The Lost

Chapter Fifteen: The Houses of the Dead

“We are honored by your presence,” the Wraith worshipper said, and then went to his knees in front of Todd. Jennifer could feel Ronon move beside her, and she put out a hand to arrest whatever move he was about to make.

“We have come to negotiate,” Todd said, as if he found the idea a little amusing. “Do not expect to be rewarded for nothing.”

“Of course not,” the man said, but Jennifer thought she could see his jaw twitch. She didn’t dare look at Ronon.

“I’m Dr. Jennifer Keller,” she said. “This is Ronon Dex. Do you have a name?”

The man got to his feet before he looked at her. “I am called Carlin,” he said. “You have come to the Houses of the Dead.”

Jennifer couldn’t help feeling that sounded less than good. “We’re here to talk,” she said.

The man nodded. “Many come to talk. Here in the land of the dead, there is no war among the gods.”

“Or among humans,” Jennifer said. “I hope.”

“The living do not walk among us,” Carlin said.

“Unless your gods wish it,” Todd said.

Carlin nodded, although he looked a little skeptical. “As you say.”

Todd smiled. It wasn’t a friendly expression. “Will you not make us welcome?”

“You are welcome,” Carlin said. “Come with me.” He led them down the easy slope toward the water.

Jennifer followed, trying not to look as thrown as she felt. So, Todd had lied to them. Well, that wasn’t exactly a big surprise. Or maybe not actually lied — he’d promised neutral ground, and it sounded like this was some kind of traditional neutral ground for warring factions of Wraith. That didn’t make their position any better if they were surrounded by Wraith worshippers, though. She was pretty sure they’d take Todd’s side if it came down to a fight. So it had better not come down to a fight.

What had looked like rolling hillside proved to be a small cluster of dugout buildings, their tops grown over with grass, or maybe they’d been hollowed out of the hillside without disturbing the sod. Jennifer saw a few people moving from house to house, all with the same long hair and somber clothes Carlin wore. More than one of them moved haltingly, as if even crossing the short distance from house to house was painful.

“We can offer medical assistance if that’s something your people need,” Jennifer couldn’t help saying.

“These are the Houses of the Dead,” Carlin said. “They await rebirth. The dead do not seek healing from the living.”

“Well, okay,” Jennifer said. She still didn’t see any smoke, but there were animal tracks in the soft ground that ran down to the river, and enough footprints that she thought there must be plenty of living people around.

“What kind of rebirth?” Ronon said from behind her. Jennifer had already pretty much decided that it was best not to ask that question. It figured that Ronon couldn’t let it alone.

“The gift of the dead gods,” Carlin said.

“Okay,” Jennifer said quickly. The Wraith could heal as well as kill, feeding humans the same energy they drained when they fed on them. She knew Ronon had experienced that firsthand, over and over as torture until he finally broke under it and then had to painfully withdraw from his body’s addiction to the process, craving it like a drug. She knew he had every reason to hate the Wraith, but they were here for a reason, and she wished he’d act like he remembered it. “We’d like to hear more about your people another time, right, Ronon?”

“Sure,” he said. He sounded angry. She hoped it was at the Wraith and not at her.

“It’s just that we’re a little busy right now,” she went on firmly.

“Carlin’s people have served us at this meeting place for many generations,” Todd said. “It is useful to us to have a place to meet where misunderstandings are less likely to take place.”

“You mean where you’re less likely to stab each other in the back,” Ronon said.

“I believe that is what I said.” Todd stopped in front of what looked like a small hill until Jennifer saw the weathered wooden door set into the curve of the hillside. “This will serve our needs.”

Carlin hurried to open the door for them. Jennifer stepped back, letting Ronon check it out first. He didn’t look like he particularly wanted to step across the threshold, but after a moment he did, looking around with his pistol drawn.

Todd and the other Wraith hung back, making no move to go in until she and Ronon had assured themselves that it was safe. She wished she were more sure whether that was courtesy or just a hunter waiting for the mouse to walk into the trap.

“It’s clear,” Ronon said finally.

“After you,” Jennifer said.

Todd’s lips twitched in an unreadable expression. “As you wish,” he said. He glanced at the other Wraith, who preceded him in, and then ducked inside himself. Jennifer followed, trying not to think about mousetraps springing shut.

Inside there was a trestle table laid with a pitcher and stacked cups. The floor was swept earth, and the ceiling was high and arched, supported by what she hoped were interlaced tree branches. It was possible that on closer inspection they would prove to be bones, but she wasn’t planning on inspecting that closely. The room was dim, lit only by the light filtering in from a pair of small skylights covered in what might have been glass or plastic.

In one corner, there was a teardrop-shaped device with coils winding across its face that looked suspiciously like a battery-powered heater of some kind. It suggested that the reason there weren’t any fires lit was probably that the locals had better ways of cooking their breakfast. She wasn’t an expert, but she would have bet on its being Wraith technology.

Todd seated himself at one end of the table, his hands on his knees. She waited for Ronon to sit, but he leaned against the wall, his pistol out to cover the table. The other Wraith took up a position behind Todd, his hands spread as if ready to reach for a weapon himself.

Apparently it was going to be that kind of negotiation. Jennifer sat down at the other end of the table, hoping that would look like she was insisting on equal status rather just that she preferred having the length of the table between them. It was a relief to shrug off her heavy pack. She rested it against her knee where she could reach it in a hurry.

“Now talk,” Ronon said.

Todd spread his hands. “What would you like me to say?”

“We want to know who took Rodney,” Jennifer said. “We’re willing to make a deal for any information that will help us find him.”

“I have no idea who took him,” Todd said. “It was not any of my doing.”

Jennifer thought he sounded just a little too innocent. “You’re telling me that you don’t have any idea who attacked New Athos, or where they might be now?”

Todd seemed to grow suddenly interested in inspecting the water pitcher. Jennifer waited, as patiently as she could. She didn’t think he’d be going to all this trouble if he thought there was no chance of making a deal.

“There have been new developments,” Todd said finally. “Many of our territorial arrangements have broken down. We had placed New Athos off limits for the time being. If that is no longer being respected, it is beyond my control.”

Ronon smiiled like he didn’t believe that at all. “Why would you do that?”

“Maybe they don’t want to have to deal with us,” Jennifer said.

Todd spread his hands. Ronon’s hand twitched at the motion, and Jennifer silently willed him to be still. He wasn’t making this any easier by acting like he was ready to start shooting at any moment. “New Athos is Lantean territory,” Todd said. “We felt it unwise to challenge you for it at present.”

“It’s not our territory,” Ronon said. Jennifer could have kicked him. “But they’re our allies. You’re right that we’d come after you if you attacked them. We will, if you just did.”

“We have no interest in New Athos,” Todd said. “The Athosians have been too recently culled. It would be poor husbandry for us to drive them to extinction through greed, though admittedly leaving the genes for certain — peculiar talents — in existence has its risks.”

“You sound like an environmentalist talking about bears,” Jennifer said. Ronon shifted his weight again, and she shot Ronon a look that she hoped communicated this is not the time to ask me what an environmentalist is.

“It is in our best interests to preserve our… environment,” Todd said. He looked amused. “Unless we intend to seek a new and unspoiled feeding ground.”

“I think it would get spoiled pretty fast,” Jennifer said.

“For you, at least,” Todd said.

“Somebody sent those darts,” Ronon broke in. “It wasn’t a culling. They wanted one of our people.”

“It looked to us like they were after Rodney in particular,” Jennifer said. “He’s got a lot of information that could be damaging to both of us.”

“If that is the case, the queen who took him will be extracting the knowledge from him as we speak,” Todd said. “There is little chance that he can be retrieved before he reveals what he knows.”

“You’d be surprised,” Jennifer said, fighting to keep her voice level. “Rodney’s tougher than he looks.”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s already talked or not,” Ronon said, somewhat to her surprise. “He’s ours. We want him back.”

“That is wasteful of you,” Todd said. He sounded less critical than thoughtful, his eyes on her speculatively.

Jennifer raised her chin. “I think that’s our call.”

He shrugged. “Perhaps,” he said. “But if he has already revealed what he knows, I do not see that I have much incentive to become involved.”

“Maybe we can give you one,” Jennifer said. “We’ve worked together in the past.”

Todd snorted. “And we have seen what great advantage I have gained from that arrangement.”

“You’re still alive,” she said. “We have information, technology — ”

“None that is of interest to us.”

“You used to find Dr. Beckett’s retrovirus pretty interesting.”

“It doesn’t work,” Todd said sharply. “We learned that at our cost.”

“It doesn’t work yet.”

There was an abrupt mechanical noise, and she and Todd both glanced up at the other Wraith, who was looking at some kind of readout on a device he wore on his arm. The Wraith looked sharply at Todd, and for a moment she thought Todd’s eyes showed a flicker of alarm.

Someone knocked on the door outside, and then opened it. “More gods have come through the ring,” Carlin said. Jennifer thought he was the only one in the room who looked pleased.

Ronon gave him a sharp look. “How would you know that?”

“There are transmitting devices in the gate field, well disguised,” Todd said when it was clear the man was planning to offer no explanation. “We may need to postpone any further discussion until they leave this place.”

“No,” Ronon said. “You said we’d be safe here. Now you’re just jerking us around.”

“Ronon,” Jennifer said.

“I’ve been patient,” he said.

“No, you haven’t,” she said. “If we need to wait — ”

“Because they say so?”

“Remain where you are,” Todd said, and strode out of the room. The other Wraith bared his teeth in a smile that didn’t look entirely confident. Jennifer didn’t feel up to meeting it with one of her own.

“We should get out of here,” Ronon said.

Jennifer turned up her hands. “It sounds like the other Wraith are between us and the gate.”

“Like I told you.”

“If Todd wanted us dead, we’d be dead by now,” Jennifer said. It seemed obvious enough to her. “He’d have had these people ambush us, or have set some kind of trap — ”

“If that’s what you thought, then why did we come?”

“Because I don’t think he wants us dead. There’s something he still wants badly enough to — ”

“He’s a Wraith. He wants us dead.”

“If you’re not even going to listen to me, why am I on this mission?”

Ronon was smiling a little, but it wasn’t a friendly expression. “That was Woolsey’s idea, not mine.”

That hung there for a moment, and then as Jennifer started to speak, the door slammed open.

“Do not waste time in foolish questions,” Todd said. “Move quickly if you want to live. The Wraith who have come through the Stargate are followers of Queen Death. She must not know I have met with you.”

“Why?” Jennifer asked.

Todd glared at her. “That would be a foolish question.”

“Fine,” Jennifer said. “What are you suggesting?”

“There is a hiding place.”

“If these people know about it, it’s not exactly going to do us much good.”

“I have made arrangements,” Todd said. “You may trust me.”

“Right,” Ronon said.

“I don’t see that we have a lot of choice,” Jennifer said.

“You’re right. We don’t,” Ronon said. He didn’t say and whose fault is that, but she was pretty sure he was thinking it.

“Then let’s go,” Jennifer said, and shouldered her pack again. It seemed like it was getting heavier every time.