The others drifted toward the doors as well, until only John and Elizabeth remained. By unspoken agreement, they moved to stand at the edge of the room, where the ‘gate was just visible behind the partitions. “Your cold must be on the way out,” he observed.
“It seems to be gone. Strange kind of bug, according to Carson. Different from Earth, but in some ways much the same.” She crossed her arms and leaned back against one of the panels. “I think we should talk more seriously about accelerating the gene therapy program on Atlantis. Not only is there the obvious efficiency benefit from having more people who are capable of interacting with the city, but…”She didn’t want to compare their expedition to the class struggle on Dalera, but it lurked in the back of her mind.
“Yeah. Anything that might remove an artificial barrier between people sounds like a good idea to me.”
Grateful that he seemed to understand, she smiled. “So, for future reference, do you see a circumstance where offering the gene therapy to a culture might be beneficial?”
“Theoretically, sure. The Athosians could certainly have handled it, if it had offered them a viable defense against the Wraith. And it would have worked for the Dalerans if we’d had a little more intel on what was really going on.”
“Fair enough. Rodney will be all right, don’t you think?”
“I do,” John replied gamely. “He got his world pretty well rocked, but he’s nothing if not resilient.” He glanced out at the control room, where two technicians were testing a console damaged in the storm. “We all are.”
“I won’t argue with that.” Elizabeth cocked an eyebrow. “Out of curiosity, do you have any idea what’s interesting about a Lagrange Point?”
“Not really, but I have a feeling it won’t be long before I’m forced to find out.”