Unascended

Chapter Fifteen

John was in the shower when his radio crackled. “Colonel Sheppard?” Amelia Banks’ voice asked.

John turned off the water with a thought, a nice perk of the ATA gene-sensitive controls over in this tower and jumped out to press the button. “This is Sheppard.”

“Larrin’s calling in. She says she’s rendezvoused with Lesko’s ship.”

“On my way,” John said, already pulling his clothes on.

It was less than ten minutes before he stepped out of the transport chamber in the gate room and hurried over to the console. Larrin smirked at him from the viewscreen. “Busy, Sheppard?”

“Washing. I do that sometimes.” He gave her what he hoped was a charming and insouciant grin. “Banks says you’ve got Lesko’s ship.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have your friend,” Larrin replied. “Lesko says she got off when they rendezvoused with another of our ships, the Durant.”

“What? Why didn’t he stop her?” John blurted.

“Why would he? Why does he care where a passenger goes? She was a passenger, not a prisoner.” Larrin tilted her chin. “I think it’s about time you leveled with me about who your friend is.”

Banks looked up at him from her terminal, and John was aware of a sudden hush falling around him.

“She was an important part of our expedition,” John said. “And we never leave a man behind. If she’s wandering around injured, not even remembering who she is, we have a responsibility.”

Larrin’s eyebrows rose. “Well,” she said, “that makes sense. She went over to the Durant because they have one of our best doctors. If she was hurt or hoped he could help with the memory problem, she was smart to transfer over.”

Which did reassure John somewhat. That was like Elizabeth, trying to work this problem from the other end, and he let himself feel a tiny glimmer of hope. “OK, thanks,” he said. “Any idea where this ship, the Durant, is?”

“They’re due for planetfall on Manaria day after tomorrow,” Larrin said.

“Manaria?” John frowned. “Manaria was practically leveled by Queen Death a few months ago.”

Larrin nodded. “Yep. That’s why they’re buying ores from us. They need metal for rebuilding, and we’ll bring it in at the right price.”

“Which is high,” John said.

“We’re not philanthropists, Sheppard. Everybody’s got problems.”

“I know. I appreciate you taking the time to call.”

Teyla and Rodney had just come in and were standing back from the camera side by side with expressions on their face that suggested they were having one of their silent Wraithy conversations.

“Just remember that in the future,” Larrin said, and cut the communications link.

John turned around. “So,” he said.

“Manaria,” Teyla said.

“Day after tomorrow,” John said. “OK, we’re in business.”

Which of course meant there wasn’t anything he could do about it right that minute. John went down to the mess and got breakfast to bring back to Woolsey’s office. No, to his office. Which was not a good thing.

It wasn’t that he minded the paperwork necessary for Atlantis’ military contingent. It wasn’t even that he minded the jobs that kept him in Atlantis rather than in the field. He’d found that he actually liked the training part. There was something really satisfying about helping the new, young airmen and Marines figure out how to deal with a universe they’d never imagined existed a year ago. He didn’t even mind dealing with the Air Force brass now that he mostly went directly through General O’Neill rather than General Landry, who hated him ever since the part about stealing a puddle-jumper out of the SGC.

No, what he hated was the IOA. With Woolsey gone about ninety percent of his inbox was IOA stuff, reports and questions and a million nit-picky stupid things which either didn’t make any difference or were for reasons that anybody with half a brain could have seen. “Why do you transmit on Tuesdays?” Why not? Tuesday was a perfectly good day to transmit. “Why do you maintain encryption on internal messages?” Because our computer systems have been compromised so many times they look like Swiss cheese, and anything that will slow people down for ten minutes buys us ten minutes.

Overnight there had been another email upload, thirty-seven messages this time, all of them work related. There really wasn’t anyone on Earth who sent him personal email messages. And there was one from Woolsey with fat attachments. John opened that one first.

He read it three times, then took a gulp of his coffee and considered. The Indian research vessel, the Asoka, was launching earlier than expected. OK, that wasn’t actually a surprise. It was a usual Air Force thing to allow more time than you actually needed in case problems came up, and he doubted the Indian Air Force did things differently. If they were anticipating a summer maiden voyage, they must be having smooth trials now, so they were going ahead and sending out research and maintenance personnel. Made sense. That way when the Asoka arrived they could look her over after her shakedown cruise. But that was a pretty big contingent. Other than the US contingent, that was the single largest other nationality represented. If the Asoka’s crew was anything like the size of the Hammond’s, that meant when they were in port the Indians would be about a quarter of the total population of Atlantis. That would change things. And the Asoka wouldn’t be going back and forth like Daedalus and Hammond, nor primarily Milky Way based like the Russian battlecruiser. It would be based in Atlantis and its mission was to explore the Pegasus galaxy. This was going to be really different.

But it was probably a good thing. The more non-US nations that had a stake in Pegasus, the less likely that a political retrenching would close Atlantis down. No, they were here to stay, and the Asoka was one part of that. His job was to make it work. So he’d better start talking to whoever the IAF liaison was. It was going to be a brave new world.

Lorne collected his tray in the mess hall and settled down at a table. There was a shipment of trade goods to Sateda scheduled for that morning, but for once he actually had time to sit down and eat breakfast. He had his first bite of scrambled eggs halfway to his mouth when his radio crackled to life.

“Perfect timing,” he muttered, and then said more loudly, “Lorne here.”

“Sir, we’ve been working on getting the equipment set up at the alpha site,” Sgt. Anthony said. “But we’ve run into a few problems.”

“And those problems would be?” Lorne prompted, watching the eggs on his plate congeal.

“It’s the equipment we were issued,” Anthony said. “It’s junk. The first tent we put up is already falling apart, and one of the ones we just put up ripped as soon as the wind picked up. And two of the water containers that we brought through are leaking.”

“So come back and get new ones,” Lorne said as patiently as he could.

“Affirmative, sir, I’ve sent Harper back with the jumper to do that. She could use some flight time in the jumper anyway. But this stuff is out of the shipment that just came out on Daedalus. Maybe we just happened to pull some bad equipment, but… ”

“But if they sent us defective equipment, we need to know that now,” Lorne finished. “I appreciate the heads-up.”

“Harper’s bringing back the gear that fell apart.”

“Great,” Lorne said, his mind on his rapidly cooling breakfast. “When she gets back with replacements, get that alpha site set up. We may not need it, but if we need it we’re going to need it fast. And we can’t park people on a desert planet without water.”

“Copy that,” Anthony said, and cut the transmission.

Lorne started to go back to his interrupted meal, now complete with an extra helping of nagging worry. He looked up as Radek Zelenka put his tray down. Zelenka was the acting head of the science department — everyone had been a little nervous about handing that responsibility directly back to Dr. McKay, despite all the doctors’ assurances that he was fully recovered from having been a Wraith. He ought to know if the scientists were having any similar issues.

“Hey, doc. Have any of the scientists been having any problems with the equipment that came out on Daedalus?”

“You mean the most recent shipment?” The Czech scientist frowned. “Not that I have heard. Dr. Elkins in botany complains that the broad-spectrum lights aren’t adequate to their needs, but he has made that complaint about every shipment of them we have received. And Dr. Kusinagi reported her new mass spectrometer was damaged in shipment. She expressed herself in fairly strong terms about it.”

“Do you think it was defective in some way?”

“No, I think that somebody dropped it. The SGC personnel are not always as careful as they should be with scientific equipment.” Radek looked at him over the rim of his glasses. “Why do you ask?”

“One of my teams had some of their gear fall apart. Probably they just had the bad luck to grab the wrong tent and the wrong water containers, but… ” But those were two separate items, probably packed in entirely separate shipping containers for the trip from Earth, both of which had turned out to be defective. “But you never know around here,” Lorne said, scooping up his scrambled eggs in a piece of toast. “I’m going to go take a look.”

“There is the trade mission to Sateda scheduled for this morning.”

“I’ve got time if I eat breakfast and put the fear of God into the supply officer at the same time. I’m in the Air Force, we can multitask.”

“I will ask around as well,” Radek said. “But I have found that the scientists rarely hesitate to complain. Especially when they know it is me and not Rodney who they will be complaining to.” He shook his head. “If they do not put Rodney back in charge soon, I may have to ask him for lessons in appearing less sympathetic.”

“He could probably give you some pointers,” Lorne said, and headed off, improvised sandwich in hand.

Teyla nodded to the Marine on duty outside the door of Ember’s guest quarters and then opened the door. *Ember?* she called silently. *Are you there?*

He was, of course. It was courtesy to ask, as she’d already felt his presence. Ember was sitting before the floor to ceiling window looking out across the city, the only light the bright reflections of the lights of other towers and the distant stars, more than enough light for a Wraith to see by easily. His dark coat blended with the black leather of the bench he sat on, though he rose to his feet immediately. A white ball fell out of his lap and picked itself up indignantly, washing one paw with a superior expression on its little gray face.

*The animal was friendly,* Ember said sheepishly. *I do not know where it came from. It simply was here.*

*That is Newton,* Teyla said, shaking her head as the cat looked up at her. *It is Dr. McKay’s cat. No matter where he tries to keep it, it gets out and roams where it wishes. I will tell him where it is.*

*I did not harm it,* Ember said.

*So I see.* The nearly year old cat was winding its way around Ember’s ankles, purring loudly.

Teyla walked over to the window. It was indeed an awe-inspiring view. *You know that you do not have to stay in this room. You are a guest, not a prisoner.*

Ember’s reply was the mental picture of the Marine at the door.

*That is an escort, not a guard. You are more than welcome to join the rest of us this evening.*

*In the Mess Hall?* Ember’s mental voice was amused. *I do not think there are things that I would eat.*

*Are you hungry then?”

*Not noticeably,* Ember said. *I can go several days yet if I do not have to heal myself. If I am still here then…*

*If you are still here then, there are many who have had the trial of the retrovirus,* Teyla said. *Perhaps a volunteer can be found.*

Ember came and stood beside her. *You would ask one of your men to do this?*

*I expect a volunteer can be found,* Teyla said, not intending her mental picture of Dr. Zelenka to be seen, but it was.

*I gave him great pain before.*

*But no lasting harm.* Teyla put her hand to the glass.

*It seems not.* There was a shade of embarrassment in his mental voice, and she could find the source of it easily enough that he had been so far gone in pain as to be without restraint, desperate enough to save his own life that he would have killed the man who had helped him if Radek had not had the retrovirus. *I would have been sorry to kill him,* Ember said quietly.

*I know.* Teyla took a deep breath. *There are many I have killed for which I am sorry.*

Ember looked at her sideways, as if wary to receive such confidence from one he considered a queen.

*But we do what we must to live, or else we die,* Teyla said. *And I have never been one who was willing to die.* She shook her head. *And that was the choice of the First Mothers. I cannot say I would have chosen differently.*

His mind was open, and she showed him a shard of memory the bright tapestry of a starfield far from any world, beyond heliopause in the silence between systems where the Wraith were safe. Five ships hovered there, small and awkward for hive ships today, but hive ships nevertheless, grown from mollusks found on a distant world a thousand years ago. Five ships and two hundred and seventy four people, four daughters and twenty one sons, two granddaughters and sixty two grandsons, innumerable friends and consorts and men of other lines come to join her Osprey’s family. This was her line, her legacy, these ships, these men, these bright and brilliant daughters, this fleet. They had not simply survived. They had thrived. And they were beautiful. Her heart was filled by a life of such joy. Osprey stretched her mind out over the fleet, feeling her daughters answer, feeling each precious mind. Mother of Queens, First Mother…

Ember bent his head. To see such a thing from her mind was honor indeed.

*I did not know,* Teyla said. *I did not know there was beauty. I saw only death. Only hardship. When I first remembered, I felt pity. I pitied Osprey her suffering and for the injustice done to her. That was what I felt at first.*

*And now?* Ember asked boldly.

*I feel pride,* Teyla said. She reached down and scooped up Newton where he wound about her ankles. *Come. Let us return Newton to Dr. McKay.*

Atlantis’s current supply officer was a young Air Force lieutenant who had been hastily posted to Atlantis as they were leaving Earth. Lorne privately felt they would have been better off trying to get the highly competent Lt. Alberti back, even if it had required twisting multiple arms to do it. What he had, however, was Lt. Winston, who had an unfortunate faith in the reliability of all other links in the supply chain.

“That equipment came out of the shipment we just got a couple of weeks ago when Daedalus was here,” Winston said.

“That’s what I just told you.”

“So it should be fine.”

“It should be, but it isn’t,” Lorne said. “Two of the water containers sprung leaks, and one of the tents fell apart as soon as it was set up.”

“Maybe it wasn’t set up properly.”

“That’s possible. But that shouldn’t make it fall apart like it’s been shredded. And are you saying they filled the water cans with water wrong?”

“Maybe they put them down on rocks.”

“There’s nothing but rocks to put them down on. Come on, now. Let’s take a look at the rest of the gear from that shipment and see how much of it is pre-wrecked for our convenience.”

“The SGC wouldn’t send us defective equipment,” Winston said.

“You have got a lot to learn about life,” Lorne said. “Or at least about life in the military. Show me the containers.”

It took an hour to inventory the contents of the containers that had arrived on Daedalus. None of the other gear showed visible signs of damage or manufacturing defects, but then presumably neither had the tent and the water cans before they were used.

“Okay,” Lorne said finally. “Did Harper come pick up a new tent and water cans?”

“Right before you got down here,” Winston said.

The door to the supply warehouse slid open at that moment, and Harper came in, scowling. “You know those new water cans you issued me? One of them fell apart as soon we took it out of the jumper,” she said. “It looks like it melted. The others are still holding water, but I’m telling you there’s something wrong with these cans.”

“All right,” Lorne said. “Get a water trailer out there. We’re going to need one anyway if we’re going to have people stationed there for any length of time. How’s the new tent holding up?”

“They were setting it up when I left,” she said.

“Let me know if it stays up. Get the rest of the site set up, and let me know if you have any other equipment failures. I’ve got to go take Dr. Lynn and Dr. Zelenka to Sateda today, but I’ll come out and take a look when I get back.” They were dropping off some portable generators to help the Satedans get electric power to areas that crucially needed it, in exchange for letting Lynn explore the Satedan museum more fully, this time hopefully without the threat of Genii soldiers storming in while he was doing it.

He turned to Winston. “Have one of your people set up some of these tents out on the pier, and see if they fall apart. Let’s not have a gate team find that out when they’re relying on them for shelter in a blizzard. And start testing the water cans, too. Let’s find out if any of them actually hold water.”

“Yes, sir,” Winston said with a martyred expression.

“Because if we do end up with a gate team put in danger because of potentially defective supplies, Colonel Sheppard will start asking questions about whether these potentially defective supplies were tested before they were issued. And I’ll have answers for him. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

Ronon stood in the doorway of Eva’s office, not sure whether there was any point in being there or not. “Are you busy?”

“No,” she said. “But you can make an appointment if you want.”

He shrugged. “I thought I’d come see if you were busy.”

“I’m not busy,” she said, shifting in her chair to brace her injured leg more comfortably. “Come in and sit down. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

Ronon sat down. “I think you ought to tell Sheppard and Teyla not to trust the Wraith so much.”

“I’m not sure that’s exactly my job,” Eva said after a momentary pause.

“You said you gave people advice.”

“When they ask for it. How about you tell me why you’re worried about them trusting the Wraith too much?”

“Because we’ve got a Wraith in the city again.”

Eva nodded. “And you don’t like it.”

“It’s dangerous. So maybe they can help us find some old relics of the Asgard. So what. That’s not worth having them here. Having people get used to them, like they’re supposed to be here.”

“You’re afraid that people won’t be on their guard if something dangerous happens.”

“Sheppard probably will be. I don’t know about Teyla.”

“Teyla’s never struck me as a careless kind of person. Does she strike you that way?”

“Not careless. But she’s started sympathizing with the Wraith, even liking some of them. That’s… wrong,” he finished, unable to come up with a word for it that was as strong as he felt it deserved.

“Which do you think is more important? Whether or not she likes the Wraith, or whether or not she’s careful?”

There was an answer on the tip of his tongue, but he bit the words back. “Whether or not she’s careful,” he said after a moment.

“It won’t hurt to remind her to be careful. Vigilance isn’t a bad thing when you really are in a dangerous situation. It only starts to be a problem when you can’t relax when things get back to normal.”

“What if this is normal, now?”

“I don’t think anyone’s suggested having the Wraith as permanent residents of Atlantis. It may feel like this is lasting forever, but it’s really a temporary situation.”

“We keep working with the Wraith, though. That isn’t a temporary situation.”

“And you’ve certainly got plenty of reasons not to want to work with the Wraith.”

He shrugged. “It’s not up to me.”

“Not whether we have an alliance with the Wraith, no. I’m just wondering if you want me to recommend that you not be assigned to missions that involve working directly with the Wraith.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Well, yes, I actually can recommend that,” Eva said. “Now, I can’t tell you if Colonel Sheppard would take my advice, but I think he’d at least listen to it. There’s plenty of work around here that doesn’t involve being an ambassador to the Wraith.”

“Yeah, but they’re going to keep wanting Teyla to do it.”

“That’s probably true,” Eva agreed. “Teyla has established a good working relationship with Alabaster and her people. No one’s going to want to waste that.”

“So I’m stuck with it. I have to watch her back.”

“Aren’t there other people who could do that?”

“Teyla’s my family,” he said after a moment. “Maybe you don’t understand that.”

“I understand that,” Eva said. “But sometimes what’s good for one person in a family isn’t good for another person. I know that on a mission like this, you bond with people incredibly tightly. You eat with them and work with them and spend all your free time with them, and it’s hard to think of letting go of any of those things.”

“But,” he prompted when it seemed like there was more she wanted to say.

“But sometimes there are missions that one person on the team would be perfect for and that another person on the team can’t do. And sometimes the answer to that is splitting up a team temporarily, and other times it’s thinking about whether the way the team is put together still makes sense.”

“If I wanted to quit the team, I’d leave Atlantis,” Ronon said.

“I’m just saying those aren’t your only choices. And maybe that’s something for you to think about.”

“Maybe,” he said. “You won’t say anything to Sheppard, right?”

“Not a word,” she said.

Ushan Cai proved to be an older man in a coat that had known better days, though both it and he were clean, suggesting that they had adequate water for washing. Elizabeth was eating some kind of sweet bread at a long table when he strode up and swung his leg over the opposite bench to sit down with her. “I’m Ushan Cai,” he said. “I hear you came in last night.”

“That’s right.” Elizabeth put the bread down quickly. “It’s good to meet you.”

“The boys said you were a medic.” He smiled approvingly. “That’s always useful.”

“I have some medical skills,” Elizabeth clarified. “I’m not a doctor. The truth is, I’m not entirely sure what I am.”

“How’s that?” He seemed curious rather than skeptical.

“People found me on Mazatla. I had no memory of how I got there or of what happened before that. I remembered things that made them wonder if I were Satedan, so they took me to the Travelers. I met a young Satedan woman there who said she agreed that the things I remembered sounded like Sateda, and that a lot of other Satedans who had been off-world were wandering too. She said some people had started returning home and gave me the gate address. As soon as the Traveler ship I was on came to a world where I could dial out, I did. And so I came here.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “What do you remember?”

Elizabeth glanced out the window at the buildings across the square gilded with first light. “Steel bridges across a river. Railroads. A hospital. Doctors, drugs, a university. My parents.” She didn’t glance at him. “A man who was a doctor. I think he was…” She stopped. “I think Simon was very close to me. I don’t know what happened to him. I thought he was dead and then I thought that was just a dream.” She looked back at Cai, who was watching her compassionately. But then he must have heard all this before. A doctor’s wife, probably. Maybe a nurse or a humanitarian of some kind, traumatized by what had happened, remembering and forgetting his death it was very plausible.

“Well,” Cai said. “You’re welcome to stay here and look for your loved ones. Also more people are returning every day. Any time someone might arrive looking for you.”

“That’s true,” Elizabeth said. Someone was looking for her. Not Simon, but someone.

“Everyone here who can needs to work,” Cai said. “We don’t have a lot, but we share what we have with anyone who returns. But we expect everybody to pitch in as they’re able.”

“I’m more than happy to pitch in,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve been assisting one of the Traveler’s doctors, or I can do other work as you need it.” She dusted her hands off on her pants. “I’m no engineer, but I can follow directions. I can even help with the naquadah generator if you need it.”

Cai’s eyes widened a little. “That’s not ours,” he said. “Not Satedan. We just got it. How did you know what it is?”

“One of the guards told me last night,” Elizabeth said, which was perfectly true. Only…

His face relaxed a little. “Well, let me send you over to the medical salvage team. We’ve got a team going to all the old clinics and hospitals around the city seeing what equipment and supplies they can salvage. They’ve found quite a lot, actually.” He shrugged. “Not drugs, of course. Most of them would be too old to use or spoiled. But there’s some equipment, surgical packs, gurneys, all kinds of useful things. Think you’re up for medical salvage?”

“Absolutely,” Elizabeth said.

The salvage team was led by a woman named Margin Bri, hard faced and golden skinned, about Elizabeth’s age. There were four other people in the party. “Alright folks,” she said as they stood in what had once been the lobby of the hotel. “Grab your bedroll and check out two boxes of rations. This is an overnight trip. We’re walking up to Paiden and seeing what’s left of the Regional Clinic there.”

“What’s Paiden?” Elizabeth asked.

The man next to her glanced at her. “It used to be one of the suburbs. It’s up the rail line.”

“That’s right,” Margin said. “We’re going to follow the tracks. No way we can get lost, no matter how different things look! But there used to be a Regional Clinic there. I think since it was out of the city there may be a chance that there’s more left of it. We’re looking for hand held equipment in working order or large pieces that we can tag and come back for. Particularly if we can find a working x-ray machine, that’s a priority. We know the Regional Clinic used to have one. What we don’t know is how bad the physical damage was up near Paiden. They were Culled heavily, but hopefully with beams. So let’s head out. It’s half a day’s walk.”

The ration boxes proved to be a pair of rectangular containers made out of something like rattan with a hinged lid. Inside were several packets wrapped in oiled cloth, more of the sweetbread from breakfast, dried meat, some dehydrated vegetables. There was also a foil packet in each that looked suspiciously familiar. Elizabeth frowned. “Energy bars,” she said.

Margin nodded. “Yep. Two each. One for today, one for tomorrow. Let’s get going.”

At first they walked through city streets in the early morning chill. Many of the buildings were reduced to piles of rubble and the streets away from the city center were choked with fallen debris. Elizabeth wondered if the all the streets had been like this. If so, Cai and his people had moved an enormous amount with no larger tools than shovels. They had to watch their steps constantly. Shards of broken glass, darkened by sun exposure, protruded from piles of broken bricks everywhere, the remains of windows. This must have been a beautiful city once, Elizabeth thought. It was eerily beautiful even now. Here and there a few small saplings thrust up from gaps in the pavement, spreading pale green leaves in the watery early spring sun.

It took an hour or more for Elizabeth to see the rail line they were following, twisted metal rails down the middle of what had been streets, a streetcar line perhaps? As the morning wore away she got better at seeing where the rails had been. No one spoke much. She supposed this had been their home. What could one say? There was no stench of remains. Ten years or more had passed. Any flesh had long since gone, and if there were bones they lay buried under broken concrete.

They halted when the sun stood directly overhead and ate in the center of what had been a square. A broken statue remained, four sets of legs from the knee down, three men and a woman in what had once been a heroic pose. The letters about the bottom of the statue were still cut clear in the stone, but Elizabeth could not read them. Satedan, she thought.

And yet she could read Lantean. The thought teased around in her head as she ate the dried vegetables in the ration box. Then she got the energy bar out. The silver wrapper had only one line of type on the back but it was perfectly clear. “Not for individual sale.”

She handed the energy bar to Margin Bri. “What does this say?” she asked.

The woman shrugged. “I have no idea. That’s Lantean.”

“Ah,” Elizabeth said. Hypothesis tested. She opened the package, nibbling at a corner of the chewy bar. Chocolate. The word came to mind, a flavor she had not tasted anywhere in memory, but she knew it. Chocolate.

“What do you know about the Lanteans?” she asked Margin Bri casually. “Do they ever come here?”

“From time to time.” The other woman nodded. “Ushan Cai got them to help broker a deal to keep the Genii out. It’s better to trade with the Lanteans than the Genii. They don’t want to take over.”

“Why is that?” Elizabeth asked.

Margin Bri stood up, dusting off her hands on her pants. “If you had Atlantis, would you want to be here?” She looked around the square. “OK, people. Let’s head out.”

“Atlantis,” Elizabeth said quietly.

The buildings got smaller as they walked on. The rail line now ran through a culvert, concrete walls on each side and a sliver of sky between. Sometimes the way was nearly choked by a fall of concrete on either side, but more often it ran straight and true, the tracks intact.

“This looks like it could be used again,” Elizabeth said at last.

One of the men nodded. “Not too much work, actually. Probably the biggest damage is corroded power lines, but that’s not nearly as hard to fix as some things.” He looked almost cheerful at the prospect.

Ahead, down the straight line of track, a broad curve of concrete rose to one side, spreading out to cover the track like a huge umbrella. “A suburban station?” Elizabeth guessed.

“That’s the Paiden station,” the man said. “Not far now. We’ll leave the tracks there, but the Regional Clinic was only a block from the station.”

“It looks pretty much intact,” Elizabeth said. The curve of the roof was uninterrupted.

As they drew closer they saw that was true. The glass doors along the front were blown out, and a few pits in the concrete showed where something heavy had hit, but the roof was intact. They walked over the broken glass, past ticket counters and kiosks with faded signs in a language she didn’t read, a few scattered bundles here and there. Elizabeth knelt and picked one up, shaking off the dust. It was a dark red jacket with white piping, heavy wool undamaged. Someone had dropped their jacket as they ran. A little further on there was a metal lunch pail and a child’s shoe.

She stood up, biting on her lower lip.

“Come on,” Margin Bri said. “We’re going to lose the light before long.”

The Regional Clinic had been ransacked. The building itself was intact, but clearly in the aftermath of the first attack it had been overrun by desperate people. The doors had been forced and the cabinets stood open, empty containers and worthless ones spread on the floor. Even the kitchen had been looted. Of course the kitchen had been looted. Any food was priceless, more valuable to the survivors than the medical supplies.

Margin Bri didn’t seem disappointed. She looked around thoughtfully. “Most of the big equipment seems fine,” she said. She stopped by a big machine plastered with yellow warning signs. “If we had power we could test it. But it looks good to me.”

“I’ve got some boxes of sterile dressings in here,” one of the men called from a room down the hall. “Some gloves, some small equipment. Also some bottled cleaning supplies. That’s all worthwhile.”

Elizabeth went into an examining room. It looked like the ones from her childhood, with a padded table and a scale in the corner… Her childhood? Was she Satedan then? Everything about this was more and more confusing.

“You OK?” one of the men asked, and she realized she’d just been standing in the middle of the floor looking.

“Absolutely,” Elizabeth said, and began going through cabinets.

Elizabeth dreamed, and in her dream she knew she was dreaming. She walked through a city of high white towers, the sound of the ocean mingling with the voice of the wind around each corner. She walked through each light-splashed corridor, stained glass making patterns of color on the floor. She paused by an open window, and as happens in dreams it opened, the balcony doors off the gate room. She stood in the bright sun looking out at city and sea, and she was content.

“Because you are home,” a voice said beside her.

Elizabeth turned. It was none of the people she might have expected, whoever they were. It was a woman a head shorter than she was, long straight black hair falling to her waist. Her eyes were pupil-less and wide, her body slight as a child’s. She was alien, and yet strangely familiar. “Do I know you?” Elizabeth asked.

“I am Ran,” she said. She looked up at Elizabeth, her expressionless face serene. “I helped you Ascend. And it was I who suggested that you be placed on Mazatla when you were punished.”

Elizabeth blinked. “You put me on Mazatla?”

Ran nodded slowly. “I put you in the path of good people who were on their way to the Gathering. I wanted to make sure you would come to no harm, and that you would begin your journey.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You could not go somewhere you were known. Surely you understand that I could not do that. But a world with only an orbital gate, a world where no one had ever heard of Elizabeth Weir that I could do. And yet I thought you would find your way home.”

“Is Sateda my home?” Elizabeth asked.

“Do you think so?”

“No,” Elizabeth said. “But I don’t know where my home is.”

“You will be home soon,” Ran said serenely. “It is only a matter of time now. You will remember or you will be recognized now that you are so close. And yet…”

“Then I should thank you,” Elizabeth said. “For watching over me. For putting me among good people when I was helpless. That’s a big thing.”

Ran shook her head, and for a moment she looked immeasurably old. “You broke the rules so that there could be peace. We have always sought peace first, you and I. But now it is I who must ask for your help.”

“For my help?” Elizabeth stepped back from the rail. “How can I possibly help you? You’re an Ascended being.”

“And as an Ascended being, I am forbidden to interfere in the actions of living creatures. Even in self-defense.”

Elizabeth frowned. “Self-defense? But what could harm you?” Even as she spoke, she knew there were things. Not devices she’d seen, but something she’d heard of, something in another galaxy…

“There are such things,” Ran said. “Though there have been none in this galaxy for a very long time. But the information on how to construct them still exists, and there are those who are seeking that information for their own ends.”

“To kill Ascended beings?”

“To force them to unascend.” Ran put one long, four fingered hand on Elizabeth’s arm. “And you have done so yourself, and so you would be a valuable prize for them. They seek not the secrets of Ascension, but of the Unascended. So I give you both this warning, and ask for your help. They must not gain the knowledge they seek.”

Elizabeth squared her shoulders. “OK. Who are they? Where are they?” And yet the dream was already beginning to waver, the sea and sky darkening and blurring to nothing.

“I must go,” Ran said. “I will return.” For a moment her hand on Elizabeth’s arm almost felt warm, almost entirely real. Then the world twisted.