Like the fact that Athosians are familiar with many local civilizations. And not all of them lack skeletons in the closet. Besides, what's the probability that, captured by the Wraith, the Athosians won't give away our secret? Can't keep our infantry scouts on another planet. Too many problems separate existence will cause.
And resettling Athosians to Atlantis I have no desire—they already managed to "cause trouble" in the events known to me.
"What if you don't have to fear Wraith attacks?" Chaya asked. Yes, she ignored my under-table kick.
"Sorry?" Emmagan was amazed. "How can we not fear the Wraith when they come through the Ancestors' Ring. We're unable to prevent it."
"But our good friends, I think, can," Alvar looked at me searchingly, leaning on the table so as to sit half-turned to us. "Or am I wrong, Misha, and your ship has nothing to do with Ancestor technology?"
"Ship?" Teyla asked. "What ship are you talking about?"
"You have an Ancestor ship?" other Athosians were interested too. "They had great power! You could protect us!"
Damn...
I looked at the smirking Jensen.
Think you cornered me without leaving a choice? Clever, guy. He wanted answers at our parting. And decided to get them this way.
"Fine," I said. "I think we can talk more openly. But only the four of us."
"That won't do," one of the young Athosians stood up. "Teyla won't stay with strangers..."
"I can stand up for myself," Emmagan said softly but categorically. "Leave us. And make sure we're not disturbed."
A couple minutes, and the "yurt" emptied.
"Don't hold it against me," Alvar said when not a single living soul remained inside except the four of us. "But I see you want help from these people. And from me. I won't work with someone I don't trust. And it's hard to believe those who hide the truth from me. So let's be frank."
"Ah, let's," I agreed. "But you understand our secrets you'll have to take to the grave with you?"
"Literally took the words out of my mouth," the former Runner smirked.
"On behalf of my people I promise everything you say won't leave this hut," Teyla promised.
Though she hid her interest, she couldn't fool me.
"Well..." I exhaled. "Perhaps I'll start with a story about who we are..."
*
"All?" Jensen asked me incredulously an hour of conversation and three mugs of tea later.
"In broad strokes," I nodded.
"Amazing," Teyla exhaled, looking at Chaya and me with delight. The latter even blushed. "You are living Ancestors! This... This is a miracle! We thought you were long gone."
"Purely technically, we're not exactly Ancients," I clarified. "We just have direct relation to them."
"Those you call Ancestors are a confederation of many peoples," Chaya explained.
"For my people it's not that important," Emmagan said. "Just think... You live in the Ancestors' city, control their technologies..."
"I wouldn't say quite confidently," Jensen said. "I saw how Misha flies. Shameful."
"Experience comes with training," I said. "It'll get better over time."
"Can you ensure our safety?" Emmagan asked. "Settle us in your city and protect from the Wraith? My people revere the Ancestors and everything connected with them. We won't cause you inconvenience, I promise."
For adults she can vouch.
But children... How to keep an eye on them? In my memory, it was exactly an Athosian child who caused the energy-absorbing entity to be released in Atlantis, which caused quite a few problems.
And how many more it can cause, considering the danger of most Atlantis labs?
I said the latter without grudges to Teyla.
"No need to settle them in the city," Chaya said. "There's a continent on Lantea. We could resettle the Athosians there and help them settle in the new place. That would be much simpler."
"Yes, but the city is underwater," I reminded. "If something happens, like a hurricane, we'd have to evacuate people from there to the city. And only two of us can pilot 'Jumpers.' So we'd have to make hundreds of trips, that's time and energy costs."
Not to mention we have only one 'Jumper' that can boast full serviceability. The rest need maintenance, repair... Parts are tight, so the only way is to disassemble some 'Jumpers' for parts for the others. And again, everything comes down to time—Chaya is the only person I know who could handle Ancient tech repair.
"Yes, that's a problem," she admitted.
"Besides, my people are traders," Teyla reminded. "We can't not conduct trade with our other partners. We'd need fertilizers, tools, many other things."
"And that means free access to the gate," Alvar concluded. "The city should be a restricted facility. Can't regularly arrange scheduled trips to other planets. Besides, at least one of your ships would need to constantly fly to the mainland to pick up traders, deliver them to the city, and send them through the gate to other planets."
"But there's a way out," I said. "What if we find a planet with a gate for the Athosians, but one where the Wraith don't appear?"
"Is there even such?" Alvar doubted. "The galaxy is just teeming with them. I don't know a single race that hasn't encountered the Wraith."
"Not necessarily inhabited," Chaya lit up with the idea. "As far as I know the principles of planet settlement, the Lanteans tried to create the same living conditions on them. So if nothing changed, Athosians could find suitable conditions in almost any world. The problem is clearing land for fields, building houses and other infrastructure. Besides, I can figure something out about gate protection and early warning system for Wraith approach."
"Suggest installing a long-range sensor kit on the new planet?" I asked. "That would be quite costly."
Long-range sensors allowed Atlantis to detect ship movement, including in hyperspace. Not across the entire galaxy, but in a certain, quite significant by area-volume, section of Pegasus.
I don't know how many resources needed to produce a sensor complex, but one thing can be said for sure—such as installed on Lantean city-ships, there are no more in the galaxy.
"Here I'd agree," Chaya said. "However, we can use simple satellites for such purposes. If we get the necessary materials, I'll build simple satellites that, at least, will warn people of ships appearing in orbit a couple dozen minutes before exiting hyperspace. If the settlement is not far from the gate, that will help escape the Wraith."
"Can't you install some big gun here that would shoot down the Wraith?" Alvar asked.
I didn't miss that Chaya shuddered at voicing this question. Seems she's not a fan of big calibers.
"No," she said. "Installing a universal gun that could equally effectively shoot down both fighters and large ships would take a lot of time."
"Well, it exists since the Wraith sleep," Jensen shrugged.
"And would require quite productive power sources," Chaya continued.
"I suppose portable generators like those used on my planet to power military camps with electricity won't do here?" the former Runner clarified.
"If they can at least draw zero-point energy, then yes, they'll do," Chaya looked at the man with such kindness and slight smile that I wanted to applaud her and tell everyone that the first Ancient sarcasm in my life was just voiced.
Zero-point energy... Somehow reminiscent of zero-point module. Hardly a coincidence. Need to talk to her at least in broad strokes about how Lantean technologies work in general. Can't I just press buttons without understanding what I'm doing at the elementary mechanics level?
At least it won't hurt.
"Zero-point energy?" Teyla asked a very timely question. Only she asked it to me.
"Exactly," I confirmed on the honest eye. And immediately, realizing I couldn't answer this question, looked at Chaya. "Couldn't you..."
"No," the Ancient said categorically. "Enough that it's one of the highest orders of energy generation in the Universe. And we don't have enough resources to power an installation to protect an entire planet."
"What if we mask the planet?" Alvar asked. "Your ship can become invisible after all."
"Is that true?" seems Teyla was experiencing catharsis after catharsis today.
"Yes, true," I said. "Invisible really, for scanning systems, but it's still real. If the Wraith who know about Athos fly here on ships, don't find the planet in its place, get surprised and for interest want to shoot at where it was, it won't save from destruction. Not to mention building a cloaking field of such size is difficult..."
"Simple," Chaya replied.
"...and power it," I finished my speech.
"So everything comes down to power sources?" Jensen asked.
"As always," I agreed.
"Let's raid a Wraith base," he suggested. "They definitely have some generators."
"Their efficiency is much lower than what we need," Chaya rejected the suggestion. "Resettlement to another planet is the only reasonable option in your case. This place is too dangerous."
"If your plan succeeds and we get weapons," Teyla hinted meaningfully at what was already said, "our home won't be so dangerous."
"You're dealing with Ancestor tech," Jensen seconded her. "So you know how to make the Ring not let the Wraith through."
"That won't save when they fly on ships," I objected. "I understand you don't want to move to another planet. But we're offering you a chance to live in peace and safety. At least for a long time. As soon as we have the opportunity to secure Athos, we'll definitely do it."
"We won't," Chaya interrupted me. "Your planet is a dangerous place to live."
"Sorry," Teyla smiled strainedly. "But we've lived here for many generations. And, not counting the Wraith, Athos is a wonderful place."
"Yes," I agreed. "It's nice here..."
"Until the supervolcano wakes up, in whose crater your settlement is, the entire valley around and the ruins of the city on the other side of the river," Chaya showed those present her handheld. The screen had several diagrams and several pulsing dots. There were uneven edges of something very much like a volcano crater. Only very large. "Since we're talking frankly, your planet threatens you and your children. A supervolcano in one eruption can not just kill you all with lava flows or volcanic gas emissions, but destroy the entire biosphere."
"I think you're exaggerating," Alvar said. "I've seen several volcano eruptions on my home planet. Yes, scary and uncomfortable to be near them, but at the same time they didn't threaten the entire planet."
"This volcano's crater reaches in its radius thousands of settlements like this," Chaya explained. "Once the supervolcano wakes up, ash emissions in a short time will fill the atmosphere impenetrable to the local star's light. No light, no warmth. And so the surface will cool, plants and animals will gradually die out. After them your turn will come."
Emmagan looked stunned. Not every day do you meet your Ancestors, or rather their descendants, as Chaya and I introduced ourselves. And you hardly expect from this meeting that they'll tell you about the end of your civilization in a very vivid form.
Even I had nothing to say.
"We can always go through the Ancestors' Ring in danger," Jensen suggested.
"The gate are built from a material called naquadah," Chaya said. There was an unclear expression in her voice. From the moment she told about the giant problem under our feet, she seemed replaced. Usually calm and composed, now she spoke as if convincing the Athosians to get out of here was the task of her whole life. Which is strange... But with outsiders I wasn't going to arrange an interrogation. Seems after losing her own people the girl developed a savior complex which she's trying to implement in full here. Well, I won't hinder her—not because debating with someone smarter than you is stupid. I have my own interests in what's happening. "The density of this substance affects its mass. As soon as the rock under our feet becomes unstable, the gate will sink straight into the magma. You won't be able to use them anymore and will be locked on the planet. You'd be very lucky if by then we have a spaceship with a hyperdrive that can descend into the atmosphere and take all refugees on board. Otherwise, the number of victims will be measured..."
Chaya fell silent, looking at those present with a gaze like a teacher explaining to children in class that calling Christmas X-mas is not the best idea.
***
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