Ronon had the rifle's chamber open. It had a rotating section in the middle, like a revolver, with slots for shells of different diameters. "Variable ammunition," he noted. "Useful."
"The long-lance can project a needle nest cartridge or a solid round as required," explained Linnian. "Net loads and volter shells may also be used."
"For stunning and capturing targets?" said Mason, without weight. Ronon and Teyla exchanged glances.
"Correct." The adjutant took the weapon back. "Perhaps we could arrange a visit to the Ducal Gun Enclosure for a live demonstration during your stay."
"What fun," murmured Teyla.
The monorail turned slightly and rumbled over a set of points, making the decking tremble. Sheppard caught movement from the corner of his eye and his arm shot out to grab one of the servants who had lost his footing. An ornate cup left the tray in the youth's hand and shattered against the floor.
The servant-he was just a boy in his mid-teens-cowered away from the colonel's grip as if he was expecting a blow to follow. The boy was wearing a necklet, like a Celtic tore, made from bronze.
Linnian made a harsh hissing noise with his teeth. "Clumsy!"
The boy looked at Sheppard with real fear in his eyes. "Sir, begging your pardon."
John let go of him, feeling uncomfortable. "No, it's okay, it was an accident." He managed a smile. "No harm, no foul."
Erony's adjutant seemed wrong-footed by Sheppard's reaction, but then his eyes turned flinty. "You are dismissed," he growled. The servant boy gathered up the cup fragments and fled the carriage. The Lady herself seemed to be unconcerned with the brief moment of drama, as if dealing with the hired help was beneath her.
"Forgive that dolt's error," said Linnian. "He will be chastised."
"There's no need for that," insisted Sheppard. "It was my fault. I must have startled him."
"We have rules," insisted the adjutant, "and they must be adhered to."
Lady Erony gave Sheppard a long look. "Ah, but now we appear too strict and harsh in the eyes of my guests, Linnian." She settled back in her chair. "We of Halcyon are of a hardy, determined stock, Lieutenant Colonel. You may view our world now and see a verdant and pleasing land but it was not always so. In our old history, Halcyon was a hard mistress, she fought us and made life treacherous. We grew up strong because of it and we learned that life works, not by the edict of some phantom divinity…" The woman glanced at Teyla, then away. "But because of rules. That which one can codify, one can master. Do you not agree, Dr. McKay?"
"Hmm?" Rodney looked up from his computer. "What? Oh, yes, I suppose."
"You will see that ours is a civilization based on a skein of regulations, honor codes and strict laws of status and chivalry. Codes that have kept our society in check and flourishing for millennia."
Once again, Sheppard was struck by the cadence of her words, as if they were something she had been taught to say, not something from her heart. Part of him knew that here and now was not the time to get drawn into a debate over politics, but he couldn't stop himself from replying. "We have our rules too, and liberty for all is pretty much the first one on the list."
Erony smiled warmly. "We have so much in common."
Teyla found her attention drawn to the landscape as it changed, trees and fields giving way to thickening strands of conurbation. As Colonel Sheppard and the woman Erony talked, the Athosian studied the outskirts of the city flashing by. Spider webs of cables hung over everything from tall poles, and tight streets of narrow homes ranged away in long, featureless terraces. The train moved so quickly that all she saw were snapshot images; children engaged in a game with bats and a ball; lines of washing flapping like flags; a small feline animal coiled over the warm spot on a rooftop; heavy steam-driven trucks rumbling along narrow alleys.
It seemed a grim and busy place, with nothing in kind to the tents and yurts of the village where she had grown up, no forests or rivers. Teyla fancied that the people of Halcyon saw their industry and their works as the most impressive thing on the planet, ignoring the simple beauty of the countryside outside the conurbations. It was very different from the way of the tribes of Athos, living close to the land and using their advancements to enhance that pastoral lifestyle, not supplant it. Teyla knew that she could never be at home in a place like this; she needed the sight, the touch and the scents of nature around her.
She saw Lady Erony from the corner of her eye as she took a sip of the rather bland tea and gave a musical laugh. Teyla's lips thinned. It was difficult for her to put her finger on the root cause, but there was something about the noblewoman that sat poorly with her. It wasn't rudeness or malice she sensed, not something so blatant as that. No, Erony just seemed to be a little… Patronizing. The Athosians were more than familiar with such behavior toward them, with people from other worlds considering them somehow backward because of their agrarian lifestyle. It was a mistake that even Sheppard's group had made the first time they met.
Teyla pushed the thought away. Perhaps she was being unfair in her assessment. After all, she had only just met the woman, and under less than ideal circumstances; still, it was difficult to shrug off her first impressions, the `gut feeling' that she had so often heard John speak of.
She looked back at the windows and noticed for the first time that there were mechanical shutters that could be lowered down over them. In case the nobles do not wish to look upon the less fortunate as they travel, she thought.
McKay suddenly bolted up from his chair and gasped. His computer was making a strident beeping. He threw a look left and right and then pressed up against the windows of the carriage. "I, I need binoculars! Quick, quick!"
"Is something wrong?" asked Linnian.
"You require a magnification device?" said Erony. "Here. You may use mine." She handed him a brass-plated monocular.
"Yes, excellent, thanks!" McKay darted looks at the laptop and then peered through the stubby telescope.
"Rodney?" said Sheppard, with a warning tone in his voice. He followed McKay to the window. The scientist was looking westward.
"Where are you? Come on…." McKay was talking to himself. "Where… Aha! There she blows!"
"Rodney!" Sheppard repeated, and this time with force. "You're acting weird and it's making me look bad in front of the nice Lady."
"Look at this," said McKay by way of an answer, thrusting the laptop into Sheppard's hands. John studied the screen. There were lines like sine waves and shifting bars denoting energy output. The patterns looked vaguely familiar. "You don't see it, do you?" said Rodney. "You got the gene and you don't even know what this is." He shook his head. "The ticket thingy, the text? It got me thinking. Ancient-style writing means exposure to Ancient culture in the past. Ancient culture in the past could mean Ancient artifacts lying around here and now."
"It's a power source?"
McKay was becoming more animated by the second. "Very faint, possibly nothing, but rather similar to a ZPM." Grinning, he pointed out the window. "Take a look."
Sheppard accepted the monocular and squinted through it. And there, beyond a ridge, isolated and distant, was a tall monolith in slate-gray stone. He'd seen the same style of construction on a dozen planets in the Pegasus Galaxy. Ancient architecture. A legacy of the people who built the Stargates. The obelisk was already moving out of sight as the monorail pulled away, but the shape of it was unmistakable.
And where there were Ancients once, there might be a Zero Point Module gathering dust. Suddenly, the stakes had changed in this little diplomatic jaunt. The ongoing search for a ZPM unit was one of the top priorities for Atlantis's off world teams, and there were standing orders that even the merest sniff of such a device had to be investigated. The power requirements for the city complex were massive, and only the advanced technologies of the zero point energy devices could keep Atlantis running at full capacity. If the team could get their hands on another one…