Rodney looked up at Ronon. "In that case, do you have to loom that way?"
Ronon shrugged. "I'm not leaving Zelenka alone with you."
Rodney huffed in frustration. "What do you think I'm going to do, stun him and…" He trailed off, remembering abruptly that he'd stunned John, and probably would have killed him if he could, in his fury that this strange human had killed Quicksilver's brother.
He shook off the flush of anger that came with the memory. He remembered who he was, now, and that he'd never really been Quicksilver. Dust had been his captor, not his brother. The twist of uncomfortable feelings lingered, along with the memory of what it had felt like to desperately want to please Queen Death, to make himself worthy in her eyes…
"Something like that," Ronon said.
"Let us not go there," Radek said. "No one is going to stun anyone. We will just optimize the power, and then you can supervise our preparations and leave me free to fix any problems we find that might kill us." He hesitated. "You know I cannot give you unsupervised access to the computer system."
"Yes, that's what I told you," Rodney said. "At least you're listening now."
Radek looked at him searchingly. "Are you working for the Wraith?"
"I already told Sheppard no."
"Humor me and tell me as well."
"No, I'm not working for the Wraith."
Radek shook his head. "Which of course tells me nothing."
"You asked," Rodney said. "I'll meet you in the control room." He began striding down the corridor, but Ronon stepped out to block his path.
"That's not the way to the control room," Ronon said.
"It's the way to my quarters," Rodney said. "I'd like a shower and to put on clean clothes. If we're going to have an epic battle with the Wraith, I'll think better if I don't smell. All right?'
"I'm coming with you."
"I figured that, yes." They walked down the corridor, unspeaking, Rodney having to race to keep up with Ronon's strides. "You know, it's not my fault."
"I never said it was," Ronon said.
"No, but you're acting like it."
Ronon turned on him, backing him up against the corridor wall. "I think you're still working for the Wraith," he said flatly. "I was there when you fed on Jennifer, remember?"
"I was dying. And she wanted me to.”
"You're lucky she's alive."
"What do you want me to say? What do you think would have happened if they'd used the same process on you? You'd have been the one who wanted to suck the life out of people."
Ronon stood and looked at him, his jaw set hard. "I know that," he said after a while. "I know they can break me. They've done it. I can't blame you for whatever they've done to you. Not the real you."
"But you still think I'm working for the Wraith."
A flicker of dark humor passed across Ronon's face. "Yep."
"Fine, come keep me under guard while I take a shower." He strove to make his voice light. "I warn you, Newton's loose in my quarters."
Ronon shrugged. "I've got a stunner."
"You are not stunning my cat," Rodney said indignantly.
"Whatever it takes," Ronon said, and his voice was grim.
John was finishing briefing the two Marine teams that the SGC had sent through — good guys, all of them, but new to Atlantis — when Ronon came in with Rodney. They'd obviously taken time for Rodney to go back to his quarters and shower and shave because he was wearing fresh clothes and his hair was still wet. Ronon took the steps two at a time, going up to the control level like he was relieved to be away from Rodney for a minute. "We have a problem," Rodney said. "A big problem."
John acknowledged him with a nod. "Hang on a second. Think you've got it, Captain?"
"Yes, sir," Captain Ryan said. "We'll cover the infirmary level, stairs and transport area both."
"We won't lock down that transport unless we've gone to code red on an infiltration," John said. "It's the main way we're getting the wounded to the infirmary. So keep a close eye on it."
"Yes, sir." He gave John a sharp nod and peeled off with his team.
John turned around. "What's the problem, McKay?"
"He's gone."
"Who's gone?"
"Newton," Rodney said. "I went back to my quarters, and ok, they’re not the quarters Newton is used to because Jennifer…. But anyway, Newton's not there. And I radioed Jennifer and he's not in her quarters either. Which means he got out. He could be anywhere. Someone could shoot him. Someone could steal him…."
"Maybe he's wherever the weapon is," John said.
"Very funny. Just because you don't care what happens to pets doesn't mean I don't take my responsibility as a pet owner very seriously. A little kitten, lost and alone in the middle of a battle…."
"If we have a battle in the city we have a lot worse problems than a lost cat," John said. He was having trouble taking this one seriously. "Look, he's a cat. He's probably hiding in an air vent somewhere or under a sofa, and he'll come out in a couple of hours when he gets hungry. Why don't you just chill out about it and do the thing you're supposed to do, which is get the city ready for lift off?"
"Incredibly callous…."
"Rodney!"
"What?"
"Get the city ready to fly," John said very distinctly. "We'll find your cat later. I'm sure he's fine. Now go up there and get on a console.
He followed Rodney up the steps to the control center. Sam and Radek were at the station at the far end, looking over the shoulder of one of the other scientists, a geologist John thought was named Greensmith. "I don't think that's got it," Sam said.
"We need a finer setting," Radek said.
"I think this is the finest setting there is," Greensmith said. She shook her head, her long braid swaying, and tried a different sensor setting. "That's a little better, but — I'm afraid it's just not going to work."
"What's not going to work?" John kept his voice low so that the rest of the watch wouldn't hear, still keeping an eye on Rodney out of the corner of his eye. Ronon was casually standing just a few feet away from Rodney's usual terminal.
"We're still trying to scan for naquadah," Sam said.
"We can detect naquadah just fine," Greensmith said. She looked up over her glasses, as if wondering if she'd spoken out of turn, but Radek motioned for her to go on. "But below a certain point, the city's internal sensors won't give us a precise mass, just that they're detecting 'trace amounts.' And we're finding trace amounts of naquadah in almost every room of the city."
"The item is very small," Radek added, "and this city is full of things that are made of naquadah. We have not been able to distinguish finely enough — what is the thing we are looking for and what is a power relay, for example? It is just too small and the scanners will not do such fine work. They are not meant for this."
John scrubbed his chin with his hand. "So what does that mean?"
Radek looked down at Greensmith, and she shook her head regretfully.
"It means we're out of technical solutions to find it," Sam said, straightening up. "I think we need to consider what happens if we don't find it in time."
"We've got to figure out who took it," John said.
Radek looked exasperated. "And how do we do that? I am an engineer, not a detective!"
"Jim," Sam added.
It took a second before John got it. Greensmith looked like she was trying not to smile. "Yeah, and I'm a pilot not a doctor, Bones, but we've still got to find this thing."
"We may not," Sam said. "I don't think we're any closer than we were yesterday. Whoever has it is keeping mum. We're sure it's not the Wraith and it's not the Genii and we don't think it's Rodney." She glanced down the boards at Rodney, complaining full tilt as his fingers flew over the symbols on the control panel. "Where does that leave us?"