"I have just one question," I warned immediately, barely crossing the threshold of the spacious room filled with various consoles. I was almost afraid to even mention the number of monitors — built-in and hanging.
"Just one?" Jensen, who had entered right behind me, smirked.
Chaya and Teyla exchanged glances.
"I'm listening," the Ancient said.
"Don't you have any other clothes besides that dress?" I asked, stepping closer to the girl.
"And do you have anything besides a Lantian armed forces uniform?" Chaya asked, looking at me reproachfully.
Yeah... the joke to break the tension didn't work.
"One-one," I admitted, unbuttoning the collar of my tunic. I tried not to look away from the penetrating gaze of the beautiful Ancient.
A scene straight out of the show.
"Wait," Alvar interrupted our staring contest. "Are you saying this," he pointed at my white uniform, "is a military uniform?"
"She'd know better," I nodded towards Chaya. "My options were either naked, or..."
"An acceptable alternative," Teyla hastily agreed.
"I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of the Ancestors," the former runner said skeptically. "How can you build all this," he waved his hand around the lab, "and not know about camouflage?"
"We had cloaking devices," Chaya shifted her attention.
"For people too?" he clarified.
The girl, after thinking for a moment, gave an almost imperceptible shrug.
"I think you both should hear Chaya out," Teyla interjected. "She has a very interesting proposal."
"That's why we're here," I assured her. "So?"
"Here," Chaya pointed to the schematics that had appeared on one of the thin screens. "This is a multi-functional reconnaissance drone. I found a few in the warehouse. They're heavily damaged, but I think I can repair some of them."
An Ancient reconnaissance drone. In the series, it was used by the Pegasus Replicators, the Asurans. That's where the concept came from.
"And what do we need it for?" asked Jensen.
Quick fellow. Just a few days on the team, and it's already "we." Then again, Teyla had gotten used to it just as fast. And it's not about their natural naivete — people in Pegasus mostly trust each other when they share the same trouble. Enemies can become friends for a time, part ways peacefully, only to go for each other's throats again later with renewed strength.
"There are only four of us," oh, it's nice to know the Ancient isn't looking just at me like I'm the clueless one.
"That's twice as many as you had," the former runaway showed off his knowledge.
"My people will come to help if necessary," Teyla assured. Then, embarrassed, she added:
"If they have weapons."
No, it wasn't blackmail. She was just stating that without the promised firearms, the Athosians could only beat and stab with sticks and stakes. Otherwise, they were up for anything except feeding the Wraiths.
"That's exactly what I thought when I ran into them," Chaya said. "We promised your people weapons. Alvar said his planet was completely destroyed in a Wraith raid. A very specific Hive was hunting him. And in orbit of the planet Sudaria, Mikhail and Alvar saw two Hive Ships and three cruisers."
"But the second one disappeared afterward," I reminded her. "It could have been destroyed in battle."
"Or it just ran away," Jensen suggested. "Wraiths don't fight to the death. If they're cornered and have a chance to slip away, they'll get far out of range. Then they'll sit in some dark corner, come up with a revenge plan, and start the whole thing over."
"Either way, I decided that since Atlantis's database is ten thousand years out of date, we'll have to visit planets to find out if there are useful resources there," Chaya explained. "I haven't managed to bypass or rewrite the simultaneous jumper recharging program yet, so it's better to minimize their use. At least in cases where we don't absolutely need them."
"Makes sense," I agreed. "But I'm not getting the point yet."
"Oh," Chaya made 'scary eyes.' If she'd been in that combat suit with a blaster in her hands, it might have actually been a little frightening. But as it was... A sweet girl with coffee-colored skin, pleasant features, and in a turquoise dress... What was there to be afraid of? "So I'm not the only one who doesn't quite get where the others are leading."
A subtle hint about serious circumstances.
"Excuse me?" Teyla's voice chimed in. "What are you talking about?"
Chaya looked into my eyes, and I into hers. I supposed she thought I was going to start sharing my knowledge of the future right then and there.
Easy for her to say — the Ancients were used to everything. But if I told the locals that I was from another universe and knew what would happen in Pegasus in five years, I'd be swimming in trouble for sure.
Some — read: almost all — secrets should be revealed carefully and at the right time. Now was not the time for confessions.
But Chaya, it seemed, had decided otherwise.
She probably still felt betrayed by the Ancients and unjustly deprived of Ascension because of a man who could secure the Ancients' help and knew many things she didn't even suspect.
"Maybe we should step out and let you two bill and coo?" Alvar offered.
"Bad time for a joke," I said, giving him a sour smile. "Trust me, I can smell these things from a mile away."
"Smell, that's for sure," the former runaway snorted. "You should take a wash or something."
"What do you mean?" I was taken aback, glancing at Emmagan. It looked like only the diplomatic Athosian was on my side today. Or at least neutral.
"How to put this delicately..." Teyla wrinkled her nose.
"You reek of sweat and a dirty body," Jensen cut through the bullshit.
"First of all, that was hurtful," I admitted. "A little patience with the boss's blunders wouldn't hurt. Second, there are some problems with the shower in my quarters — it's not working."
"Did you press the blue pattern on the wall?" the piranha-faced man asked.
"Why would I? Chaya said it turns on automatically, and if it doesn't, the whole system is down and needs a week to fix..." By the end of the sentence, I realized what was going on. "A little joke, huh?"
The lady in turquoise smiled sweetly, revealing pearl-white teeth.
"Teyla and Alvar asked me about everything in their rooms by the end of the first day," she said, clearly barely holding back her laughter. "I was just waiting for you to muster the courage..."
"And he just reeked of it!" Alvar burst out laughing, covering his mouth with his hand and backing away a couple of meters.
Teyla blushed in embarrassment, barely suppressing a smile.
Chaya turned away, pretending to be very interested in the far corner of her own lab. But the trembling of her shoulders told me she was about to get cramps from laughing.
"Ha. Ha. Ha," I clapped slowly. "Well done, you made fun of the guy who pulled you out of trouble."
"For the record," Chaya didn't turn around, but raised her index finger above her head. "My troubles started precisely with you."
Jensen was already howling with laughter, throwing his head back without even trying to hide his grin.
Teyla's face hadn't changed. Well, at least someone didn't find it funny. Besides me, of course.
"Did we gather here to laugh, or what?" I clarified.
"Right," Chaya turned to us, wiping stray tears from her eyes. "I did want to ask you something..."
"Don't worry, the other functions of the apartment work," I assured her.
"I bet that wrinkled uniform indicates a lack of knowledge about the washing machine's location," Jensen chuckled, his laughter fading.
Son of a bitch... They had washing machines here too?
Looking closely at the runaway, I realized he was indeed wearing the same clothes I'd first seen him in, but the dirt stains were gone, and his clothes weren't wrinkled. Uh-huh... So Chaya was taking care of our lesser brethren, but giving me a hint was apparently too much to ask.
"You wanted to ask something," I reminded the Ancient.
"Yes," she smiled, but there was something about her smile I fundamentally didn't like. "When we talked about the Aurora, you said you had an untested way to help the crew."
"That's right," I admitted. "I did say that."
"And you asked me to find the last surviving combat satellite of Atlantis," the Ancient continued.
"Exactly."
"I also asked you how a stationary short-range weapon and a spaceship on the edge of the Pegasus galaxy were connected," Chaya continued recounting our dialogue. "And you answered: 'Find it first, then we'll talk.' Is that correct? Am I missing anything?"
"Absolutely. So, did you find it?"
"I found it," all the amusement vanished from Chaya's voice as she called up another image on the monitor. "According to the city's database records, it's a combat satellite, 'Satellite' type. One of many the Lanteans built in the final stage of the war to defend against the Wraiths. The last line of defense for the Lantean star system. And," she shook her head, "the first one, too. Simply put, the only one, if you don't count Atlantis itself."
"And... you didn't find any others?" I asked hopefully.
"If anything's left of them, it's only pieces too small for long-range sensors to detect," the girl said, pulling up the satellite's data on the screen. "It's completely alone out there. Has been for ten thousand years, at a point of equal gravitational pull and motion."
The Lantean combat satellite. I'd called it the 'Satellite' type, since that's what it was called on foreign websites.
"At what point?" I didn't understand. And I wasn't the only one, by the way!
Chaya seemed to realize that too.
"Everyone knows what gravity is, right?" she asked.
"Moments like this, I almost feel sorry the Wraiths didn't chew up all the Ancients," I admitted, looking at Teyla and Alvar. "Imagine what it'll be like when we get a hundred or two of these smartasses."
"I doubt they meant to insult us," Teyla said. "Chaya just doesn't know the level of our knowledge."
"Everyone knows what gravity is," Jensen said hastily. "And that stars, planets, moons, even large asteroids have gravity too, everyone knows that."
"Now they do," Emmagan raised an eyebrow. "Chaya, please, continue."
"In the star system where Lantea is located — the planet at the bottom of whose ocean we're talking right now — there's one star and two planets," Chaya explained. "Lantea has one moon; a second one, I understand, is shattered into fragments. But that's not the point. In the Lantea star system, there are points that are so far from the star and the planets that the gravitational forces of the star, planet, and so on, are equal to the orbital velocity of these celestial bodies around the star. No external natural forces have any effect there. Consequently, an object left there will never leave its position — without outside help, even more so."
I rummaged through my memory and showed off some knowledge.
"Lagrange point."
"I suspect the second word is the name of some scientist connected to the discovery of this pattern in your world."
"Seems about right. But where are you going with this?"
"I tried to establish subspace communication with the satellite, but got nothing," Chaya admitted. "Right now, it's just a piece of scrap metal in a state of rest. Whether it's combat-capable, the condition of its generator, and whether we can fix it — all unknown. However," Chaya threw me an angry look, "on the surface of the second planet, I did find something..."
Well, now I was definitely going to have to answer for my actions.
"Like what?" Alvar asked.
"A subspace distress signal from a Wraith ship," Chaya said, looking me in the eye.
"Wraiths in the system?" Teyla tensed up.
"If they land in the city, I'm going to need weapons," Alvar worried. "The couple of rifle magazines I have left are for a short fight. That's not what's going to happen here."
"Wraiths can't get into Atlantis now except through the gate," Chaya said. "Or with an Ancient ship to get through the shield. And no, the signal is too weak for a functioning ship. I think it was shot down during the Ancients' war with the Wraiths. The energy signature is so faint there's no doubt the ship isn't operational. It probably suffered a severe crash and was abandoned by its crew."
"If that's the case, then it's simpler," the runaway sighed. "It's just that... If the Wraiths knew one of their ships was shot down, why didn't they rescue anyone? I heard they used to be much friendlier to each other. Now they're ready to cut each other's throats over any little thing. Though, their only real concern is finding more people."
"And I have a different concern," Chaya said in the same tone, looking at me. "Understanding how the Ancients in stasis are connected to a non-functional Ancient satellite and a Wraith distress signal from a ship that was destroyed ten thousand years ago on a planet where survival is impossible. Care to share some information?"
"Let's just say, I have a theory that this will help us," I said. "Specifically, what triggered the distress signal."
"And what would that be?" the Ancient pressed.
"You know the source of my information," I said through gritted teeth.
She was one of the three who understood that the only place I could be getting knowledge unknown to her was from information from another universe. The fucking future, which was unlikely to stay the same if I blabbered about it left and right to every native I met.
But she was deliberately pushing me to share this secret.
More than that, the interest was already visible on Teyla's and Alvar's faces.
I was sure that if I told them now how I'd arrived at Atlantis, flown to the satellite, and found on that dead planet what could, in my theory, help the Lanteans in stasis not die during the transition to their new time, Chaya would do everything to point out the inconsistencies in my "cover story."
"Looks like you two have some personal issues," Teyla concluded. "Alvar and I had better go."
"Well, no, I'd rather stay," the man blurted out. But the Athosian woman lightly elbowed him in the ribs, then hooked her arm under his and pulled him toward the exit of the lab. "Oh, that's right, I completely forgot Teyla promised to show me some wrestling moves..."
"Just go already," I threw out.
As soon as the door closed behind them, I asked:
"What are you trying to achieve?"
"For you to tell me everything you know," she said instantly. "Everything about the labs, about the galaxy, about Ancient technology — everything you know thanks to your origins and your past."
"And why should I do that?" I inquired.
"Because we depend on each other," she said. "I help you, you help me."
"Isn't that what's happening right now?" I asked.
"It is, but not entirely," the girl said, pulling up a list of theses on her computer monitor. At first, I thought it was the same one she'd had when we first met. But I dismissed that almost immediately.
Because the list was in my native language. Moreover, every single word written there was familiar to me.
"You hacked my datapad." The statement of fact elicited no emotion from the girl. Well, yeah, everyone does it.
"And I don't like what's written here," she said. "When were you planning to tell me?"
"Why should I share my plans with you at all?"
And that wasn't even the right question to ask. But asking "What exactly?" would have been stupid. It was obvious something in my to-do list — which was essentially a list of all the 'goodies' I remembered from the show — had really pissed her off. So much so that she was ready to spill our little secret to the two natives. And it was unlikely Alvar and Teyla, upon hearing that I knew about upcoming events for the next five years, wouldn't want to know how to change the worst of them. Especially the ones involving the Athosians.
"So we don't get into much bigger trouble than the Ancients did!" Chaya burst out. "'Reactivate the nanites from the lab and send them on restoration work in Atlantis'? 'Use the Wraith from the transport ship to revive the Aurora crew through reverse feeding'? 'Find a way to subjugate the Asuran replicators'? 'Take the queen from the bottom of the ocean hostage and torture her until she tells all her secrets'? 'Help the Genii with the atomic bomb, wake up the Wraiths, deactivate the gates in the galaxy, activate the 'Attero' device'? And what's this 'Project 'Spartan'?"
"Are you reading one sentence out of ten on purpose, or is this some kind of Special Olympics discipline?" I asked.
"What else are you hiding from me?" she demanded. "The Asurans survived? The Wraiths can prolong human life? An atomic bomb? Do you know where the Attero device is?"
"Plus, Teyla has the Wraith gene," I added.
"What?" Chaya was taken aback.
"At the bottom of Lantea's ocean, there's a mobile drilling rig that could provide us with geothermal energy," I continued listing things Chaya couldn't have known. Because I hadn't put them in my notes.
Besides, the notes themselves were nothing more than a draft — I jotted down my wildest ideas so I wouldn't lose them. Even the most idiotic idea is still an idea you can 'file down' and turn into something worthwhile. I just hadn't gotten past the Aurora crew situation yet.
Simply because I needed more information and manpower to implement the rest.
"I've heard of it, but I didn't think it was still intact," the girl said absently. "I thought about something like that... But the database says it's lost: a Wraith cruiser fell into the ocean, there was an explosion in close proximity to the rig. The rock layer there is thin, close to the magma... Basically, it's destroyed. That's what it says..."
Chaya fell silent, casting a quick glance at me. It seemed someone had realized I'd brought this up for a reason.
"Or, maybe it's not," she added.
"Maybe," I agreed. "And also, once again, just 'maybe,' you'll stop pointing a finger at me and saying I'm the most secretive one here. I'm just trying to make things good for all of us here. And at the same time, not fuck up the order of things that, by the way, gives us an advantage! Imagine the chaos that will start if we wake up the Wraiths, help create a medicine that kills them, get on the wrong side of the Genii, reveal our location to the Wraiths, and so on! It will be exactly what I want to avoid! Chaos and being on the back foot! We have the advantage of knowledge! And I intend to use it!"
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Chaya exclaimed. "The 'Attero' device can't be rebuilt or optimized. The best minds worked on it — and nothing! Just like you can't just shut down all the gates in the galaxy while the device is activating so they don't explode! There are fundamental principles of higher physics you don't even know about! There are things that can't be fixed!"
"Oh, so a code for submission, non-aggression, and following orders can't be written for the nano-machines? That's like, basic programming!"
"It's not just about whether it's possible! The code for the nano-machines was created by the Ancients, but they rewrote it themselves! You can't just insert something of your own into the middle of millions of lines of code! It doesn't work like that! At all!"
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because I was acquainted with the team that created them!" Chaya shouted. "The nano-machines were their signature creation! They knew everything about them! And the very fact that the creators made a mistake and allowed such a thing proves — this is not a technology that should exist and interact with us!"
"So that's why you fried those nanites in the lab with an EMI generator?" I asked.
"Yes! How can you not understand... If the Asurans nanites really did survive and evolve into a community, getting involved with them is a very bad idea," the girl in turquoise shook her head. "They won't help us. We're not the ones they fear and will obey. Ten thousand years ago, they were ready for dialogue, but now... I can't even imagine how much they've changed and become more dangerous after..."
"After the Ancients tried to destroy them?" I clarified. "After they created nano-machines programmed to kill any living being without the Ancient gene, including the people of the Pegasus galaxy, and then realized their mistake, but it was too late? Is that what you wanted to say? Or to tell me about how the Ancients' latest weapons experiment turned into a simple nano-weapon that evolved into an independent, albeit artificial, species that refused to kill? And for that, the Ancients sent starships to their homeworld and blew everything there to kingdom come? Please, clarify what exactly you're not telling me? Because since we've started digging into my secrets, maybe it's time to share some of yours?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Chaya said.
But she averted her eyes, afraid she might give herself away.
"When we were discussing the negotiations with the Athosians, I told you there was a city on the planet that seemed to have Ancient structures," I reminded her. "And you scanned everything you could while we were there. And you found something. Because, despite what I told you — that in the events I know, the Athosians eventually return to Athos and live there happily ever after — you decided to scare them good. To drive them off the planet."
"But you saw the supervolcano yourself!"
"And I know that if we don't start drilling there, blowing up tsar bombas, or something else, nothing will happen," I replied. "You see, when you show undeveloped races data from your scanner, it's best to think about whether someone might memorize the Lantean symbols and then translate them."
"And what did you translate?" the girl flinched.
"The thickness of the 'plug' in the supervolcano is at least a kilometer of ultra-dense rock," I replied. "It's calm by itself and not preparing to erupt. The 'plug' is intact. Everywhere except one spot. At first, I wondered for a long time what kind of 'generator' was in the magma chamber. Then I remembered something... And I put two and two together: my knowledge of similar situations, and your words about having already thought about geothermal energy."
Chaya looked at me, her lips slightly pursed.
"There were Ancient structures in the ruined city on Athos. There's an ancient generator in the magma chamber of the supervolcano, and we both know who put it there," I stated my conclusions. "You wanted to drive the Athosians off their home planet so you could start up the ancient geothermal power station!"
"Yes."
To her credit, Chaya didn't try to deny it. And honestly, there wasn't a hint of regret on her face for what she'd done.
"And what for?" I asked. "To set up a 'jumper' recharging station there? Or what goals were you pursuing?"
"That ruined city is called Emeg," Chaya said. "I read about it in Atlantis's database. The Athosians lived there many thousands of years ago. They were developed enough for the Lanteans to establish an outpost there and make direct contact with them. However, when the war with the Wraiths began, the Lanteans left. But the outpost remained. And all the equipment in it. And besides the generator and barracks for the outpost garrison, there was also a shield generator powered by geothermal energy."
"Very interesting and promising," I agreed. "But let's get to the point. I don't see any downsides yet."
"Their planet is open to Wraith attacks," Chaya threw up her hands. "They live on a supervolcano. A kilometer of rock, two, five — a good orbital bombardment would simply destroy the place and make the planet uninhabitable. Technologies important for Atlantis would be lost."
"We have a shield, we have a ZPM..."
"And we could have had spare parts for the shield generator, spare parts for other systems, resources for processing and creating the hull elements we need!" Chaya said firmly. "Not to mention the terminals, crystals, wiring, and many other things that are there. But, most importantly, it's the geothermal reactor. I've only heard about this Lantean, and exclusively Lantean, technology. This generator could provide us with energy on a domestic level! Power all the corridors of the city, all the labs, all the secondary systems! Exactly what we were talking about — freeing the ZPM from non-essential consumers!"
"We were actually trying to do the opposite, reduce the number of consumers," I reminded her. "You wanted to do the opposite, turn everything on here."
"Because no matter how much I try to minimize consumption, I barely manage it," she explained. "The city's hull has been compromised for a very long time. Many sections are damaged and flooded. There's already mold and fungus in the corridors and pier compartments. Turning off the life support systems there won't make things better. On the contrary, it'll be much worse. Damp, dark, low-power energy flows... Before we can fix Atlantis, it will fall apart! And that's just the simplest problem! I can't cover all the city's problems, but I know we're not using even one percent of its functions. We repaired one lower hangar, but there are two. What's in the second one, I have no idea — there's no connection to that part of the city. We have a power break and short circuits in the power sections at the North Pier, but, again, I don't have the wiring to fix that!"
"You've told me about the problems," I reminded her. "And we've discussed solutions. But why hide something like this from me?"
"What would you have told me?"
"I would have told you that the drilling rig survived. In my memory, it was started up and even provided energy to the city," I said.
"But what about the Wraith cruiser crashing? What about the thin crust at the impact site? The explosion, in the end?"
"All of that probably happened. But I'm talking about what I know — the rig survived and, chances are, wasn't even badly damaged. In the events I know, it worked. But," seeing Chaya's eyes light up, I wagged my finger at her. "As much as we need that rig, we're not going near it while there are only four of us and no one can help us if we fail."
"But what about the extra power?"
"And what about the Wraith queen on board the cruiser, who will blow it up if we don't let her off the planet?" I inquired.
"What?" Chaya was horrified, took a couple of steps back, and collapsed onto a chair. "There are live Wraiths on that planet?"
"As much as I'd like to say 'no,' the answer is 'yes,'" I admitted. "And, a small note. She's not just any queen — she's the queen of the entire Wraith alliance, who led them in the war against the Ancients..."
A deathly pallor spread across Chaya's dark face. It seemed the Ancient was so terrified she was losing the melanin responsible for her skin color.
I noticed the girl's hands starting to tremble... She stared at one spot, but I doubt she saw anything there.
"Chaya?" I called out to her. "Are you alright?"
"No," she whispered. "We have the Death Queen on the same planet as us. We're doomed..."