“Hell of a place,” Eva said.
Ronon nodded. “Yeah.”
“The Count of Monte Cristo…”
“This place was a prison,” Ronon said. “Marking the walls like that. It’s how you measure time when you’re afraid you’ll forget it. Guys in isolation cells.” He shrugged. “I guess the Ancients had prisons too.”
“They…closed it down.”
“That’s what I figure.” Ronon was still scanning the sky and cliffs above. “Who knows? They might have closed it down hundreds of years before the war. Would make sense why it wasn’t in Atlantis’ database if it had been closed for a long time. They sure didn’t leave anything useful.”
“Looks like,” Eva said.
Ronon frowned. “I don’t get the bears though. They didn’t act right. They should have scattered when we started shooting, not rushed us. That’s the way humans act, trained humans who have a place to guard.”
“Guard bears,” Eva said. It was hard to stay distracted from the pain.
“Maybe so.” Ronon looked at her seriously. “Genetically engineered to guard this place.”
“That’s pretty creepy,” Eva said.
There was a clatter, and Ronon jerked up, energy pistol drawn.
“We have a problem,” William said.
“The explosion brought down the ice and snow over the doors,” Laura said, her breath coming in gasps as though they’d run back down. “We’re cut off from the jumper.”
Ronon didn’t swear. That was one of the things Eva had noticed about him. No matter what the pressure, he just didn’t. Maybe the words didn’t translate, or maybe it was more of a taboo and Ronon was too polite to use them. But he didn’t swear. Even now. He looked at Laura with an expression that spoke louder than words.
“We can’t get through the doors,” William said. “There are thousands of pounds of ice and snow in front of it. I don’t think the jumper is actually buried, because it was parked further away from the cliff wall, but there’s no way we’re going to get those doors open without heavy equipment.” He looked at Laura. “And don’t even say we could blow our way out. I have no idea how structurally sound the hangar bay is. We could bring the stonework down.”
“I wasn’t going to say it,” Laura said quietly.
“What now?” William asked. “We’ve got to get Eva out of here soon.”
Ronon glanced up at the cliffs as if trying to figure out another way to get to the jumper. It was seventy feet or more up to the plateau, and all of it nearly sheer rock coated with ice and snow. They had no climbing equipment. And Eva was willing to bet the Ancients hadn’t left a pile of rope sitting around somewhere for thousands of years.
“They’ll send a backup team eventually,” Laura said.
“Eventually is the word,” William replied. “We weren’t going to do anything particularly hazardous and we weren’t even off world. It’s probably hours before anybody notices something’s wrong, and we can’t leave Eva lying in the snow with a broken leg for long. At the very least we’re going to have to get her indoors and keep her warm.”
“Oh good,” Eva said. The idea of being moved didn’t particularly appeal, especially not before Dr. Keller arrived with drugs.
Ronon frowned. “It’s going to be hours.”
“She might have broken ribs,” Laura said. “We don’t know if she’s bleeding internally. I don’t think we can afford to wait hours. We’re not even due to check in for two more hours, and they’re not going to worry until we’re significantly overdue.”
“Ok.” Ronon squared his shoulders, looking at Eva. “We’re going to have to move you. We need to get you off the ice and into somewhere we can keep warmer. It’s easy to get hypothermia when you have a serious injury. Some of the environmental controls inside are working. Dr. Lynn, see if you can figure out how to turn up the heat in one of the barracks or living quarters. We’ll move in there and wait it out. Carter will send a second team before long.”
Laura had a distinctly skeptical look about the last. Eva wondered how long it would be. Two hours overdue? Four? That would be four to six hours from now at least. Probably they’d send a second jumper if they were out well past planetary nightfall.
“Ok,” William said. “I’ll see what I can do. How are we…?”
“I’m going to carry her,” Ronon said. “Cadman, we need to tape up that leg as much as we can to keep it from shifting around when we move her.”
It hurt, of course. And being carried in hurt worse, though it was good to at least get out of the wind. They went back to the lab with the working terminal on the theory that was the best chance of getting environmental controls working. It wasn’t nearly as cold in there, probably not quite freezing, which was a big improvement from out on the ice.
Laura tried to make her comfortable in a corner, propped up with Laura’s jacket for a pillow. “I’m so sorry,” she said again. “Eva, I…”
“It was an accident,” Eva said. “You didn’t mean to.”
“I know, but I should…”
“Yes, you should,” Ronon said sharply. “And next time you will. So put it away. Not a priority.”
“I’ve got the basic first aid kit,” Laura said. “I could give you some painkillers, but you might be a little loopy.”
“I’ll take that,” Eva said. “Give me a half dose. I don’t want to be out cold.” It might be comforting to just drift off and leave it in everyone else’s hands, but somehow she didn’t think it was going to be that simple. Something was nagging at her, as though an obvious solution was just out of reach. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, waiting for it to take effect, feeling her pulse beating hard in her damaged leg. She felt like one gigantic bruise. But it was good to close her eyes a moment, listening to the voices of William, Laura and Ronon huddled over the terminal, William translating Ancient while Laura and Ronon tried to figure out the environmental controls.
It might have been that she dozed. Wishful thinking, to dream she was back in Atlantis, safe in the infirmary with Dr. Beckett in the background instead, talking to Marie Wu about some routine thing. She could hear their voices quite clearly. They were going over a chart. It was Dr. McKay’s chart. She caught the name.
That was good then. She was safe in the infirmary, and somehow Dr. McKay was back. They’d rescued him.
Only there was a problem. He was in medical isolation, ranting and raving. That was Jennifer’s nightmare, that they would get him back but not be able to restore him. That he’d be a Wraith forever, or stuck in some limbo between, half transformed. She’d told Eva so. It was nothing but Jennifer’s fear.
There was a Wraith behind the glass of the first isolation chamber, screaming and clawing at the one way window, his face contorted, McKay and not McKay. Dr. Beckett was taking notes, talking quietly with his nurse. And in the second isolation chamber…
Eva sucked in a breath, cold horror running through her even as she knew it couldn’t be true.
Desireé looked up from where she sat in the corner, her knees drawn up to her chest, her thin arms about them. Her black hair was faded to ashen white, her brown skin gone sickly green, but her eyes were the same. They met hers watchfully, seething with something as deep as the seas…
Eva jerked awake.
“…this is not about the environmental controls,” William was saying. “I think there must have been some kind of weapons testing going on. I think it’s quite possible that some of the material…”
“The other jumper!” Eva said.
Ronon and Laura turned to look at her.
“How are you doing?” Laura asked, coming over to kneel down beside her. Behind her the glass gleamed darkly, one way glass over two cells…