O’Neill was waiting in the conference room above with no sign of General Landry. He was also wearing camouflage instead of his usual pressed blues, a sure sign something was seriously amiss. Woolsey waited until the door shut behind him, then put his laptop case on the table. “We’ve been attacked?”
“Not here,” O’Neill said. “The Lucian Alliance hit one of our outposts a few days ago. But that’s not what you’re here for.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Woolsey said. There were a lot of things he might be blamed for, starting with McKay’s Wraithification and subsequent de-Wraithification, but a Lucian Alliance attack in the Milky Way was stretching it.
“Roy Martin had a heart attack.”
It took Woolsey a moment to change gears. “The US representative to the IOA?” He’d only met Martin a few times, but he’d liked him. “He’s dead?”
“Fortunately not,” O’Neill said. “But he’s had bypass surgery and he’s got a long road ahead of him. He’s nearly eighty. Anyway, he’s tendered his resignation to the President. Says it’s time to retire for good.”
“That’s too bad,” Woolsey said. Actually it was worse than bad. Martin had been an unexpected defender of the Atlantis Expedition and of him. If he was out of the picture, things with the IOA were about to get a lot worse. They’d needed him.
O’Neill’s brows twitched. “And here I thought you were just one more cutthroat politico.”
“He’s a good man,” Woolsey said. He squared his shoulders. “I take it I’m supposed to explain something or other to the IOA on behalf of Atlantis, and that they’ve taken advantage of Martin’s absence to find fault with something. I don’t suppose this can be handled quickly so I can get back to Atlantis.”
O’Neill shook his head. “You aren’t going back to Atlantis. The President has appointed you to Martin’s seat. You’re the US representative to the IOA now.”
“Damn,” said Woolsey, and he meant it.
Rodney piloted the puddle-jumper out of the orbital Stargate, frowning as the sensors began to build a picture of the world that turned beneath. Teyla was in the shotgun seat, with Daniel and Ember behind, Ronon lurking just behind the Wraith. Rodney could feel Ember’s wry amusement at that not an official guard, but more than enough reminder that he was the alien here, the enemy tolerated as temporary ally.
*You know,* Teyla said mentally so that both he and Ember could hear it, *There are more people who understand mind speech on this mission than those who do not.*
There was a momentary pause, and Rodney felt the Wraith’s amusement just as he himself laughed. Right now he was the normal one. And that was different.
“What’s funny?” Daniel asked, squinting at the sensor picture.
“Nothing,” Rodney said. He turned the jumper slowly onto a search grid.
“So what happens now?” Daniel asked.
“We scan the planet for anything interesting,” Rodney said. “Mostly,” he glanced at the screen, “It says it’s 99 % water with a few volcanic islands that rise above sea level. No ice caps. Reasonable atmosphere, but hot.”
“How hot?” Teyla asked.
“28 degrees C in the temperate zone below us,” he said. Rodney shrugged. “Hot but not horrible.”
“So we’re scanning for naquadah?” Daniel asked, leaning over the seat.
“Or any other exotic materials. Or buildings. Or humans. No humans so far.”
“Those are awfully small landmasses and awfully isolated for humans,” Daniel said, his eyes on the map the sensors were building.
Ember also leaned forward. “That is so. But the Ancients liked islands for their experiments.”
*I know,* Teyla said mentally, and then glanced over at him as though she had not meant to speak, a swift, disturbing flash of an island surrounded by icy seas, of a Stargate flaring blue through falling snow Osprey’s memories, her long ago memories of the first Wraith queen who shared her blood. The memory was tinged with fear.
*It’s OK,* Rodney thought. *This isn’t that.*
*Well I know that,* Teyla replied, the warmth of her mental touch like a hand on his arm, appreciation of his friendship and happiness that he had reached out in kindness.
“Ah,” Ember said behind, as though he had understood something. “Not so different.”
“What?” Daniel asked. “Am I missing something?”
“They’re doing that mind thing again,” Ronon said. “We’re both missing something.” He sounded annoyed. “It’s rude to have conversations half the team can’t hear.”
“You’re talking telepathically?” Daniel said.
“It’s residual Wraith telepathy, OK?” Rodney snapped. “I can hear Teyla and she can hear me. And apparently Ember can hear both of us. I can’t help hearing her, so there’s no need to be a pill about it.”
“I thought you were both just speaking normally,” Ember said. “I didn’t intend to listen to something private.” He sounded abashed as he turned to Teyla. “I apologize. I did not mean to eavesdrop on your conversation with your pallax. Please accept my regret.”
“Her what?” Daniel leaned in with an expression that looked like he was taking notes.
“Pallax,” Ember said. “One of a queen’s chosen companions.”
“He is not my pallax,” Teyla said. “Rodney is my friend.”
“Is that not what I said?” Ember sounded confused.
“We are not physically involved,” Teyla said patiently. “To humans there is a distinction in terminology.”
“Ah.”
Daniel was all over it, of course. “So you’re saying that the mental intimacy of the telepathic bond suggested to you that Teyla and Rodney were…”
Ember nodded seriously. “I made the erroneous assumption that he was her pallax from the warmth of their speech. He is, after all, an extremely high status cleverman of distinction, and I presumed that he was also high in her favor.”
“That’s certainly true,” Rodney began.
“It is possible to esteem a male greatly and consider them a close friend without implying physical intimacy,” Teyla said to Ember. There was a note of amusement in her voice as she glanced at Rodney. “While it is certainly true that Rodney is brilliant and distinguished, that does not imply that I intend for him to be the father of my future children.”
“What? No, I…”
Daniel’s glance was going back and forth like a man watching a tennis match. “So you’re saying that…”
“His genetic material would be highly desirable,” Ember opined.
“I am certain that it would be,” Teyla said.
“I wouldn’t… I mean,” Rodney flailed.
“In order to preserve genetic diversity, and to produce offspring with the most desirable traits, a queen selects carefully among her zenana each time she chooses to bear a child,” Ember said to Daniel, who was trying to ask a question. “I am simply stating that McKay’s offspring would doubtless possess his high intelligence and good looks.”
“Well, of course they would, but…” Rodney said. He was fortunately interrupted by the buzzing of the jumper’s scanner. “Ah ha! It looks like we found something.”
“What is it?” Ronon asked.
Rodney adjusted the controls. “It looks like a building with an artificial power source. That way. Toward that archipelago.” He turned the jumper’s course toward it. “Let’s go check it out.”
“An active power source might be…” Daniel began.
The jumper’s alarms shrilled, map replaced by telemetry that identified two streaks of light rising upward.
“…an Ancient installation launching drones,” Daniel finished.
“I’m on it!” Rodney said, wrenching the jumper around and heading for space.