"Rodney."
The dam burst. "Look, I fully realize that I have no right to be asking you this, especially after-"
"Then don't ask, Rodney." Hiding a wince, he turned away. Definitely deja vu all over again. He'd kept his voice even, pleasant, but only a fool could have missed the edge in it.
Though Rodney was a great many things, fool wasn't one of them. He sounded tired. "We have no full understanding of how Charybdis works, and it's not for want of trying. You're making a mistake."
Oh, for Pete's sake! They had no full understanding of how half the Ancient technology worked, and there they were, using it on a daily basis. John supposed he should be grateful that the whole Arcturus mess had made Rodney approach things a little more gingerly, but enough was enough. "Rodney, we've discussed it. We've discussed it with Earth. We've got our orders, and you're in a minority of one. It's out of my hands."
"Since when are you the type to just follow orders?"
"Since I became convinced that, where it comes to Charybdis, the benefits outweigh the risk." And John was convinced. If that conviction ever wavered, all he had to do was close his eyes. He'd see the face of Colonel Marshall Sumner, growing more ravaged by the second as the Wraith standing over him sucked life itself out of the man. He'd see Sumner's silent plea for that loose cannon Sheppard to shoot him. And if he'd sensed anything about Ikaros, it was that the kid despised the Wraith as much as he did.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Somehow and disconcertingly, Rodney seemed to have read his thoughts. "Just because Ikaros looks like you doesn't mean it is you. But I don't suppose that's ever occurred to anybody."
"Very philosophical." A rumble from the airlock announced that the technicians had retrieved Ikaros and came hoisting the computer console down the short corridor. John stepped aside to let them pass and, with a quick glance at their retreating backs, hissed, "Can we get a move on, Rodney? Like I said, we've got our orders. Tests to run, make the Wraith un-happen, save the galaxy, and all that jazz."
Determined to let any further comments and suggestions slide off his back, he followed the technicians into the inner chamber. It was as close as you could get to stepping inside a geode. Diffuse illumination reached up from floor panels and bounced off a myriad crystals to flood the interior of the dome with a dazzling rainbow lightshow. He'd seen it half a dozen times before, but it never lost its impact. Still, a nagging little voice at the back of John's mind inquired if he might be naively thinking that nothing so beautiful could possibly cause any harm.
A querying look from Teyla shooed the thought away. Her gaze wandered on, over John's shoulder and to Rodney, who'd entered behind him, and she tilted her head a little, cocked an eyebrow-a what's up? gesture. John pretended to miss it, and casually drifted over to her. She and Ronon had parked themselves at the periphery of the room, together with Elizabeth Weir. John frowned. He wished she'd stayed in Atlantis, but the lure of Charybdis had proven strong enough to overcome even her sense of caution.
Meanwhile technicians bustled like ants around the object at the center of the room. If he didn't know any better he'd say this was a gallery and the object an installation: Hedgehog Revisited. Unless it was the local version of a disco, with the mother of all glitter balls.
Zelenka clucked over it like momma hen over the chicks, connecting a small naquada generator to Ikaros's computer console. Seconds later the A.I. materialized, prompting gasps and furtive glances from everybody who hadn't seen the kid before — about seventy percent of the people in the room.
"Sir?" one brave soul yelped.
"Yes, yes, yes." Rodney seemed to have regained his stride. "Move along now. There's nothing to see here, apart from an unfortunate family resemblance"
"Actually, they should leave now," said Zelenka. "We're just about ready here, and well… with a view to Arcturus we've agreed on essential personnel only."
"Yeah. With a view to that." Rodney glared at him, then turned to the technicians. "Scram." While they filed out the door, he moved up to the seemingly unstructured pile of crystals that formed the core of the Charybdis device and trained a baleful stare on Ikaros. "Now what?"
Ikaros was quiet-a rare event. He gazed around, his shape translucent and shot through with the brilliant prismatic sparks thrown back by the inside of the dome. It made him look like the integral part of Charybdis he professed himself to be. Ronon took a sudden step back, and John had a fair idea of what had startled the Satedan. He was seeing his own mirror image, dehumanized, ghostlike at best-or something entirely more sinister. And not. The kid smiled, radiating a sense of bonedeep satisfaction, of homecoming.
What was the illusion? Humanity or its absence?
John was at a loss for an answer, though one thing he knew for certain: the notion of emotional software spooked the hell out of him. And maybe Rodney was right. He slid a sidelong glance at McKay who was too busy nursing his impatience to notice.
"Now what?" he repeated, breaking the spell.
"Oh," said Ikaros to the room at large. "My apologies. I… I have been looking forward to this for a long time. Ten thousand of your years." Still smiling serenely, he turned to McKay. "Now? Now you shall have to overcome your reluctance to giving me access to technology you don't understand and link me to Charybdis."
Too stunned to even splutter, Rodney gasped, "What?"
"You need to link me to Charybdis," Ikaros said again, contriving to sound like a kindergarten teacher. "The simplest way of doing it is to attach one of those funny little connectors of yours"-he nodded at a spare Rodney had clipped to his jack- et-"to one of the crystals. How about the green one there?" he suggested brightly.
"Why?" snapped Rodney, bristling with anger and misgivings.
"Because I like green."
Before John could tell them to get on with it, Zelenka took matters into his own hands. "At a guess I'd say it's because Ikaros can do what eluded us in four weeks of testing that thing." He snapped the connector from Rodney's jacket.
"Have any of you gung-ho types got sufficient education in the classics to comprehend what the original Charybdis was?" McKay asked miserably. "Massive maelstrom in the Aegean, sucking everything into-"
"It's a story, Rodney," Zelenka soothed. "Besides, there's no open water on Mykena Quattuor."
"I realize that. We're not sitting in a boat, either, and nobody's tied Colonel Sheppard to the mast. We'll probably pay for that oversight "
"Sounds interesting." Ronon looked as if he was mentally practicing knots.
"Don't get too excited," growled John. "As Zelenka pointed out, it's a story."
Rodney snatched back the connector lead from his colleague. "Just as long as nobody says I didn't warn you."
"That'll be the last thing anybody says."
"You're wasting my time!" Ikaros seemed ready to jump out of his virtual skin.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. How dare we?" McKay snarled. He jammed the connector into a port at the back of Ikaros's console and attached the other end to the nearest crystal. A pink one. Presumably he meant to make a point. "At the risk of repeating myself: now what?"
That serene smile was back on the kid's face. "Now I merge."
"You-"
"John!" Head cocked, Weir had placed a hand to her headset, listening intently. "Jumper Two. They're relaying a message from Atlantis."
Jumper Two, piloted by Stackhouse, was in geostationary orbit near the Stargate to maintain contact with Atlantis. It was a safety measure in case of an emergency. John felt the fine hairs at the back of his neck stand on end.