His crewmate cocked his head. “I do not understand.”
“You speak so quietly. As if you are afraid.” The commander pointed at the curving bone walls around them. “As if you think your voice might carry out there, through the void. It’s a foolish conceit.”
The scientist considered this for a moment, then nodded self-consciously. “Perhaps so. It is a natural reaction, considering the…” He swallowed. “The threat.”
“The threat,” echoed the commander. “A threat your suggestion would rouse, if we were to intervene.” He put sarcastic emphasis on the final word. “I have no desire to be blasted from space as our other scouts have been. This ship has survived in this system longer than any other of our vessels, and that is because we have been careful.” He considered the commanders of the other scoutships that had come here and been obliterated; they had been rash and slow to control their baser impulses. He, on the other hand, was patient. It had taken them days to close to orbital range, drifting in from above the plane of the ecliptic without motive power, letting the gravity of Heruun snare them, pull them in. Now they were perfectly placed to fulfill their mission.
“We will remain, then? And do nothing?” An edge of challenge entered the scientist’s voice.
The commander studied him, slightly amused. The tension of the past days was clearly difficult for him to tolerate; the scientist was in danger of becoming aggressive. Still, as objectionable as he might have found him, the scientist was vital to the duty at hand. “We are doing something,” he hissed, showing a mouth of pointed teeth. “We are observing, and what we learn in that will lead our hive to victory. We will wait for the new arrivals to depart, and we will remain in silent mode until they do. The smallest mistake, the faintest glimmer of unmasked energy, and our lives will be forfeit. This planet’s protector will kill us without hesitation.” He loomed over the scientist. “Your caste is one of thinkers. Think on that.” He turned away, toward the cockpit’s iris door.
“There is another matter.” The scientist called after him.
He paused. “The hunger, yes?”
“Yes,” came the reply, and with it a hiss of raw need. “It’s been so long since we fed, and with a planet below untouched, filled with prey…”
The commander sneered. The subordinate castes did not have the fortitude of their warrior kindred. He too had not fed in some time, but he kept his hunger in check, containing it.
“There is no sustenance here,” concluded the scientist. “I do not know how much longer I can go without…”
“You are hungry?” he asked, drawing a stunner pistol from his belt. With a flick of his wrist he turned the weapon on the silent warrior and shot him at point-blank range. The drone-soldier collapsed to the deck. “Here. Feed, then. Take your fill, but do not dare question the orders of the Queen again.”
He waited a moment for the scientist to answer, but the other Wraith had already descended on the fallen warrior and jammed the feeding maw on his hand into its chest. With a sneer of disgust, the commander left him to his meal.
“McKay?”
Jennifer saw Rodney react with a start and pull the radio from the pocket on his gear vest. “Sheppard?” he replied.
The colonel was terse and clipped. “Carter’s in the loop. Lorne came through the Stargate with some backup. We’re doing a search-and-sweep of the area.”
“Have they found anything yet?” she asked.
Sheppard heard her question over the open channel. “One of Lorne’s boys spotted some scorch marks in the scrub…”
“Radiation burns?” said Rodney.
“Negative, we scanned ’em, they were cold. The only trace we found was Ronon’s gun. He must have dropped it, maybe during a struggle.” The colonel blew out a breath. “The power pack’s dead, but he never even got a shot off. It’s like it was drained.”
Keller said nothing. She’d seen Ronon Dex sparring in the gym, and Teyla fighting off four men at once on New Athos. An enemy that could take down both of them together had to be a formidable one.
Sheppard was still speaking. “So, in the meantime I need you and Keller to stay put until you hear from me, got it?”
McKay rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay, mom.”
It was the wrong thing to say. “Don’t give me any static, Rodney, now’s not the time. Just sit tight and don’t screw around. We’ve got enough to deal with as it is.”
“We’ll be fine,” insisted McKay, gesturing around at the walls of Jaaya’s lodge. “I think later we’re even going to have some tea.”
There was a pause. “I’m sending a couple of men up there.”
“We don’t need babysitters,” retorted the scientist, throwing Keller a wan look, which she returned. “And you need every pair of eyes you’ve got. We’re fine. Honestly. You’re not the only one who knows how to handle a P90.” McKay nodded to himself.
“Whatever,” came the reply. “Ask Keller if you forget which end the bullets come from. Sheppard out.”
Laaro entered the small anteroom where they were sitting with a wooden food tray. “Your leader… He speaks like he mocks you,” observed the boy.
Rodney gave a weak chuckle. “He’s such a kidder.”
“We’re just anxious,” admitted Jennifer, breaking a small ball of baked bread that Laaro placed before her between her fingers. “Teyla and Ronon are very important to us.” She ate a little; the bread was tangy and flavorful.
Laaro sat and chewed on something leafy. Behind him, a dual sunrise painted the whole interior a warm golden hue. “Your friends… You are worried that they will return with the sickness.”
“We’re worried that they’ll ever return, period,” admitted Rodney. “Trust me, this kind of thing never ends well.”
Jennifer chewed her lip. “There could be another explanation. This might be nothing to do with the… The Aegis.”
Laaro shook his head. “No, it was the Giants who took Ronon and Teyla, and they serve the Aegis.”
“You know that for sure?” said Rodney.
The boy nodded. “I talked with Yuulo, who lives in the tall branches. It was he who saw the chariot come to the western farmstead. He told Elder Aaren.”
“Chariot? What is that, some kind of ship?”
“The Giants come and go in it. It is like a great shadow that moves over the ground.” Laaro held his hand flat and moved it in a slow, circular motion. “It is silent as a cloud, and dark like an ink-stone. Sometimes it rides in on rods of lightning, even though no rain falls.” He brought up another hand and crossed the thumbs, bringing the index fingers point-to-point, making a triangle. “This is its shape.”
“And these giant men?” Keller leaned closer. “What do they look like?”
Laaro shrugged. “I have never seen them. My father spoke of them…” He trailed off, his gaze turning inward. “He sometimes dreams poorly, and they haunt him in his sleep.”
Jennifer and Rodney exchanged looks. Laaro and his family were the closest thing to friends the Atlanteans had inside the settlement, but both of them were well aware that pushing the boy to say too much could make him clam up altogether.
“Do you know why the Aegis takes people?” said McKay. “Does your father ever speak about that?”
Laaro shook his head. “When the Taken become the Returned, they sleep a long sleep and remember nothing. Elder Takkol says this is for the best. He says that we are not ready to know all the secrets of the Aegis yet.”
“Do you agree with him?” Keller said gently.
Laaro stood abruptly, gripping the tray so hard his knuckles drew tight. “I think the Aegis should leave my father be. Take me instead, not him. He is not well.”
“Laaro…” began Jennifer, not sure what to say to make the youth feel better.
Jaaya’s voice called out from another room, and he followed it to the doorway. “I have to go. I will be back later.”