"We've hit a snag, sir," Sam said over the radio.
"We don't have time to hit a snag. Figure it out and let's get this done."
"For that we would need the weapon, and right now we can't find it."
Jack looked at Guide and Alabaster. "Excuse me just one moment." Alabaster tilted her head to one side in a gesture that might have meant permission to leave. Jack stepped out into the hall, ignoring the questioning look from the Marine guard.
"What do you mean, you lost it?"
"I didn't lose it," Sam said firmly. "I never had it. Sheppard hid it for safekeeping, and when he went back to get it, he discovered it was gone. Someone stole it and tampered with the security footage to cover their tracks. We're combing the city for it now."
"Queen Death's fleet will be here in thirty-six hours," Jack said. "I need this thing destroyed about ten minutes ago."
"We're working on it," Sam said. "You're going to have to stall the Wraith until we find it."
"Stalling them isn't the problem," Jack said. "Getting their fleet moving is the problem."
"I don't know, be diplomatic. As soon as we find the thing, we'll take it out and dump it. The Wraith can ride along if they want to watch. But I can't destroy it when I don't know where it is."
"So find out where it is."
"Yes, sir."
Jack stepped back into the conference room. "We've hit a little snag," he said.
"Of course you have," Guide said. "As time is growing short, perhaps you should turn the weapon over to us. I expect we can think of some solution to your insoluble problem."
"Have you considered dropping it into the sun?" Alabaster said.
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
"Because you have no intention of destroying the weapon at all," Guide snapped.
"No, because it's missing," Jack said flatly. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Guide and Alabaster exchanged a brief glance. "Why would we want to prevent this grotesque weapon from being destroyed?"
"You wouldn't," Jack said. "Unless you were looking for an excuse to back out of our deal."
"You are the one who is trying to deceive us," Guide said. He circled the conference table, teeth bared in a snarl. Jack stood his ground. Guide stopped a few paces away from him, flexing one hand as if considering how Jack would taste. "A dangerous gamble."
"I try not to gamble," Jack said. "I prefer to bet on sure things. Like the fact that Carter is going to destroy that weapon just as soon as we get it back in our hands."
"Not good enough," Guide said, raising his hand, claws outstretched toward Jack's chest. He had to force himself not to move. The worst thing you could do when you were trying to stare down a predator was to run.
Alabaster made a tsking noise. "I don't think eating him will help matters."
Guide didn't look as certain of that, but he did back off, his eyes still on Jack's face. He bowed to Alabaster in what looked to Jack like a slightly overdone show of obedience, turning up his palms and then deliberately lowering his hands to his sides.
"You know, we have this game on Earth," Jack said. "We call it 'good cop, bad cop.'"
Alabaster tilted her head to one side. "What is a cop?"
"We waste time," Guide snapped. "We must return to our fleet. With or without an alliance. Decide which you would prefer."
"I'd prefer with," Jack said. "We'll find the weapon." He nodded blandly to both Wraith and stepped back out into the hallway, trying not to feel like he was retreating under fire. "Carter?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Tell me you can find this weapon."
"We're doing our best," she said. "I've got Zelenka going over the altered security footage to see if there's any way of retrieving the original data."
"I am beginning to doubt it," Zelenka said as he came onto the radio. "Whoever did this was very good."
"And who do we think that is?"
"A good question," Zelenka said. "I suspect someone with legitimate access to the security system. And very good at covering their tracks."
"And they would have to have known about Hyperion's weapon," Sam said. "I hate to say it, but…"
"You do not think…" Zelenka said.
"What?" Jack demanded.
"Well, sir," Sam said, "it's beginning to look like it must have been McKay."
"Then it's time we had a little talk with McKay," Jack said. "Tell Sheppard to find McKay and put him under arrest."
"Finally," Rodney snapped as John and Woolsey came in from the corridor outside the detention area. "Will you get me out of this ridiculous cell?"
"I'm afraid we can't do that until you answer some questions," Woolsey said.
Rodney threw up his hands. "How many more questions do you want me to answer? I've been debriefed a million times since I got back to Atlantis. Yesterday, you were fine with my going on missions. Today, you're locking me up. How does that even make sense?"
"Hyperion's weapon is missing," John said. "We know you took it."
"Oh, is that all?" Rodney felt a rush of mingled guilt and relief, swiftly turning to indignation. "You could have just asked me. It's perfectly safe."
"What happened to it?"
"I moved it," Rodney said.
Woolsey frowned. "You don't deny you're responsible?"
"Why would I deny that? I mean, yes, I know technically I should have told you, but as the head of the Sciences department, it is my responsibility. And since Sheppard here was thinking about where he put it so loudly that the Wraith would have to have their hands over their ears not to hear him—"
"Were you in my head?" John said, with a look of distaste.
"Oh, like it's the first time you've had a Wraith poking around in there."
"You're not a Wraith. And I thought the Gift didn't work on humans."
"Teyla's Gift doesn't. But I wasn't a human with some Wraith DNA, I was actually a Wraith, and some parts of my brain are apparently still Wraith-shaped. And when someone is standing there very loudly thinking 'I really hope none of the Wraith can figure out my secret hiding place, because that would really suck'…"
"You read my mind."
"It's not like I did it on purpose."
"And that explains why you stole the weapon?" Woolsey asked.
"I didn't steal it, I moved it," Rodney insisted. "It seemed to me that it would be safer in a secure location that Sheppard didn't know about."
John scowled at him. "And what if they read your mind?"
"Well, we can't very well put it somewhere that none of us knows about, unless you're planning for us all to get that amnesia virus again."
"We've all had that already," John said.
"I haven't," Woolsey said, looking a bit worried.
John looked at him sideways. "Lucky you."
"I can keep the…" Rodney stumbled on his next words, with an abrupt and confusing sense of seeing the world through two competing perspectives. ‘The other Wraith’, Quicksilver would have said, but Quicksilver had never really existed. "I can keep the Wraith from hearing what I'm thinking."
"Are you sure?" John asked.
"Pretty sure?"
"How sure?"
"Pretty sure! Which is better than any of the rest of us can say, except maybe Teyla."
"You could have given it to Teyla."
"So could you, Mr. Lone Cowboy."
"Let me get this straight," Woolsey broke in. He put his fingers to his temple as if he were getting a headache. "You found the device by extracting the location of its hiding place from his mind using Wraith telepathy."
"We have got to have regulations against doing that," John said.
"We'll come back to that," Woolsey said. "You took the device from its hiding place and moved it to another location. Did you at any time communicate that location to any of the Wraith?"