Jackson, who hadn't been fazed by any of the pyrotechnics, seemed to have no plans to take a break even on the long return flight to Colorado. Focused on setting up his laptop, he dug the Ancient datapad out of his pocket and held it out across the aisle. "Initialize this for me, would you?"
Slouched in the corner formed by the seat and the bulkhead, John had to stretch to reach the device. Rebecca, sitting opposite Jackson, took it and started to hand it over, only to jerk back in shock when the screen came to life.
John sat up straighter. "Welcome to the ATA club," he commented. "We don't have a secret handshake or anything, but it's a good bet you'll get a ceremonial bloodletting from Dr. Lam when we get back to the SGC."
In response, Rebecca tossed the datapad to him. Although she quickly pasted on a calm expression, he still got the feeling she could have done without any more surprises today. He did his best to sound reassuring. "It's no big deal. At least you didn't get a holographic map of the universe buzzing around your head."
Jackson looked up at her, seemingly unaffected by the new development. "There's some additional background you should know about the Ancients, especially in light of this news about your heredity."
Rebecca hesitated for a moment and then surrendered, giving him her full attention. "You can start by telling me who these Ori are that you mentioned back in Ramadi."
As the C-20 began its takeoff roll, John gave the datapad back to Jackson.
"Thanks. Okay, backing up to catch a couple of details we didn't explain earlier: the Ancients were once called Alterans, and they and the Ori were once a single race living in a distant galaxy. While the Ori took a spiritual approach to achieving Ascension, the Alterans went for a scientific path. At first the Ori route seemed more reasonable, because the Alterans had locked themselves into a rigid set of rules centered on a policy of non-interference with younger races in their galaxy."
Rebecca lifted an eyebrow. "Sort of like a Prime Directive." When John glanced at her, bemused, she opened her mouth to explain and then changed her mind, flicking her hand. "Inside joke from when I was a kid. Never mind."
"That's one way to put it." The aircraft rose smoothly into the air. Tapping a button on the side of the datapad, Jackson went on. "According to Merlin, the Ori started with good intentions of helping people Ascend. Ultimately, though, their philosophical differences with the Alterans led to a kind of religious crusade. Persecuted and unwilling to engage in a war, the Alterans left their galaxy. After a thousand years of wandering, they ended up here in the Milky Way, where they built an empire while maintaining a passive link to their home galaxy."
From what John had heard of the incident where Jackson and Vala had been body-snatched and dumped into residents of the Alterans' old neighborhood, he wasn't sure `passive' was the best description.
Multitasking, Jackson continued to speed-read the contents of the datapad while continuing with his short history of the universe. "Several million years ago, a plague similar to the pandemic that afflicted Earth a couple of years back wiped out all life in this galaxy. Our best guess is that the Ori found a way to Ascend and released the plague to finish off their ideological enemies. We believe that many Alterans escaped by Ascending, while others left the Milky Way-though presumably not before using their technology to recreate life here." He frowned thoughtfully and glanced through the window. "Of course, it's possible as well that they waited until the plague had burned itself out before returning and recreating life. The details of that are sketchy. Anyway, they must have encoded their own DNA into the baseline, because the same human form once again evolved on Earth."
"This sounds remarkably like the Babylonian mythology of the Annunaki." Looking unsure what to do with her newly discovered magic touch, Rebecca folded her hands in her lap.
A small smile crossed Jackson's face. "Funny you should mention that. Baqir referred to them as the Annunaki. It seems the Epic of Gilgamesh was considerably more literal than scholars imagined- Sitchin was right."
"So both sides carried their disagreement into the afterlife."
"And then some. In their home galaxy, the Ascended Ori figured out that they could gain even greater power through a type of psychic feeding from their worshippers on the mortal plane. I know it sounds like New Age mystic nonsense, but these advanced life forms embody energy-"
"Let's leave the physics to the scientists," Rebecca broke in. "I get the basic picture. More followers mean more power for the Ori, so they came up with this dogmatic proselytizing religion of theirs. What I don't see is how any of it relates to the Ancient Lilith or the Wraith."
Regarding her over the top of the datapad, Jackson silently acknowledged the implied request to move the story along. "The Ascended Alterans, by contrast, are so adamantly opposed to any kind of interference that they banish any member of their collective who breaks the rules. According to Merlin-and the scrolls I read confirmed this-the unascended Ancients in the Pegasus Galaxy realized that, if left unchecked, the Ori would become dominant enough to defeat the Ascended Alterans and subsume their energy. Naturally, that would completely undermine the vaunted goal ofAscension. Being on the higher plane actually put the Alterans at a disadvantage."
"Because their rules prevented them from helping mortals, which the Ori were psychically enslaving," Rebecca finished.
"But Lilith wasn't Ascended," said John. "The rules didn't apply to her."
"Exactly," replied Jackson, glancing at him. "Lilith revisited an experiment that had been abandoned several million years earlier. A group of Ancients had been working with the gene for empathy in lower-order animals with the goal of evolving it to telepathy in higher orders. Since the Ascended share a form of group mind, a `oneness with the universe,' so to speak, the theory was that the empathy/telepathy genes might provide a mechanism for Ascension-excorporeal excursions being another aspect of telepathy."
"MlM-316," said John. "Those dinosaurs that Ronon and Teyla rounded up were empathic."
"Hopefully McKay and Zelenka will be able to fill in the blanks from that end." Jackson jerked his chin toward the datapad. "Give me some time to go through this and maybe I can learn the details of what Lilith did once she got to Earth."
To John, that sounded like a cue. Since the aircraft had leveled out, he unbuckled his seatbelt and stood. "Bet there's some food in the back," he suggested to Rebecca.
The worry that had taken up residence when she'd activated the Ancient device began to clear from her features. "Think the Air Force stocks anything chocolate in its galleys'? A Milky Way Dark bar would go a really long way toward restoring my overall outlook."
John smirked, wondering how she'd react if she knew how much she'd sounded like Rodney just then. "Jackson, you had anything to eat lately?"
His gaze never leaving the screen in front of him, the archeologist gave a quick, dismissive headshake. "Thanks-I'm fine. I think Hanan may have left me in better shape than before the attack."
Which was yet one more of the growing number of topics that John didn't want to dwell on. He headed aft to investigate a column of stainless steel storage cabinets.
The bottom one was refrigerated and held bottled water and cans of Coke, along with a few plastic-wrapped sandwiches. He crouched down and retrieved two sandwiches. "Coke or water?" he asked Rebecca as she came up beside him.
"Water, thanks. Don't stand up." She opened an upper drawer above his head. "Oh, score. Want a brownie or a cinnamon bun?"
"Brownie, definitely." And no Rodney to pilfer it. Double score.
They each claimed one of the couches that lined the bulkheads at the very aft of the aircraft and tore into the food with something less than perfect decorum.