Secrets

Chapter Twenty-two Underground

“We sought this world as a haven because of Osprey’s memories,” Alabaster said, her hands flat on the arms of her chair. “Again and again through the centuries it has served our line as a last place of refuge. I thought to come here for some little time, and when that time had passed and my father did not seek me I thought that he was dead.”

Teyla nodded, watching as the child fed the fire bits of driftwood. “Carefully, Darling,” Alabaster said.

“Is that his name?” Teyla asked bemusedly.

“He is too young for a true name,” Alabaster said. “He still wears his Mother Name, the one I gave him when first I saw him. When he is older he will earn his First Name.” She looked over at the child again, past him to the flames. “What happened to my father?”

“He was captured by the Genii,” Teyla said. “He spent seventeen years as a prisoner until Colonel Sheppard came, that same blade whom you just saw. They were prisoners together and planned an escape together. That is how the first tie between us was made.”

“Seventeen years.” Alabaster’s voice was quiet. “And surely he thinks me dead.”

“I believe he does,” Teyla said. “And he will rejoice greatly to know that you are alive, and that you and your son are well.”

“And if I return with you,” Alabaster said, her eyes on Teyla’s, “to the City of the Lanteans, as you say, I will be your ally rather than your prisoner? Forgive me if I am slow to believe that.”

“As you should be,” Teyla said. After all, here Alabaster might be stranded but she was at least free. “But our alliance with your father is of great worth to us. We both stand against Queen Death, she who claims the mantle of Coldamber of the lineage of Night. Admittedly you give us leverage over your father, but your alliance is worth more to us than your death. If you should raise your banner against Death, a genuine queen of the line of Osprey, a true contender for power, you could do far more to oppose her than I have been able to as Steelflower.”

“And yet what you have done is not inconsiderable.” Alabaster put her hands together in thought. “But it is not only a matter of trusting you.” Her eyes met Teyla’s. “But trusting your people with Hyperion’s weapon.”

Rodney shifted behind Teyla’s chair. “Look, we’ve dealt with Ancient weapons before. The Attero Device — I mean, we did clear it out, us and your father. After we’d made a mess, but… Anyway, I’m sure that I could figure out something to do with Hyperion’s weapon. Some way to change it or modify it.”

“So that it only killed others?” Alabaster looked skeptical.

“I am very attached to my life,” Rodney said. “Believe me, I am very, very interested in living. I’m not about to use a weapon that’s going to kill me too.”

Alabaster glanced up at Rodney, a slight smile on her face. “Is your cleverman as smart as he thinks he is? Or does he prosper only on a handsome face and wit?”

A slow blush started crawling up Rodney’s cheeks, and his mental sputtering was plain to Teyla. “I assure you he is very clever,” Teyla said. “If not perhaps as omnipotent as he would like to believe he is.” She leaned forward in her chair. “If we do not have the ZPM we will be crushed by Queen Death. And you know as well as I that it is folly to take the ZPM from this place and leave Hyperion’s weapon. It will not stay hidden once it is found, and so the only choice we may make is whether it is better in our hands or the hands of others. You know there are others who will use it without a second thought.”

Ronon, she thought, and buried it as deeply in her mind as she might. But Ronon would never have that choice. John would see to that. Hyperion’s weapon would rest in Woolsey’s fussy, cautious hands, not the hands of vengeful Sateda. Or perhaps it would be taken to Earth for study. Perhaps Sam would take it aboard the Hammond and Ladon Radim would never hear of it.

Oh Ronon, she thought, how far we have come from home, you and I! If I had it in my hands now, to kill all the Wraith that ever were at the price of only my own death and my son’s — to save all Athosians yet unborn from all Cullings to come — I could not. Perhaps Jennifer has the right of it, Jennifer and Guide. Perhaps there is another way that does not lead to this: sororicide, that the daughters of the Ancients kill one another.

Alabaster smiled grimly as though she had followed every thought. “And if I kill you now so that you will not take it?”

“You will not succeed,” Teyla said. “And you and your son will die rather than me and mine.”

“And must it be one or the other?” Alabaster asked. Her voice was like her father’s, dispassionate, as though this were some academic question to be debated by scholars in dusty old rooms.

“I hope not,” Teyla said. “But I do not know.” She lifted her chin, and the thought of Guide came back to her, listening to her story in the dark. Once, there were three sisters… “But I do know that there is no hope if we cannot find it between us. It rests in our hands today and if we turn from this I do not know when this chance will come again. We are Osprey’s daughters, both of us, the heirs of her suffering and of her awful vengeance. And so it comes to us to decide.”

Alabaster shook her head sadly. “And you would have me believe that your people will not use Hyperion’s weapon to destroy us?”

“Not if there is another way,” Teyla said. “And your father believes there is. He has been working on a retrovirus with our Dr. Keller.” Rodney shifted behind her, but she did not look around. “And it may change everything.”

John came back down the trail cautiously with Ronon behind him. He didn’t know what he’d find. Hopefully just Teyla still chatting up a Wraith queen, like that was totally normal. Somehow his idea of normal had gotten seriously skewed.

“And you say it is possible to drink fully, to drink deeply, and not kill?” Alabaster was leaning forward, her face alive with avid interest.

Oh crap, John thought. Teyla’s told her about the retrovirus.

“Yes,” Teyla said. She looked like herself, not Steelflower, but her posture mimicked Alabaster’s, an old trick of trading.

“And could this retrovirus be given to those who seek intercession before I feed upon them?” Alabaster asked. “So that I might drink completely and not shorten their lives?”

“That is our understanding,” Teyla said. “For a human under its protection, being fed upon is both painful and traumatic, but it is not fatal for someone who was already in good health. It is an injury that one may heal from in days or weeks and suffer no consequences in the long run.”

“It is already painful and traumatic,” Alabaster said thoughtfully. “But if it could be made not to shorten their lives, it would be an improvement. Those who seek intercession now are already willing to endure much for their loved ones’ sakes. And I should prefer it.”

John halted in the doorway, motioning Ronon quiet behind him.

“And why is that? Why do you not kill?” Teyla asked quietly. Rodney stood still as a statue behind her.

“I shall give you two reasons,” Alabaster said, lifting her head in the firelight, the red glow casting shadows around her. “And you may pick which you like. When I came here I was alone. I was hurt, and I carried my firstborn. If I had killed they would have risen against me and hunted me, hundreds of them against me. I would not have survived.” Alabaster pushed strands of long red hair back from her face. “And the other is this. Twenty one years is a long time. If you were left alone on a planet with none but your son for twenty one years, would you not come to feel a fondness for the kine? Would you not give them names and speak to them, notice who is sick and who is well, follow the tales of who has mated with whom and watch their young grow? They are my friends. They are all the company I have known for twenty one years. I do not wish to kill them.”

The boy looked up from where he was playing by the fire. “Are we going now?” he asked, his yellow eyes reflecting like a cat’s. “Are we going like you said we would?”

“We are, Darling,” Alabaster said. “But first I will help Teyla find what she came to get.”

There was a light in the darkness, the wavering light of a flashlight skimming over the stones. Teyla held it, flashing it ahead of them, Alabaster beside her.

Osprey had walked thus, the passage whispered, the stones whispered in her memory. She had descended this way, through sea caves hollowed out by the booming ocean. The ways had changed in ten thousand years, but not their purpose. Not the thing at their heart. The sea roared against the walls, a continual presence.

*We must be very close,* Teyla said to Alabaster beside her.

*Yes.* Alabaster put her hand to the stone. *The ocean is just on the other side of this wall. We are below the water level now except at lowest tide, thrice a year when this world’s moons are both at aphelion.*

“I don’t have a power reading yet,” Rodney said, turning this way and that with his scanner, standing behind Teyla.

“How big would it be?” John said from behind him. “The ZPM isn’t plugged into anything.”

“Not big,” Rodney acknowledged. “But I should…. Yow!” Rodney screeched, jumping backwards straight into John.

“What the hell?” John said, his P90 swinging up instinctively.

“What’s that?” Rodney trailed his light on the wall where a pale, whorled creature seven or eight inches long was leaving a trail of slime. “Oh my God. I put my hand on that!”

“That is a cochlea,” Alabaster said. She sounded amused. “There are many of them in these caves. They will not harm you.”

“Giant bugs,” said John grimly. He didn’t look any happier than Rodney.

“I believe they are mollusks,” Alabaster said. “I assure you they are not harmful. They eat miniature sea creatures and fish eggs.”

“Fascinating,” Teyla said, bending close. It was not intelligent, not in any way she knew, not even so much as a bird might be. But it could hear her when she thought at it. *Turn toward the light,* Teyla thought, and watched as its head turned about, antennae wiggling, seeking Rodney’s flashlight.

*Amazing, is it not?* Alabaster thought in return, and her mind was bright with pleasure. *I believe it is from these that we derived many of the things we use, perhaps even some of the genetic material that went into the design of our ships. So much from such a small thing!*

The cruiser Eternal was much more intelligent, Teyla thought. Trying to explain to John, she had likened it to a horse. This was like comparing some sort of small mammal to a horse, a little animal that lived on seed in the woods. And yet Carson said they were related, that long enough ago horses were derived from tiny mammals.

*Horses! Squirrels!* Rodney shouted in her head. *Tiny Wraith Snail Hive Ship Things!*

Teyla and Alabaster both turned and looked at him.

“What is wrong with your cleverman?” Alabaster said aloud.

“He has been genetically manipulated,” Teyla said. “Given the DNA of the Returned, and now it is wearing off in part, and he must learn to control his Gift as I have. Rodney, please speak quietly. You do not need to shout.”

John and Ronon, who had heard nothing, looked at one another in bewilderment.

Rodney looked sheepish. “Sorry,” he said. “Some of the work I was doing with Ember — a lot of the genetic makeup of the hive ship hull looked similar to a mollusk. Now I see why. I wonder if these guys’ shells weren’t the original prototype.”

“That is well reasoned,” Alabaster said aloud. She put her head to the side. “Are you a Master of Sciences Biological?”

“Of Sciences Physical,” Rodney said, and Teyla thought he almost added an honorific. “I was made to serve Queen Death as Chief of Sciences Physical, with a specialty in the Subcorporia and Ratiocination. Of course I’ve done a good deal of engineering over the years, so I got stuck with some of that too, though let me tell you I’m glad to be rid of it. Though some of the bioengineering…”

“That is so?” Alabaster looked up at him with new interest. “Were I a cleverman I should have chosen the Subcorporia myself, and I learned a great deal about it for my own pleasure, though of course a queen must concentrate on the Sciences Biological, particularly what you call bioengineering, in order to fulfill her duties. But I have long been fascinated by stellar phenomena and by the manipulation of the subcorporial particles.”

“Really.” Rodney stared at Alabaster. “Really?”

“Can we keep our eyes on the ball here?” John said, giving Rodney a push on the shoulder. “Let’s find the ZPM. You and Alabaster can geek out about physics later.”

“Yes, let us,” Teyla said, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice even if she could not keep it out of her mind.

*Why are you amused?* Alabaster asked curiously.

*There is a long story of a queen who is a Master of Sciences Physical whom Rodney has pursued fruitlessly for years,* Teyla said. *You will see her soon, I expect.*

*Ah.* There was a long pause as they climbed deeper into the caves, over stones now faintly moist from the receding tide, before Alabaster spoke again, cautiously as though careful not to give offense. *But is it not true that among your people it is most generally the men who rule?*

*Generally, but not universally.* Teyla shone her light ahead. Alabaster could see in the dark, but she could not. *It depends upon the world and people. Among the Lanteans this one holds high status as a warrior and leader of men. Most often such positions belong to men, and those women who have attained it are extraordinary indeed. Rodney has desired her for many years, but she will not choose him.*

*And you are her ally?*

*Her ally, and I should like to think her friend,* Teyla said. She paused in turn. *Though you must not think we lack strife and inner politicking, or that we all love one another as brothers and sisters. We are not so different from you, all of us children of the Ancestors.*

“I’m getting a power reading,” Rodney said, blessedly aloud and without shouting. “Very small. I think it’s this way.”

“That’s through a solid wall,” Ronon said, shining his flashlight over it.

“It should be,” Teyla said. “It was sealed.” It was true that the stone looked different, not the weathered limestone of the surrounding walls, but paler colored, streaked and striated in a different pattern.

“I think this is the place,” Alabaster said.

“I think so too,” Teyla said. It was hard to tell from her memory. One bit of cave looked very like another. And yet…

“Definitely a power reading,” Rodney said with barely suppressed excitement.

“Ok,” John said, flashing his light around it. “C4.”

“C4? In a sea cave? Have you lost your mind?” Rodney demanded. “You’ll bring the ceiling down on us! And if you rupture the retaining wall, then here we are in a cave twenty minutes underground that’s filling up with ocean!”

John just looked at him. “Rodney, I am not that stupid. I’ll use a small shaped charge. Have I ever blown you up?”

“Is that a serious question? Because if it is…”

“McKay,” Ronon said. “Do you have a better idea of how to get through that wall?”

“Um.” Rodney looked around. “No.”

“Then we blow it,” Ronon said.

“You guys back off,” John said, “Up the corridor that way.” He surveyed the wall with his hands on his hips.

“Around the corner is best,” Teyla said, ushering Alabaster back. “We do not wish to be hit by flying chips of stone.”

They waited, Ronon carefully staying far away from Alabaster, until John came back. “Ok,” he said, “Cover your heads. Fire in the hole.”

It was a very small explosion, though it sounded loud in the confined space. Still, the ceiling did not come down. Not that Teyla had believed it would. John was better at this than that.

“Careful,” John said, picking his way through the settling dust over the rubble from the door.

And it had been a door. It was easy to see now how thin it had been, a few inches thick at most, a veneer of bone as hard as stone. His flashlight played over the chamber beyond, an alcove not even a meter wide. On the floor lay two metal boxes side by side.

“Let me get by.” Rodney pushed past Teyla, his instruments in hands, taking hold of the first case and opening it reverently. The Ancient bindings gave way. On a background of soft black material lay a gleaming ZPM, its surface traced with red and gold and orange like stained glass. Rodney laid his instruments over it, frowning and adjusting. Then a beatific smile spread across his face. “It’s at 97 %,” he said.

“Sweet,” John said, looking down at it with a bemused expression as though he could hardly believe it.

“And there is this,” Teyla said. Her hands were sure on the bindings. She had closed this box before. Osprey had closed this box. Her fingers had been the last to touch it. Alabaster bent too, eclipsing the light of the flashlight as she leaned. It did not matter. Teyla could see what lay within, a scepter of dark metal, the cold sheen of naquadah. “Hyperion’s weapon,” she said.