Turpi spoke up at last. "We can mentally communicate with enough of our people to advise them to flee. But it will take weeks of difficult travel on foot to reach safe grounds."
"The water itself is not the greatest threat, daughter." Nabu now sounded positively chilled. "The source of the caustic sand, the highest concentration of the toxin, lies in the massive mountain chains that cross the planet, far away from the areas where the water is stored. The sand storms result from the slow erosion by the ceaseless winds. Once exposed to rain, however, the mountains will virtually dissolve within a short space of time. In water, the toxin becomes many times more corrosive-and many times more deadly."
Acid rain to the nth degree, Rodney realized, his throat con stricting painfully. All bodies of water, and the precipitation itself, would be infinitely deadlier than the dry sand. When I set out to do something, I really do it all the way.
"The water must not be released." Nabu's voice took on a note of what Rodney considered to be extremely warranted urgency. "If it is, nothing on this world will survive."
Chapter Seventeen
As soon as Jumper One emerged from the event horizon, John.figured out why Beckett had warned him against 'gate travel. The wormhole had scrambled his senses but good, and the jumper lurched drunkenly when the transit-sequence autopilot disengaged.
"Pull up!" Ronon yelled, and John obeyed on instinct. After another oscillation or two, the jumper settled onto a stable course, but not before John heard a couple of the more obscure Satedan epithets from the right seat.
Feeling a little more secure, he commented, "You need to teach me those sometime. I've already learned all the Earth curse words I can from the rest of the expedition."
Ronon glared at him, uncurling his hand from around the armrest, which now looked a bit deformed. "You sure you can do this?"
"I'm sure. It was just the 'gate that messed me up." John didn't add that he had no idea how long the antihistamines Beckett had given him would last, or that the packet came with a warning about not driving or operating heavy machinery.
A click from the radio interrupted them. "Last jumper, please identify," said one of the Marines-John's diminished hearing kept him from recognizing the voice.
"This is Jumper One," he replied calmly, imagining the surprise and confusion on the other jumpers.
"Sir- sorry, sir," the Marine said hastily. "We didn't know you were coming along."
"Don't worry, I'm not here to ride herd over you guys. Ronon and I are going after McKay."
"Colonel Sheppard!" Teyla's warm voice joined the conversation. "It is good to hear your voice. Dr. Weir-"
"Was misinformed," John finished smoothly. "I'm okay, and we have a job to do. Jumpers Four and Five, take your cues from Dr. Zelenka."
If Teyla thought a two-person rescue team was unusual, she didn't say so. "We will meet you back at the 'gate."
"Negative. Atlantis needs those ZPMs. As soon as you've got em, head for home."
Radek broke in next. "Colonel, if the Wraith are alerted to you-"
"Then it'd be too much of a risk for any of you to come help us anyway. I'm not debating this, folks." It was a borderline hypocritical stance, but John didn't particularly care. "Get the ZPMs and get back."
"Yes, sir," responded the well-trained jumper pilots. Teyla and Radek said nothing.
"Hey, Dr. Zelenka," one pilot added-John finally identified the voice as Sergeant Witner's. "If the land's going to collapse when the water pours out, what are the chances that the 'gate will take a tumble, too?"
"Not to worry, Sergeant," answered Radek. "The furthest parts of the village will be destroyed as the cliffs fall, but the lab and the Stargate are located on solid rock. In my many simulations, it has remained perfectly stable."
"Simulations, huh?" Witner sounded less than convinced.
"To be certain," Radek continued, a hint of amusement in his voice, "I am extending the range of the lab's force field."
"That's more like it."
Now that his balance was more or less behaving itself, John broke the focus he'd locked on the horizon and looked down at the clusters of villagers standing near the Stargate. They were staring up at the jumpers and waving. Presumably these were the people who had elected to stay behind to watch what would doubtless be the deluge to end all deluges. The jumper climbed, and across the dune sea towards the mountains he saw a massive caravan trekking inland to the new homesteads. He'd expected the procession of animal-drawn carts to form a kind of Wild West wagon train, but apparently the creatures were a lot faster than they looked. "Nobody told me we were filming Ben-Hur out here," he commented.
Ronon didn't bother asking.
The Polrussons were moving fast, but it still was going to be tight. The longer the jumper teams could wait before removing the ZPMs, the better off the locals would be. But the teams couldn't wait too long, because time was running out back on Atlantis. John told himself that the villagers would reach a safe distance at the very moment Radek had everything ready. Just like clockwork.
"I am sending a set of coordinates to each of you now," Radek announced. "Jumper One, you are receiving the location of the hive ship. It is near to the ZPM Jumper Four will retrieve-only a few dozen kilometers away."
"Then I guess Four's got a wingman for the moment." John watched the coordinates flash across the HUD and input them into the navigation system. "All right, gang. Let's go stealth from here."
The three jumpers activated their cloaking devices at almost the same moment, disappearing from view through the windshield but still visible on the HUD. Jumper Five had already peeled off and was making a vertical descent below the cliff-dwellers' village near the 'gate.
"Jumpers Four and Five, your first task when you arrive will be to locate the structures that house the terraforming equipment," Radek told them as they flew. "The entrances are deep underground at the base of each cliff. While there are access tunnels designed to accept a jumper, each entrance will be buried under ten thousand years of accumulated sand and rocks that have fallen from the cliff. These entrances are protected by force fields that you will be able to detect. Calibrate your own shields to match. You can then use the shield to push the residual sand away and join your rear hatch to the airlock, as we have done here at the lab."
So that was why the so-called back door had been oversized. John felt a flash of aimless irritation, thinking about how handy that information would have been at the start of this whole mess.
"Cool," one of the Marines said. "Jumper Five is in position. We're locking onto the signature of the force field now. How long do you figure it'll take to dig through the sand?"
"It has been blowing over the cliffs for many millennia. The geology maps indicate that minerals in the red sand have…ah… cemented together in some places," replied the scientist. "I estimate twenty minutes, at least, and then you will need to wait for Jumper Four to catch up, as it has a much longer route to travel ""
That longer route would take the other jumpers nearly halfway around the planet. According to the old guy they'd met in the village, the hive ship was in the deepest trench of what would soon become an ocean, a few miles below the location of Teyla and Witner's ZPM. Since John wouldn't have a force field to act as a beacon, he was banking on the life signs detector to pinpoint the ship — and Rodney.
The two jumpers skirted along the cliff faces and up across a continental mass. Cracked, hard ground and windswept sand dominated the entire landscape. It was sobering to realize that soon this barren land would be either underwater or beachfront property.