Part 3
Because of Sheppard's incapacitation Major Lorne was the one leading the colonel's team back to MX1-375 and the newly discovered hive. A group of marines had cleared an entrance, but no one had yet entered the ship.
Rodney could feel that well-known ambivalence he always felt on off-world missions of this kind. On one hand there was the possibility of new, intriguing discoveries, on the other he knew by now that something dangerous was bound to happen. But as always his curiosity kept him going and he was on his toes with impatience, eager to see the inside.
Lorne carefully stepped up beside the entrance and looked at the others. Along with Sheppard's team he'd brought five marines and Radek Zelenka. The Czech was in the middle of the group, looking even smaller than usual in the heavy winter clothes. He glanced around nervously.
"Alright," Lorne said. "Ronon and I will go first. Sergeant Jackson and Teyla, cover our six. The rest of you stay in the middle and keep your eyes open."
Everyone nodded and they carefully entered the hive and started making their way down the long corridors. "Any life-signs?" Lorne whispered.
Rodney checked the life-sign detector in his hand. "No one but us," he replied.
"They… they could be hibernating," Zelenka stuttered.
"I do not sense any," Teyla said from the rear of the group. "I believe this hive is abandoned."
"Good," Rodney said. "Now, find me a control station. I'd like to get started."
They turned a corner. The corridor suddenly ended in a huge hall, and Ronon stopped in the doorway. "There are Wraith here," he said calmly and almost matter-of-factly.
Zelenka flinched and instinctively stepped back a few steps, right into a marine. It caused a little racket as the young private lost his footing and dropped his flashlight unto the ground. "Watch it!" he hissed.
Rodney scowled at Zelenka. "They're dead," he said. He had been able to peer around Ronon and see the bodies scattered in the room. Zelenka straightened himself and offered muttered apologies to the marine. Rodney shook his head. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"The major told me to come," Radek answered. "After all I was the one who discovered the ship."
Rodney snorted. "Picking up strange EM-readings hardly counts as discovering. Technically it was rather Sheppard and that woman who found it when they caused the avalanche to happen."
"Oh, really?" Radek's voice was thick with sarcasm. "I believe you said I was the one behind the avalanche."
"So now you're willing to admit it?"
"You two, shut up!" Lorne hissed.
"They're dead," Rodney repeated, this time addressed to the major. "No one can hear us."
"I can hear you!"
Rodney gave another offended snort. "Then why would you bring along 'Dr. Fumbles'?"
"Because he brings out the best in you when you try to outshine him."
"When I try to outshine him?"
"Gentlemen," Teyla said in a calm, but tired voice, and the group fell quiet for a few moments as they piled into the big hall.
Ronon was examining one of the dead Wraith. "Probably been fed upon," he said. "But impossible to tell."
"The ship has been here a very, very long time," Zelenka said.
Rodney rolled his eyes. Once again the Czech was stating the obvious. "Of course it has," he snapped. "It was covered in snow and ice! I'd say at least 10,000 years."
"No wonder they got hungry," Lorne said as he poked one of the dried-out bodies with the barrel of his P90.
Rodney suddenly spotted what he had been looking for. "Ah-ha," he said, and approached the control station as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He started tapping at the keyboard. "Come on."
Zelenka peered over his shoulder to see what he was doing. "What if you…?"
"Hey, I've done this before, okay?"
"Okay." Zelenka threw up his hands in a defensive manner, stepped back and looked around the room. It was easy to see that he found the place creepy. "Just finish, so we can go home."
It took a little tapping, but finally the skin-like, dusty screen lit up and was filled with Wraith symbols. Rodney smiled, very pleased with himself, and leaned in to study them closer. Linguistics had never been his strong side, and he was unsuccessful in deciphering most of it. "Let's see if I can hook it up to my computer and run it through the translation program," he said. He looked to Zelenka, waiting for him to step in to help, but the Czech just kept gazing nervously around the room. "Radek?" He got no response. "Radek!"
Radek jumped and spun around to face him. "Yes?"
Rodney gestured impatiently with one arm towards the computer on the floor beside him. "Make yourself useful."
Zelenka said nothing, he just went to work, and soon the contents of the Wraith database was being downloaded and displayed on the screen of Rodney's laptop. He smiled satisfied as he ran it through the translation program and it finally started to make sense. "We were right," he proclaimed to the others. "The hive got stranded here during the war against the Ancients more than 10,000 years ago."
Lorne opened his mouth to ask a question, but just then Zelenka's whole body stiffened, and he dropped the tablet he was holding, slowly taking a step backwards.
"Hey!" Rodney said when the tablet hit the ground. "This is expensive equipment!"
But then he saw Radek's face and became quiet. The Czech had turned white as a ghost, he stared at nothing in particular and his breathing became more and more rapid, until it was more like panting.
"Doc?" Lorne asked.
Zelenka's arms suddenly flew up and he covered his ears with his hands. "In my head…" he panted.
Rodney frowned. "What's the matter with you? What's in your head?"
Radek didn't answer, but then Teyla stepped forward and looked surprised and puzzled at him. "Radek, are you sensing it too?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" Rodney said.
Teyla turned around to face him, and shifted her gaze between him and Lorne as she spoke. "I sense a Wraith presence," she said, and looked back at Zelenka, "and apparently so does he."
Ronon immediately pulled his gun and let his observant gaze glide across the room, and the marines followed his example. Teyla reached out a hand to touch Radek, but just then he started pounding away at his own head. "Get them out of me!" he screamed. "I want them out of me!"
"Calm down," Teyla said softly. "They cannot hurt you."
If he heard her, he ignored her. He just frantically waved his hands around as if he tried to shake something off of his body.
"Doc!" Lorne shouted, and tried to grab the Czech's flying arms. He looked towards Teyla.
Rodney just stared at the panicking man, blinking lethargically, for a moment or two. Then the realization hit him like a hammer between the eyes, and he snapped his fingers, turning towards the others. "The Wraith stem cells!"
"What?" Lorne asked.
"Last year when Radek got sick with that strange brain-disease… I used Wraith stem cells to treat him. It made him part Wraith… sort of… Oh, God…" He looked back at his ranting co-scientist, his eyes wide with shock. "I never thought this would be a side-effect."
"I want them out of me," Zelenka whimpered as Lorne finally managed to get hold of his arms.
"Calm down!" the major said firmly, and Radek snapped out of his state long enough to meet his eyes. "Alright." Lorne's voice was soft and steady, and he turned to one of the marines. "Sergeant, get Zelenka out of here. Go back to Atlantis and then send another jumper to come pick us up."
Sergeant Jackson nodded and carefully nudged Zelenka along, leading him towards the exit, P90 at the ready.
The others watched them go, and then Lorne cocked his weapon. "Let's find this thing."
A few hours later, as Teyla and the others entered the Control Room after returning from MX1-375, they were met by Woolsey, Keller and Sheppard. The colonel had apparently talked the young doctor into letting him out of the infirmary, but he looked rather comical sitting there with his casted arms, and Teyla silently had to admit to herself that this whole thing was indeed a little amusing.
Woolsey stepped impatiently forward as soon as he saw them. "What happened?" he asked.
"There was only one," Lorne said. "It's dead now. Didn't give us much trouble."
"It was a drone," Ronon added, "and a really stupid one."
Woolsey nodded comprehensively. "And you are certain there are no more?"
"Not according to Teyla," Lorne said. "Or the life-sign detector."
Teyla nodded affirmatively as the expedition leader shifted his gaze to her. "I sense no more."
"What was going on with Zelenka?" Keller asked with a worried frown on her face, as she stepped up beside Woolsey. "He was hysterical. Shouting something about a Wraith in his head."
"He sensed the Wraith," Teyla replied. "Like me."
Woolsey grimaced. "He did? How can that be?"
"Rodney thinks it is because of the Wraith stem cell treatment he received last year."
"It's the only explanation," Rodney added.
Keller's eyes grew wide. "Oh dear…"
"But that's more than six months ago," Sheppard said from his chair. "And he's been in close proximity to several Wraith since, and he hasn't sensed any of those."
Rodney shrugged. "Maybe it needs time to… you know… kick in."
Keller covered her mouth with her hand. "The poor thing. It must have been terrifying."
Teyla nodded. "Yes. I have had this ability all my life and it still chills me to the bone whenever it happens. To experience it quite suddenly as a grown-up…" She shook her head. "I do not blame him for his hysterical behavior."
Woolsey looked from her to Rodney. "So what are we going to do about it?"
"I don't think there's anything we can do," Rodney replied, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. "The Wraith cells are a part of his body now. We can't just simply remove them." He paused and then added, "He will have to learn to live with it."
"Where is he?" Teyla asked.
"Infirmary," Keller answered. "I gave him a sedative."
Silence fell between them for a moment. Then Woolsey straightened his back. "I will have him talk to the base's psychologist."
"Perhaps I should talk to him?" Teyla offered. "After all I know what it is like."
Woolsey nodded. "You're right."
"But not now," Jennifer said. "Let him rest first."
"Of course," Teyla nodded.
"Well, that settled," Rodney exclaimed and clapped his hands together, "the hive ship is officially cleared of Wraith. We can begin deploying science teams."
Woolsey lifted his eyebrows. "To do what?"
"Oh, I want to bring some of the Wraith equipment back to Atlantis," Rodney innocently explained. "If that's fine by you, of course," he added, remembering who called the shots.
"Alright," Woolsey said. He nodded his goodbye to each of them and left.
Jennifer turned towards Teyla. "Are you in for girls' poker night tonight?" she asked.
"Yes," Teyla smiled. "I am looking forward to it."
"See you there, then," the physician said and followed Rodney out of the room.
Girls' poker night was the only spare time activity besides meditation and sparring that Teyla rarely missed. After she'd had Torren, there had been less time to socialize with the others expedition members, and these nights were important to her. She wasn't that much into the game, but she enjoyed spending time with the Atlantis females, talking about men, listening to the latest gossip and just having a good time.
When she entered the game room later that night, she saw a new face among the participants. It was Dr. Dahl, the woman that John had gone skiing with and who so amazingly had crawled unharmed out of the avalanche. Teyla smiled at her as she took her seat. Marie, the Atlantis head nurse, was already dealing. "Five cards, deuces are wild," she said.
As she picked up her cards, Teyla stole another glance at Dr. Dahl. She still wasn't sure of what to think about the woman. She seemed a little wild and crazy, but on the other hand she'd brought a sparkle to John's eyes. A sparkle that had been there when Teyla had first met the man, but she hadn't seen for a long time now. He just hadn't been himself lately, and Teyla really couldn't blame him. With herself and Rodney and Ronon all in established relationships, he probably felt alone. He needs someone, she thought. And it might be her.
It was certainly a beautiful woman, she decided after studying her for a moment. She was tall and thin; her hair was cut short like a boy's, and so blonde that it almost looked white. Dahl must have felt her scrutinizing glare, because she looked up and their eyes met.
Suddenly they heard the sound of a hissing radio, and Teyla saw an earpiece lying on the table next to her. She picked it up and put it on. "Yes?"
"What you wearing?"she heard John's teasing voice.
"My traditional Athosian clothing," she smiled, realizing he wasn't talking to her.
"Teyla?" he said. "Hi."
"Hi, John," she replied, and the girls around her giggled.
"Eh…," he began.
"She's right here," Teyla smiled, pulling out the earpiece and handing it to Dahl.
The Norwegian grinned and answered the radio. "It's girls' poker night, John, you're not supposed to disturb us," she said. They heard Sheppard say something. "You want me to come and do what?" Dahl replied and then smiled, "Yes, I thought you might prefer me over Dr. Keller." She smiled apologetically and winked at Keller as she added that last bit. Jennifer just chuckled.
Teyla laughed too. "Go," she said and nudged the blonde on her way. "Go take care of him." And as she watched Dahl leave the room, she decided she could learn to like this woman. As long as John was happy.
