Nabu smiled sadly. "Perhaps to give her hope."
Sheppard's expression was marked by puzzlement. "Hold on. If their son was your father, and was killed by the Wraith-"
"Unknown to either Atlas or Ea, their son had fallen in love with a human of Polrusso, who was carrying his unborn child."
Slack-jawed, Rodney stared at him. "You're ten thousand years old?"
A look of sorrow crossed the Polrusson's face. "It is, as I said, my deformity. Do not feel so encumbered by your mortality," he added, meeting Rodney's look. "It is not such a blessing to watch each generation come and go."
Jaw snapping shut, Rodney nodded once and looked away, the pain of his loss etched deeply on his features. Teyla was left to wonder what had transpired in the short time he had known Turpi.
Through the windshield, distant lights began to coalesce, drawing their attention from Nabu. "We've got company," Sheppard said.
The lights resolved themselves into a huge school of fish. Along each animal's body were glowing patches. They flashed in an organized pattern that seemed to transform the entire school into a single organism. More odd-looking creatures appeared, many shimmering in different colors, and all lighting the ocean in a way that Teyla had never dreamed possible. A bulbous translucent shape sped past, long filaments streaking out behind. More such creatures followed, and Teyla noticed that the tendrils entrapped smaller animals-or perhaps they had found refuge there from the many fanged predators. Each new denizen they encountered proved even more bizarre than the ones that had gone before, and combined they unquestionably were the strangest collection of creatures that Teyla had ever seen.
"Check out the angler fish," Sheppard observed of one small monster whose mouth was disproportionately larger than its body.
"You have such animals on Earth?" Teyla studied the collection of teeth and transparent flesh. Behind them was a school that seemed more like a herd of beasts, their massive fins flapping back and forth in a manner that resembled the ears of an Earth animal she'd seen in one of the team's DVDs-something called an elephant.
Rodney looked up and nodded absently. In what appeared to be a deliberate effort to join the conversation, he said, "Considerably stranger than that. Once we go deeper, we're likely to encounter some really unpleasant sights. When. when this is over, remind me to show you photographs of viperfish."
"Viperfish?"
"Chauliodus sloania. I'm not really a fish person, but these things look like escapees from gothic horror nightmare. They're only about half a meter long, but they have these teeth"-he raised his hands and spread his fingers to imitate snapping jaws-"and a glowing lure on top of their heads."
"How big did you say they grew?" Ronon asked.
"About as long as my arm."
"Not on this planet," Sheppard commented, pointing to a creature that fit Rodney's description in all ways-except that its jaws were easily twice the length of the jumper, and it was headed straight for them.
Elizabeth adjusted her earpiece, not sure she'd heard correctly. Hermiod had a reputation for being obstinate, but this was bordering on ridiculous. "Excuse me?"
"I do not believe a total evacuation to the Alpha site to be the best course of action." The Asgard sounded as infuriatingly composed as ever, even over the radio. "You stated a time limit of approximately three hours. If I continue to work, the hyperdrive will be functional within that time."
"Daedalus will not be able to escape the atmosphere before its shields are depleted by the gray goo," Radek pointed out, typing on his laptop with one hand while steadying himself on a nearby console with the other.
"That will not be necessary. We can engage the hyperdrive within the atmosphere-or rather what remains of the atmosphere." From Hermiod's tone, he could have been discussing the lunch menu. "The resulting reaction may be enough to destroy Atlantis and the 'gate far more effectively than the self-destruct sequence."
If so, they could confine the nanites to this one planet, denying them access to the rest of the Stargate network. Elizabeth looked to Radek. "Is he right?"
"In the sense that it is plausible, yes." The scientist glanced up, obviously unconvinced. "It is also possible that the nanites will reach the Daedalus, and then be able to access the ship's systems, as well as information on other planets-including Earth."
"Unlikely." The first hint of emotion shone through Hermiod's voice, manifested as irritation at Radek's challenge. "Ea would have had no knowledge of the ship's systems. These nanites are not replicators. They do not have an adaptive agenda that can be amended in response to changing circumstances. They have been programmed only to enter Atlantis's main dialing computer. Nothing more "
"You hope," Elizabeth couldn't help adding.
She could almost hear him blink. "I theorize."
Radek met her inquiring look with a half-shrug and a nod of acquiescence. At this point, there were no clear-cut choices. They'd have to do the best they could with the information they had.
"All right. Colonel Caldwell?"
"Here," Caldwell responded. "We'll keep a skeleton crew on board to help Hermiod finish his work. A squad of Marines will be setting out soon to place C-4 charges in the critical record-keeping areas of the city, just to be on the safe side. I'll send the rest to the 'gate room for evacuation."
His phrasing didn't escape her notice, and it came as no surprise to her that he planned to stay with his ship, come what may. Still. .no easy choices.
Within minutes, the remaining crewmembers from the Daedalus were beamed into the 'gate room and quickly dispatched to the Alpha site. No sooner had the event horizon winked out than Lome and Witner set off for Polrusso in Jumper Two. After the 'gate had shut down, it promptly engaged a third time.
"Atlantis, Polrusso here, with you on redial," Lome reported. "I'll keep my foot in the door, so to speak."
A few mumbled words of Czech brought Elizabeth's attention back to Radek. "The temporal fields are coalescing," he announced. "Instead of millions of individual fields enclosing individual nanites, they are becoming one solid mass. When it comes into contact with the city shield, the outside of the shield will be exposed to a broad, uniform temporal field."
"Meaning what?" Caldwell's voice came over the radio.
"The passage of time on that side of the shield will be approximately half a million times faster than on our side. The shield is already performing at its limits, and we have, of course, had to use the Stargate several times. This is why we will only have"-his gaze shifted briefly to the screen-"less than three hours of ZPM power."
The city gave a slow roll, a motion that might have turned Elizabeth's stomach if she'd actually eaten anything in recent memory. She watched Radek work, aware that he was tackling several problems simultaneously and trying to divide his attention accordingly.
"Colonel Caldwell, I am sending a file to the Daedalus's main computer," the scientist called. "In it you will find the most critical records interfaces throughout the city. If you would please direct your Marines to the top priority locations first and work down the list, they will be able to set the charges so that the entire database is destroyed."
"Will do. Receiving the file now," Caldwell said. "There seem to be a lot of redundancies in here, Doctor."
Radek sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. This is not a trivial task. Your men will need to work quickly." He ducked when a particularly bright lightning strike impacted the city shield. After a moment, he glanced up, and his expression turned thoughtful.
Me and my big mouth. Fortunately, this world's King Kong of viperfish turned its interest elsewhere.
Rodney had bullied his way onto this hellish ride, sure his talents would be needed throughout, and unwilling to stay behind where he could wallow in his pain. But Nabu was handling the programming of the exogenesis machine just fine by himself, leaving Rodney with nothing to distract him from his bleak thoughts.