The Inheritors

Chapter Twenty-seven The Heirs of the Ancients

The morning sun shone brightly through the gateroom windows as Jack O'Neill came into the control room above. The wormhole was bright, three figures disappearing into the blue glare. Dick Woolsey watched as the gate deactivated. He'd been grateful for SG-1's help, but he had to admit he was also grateful to see them go.

"So everyone off?" O'Neill said.

Woolsey nodded. "All of the seriously wounded have been sent through to the SGC. That was SG-1 going home."

O'Neill frowned. "That was only three of them."

"Dr. Jackson asked if he could stay several more days. Apparently there's some work in the Ancient database he wants to do, and he's excited about Dr. Lynn's work over on the island. I don't see any reason he can't stay a while if he wants to," Woolsey said, shrugging. "After all, he is…"

"…the foremost authority on the Ancients, yeah, yeah." O'Neill shook his head. "Your problem, not mine."

Behind O'Neill, McKay was leaning over one of the airman's shoulders, one arm in a sling, grumbling about something on the screen in front of him.

Dr. Parrish came up the steps with a box in his arms. "Dr. McKay?"

"What now?" McKay said.

The box let out a yowl. A Siamese cat poked his head out the top where the flaps didn't quite meet, expressing Siamese disapproval at full volume.

"I found him in the botany lab," Dr. Parrish said. "Sitting in a pot of nepeta cataria. I think he belongs to you?"

"He does," McKay said, hurrying over to the box. Newton oozed out the top, climbing up his shoulder with all claws and butting McKay's chin with his head, purring wildly. "Hey, Newton. Did you get lost? Was it scary down there?" Newton butted him again, rubbing his chin against McKay's as McKay clutched him awkwardly one-handed to his chest.

"Newton?" said Dr. Parrish.

"After Sir Isaac Newton," McKay said.

Dr. Parrish sniffed. "That's not very original. I think you should have named him Tesla."

"At least I didn’t name him Edison," McKay said.

"I don't see any cat here," Woolsey said, and O'Neill snorted a laugh.

Once back in his office, Woolsey gazed at the trio in front of him with something like benevolence. McKay had stowed Newton safely out of sight in his quarters, and he took the visitor chair, nursing his injured wrist, while Zelenka and Beckett hovered in the background.

"And therefore it seems to me that all systems are stable," Zelenka finished. "We are somewhat closer to the equator now, and while this is not as warm a world as Atlantis' previous homes, the weather is somewhat better. We can expect moderate temperatures today and above freezing tonight. As we are near the equator, it may be that we can expect this kind of weather year round."

"Every day is a beautiful spring day," Beckett said with satisfaction. "For the Outer Hebrides."

"It's not that cold!" Zelenka said. "For the thousandth time!"

"It's not snowing," Rodney said. "That's an improvement. Now, when can I get back to work?"

"Today," Woolsey said. He held up one finger. "But! Dr. Zelenka is still Chief of Sciences. The IOA still has doubts."

"What would it take to prove to the IOA that I'm fine?" Rodney expostulated. "Me being dead?"

"Possibly," Woolsey said. "But let's not try it, shall we? They do take a dim view of having been previously dead."

"Of all the…."

Zelenka shook his head. "And if we are all done here except for Rodney flailing, I am going to bed. I have not seen my own room in two days, and I am finished."

"Yes, of course," Woolsey said. He should have noticed that Zelenka had been going nonstop since before the city took off. It was his job to notice. "Go on, Doctor. I think we're through."

"I'm going to get some work done," Rodney said with satisfaction, following Zelenka out.

"Be careful of your arm!" Beckett called after him. "I said to be gentle with it!" The door closed behind Rodney. Beckett shook his head, turning around. "Are you all right?"

"Of course," Woolsey said.

"The IOA," Beckett replied. "They can't be happy, can they?"

Woolsey sighed. "No. They never are. But if they do relieve me, I will know I've done the best I possibly could. And it's worth the price."

"Aye," Beckett said, glancing around at the control room bathed in morning sunshine through the great windows. "Atlantis is worth the price." He picked up his laptop. "And now it's back to the infirmary. Good day, Mr. Woolsey."

"Thank you, Dr. Beckett."

The door closed, and Woolsey looked around his quiet office. Nice and quiet. With no crisis at the moment. He had a pile of paperwork to catch up on. He was certainly going to enjoy that. Dick Woolsey looked around once more, taking in the busy duty crew outside, the gate waiting quiet and watchful, the stained glass patterns across the floor. Yes indeed. He was certainly going to enjoy catching up on his paperwork.

Radek made his way up from the transport chamber in the golden morning light. Food. Shower. Bed. The day could not possibly improve. The labs had suffered no major damage in the battle, though some of the experiments had been disrupted and would have to be restarted; Rodney's cat had apparently eaten more than the pot of catnip someone had collected on M5W-2842, but suffered no more ill effects than producing a massive hairball overnight, deposited conveniently on a stack of pending paperwork. In the background, he could hear Rodney retelling the story, complete with sound effects, and quickened his step, not wanting to have to hear it again.

"Radek!"

He turned, to see William Lynn beckoning from one of the smaller conference rooms. "Yes?"

It wasn't just William, he saw; Dr. Jackson was there, and Ember, looking sleek and entirely recovered. The Wraith bowed in greeting, and Radek nodded, not sure what to say. They hadn't really spoken since the jumper, and Radek doubted there was any point of etiquette that would smooth the awkwardness. Jackson, however, seemed oblivious to the possibilities.

"What is McKay on about?"

"His cat," William said, before Radek could answer. "Sorry, I already heard the story twice."

"What about his cat?" Jackson looked from one to the other. "Why is there a cat on Atlantis?"

"That is a question better not asked," Radek said, and to his surprise Jackson grinned.

"Right. McKay's involved. Never mind." Jackson stuck his head out the door. "All clear. Dr. Lynn, thanks for your help — and yours, Ember — and I'll definitely take that up with General O'Neill when I see him."

The door slid shut behind him, and Ember tilted his head to one side. "Quicksilver — Dr. McKay — seems to produce that reaction."

"He is a difficult man," Radek said, and stopped. "And also brilliant, though you need not say I said so."

"Believe me, I would not," Ember answered. "That one knows his worth all too well."

"But he backs it up," Radek said.

Ember nodded. "Otherwise — you are his second, yes? As I was on Death's hive. Otherwise someone would have murdered him long ago."

"He was like that when he was a Wraith?" Radek waved the words away. "No, no, why should he be different?"

"I wondered how he had lived so long," Ember said, baring teeth. "Even being that good. You have my sympathy."

"As do you." Radek smiled back.

William cleared his throat. "Look, I don't want to interrupt, but Guide asked me to be sure to get you back to Alabaster's ship before she leaves —"

"Yes," Ember said, but made no move to follow. "There is, however, a thing I have to say before I go. This — what you did, to give me of your life, that is the mark of brothers, and I hold it no less so between us. I name you brother, if you will have me, and my life is yours to claim."

Radek saw William's eyebrows rise, and didn't know what to say himself. He'd never expected, never wanted, and yet — "I'm honored," he said, and realized that he meant it. He held out his hand, and Ember clasped it, awkwardly, the heavy claws scraping across Radek's skin. "Besides, you already saved my life."

"Well," William said, after Ember walked away. "Brother to Wraith."

Radek spread his hands. "And I was to say no to that?"

"One more reason to stay on Atlantis. My good friend Radek is 'brother' to a Wraith cleverman." William smiled. "It's wonderful for research."

"I didn't think you were planning to stay," Radek said, and William shrugged.

"One may change one's mind."

"Yes," Radek answered. "Yes, indeed."

The wormhole to Sateda had just opened, late that afternoon, when Mel Hocken came hurrying into the gate room, coming up to join Ronon.

"I thought you were in the infirmary," he said.

"I was," she said. "But it was just a little concussion. I hit my head on the canopy, but my head is pretty hard. Besides, what's a little concussion?" Mel gave him an impish grin, turning to face the wormhole. "I wanted to come along," she said. "Mr. Woolsey said it was fine."

They stepped through into warm sun and the smell of food cooking, smoke rising from chimneys and cooking fires around the square. More of the rubble had been cleared away since the last time he'd been there, and above the broad doors of what had once been a train depot hung the banners of the Satedan Band. Cai must have been able to persuade them to post at least a token force here, to discourage any more raiding.

"They've been busy," Hocken said.

"Looks like it," Ronon said. He made his way across the square to the old hotel that Ushan Cai had made the headquarters of his provisional government. "I've got to talk to Cai about some things," he said.

"So do I, actually," Hocken said. "I'll come in and wait."

He shrugged and pushed open the doors. The lobby of the old hotel was still dimly lit by lamplight, but through the doors into what had been the bar, he could see that the glass was back in two of the windows that opened onto the square, a patchwork of irregular pieces heavily leaded to fit where once there had been perfect squares.

Cai was talking to two women, a map spread out between them, but he raised a hand to Ronon in greeting, and Ronon nodded. He waited until they were done, Hocken turning to look out the window with the easy stance of someone used to waiting at attention.

"Ronon," Cai said finally, as the women went out. "And Colonel Hocken. It's good to see you. We've been hoping for news from Atlantis."

"Queen Death is dead," Ronon said. "Her alliance has fallen apart. I wanted you to know."

"I'll drink to that." He poured drinks for them, not the strong liquor that had survived Sateda's fall but a dark beer. "Courtesy of the Genii," Cai said, tapping his own mug. "We're brewing our own, but the first new ale won't be ready for another week yet. Or so I'm told."

"You can't rush beer," Hocken said, although he noted that she didn't touch her drink, only sensible after a head injury.

"It won't be long."

"There's more," Ronon said, taking a drink and trying to decide how to put the words together. "Our scientists have created a medicine, what they call a retrovirus, that makes people immune to being killed by the Wraith. The Wraith can still feed on you, but you won't die."

Cai looked up from his mug sharply. "You're certain of this?"

"It works on the people who've tried it. Our doctors are still testing it."

"People have tried before. We've heard about the disaster that was the Hoffan drug."

"This one works. And it doesn't kill Wraith who try to feed on you. It just means that you survive."

"If so, I would think that's a great piece of good fortune."

"That's just what people are going to think," Ronon said. "But it's a mistake. The Wraith are going to use this for their advantage. They'll still fill up their feeding cells, but they'll be able to keep those people alive forever. And instead of culling and leaving, they'll come to stay and raise us like farm animals."

"What do they say about that in Atlantis?"

"They want a peace treaty with the Wraith," Ronon said, putting all his skepticism into the words. "To divide up the galaxy so that Sateda and Athos and a bunch of other planets are left alone, and abandon half of the galaxy to the Wraith. They'll make them slaves and cattle."

"The treaty isn't a done deal by any means," Hocken said, glancing sideways at Ronon. "We'll have to talk to our allies — Sateda, Athos, the Genii, the Travelers — and it's not our decision to make. It's the IOA back home that would have to be on board."

"But it's what the Wraith are offering."

Cai gave him a searching look. "Why are you telling me now?"

"They're going to offer the retrovirus to Sateda," Ronon said. "I don't think we should take it. If the Wraith attack Sateda, and we know they won't kill us, it would make it just too tempting to surrender. People would be calling for the government to agree to slavery rather than death."

"And you think I should buy them death rather than slavery?"

"I think we should fight," Ronon said. "If it comes to that, I'd rather fight."

"But having your retrovirus might make us better fighters," Cai said. "Better able to infiltrate Wraith hives and Wraith-controlled worlds."

"Maybe. But I don't think it's worth it."

"I think it might be worth it," Cai said. "But it won't be up to me alone. We're trying to put together a real government, and have elections — it's hard right now with the population changing so much day to day. It won't be this year. Maybe next year, but I wouldn't swear to that either. A decision like that will be theirs to make."

"I'd rather trust someone I know," Ronon said. "Rather than politicians."

"So stay and help us make sure they're good politicians," Cai said. "Better yet, stay and be one of them. You're probably our single greatest hero right now. They'd elect you anything in a heartbeat."

"That's not me," Ronon said.

"Think about it. When you retire, at least. Come out to Sateda and have your own house and a seat in the legislature. You may have to put in glass windows for yourself." He nodded toward the patchwork windows. "But I can't imagine you're afraid of hard work."

"I have a job in Atlantis," Ronon said. "And good friends there. But, maybe. One of these days."

"You'll be welcome," Cai said. "And I appreciate you telling me about this. Especially if your Mr. Woolsey didn't exactly give you permission to tell me yet." There was a question at the end of that remark.

"I'm still Satedan," Ronon said, and Cai nodded and held out his hand. Ronon clasped it firmly, Cai's grip firm even if he wasn't a soldier.

"Colonel Hocken, I'm glad you came along," Cai said. "I have a proposition to make to you."

"I hoped you might," she said, her face lighting.

"We used to have a very good army. We will again, once we have enough of a population to support one. But what we've never had is an air force, and from what I've heard about your air force on Earth, I want one."

"A whole air force is going to take a while," Hocken said. "You're not in a position yet to build fighter planes, and I don't think ours would do you much good — you'll want something that can go through a Stargate. Plus I can't actually buy you a fighter plane. But I can buy you an ultralight." She laid her tablet on the table and pulled up pictures of a tiny, light aircraft, sailing above green hills in a very blue sky. "We'll have to figure out fuel — the Genii probably have something that'll work, if you can trade with them. And you'll want to build more, and modify the design for your own purposes. But right away you'll be able to scout a lot further than you can on foot, and look for people who may still be out there, cut off from big cities and the gate."

"That would be worth a great deal to us," Cai said. "Say, a commission as the chief of the new Satedan Air Force? I can't actually pay you right now, mind you. But I'm certain that the new government will as soon as it can."

"That's not really what matters most to me," Hocken said. "It's the chance to do it, with nothing holding me back." She shook her head. "I've been waiting too long for that to happen in our air force. I'm tired of waiting to start my life."

"There's one waiting for you here," Cai said.

"I'll be out at the end of the year," Hocken said. "And I'll bring you all the equipment I can. If I pull out all my savings—" Her expression was speculative as she scrolled rapidly through lists of airplane parts.

"I don't know if Woolsey's going to approve you supplying all this tech to the Satedans," Ronon said.

"That's just too bad, isn't it?" Hocken said, raising her chin. "I'll be a private citizen, and none of this is classified military technology. If I want to move out to Sateda, and accept Satedan citizenship—" She looked questioningly at Cai, who nodded. "Then all I need is for someone to give me a ride out to Pegasus, and I imagine I can talk somebody into it."

"We'll be glad to have you," Cai said. He offered her his hand, and she clasped his arm firmly in the Satedan fashion, her smile delighted. "You're sure we can't lure you away from Atlantis as well?" he said, glancing over at Ronon.

"Not yet," Ronon said.

Cai nodded. "Whenever you're ready, we'll be here."

"I'm glad," Ronon said. Outside the patchwork windows, people were crossing the square, and one woman lifted a toddler on her shoulder; the little boy reached up toward the sky, where a flock of birds arrowed across the brilliant blue.

Above the waves that broke white against the piers there was an ocean of stars. It was hours yet until dawn, but the wind which whispered around the towers was soft with the promise of coming spring. The Wraith cruiser Eternal occupied the south pier, a dark shape against sky and sea. At the bottom of the ramp two figures stood, an arm's length between them. Only their hands touched, her hand about his wrist, Teyla and Todd.

"What do you suppose they're talking about?" Sam asked. Her voice sounded curious and just a little bit wistful.

"Who knows," Rodney said. He had some idea, but he didn't want to think about that. Even if he healed, especially if he healed and the telepathy went away, he'd be forever sealed off from that communion. He'd never know that kind of intimacy again, mind to mind, quick as thought.

"Rodney?"

"Yes?"

"What happened?" He looked around at her. Sam's face was still. "On the puddle jumper. I don't see how you got out before impact. I don't see how you could have done that."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Rodney said.

"Try me."

Rodney shook his head. The stars were very bright. The auroras that had concealed them were gone with the tilting of the world on its axis, gone to come again next year. "It was Elizabeth," he said finally. "Elizabeth Weir. She was there with me on the jumper. I know it can't really have been her. I know that. But it was. Elizabeth was there." Rodney put his hands in his pockets. "She said she'd be there until the end, that she wouldn't leave no matter what. I remember…." He took a deep breath. "I remember the radiation alarms going off and the shield failing and then…. I woke up in the Hammond's infirmary. That's all I know." He shrugged. "You don't believe me."

"Actually I do." Sam's eyes glittered in the dim light. "When Daniel was Ascended, something a lot like that happened. But he got in a lot of trouble. The other Ascended beings kicked him out. They dropped him off on some random planet not even remembering who he was. Because he helped us. Because he interfered."

Rodney took a long, cool breath of sea air and something in his chest loosened, something he didn't know he'd held for far too long. "You think it was Elizabeth?"

"I do."

"And you think she could be out there somewhere?"

"She could be," Sam said. "Or maybe she didn't get caught. But if she did, yeah. She's out there somewhere."

Rodney took another breath, longer and deeper. "We could find her," he said.

"We could. We never leave a man behind." Sam put his arm awkwardly around his shoulder and Rodney twisted to look at her skeptically.

"You did not just hug me."

"No." Sam stepped back. "I didn't."

"Because if you did, I'm never going to let you forget it."

"It was a friendly hug!"

"Now I know how you really feel about me."

"I feel like I want to squash you like a bug!" Sam said, but she was laughing.

"Come on now. You know it's always been me!" Rodney was grinning.

"In a pig's eye. If it had been up to me, the Wraith could have kept you!"

"Yeah, sure," Rodney laughed, and then his stomach sank. Jennifer had come out of the nearest building and was walking toward them, her hair in a ponytail and the dark leathers of her field clothes making her look already far away.

If Sam could have dematerialized she would have. "I've got some stuff to do," she said quickly, stepping away as Teyla also turned, her hand falling from Todd's arm. "Teyla? All set?"

"I believe that I am," Teyla said serenely, coming to join them.

"Jennifer," Rodney said.

"Rodney."

"Then let's go check out that thing we were talking about earlier," Sam said to Teyla. "You know, the thing I wanted you to look at."

"I believe I do," Teyla said, and shook her head at Rodney as she followed Sam toward the door.

Todd still stood on the ramp, turned toward them, impassive beneath the faint bluish running lights of the cruiser.

And now there weren't any words, not any good enough. "Jennifer," he said again, and then fell silent. He wanted to tell her that she was crazy for doing this. He wanted to promise her that if she would just stay he wouldn't ask her to marry him again, that he would take things as slowly as she wanted. But there weren't any words.

She looked up at him, her eyes searching his face as though she were looking for something, or maybe she wanted to remember it. "I'll be fine," she said.

"Sure," he said. "You'll do great."

"I need to do this, Rodney."

"I can see that. If the retrovirus works, if people will accept it — well, people and Wraith, I suppose I should say…"

"I think you mean people. Humans and Wraith."

"People," Rodney said. "If they do, you'll be saving a lot of lives."

"Well, I'm going to try," Jennifer said. She looked ridiculously young and slight in her black leathers, not like Teyla, not scary. But not like a girl either. Just a lot like Alabaster.

"It's just…." He couldn't quite finish the thought. "I thought you wanted to go back to Earth," he said. "I thought you wanted to get married and live in a suburb or maybe in the country somewhere and practice medicine and…. I thought you were the one who didn't want to come back to Pegasus. I thought you wanted…." He waved his hands at all the things he couldn't name. "Strawberries. You keep saying you miss strawberries and there aren't any in Pegasus. And daylilies. You know. Those yellow flowers. Or the red ones."

"Poppies," Jennifer said. "They have those here. I've seen them."

"I haven't," Rodney said.

"When do you ever look at the plants?"

"When they're trying to eat me," Rodney said. "But that's beside the point. You don't even like it here. And there are leeches. You hate leeches. And it's a long way from your dad, and you don't even have email, and…."

She put her hand on his arm. "Rodney."

"Yes?"

"I want to do this." Her eyes were very clear. "When I get back… maybe then I'll want to go home and have all those things. In their time. But right now it's time for me to do this."

"I can't wait forever," he said quietly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not old, but I'm not getting any younger. I was hoping we could get married here in Atlantis, maybe even — well, after all, Teyla has Torren, and how much more trouble would having one more child in the city be? Woolsey let me keep the cat." He couldn't ask the question, but he hoped she heard it anyway.

"You take care of Newton, all right?" It wasn't an answer, or maybe it was. They had never been very good at finding words. "I'm doing what I need to do. You should do what you need to do."

"I will," he said.

"You always do."

There wasn't any answer to that. And so he smiled at her like a sturdy adventurer ought to. "Take care of yourself," he said, and gave her a sketchy salute. "And if you need anything, just whistle."

"I'll remember that," Jennifer said. She pulled herself up, shoulders squared, and gave him a little smile.

And then she turned and walked across the tarmac toward the cruiser, toward the dark figure at the foot of the ramp. He loomed over her, bending to speak, and then she went past him up the ramp, her head high and her back straight, Todd following after. Jennifer didn't look back. The ramp retracted and the docking port irised closed, blue lights winking out. Wind gusted as the cruiser’s thrusters came online.

Sam and Teyla were still standing in the doorway to the building, whatever pretend errand of Sam's forgotten, and Rodney hurried out of the landing zone as the cruiser's engines rose in a rising whine, the wind swirling around him.

Teyla put her hand on his arm, steel presence comforting as sunlight. "She will be all right," Teyla said.

"I know." He'd thought this was the story of how he turned himself into a hero and got the girl and they lived happily ever after. And maybe that story hadn't really been about the girl at all, but only about becoming a person he could be proud of when he looked in the mirror. He had done that, and sometimes it took him by surprise to realize it.

Teyla looked up at him. "Do you wish you were going with her?

"On a Wraith ship?" But there was some part of him that ached for that still, and wondered if walking aboard the cruiser would have felt like coming home. I'm already home, he told himself, and knew that for him that was true. "Don't be silly," he said briskly. "Besides, do you have any idea how much work I have to do?"

There was only a little lump in his throat as he watched the cruiser Eternal lift into the darkness and vanish over the storm tossed sea, a darkness against the stars which swiftly disappeared.

It was a day of rest, and the captain of the Hammond was going fishing.

"How's that?" Sam said.

"Not too bad," Jack said. "If I reposition a little…."

"Move around all you like," Sam said. She unfolded her chair and sat down, propping her feet up on the low stonework of the edge of the pier.

Jack moved his chair around a little more, fussing with it, then sat down and adjusted his baseball cap, looking out at the calm sea.

Sam sighed happily. "Look at that! Almost worth coming all the way out here for, isn't it?"

"Almost," Jack said.

Sam shrugged as he baited his line neatly and cast. "Yeah, but not many guys can say they've dipped their pole where you have."

He stopped, the rod dangling in his fingers. "I can't believe you just said that, Carter."

"Fishing, Jack." She cast her line with a smug look, watching it plop satisfactorily into the water next to his.

"I think I've got a bite already," he said, leaning forward.

The end of his pole bobbed, then a tentacle rose from the surface of the water, exactly the same shade as the fishing line. It waggled back and forth, then purposefully wrapped around the end of the pole and jerked it out of Jack's hand, disappearing into the depths.

"I'll be damned," Jack said as Sam started laughing.

"I guess we'll just have to enjoy the view," she said.

Supposedly, it was a day of rest, and the morning stretched before Teyla invitingly empty. She cradled her coffee mug in her hands, her elbows resting on the railing of the balcony, looking out at sea and clear skies. It was warm enough that she was comfortable in a light jacket. This passed for a beautiful spring day here, on their new world, and she could not say it was otherwise.

The doors slid open and John came out, his sweatshirt sleeves pushed up to his elbows, a mug in his hands. "I thought I'd find you out here," he said.

"I am enjoying the sunshine," she said, tilting her face up to the light, feeling it warm on her own skin.

"This planet is starting to grow on me," he said, taking a sip. "There might be some interesting stuff here. We've only just started going through that Ancient installation Ronon found on the island. Now that we've got some time, maybe we can actually do some exploring."

"It would be a nice change," Teyla said.

"There's an awful lot we could do," John said. "Next year or the year after. And when that Indian research vessel launches I expect they're going to want to leave a team here. And Jackson was saying that there needed to be a bigger social sciences presence."

"I expect Alabaster will want a permanent envoy," Teyla said. "And Jinto is annoying Halling, begging that Dr. Zelenka would like him to be his apprentice, if Mr. Woolsey will allow it."

"That could work," John said, leaning on the rail beside her, looking out over the light-touched towers. "There's plenty of room in Atlantis."

"For all the children of the Ancestors," Teyla said. And that was right and good. They were all heirs to the Ancients, all heirs to their pain and their hubris and their beauty and their insatiable curiosity.

"Yeah," John said. He looked contented.

"And you," Teyla said. "You are talking about the future as though you mean to see it."

He lifted his head, his eyes on the distance. "I guess so," he said slowly. "When I was getting ready to go on this last mission to get rid of the weapon, I didn't want to."

He said it as though it were a painful admission, and Teyla looked at him sideways. "Of course you didn't want to."

"I didn't want to die. I had to do it, but I didn't want it. I don't want…." He trailed off, and Teyla waited in silence, waiting for him to find the words. "I didn't want life to be over. And now that it's not, it feels like a reprieve. Like some guy waiting on death row and then finding out he's been pardoned. If that makes any sense."

"It does," she said. Teyla blinked into the sun, because of course it was that the glare hurt her eyes. "You were willing to be the sacrifice, and then you did not have to be. You have broken the geas. You have left it behind. And now there is your life before you."

"Maybe so," he said, and took a drink of coffee. "Maybe so." The wind tugged at his hair, and he smiled into the eye of the wind.

"And in us the Ancients have secured their future also; you, Ronon, even Rodney, might father a child one day."

"Pretty scary," John said. "Rodney being a father, I mean…"

Teyla smiled. "I would not be sorry to have another child someday myself."

"It probably wouldn't have the gift, not like you and Torren…"

"Nor would Rodney's, I think. Nor would any child of yours likely have a naturally expressed ATA gene," she said, leaning against the rail beside him. "They would all be only human."

And yet both legacies would live in their blood, recessives carried forward down the centuries, the inheritance of the Ancients.

The doors slid open again and Ronon came out, checking when he saw them. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt."

"Come on out, Ronon," John said. "It's a beautiful day."

"Please," Teyla said.

Ronon came over and stood against the rail beside John, taking a deep breath and seeming to straighten up from somewhere deep inside, looking out at sky and sea. "It is," he said.

"I was thinking that we needed to finish checking out that Ancient outpost you found," John said. "How about taking an archaeological team over there tomorrow?"

"Sure," Ronon said, and smiled.

John returned Ronon's smile, and then turned to gaze out at the white-capped sea that stretched out to meet the bright sky arching overhead. It was a good place for Atlantis, John thought, and good flying weather. He was itching to take a jumper up into it, to explore without the constant worry he'd felt since Rodney had first been captured by the Wraith.

The balcony door slid open as if in answer to his thought, and Rodney came out onto the balcony, pulling his jacket around him in the brisk breeze. He hesitated, and John beckoned him over to the balcony. Rodney leaned on the railing, his elbows next to Teyla's, his white hair catching the light. It was still weird, but John figured if it didn't grow back in brown, they'd all get used to it.

He glanced over at Ronon, who'd been visibly tense about dealing with Rodney ever since they'd gotten him back from the Wraith. Ronon seemed at ease, looking out over the railing at the horizon, his hair stirring in the breeze.

"So I've been thinking that we should investigate the Ancient outpost over on the island," Rodney said. "I'm not convinced there's nothing interesting left over there."

"Way ahead of you," John said. "But not today. We're taking today off."

"What, you don't think searching for Ancient technology is fun?"

Ronon looked at Rodney sideways down the rail. "Remember the man-eating bears?"

"We don't know that they're man-eating."

"They looked like they wanted to eat us."

"The cave-in probably took care of all the bears, right?"

Ronon shook his head, but he looked amused. "We should check it out when it's not our day off. I won't let the bears eat you."

"Thank you," Rodney said. "Thank you very much." His tone was a little too serious.

Ronon shrugged. "You're my team. All three of you."

"No one is letting bears eat anyone," John said. "And today is a nice day, and we do not have to deal with any bears today."

"Sometimes I wonder how we wound up having a life where that's a normal thing for someone to say," Rodney said.

John looked up at the clear blue sky, remembering with sharp clarity the moment when he'd flipped a coin high into another sunny sky, trusting his future to its fall.

"We walked through the Stargate," he said. He'd chosen then without knowing what he was getting into, or even what he wanted. He knew now, and he'd make the same choice now, open-eyed, every time. "I think that was a pretty good choice."

"I believe it was, too," Teyla said, and she leaned into the circle of his arm.

Beyond the balcony, the sea stretched out sparkling until it met the blue arch of the sky, as blue as the rising towers of Atlantis, bright and wide and waiting for them.