I found Chaya in her laboratory.
The girl stood at the control console, watching how the prototype of our naquadah generator hummed and blinked. The concentration on her face and lack of reaction to the fact that I had been standing in the doorway for ten minutes already (which she couldn't have missed even with the corner of her eye) partly even aroused admiration for her immersion in her own work.
Finally, realizing she really wasn't ignoring me, I knocked on the jamb to attract her attention. Startled, Chaya threw a wary glance at me. And returned to her business.
"And I thought you were busy working on restoring the 'Satellite,'" I said, entering the laboratory.
"That's exactly what I'm doing now," the girl replied completely indifferently. Distracted from the data on the large monitor, she began examining something on her laptop display. "Enriching naquadah under such conditions requires all my attention."
"We already have one reactor," I reminded her. "You demonstrated yesterday how well it works. And there's not much naquadah left."
I looked at the small pebbles lying on the burlap in which they were delivered to Atlantis. I delivered them. A couple of days ago.
At the moment, this is the last naquadah that could be mined on Ermen without starting to clear collapses in the shafts. Which, by the way, is happening now on Alvar Jensen's home planet.
The mining process had to be stopped due to the threat of shaft collapse. Kirik and Alvar went to the planet. The first had some idea of mining operations—he moonlighted in mines, though mining metals, before becoming a runner. Alvar planned to conduct a cleanup operation near the shaft. The Athosians noticed a couple of Genii appearing nearby. Since we didn't need sabotage particularly, it was necessary to either force the scum to surrender or eliminate the threat.
From Jensen's mood, I even guessed which path he intended to choose to solve the problem.
"However, that doesn't mean we don't need it," Chaya objected. "The ore itself is of little use. And by enriching and purifying the ore from impurities, I can create some stock of power elements for our needs. The hazardous materials storage is already operational, so there's nothing to fear. Of course, if a little girl barely able to distinguish a cube from a rectangular parallelepiped doesn't decide to stick a 'black cube' into the power outlet."
Naquadah.
"Black cube" is what Celise called the naquadah obtained as a result of ore purification and enrichment, which she saw in Chaya's laboratory two days ago. While Teyla was solving issues on New Athos, I, Kirik, and Alvar were on Ermen, Celise stayed under Chaya's supervision.
Not that the Proculian didn't like children... No, I even understand why Chaya, upon our return, categorically stated that a child's place is not in a city full of technical secrets and, accordingly, dangers, but on New Athos with other children. And I understand why Kirik opposed separation from his charge...
I understand both of them.
As well as the fact that Celise, whom Chaya seated at the entrance to her laboratory, simply got bored while the Ancient assembled our first Atlantean naquadah generator. That's why she became interested in the question: "And what are these strange 'black cubes' lying on your table, and can I help by shoving them into this big machine?"
"She just wanted to be useful," I explained. "Celise is used to not being a burden during travels with Kirik. And thought that since there are nests fitting the enriched naquadah size in the generator, why not insert them there..."
Chaya froze in place. Even her fingers lifted from the keyboard.
The Ancient looked at me with an attentive studying gaze.
"I hope you're joking?" she asked.
"No, just explaining child logic to you."
"Should I explain that if she inserted even one of the three power elements into the unfinished reactor, there would be a detonation?" Chaya clarified. "Considering the naquadah reserves in the laboratory, as well as its volumes in the Stargate, the energy release and subsequent chain reaction would produce so much energy that we wouldn't just forget about Atlantis's existence, but about Lantea in particular."
High matters...
"I agree," I nodded, looking at the energy rod of the first naquadah reactor produced on Atlantis glowing with even white-blue light. "But you stopped her in time."
"Then—yes," Chaya agreed. "But what if she does something I don't notice?"
"We've already locked all laboratories and rooms except a few," I reminded her. "And naquadah is sent to storage immediately after enrichment..."
"I understand what you're doing," Chaya sighed. "Yes, Kirik is needed as a combat unit. And without Celise, whom he can see constantly and spend personal time with, he definitely won't stay here. But I'm talking about the safety of the whole city. Believe me, I tried to anticipate all possible critical situations from having one child not too familiar with the consequences of his ill-considered actions. But unfortunately, I can't anticipate absolutely everything. Even in her room, she could accidentally stick a table utensil into a power outlet and cause a short circuit in the entire residential complex! And that would..."
"Stop," I approached the girl and took her hands. "Breathe out. She's just a child who wants to be useful. Nothing more."
"Misha, I've seen geniuses in high technologies that most races in the galaxies you know don't even suspect. And believe me, they too did everything to be useful. In nine cases out of ten, the fruits of their scientific pursuits are known to you as dangerous experiments you yourself forbid approaching," Chaya carefully freed her hands from my grip. "Atlantis is no place for idly wandering children."
"You said it yourself," I smiled. "We don't need idly wandering children."
"Sounds like you want to hang another project around my neck," Sar tilted her head to the side.
"Holographic hall," I said. "There's a program for educating young minds there."
"That's not quite what suits her," Chaya shook her head. "That hall was used to train representatives of junior races. Accelerated learning assumes altered genetics, a mind pliable for knowledge upload, prior interventions in physiology..."
"I discussed it with Kirik. Just dedicate half an hour of your precious time while we're on the mission, find the most elementary knowledge for her, like multiplication tables or run a translation of Ancient fairy tales into her native language and lock the control panel so she can't change anything—and let the child enlighten herself. Obviously, she won't become your competitor in principle, but at least she'll develop somehow. After all, she's one of us now, Chaya."
"And doesn't it seem overly hypocritical toward Athosian children?" Chaya asked. "We didn't offer them such an option."
"Because there was no need," I reminded her. "And Teyla found out—no one among them wants to enlighten in sciences. They'd be much more willing to take automatics in hand and go kill Wraith."
Chaya looked at me and silently pondered something.
"And that's all?" she clarified.
"And that's all. Kirik had an educational talk with her and gave the strictest admonition. Me too. She'll obey you in everything. And won't go anywhere without your permission anymore. We gave her a radio, taught her to use it..."
"And now she'll bother me with her questions?"
"No. I warned her—if she distracts you, she'll go to New Athos to learn planting beans."
"And? For the society she came from, that's quite an adequate occupation. As I understand, her people were at the same development stage as the Athosians now."
"On the contrary. You set an excellent example for Celise. A woman with great knowledge. She wants to learn. And she orients on you as a role model."
Chaya shuddered almost imperceptibly.
"I'm not the best example for the younger generation," the Ancient said. "There have been too many mistakes on my life path."
"And who if not you knows how to protect a child from making them?"
Sar thoughtfully looked at the generator she created the size of a small cabinet, then threw a glance at me.
"Fine, I'll figure out how to make her learn at least something elementary," Chaya surrendered.
"I knew you'd agree!"
"Did I have a choice?"
"Not really..."
"That's what I thought," Chaya returned to her work. "And no, your watching me doesn't help. Believe me, I know the difference between a power outlet and an information one and won't cause a catastrophe."
"I just wanted to ask when you can build another such wonderful reactor," my head nod toward the structure distracted Chaya from observing the process again.
She also looked at the generator assembled by her from Ermen technologies and materials.
I was used to seeing a naquadah generator portable, movable by one person's strength. Chaya, with the scope typical of the Ancients, built a two-meter construction from a hybrid mix of miracle and Ermen materials, capable, by her words, of powering a tenth of Atlantis's auxiliary systems almost indefinitely.
The multi-ton monster barely fit through the city's internal doors and, at the same time, barely fit in the jumper's cargo compartment. And even then, lying down. If not for the built-in anti-gravity engines taken from a disassembled "jumper," this thing couldn't be moved at all.
And if desired, this thing would do for blowing up a hive ship. Or a small planet, moon. Look, Lantea's second moon would scatter nicely too if necessary. Like the first, destroyed by the Wraith ten thousand years ago. Though... Why would we need two asteroid belts around Lantea right away?
Naquadah generator production of Chaya Sar.
"I hear notes of poorly hidden sarcasm in your voice," the Proculian noted, looking at me.
"That noticeable?"
"Very."
"Well," I sighed. "At least I'm glad there's no problem with your hearing. After all, when I asked for a compact reactor for the satellite, I didn't expect that in Lantean, compact means 'ship-sized.'"
"Said everything?" Chaya clarified.
"I can't even imagine how we'll get this damn thing through the airlock! Not to mention connection, placement, and so on."
"In the generator's base, besides the anti-gravity cushion, I also installed a powerful electromagnet," the girl said. "So it can be attached to almost any artificial structure. Actually, I took a ship reactor from the database as a basis..."
Ah, right. Why break your head and invent a bicycle if you can unscrew all the unnecessary from a scooter?
"So it," I poked a finger toward the reactor monster, "can power the satellite?"
"Not just power it, but provide it with energy surplus," Chaya smiled.
"Now in detail," I became interested. "You're a clever lady and perfectly understand that installing a super-efficient generator on a defenseless gun platform would be a waste of resources."
"That's the whole trick," Chaya said. "If I manage to do everything as planned, the 'Satellite' won't be defenseless anymore. And now two hits definitely won't take it out of action."
***
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