,” he said aloud, and McKay reached for a laptop.

  The Lanteans had identified the same area as the most likely starting point for a search, and Blaze didn’t know whether to take that as a good sign or not. Still, it was a step closer to finding his queen, and if Forge was right about the blood fever… He put that thought aside. He would find Moonwhite as quickly as possible: there was no other choice.

  The Lanteans, after some brief low-voiced discussion that even Blaze’s sharp ears could not follow, urged them aboard one of their small scout craft — jumpers, he remembered they were called. The four Wraith settled themselves unhappily in the rear compartment, flanked by the soldiers the Lanteans called “Marines” with gunpowder weapons trained on them, and Sheppard and McKay took their places at the pilots’ stations.

  “It would be best if you sat very still,” the Young Queen said, from the seat directly behind Sheppard, and Blaze thought it would be wise to obey. Still, they were at least free to talk and he glanced sideways at Salt, who to his surprise was looking almost ill.

  *What’s wrong?*

  *I haven’t seen a ship like this since I was a child,* Salt said. *It brings back… memories. That’s all.*

  *Forge,* Everlasting said. *Do you know how they identified this area? Did someone see a ship go down?*

  *They didn’t tell me,* Forge answered, *but I think they are tracking backward from the first reports of the blood fever.* He gave Blaze an apologetic look. *They believe we are responsible for the outbreak.*

  *That’s impossible,* Blaze began, and stopped. It wasn’t impossible, of course, not if Light Breaking had betrayed her sister. Moonwhite had not shared her reasons for this visit, hasty and secret as it was. It was easy to imagine some thought, some question, posed to lure Moonwhite to Light Breaking’s hive, where she could be exposed to the virus and sent on her way before she could endanger any of her sister’s people… But, no, Light Breaking had not claimed either a death or her sister’s hive, and he refused to believe that she would prolong the process.

  *There was no sickness on your hive, surely?* Everlasing asked, tentatively.

  *Nothing,* Blaze answered. Unless, of course, there had been an outbreak after he had left — but the fever would have shown itself before, the incubation period was known and long past. He rested his head against the padded bulkhead, unable to make sense of any of this.

  *There could not be,* Forge said, almost in the same moment, *or we would have shown signs of illness, too. And that is proof against the Lanteans’ theory: if your queen were contagious, our people would be sick as well.*

  *You said the virus was modified,* Salt began, and Forge shook his head, drawing an abortive movement from the nearest Marine.

  “It’s all right, Hernandez,” the Young Queen said, and the man subsided. She seemed remarkably calm, and for an instant Blaze wondered if she somehow understood their conversation. But that was impossible, and he shook himself back to the business at hand.

  *Yes, but not in a way that would prolong the incubation period,* Forge said. *Or at least, not that I could see in the Lantean samples, as much as I was allowed to examine them. But the fact that it seems more virulent would also tend to rule out a longer incubation.*

  That was certainly true, Blaze thought, and tried to convince himself it was encouraging. If Moonwhite were truly lost… He had come to her mother’s hive as a young blade, knowing only that his own hive was overpopulated with ambitious blades and clevermen, and that someday the daughters would have hives of their own. He had not aspired then to any queen’s favor, not until he had seen the sisters side by side in the hive’s great atrium, laughing together at the words of some other blade. They were both beautiful, with jet black hair that made their skin look the paler by contrast, and the full breasts and broad hips of the daughters of Night, both beautiful and clever, skilled leaders. Light Breaking was the more outspoken of the pair, and she had been quick to catch the eye of both Forge and Everlasting, but Blaze himself
had been drawn to Moonwhite’s quieter certainties. She said less, and took more time to say it, but she chose more wisely than Light Breaking.

  He buried that thought, not wanting to offend either Forge or Everlasting — he and Everlasting had been good friends, once, before their choices led them down different paths — but Salt slanted a glance at him anyway, and he caught a hint of the storymaker’s rueful approval.

  “Where are you taking us?” he asked aloud, hoping to distract the others, and Ronon turned in his seat, showing very white teeth.

  “A little late to be worrying about that.”

  Forge dipped his head to hide a wry smile, and Everlasting said, *That one is beginning to get on my nerves.*

  “We are tracking back along the vector of infection,” the Young Queen began, and in the co-pilot’s seat McKay sat up sharply.

  “Hey. I’ve — yes, we’ve got something.”

  Everlasting made an abortive movement, and relaxed again as the Marines raised their weapons. Blaze repressed the desire to lean forward, to peer through the jumper’s windshield, and said, carefully, “What have you found?”

  “Traces of organic compounds,” McKay answered, “burnt wood, turpenes —”

  “A wrecked Wraith scout,” Sheppard said. “And there’s a village not far away.”

  Blaze suppressed a hiss. If Moonwhite or her blades had been injured, they would have needed to feed, and the village would be the closest food source. From the looks on the Marines’ faces, they had made the same calculation, and didn’t like the results.

  *This may be… unfortunate,* Salt said.

  “Are there any signs of life?” Blaze asked aloud. He would not apologize, or offer excuses, not until he knew that there was something to excuse.

  “Nothing so far,” McKay answered. “Well, I mean, not Wraith, and not at the wreck site, but there are people in the village —”

  The jumper tilted and circled, and this time Blaze did hiss as he saw the crumpled shape that had been the scout Nimble. It had come down more or less under control, he thought, but the ground here was rough, rising from foothills to impressive mountains, and the scout had burrowed its nose and one lifting surface into the broken terrain, leaving a gouged track and shreds of hide and bracing in the shattered trees. It was dead — mercifully, with that damage — and he could not spare it the regret it deserved.

  *I do not feel Moonwhite,* Salt said, his eyes focusing on nothing.

  *Nor I,* Blaze answered, and said aloud, “And our queen?”

  “I’m not seeing any Wraith,” Sheppard answered. His hands moved busily over the controls. “We’re going to check out the village.”

  The jumper swung away, skimming the dark treetops. Blaze leaned forward just a little, heedless of the Marines, and saw a clearing ahead. At its far end, there was a cluster of woven-grass roofs: the village, then, and its fields. Sheppard circled once, and then brought the jumper down easily near the clearing’s edge.

  “Stay right there,” the nearest Marine said, and the jumper’s rear door folded neatly down. The air that swept in was cooler than in the lowlands, and smelled of crushed grass and smoke. Blaze frowned at that, and saw Forge’s head lift.

  *What has burned —*

  “Ok, on your feet,” Sheppard interrupted. “Walk out, and keep your hands where I can see them.”

  Blaze felt Everlasting’s rising anger and said quickly, “Yes. We will do so.” He suited his actions to his word, rising carefully and walking down the ramp with his spine held perfectly straight, hands open and empty at his side. Forge copied him, and Everlasting followed with more reluctance, but Salt looked, if anything, faintly amused.

  “So this is one of the outlier villages,” he said aloud, lifting his head so that the breeze stirred the tip of his long braid. “But where are the villagers?”

  It was a fair question, Blaze thought, and saw the Marines exchange nervous glances. There was, at first glance, only a handful of buildings, one larger than the rest and set toward the edge of the clearing, four other, smaller houses with conical roofs, and a fenced enclosure that ran from the smallest house almost to the woods. The air smelled even more strongly of burning, but no smoke rose from any of the buildings. The fenced enclosure was empty even of animals, and there was no sign of humans anywhere.

  *One of the houses has burned,* Everlasting said, and tilted his head. Blaze looked more closely, and realized that what he had taken for a pile of rubbish was in fact the remains of another hut.

  “Looks like there was a fire,” Ronon said, in the same instant, and the young Queen lifted her head.

  “There.” She pointed, and the others turned to look as a thin figure rose out of the grass, waving a strip of scarlet cloth.

  “Stay back!” it called. “Stay away! Plague, there’s plague here —”

  Sheppard said something under his breath, and slung his weapon on his chest again. “It’s all right. We’ve come to help.”

  He started toward the — it was a child, Blaze realized, a skinny child in a grubby shirt and not much more, but at that age he couldn’t tell if it were male or female — and the child took three skipping steps backward, waving the banner again.

  “No, stay back! You’ll catch your deaths!”

  Sheppard stopped. “We’re from Atlantis, we’ve come to help you.”

  “You brought the Wraith,” the child answered, and Blaze heard Everlasting hiss behind him.

  “They’re — well, it’s a long story, but we won’t let them hurt you,” Sheppard said.

  “If there are people here who are sick, we can help them,” the Young Queen said. “We have medicines with us, and can bring more.”

  The child made a small sound like a sob, but shook its head wildly. “Grandmother says, no one is to come in. Otherwise they’ll catch it and die.”

  Sheppard went to one knee. “So your — grandmother? She told you to keep watch, keep people out? That’s very brave of you.”

  “If you go in, you’ll die.” The child sniffled. “Everybody’s going to die.”

  “Not if you let us help you,” Sheppard said. “I bet I can guess what’s wrong — the blood fever, right? We’ve got medicine for that, and we can help you. If you’ll let us.”

  The child hesitated. “We don’t have any money.”

  “We don’t need to be paid,” the Young Queen said. “Once we have treated your people, if any are well enough to answer a few questions — that would be helpful to us. But first let us help.”

  A figure appeared in the doorway of the largest building, an old woman in a long dress and a filthy apron, a strip of once-bright fabric wrapped around her hair.

  “Bina! Tell them to go!”

  The child darted back to her, the scarlet flag flying behind it, bright against the yellowing grass. “Granny, they’ve come to help!”

  “No!” The old woman caught the child by the shoulders, turned it firmly away from the door. “Stay out, Bina, you know you must. Strangers, the blood fever has us. Run, before it takes you, too!”

  “We have come from Atlantis,” the Young Queen said, taking a couple of careful steps forward. “I am Teyla Emmagen, once of Athos and now of Atlantis. We were called here to help treat this plague. We can help you if you’ll let us.”

  “Atlantis?” The old woman swayed, and caught herself against the door’s frame. “Truly? From Atlantis?”

  “Yes.” The Young Queen nodded firmly. “Let us help you.”

  “No one can help us,” the old woman said, but she did not offer further protest as the Young Queen came closer.

  Sheppard bit his lip, looking from the houses to the Marines and then the jumper. “Ok. Ronon, you and Hernandez stay with the Wraith, keep them out of our way. McKay, contact Dr. Beckett and tell him we need another med team here as quickly as possible. We’ll get them more information in flight, but assume we’ve got a village full of sick people.”

  “Right,” McKay answered, and bustled away.


  “The rest of you, come with me.” Sheppard turned without waiting for an answer, and the Marines followed.

  After a moment, Salt laughed softly. “And now we simply wait?”

  “Yes.” Ronon’s thumb caressed the butt of his weapon.

  “What of our queen?” Blaze asked.

  Ronon shrugged. “Looks like she caused the epidemic. I doubt you’ll find her alive.”

  “All the more reason for us to make haste,” Blaze snapped. And the crash itself had been bad, bad enough to kill even if there had been no sickness.

  “Nope.” Ronon shook his head. “You heard Sheppard. We wait here until help comes.”

  Blaze drew breath to protest, his claws flexing, and Forge laid a hand on his sleeve.

  *Wait. I do not think your queen has been here. The child was not afraid.*

  Everlasting lifted his head. *True. If there had been a Culling — if any of us had hunted here —*

  Forge nodded. *The child would not have been so calm. And if Moonwhite did not come here, then she was not exposed to the fever.*

  That was true, though the consequences of that wreck might be bad enough. Blaze took a deep breath and then another, forcing himself to remain calm. He could not make the Lanteans do his will — they were, like it or not, entirely at the humans’ mercy in this. But he would put up with it if it meant finding his queen.

  Even though the Lanteans were clearly making all possible haste, it was another hour before the second jumper arrived with Dr. Beckett and his team. They vanished into the largest building, lugging boxes and equipment with them, and after a while Sheppard and the Young Queen emerged together, the Young Queen rehanging her weapon. Forge felt the others’ attention sharpen, fear ready to change to anger, and stepped quickly forward.

  “What news?”

  “There were about forty people in this village,” Sheppard said. “Maybe half of them are still alive, and maybe Beckett can pull them through.”

  “And it is the blood fever?” Forge didn’t look back, but cast his thought in that direction. *Let me see what they know before we make demands.*