“I kind of figured,” John said. He swallowed hard again. “You know Mel Hocken is a good friend of mine from way back…”
“Don’t tell me anything I don’t want to hear,” Sam said, straightening up in her chair. “I’m her CO while Caldwell has her flight attached to the Hammond, and I don’t want to hear anything I can’t say under oath.”
“Got it,” John said.
“I don’t ask, and they don’t tell. If I never heard it spelled out, it’s not perjury to say I don’t know,” Sam said.
“I won’t put you in that position.” John nodded. “I get that. Believe me, there have been plenty of things around here I sure don’t know anything about. I don’t ask either.”
Sam pushed her chair back and put her feet up on the edge of the bed. “Teyla will be fine,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for her. And she can handle Todd better than anybody else. Teyla and Keller will do this, and we’ll find out if this idea even works. If it doesn’t, there’s no point in going through all the convolutions.”
“Right,” John said. “No point in borrowing trouble.”
“That’s what I always say,” Sam said.
Jennifer watched Teyla where she stood at the controls of the Wraith cruiser, trying not to distract her from whatever course adjustments she was making. Her head was back, eyes closed, hair falling like black silk to her waist. The way her face was tilted to the ceiling, absolutely serene, hands outstretched on the control grips in front of her, she looked like a statue.
Jennifer shifted on the control room’s only chair, wishing a little of that peace would rub off on her. It was perversely always easier for her to find it in the middle of a crisis than when all she could do was sit around and wait. It didn’t help that Teyla was lost in concentration flying the ship and not talking.
She felt it as the ship changed course, Teyla shifting her weight as it did, maybe in reaction to the ship’s motion or maybe as encouragement. The curtain of her hair swayed gently from side to side as if she really was bending her head in prayer, as if she was moved by the spirit Jennifer had never felt, even when she’d wanted to. She’d thought that medicine was going to be that for her, a calling, a vocation, and in a lot of ways it was, but she still wished that something would transcend all, would make it all fall into place for her. She’d thought maybe she’d find that with Rodney…
“We have arrived,” Teyla said, her eyes opening at last, her shoulders relaxing as she stepped away from the controls.
Jennifer nodded and stood, shouldering her bag. “Well,” she said. “What now?”
Teyla turned to the wall, and it shifted as Jennifer watched, forming a door that parted before Teyla like veils of flesh drawing back. “Now we pay a visit to my hive.”
Guide met them himself, alone. He could have come before her guarded by drones and loyal blades, but there was little point in that. He suspected no treachery from Teyla Emmagan, and suspected that a gesture of trust would make her soften to him. He told himself that it was not that any part of his mind flinched at the thought of coming armed against his queen.
When the walls of the ship parted he was glad of his decision. Her mind leapt for his and tightened without a word, as clear a threat as any weapon, or perhaps just a reminder of the natural order of things, as unnatural as the present situation was. He inclined his head as if she were what she pretended to be, the barest reverence possible in courtesy.
“My queen,” he said, and he could feel her flash of pleasure at the words. For a moment it was hard not to think of her as an adolescent girl-child who has gotten away with playing at queen, commanding her mother’s drones. Then she strode forward, promise and threat in her every move, and it was impossible to imagine her a child.
“I am pleased to see my consort again,” she said, a hint of amusement in the touch of her mind, although there was none in her words. He nodded and shifted his gaze to Dr. Keller, hesitating halfway down the ramp, clutching the strap of an oversized her pack. This one he would have to handle more carefully if he was not going to frighten her into uselessness.
“Dr. Keller,” he said. “Come, we have work to do.” He extended his off hand to her when she seemed reluctant to descend the ramp. “I will escort you.”
*If you hurt her — * Teyla began, giving him a warning look. He met her eyes with a wry shrug.
*What would it serve? I am in need of a biological scientist, not an easy meal.*
*You would not find it easy,* Teyla said, and her mental voice was sharp enough that again he thought Steelflower was well-named.
The threat lingered as he kept his hand extended, and sharpened as Keller laid her fingertips gingerly on his. He couldn’t tell if her expression was fear or the fascination of a prey animal touching a predator’s claws. It was so hard to tell with humans.
“I’m glad you asked me to come,” Keller said, letting him help her down the ramp, although her fingers were tense against his. “That you … well, that you trusted me enough, after last time. I really am sorry that didn’t work out.”
Guide inclined his head, acknowledging the apology without pausing to question what it meant for her to offer or for him to accept. “Perhaps we can learn from past mistakes. Come,” he said, releasing her hand as she reached the bottom of the ramp, “let me show you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Challenger
The infirmary was quiet and empty except for Eva Robinson, who was sitting up in the near bed with her leg in a cast propped up on two pillows, her laptop across her middle as Colonel Sheppard came in and looked around, his hands in the pockets of his black BDUs. Eva closed Plants vs. Zombies quickly. If she couldn’t maintain the professional demeanor of make-up and nice looking clothes while stuck in the infirmary, at least she could pretend she was working. “If you’re looking for Dr. Beckett, he’s in the back doing an MRI on Lance Corporal Hernandez,” she said helpfully.
Sheppard came over and perched on the visitor’s stool beside her bed. “What happened to Hernandez?”
“He slipped on the ice and fell down the outside metal staircase. Laura…Captain Cadman said he had to have an MRI to make sure he didn’t have a concussion since he’s got a big lump on his head.” She closed her laptop. “I expect Dr. Beckett won’t be too long.”
“Actually, I was looking for you,” he said.
Eva felt her eyebrows rise. “Why?’
Sheppard’s hazel eyes were steady. “To see how you are,” he said. “You got injured in the field, a pretty nasty break from what Sam’s medical officer said, and you still did what you needed to do to complete the mission. I came to see how you were getting along.”
“Oh,” Eva said. His team, his responsibility. She supposed that made her his people. “I’m doing ok. Dr. Beckett said he’ll let me out of here on crutches tomorrow. I’ll be in this cast for six weeks, and then he’ll take that off and put on a removable brace for another four weeks.”
Sheppard shifted on the stool, getting comfortable. “Ever break a bone before?”
“I broke my arm falling off my bike when I was a kid,” Eva said. “I don’t remember it being this much of a pain, though.”