“Maybe we can give you one,” Jennifer said. “We’ve worked together in the past.”
Todd snorted. “And we have seen what great advantage I have gained from that arrangement.”
“You’re still alive,” she said. “We have information, technology — ”
“None that is of interest to us.”
“You used to find Dr. Beckett’s retrovirus pretty interesting.”
“It doesn’t work,” Todd said sharply. “We learned that at our cost.”
“It doesn’t work yet.”
There was an abrupt mechanical noise, and she and Todd both glanced up at the other Wraith, who was looking at some kind of readout on a device he wore on his arm. The Wraith looked sharply at Todd, and for a moment she thought Todd’s eyes showed a flicker of alarm.
Someone knocked on the door outside, and then opened it. “More gods have come through the ring,” Carlin said. Jennifer thought he was the only one in the room who looked pleased.
Ronon gave him a sharp look. “How would you know that?”
“There are transmitting devices in the gate field, well disguised,” Todd said when it was clear the man was planning to offer no explanation. “We may need to postpone any further discussion until they leave this place.”
“No,” Ronon said. “You said we’d be safe here. Now you’re just jerking us around.”
“Ronon,” Jennifer said.
“I’ve been patient,” he said.
“No, you haven’t,” she said. “If we need to wait — ”
“Because they say so?”
“Remain where you are,” Todd said, and strode out of the room. The other Wraith bared his teeth in a smile that didn’t look entirely confident. Jennifer didn’t feel up to meeting it with one of her own.
“We should get out of here,” Ronon said.
Jennifer turned up her hands. “It sounds like the other Wraith are between us and the gate.”
“Like I told you.”
“If Todd wanted us dead, we’d be dead by now,” Jennifer said. It seemed obvious enough to her. “He’d have had these people ambush us, or have set some kind of trap — ”
“If that’s what you thought, then why did we come?”
“Because I don’t think he wants us dead. There’s something he still wants badly enough to — ”
“He’s a Wraith. He wants us dead.”
“If you’re not even going to listen to me, why am I on this mission?”
Ronon was smiling a little, but it wasn’t a friendly expression. “That was Woolsey’s idea, not mine.”
That hung there for a moment, and then as Jennifer started to speak, the door slammed open.
“Do not waste time in foolish questions,” Todd said. “Move quickly if you want to live. The Wraith who have come through the Stargate are followers of Queen Death. She must not know I have met with you.”
“Why?” Jennifer asked.
Todd glared at her. “That would be a foolish question.”
“Fine,” Jennifer said. “What are you suggesting?”
“There is a hiding place.”
“If these people know about it, it’s not exactly going to do us much good.”
“I have made arrangements,” Todd said. “You may trust me.”
“Right,” Ronon said.
“I don’t see that we have a lot of choice,” Jennifer said.
“You’re right. We don’t,” Ronon said. He didn’t say and whose fault is that, but she was pretty sure he was thinking it.
“Then let’s go,” Jennifer said, and shouldered her pack again. It seemed like it was getting heavier every time.
Chapter Sixteen: Tomb
Todd led them along the river, under the shelter of the trees, leaving the other Wraith behind, presumably to explain his absence if he didn’t get back before the other Wraith arrived. Ronon kept his pistol in hand, more than ready to shoot at any sign that they were being led into a trap. At this point, shooting Todd wouldn’t solve their problems, but it would at least make him feel better.
“How much farther?” he demanded.
“Far enough that you will not be heard even if you persist in talking,” Todd said.
“I think we’re that far already.”
Todd ignored him.
“Ronon,” Jennifer said. He pretended he hadn’t heard.
Finally Todd stopped, peering closely at the ground that led up from the river, and then began making his way carefully up the bank.
“Where are we going?” Ronon asked.
“The tombs along this side of the river are rarely visited,” Todd said. “They are too old for the humans here to believe that the dead in them will rise.”
“Oh,” Jennifer said a little faintly. “Well, that’s good to know.”
“They bring their dead here hoping that you’ll revive them,” Ronon said. “Only you don’t.”
“Those who reside here consider themselves dead,” Todd said. “Those who serve us well may be rewarded.”
“I’m guessing whoever’s in this tomb is not going to be doing that,” Jennifer said.
“You are probably correct,” Todd said. He stopped in front of what looked to a casual glance like an undisturbed curve of hillside, but Ronon could see the depression in the grass around the edges of something with sides too straight to be a rock. He bent and dug his fingers in, finding an edge and tugging. A trap door lifted free with some effort, earth showering down into darkness.
“There won’t be enough air in there,” Jennifer said.
“There is an exhaust fan, and light as well,” Todd said. “I told you, I have made arrangements.”
“For us?” Ronon said. “That’s considerate.”
“In case of emergency,” Todd said.
“I thought you said this was neutral ground,” Jennifer said. “According to ancient Wraith tradition.”
“Times change,” Todd said. Now that he looked, Ronon could see wires running across the bottom of the wooden trap door. Todd pressed a button tangled in the wires, and a faint green glow lit what seemed to be a pit dug into the hillside, wide but not more than three or four meters deep. There were shapes in the dim light, but he couldn’t make them out clearly. They could have been anything.
There was also a low whisper of noise that set Ronon’s teeth on edge. It might be a fan. It was probably mechanical. Not at all like the sound of something breathing in the darkness where nothing ought to be breathing. Not at all like the sound of something moving down there, whispering papery-dry against the walls —
“This is not my idea of a great hiding place,” Jennifer said, but she was already clipping a line to her pack and fastening her flashlight to it. She lowered it down, peering down after it. “I don’t suppose there’s a ladder?”
“There are hooks for one on the door,” Ronon said, pointing them out. “You can fasten the rope.”
“My day really needed a little rope-climbing,” Jennifer said. She secured the rope with a better knot than he’d expected her to tie; it looked Athosian in style, so maybe Teyla had been trying to make up for some of the things Jennifer had apparently never learned in school.
“I will return when the others have departed,” Todd said.
Jennifer sat on the edge of the trap door and wrapped her hands inexpertly around the rope. He started to tell her to let him go down first, and then hesitated, because that would mean leaving her up here with a Wraith.
Before he could tell her to do one or the other, she was already descending the short distance to the floor of the pit. She picked up the flashlight and shone it around her, adding its bright beam to the green glow. “It looks clear,” she said.
“If this is a trick, I’ll kill you myself,” Ronon said.
“If this were a trick, you would not get the chance,” Todd said. “Descend now, so that I can close this entrance behind you.”