I recall that rules are written in blood.
"Trust, but verify" is one of them.
Getting an ally — even a conditional one — from the Ancient race, someone familiar with their technology, language, worldview, and likely involved in some past projects, is certainly wonderful.
However, Chaya didn't even think to hint at the reasons that prompted her to intervene in my death process. I believe in compassion, but... Something is off here.
According to her, she remembered coming to Atlantis as an Ascended. And only because of that did she manage to activate the drainage system pumps that dried out the city. After which she went to the ZPM room and breathed life back into me.
She moved me to the infirmary, then became human. And prepared theses for herself.
She clearly remembered herself as Ascended here on Atlantis. She remembered encountering streams of light in the control room after leaving me under the supervision of medical equipment.
And then a gap in memory.
She didn't remember how she ended up near the medical center. She only came to after I hit my head on the scanner.
In her memory, she has everything (or thinks she has everything) about her past life, up to the moment of encountering the white flash. I think that last thing was precisely the Ascended being (or beings) who stripped her of all privileges. But why leave part of her memory related to Atlantis?
Why would an Ancient — especially one under the Ascended's watch — take such a risk as saving my life? Sar herself threw up her hands and said she didn't know her own motives.
Like everything that happened to her after Ascension. So the last ten thousand years are like a fog to her. As best I could, I hinted that the knowledge probably wasn't destroyed, but locked, like it was in the series with Dr. Jackson. The Replicators in the Milky Way managed to find and use it.
And the Ascended in the Milky Way didn't intervene to stop them.
The Ascended generally behave rather strangely. I got the impression that they care so little about what's happening that most of them don't even intend to fix anything. Then, after thinking, I recalled that in the events I knew, there were quite a few Ancients who disregarded the rules and helped people anyway. With varying degrees of success.
Orlin, Oma Desala, Merlin — also known as Myrddin, also known as Moros, Ganos Lal... Not many, of course. I don't know how many Ascended there are in total to determine whether these rebels are just a statistical margin of error.
During my conversation with Ganos Lal, I nearly commented that the Ascended are actually actively intervening in what happens in the galaxies. Not directly, of course — that's supposedly forbidden. But the rules have exceptions, so the Ascended try to act through others. Leave a useful tablet here, stash a knowledge repository there, scatter a trail of breadcrumbs somewhere else... From my conversation with Lal and Melia, I understood that everything that happens has long since been calculated and predetermined — they knew about the expedition that didn't come. So it's well within their power to help their chosen ones.
For instance, I get the impression that in the events I know, the Ascended were actively "rooting" for the Earthlings in the form of certain individuals. Whether this was predestined, or whether the first Stargate project team earned the Ancients' respect so much that they decided to find loopholes in their rules — I don't know.
But the fact remains.
Whenever Earthlings found themselves in the unfathomable depths of galactic problems, they somehow or other always happened to find answers to all their questions.
It seems to me that someone is quite hypocritical...
Or maybe I'm just gnawed by resentment that my agreement with the Ascended was nothing more than a trick designed to kill me and extend their city's existence. Sure, they might have been trying to resolve some paradox caused by my interference, but...
Something's not right here. I can't recall a single instance where the Ascended acted purely against Earthlings. Maybe I'm dramatizing, and what happened is just an adventure they calculated, including my rescue?
What if somewhere up there, they decided I couldn't manage on my own and needed help. Who's expendable? An exiled Ascended, of course. They might have, for example, offered to help me get on my feet in exchange for forgiveness.
Sitting on the floor in one of the Ancients' remote laboratories, chewing on a nutrient bar whose taste I'd already stopped noticing, I pondered whether this was mostly paranoia on my part.
"Others lie."
Yeah, a lot of things could fall under that definition, really. Interpret it however you like. I think that's precisely why the laptop wasn't destroyed by the Ascended — it has no direct answers or advice.
Only the riddles they love so much.
"There you are," a voice came from the doorway. "I've finished assessing the damage to the city. There's a complete list of malfunctions in the control center..."
"How bad is it?" I asked, still staring straight ahead.
"The damage is substantial but not critical," Chaya said as she stepped closer but hesitated to sit down. "The hyperdrive is damaged, the Sublight Engines need maintenance and repairs. Nearly forty percent of the rooms are underwater and need to be personally inspected and fixed on-site. There are wire breaks, hull breaches, and significant damage in the lower part of the city, affecting the functionality of some rooms."
"Like the lower Jumper hangar?" I asked. I remembered that in the series, there were problems with it being completely flooded.
"Jumper..." The girl frowned. "An interesting name for the small Lantian ships."
"What did you call them?" I asked.
"Small Lantian ship," the girl shrugged. "Sometimes — a shuttle."
"How dull," I sighed, nodding toward a horseshoe-shaped console standing a couple of meters in front of me. On the wall before it hung a non-standard monitor displaying multiple Lantian symbols scrolling across.
"Laboratory equipment," she identified immediately. "Judging by the records... most of what I've read relates to human physiology. It's comparing evolutionary changes. It seems this lab studied directed genetic mutations."
"As far as I know, they tried to artificially bring humans closer to Ascension," I said. In the known events, one of the expedition members activated the device. His metabolism accelerated, as did his hearing and synaptic connections in the brain. Then he developed telekinesis, telepathy, and healing through the laying on of hands. And the subject became so intelligent that he could design a hyperdrive for a Jumper. I think it's worth noting that such capabilities aren't part of the 'standard' package."
"Oh," Chaya exclaimed. "I suppose this is one of the many laboratories."
"What do you mean?"
"As far as I know, the Lantians fervently researched the capabilities of their own bodies and tried to understand Ascension from a scientific standpoint," Chaya said. "Rumor has it that hundreds of scientific teams worked on this."
"I see," I briefly told her what I remembered about that device. "You know, I appreciate that you explain everything to me and teach me the Lantian language, but... you're a scientist, aren't you?"
"All those you call the Ancients were scientists in one field or another," Sar said. "I have a bit of that too. I think I know what you want."
"And your opinion?"
"I would trust the last entries in the lab journal," the Ancient pointed at the monitor. "It says here that the chance of a successful mutation is one in a thousand. Oh, sorry, ten thousand."
"And what happens to those who aren't that one?"
"Destruction of cell membranes, organ decomposition, excessive growth or burnout of nerve tissue, brain cell decay..." the girl listed. "The closest result to Ascension is transformation into photoplasma. Followed by structural decay."
"So there's no easy way?"
"Unfortunately," Sar said. "If this machine worked properly, it's unlikely the Lantians would have gone to Earth, as you say."
"Yes, they would have used it," I agreed. "But, you understand, pestering you every time to figure out what's written on a display..."
"It's not difficult for me to help you, Mikhail," Chaya said, once again emphasizing that we hadn't switched to informal address. "After all, that's exactly why I'm here. Besides, I understand how difficult the Lantian language is for you."
"Oh, really?" I chuckled.
"Yes," she replied, ignoring my sarcasm. "I've reconfigured the central computer so that wherever possible, the labels are in your native language."
"You're not joking?" I asked.
"No," she answered. "Since I'm the only person in the city who can understand the Lantian language, your stay here would be difficult. I've tried to correct that."
"Hmm... Thank you," I got to my feet and extended my hand for a handshake. "You've really done a lot for me. Things will be easier now."
"I hope so," she replied. "I must say that many labs in the city are disconnected from the central computer. Like," she glanced around the section we were in, "for example, this lab. It's not possible to upload updates from the data core to its computer because it's isolated from the rest. So it can only be done manually."
"Better not go near that thing," I said, pointing to the exit. "We hardly need mutations that make us less attractive."
Chaya looked at me carefully but remained silent.
"I wrote a program to analyze the original language and translate it into your native tongue," she said once we were in the corridor on the way to the Transporter, pulling a familiar PDA from a small inconspicuous bag hanging at her waist. "So I've loaded it onto your multi-function Scanner. Now, to understand any text, you just need to connect to the console and run the program — it will automatically translate everything you don't understand. This applies to almost all languages you might encounter. At least all the ones that were in Atlantis's database."
"Including the dialects of the Ancients?"
"Including them."
"And it will translate from the Wraith language too?"
"That's what I said," Chaya handed me the familiar Scanner. "And yes, that device you barbarically broke, I also fixed and put it back in its standard place on the shuttle."
Hmm... It's really convenient having a living Ancient on your team. I was already starting to appreciate how useful she was.
Still, even though this tangible drop didn't fill the bucket of my trust, at least I appreciated the gesture.
Taking the Scanner she'd modified for me, I almost wanted to whistle — but I restrained myself. Seriously, the entire interface, console commands, help information, root directory of operation modes — everything was translated into the great and mighty Russian!
That solved so many problems! I couldn't wait to dive into the city's database and study everything! Time permitted — it had been less than a day since we returned from the excursion.
"You're a miracle!" Unable to restrain myself, I wrapped my arms around her waist, lifted her, and spun her around. "I don't even know how to thank you!"
"Just putting me down will be enough," her face showed no emotion except confusion. That was strange — I knew she wasn't a complete phlegmatic.
"As you wish," I complied with her request. Either she was that much of a prude, or my company was unpleasant to her.
Then again... would I enjoy being hugged by some Cro-Magnon?
"It will take time for the program to copy, translate, and parallelize the city's database," Chaya said, smoothing the hem of her dress.
"Sorry, what? You only mentioned translation."
"Exactly," she said. "But your language is not yet developed enough to understand, for example, the laws of hyperspace or the constants that affect time dilation in black holes. Therefore, part of the text will remain in Lantian. In the second version of the database. The original copy will stay in the original language. It's easier for me to work with that."
"That's... certainly good, but... do we have enough free space on the server or wherever the information is stored?" I asked.
"Yes, without any doubt," Chaya replied. "The free capacity is enough to copy the database several thousand times."
Several. Thousand. Times.
Copying a database that was at least several million years old, containing the entire knowledge of a race! Records of species encountered on planets, of worlds and moons, stars and black holes, ships and medicines — about everything! And that was only a small part of what was there!
I thought about organizing the production of new-type information storage devices after establishing contact with Earth. Something in the tens of terabytes range. Or even produce cutting-edge computers. Though, I didn't know if Ancient technology could run Crysis at ultra-maximum settings. They said if you did that, the universe would collapse...
Anyway, that was all for later.
"You've been in the city less than a day, and you've already written such a complex program?" I clarified.
"I made it in between other work," Chaya said.
"Other work?" I clarified. "You mean assessing the city?"
"I thought I was perfectly capable of finding my own occupation," the Ancient said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "I didn't know I was under your command and lived from order to order."
"Of course not," I caught myself. "It's just... Ahem... Of course, I have no objection to you doing your own things..."
"Fine," Sar interrupted me, checking her Scanner. "When Atlantis lost power, its systems shut down in emergency mode. Activating the battery caused a restart of all systems in the city."
"All of them?" I asked.
"Absolutely all that can operate without direct operator instructions," she said. "Various sensors, long-range scanners, the subspace transmitter, recharging shuttles, lighting corridors and rooms in the uninhabited part of the city, power to all labs, and so on."
"So the city is devouring our ZPM's energy with the same appetite as a bull eating slop?" I inquired.
"Crude analogy, but I think it's accurate," Sar said. "I managed to turn off some systems using the control panels in the control room. Others need to be turned off manually or at distribution panels. However..."
"Exactly," I nodded. "You know, there's some console in the floor in front of the Gate that can be used to turn off... a lot, if not almost everything."
"Yes, I understand what you're talking about," the girl said as we entered the Transporter. "But unfortunately, only pure-blooded Lantians can use the emergency shutdown mechanism."
At that moment, I was already pressing a point on the city map.
"Pure-blooded?"
A flash of light illuminated the cabin.
"Yes," the doors slid open, and Chaya was the first to step out. "You do know that those you call the Ancients are not a homogeneous race?"
"Um... I suspected," I lied without batting an eye. "But it would be better if you refreshed my memory."
Chaya looked at me with suspicion and surprise.
But she didn't refuse my request.
"When those you know as the Ancients came to this galaxy, they populated it with life," she said. "Over time, a large number of humanoid and other races appeared. They developed over long years under the protection of the Lantians. Many reached such a level of development that the inhabitants of Atlantis took notice and established open contact. The peoples exchanged knowledge, traded, and so on. Eventually, if these developed peoples demonstrated technical, moral, and spiritual development similar to that of the Ancients, they were accepted into their society and had their secrets revealed."
"So these cunning weirdos did share knowledge after all!" I said irritably.
"Yes, very often," Chaya admitted. "For example, I came from the Proculusian people. We weren't sufficiently developed technologically, but our spiritual development and desire for enlightenment impressed the Ancients. Many of my people joined them as a recognition of our past merits. But," she grew sad, "most of my people could never cross the threshold of low societal development. I'm afraid I'm to blame for that. I loved my people so much that I helped them, built for them, and provided everything necessary. That was my great mistake."
"Because your people got used to receiving everything at the first request," I understood. "Why develop when you already have everything you need?"
"Exactly," Chaya said sadly. "My people valued and still value spiritual development above material. They don't strive for the stars, aren't impressed by scientific knowledge of the world. I'm afraid I'm the reason they continue to stay the same."
"Speaking of your people," I remembered. "You protected them from the Wraiths while you were Ascended."
"Probably," Chaya replied absently. "I don't remember, sorry."
"Yes, yes, yes, that's how it was, you can believe me," I said. "Only thanks to you, your people never experienced a Wraith invasion. But now that you're a simple human and they're defenseless, we need to think about how to protect them."
"I..." Chaya was taken aback. "I didn't think they were still alive... I... I forgot about them..."
A look of mild panic appeared on the Ancient's face (if she could still be called that).
"I forgot about my own people..." she muttered, quickening her pace. "How did that happen?!"
The girl, moving her legs quickly, suddenly broke into a run, a turquoise arrow matching her dress, dashing toward the control room.
All I could do was run after her.
That she had forgotten about protecting her people using Ascended powers was certainly explained by the fact that she had no memories of the last ten thousand years. But... how could she forget that her people were defenseless?
I had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling... Could it be that the Ascended deliberately removed that knowledge from her as punishment or revenge for another disobedience?
I found Chaya at the control console, dialing an address. Her concentrated face evoked compassion, so I caught her hand before she activated the Gate.
"I need to get to the planet!" she said.
"We'll do it together," I explained. "In a Jumper. Because, as I recall, the Gate on your planet was moved into space."
"What?" the Ancient was stunned. "Who and why did that?!"
Well... every day living got more interesting.
"Make it so no one but us can enter the city through the Gate," I ordered, heading for the stairs leading to the Jumper hangar. "The last thing we need is to come back to unexpected guests."
"Give me a few minutes," she said.
Climbing into the Jumper, I started the ship's engine and waited for Chaya.
As soon as the deathly pale Ancient (clearly visible on Sar's dark face) dialed the address, I began descending into the Gate room. I had to say, Chaya really didn't disappoint — the virtual screen before me was covered with annotations in my native language. Sure, it hadn't erased the engraved Ancient symbols from the control panel, but the thought-controlled operation compensated for that flaw.
As soon as the familiar outline of the 'puddle' appeared, the ship shot through the Gate.
* * *
"Commander," the first officer approached Styx just as the Hive Ship began accelerating for a jump into hyperspace. "That was a risky operation. In the past, no Hive has ever managed to leave here alive."
"We are not all," Styx cut him off.
He wasn't going to argue with a subordinate. At least not to reveal the fact of a fortunate coincidence. The old ship, damaged in battle, needed repairs — so they had to drop out of hyperspace earlier than planned.
Styx's surprise was great when the Hive Ship's scanners detected a significant number of life signs on the planet below. The planet wasn't listed among the distributed Feeding Grounds of other Hives. On the contrary, from ancient times it had been avoided due to an unknown energy shield protecting its inhabitants from harvesting.
But nothing happened.
While the 'darts' were harvesting, the damaged hyperdrive repaired itself. As did some of the damage inside the ship. The restored hull integrity and healed wounds in the hangar pleased him.
But not more than the several thousand humans gathered by the dart pilots and brought aboard.
The soldiers who were herding the locals on the surface were perplexed — the humans weren't afraid of them at all. As if they didn't even know who they were or how dangerous such encounters were.
So the sudden attack and harvest went flawlessly. And Styx was pleased with how circumstances turned out.
He had not only survived and saved his ship after the encounter with the Cunning Blade, but also found a world near her territories where he could repair his damaged vessel and harvest humans. This amount would last him a considerable time.
For the first time in many months, his Wraiths could feed to satiety. And there would even be a considerable reserve for the future.
"We should have left a few families on the planet for breeding the herd," the first officer said. "Then we'd have our own Feeding Grounds."
"No," Styx cut him off. "The Hive Ship is easily tracked. I'm sure that soon the Cunning Blade's ships will visit here to find out what we were doing. I don't intend to fight her over a couple of animals."
And he would have to fight. When Wraiths acquire Feeding Grounds, they are simply obligated — lest they be considered weak — to drive away the persistent from their planets. Not doing so would awaken interest in the reasons for their weakness.
Conflict was not what he needed now. He should reach his hidden base and bring the Hive to combat readiness. Then begin the hunt for the Lantians.
"I think we should study the words of the head monk about his goddess," the first officer suggested. "She may be real."
"In that case, why didn't she stop us?" Styx asked.
The subordinate had nothing to say.
"Did you search the planet thoroughly enough?" the Hive commander asked. "Energy traces, structures exceeding the locals' level?"
"Nothing, Commander. Whatever destroyed Wraiths on this planet before, it's gone now."
But at least one small Lantian ship traveling through the Gates had appeared in the galaxy. Could it be a coincidence?
Unlikely. He needed to gather more thorough information about what was happening in the galaxy.
A hyperspace window flared open, and the giant organic ship vanished from the orbit of the planet Proculus.
* * *
The search didn't take long. By the end of the next day, we finished scouring Proculus.
And the results weren't pleasing.
Already in orbit, it became clear that on Chaya's home planet, there were no survivors. Not a single person.
But she insisted on descending to see it all with her own eyes.
I don't know what she expected to see, wandering through the ruined villages, examining the destroyed garden next to something that looked like a temple... From her words, I understood that this was the temple of Atar. Under that name, she had lived here after her Ascension.
The Ancient, who had turned into pure energy, had taken the human form of a girl named Chaya Sar, a servant of Atar, to be able to communicate with the people she protected. Had protected...
And what had become a temple was originally a home she built for herself and for meeting with her people, providing them with what they needed. That was how it was before her Ascension. It continued after she returned to the planet and became an outcast.
An interesting story for a novel, but... the ending of this story was too tragic.
"I didn't find a single body," she said quietly, after we had searched the last, largest and closest village to the temple. About a thousand people lived there. According to her, every single inhabitant of that world was calm, trusting, cheerful, kind.
"There was no cruelty or malice in their hearts," Chaya said, pursing her lips.
"I'm afraid the Wraiths didn't care," I said quietly, glancing at the ruined village. "They didn't kill the inhabitants. They took them away. By force."
The scattered household items, utensils, torn pieces of clothing, and drag marks on the ground around the dwellings spoke of that. The Wraiths — and I couldn't find any other reason for the disappearance of Chaya's defenseless people — didn't stand on ceremony. They met no resistance, so they took everyone without losing a single one. And without resorting to intimidation bombardments.
"It's my fault!" the Ancient cried out. "If I hadn't become human again, they would have been protected!"
I had nothing to say to that.
But a thought was spinning in my head: it all fit together too neatly. As soon as Sar disappeared, the Wraiths immediately harvested her people. Weren't the glowing ears of the Ascended, who decided to get back at her, sticking out of this situation?
I didn't want to say that out loud without more substantial evidence than guesses.
For a few minutes, we stood by the Jumper while Chaya stared at the ruined buildings of the settlement with pain on her face. From the way her hands were clasped, I assumed she was praying.
Quite logical, given that here the belief in her as a goddess was strong. Probably paying tribute to the memory of the people who died.
"We should return," she said. "I've added our biological signatures to the city's energy shield program, so we're safe when passing through the Gate, now and in the future."
At the edge of my consciousness, a thought arose that the lady wasn't from the Gate Builder race, so she could have messed something up. I didn't want to be smeared at the end of the flight, but... I thought everything would be fine.
"If you need to be alone, I'll fly to one planet to meet someone," I said when the Jumper had already ascended from the atmosphere. Despite the absence of signals around, I kept the cloak active until the zone where it automatically turned off. "Or, if you want, we can talk..."
"Thank you for your concern," Chaya said quietly, looking at me. During the time we had ascended from the planet, she had finally torn her gaze away from drilling the navigator's control panel. "It hurts because of my failure, but... Unfortunately, they were doomed from the moment I became human. I don't know why my memories of their vulnerability weren't at the center of my attention, but... I also understand that even with all of Atlantis, we couldn't have done anything. Only a day, maybe a little more, has passed since they were taken. I figured that out from the warmth still in the hearths of the houses. Unfortunately, we couldn't have saved even most of them."
Because Atlantis was still not operational, and Jumpers couldn't transport many people. However, if we had realized immediately, we could have evacuated at least some using the Jumpers.
But what's done is done.
"We need to return to the command center," Chaya said as the Jumper was already rising into Atlantis's hangar. Despite our fears, we survived the flight and didn't crash into the Gate shield. "Both of us. It won't take long."
"Why?" I asked suspiciously. "What do you want to do, Chaya?"
"I think you have more in common with your fellow Earthlings than I do," Sar said. I didn't miss that she had switched to informal address with me. Had the catastrophe on her home planet made her less prim?
Still, compared to Ganos Lal and Melia, Chaya was fundamentally a dear. I felt truly sorry for the girl and her people.
But there was nothing we could do. Even if the Wraiths hadn't 'drained' the Proculusians immediately, they were aboard a ship. Which one — we could only guess. Yes, there was a chance the Wraiths had come through the Gate, but... that seemed unlikely.
"My fellow Earthlings?" I was taken aback. "I don't quite understand..."
"I intend to open the Gate to Earth," the former Ascended said firmly. "Since I didn't save my own people, maybe I can help yours."
Ah, so that was it...