He was sitting slumped at one of the tables, near the one of the big panoramic windows but not looking out of it. His head was forwards, resting on his arms, and she could hear him muttering to himself.
Despite her feelings, the sight raised a smile in her. He looked like a cartoon, drawn to define dejection.
She walked across the mess hall, returning the greetings of several people scattered around the place, and sat down opposite McKay. “Hey Rodney,” she said brightly.
“Spare me the false jollity, okay?” He spoke without raising his head, giving his words a muffled quality. “I know about Eraavis, I know about the IOA, and I know what’s going to happen.”
“Really?”
He lifted his head and fixed her with a slightly manic stare. “Yeah, really. Isn’t it obvious?”
She forced brightness into her voice. “Something tells me you’re looking at the worse possible case here.”
“It’s kinda what I do.” He straightened up and sat back. “Seriously, I’ve seen what the Asurans are capable of. You weren’t here when they hit us on Lantea —” He put his hands up as she started to speak. “Yes, I know you’ve read all the reports, seen the videos on YouTube, whatever. It’s not the same, okay?”
Carter had to concede that. “I guess it’s not.”
“All they needed to drive us right off Lantea was one beam weapon. One. That was, what, a few hours after we’d nuked half their cities and all their shipyards? I was in the tower when a shaved edge of that beam hit us. God, the sound. Have you any idea how loud that kind of thing is? Just what kind of damage it can do? And the way it hit…” His voice faltered. She saw him swallow. “Threw her right back across…”
He fell silent again. He looked down at the table, eyes suddenly unfocussed, then out through the long windows and over the city. “One beam,” he breathed. “How many do you think they’ve got now?”
“Rodney, listen to me.” Carter leaned closer to him, and dropped her voice a little. “Look, I understand what you’re saying. If the Replicators find out we’ve got Angelus they’ll come after us with all guns blazing, I get it. And if he starts doing whatever he did on Eraavis they might find out all the sooner. But that doesn’t mean things are going to pan out like that.”
“At the moment, I don’t really see a way out of it.”
“You’re not looking hard enough.”
McKay frowned, but he looked back at her, and Carter could see she’d lit a spark of hope in him. “Tell me you’ve got a plan,” he said. “Anything. Please.”
“Stargate Command,” she replied.
He gave her a blank look. “What, send him there? To Earth?”
“God, no… Angelus has made it plain he needs to be in Atlantis for this, and whenever he says ‘jump’ the IOA are begging him to tell them how high. Besides, if this weapon of his brought the Asurans running, it might send out the same call to someone unfriendly in the Milky Way.”
McKay, held her gaze for a second, then looked away. “You’re right. Bad idea.”
“No, what I mean is, we get SGC to step in on our behalf and call a halt to the whole project.”
“Not their call. Okay, I know you’ve not been here all that long, but the way it works is, IOA call the shots. They cut SGC out a long time ago.”
“IOA has political control over the mission, but what if things stop being political?”
“I don’t —?”
“Rodney, what Angelus is talking about is weapons research, pure and simple. This isn’t about contacting new alien races or making alliances, this is about a guy building a gun. And I’m willing to bet that a weapons project taking place in the city would get SGC involved.” She lowered her voice even more, putting a conspiratorial tone into her words. “If I could convince General Landry that the expedition is being put in danger, he could override the IOA on military grounds.”
“That’s brilliant!” McKay’s face lit up. “Of course! Okay, what, you just need to call them? You can do that now?”
“Calm down, okay? So far, I’ve got nothing to go to Landry with.”
“What? Show him the surface of Eraavis, that should do the trick!”
Carter shook her head. “Cause and effect, Rodney. Sure, we all saw what happened to Eraavis, but we’ve only got Angelus’ word that the planet was destroyed because of the weapon he was building. What if he was wrong? What if there was another reason? If I go to SCG with what we’ve got right now, they’re more than likely to tell us the same thing the IOA did.”
He sagged. “Crap.”
“But that’s where you come in. At the moment, we don’t even know what this weapon is.”
“You haven’t asked him?” McKay’s eyes went wide. “Ah, come on!”
“Rodney, just asking him isn’t the issue. I’m going to need a detailed report on this thing, whatever it is. Full specs. You’re going to have to work with him, analyze any research he has, and then come back to me with a file I can send to Landry.”
“I could do that.” He nodded vigorously, then paused. “Hold on. How am I supposed to make a report without him building the weapon and bringing the Replicators here?”
“He’s not going to be able to do it that quickly, is he?”
McKay shrugged nervously. “He’s an Ancient, and he’s on home turf. Anything’s possible.”
“Well, just get it done as quickly as you can.”
“That’s it? That’s your plan?” He let out a nervous laugh. “What am I supposed to do while he’s putting together the Death Star in our basement, keep knocking stuff over to try and hold him up?”
“No. But think about it, he’s going to need a lab, right? So the first thing you’ll need from him is enough information about what he’s doing to be able to choose a suitable facility.”
McKay tilted his head, obviously weighing that one up. “Right…”
“And then find him somewhere, well, like you said. In the basement. Maybe if he’s lower down in the city, it might block a signal that might otherwise alert the Replicators.”
“Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Eraavi build all their facilities under mountains? What have we got that that several million tons of solid rock hasn’t?”
“That’s easy. We’ve got you.” She got up. “Come on, let’s go find him. The sooner we get this ball rolling the sooner we can kick it right out of our park.”
The security detail Carter had assigned to Angelus had never been entirely for the Ancient’s benefit.
It was in part. She certainly believed that the man needed protecting — whatever he may or may not have done in the past, Angelus was an extremely valuable asset. There was every possibility that he was the last of his kind; the Ancients as a species were either long-dead or had transcended flesh and given themselves over to the ageless, bodiless existence they called Ascension. His knowledge and insight could, if he was willing, advance the cause of the Pegasus expedition by untold amounts.
So the marines guarding him were partly to make sure he came to no harm. Carter would not have been popular with the Advisory had Angelus, still recovering from his injuries, taken a tumble down some steps and broken his elegant neck.
But of course, there were other concerns. As Angelus himself had pointed out, there really was no way his origins could be completely verified, and Carter had learned enough during her time in SG-1 to be deeply, reflexively mistrustful. There were simply too many threats in the universe to take anyone or anything at face value. The Ancient had arrived on her doorstep, and was now offering gifts. Despite the awful danger he represented, he still seemed too good to be true.
In response to these concerns, Carter had assigned a small detail of guards to Angelus, just enough to provide him 24-hour supervision. And, of course, to make sure he didn’t get up to any mischief while she wasn’t around.
That arrangement might have to be revised now, though, given the new turn events had taken. And for that, Carter would need to go to John Sheppard.