He was probably lost in his own reverie, she decided. He had been close friends with Elizabeth Weir, and having to abandon her on Asuras must have been harder on him than anyone.
From what Carter had read in various reports, Weir had been critically injured in the Replicator attack on Lantea. McKay had hinted at it when she first spoke to him about setting up a lab for Angelus — the beam weapon that had carved down through the city, scoring the tower. Weir had been caught by an edge of the blast, and that had almost put an end to her. For a while, she had not been expected to survive.
However, some time previously Weir had been infected with Asuran nanites, and by reactivating those microscopic machines McKay had been able to save her life, reprogramming them into replacing the damaged tissues in her body and brain. In effect, Weir had become a hybrid herself, although — as her purpose was not to replicate herself endlessly through violent assimilation — she bore nothing in common with the intelligent disease writhing out on the west pier. In fact she had worked actively against the Asurans, helping Sheppard and McKay to steal a ZPM from their homeworld to repower Atlantis and save everyone within.
But in doing so, she had sacrificed herself. Discovered by the Replicators, Sheppard had been forced to abandon Elizabeth Weir to them.
Once they had broken down her mental defenses and stripped her mind of its memories, the Asurans would have incorporated them into their own collective database. Although they did not know where Atlantis had relocated to, they knew everything else about it.
And, being part Replicator itself, so did the hybrid.
It would have known how to find Apollo, and how best to disguise itself in such a way as to be taken back to the city. It knew the strengths and weaknesses of the expedition staff. It knew how to make people trust it.
It knew where to hide.
Finally, Carter thought, her mystery file was complete. All the pieces had been arranged into the correct order, and the picture was plain to see.
Unfortunately though, the image it showed was one of unremitting horror.
Carter hadn’t even gotten as far as the transporter when her headset crackled. That alone was enough to tell her that something bad had happened — the prohibition on sending anything but the most urgent information over the communications network hadn’t been lifted.
She didn’t break stride, but raised a hand, letting Sheppard know something was awry. “Carter here.”
“Colonel, this it Teyla. Ronon has been attacked by the hybrid.”
“Is he okay?”
“He is in the infirmary.”
“I’ll be right down. Teyla, where was he attacked?”
“He was patrolling with some marines in the lower accommodation level.”
“Thank you.” She cut the connection and turned to Sheppard. “John, get back to the ZPM lab. I don’t care if Zelenka tries to throw you out again, just see if the biometric sensor picked up any activity on the accommodation levels. Ronon and the hybrid got into it down there.”
“Ronon?” Sheppard’s face hardened. “Is he —?”
“He’s alive, I’m just going to check on him. Go on.” She shooed him away, then ran to the transporter.
When she got to the infirmary, a few minutes later, she heard Dex before she saw him. His voice was carrying out into the corridor, and he didn’t sound pleased.
“I’m fine,” he snarled.
“You’re an idiot.” That sounded like Keller. “Since when did having a dislocated shoulder count as ‘fine’?”
“I’ve had worse. Just pop it back in.”
“There’s tendon damage. It won’t ‘pop back in’.”
“Then hit it with something.”
“You’re insane!”
“All right, I’ll hit it with something!”
There was a yelp, and then sounds of a struggle. Carter increased her pace, and got to the infirmary door in time to see Dex trying to haul a medical lamp off its base with his left hand, while Jennifer Keller held onto his forearm with her entire weight. By the looks of things, he was doing a fair job of lifting both Keller and the lamp.
“Ronon, what are you doing?”
“Hey,” he said, sounding unconcerned. “Keller won’t let me fix my arm.”
Carter smiled. “Put her down. Please.”
He met her gaze for a moment, just a token defiance, then gave a shrug and set Keller back on her feet. He handed her the lamp. “I’ve done this before,” he told her. “That’s all I’m saying. Hit it hard enough, it’ll pop back in.”
“If anyone’s going to do any surgical hitting,” Keller replied, straightening up and sweeping a few stray strands of hair out of her eyes, “it’ll be me.”
“Colonel, I need to get back out there,” Dex said. “Sorry, but those marines don’t know much about fighting Replicators.”
“They haven’t had a lot of practice.” Carter walked over to him, surveying the Satedan’s injuries. His right arm almost lifeless, and when she got closer she could see that long bruises had darkened the right side of his face. He was sitting slightly askew, as well. “Did you crack a rib?”
“Yeah, I guess. Hi Teyla.”
“Ronon.” Teyla had appeared at the doorway, and walked quickly into the infirmary. “Doctor, how is he?”
“Dislocated shoulder, broken rib, a lot of bruises,” Keller replied. “He’ll be out of action for a while.”
Teyla smiled briefly. “I do not think you know Ronon Dex very well, Doctor.”
“Okay,” said Carter. “What happened? Ronon?”
“Are we gonna do anything about my arm?”
“In a minute. I need to know what happened.”
“Huh.” He shrugged again. Carter could see him hide a spike of pain as he did so. “I was on one of the accommodation levels. Some marines were following me around… Anyway, a man came up and asked me where you were.”
“A man?”
“I didn’t recognize him. Anyway, I said I didn’t know and then he hit me.”
“He was knocked through a wall,” Teyla said, interrupting. “It was a hybrid replica.”
Dex nodded languidly. “Well, I knew he wasn’t human.”
“How?” Carter asked, before she could stop herself.
“Because I ripped his arm off,” said Dex. “He didn’t seem all that bothered.”
“Colonel,” said Teyla. “It was Fallon. I heard gunfire and came to help. As soon as Fallon saw me, he ran. I followed, but I lost him.”
Carter shook her head, puzzled. “Why would he ask for me?”
Dex made a sound in the back of his throat, as if the answer had been obvious. “You’re the leader.”
To Carter, that made no sense at all. She didn’t feel much like a leader of anything, at the moment, and even if the hybrid disagreed, what reason would it have to target her specifically? Surely the science staff would have more chance of harming it, not her.
Then again, sowing discord was one of its talents. “Teyla, can you do me a favor?”
“Of course.”
“Go to the ZPM lab. Sheppard should be there with McKay and Zelenka. Tell John to start posting guards with the science personnel — if the hybrid is starting to go after us individually it might try to take them out too.”
Teyla nodded, and ran quickly out of the infirmary. Carter turned back to Keller. “Doctor, is there —?”
From outside in the corridor there was a sudden cry, and the sound of something heavy hitting a wall.
Carter drew her pistol. “Teyla?”
Behind her, Dex got up, and from the corner of her eye Carter saw Keller backing away, the lamp still clutched incongruously in one hand. “Teyla, if you can hear me, answer.”
A heartbeat later, someone came in through the door. But it wasn’t Teyla.
Andrew Fallon, or at least something that looked very much like him, was striding across the infirmary towards Carter. He was fast, far faster than any human should have been: Carter only managed to get three shots into his face before he backhanded her across the room.