John had to admit he was impressed with the small community's set up. Not as impressed as Dr. Jackson, but still impressed. The group had taken over a building that may have been a shopping center at one point. Where glass had once been in doors and window frames there was now wooden planks or thick hides from some creature. The open area in the middle was used to communal gatherings or general daily business. The individual rooms had been converted into small one room apartments for all of the families that lived here. John knew there were families because he clearly saw women and children. He was rightfully confused.

"Uhh…" John watched a group of young boys run by them.

"You don't seem to have any problems with procreation." Daniel said, smiling as a little girl silently approached him and held his hand. She didn't say a word, just walked beside him, looking up at him adoringly.

Edrah shook his head. "No we don't. Looks like my daughter has taken a shining to you, Daniel," he said, grinning at the little girl.

Daniel chuckled. "I'm surprised she isn't hiding from us. We are strangers, after all."

"For someone so young, she is a very good judge of character. Knows a kind soul from a mile off," Edrah replied, clearly proud of the girl.

Rodney scoffed beside him and the little girl stuck her tongue out at him.

Trying to hide his smirk, Edrah scooped the little girl off her feet and up onto his shoulders. "Have you been good for your mother Dyn?"

"Yes, daddy," she replied, putting her tiny hands on his forehead.

"Good. And did you complete your lessons?" he now asked.

"No she didn't," answered a tired, yet good humored voice. The voice belonged to a short woman with long brown hair and was clearly coming to the end of her current pregnancy.

Edrah swept Dyn off his shoulders and put her on the floor. He raised an eyebrow at her without saying a word. After a moment the little girl took off, disappearing into one of the nearby rooms. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"These must be the guests Den spoke of," the woman said, shouldering past Edrah to look up at John. "And the poor Dehmi." She clicked her tongue and patted John's cheek.

"Iyn, I would like you to meet John, Daniel, Ronon and Dr. McKay," said Edrah, wrapping his arm around the woman's shoulders. "Everyone, this is my lovely wife Iyn."

"I'm a little confused," John said looking from Edrah to Iyn.

"Understandable. Come along, John. You must want to sit and rest," said Iyn, taking John's arm and pulling him toward the room the little girl had disappeared into.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." John allowed the tiny, pregnant woman to tug him along. He glanced back at his team, but none of them looked like they wanted to interfere with the motherly woman. Teyla and Dr. Jackson looked amused.

"I apologize for my wife, John. She seems to think it is her duty to be everyone's mother," Edrah said, smiling. He and the rest of John's team filed into the small apartment and Edrah pulled an animal hide across the door.

"While this is all warm and fuzzy, and I the only one concerned that this is way off base from what we've learned thus far?" Rodney grumbled, sitting down heavily next to John. The sofa was well worn and still functional, but it groaned loudly under Rodney's sudden presence.

John, Daniel and Teyla all glared at the scientist.

"Is tact even part of his vocabulary?" Daniel asked John, his expression and voice flat.

Edrah shook his head. "Do not worry, it's completely fine. Dr. McKay's concern is quite valid. Yes, things are much different for us here. If you have time, shall I start from the beginning?"

Daniel glanced at John, who nodded. "I'm definitely interested to find out how things got to this point," said the archeologist, accepting a plate of food from Iyn. She handed each of them a tray with meat, some sort of pale green fruit and a large chunk of bread. To John's delight, he noticed the meat on Rodney's plate was the fur covered joint of a spydra leg.

Edrah took a deep breath and nodded as he exhaled. "This all started before the cities were destroyed. Much of our population dedicated their lives to science and discovery. We still do, but more theory, less practice. This city was the home of many factories, one of which produced chemicals for many applications. Unfortunately one factory in particular is the heart of most of our problems. We still can't find the factory, but that is a problem we've been able to work around.

"When our cities were destroyed, the chemicals from the factory spilled into the water, poisoning the lakes and rivers," Edrah explained, pausing to take a few bites of his meal. "The poison is the reason there were less and less girls being born. We had issues before that, however, with men outnumbering women by about twelve to one. Something in out genetics made the female birthrate very low. But we could always sustain our population, even with that problem. After the chemical spill, the percentage of females being born dropped drastically. It became a ratio of something like three hundred to one.

"With less and less women, our scientists needed to do something to save our failing population. They created the Fvet'Ur', the most humiliating, dehumanizing device in existence. Each month a group of men were selected; half to be changed, half to be used as donors. The tower would only recognize men with 'superior' genetics, and those men would be forced to have the so-called honor or helping repopulate. There were always the even more unfortunate souls whose bodies rejected the change or the genetic material and were left to die, bleeding out because they weren't deemed worthy to help." Edrah took a deep breath to calm his anger before he continued. "Those men who died were treated like scum. A few men and remaining women realized there had to be another solution. My great-grandfather was one of them. He discovered the link between the water and the drop in birth rates. And he came up with a solution to the problem. Unfortunately some thought he was insane and the decline in the female birthrate was a punishment of sorts that they had to endure."

"Punishment for what?" asked Daniel.

Edrah shook his head. "I don't know. I don't think they know. They chose to remain ignorant of a problem they had caused, but my great-grandfather wouldn't stand for that. He left his wife and brought anyone who would follow him back to the city. With their help, he found everything he needed to build a purification system for the water.

"It took a few years, for the poison to leave people's bodies, but eventually the female birthrate climbed again. My great-grandfather saved our people," Edrah finished with pride.

"Have you tried to explain this to Nidrah?" Daniel now asked. The look on his face told John he had a list of questions as long as his arm. John had a few of his own.

Edrah's piercing eyes grew wide. "She's still alive? That woman is older than dirt!"

Nodding, Daniel handed his barely-touched meal back to Iyn. "She leads the settlement by the Stargate. She doesn't seem to have the same attitude as the women here," he noted.

"They hold women in very high regard and treat the men quite poorly," Teyla added.

With a scoff, Edrah reclined in an ancient-looking arm chair. "It would be pointless trying to explain anything to her. She is a bitter woman, my great-grandmother."

"Nidrah is your great-grandmother?" Daniel asked, making sure he heard that correctly.

"Yes. She was the one who turned against her husband, believing they needed to turn their backs on science and pray to the Fvet'Ur to help them. They never saw the problems the tower was causing. They never realized it was only supposed to be a temporary solution," he said, combing his fingers through his hair and shaking his head.

"Besides the obvious, what problems were there?" Rodney asked, even sounding a little curious. John wasn't sure if it was the technology that intrigued him, or he just had a morbid curiosity.

"Degradation. The more times a man was used for the change, the problems became. The children born became stupider, more prone to sickness, deformities. That's why the tower hasn't chosen anyone in recent years. They are all defective."

Daniel nodded. "That makes sense. We did see a few less than perfect men at the settlement."

"Why don't you destroy it?" Ronon asked. It was rare for him to participate in discussions like this, but it was one of the questions on John's mind.

"We've tried. Well, those of us not too terrified to get near it have tried. We don't even know what it's made from. It's like it's indestructible," Edrah replied with a heavy sigh.

"This doesn't make sense," Rodney stated. "Surely after so long the chemicals will have dissipated."

John looked over at the man. "Rodney, half of what we do doesn't make sense."

"They may have, but the damage is already done and we no longer have the equipment to test the water, so we keep filtering it," explained Edrah. He looked at John for a moment, then leaned over and spoke quietly to his wife. She nodded and went into a back room.

"Are you feeling all right, Colonel?" Daniel asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "You look pale."

John was not feeling all right. His insides were doing back flips and he was light headed. "I'm fine," he said through his clenched jaw. "Let's just continue, shall we?"

Leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees, Edrah regarded John with a sympathetic gaze. "Believe me, I know better than anyone here how much pain you're in right now. If you go into the back room, Iyn has something that will help delay the symptoms."

John's neck was prickling from all the eyes on him. He shook his head. "Uh, no. I think I'm good. Thanks though," he said with a tight lipped smile. He was feeling the same awkwardness as when this all started.

"Actually Colonel, if they have something that delays the symptoms, it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a try," said Daniel.

"We could get some work done without running back to the 'gate every couple of hours," added Rodney.

"I promise you it is completely safe. I have nothing but sympathy for a man in your position. But I understand completely if you decline." Sitting back again, he gave John a genial smile.

Sighing heavily, John shrugged. "Okay, fine." Even if whatever this was didn't help, it probably wouldn't be any worse than how he already felt. "You guys seem to think it's a good idea, so why not. I'd rather risk poisoning than bleeding to death anyway." Pushing himself to his feet, he followed Iyn into the back room, leaving his team alone with Edrah.

"Do you want any help?" John asked, feeling a little uncomfortable watching the woman move around what appeared to be a bedroom of sorts.

"Sweet of you to ask, but I'm fine. It's you that needs the help, darling," she said, grinning at him. "Why don't you take off that clunky vest and sit on the bed here. I don't bite, I promise."

"Normally when I'm alone with a girl in a bedroom, things are going much differently," replied John, a nervous smirk tugging at his mouth as he unclipped his P90 and removed his vest.

"I would love to see your real face," said Iyn, her voice a little sad as she touched his shoulder.

"I'd like to have it back," replied John, not too happy with the defeat he heard in her tone. "Edrah said he knew better than anyone what this was like. Was he changed before?"

Swallowing hard, Iyn nodded. "It was an accident. He and some others went to destroy the tower."

"How did he fix it? Clearly he isn't a woman anymore, so…"

"Dyn."

John's shoulders slumped. "Dyn?"

"He was dying and there was no other choice. Dyn isn't my daughter."

Letting out a slow breath, John felt yet another knot form in his gut. "Well, kids aren't exactly an option for me."

"They weren't for Edrah, either. We had to keep him from bleeding to death for months before he even considered it as a last resort. There were no other options," said Iyn. "Now, lie down so we can get started."

"Uhh…"

"Do you want my help or not?" Iyn scolded gently, raising an eyebrow as she propped her fists on her hips.

Sighing again, John conceded. Lying down, he let the woman get to work.