"Ihaar, did I do everything right?" Teyla asked, standing before the backup control panel.
Teyla and the backup control panel.
"Yes," came the Ancient's voice. "The supply is cut off, the blocking valves worked as intended... I've patched the breach, so you don't need to worry about anything. Can you believe it — that fiend damaged the local automation, so the safety system didn't activate! Otherwise, the valves would have stopped the supply despite the lack of signals from the control room!"
The Athosian woman looked at the massive control panel, whose numerous keys and switches glowed with multicolored lights.
"You know," she said into the radio, "it honestly surprises me that such advanced beings as the Ancients invented technology that can be disabled by cutting a few wires."
"It's a sequential connection!" Ihaar protested. "The platform was built at the height of the war! Resources were scarce, so they economized where they could. In standard Lantian technology, both the main and auxiliary systems have parallel connections, so—"
Suddenly a cry of pain and the rattle of automatic fire burst into the earpiece.
"She's here!" Teyla recognized a voice full of terror from one of her people. "The Queen… Aghr…"
"Kovan!" the Athosian woman flared up. "Kovan, what's happening there, where are you‽"
But in response, all she heard was automatic gunfire, screams of pain, despair, and suffering…
And also — the growling and roaring of a triumphant Wraith.
"Ihaar!" Teyla rushed to the exit of the backup command post. "Where are they? Tell me, am I coming to help‽"
"They're in the fifth corridor, section three, where the Queen damaged the power and control conduits," the Ancient said quickly. "Teyla, no, you're not going there! You and I are returning to the control room!"
"They're my people, Ihaar! I need to be with them!"
"Your people are the reason all this started!" the Dorandan suddenly barked. "I have one of my men there too! And I'm sure she killed him among the first! And I also have my man in the control room, and he's alone there!"
"I'll intercept her on the way!" the Athosian woman declared, weaving through the corridors. "I need to run through a few rooms and I'll be there!"
"Teyla!" Ihaar shouted. "Stop! There were four of them! Four! And she killed them!"
"You don't know that!"
"I do!" he retorted. "The technician from the control room told me there's only one life signal in the fifth corridor! Until she cut the wiring again! Teyla, she killed everyone there! What can you do alone‽"
"Do we have shields like Mikhail and Trebal's?" Teyla asked, running up to the exit of her corridor. But she noticed too late that the doorway was adorned with white glowing elements.
The girl slammed into an invisible wall at full speed.
It was as if lightning had struck her. An unknown force threw the Athosian leader back, into the corridor she had come from.
"We don't have personal shields!" Ihaar barked. "They require Diominid to make! Chaya scraped together enough for one shield from Atlantis's damaged systems, but we don't have any others! Except for the ones I ordered raised from the control room!"
"Ihaar!"
"No, Teyla!" the Chief Engineer replied categorically. "Mikhail and Trebal aren't answering! The technician from the control room didn't manage to see them on the scanners, but the second docking bay is filled with water now! Something happened there, and I'm not sure it's anything good! Get back to the control room! I'm already near it! If we're lucky, the Queen stayed behind the platform's shields!"
Athosian barrier shields, designed for indoor use. The green color shows the ocean behind the shield)) Still from the series.
Teyla got up from the floor and looked at that branch of the corridor which wasn't blocked by the Ancient barrier shield.
The only path this corridor could lead her through went right past the control room. And encircled the central part of the platform in a ring.
The Athosian woman dashed toward the backup command post. Maybe she could figure out the systems herself…
A heavy door to the necessary room slammed shut right in front of her face.
"Teyla!" anger rang in Ihaar's voice. "I understand what it's like — to act on autopilot. You think your involvement can change something, even if you're alone. It's not like that! If there are only three of us, we need to gather together, see what we can come up with. And the best thing we can do right now is just wait for help from Atlantis. Do you understand me?"
Teyla punched the locked door, kicked it in despair. And finally pressed her head against the metal, powerless to do anything.
"I understand, Ihaar," she whispered into the radio. "We have an ancient law: only an Athosian has the right to fix the wrong that another Athosian has done. I had to…"
"Well, how will you fix it if even fifteen of your countrymen couldn't?" Ihaar asked. "My technician had an impulse pistol on him, but even he couldn't finish off that snake! I told you — Queen of Death is not a toy! We should have bombed the creature along with the planet!"
"I'm coming to you," Teyla said resolutely, raising her weapon. "Can you track life signals in the corridors?"
"I'm afraid only with a hand scanner," Ihaar admitted. "And if she's still behind the shields…"
"Let her be behind the shields," Teyla pleaded, taking her weapon off safety. "I'll kill her. Ihaar, I'll search one compartment after another. Close them off with shields behind me. If she's here, we'll at least lock her in a small space so someone else can kill her."
"Teyla!"
"Don't argue," she asked. "I can't join you in the control room! If Misha and Trebal are dead, then you and the technician are the only ones who can get the Queen out of here! Barricade yourself in the control room and under no circumstances open the door for me until the team from Atlantis confirms that the Queen of Death is dead."
Ihaar understood what she was saying.
If the Queen so easily takes control of Athosian minds, then Teyla, who has Wraith DNA, could be an even more tempting and easy morsel for her. And if she gets inside the control room…
That's why she wouldn't be there!
* * *
Lying on something hard, cold, and wet felt… disgusting.
Even worse was the fact that someone's nasty mumbling was reaching me.
"… just let me rebuild a hyperdrive by myself," the sounds coalesced into words, and those, like drums, beat directly into my brain. "Please come to! Get up, you bastard! I beg you, just don't die! Come on, open your eyes, you shithead! Come to, I'll even give you a blowj…"
"Don't," I croaked, regaining control of my body and getting up from the floor. My clothes were soaked through, and my body was shaking violently. "You might bite it off from inexperience and…"
"Bastard!" Trebal, sitting with her back to the passage, shot me a glare like lightning. "Move! I need to open the shield while I'm still alive!"
Shaking my head, finally coming to my senses, I picked up the personal shield projector that had fallen off me. Resembling an archaic jewel, the stone was dim.
But as soon as it was in my hands, it glowed, and a greenish energy wave ran over me.
"What happened?" I asked, squelching through the puddles of water under my feet.
"Death tore open half the wall," Trebal shook her head. "The compartment started flooding; the wave swept you away before I could react and stretch the shield across the doorway. The water carried you outside, and then the shield in the compartment activated! And now I'm trapped between the door shield and my own! Move! My charge is running out!"
"What needs to be done?" I asked, looking around. I didn't have any weapons on me, apparently washed away by the water.
Same with the communication device.
And the Ancient scanner.
And God knows what else.
"Use your brain!" Trebal hissed. Looking closer, I understood the reason for her indignation.
Chaya's shield, unlike mine, could expand to a certain size. In fact, it could block the entire compartment and hold back the water coming in from outside. But only for a while.
As the girl said, she was caught between her own shield, which she was using to hold back the water flow, and the shield that had activated in the doorway. It seemed she had stretched out the first one earlier, and some of the water in front of her had drained into the corridor before the second one activated.
As a result, she was now sitting neck-deep in icy water. And the oxygen supply in the small air pocket above her head was clearly decreasing.
If her shield failed, she would drown. The only way to save her was to turn off the inner shield, pull her inside, and turn it back on. And along the way, figure out the small details, like how to do it.
"Who activated the door shield?" I asked, approaching the energy barrier separating me from Trebal.
"I don't know," she said. "Maybe the automation, maybe someone from the control room. I can't contact anyone — my radio shorted out when I stretched the shield across the doorway. Please, hurry. I'm freezing, my whole body is cramping, and I don't have much energy left…"
"Tell me what to do," I said, not particularly worried about the integrity of the decorative panel next to the shield projector. "In front of me are six vertical crystals in a row, two blue ones — top and bottom, three amber cylindrical ones, and eight flat white ones…"
"Swap the top and bottom blue ones," Trebal said after a moment's thought, snorting into the water. "Hurry, please. It looks like there's a leak somewhere, and water's rising toward me."
"Done," I rearranged the crystals. But the shield remained in place. "What next?"
"The bottom amber one," the girl stretched her head up so the rising water wouldn't pour into her mouth. "Pull it out and bridge the top ones with it; if the shield doesn't turn off on its own…"
With a crack and a flash of light, the shield disappeared the moment I pulled out the required crystal. At that same second, a stream of icy water rushed over my legs. I nearly screamed like a stuck pig from the biting cold.
And Trebal had been in this water for that long‽ And hadn't lost consciousness‽ It seems the girl is literally made of flint.
Ancient personal shields work from a mental prompt — they turn on and off by thought power. But at the same time, if something threatens the wearer, like death from hunger or lack of air, the automation will deactivate the shield. No arguments about it.
But either Trebal is such a trooper that she overcame her fears, or Chaya's shield is different from mine.
"All right," I said, approaching the girl, who was wet from head to toe. Her teeth were chattering; she herself was shaking like an autumn leaf in the wind. The skin under her nails had taken on a blue-white hue, as had her lips. Her fingers were pruney… Poor girl. "The shield will adjust to the room's dimensions immediately as they change, right?"
Trebal had formed something like a small curved lens behind her, so its edges would cover the doorway. If the shield can only hold that shape, I have no idea how to get her out of here.
But if I pull her forward and the shield automatically changes shape, adjusting to the doorway…
"N-no," Trebal said. "It o-o-only h-has a f-f-few sh-shapes. Y-y-you'll h-have t-to p-p-pull m-me i-insi-ide."
"And activate the door shield," I understood.
Trebal, even though she was now in the warmer air, was still suffering the effects of hypothermia.
"T-t-two m-minutes l-left," she said. "S-s-switch the b-b-blue ones b-b-back the w-w-way th-they w-w-were…"
Two minutes until her shield was completely drained.
I had to hurry. And her trembling voice wasn't helping with the speed of information transfer.
"I swap the blue crystals, yank you inside, then put the amber crystal back in place, and the door shield will activate?" I needed to confirm I was thinking correctly.
Otherwise, when I pull her inside and the water rushes in after her, it'll be too late for questions. Not to mention that a new wave of icy ocean water could simply knock her out.
The worst part of this situation is that while she's wearing her shield, I can't activate mine for her. So what if I got swept away; at least she could have done everything right. I'm not made of sugar; I won't melt.
Having swapped the blue crystals, I scanned the nearby corridor with my eyes. There was nothing to grab onto here except the edge of the doorway and the niche with the crystals. Once the water rushed in, it would be extremely difficult.
"The shield will only activate if the crystal is fully seated in the socket, right?" I clarified.
Trebal nodded, looking at me with pleading eyes. Only now did I realize why she wouldn't run or stand up — her arms and legs were completely cramped. And in the remaining time, they definitely wouldn't recover.
Seems like she's in really bad shape. How much time was left?
Ah, screw it.
I need to act.
And now I have everything I need for it.
Pushing the orange crystal into its socket, but not all the way — just enough that it needed one more little push — I grabbed the edge of the crystal niche and reached out my hand to the girl.
It seemed the charge polarity of our shields was the same, since I couldn't grab her on the first try. I had to improvise a little. And it also dawned on me — yes, the shield doesn't let any matter through, only gas, like air. And it perfectly allows the ambient temperature to affect the body. Otherwise, she wouldn't have frozen. Otherwise, I wouldn't have felt the water flow over my own feet. Strange, but in the show, a person testing the shield poured a mug of hot coffee on themselves and nothing happened… But what if the more the shield drains, the fewer protective properties it has‽
Most likely that's it; I don't see any other explanation.
In the end, I managed to grab Trebal's hand, lifting her so my fingers wrapped around her wrist.
"On the count of three," I warned, looking into her eyes. "When I say 'three,' I'll pull you, you deactivate your shield, and you'll be inside. I'll immediately push the crystal in, and the shield will activate. Fill your lungs with air! As much as you can! Do you understand me? If yes, nod!"
Trebal gulped down air. Once, twice… And then she looked at me with a frightened expression…
And right at that moment, the blue shimmer behind her flickered, and I felt the resistance of her shield under my hand disappear.
"Three!" The stream of water rushed inside with such force that I nearly tore the edge of the wall I was holding onto.
Trebal, now inside, slammed into the wall and immediately disappeared under the torrents of water. It was a bit easier for me, but even so, I felt the current pulling me away. Well, no wonder I was swept away the first time.
And now I was being swept away for the second time!
Desperately clinging to the edge of the crystal niche, I fought against the water, whose pressure seemed to be getting even stronger. It had already filled half the corridor, making it hard to reach the necessary crystal.
Just a few more centimeters!
It seemed the inertial dampeners on the shield didn't extend to the surrounding environment. Which was, after all, logical! It's a localized technology, damn it, aimed at protecting and securing what's inside, not comfort on the outside!
Struggling against the current, I pulled myself up a bit and reached out to the needed crystal before the water flooded the niche…
My finger touched the required crystal, and at that same second, the flow of water from the destroyed compartment was cut off as if sliced. The door shield activated, taking on a greenish tint from the oceanic water it was holding back.
But I wasn't interested in that anymore.
The icy water had spread through the platform's corridors; its level was decreasing but was still high. But there was no time left to wait for it to go down naturally. Trebal still hadn't surfaced from the water, which meant that in the minutes I was fighting against…
However, I had already spotted Trebal's body and lifted the girl out of the water.
Unconscious, with trickles of water flowing from her nose and mouth. The impact had knocked the air out of her lungs, meaning she was essentially drowning right now.
"Come on, girl, don't you dare!" I muttered, turning her over and laying her belly-down on my knee. Tilting her head and torso downward, I rejoiced when water poured from her mouth. But she didn't regain consciousness. "No, no, no, you're not dying. You promised me something, you damn nymphomaniac!"
Her pulse on her carotid artery wasn't palpable, which meant the chances of restarting her fiery engine were rapidly decreasing.
Laying her on her back, I took off my own shield and started chest compressions. I'd seen it done for real a few times somewhere. And for some reason, I even remembered it clearly.
Palms on the chest, crossed…
"Here we go," I told myself, counting the seconds.
One, two, three — and on each one — a press on the ribcage over the heart.
Twenty-nine, thirty.
Taking a deep breath, I pinched her nose and touched her blue-tinted lips with mine. A stream of air entered her mouth, traveled down her throat… One more breath! Nothing.
Go again. One, two, three… Twenty-nine, thirty.
Air into the lungs again. One more!
Nothing!
Fuck, why don't you want to live‽
Again!
One, two, three! A press every second!
Twenty-nine, thirty!
And again, life-giving air into her lungs… Second time! Still nothing!
Damn, damn, damn!
My hands pumped like a machine, my lips touched hers, forcing air into her lifeless mouth. I'd lost count of how many times I'd done it, starting to despair, when suddenly…
A cough and droplets of water splashed from Trebal's mouth at the same time as the girl instinctively turned onto her side, clearing her lungs of the fluid that shouldn't be there. Like a seasoned smoker taking a gulp of fresh air, she arched her back, trying to get rid of the water inside her.
"Alive," I sighed with relief, smiling at Trebal when she, after coughing, turned to look at me. Patting the girl's wet thigh, I chuckled, seeing that she had managed to keep her weapon. "Didn't your mother teach you not to drink cold bottom water from the ocean‽"
Trebal's lips twisted into a traditional contemptuous smirk, her mouth opened to say something…
And then I saw her eyes widen, staring at something behind me. And I even knew what.
My hands shot to the only reliable option; with an effort of will, my brain raised an energy shield… But the blow was so powerful that it sent me flying a good ten meters to the side.
Crashing into the wall at the far end of the corridor, I felt something crack in my shoulder and landed face-first on the floor.
Right at the moment a triumphant roar from the Queen of Death and a cry full of pain and suffering from Trebal echoed through the corridor.
The Wraith had begun to feed.