Blood Ties

Prologue

It was his expression, rather than the words on the page, that conveyed to her the significance of this discussion. Elizabeth Weir was a diplomat, and her strengths lay in reading people, not nucleotide sequences. She had an advantage in this case, because she knew her chief medical officer well. In nearly two years of working together in Atlantis, and the months before that in Antarctica during his attempts to operate the Ancient chair, she'd never seen Carson Beckett look so ill at ease.

Upon hearing his explanation, she understood the basis for his apprehension.

"You've just discovered this?" she asked, handing the printout back across her desk.

Carson hesitated in the middle of a nod. "Yes and no," he replied in his soft Scottish brogue. "I originally identified it during our initial efforts to isolate the ATA gene. We received a great deal of assistance from the Human Genome Project, as well as from Allan Wilson's Mitochondrial Eve research. Through their data we determined that the gene required to operate Ancient technology was first introduced into the human population approximately ten thousand years ago."

"Which fits with what we know of the Ancients' evacuation to Earth from the Pegasus Galaxy during that time period." Elizabeth folded her hands on the desk, a habit she'd cultivated to present an air of interest. In this instance it served to mask her anxiety. "I assume you believe that all of this is interrelated?"

"That I do. I didn't come across my earlier data again until just recently, while making some refinements to the retrovirus." Carson paused a moment, his eyes flicking out from Elizabeth's glass walled office to the city's control room, which was minimally manned for the evening shift. His reluctance came as no surprise to Elizabeth. No one was wholly comfortable with the next planned step of the retrovirus project, but life in the Pegasus Galaxy had forced a kind of moral shift on many aspects of the Atlantis expedition. She just hoped in the case of Michael it wouldn't come back to bite them.

The doctor exhaled a disappointed breath. "At the time of the original research, I'd been focused on isolating exactly what gave General O'Neill the ability to use the Ancient database-to the exclusion of all else. I should have recognized the importance of this other finding immediately."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Hindsight, Carson. No one, least of all you, could have been expected to anticipate what we'd find in this galaxy." With an air of reassurance that she hoped would disguise her own concern, she continued, "It's been ten thousand years, and nothing's shown up in Earth's population to suggest any problems. I'd venture to say that no news is good news."

His concerned expression remained fixed in place. "I probably ought to find that more comforting than I do."

Apparently they were of the same mind. Rising and walking over to the glass wall, Elizabeth crossed her arms and gazed out at the empty gate room. "I suppose this adds a new wrinkle to the retrovirus study. As if we weren't raising some complicated ethical questions with it already."

"In a strange way, I'm more resolved to go forward with the project now."

She turned back to see Carson's lips twisted with grim humor. "At the very least," he continued, "we can take solace in the fact that we won't be the first to tread such shaky ground."

If he could handle this new knowledge without undue alarm, then so could she. Giving a single, sharp nod, Elizabeth said, "All right. Send me your report the moment it's finished. I'll move up our regular check-in time with the SGC so we can get this information to them as soon as possible. What, if anything, they can do with it, I have no idea, but they need to know."

"I'll have the report ready by morning. I'd also like to request that anyone examining the Ancient database notify me immediately if any further references to this topic, or to the Ancient responsible for the research, are found." Collecting the file, Carson stood and, attempting to roll the tension out of his shoulders, started toward the door. "Can I assume you don't plan to participate in movie night? I think they're starting in a few minutes."

She couldn't suppress a wry smile. "I think I'll pass. I have it on good authority that Ronon got to choose tonight's feature, and he's been working his way through the Rambo series. I blame John."

"I'm not sorry to miss it myself, then. Say what you will about our lads, at least they're predictable."

"When they choose to be, anyway. Good night, Carson"

After he had left, Elizabeth stepped out of her office. Intending to go to her quarters, she changed her mind in transit and stopped for a moment at the top of the gate room steps. Although Atlantis operated around the clock to accommodate the vagaries of interplanetary time differences, the expedition's current duty schedule was designed to allow most personnel to stand down in the evenings. The spacious chamber that housed the Stargate seemed even larger at night, its lights dimmed to conserve energy, no technicians chatting or securing equipment.

Normally she enjoyed the stillness at the end of the day, taking it as a sign that all was well-or at least as well as was possible. Tonight she found herself feeling unusually exposed to all the threats, both known and unknown, that lurked beyond the silent gate.

She wasn't a scientist, and so she couldn't see Carson's discovery in purely analytical terms. Science could explain-to a certain extent-why and how a Wraith fed on human life; it couldn't explain the sensation of frozen dread generated by the mere presence of one of the ghastly creatures.

What Carson had found should have been exciting, a leap forward in their understanding of two galaxies and a potential hope for resolving the Wraith issue at last. Instead, she felt unsettled, as if everything they still didn't know was poised to come crashing down on them.