Blood Ties

Chapter twenty

After the sandblasted atmosphere of central Iraq, the interior of the C-20 felt humid by comparison. John had barely found a seat before the crew closed the hatch and started the engine run-up. He settled back, relieved they'd made it here in one piece and grateful to have a few hours with no immediate duties, even if he had to spend them in the cabin of an aircraft he wasn't flying.

Once they'd dodged the minor flare-up outside the bunker, getting out of Ramadi had turned out to be easier than getting in. The potshots taken at their helicopter on the arriving flight had been the prelude to an attack that had moved rapidly toward the heart of the city. Larger but still uncoordinated, the assault hadn't put much of a crimp in flight cps at the small airfield on the outskirts of town. "Just the nightly fireworks show," Captain Baker had called it. As a result, John had been able to get the HH-60 up and out with little difficulty.

Jackson, who hadn't been fazed by any of the pyrotechnics, seemed to have no plans to take a break even on the long return flight to Colorado. Focused on setting up his laptop, he dug the Ancient datapad out of his pocket and held it out across the aisle. "Initialize this for me, would you?"

Slouched in the corner formed by the seat and the bulkhead, John had to stretch to reach the device. Rebecca, sitting opposite Jackson, took it and started to hand it over, only to jerk back in shock when the screen came to life.

John sat up straighter. "Welcome to the ATA club," he commented. "We don't have a secret handshake or anything, but it's a good bet you'll get a ceremonial bloodletting from Dr. Lam when we get back to the SGC."

In response, Rebecca tossed the datapad to him. Although she quickly pasted on a calm expression, he still got the feeling she could have done without any more surprises today. He did his best to sound reassuring. "It's no big deal. At least you didn't get a holographic map of the universe buzzing around your head."

Jackson looked up at her, seemingly unaffected by the new development. "There's some additional background you should know about the Ancients, especially in light of this news about your heredity."

Rebecca hesitated for a moment and then surrendered, giving him her full attention. "You can start by telling me who these Ori are that you mentioned back in Ramadi."

As the C-20 began its takeoff roll, John gave the datapad back to Jackson.

"Thanks. Okay, backing up to catch a couple of details we didn't explain earlier: the Ancients were once called Alterans, and they and the Ori were once a single race living in a distant galaxy. While the Ori took a spiritual approach to achieving Ascension, the Alterans went for a scientific path. At first the Ori route seemed more reasonable, because the Alterans had locked themselves into a rigid set of rules centered on a policy of non-interference with younger races in their galaxy."

Rebecca lifted an eyebrow. "Sort of like a Prime Directive." When John glanced at her, bemused, she opened her mouth to explain and then changed her mind, flicking her hand. "Inside joke from when I was a kid. Never mind."

"That's one way to put it." The aircraft rose smoothly into the air. Tapping a button on the side of the datapad, Jackson went on. "According to Merlin, the Ori started with good intentions of helping people Ascend. Ultimately, though, their philosophical differences with the Alterans led to a kind of religious crusade. Persecuted and unwilling to engage in a war, the Alterans left their galaxy. After a thousand years of wandering, they ended up here in the Milky Way, where they built an empire while maintaining a passive link to their home galaxy."

From what John had heard of the incident where Jackson and Vala had been body-snatched and dumped into residents of the Alterans' old neighborhood, he wasn't sure `passive' was the best description.

Multitasking, Jackson continued to speed-read the contents of the datapad while continuing with his short history of the universe. "Several million years ago, a plague similar to the pandemic that afflicted Earth a couple of years back wiped out all life in this galaxy. Our best guess is that the Ori found a way to Ascend and released the plague to finish off their ideological enemies. We believe that many Alterans escaped by Ascending, while others left the Milky Way-though presumably not before using their technology to recreate life here." He frowned thoughtfully and glanced through the window. "Of course, it's possible as well that they waited until the plague had burned itself out before returning and recreating life. The details of that are sketchy. Anyway, they must have encoded their own DNA into the baseline, because the same human form once again evolved on Earth."

"This sounds remarkably like the Babylonian mythology of the Annunaki." Looking unsure what to do with her newly discovered magic touch, Rebecca folded her hands in her lap.

A small smile crossed Jackson's face. "Funny you should mention that. Baqir referred to them as the Annunaki. It seems the Epic of Gilgamesh was considerably more literal than scholars imagined- Sitchin was right."

"So both sides carried their disagreement into the afterlife."

"And then some. In their home galaxy, the Ascended Ori figured out that they could gain even greater power through a type of psychic feeding from their worshippers on the mortal plane. I know it sounds like New Age mystic nonsense, but these advanced life forms embody energy-"

"Let's leave the physics to the scientists," Rebecca broke in. "I get the basic picture. More followers mean more power for the Ori, so they came up with this dogmatic proselytizing religion of theirs. What I don't see is how any of it relates to the Ancient Lilith or the Wraith."

Regarding her over the top of the datapad, Jackson silently acknowledged the implied request to move the story along. "The Ascended Alterans, by contrast, are so adamantly opposed to any kind of interference that they banish any member of their collective who breaks the rules. According to Merlin-and the scrolls I read confirmed this-the unascended Ancients in the Pegasus Galaxy realized that, if left unchecked, the Ori would become dominant enough to defeat the Ascended Alterans and subsume their energy. Naturally, that would completely undermine the vaunted goal ofAscension. Being on the higher plane actually put the Alterans at a disadvantage."

"Because their rules prevented them from helping mortals, which the Ori were psychically enslaving," Rebecca finished.

"But Lilith wasn't Ascended," said John. "The rules didn't apply to her."

"Exactly," replied Jackson, glancing at him. "Lilith revisited an experiment that had been abandoned several million years earlier. A group of Ancients had been working with the gene for empathy in lower-order animals with the goal of evolving it to telepathy in higher orders. Since the Ascended share a form of group mind, a `oneness with the universe,' so to speak, the theory was that the empathy/telepathy genes might provide a mechanism for Ascension-excorporeal excursions being another aspect of telepathy."

"MlM-316," said John. "Those dinosaurs that Ronon and Teyla rounded up were empathic."

"Hopefully McKay and Zelenka will be able to fill in the blanks from that end." Jackson jerked his chin toward the datapad. "Give me some time to go through this and maybe I can learn the details of what Lilith did once she got to Earth."

To John, that sounded like a cue. Since the aircraft had leveled out, he unbuckled his seatbelt and stood. "Bet there's some food in the back," he suggested to Rebecca.

The worry that had taken up residence when she'd activated the Ancient device began to clear from her features. "Think the Air Force stocks anything chocolate in its galleys'? A Milky Way Dark bar would go a really long way toward restoring my overall outlook."

John smirked, wondering how she'd react if she knew how much she'd sounded like Rodney just then. "Jackson, you had anything to eat lately?"

His gaze never leaving the screen in front of him, the archeologist gave a quick, dismissive headshake. "Thanks-I'm fine. I think Hanan may have left me in better shape than before the attack."

Which was yet one more of the growing number of topics that John didn't want to dwell on. He headed aft to investigate a column of stainless steel storage cabinets.

The bottom one was refrigerated and held bottled water and cans of Coke, along with a few plastic-wrapped sandwiches. He crouched down and retrieved two sandwiches. "Coke or water?" he asked Rebecca as she came up beside him.

"Water, thanks. Don't stand up." She opened an upper drawer above his head. "Oh, score. Want a brownie or a cinnamon bun?"

"Brownie, definitely." And no Rodney to pilfer it. Double score.

They each claimed one of the couches that lined the bulkheads at the very aft of the aircraft and tore into the food with something less than perfect decorum.

"So these Ancients," Rebecca began after swallowing the last bite of her sandwich. "Despite the name, some of them still exist'? Unascended, I mean?"

"We've run into a few," John replied. "Either unascended or deascended, if that's even a word. Most of them seem to have… issues. The first one I met had been kicked off the higher plane for protecting her home planet from the Wraith. She was exiled to continue defending that planet for the rest of eternity."

"I'll bet meeting you was the excitement of the millennium for her."

"Why's that'? It's not like she'd never seen anyone with the gene before. I was just…" And then John realized he'd protested too soon. Rebecca had meant the collective `you,' not him in particular. He took a drink of his Coke while trying to figure out how to get out of the hole he'd just dug himself. Not likely; being perceptive was in her job description.

As expected, Rebecca cocked an eyebrow. "Why, John Sheppard, did you have a romantic encounter with an alien goddess?"

Great. He didn't bother trying to deny it. "Even the shrink thinks I'm Captain freaking Kirk," he muttered, reaching for his brownie.

"I didn't say that. You're not the swaggering, melodramatic type, and so far on this trip you've managed to keep your shirt in one piece" Amusement glimmered in her eyes, but she soon damped it. "Based on what I've observed and what I remember of your profile, I'd expect you to connect best with strong women. That's all."

All right, this line of discussion was a disaster waiting to happen. "New topic," he said, not bothering to attempt any kind of graceful transition. "Are you doing all right with your whole new worldview? I know you're used to dealing with a lot of weird stuff, but by any measure this is a lot to take in over a span of just a couple days."

She considered the question for a while, taking a bite of her brownie in the meantime. "Facing the unknown is something that bothers almost everyone," she answered at last. "There's a lot we don't know about the situation we're in at the moment. What keeps me from panicking, at least for now, is the fact that we seem to be making progress. I'm not offering any guarantees about how I'll fare when all this is over."

"Yeah, I think all of us will need some time to have our own private meltdowns if and when we get the chance later." He looked at her steadily, wanting her to really get the fact that she wasn't alone in this. "I said earlier that I wouldn't change where I am and what I do even if I could. That doesn't mean I don't wish certain aspects were different. After some of the things that have happened out there… let's just say I can admit to having a bad day now and then, even the occasional nightmare."

"I'm no stranger to those. Like I said earlier, there's a reason I'm no longer married." Rebecca crumpled up her food wrappers and lobbed them into a wastebasket attached to the bulkhead.

Although John didn't want to look too far down the road just yet, it seemed like the SGC could benefit from making Rebecca a permanent addition. She had the gene and the clearance, two things that didn't coincide too often, and she didn't panic when things got a little hot. "You have much family? Any kids?"

"With my job? I'm not that crazy." She finished her water. "As for family, not really. Only child, raised by my aunt, who was more Catholic than the Pope. You wouldn't have believed the whipping I got for accidentally eating a hamburger on a Friday during Lent. Funny how that method didn't exactly sell me on religion."

"You ought to meet Cam Mitchell when we get back to the SGC. Your aunt makes his grandmother sound lenient." John flashed a grin. "I can't see you being quite as bad as me as a kid, but you must have given out some gray hairs yourself."

"I don't spend time on memory lane. Not much really stands out, so there isn't any point in it." Rebecca swiftly turned the focus back to him, a tactic he probably should have expected, but also an indication that she too had a few topics she'd prefer not to dwell on. "We talked about family during your McMurdo interview, I remember. You of all people understand that not everyone gets a stereotypical Norman Rockwell childhood."

John was starting to get the feeling that, if anyone was going to squirm in this conversation, she was going to make sure it wasn't her. He was rescued from having to evade the subject by a voice from the main cabin. "Guys, I think we may have a problem."

Naturally… because God knew they didn't have any other problems at the moment.

Abandoning their drinks, John and Rebecca strode into the cabin to see Jackson standing with the datapad in hand and a deep frown etched on his face. The archeologist, radiating a fair amount of nervous tension, handed John the datapad.

With Rebecca standing at his shoulder, John peered at the screen in disbelief. Lined up and neatly categorized were images of dozens of fantastical creations. Minotaurs, harpies, vampires, satyrs, centaurs-hell, even mermaids. John whistled low and long, not trusting himself to come up with a more insightful response.

"Lilith left Morgan Le Fay in the dust," said Jackson, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. There was no doubt that he was considerably more disturbed by this new wrinkle than he'd been at any point during their getaway from Ramadi. "They're all in there. Every mythological chimera you can imagine. They existed-and may still exist."