"Where did you find it?" Ronon demanded, striding forward with his hand outstretched. The scientist often packed data discs inside such cases in order to protect them.
"It was lying right next to the 'gate," the man answered, passing it to him. "I regret to say that it was the only evidence we found of your friend."
"No clothing or shoes? Not even bones?" Although Ronon rarely paid much attention to the scientists' chatter, he knew the lightweight case was made of a soft metal called aluminum. Since it had survived with only deep pitting, something of McKay should have been nearby.
The man shook his head. "Perhaps he was able to travel through the 'gate after all."
"He wasn't," Ronon said, resolute. "We were talking to our people at the other end. He never made it through."
Shira looked away and busied herself with the cart once more. Her sudden reticence set off an alarm in his mind. Ronon's first instinct was to grab the man and force the truth from him, but his time on Atlantis had taught him that something called diplomacy might actually work more efficiently. "Thank you for your efforts," he told the man, then went back to her. "I have to take this disc back to the lab. Walk with me?"
After a moment's hesitation, she agreed. They traveled in silence for a few minutes. Despite this effort at diplomacy, his style of information gathering had never been subtle, so he simply came out and asked the question. "Why did you look so uncertain when I asked about McKay?"
"I am merely grieved that your people have suffered such a loss. The storms are cruel. They are the reason why so few are willing to travel here, why you had heard such dark tales about Polrusso."
Still she wouldn't meet his eyes. "That's not it," Ronon said bluntly. "I know what it's like to be an outcast. The Wraith hunted me for sport for years, punishing anyone who dared show me kindness. If it weren't for the people I travel with now, I'd still be living that life."
Shira blinked, surprised. "You are not of their world?"
"No. What binds us together is our desire to vanquish the Wraith-not just for ourselves, but for every world in this galaxy." He was sure he could see an inherent sense of honesty in this woman, and he wasn't above instilling a little guilt if it accomplished his ends. "If you know something that could help us, you shouldn't hide it, especially when we're trying to help your people."
She hesitated again, long enough for them to reach the lab. Stepping inside, Ronon noted through the still-open doors that the storm was abating. Sheppard was leaning on the lab bench a little too heavily, lines of strain etched into his face. "You okay?" Ronon asked.
"Headache. Damned sand," Sheppard replied curtly. "They find any sign of Rodney yet?"
"No, not even his GDO," Ronon answered. "But they did find this." Turning so that Shira couldn't see the expression on his face, he met Sheppard's gaze meaningfully as he handed Zelenka the disc.
The Czech hardly reacted, and Ronon wondered if he'd picked up on the situation. Sheppard surely had, because he froze, and his tone became deliberate. "Radek, if it doesn't work we'll need to go back for the other one."
After examining the glistening, unmarked disc inside, Zelenka met his eyes for a moment before nodding. "It has been damaged by the sand. We will need to return for a duplicate before we can continue." Pausing, he turned to Shira and added, "However, I have finished my calculations of the necessary sequence and timing to shut down the terraforming machine."
"The storm's almost passed," Sheppard said pointedly, his gaze also trained on Shira. "We need to get back to our people and find out what happened on their end."
Shira's eyes darted from him to Ronon and back. Her suddenly worried expression suggested that she knew exactly what was going on. "Of course," she said at last. "I will inform the Elders."
Zelenka had already packed away most of the equipment he'd brought. Outside, the wind had dropped away to nothing, and the three of them left the lab via the rear entrance and started back to the jumper. Only a few steps past the door, Sheppard began to list to the right, nearly falling. Ronon instinctively seized his arm and held fast until he was sure the other man wouldn't collapse. "This is `okay'?"
Cursing viciously under his breath, Sheppard righted himself. "Later."
Shira must have moved fast, because Vene and some of the other Elders arrived at the jumper as they finished loading the last of their equipment. The Polrussons looked stricken, terrified that their dreams of a better world were about to vanish through the Stargate.
Sheppard appeared to be in no mood to reassure them. "Dial the 'gate," he told Zelenka, who nodded stonily and moved to the DHD to comply. Ronon positioned himself at the jumper's open hatch, keeping one hand on his weapon and wondering why the Czech never came to the Marines' poker nights. Zelenka seemed more than ready to leave this wretched planet-ZPMs and all-behind. Perhaps permanently.
When the wormhole appeared, the Colonel activated his com. "Dr. Weir, this is Sheppard."
"It's good to hear from you, Colonel." Dr. Weir responded. "We've taken some damage to our dialing computer, so I'm relieved to know that establishing an incoming wormhole is still possible. You're on your way back?"
"We are," he confirmed, his eyes fixed on Vend. "Listen, I have to ask. Did Rodney ever make it back?"
None of them had expected to hear any differently, but the pause still hurt. "No, he didn't."
Vend couldn't hear the reply, of course, but he flinched under Sheppard's gaze, and Ronon felt a spark of fury. These people knew something, and even after all this, they were holding back.
"Surely you would not leave us when our deliverance is within reach," an Elder pleaded when Radek walked past him and stepped into the jumper.
"If we're being fed a lie about what happened to our friend? You bet your ass we would." Sheppard's voice was cold. "Yes, the sand is destructive. But even if we accept that every last bit of Dr. McKay, right down to the fillings in his teeth and buttons on his shirt, was either eaten away or blown away, you can't stand there and tell me with a straight face that a lousy DVD survived out here while McKay's weapon and GDO mysteriously vanished. That's impossible just based on weight alone. So either you tell me something that makes sense, or we're done here"
"John, we need your team back here now," Dr. Weir said over their coms. "We're running out of time. The exogenesis machine is gaining speed, and Teyla and Halling are trapped on the mainland, searching for Jinto. We need Dr. Zelenka to direct repairs to the dialing computer, for a start, and the list just keeps getting longer."
When his hard stare failed to break Vend's resolve, Sheppard turned around and stalked into the jumper. Covering him, Ronon reached toward the hatch controls.
"Vene, we must tell them," Shira blurted out suddenly.
"Tell us what?" demanded Ronon, pausing.
"It will not bring your friend back," Vene warned. "One way or another, he is dead... but one of our people was outside when the storm hit and saw a Wraith beam take Dr. McKay. By then, there was little that remained of him. His face was gone, his hands nothing but stumps."
"What?" Sheppard lunged out of his seat, catching himself on the bulkhead to stay on his feet. "Why didn't you tell us before?"
"Does it make any difference? Your friend is dead. We feared if we told you, the threat of the Wraith would drive you away."
"Well, apparently you didn't need the Wraith's help" The Colonel, it seemed, possessed more capacity for anger than Ronon had ever realized. "You're doing a really expert job of driving us away all by yourselves."
"Please," Shira called softly, her eyes darting to each of them inside the jumper. "Do not abandon us simply because our courage failed."
"Is there a problem?" Dr. Weir asked, sounding increasingly tense. "Power's becoming an issue here."
Her voice was soon replaced by Caldwell's. "Colonel, get moving. Things are going to hell and you are needed here."
For an instant, Ronon wasn't sure what their next move would be. Then, abruptly, Sheppard returned to th
e pilot's seat, not sparing a glance at the Polrussons. "Yes, sir."
Ronon kept his eyes fixed inside the jumper as he activated the hatch, cutting off the villagers' anguished pleas.
Teyla pushed onward, climbing the next rise even as her legs protested. She was learning just how long muscle cramps could be ignored when one possessed sufficient motivation to keep moving. Of course, time had held little meaning since the first moments of this nightmare.
After beaming into the main camp, Lieutenant Corletti had risked flying Jumper Three above the mudslide that blocked the main path to the lake. But the jumper was clearly in no condition to travel further than a rocky ledge just above the section of the mountain that had collapsed. Unfortunately, on foot, they had been forced to deviate around several uprooted trees and smaller landslides along the path.
"Jinto!" The winds were dying down, but Halling's voice was faltering after so many shouts. "Do you hear us?"
So accustomed had she become to hearing no response that the resulting cry caught her off-guard. "Father! We are here!"
Ahead of them, Corletti broke into a wide grin and hurried up the clearest path-down which Jinto came barreling.
Halling swept his son into his arms, and Teyla ran to greet the others. Six Athosians had composed the lakeside group, and now, finally, all of them had been found.
"The storm is ending," Jinto said happily, pointing to the clearing skies. "We can return home."
Over the boy's head, Halling exchanged an uneasy glance with Teyla. Sensing the need for a diversion, Corletti called Jinto and broke open a bar of chocolate for him to share with his friend Tiro.
"We should prepare for the ritual," Hailing said quietly, his gaze resolute.
"No." On this point Teyla was unwilling to negotiate. "Our deaths are not yet certain. If that changes, there will be time left for the ritual."
Halling looked like he wanted to disagree, but conceded. "Perhaps you are right. There may yet be time."
Approaching them, Corletti said, "If the weather keeps improving and I can get a little technical advice on what to do, the jumper ought to be able to get back to Atlantis even without the dampeners. It'll depend on their status"
"I agree." Teyla motioned to the group to gather.
"Why must we leave the land and go back to Atlantis?" Tiro asked, looking up from his share of the chocolate.
"I will explain as we go, but we must move quickly. Should the storm return, if nothing else, the jumper will provide us some protection."
While they covered the trail at a pace the Marines called a jog, Teyla attempted to describe the effects of the exogenesis machine and the impending nanite infestation. The adults seemed to understand, and the pace quickened. Jinto, however, frowned and hurried to run alongside her at the front of the group.
"I still don't understand what nanites are," he said.
Looking for a way to explain, Teyla suggested, "Imagine if this world were made from the small blocks that Colonel Sheppard brought for you from Earth."
Jinto nodded. "He called them Legos."
The boy matched her stride without difficulty. Proud that Halling's son was growing into such a strong young man, Teyla allowed herself a brief smile in spite of the situation. "This machine will break apart the entire world, just as you break apart those blocks in order to build new toys-except that these blocks are so small that you cannot see them without Dr. Beckett's microscope, and they are all the exact same size and color."
"What color?"
"According to Dr. McKay"-the name nearly caught in her throat; in her joy over finding her people, she had nearly forgot- ten-"gray."
Jinto glanced over his shoulder. "You mean, like that?"
Teyla paused. In the distance, a tiny portion of the mountainside, already a patchwork of leafless grays and browns because of the storm, appeared to have taken on a flatter, more ubiquitous hue, as if a portion of the land was.... smudged. It might have been her imagination, but that was a risk she was unwilling to take. "We should hurry," she called, and the pace accelerated again.
A few minutes later, she looked back. "I'm pretty sure that patch is getting bigger," Corletti said, as if reading her thoughts. "I vote we double-time it." She winced as the running jostled her injured shoulder but did not reduce her pace.
"And then?" Halling asked.
Teyla glanced over her shoulder again. This time, there was no doubt. The gray mass was expanding. "We will determine that when we arrive."
onflicting instincts warred in John's mind as Elizabeth asked and Caldwell commanded Jumper One to return. Learning that Rodney had been taken by a Wraith beam changed the picture considerably, in spite of what Vend had said about his condition. As badly as John wanted to stay on Polrusso and search for Rodney, Teyla was in just as much danger on the mainland. With two missing teammates pulling him in different directions, he decided to head for Atlantis. They needed Radek there, and John could return to Polrusso and begin the search after getting up to speed on the situation back home. The jumper's dialer would allow him to establish an outgoing wormhole without need for the main computer.
Assuming, of course, that he could still fly at that point. Although sitting down seemed to improve matters, his balance was off and getting worse. He'd never been prone to vertigo, but his ear was aching mercilessly, and he was beginning to suspect that the sand was somehow to blame.
On the other side of the event horizon everything seemed to tilt, and he drew in a sharp breath, grateful for the jumper's 'gatelinked autopilot. When he managed to focus again he saw that the control room doors to the balcony were open and giant fans had been set up to remove the sand. A half-dozen personnel in HAZMAT suits wandered through the contaminated area, working on the controls.
While the autopilot smoothly lifted them into the jumper bay, John shut his eyes, gathering himself for a moment before selecting a berth for Jumper One. The bay had remained relatively sand-free, and so Elizabeth was waiting for them, surrounded by a throng of scientists.
"I believe this is my cue." Radek stood up from the copilot's seat, his eyes narrowing worriedly when John didn't follow.
John turned in his seat, but indicated he should leave first. "Be there in a minute."
The moment the hatch opened, Radek got mobbed. Ronon stood back, one eyebrow cocked at the free-for-all. The Czech couldn't even finish answering a question before someone else broke in with what John supposed was a more urgent request. Even through an ear that felt stuffed with steel wool, he could hear enough of the various subjects to know that they'd get nothing accomplished this way.
At last, Radek had had enough. "Ticho, debilove! Quiet! No wonder Rodney rails at you so!"
The effect was instantaneous. Silence fell, and John, who had by now carefully made his way to the rear of the jumper, realized just how much losing Rodney had shaken them all. Present tense, he noted. Did Radek believe Rodney might still be alive, too`? Or was John reading way too much into one word?
Elizabeth, who was hovering by the rear hatch, took the opportunity to restore order. "There are a lot of important issues to deal with, everyone. I trust Dr. Zelenka to assign the appropriate priority to each of them. Please get him up to speed-one person at a time."
The jumper bay doors opened to admit Colonel Caldwell. Figuring he'd better report to his superior, John started to disembark from the jumper, only to stagger as he stepped through the hatch. Again, Ronon steadied him.
Damn it, I do not need this right now. No matter what he tried, he couldn't seem to get his balance. Pain was radiating down through his jaw; it felt like somebody had punched him when he wasn't looking.
Concern was immediately evident in Elizabeth's bearing. She approached him, saying something he couldn't make out.
"What?"
"Are you all right?" she repeated.
"Yeah, just got a little rocked by the transit" Aware of how flimsy it sounded, he immediately turned to Caldwell. "How did Teyla get left behind on the ma
inland?"
"It was her choice. She understood that we had to leave and asked to continue the search for the rest of the Athosians." Caldwell's lips compressed in regret, but he also looked resigned to that decision. "We'll go back for them if at all possible, but right now we have more immediate priorities."
John nodded, realizing a half-second too late that any such movement was a bad idea. "One of those priorities needs to be me going back to Polmsso. It's possible that Rodney's still alive."
Elizabeth's eyes flared wide. "How can that be?"
"Apparently the villagers saw one of the local Wraith beam him onto a Dart." John leaned on the extended drive pod of Jumper Eight, currently down for maintenance, and willed his head to get its act together. "From what the Elders said, I didn't get the feeling that the hive was awake, just that a few Darts go out on occasional snack runs during the storms"
"If the Wraith have McKay, they may know about Atlantis by now." Caldwell looked none too thrilled with that possibility.
"Not necessarily. The villager said that Rodney was barely alive when he was taken."
`But the Wraith need healthy victims."
"Which means they might not feed off Rodney right away, or even at all. They might put him in one of those damned cocoons, dump him in a corner, and leave him to a slow and agonizing death." Elizabeth's horrified reaction told John he was hitting below the belt, but being delicate wouldn't serve anyone's purposes right now.
Caldwell was studying him a little too carefully. "Colonel, forgive me for sounding skeptical, but this seems like a risk we may not be able to take. For starters, you don't appear to be in any condition to lead a rescue mission."
"I just need a couple hours of sleep-"
"John, you're white as a sheet and barely upright," Elizabeth cut him off gently. "And your face and ear look... Well, you certainly need medical attention."
"Given the situation here," the Daedalus commander continued, "we're not in a position to go mounting an attack on a hive ship. An attempted extraction would most likely awaken the hive, and they'd be apt to finish the job the exogenesis machine started on Atlantis."
Exogenesis Page 17
