“And you already told us you can’t get past it, recreate it, or predict it,” Cumby said, “so…”
“If you’ll let me finish?”
Cumby fell silent, and Rodney continued. “The way RF radio signals are sent is by adding your signal to a carrier wave. The receiver at the other end takes the signal, filters out the carrier, and what is left is the message.”
Sheppard cocked his head. “We can use this carrier to get a message to Atlantis?”
“In theory. If we can get our message attached to that carrier frequency, and if Atlantis tries to dial the address into their DHD, and if someone on the other end is analyzing the signal to try and figure out why they can’t lock onto the gate they are trying to dial. It might open a gate somewhere, if the new code actually coincides with an address, but it breaks the connection to Admah. It’s a chance…it might be the only one we have. Zalenka is still back there. If it isn’t me working on it, he’s my second choice.”
“Get that panel closed up,” Sheppard said. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to think it through. We get one message — one chance to try and let them know what has happened, and how to get us out. Right now we don’t even know what to tell them.”
Rodney disconnected quickly from the access panel. He pocketed the cables he’d used to connect into the system and reattached the panel, tightening the screws as quickly and efficiently as possible. When he was done, he stepped back. Cumby already had the piece of tapestry in his hands and he and Teyla pressed it back into place. They were working on the final seam when there was another knock on the door. This time, there was no hesitation between the knock and the door opening.
Teyla sat down quickly while Cumby stood, gaping at the door. One small corner of the tapestry cover protruded from the design, but there was no way to smooth it out without drawing immediate attention to it. No one moved.
Mara stood in the doorway, staring in at them. The tension caught her by surprise and she glanced first at one of them, then the other, and finally let her gaze alight on Sheppard, where it held.
“What is it? You all look as if you’ve seen something horrible.” She glanced past Cumby at the tapestry, stood very still for a moment, and then turned back to Sheppard. “If you are almost done here, I was hoping you might join me for a drink?”
Sheppard glanced at the others, and then nodded. “Sure, why not?” Like it or not, Mara was their best bet of finding a way out and he wasn’t above exploiting her to get his team home. “The rest of you, get some rest. We’ll meet back here first thing in the morning.”
Mara held out her arm and Sheppard put on his most engaging smile, took the proffered arm and stepped through the door. A moment later it closed behind them and Mara drew closer, a slow smile on her lips.
The things I do for the team.
He wasn’t even joking.
Chapter Eighteen
Mara led Sheppard down the hall, but turned off before they reached the main room. “I need to talk to you,” she said. “I thought maybe we could share a drink and find some privacy. There’s a lot that Saul isn’t telling you.”
“But you will,” he said. “Why?”
She looked hurt, but somehow the expression didn’t reach her eyes. “Let’s just say that not everyone here believes Saul is the end of things. He’s made some very serious decisions for the entire city, and he’s making others for you and your people. You’ve been… interesting. The least I can do is even the odds. Without my help, you will not survive long.”
“Saul offered us the same choice he’s given all other travelers to Admah,” he said. “Join your merry band of drunkards and gamblers, or take our chances in the arena. That seems bad enough, but it gets worse?”
Mara bit her lip. “I shouldn’t tell you, but under the circumstances there’s little he can do about it. I mean, what’s he going to do? Kill me? He’s already doing that.”
“What do you mean?”
“He isn’t going to offer you a choice,” she said, lowering her voice and glancing down the empty corridor. “He’s looking for warriors, and he’s short on those with the genes to bring the weapons to life. If you and your team hadn’t come through when you did, he’d have culled his entertainers from the citizens. As far as he’s concerned, nothing in the universe is more important than the upcoming Entertainment.”
“Why?” Sheppard said, feeling a sick kind of inevitability. “Does it have to do with the shift in orbit?”
Mara nodded. “Saul believes we’ve reached our peak — that there’s nothing left in the city amusing enough to be worth our time. A civilization that isn’t moving forward begins to decline, and he’s convinced that is what will happen to us if we continue as we are. I’m one of those who understand that we’ve been declining for a very long time already. If we needed any further proof, all we need to do is step back and take a look at what we’ve become. Saul doesn’t see it. He thinks that we are at the pinnacle of our strength, but that we’ll devolve into some lower form — some less civilized version of ourselves — if we don’t find an end to it now.”
“Your people — before you came to this place — they believed in ascending to a higher plane. I’ve met a few. I have to tell you that I don’t see much similarity between them, their lives, or their philosophies, and what you have here. If the games and the decadence have grown stale, why not reverse your track? Why not embrace your history and follow the path you left behind? Sure, it’ll take longer, but it’s better than just giving up.”
Mara shook her head. “We were a part of all of that once. It was so long ago I can hardly believe it happened, but we made our choice. The road back has been lost, we cannot be what we once were or what, perhaps, we were once destined to become. We are the architects of our own demise, and now we must pay the price.”
“The price?” Sheppard felt a cold beat of horror. “He’s not going to turn the city away from the sun, is he?”
She didn’t answer, for just then they came to a doorway on the right side of the passage. Mara opened it and gestured for him to step inside. Once the door was shut, she said, “I’m not really frightened that he’d try anything with me, but I’ll feel better if we talk in here. Admah is very old, and he’s had a long time to set up his tricks and traps. Saul is fond of knowing everything that happens in the city.”
“Like any tin-pot dictator.”
Mara moved straight to a cabinet across the room and pulled out two glasses. Without asking, she dropped ice cubes in each and poured out something dark and golden. She turned back and carried one to Sheppard. “Sit with me?”
There was a small two-seat sofa, and he sat down beside her, not as close as she obviously would have liked, and took the drink. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“You know the answer already.”
“But it’s insane!” he protested. “He’s going to kill you all.”
“Saul decided that we should go out in our prime. He’s planning something big, an entertainment grander than any the city has ever seen. There will be dancing, drinking, feasts, and battles. We still have quite a few adversaries and he wants them all to see action. Once it all starts, the plan is to keep the grand party going until we hit the sun, and go out in glory. Something like that.”
“You realize he’s crazy? Certifiably crazy.”
Mara shrugged. “We have been here for a very long time, John Sheppard. It may not even be possible for me to convey the depths of boredom a person can reach. Under such conditions, who am I to guess at sanity, or insanity? It has been a very long time since anything truly thrilled me — since anything made me feel truly alive. Although…”