Blood Ties

Chapter twenty-four

Looking up from the screen, Elizabeth saw Teyla arrive in the control room and motioned her over to join their intergalactic conference call.

"There's nothing inherently fantastical about chimeras," Agent Larance was saying from the SGC briefing room. "Russian virologists successfully engineered an Ebola-smallpox hybrid more than fifteen years ago. You don't want to know what kinds of genetic Tinkertoys some of our so-called allies have been brewing up since." Her expression quickly became contrite. "I apologize, Dr. Weir. You're probably the last person who'd need that explained."

Elizabeth couldn't tell whether the profiler was referring to her onetime role as a diplomat on Earth, negotiating intricate and treacherous political landscapes, or the failed experiment to `cure' the Wraith of the iratus virus. Then again, she wasn't entirely certain Agent Larance had been fully briefed on all aspects of the Atlantis program, good and bad, so she chose to acknowledge the apology with nothing more than a rueful smile.

General Landry, who had been called away from the meeting a few minutes earlier, now reappeared on the screen, grimfaced and thin-lipped. "I'm afraid the IOA is in something of an uproar," he reported. "The international media is buzzing with the rumor that a deadly `progeria virus' first identified in the U.S. has infected hundreds of Germans."

Already'? "How did anyone make the connection so fast?"

The General shook his head resignedly. "YouTube. One of the Blaubueren villagers recorded the crime scene on his cell phone. It won't be long before word gets out that we may have another pandemic on our hands. The CDC and the Pasteur Institute are preparing a joint statement right now to reassure the public that the `virus' is not contagious and infection is only via direct blood-to-blood contact. Trouble is, not nearly enough people are going to understand the distinction, mainly because an increasing number of reported cases are coming from several other locations in Europe, Canada and, of all places, Tasmania, Australia. How long before your team gets here?"

Digesting that information, Elizabeth said, "Fifteen minutes, General."

"Good." Landry glanced at something off-screen. "I'm told my red phone is ringing, Doctor. We'll talk again soon."

He disappeared from the camera's view and was quickly replaced by Daniel Jackson. "Thank you for the comprehensive reports on M1M-316," he greeted her. "They very nicely filled in a lot of the gaps in Lilith's project notes."

"We aim to please," Elizabeth replied. "Is there anything else you can tell us at this point'? We could use some help to prioritize the multiple lines of research we're pursuing."

"Open up the file I just sent in the data burst. It contains in-depth information on the genetic products of Lilith's research."

On Elizabeth's nod, Radek leaned over a console and brought the file up on a side screen. Soon the attention of the control room personnel had been captured by the fascinating images scrolling past, displaying one being after another that had long since been relegated to mythological status on Earth.

Daniel continued. "In her journal, Lilith alludes to the telepathic gene discovered in certain ancient Earth animals; presumably that would be the dinosaurs on MlM-316, because she also mentions having to abandon promising research when the advancing Wraith chased her back to Atlantis. On that subject, she also expresses regret that earlier experiments in the Pegasus Galaxy resulted in the evolution of the Wraith."

Startled by that candid detail, Elizabeth asked, "Lilith admitted that the Wraith were a genetic accident?"

"Not in so many words. Bear in mind that this journal-" he held up what Elizabeth recognized as an Ancient datapad- "spans a period of almost six thousand years. Her entries are surprisingly disjointed, often contradictory. It's more of an emotional record than a scientific one. It'll take months, if not years, to go through all of her notes, but the earliest passages reflect her perception of herself as one of the elite Ancients who wrote off the Wraith and humanity in the Pegasus Galaxy as a failed experiment."

As he went on, Elizabeth cast a sidelong glance at Teyla. The Athosian seemed to have accepted Daniel's statement with characteristic equanimity. Elizabeth wasn't sure she could be quite as gracious. This was an entire galaxy full of human lives they were talking about. Those people-Teyla and Ronon's forefathers-shouldn't have been so easy to cast aside.

Certainly some Ancients had acted selflessly, often at great expense to their own lives, but the vast majority appeared to have borne little consideration for `lesser beings' in their single-minded pursuit ofAscension.

"Lilith repeatedly used the same inverted, sometimes…" Daniel turned slightly to the side, moving enough to allow the camera a view of Agent Larance talking to Dr. Lam in the background."…what Agent Larance described as sometimes psychotic reasoning to justify her subsequent actions on Earth. In some sections, however, she seems perfectly lucid, discussing her view of the Lanteans' return to Earth as a temporary measure to buy them time. Yet several passages refer to Earth as nothing more than a glorified laboratory, where mistakes carried no consequences."

This time it was Teyla who darted a glance at Elizabeth, offering a solemn yet sardonic expression that said the equivalent of welcome to the club.

Oblivious to their silent exchange, Daniel went on. "Only one element remains constant throughout Lilith's writings: her fixation on defeating or at least holding the Ori in check before she Ascended. She used her own DNA to enhance her experimental subjects. Although it's still possible that the ATA gene was also introduced naturally, by a few Ancients interbreeding with the human population ten thousand years ago, this data certainly indicates that the gene was deliberately spliced into human DNA."

"As were Wraith genes," Elizabeth said.

Daniel nodded. "And, as Agent Larance explained, animals as well. Most of Lilith's creations weren't viable, and very few were capable of reproduction, although some were considerably long-lived; hence the existence of `monsters' and mythological creatures embedded in every culture across the planet. Eventually she hit on what she believed to be the `best' combination."

"Succubi and incubi." Elizabeth sensed someone hovering in her peripheral vision and turned to see a tech waiting patiently by the dialing console. Accepting the clipboard he held out to her, she scanned the form: a repair order for the windows shattered by their dinosaur visitors. Some of the more mundane aspects of the expedition persevered through just about any crisis, it seemed. Once she'd signed the form and returned her attention to the screen, she saw that Daniel had moved aside to allow Agent Larance to join him in the frame.

"They weren't entirely viable insofar as they couldn't reproduce with each other, but they passed for humans in all other ways," Daniel continued. "They could produce cambion offspring with other humans and were able to spread that bloodline through the generations. They also have a standard lifespan-except when they feed on humans, in which case they can regenerate and live pretty much indefinitely. And some apparently have done just that."

"How does that offer them, or anyone in their bloodline, any real protection against the Ori?"

"I'm not sure that it does, though it's doubtful Lilith ever realized how far off-track she'd drifted. She became so obsessed that she ultimately started behaving like the Ori."

When he didn't elaborate on that comment right away, Elizabeth prompted, "Dr. Jackson?"

"We'll be beaming the original Gilgamesh tablets out in a few hours," he said. "Once I read those, I should be able to home in on what we need to know to deal with the current situation."

Agent Larance answered Elizabeth more directly. "What Dr. Jackson is saying is that Lilith's original motivations matter less right now than what her creations believe."

"Lilith instilled in them a kind of religion," Daniel explained. "When the other Ancients discovered her work, they ordered her to destroy the `abominations.' By refusing to submit to their judgment, she positioned herself as a martyr. Also, when the climate changed about five thousand years ago, the increased rainfall and melting glaciers caused sea levels to rise, flooding E' din, or Eden, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers where Lilith's extensive laboratory was located." He shrugged. "It ties in to the flood myth, particularly in Babylonian and Biblical mythology."

"The animals that didn't make it into Noah's Ark," Elizabeth suggested.

"Something like that. Most of the chimeras died out, and Lilith lost pretty much all of her equipment. Gilgamesh built her a sanctuary in Uruk. However, Lilith vanished soon thereafter, most likely to Egypt-which tracks with Talmudic mythology-but not before indoctrinating the viable chimeras with the belief that they were descendants of the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy and that they had a sacred duty to protect `them' from the Ori."

Across the control room, Radek held up a data storage device and gestured toward the door, seeking permission with raised eyebrows. Confident that the scientists' time would be well spent delving into the information Daniel had sent, Elizabeth made a shooing motion, out of camera range. "`Them' being the Ancients'?"

A shadow seemed to cross Agent Larance's face. "That's one interpretation." Before Elizabeth could ask for clarification, she explained, "One sect worships the Ancient using her Babylonian name, Ninlil. Its members believe that they have an obligation to protect all sentient beings from the Ori."

"I think it's safe to say they're on our side," Daniel added. "They're the group I met in Iraq."

Elizabeth nodded. "And those responsible for the murders?"

"They consider the Pegasus Galaxy their spiritual home. They want to return there, presumably with the goal of bringing the Wraith here to help defeat the Ori."

A chilling idea, and, as far as Elizabeth could tell, completely unfeasible. "How do they intend to achieve that without access to the Stargate?"

"I don't know," admitted Daniel. "We think it has something to do with Antarctica. Given the way the body count is climbing, I think we're about to find out"