“We can offer medical assistance if that’s something your people need,” Jennifer couldn’t help saying.
“These are the Houses of the Dead,” Carlin said. “They await rebirth. The dead do not seek healing from the living.”
“Well, okay,” Jennifer said. She still didn’t see any smoke, but there were animal tracks in the soft ground that ran down to the river, and enough footprints that she thought there must be plenty of living people around.
“What kind of rebirth?” Ronon said from behind her. Jennifer had already pretty much decided that it was best not to ask that question. It figured that Ronon couldn’t let it alone.
“The gift of the dead gods,” Carlin said.
“Okay,” Jennifer said quickly. The Wraith could heal as well as kill, feeding humans the same energy they drained when they fed on them. She knew Ronon had experienced that firsthand, over and over as torture until he finally broke under it and then had to painfully withdraw from his body’s addiction to the process, craving it like a drug. She knew he had every reason to hate the Wraith, but they were here for a reason, and she wished he’d act like he remembered it. “We’d like to hear more about your people another time, right, Ronon?”
“Sure,” he said. He sounded angry. She hoped it was at the Wraith and not at her.
“It’s just that we’re a little busy right now,” she went on firmly.
“Carlin’s people have served us at this meeting place for many generations,” Todd said. “It is useful to us to have a place to meet where misunderstandings are less likely to take place.”
“You mean where you’re less likely to stab each other in the back,” Ronon said.
“I believe that is what I said.” Todd stopped in front of what looked like a small hill until Jennifer saw the weathered wooden door set into the curve of the hillside. “This will serve our needs.”
Carlin hurried to open the door for them. Jennifer stepped back, letting Ronon check it out first. He didn’t look like he particularly wanted to step across the threshold, but after a moment he did, looking around with his pistol drawn.
Todd and the other Wraith hung back, making no move to go in until she and Ronon had assured themselves that it was safe. She wished she were more sure whether that was courtesy or just a hunter waiting for the mouse to walk into the trap.
“It’s clear,” Ronon said finally.
“After you,” Jennifer said.
Todd’s lips twitched in an unreadable expression. “As you wish,” he said. He glanced at the other Wraith, who preceded him in, and then ducked inside himself. Jennifer followed, trying not to think about mousetraps springing shut.
Inside there was a trestle table laid with a pitcher and stacked cups. The floor was swept earth, and the ceiling was high and arched, supported by what she hoped were interlaced tree branches. It was possible that on closer inspection they would prove to be bones, but she wasn’t planning on inspecting that closely. The room was dim, lit only by the light filtering in from a pair of small skylights covered in what might have been glass or plastic.
In one corner, there was a teardrop-shaped device with coils winding across its face that looked suspiciously like a battery-powered heater of some kind. It suggested that the reason there weren’t any fires lit was probably that the locals had better ways of cooking their breakfast. She wasn’t an expert, but she would have bet on its being Wraith technology.
Todd seated himself at one end of the table, his hands on his knees. She waited for Ronon to sit, but he leaned against the wall, his pistol out to cover the table. The other Wraith took up a position behind Todd, his hands spread as if ready to reach for a weapon himself.
Apparently it was going to be that kind of negotiation. Jennifer sat down at the other end of the table, hoping that would look like she was insisting on equal status rather just that she preferred having the length of the table between them. It was a relief to shrug off her heavy pack. She rested it against her knee where she could reach it in a hurry.
“Now talk,” Ronon said.
Todd spread his hands. “What would you like me to say?”
“We want to know who took Rodney,” Jennifer said. “We’re willing to make a deal for any information that will help us find him.”
“I have no idea who took him,” Todd said. “It was not any of my doing.”
Jennifer thought he sounded just a little too innocent. “You’re telling me that you don’t have any idea who attacked New Athos, or where they might be now?”
Todd seemed to grow suddenly interested in inspecting the water pitcher. Jennifer waited, as patiently as she could. She didn’t think he’d be going to all this trouble if he thought there was no chance of making a deal.
“There have been new developments,” Todd said finally. “Many of our territorial arrangements have broken down. We had placed New Athos off limits for the time being. If that is no longer being respected, it is beyond my control.”
Ronon smiiled like he didn’t believe that at all. “Why would you do that?”
“Maybe they don’t want to have to deal with us,” Jennifer said.
Todd spread his hands. Ronon’s hand twitched at the motion, and Jennifer silently willed him to be still. He wasn’t making this any easier by acting like he was ready to start shooting at any moment. “New Athos is Lantean territory,” Todd said. “We felt it unwise to challenge you for it at present.”
“It’s not our territory,” Ronon said. Jennifer could have kicked him. “But they’re our allies. You’re right that we’d come after you if you attacked them. We will, if you just did.”
“We have no interest in New Athos,” Todd said. “The Athosians have been too recently culled. It would be poor husbandry for us to drive them to extinction through greed, though admittedly leaving the genes for certain — peculiar talents — in existence has its risks.”
“You sound like an environmentalist talking about bears,” Jennifer said. Ronon shifted his weight again, and she shot Ronon a look that she hoped communicated this is not the time to ask me what an environmentalist is.
“It is in our best interests to preserve our… environment,” Todd said. He looked amused. “Unless we intend to seek a new and unspoiled feeding ground.”
“I think it would get spoiled pretty fast,” Jennifer said.
“For you, at least,” Todd said.
“Somebody sent those darts,” Ronon broke in. “It wasn’t a culling. They wanted one of our people.”
“It looked to us like they were after Rodney in particular,” Jennifer said. “He’s got a lot of information that could be damaging to both of us.”
“If that is the case, the queen who took him will be extracting the knowledge from him as we speak,” Todd said. “There is little chance that he can be retrieved before he reveals what he knows.”
“You’d be surprised,” Jennifer said, fighting to keep her voice level. “Rodney’s tougher than he looks.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s already talked or not,” Ronon said, somewhat to her surprise. “He’s ours. We want him back.”
“That is wasteful of you,” Todd said. He sounded less critical than thoughtful, his eyes on her speculatively.
Jennifer raised her chin. “I think that’s our call.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps,” he said. “But if he has already revealed what he knows, I do not see that I have much incentive to become involved.”