That sounded right. For a moment he could almost see a lab, streaming data on a screen.
“If you would like, I will bring you a data reader,” Dust said. “Though you should rest as well.”
“Thank you,” Quicksilver said. A data reader. Yes. That was more right. That was more as it should be.
“Soon you will be better,” Dust said, “And then perhaps you will remember what happened. Perhaps then you can tell us of Atlantis.”
Chapter Two: The Searchers
“Offworld activation! Colonel Sheppard’s IDC.”
They came through the gate in good order, the ninth passage in three days, Teyla last on six, herding Radek Zelenka ahead of her. Zelenka clutched his laptop case, and Ronon, just ahead of him, looked back over his shoulder.
Above, Richard Woolsey hurried out on the walkway from his office, looking down over the railing with scarcely concealed worry. “Anything, Colonel?”
John shook his head, dropping the muzzle of his P90 down.
Woolsey’s face fell. “Come up and tell me, all of you.”
Wearily, the team climbed the stairs, Teyla reaching up to catch Zelenka’s arm when he stumbled.
“I am fine,” he said quietly.
“Of course,” she said. He did not look fine to her. Unshaven, his hair in need of washing, Radek looked like all of them did at this point, a bunch of scruffy renegades and madmen who had not slept in days. “But I do not think you should go out again right away.”
Radek shrugged, preceding her up the stairs and around toward the conference room. “If we need to go, I will go,” he said.
John had already fallen into one of the chairs, while Ronon poured himself a big glass of water from the pitcher at the back of the room. Woolsey lowered himself into his usual chair at the end of the table. Radek sat down to his left while Teyla went around the table and sat beside John.
He looked at her sideways, dark circles under his eyes like bruises. “You look like hell.”
“Thank you,” Teyla said politely.
“What do you have?” Woolsey asked.
John stirred, his finger tracing patterns on the surface of the table. “M40-P36 was the right planet. Rocky, cold, uninhabited. Some ruins a few miles away, but nothing around the gate worth looking at. No life signs. The gate had only been opened three times in the last six months, and all three times were to dial New Athos.”
“Which means?”
Radek put his laptop on the table in front of him. “The buffer on a Stargate is roughly six months or fifty dialings. The Athosians had dialed thirty seven addresses in the last six months, which I recovered from the gate on New Athos. After talking with the Athosians, Teyla could account for twenty eight of the addresses — allies, trading partners, and us of course. Having checked out the other nine addresses, I am confident this was the gate where the Darts that abducted Rodney originated.”
“Why is that?” Woolsey asked, frowning.
Ronon dropped into the chair beside Radek, his water in his hand. “Dead world. Nobody lives there, but somebody dialed New Athos three times.” He took a gulp of his water. “Where’d they come from? If nobody lives there and they dialed New Athos three times, but nowhere else, those are our guys.”
“I don’t see…” Woolsey began.
“They came from a hive ship,” Teyla put in. “It is the logical conclusion. The ship remained in orbit around an uninhabited world while the Darts attacked New Athos. Once they had what they sought they returned through the gate and rejoined the hive ship. They did not dial anywhere else, and they are not still there.”
“Three times?”
Teyla nodded. “Once to scout, once to send the message that lured us to New Athos, and once to seize… their prize.” She could not quite bring herself to say, ‘to seize Rodney.’ That was too raw.
John sat up straight, his eyes meeting Woolsey’s down the table. “If we get a jumper and go back…”
Woolsey frowned. “What will that give you?”
Radek glanced from one to the other, addressing himself to John rather than Woolsey. “The hive ship has certainly opened a hyperspace window. We did not detect them in orbit and they have had three days to go anywhere they wish. I do not think there is more information we can gain on M40-P36.”
John’s hands opened and closed in frustration. “We have to,” he began tiredly.
“We have to find another means of intelligence,” Woolsey said.
“Rodney…”
“We will find Dr. McKay,” Woolsey said. “But if there’s no more information to be had this way, we need to find another way.”
John’s brows knit, graving deep ridges across his forehead. It was a wonder any of them were making sense, Teyla thought. If they were. “They were after Rodney,” she said. “These were not simply Darts culling. Nor were they merely seeking a prisoner from Atlantis to interrogate. They could have picked up half a dozen Athosians, and at one point they abandoned a run on me that could have been successful.” She looked around the table, as they were all staring at her. “They were after Rodney specifically, and as soon as they had him they disengaged. This is about Rodney. Which means there is a plan, a careful plan that has involved many Wraith. And where there is a plan that involves many, there is talk.”
“Among Wraith,” Ronon said, leaning his elbows on the table and looking at her.
“The one who dialed our gate pretending to be Athosian was not Wraith,” Teyla said. “There is a Wraith Worshipper or an agent among them, someone who might speak with humans.” Her eyes met John’s. “We know Rodney is alive. They would not go to such trouble to capture him only to kill him.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” John said grimly.
Woolsey cleared his throat. “We all know Dr. McKay could be a valuable intelligence source for the Wraith. And we all know it’s a priority to find him and recover him. If there’s no further information to be gained from the DHDs of various Stargates, then we need to consider other methods.”
“Such as?” John asked. He looked like he wanted to go out again. John was not usually this dog-headed, but Teyla knew he had not slept in seventy-two hours. Caffeine and adrenaline were no substitute for sleep, and robbed a man of common sense.
“The Genii have the best intelligence in the Pegasus Galaxy,” Woolsey said. “They may have heard something.”
“We’re not exactly on the best terms with the Genii,” John said. “I don’t think…”
“Radim has assured us of his good intentions,” Woolsey interrupted. “Now is a good time for him to show us. And passing on rumors costs him nothing.”
Ronon snorted. “For whatever they’re worth.”
Teyla took a deep breath. “There is Todd,” she said.
To her surprise, John didn’t dismiss it. “There is,” he said.
Ronon put his hand down on the table, fingers clenched. “You’re talking about trusting Todd.”
“Todd’s more likely to know what the Wraith are up to than the Genii are,” John said.
“If he didn’t do it himself,” Ronon said.
“We can only hope we are so fortunate,” Teyla said. “If Todd wanted to kidnap Rodney to help with some plan of his, we know Rodney is unhurt.”
John glanced at her, as though that thought brightened him. “That’s true. And if it’s some other hive, he may be able to get us the lowdown on it.”
She did not mention Queen Death. None of them did, though she was certain that the image from Manaria hung over them all.
Woolsey nodded. “Our next move is to shake the bushes, as it were. And while we do that, I want you and your team to stand down, Colonel Sheppard.” John started to shake his head, but Woolsey did not wait for him to. “Your team is in no condition to go back out again, and yes, that includes you, Dr. Zelenka. If you’re going to be ready when we get word, you need to stand down now.”