Secrets

Chapter Twenty-eight Children of the Ancients

“Well,” Jack said, mostly under his breath. “This is different.”

Carter gave him a look that he guessed meant ‘not so much,’ and Woolsey made a little movement like he’d started to tap his computer into better order. The Wraith formerly known as Todd showed his teeth in what was clearly meant to be an unnerving smile.

“There is much to talk about, I realize.”

He was bigger than Jack had expected. Oh, he’d read the reports, scrolled through the photos — obsessively, during the weeks Atlantis was off the grid. He’d had time to get used to the idea that the Wraith looked a lot more alien than, say, a Goa’uld in its host, or the Ori, even the Priors, had time to try to get his brain around the idea that there really were aliens out there who ate people, and who looked a lot like people had always imagined vampires would look. He’d listened to Daniel theorize about that, the notion that vampire legends might be some twisted reflection of Ancient lore, a memory of the war that had driven them to take refuge on Earth, but it hadn’t really prepared him for the reality of Todd — Guide — sitting at the far end of the conference table with his artfully disheveled hair and his tattooed face and, most of all, his presence. Jack hadn’t thought much about immortality lately — the Goa’uld weren’t, and the Asgard weren’t, and that had pretty much seemed to cover it: naughty or nice, nobody lived forever — but looking at Guide, he was beginning to get a sense of what that long view might look like. He wasn’t sure he liked it, and only then became aware that he was meeting Guide’s eyes with more challenge than he’d meant. He matched the Wraith’s smile tooth for tooth, and looked away. Carter gave him another quick glare, and he did his best to look innocent, as though he wasn’t wishing he could kick somebody under the table. Carter rolled her eyes like she wished she could kick him back, and Woolsey cleared his throat again.

“Yes. Since you are here, there are several matters that we could profitably go over.” He glanced at his computer. “The state of your alliance under, er, Queen Steelflower being primary among them. And Dr. Keller has made some significant advances with the retrovirus that she would like to discuss with you —”

“And there is also this weapon, is there not?” Guide said, with a mildness that deceived no one. “That should also be on the table, I believe.”

Crap. Jack tried to look innocent and unconcerned, doubted he was any more successful than Sheppard, biting his lip next to Teyla. How the hell had Guide found out so quickly? Telepath, he answered himself. Alabaster knew; of course she’d told her father, probably in the middle of that touching greeting —

“We have recovered an artifact that Alabaster believes to be a weapon,” Woolsey said, without a blink. “We have not confirmed that this is in fact what it is, or that it still functions. We know almost nothing about it at this point.”

“It is a weapon,” Alabaster said. Her voice was clearer, more musical than Guide’s. Practice with her human flock, Jack wondered, or just natural timbre? “I have the memories of my foremother, Osprey, and I have seen and handled it. It is Hyperion’s weapon, and it was made to destroy all Wraith, and any who share our blood.” She nodded to Teyla. “This one can confirm what I say.”

Teyla offered the smile Jack had seen her use on Earth, in the days of the IOA hearings. He wasn’t really sure he liked seeing it again in this context. “I also believe that this is the weapon of Osprey’s memory.”

“We have no proof,” Woolsey said, with emphasis.

“And I hope are seeking none,” Guide said.

“We feel that, given the general unpredictability of Ancient devices, there is very little to be gained by pursuing the matter,” Woolsey said.

“Until it seems advisable?” Guide asked. “Or expedient? You cannot seriously expect us to feel secure leaving this device in your hands.”

“The Ancients believed it would work,” Alabaster said. “No, they knew it would, even if they didn’t care what its use might cost their children.”

“Collateral damage,” Jack said, under his breath. Guide glanced his way, and he realized that Wraith hearing might be better than he’d thought. Or maybe he hadn’t been as discreet as he’d mostly meant to be. “Look, we have people — valuable people — who would be harmed by this thing, assuming it works, just as much as you would. We have some serious disincentives to using it ourselves.”

“But you also have Dr. McKay,” Guide said. “And the redoubtable Colonel Carter. I am sure that if they put their minds to the problem, they could find some work-around solution. And that returns us to the same problem. I say it again, you cannot expect us to leave this weapon with you.”

“And you can’t expect us to just hand it over to you,” Sheppard said. “Come on, Todd, be reasonable.”

“I am entirely reasonable,” Guide answered, and Jack was sure that expression was a grin.

“We actually have more pressing problems to deal with,” Woolsey said. “Specifically, Queen Death. Forgive me if I’m blunt, but if we don’t work together to stop her, this putative weapon is going to become irrelevant to all of us.”

Alabaster’s gaze shifted, and Jack hid a grin of his own. Gotcha, he thought, and gave Guide his most limpid stare. Guide gave a thin smile, and dipped his head.

“As you say, Death is the more immediate problem. And I am willing to hold to my part of our agreement — for now.” His eyes swept the table, settled on Carter. “But I say to you in all sincerity that it would be much better to resolve this issue before we go much further down this road.”

“We’ll continue to talk,” Carter said, after a moment, and Woolsey nodded.

“Yes. There is still quite a bit to be discussed, and I’m sure we can come to some agreement regarding the device.”

“Yes,” Guide said. “I’m sure we can.” He looked around the table again. “But, for the moment — perhaps it would be wise to pause and consider.”

“And you will want time with Alabaster and your grandson,” Woolsey said. “Of course. We can continue this later, perhaps after you’ve had a chance to talk to Dr. Keller.”

Jack tuned out the rest of the courtesies — he could do that sort of thing in his sleep — and timed his departure so that he was at Carter’s shoulder when they left the conference room. “Careful, Carter,” he said in her ear. “I think the big green guy likes you.”

She blinked, gave him a startled glance — what, Jack thought, she’d never noticed? He grinned, and slipped past her before she could say anything.

Corporal Hernandez stood at the top of the gateroom steps, his P90 at port arms. “Wraith in the conference room,” he said to the pretty airman on duty at the control board for the Stargate. “Pretty outtahand.”

Airman Salawi — Ayesha, she’d said her name was — gave him a sideways smile. “And Wraith in the control room,” she said, gesturing with her head behind her to where the Wraith kid and Torren were playing quietly with a pile of Legos. Really quietly, especially for Torren.

“Outtahand,” Hernandez said. But then pretty much everything about a deployment off planet was. On the other hand, it was awesomely cool.

The conference room doors opened, Woolsey trying to talk to the Wraith named Todd who was ignoring him and talking to Colonel Carter. Behind them, Colonel Sheppard was talking to the Wraith queen Alabaster as the others crowded out behind.

Teyla slipped around Carter and Todd and came over. “I hope that Torren is behaving?” she asked Dr. Zelenka, who had the duty officer’s post.

“Oddly enough, yes,” Zelenka replied, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “He has been very good.”

Alabaster came up behind, Woolsey and Todd with her. “Darling, I hope you did not disrupt these men’s work,” she said.

The Wraith boy looked up from the Legos cheerfully, waving a complicated construction that might have been supposed to be a puddle jumper. “I was good,” he said aloud, and then with more excitement, “I never met a human boy who could speak to my mind before!”

Teyla’s mouth opened and shut as the Wraith named Todd guffawed.

“Well,” Alabaster said gravely, “He is the son of a queen, and will be a blade of Atlantis.”

Torren beamed up beatifically, Legos in hand.