"I have only one question," I warned immediately, as soon as I crossed the threshold of the spacious room, filled with various consoles. I'm afraid to even talk about the number of monitors – both built-in and suspended.
"Only one?" Jensen, who followed me in, chuckled.
Chaya and Teyla exchanged glances.
"I'm listening," the Ancient said.
"Don't you have any other clothes besides this dress?" I asked, approaching the girl.
"And do you have anything other than the uniform of the Lantian armed forces?" Chaya asked, looking at me reproachfully.
Yeah, the joke to relieve tension didn't work.
"One-one," I admitted, unbuttoning my tunic collar. At the same time, I tried not to look away from the soulful gaze of the beautiful Ancient.
Still from the series.
"Wait," Alvar interrupted our visual standoff. "Are you saying this—" he gestured to my snow-white suit, "—is a military uniform?"
"She'd know better," I nodded towards Chaya. "I had options—either naked, or..."
"An acceptable alternative," Teila quickly agreed.
"I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of the Ancients," the former fugitive said skeptically. "How can you build all this—" he gestured around the laboratory, "—but not know about camouflage?"
"We had cloaking devices," Chaya shifted her attention.
"And for humans?" he clarified.
The girl, after thinking, shrugged almost imperceptibly.
"I think you both should listen to Chaya," Teila took the floor. "She has a very interesting proposal."
"That's why we're here," I assured her. "So? What is it?"
"Here," Chaya pointed to schematics that appeared on one of the thin screens. "This is a multi-functional reconnaissance drone. I found a few in storage. Heavily damaged, but I think I can repair a couple."
***
*Ancient reconnaissance drone. In the series, it was used by the Pegasus replicators, the Asurans. The concept comes from there.*
***
"And why do we need it?" Jensen asked.
A quick fellow. Only a few days with the team, and already "we." However, Teila had also adapted quickly. And it wasn't about their natural inexperience—people in Pegasus generally trust each other when they face the same trouble. Enemies can become friends for a while, part peacefully, only to claw at each other's throats again with renewed force.
"There are only four of us," oh, it's good that the Ancient doesn't look at me alone as a simpleton.
"Twice as many as you were," the former fugitive quipped.
"If necessary, my people will come to help," Teila assured him. Then, blushing, she added:
"If they have weapons."
No, this isn't blackmail. She's merely stating that without the promised firearms, the Athosians can only beat people with sticks and stab them with stakes. But otherwise, they are for any activity, except feeding Wraiths.
"That's exactly what I thought when I stumbled upon them," Chaya said. "We promised your people weapons. Alvar said his planet was subjected to total destruction during a Wraith raid. A specific hive was hunting him. And in orbit above the planet Sudaria, Michael and Alvar saw two hive ships and three cruisers."
"But he disappeared after the second one," I reminded him. "He could have been destroyed in battle."
"Or just ran away," Jensen suggested. "Wraiths don't fight to the last. If they're cornered and have a chance to escape, they'll get away. Then they'll sit in some dark corner, come up with a revenge plan, and start all over."
"Either way, I decided that since the Atlantis database is ten thousand years out of date, we'll have to visit planets to see if there are any useful resources there," Chaya explained. "I haven't managed to bypass or rewrite the simultaneous shuttle recharging program yet, so their use should be minimized. At least when they're not necessary."
"Reasonable," I agreed. "But I don't quite grasp the point yet."
"Oh," Chaya made "scary eyes." If she were in that combat suit, with a blaster in her hands, it would indeed be frightening. But like this... A sweet girl with coffee-colored skin, pleasant appearance, and in a turquoise dress... What's there to be afraid of? "So it's not just me who doesn't quite understand where others are leading."
A subtle hint at thick circumstances.
"Excuse me?" Teila's voice chimed in. "What are you talking about?"
Chaya looked into my eyes, and I into hers. I suppose she thought I was about to share my knowledge of the future.
Easy for her to say—the Ancients are used to everything. But if you tell the locals that I'm from another universe and know what will happen in Pegasus in five years, you'll surely get into trouble.
Some secrets (read: almost all) should be revealed cautiously and at the right time. Now is not the time for frankness.
But Chaya, it seemed, decided otherwise.
Perhaps she still feels betrayed by the Ancients and unjustly deprived of Ascension because of a human who can find help from the Ancients and knows much that even she doesn't suspect.
"Maybe we should leave, and you can have a little chat?" Alvar suggested.
"Not the time for jokes," I looked at him, smiling wryly. "Believe me, I can already tell these things by smell."
"Smell, that's for sure," the former fugitive chuckled. "Maybe you should wash yourself."
"In what sense?" I was taken aback, glancing at Emagan. It seemed only the diplomatic Athosian was on my side today. Or at least neutral.
"How to put this delicately..." Teila wrinkled her nose.
"You smell of sweat and a dirty body," Jensen cut to the chase.
"Firstly, that sounded offensive," I admitted. "A little patience with the boss's mistakes wouldn't hurt. Secondly, there are some problems with the shower in my apartment—it's not working."
"Did you press the blue pattern on the wall?" asked the man with the "piranha" look.
"Why? Chaya said it turns on automatically, and if not, the whole system is broken and needs a week to fix..." By the end of the sentence, I realized what was going on. "A little joke, right?"
The woman in turquoise smiled sweetly, revealing pearly white teeth.
"Teila and Alvar already asked me about everything in their rooms by the end of the day after they moved in," you could clearly see from her tanned skin that she was barely holding back laughter. "I was waiting for you to gather your courage..."
"And he only gathered stench!" Alvar burst out laughing, covering his mouth with his hand and stepping back a couple of meters.
Teila blushed shyly, barely suppressing a smile.
Chaya, however, turned away, pretending to be very interested in the far corner of her own laboratory. But I could see from her trembling shoulders that she was about to have convulsions from laughter.
"Ha. Ha. Ha," I clapped. "Well done, you had a good laugh at the one who decided to get you out of trouble."
"For the record," Chaya didn't turn around, but raised an index finger above her head. "My problems started precisely with you."
Jensen was already hysterically laughing, throwing his head back and not even trying to cover his grin.
Teila, however, remained impassive. At least someone didn't see anything funny about this. Except me, of course.
"Are we here to laugh or what?" I clarified.
"Exactly," Chaya turned to us, wiping away the involuntary tears that had sprung to her eyes. "I wanted to ask you something..."
"Don't worry, the other apartment functions are working," I assured her.
"I guarantee that the crumpled uniform speaks of ignorance of the location of the washing machine," Jensen chuckled at the end of his laughter.
Damn it... There are washing machines here too?
Looking closer at the fugitive, I realized that although he was dressed in what I first saw him in, the dirt stains were gone, and his clothes looked unwrinkled. Uh-huh... So Chaya is showing great care for our smaller brethren, but it's not her fate to suggest it to me.
"You wanted to ask something," I reminded the Ancient.
"Yes," she smiled, but for some reason, I didn't like her smile at all. "When we talked about the 'Aurora,' you said you had an unverified way to help the crew."
"Correct," I admitted. "I did say that."
"And you asked me to find the last surviving combat satellite of Atlantis," the Ancient continued.
"Exactly."
"I also asked you how a stationary short-range weapon was related to a spaceship on the borders of the Pegasus galaxy," Chaya continued to recount our dialogue. "And you answered: 'Find it first, then we'll talk.' Is that all correct, am I not mistaken?"
"Absolutely. So, did you find it?"
"I found it," all the humor disappeared from Chaya's voice as she brought up another image on the monitor. "According to the city's database records, it's a 'Satellite' type combat satellite. One of many that the Lantians built in the final stage of the war for defense against the Wraiths. The last line of defense of the Lantians' star system. And," she shook her head, "the first one too. Simply put—the only one, if you don't count Atlantis itself."
"And... you didn't find any others?" I asked hopefully.
"If anything is left of them, it's only too small for long-range sensors to detect," the girl said, bringing up the satellite data on the screen. "It's completely alone there. For ten thousand years, it's been in a point of equal gravitational pull and motion."
***
*Lantian combat satellite. I named its type "Satellite" because that's what it's called on foreign websites.*
***
"At what point?" I didn't understand. And I'm not the only one, by the way!
Chaya seemed to understand this too.
"Does everyone know what gravity is?" she asked.
"In moments like these, I almost pity that the Wraiths didn't devour all the Ancients," I admitted, looking at Teila and Alvar. "Imagine what will happen when there are a hundred or two hundred such smart ones."
"It's unlikely they meant to insult us," Teila said. "Chaya just doesn't know the level of our knowledge."
"Everyone knows what gravity is," Jensen said hastily. "And that stars, planets, moons, even large asteroids also have gravity, everyone knows that too."
"Now, yes," Emagan raised an eyebrow. "Chaya, please continue."
"In the star system where Lantea is located, on the planet at the bottom of which we are communicating now, there is one star and two planets," Chaya explained. "Lantea has one moon, the second, I understand, is broken into fragments. But that's not the point. In Lantea's star system, there are points that are so far from both the star and the planets that the gravitational forces of the star, planets, and so on, are equal to the speed of these celestial bodies in their orbits around the star. External natural forces have no influence there. Consequently, an object left there will never leave its location—certainly not without outside help."
Racking my memory, I shone with erudition.
"Lagrange point."
"I suspect the second word is the name of some scientist associated with the discovery of this pattern in your world."
"It seems so. But what are you leading to?"
"I tried to establish a subspace connection with the satellite, but nothing worked," Chaya admitted. "Right now, it's just a piece of scrap metal in a state of rest. Whether it's combat-capable, what state its generator is in, and whether we can repair it—is unknown. However," Chaya shot me an angry glance, "on the surface of the second planet, I discovered something..."
Now I'll definitely have to answer for my actions.
"For example?" Alvar asked.
"A subspace distress signal from a Wraith ship," Chaya said, looking me in the eyes.
"Wraiths in the system?" Teila became alert.
"If they land in the city, I'll need weapons," Alvar worried. "A couple of magazines for my rifle are enough for a small skirmish. And there won't be a small one here."
"The Wraiths can't get to Atlantis now except through the gates," Chaya said. "Or with the help of an Ancient ship to pass through the shield. And no, the signal is too weak for a functioning ship. I think it was shot down during the Ancients' war with the Wraiths. The energy signature is so weak that there's no doubt the ship isn't operational. It probably suffered a brutal shipwreck and was abandoned by the crew."
"If so, that's easier," the fugitive sighed. "Except... If the Wraiths knew one of their ships was shot down, why didn't they save anyone? I heard they used to be much friendlier. And now they're ready to slit each other's throats for any reason. True, they have only one concern—where to find more people."
"And I have another concern," Chaya said in the same tone, looking at me. "To understand how the Ancients in stasis are connected to a non-functioning Ancient satellite and a Wraith distress signal from a ship that perished ten thousand years ago on a planet where survival is impossible. Do you want to share information?"
"Let's just say I have an opinion that this will help us," I said. "In particular, what triggered the distress signal."
"And what is it?" the Ancient persisted.
"You know the source of my information," I gritted out through my teeth.
And she's one of the three who understands that the only place I can draw knowledge from that she doesn't know is information from another universe. The future, damn it, which is unlikely to remain the same if you blab about it to every passing native.
But she's deliberately pushing for me to share this secret.
Moreover, interest is already noticeable on Teila's and Alvar's faces.
I'm sure that if I now tell them how I arrived at Atlantis, flew to the satellite, found something on that dead planet that might help the Lantians in stasis not die when transitioning to their new time, Chaya will do everything to draw attention to the discrepancy in my "legend."
"It seems you have some personal issues," Teila concluded. "Alvar and I will go."
"Yes, no, I'd stay," the man blurted out. But the Athosian woman had already lightly nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, then grabbed him under the arm and pulled him towards the laboratory exit. "Oh, right, I completely forgot that Teila promised to show me wrestling techniques..."
"Just go already," I said.
As soon as the door closed behind them, I asked, "What are you trying to achieve?"
"For you to tell me everything you know," she said immediately. "Everything about the laboratories, everything about the galaxy, the technologies of the Ancients—everything you know thanks to your origin and past."
"And why should I do that?" I asked.
"Because we depend on each other," she said. "I help you, you help me."
"Aren't we doing that now?" I asked.
"Yes, but not entirely," the girl said, bringing up a list of theses from her computer onto the monitor. At first, I thought it was the same one she had when we met. But I discarded it almost immediately.
Because the list was in my native language. Moreover, every word written there was familiar to me.
"You hacked my handheld device," the statement of fact didn't evoke any emotion in the girl. Well, everyone does that.
"And I don't like what's written here," she said. "When were you planning to tell me?!"
"Why should I share my plans with you at all?"
And the question shouldn't be asked like that. But asking, "About what exactly?" would be stupid. It's clear that something in my to-do list (and it was in this list that I enumerated all the "perks" I remembered from the series) angered her intensely. So much so that she was ready to blab our little secret to a couple of natives. And it's unlikely that Alvar and Teila, upon hearing that I know about the upcoming events for the next five years, wouldn't want to ask how to change the worst of them. Especially those related to the Athosians.
"So as not to get into much bigger problems than the Ancients did!" Chaya blurted out. "'Reactivate nanites from the laboratory and direct them to restoration work in Atlantis'?" 'Use a Wraith from a transport ship to revive the 'Aurora's' crew by reverse feeding'?" 'Find a way to control the Asuran replicators'?" 'Take the queen from the bottom of the ocean hostage and torture her until she reveals all her secrets'?" 'Help the Jenai with an atomic bomb, wake up the Wraiths, disable the gates in the galaxy, activate the 'Aterro' device'?" And what about 'Project Spartan'?"
"Are you reading one sentence out of ten, or is this some kind of special Olympics discipline?" I asked.
"What else are you hiding from me?" she asked demandingly. "Did the Asurans survive? Can Wraiths extend human life? An atomic bomb? Do you know where the Aterro device is?"
"And Teila has Wraith genes," I added.
"What?" Chaya was taken aback.
"At the bottom of the Lantians' ocean, there is a mobile drilling platform capable of providing us with geothermal energy," I continued to list things that Chaya couldn't possibly know. Because I hadn't indicated them in my notes.
Besides, they themselves are nothing more than a draft—I recorded my most insane thoughts to simply not lose them. Even the most idiotic idea is an idea that can be "filed down with a file" and yield something worthwhile. Only, I haven't gone beyond the situation with the 'Aurora' crew.
Simply because to implement the rest, I need more information. And working hands.
"I've heard of it, but I didn't think it was still intact," the girl said distractedly. "I was thinking of something similar... But the database indicates it's lost: a Wraith cruiser fell into the ocean, there was an explosion in close proximity to the platform. The rock in that place is thin, proximity to magma... All in all, it's destroyed. That's what it says..."
Chaya fell silent, casting a quick glance at me. It seemed someone had guessed that I hadn't started the conversation for no reason.
"And, perhaps, it's not," she added.
"Perhaps," I agreed. "And also, again, just 'perhaps,' you'll stop pointing your finger at me and saying that I'm the most secretive here. I'm just trying to make sure that everything is good for all of us here. And at the same time, not to mess up the order of things, which, by the way, gives us an advantage! Imagine the chaos that will ensue if we wake up the Wraiths, help create a cure that will kill them, expose ourselves to the Jenai, reveal our location to the Wraiths, and so on?! It will be exactly what I want to avoid! Chaos and the position of the pursuers! We have an advantage in knowledge! And I want to use it!"
"You don't realize what you're saying!" Chaya exclaimed. "The 'Aterro' device cannot be rebuilt or optimized. The best minds worked on it—and nothing! Just as you can't just turn off all the gates in the galaxy during the activation of the device so they don't explode! There are fundamental principles of higher physics that you don't even suspect! There are things that cannot be fixed!"
"Oh, but a code of subjugation, non-aggression, and obedience can be written for nano-machines?! That's basic programming!"
"It's not even about whether it's possible! The nanite code was only created by the Ancients, but they rewrote it themselves! You can't just insert something of your own in the middle of millions of lines of code! It doesn't work like that! At all!"
"What makes you say that?"
"Because I was familiar with the team that created them!" Chaya shouted. "The nanites were their calling card! They knew everything about them! And the fact that the creators made a mistake and allowed such a thing only proves—this is not the technology that should exist and interact with us!"
"That's why you fried those nanites in the laboratory with an EMP generator?" I asked.
"Yes! How can you not understand... If the Asuran nanites really survived and evolved into a community, then messing with them is a very bad idea," the girl in turquoise shook her head. "They won't help us. We are not those whom they fear and will obey. Ten thousand years ago, they were ready for dialogue, but now... I can't even imagine how much they have changed and become more dangerous after..."
"After the Ancients tried to destroy them?" I clarified. "After they created nanomachines programmed to kill any living being without the Ancient gene, including the people of the Pegasus galaxy, after which they realized their mistake, but it was too late?! Is that what you wanted to say. Or to tell about how another Ancient experiment to create a weapon resulted in a simple nano-weapon developing into an independent, albeit artificial, species that refused to kill? And for that, the Ancients sent starships to their homeworld and destroyed everything there? Clarify, please, what exactly did you not tell me? Because, since we've started digging into my secrets, perhaps it's time to share yours too?"
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Chaya said.
But she averted her eyes, afraid she might give herself away.
"When we discussed negotiations with the Athosians, I told you that there was a city on the planet where Ancient structures seemed to be present," I reminded her. "And you scanned everything you could while we were there. And you found something. Because, despite what I told you: I know that in the events I know, the Athosians will eventually return to Athos and live there happily ever after, you decided to scare them properly. To drive them off the planet."
"But you saw the supervolcano yourself!"
"And I know that if you don't start drilling there, detonating Tsar Bombs, or something else, nothing will happen," I replied. "You see, when you show undeveloped races data from your scanner, it's best to think that someone among them will still remember the symbols of the markings in the Lantians' language, and then translate them."
"And what did you translate?" the girl shuddered.
"The thickness of the 'cork' in the supervolcano is at least a kilometer of ultra-dense rock," I replied. "It's calm by itself and not preparing to erupt. The 'cork' is intact. Everywhere except one place. At first, I wondered for a long time what kind of 'generator' was in the magma chamber. And then I remembered something... And put two and two together: my knowledge of similar situations, and your words that you were already thinking about geothermal energy."
Chaya looked at me, pursing her lips slightly.
"In the ruined city on Athos, there were Ancient structures. In the magma chamber of the supervolcano, there is an ancient generator, and we both know who put it there," I voiced my guesses. "You wanted to drive the Athosians off their home planet to launch an ancient geothermal power station!"
"Yes."
To her credit, Chaya didn't deny it. In fact, there was no hint of regret on her face for what she had done.
"And for what?" I asked. "To organize a jumper charging station there? Or what goals did you pursue?"
"This ruined city is called Emegé," Chaya said. "I read about it in the Atlantis database. Athosians lived there many thousands of years ago. They were developed enough for the Lantians to establish an outpost there and establish direct contact with them. However, when the war with the Wraiths began, the Lantians left. But the outpost remained. And all the equipment in it. And besides the generator and barracks for the outpost garrison, there was also a shield generator powered by geothermal energy."
"Very interesting and promising," I agreed. "But let's get to the point. I haven't seen any downsides yet."
"Their planet is open to Wraith attacks," Chaya exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "They live on a supervolcano. A kilometer of rock, two, five—a good orbital bombardment would simply destroy this place, and the planet would become uninhabitable. Technologies that are important for Atlantis would be lost."
"We have a shield, we have ZPMs..."
"And we could have spare parts for the shield generator, spare parts for other systems, resources for processing and creating the necessary hull elements!" Chaya stated firmly. "I'm not even talking about the terminals, crystals, wiring, and much more that's there. But, most importantly—it's the geothermal reactor. I've only heard of this Lantian, and exclusively Lantian, technology. This generator could provide us with energy at a domestic level! Power all the city's corridors, all the laboratories, all the secondary systems! Exactly what we talked about—freeing up the ZPM from external consumers!"
"We were actually trying to do the opposite, to reduce the number of consumers," I reminded her. "And you wanted to turn everything on here."
"Because no matter how much I try to minimize consumption, I barely succeed," she explained. "The city's hermetic seal has been broken, and for a very long time. Many sections are damaged and flooded. There's already mold and fungus in the corridors and pier compartments. Turning off the life support systems there won't make things better. On the contrary, much worse. It's damp, dark, low-power energy flows... Before we can repair Atlantis, it will fall apart! And this is just the simplest of the problems! I can't cover all the city's problems, but I know that we're not even using one percent of its functions. We've repaired one lower hangar, and there are two. I have no idea what's in the second one—there's no communication with that part of the city. We have a power outage and short circuits in the power sections at the north pier, but again, I don't have the wiring to fix it!"
"You told me about the problems," I reminded her. "And we discussed solutions. But why hide this from me?"
"And what would you have told me?"
"I would have told you that the drill survived; as far as I remember, they launched it, and it even provided power to the city," I said.
"But what about the Wraith cruiser crash? What about the thin crust at the point of impact? The explosion, in the end?"
"Everything was surely there. But I'm talking about what I know—the drill survived, and most likely, it wasn't even badly damaged. It was working during the known events. But," seeing Chaya's eyes light up, I wagged my finger at her, "no matter how much we need that drill, we won't go near it while there are only four of us, and no one will help us if we fail."
"But what about the extra energy!?"
"What about the Wraith Queen on board the cruiser, who will blow it up if we don't let her off the planet?" I asked.
"What?" Chaya exclaimed in doomed horror, stepping back a couple of paces and collapsing into a chair. "There are living Wraiths on this planet!?"
"As much as I don't want to say 'yes,' the answer is 'yes'," I admitted. "And, a small remark. This isn't just any queen—it's the queen of the entire Wraith alliance, who led them to war against the Ancients..."
A deathly pallor appeared on Chaya's tanned face. It seemed the Ancient was so terrified that she was losing the pigment responsible for skin color—melanin.
I noticed that the girl's hands began to tremble... She stared at one spot, but it was unlikely she saw anything there.
"Chaya?" I called to her. "Are you alright?"
"No," she whispered. "The Queen of Death is on the same planet as us. We're finished..."