CHAPTER NINE: A MATTER OF HONOR
"Rodney!"
Rodney's eyes shot wide as he came to startled wakefulness, nearly losing the laptop that was hanging half off his lap. Only the reflexes of the wild-haired Czech scientist saved it from crashing to the floor, but Rodney wasn't about to admit that out loud.
"Are you trying to scare me to death?" he demanded, heart still pounding frantically in his chest. Halfway through the question he realized where he was and lowered his voice in deference to the major who lay sleeping behind the shorter scientist. Though, admittedly, if the noise had wakened his friend, he would have been beyond happy.
"You were having nightmare," Radek stated dryly, "that is why you scared."
"I was not scared." Rodney denied everything.
"Okay." The Czech humored him.
Rodney let it ride. "What do you want anyway? What does a guy have to do to get some sleep around here?"
Radek looked around the room with comical innocence, pushed his glasses up his nose and said, "You do not sleep as I do not sleep. Only cat nap here and there. Perhaps if you truly want sleep, you should find bed."
Rodney waved in assent of the observation. "Okay. Yeah. So, you were looking for me, because . . ?"
"Yes." Radek quickly refocused. "The granules. I have epiphany in the middle of night, possibly while you sleeping. Granules is part of larger system – that is why they do not work here."
Rodney rubbed at his eyes and thought that over as the other scientist continued speaking, gesturing wildly as was his way.
"Is like battery with only one pole. We take out of system and one pole quickly degrade and is of no use at all except maybe as grinding agent."
The light went on. "Oh, so you're suggesting that the other pole is most likely beneath the surface of the moon, perhaps even at its core."
"Exactly," Radek agreed. "That is what I'm saying. Not so easy to make power with this sand."
"Not easy, but not impossible." Rodney countered. "We just need to identify the core materials and then we can . . ."
Their discussion ended at a sound from the outer area. Someone was calling Dr. Beckett. It seemed that their visitor was waking.
The cold dampness prickled at every part of his skin, blanketing him in a world without sound. It dragged him, pulling him along relentlessly in its wake. Something caught at his feet, tangling him in the slippery sprawl of undersea growth.
The tangle of blackish green changed to gray and then to deeper black. The black began to take form. . . .
He blinked at the reflection in the mirror. Gray long tunic and trousers, longish black hair, a thin face, softened slightly with age. Pale, unfamiliar eyes fixed on the insignia that was stitched into the fabric of the tunic. A diamond within a circle. The symbol was familiar – it called to him, and then suddenly the disorientation passed; he knew who he was.
He started slightly as a soft chime sounded, creating a gentle mental ripple that was as good as having someone call his name. He knew that ripple well.
"Come," he called, thinking the door open. Calina had always seen him off on his Caretaker duties. Why should this, his last, be any different? But he sensed an unease in her demeanor.
"What's wrong?" He moved around the cases containing his personal items. They would be sent through the gate to Earth and delivered to the new rooms that had been prepared for him.
"I don't know exactly," Calina said, her eyes sheened with worry. "I fear for you, Gaius. Are you certain that returning to the Facility alone is a good idea? Perhaps you could take one of the –"
"You know that isn't possible. Everyone is needed here to prepare the city. I'm the Caretaker. It is my responsibility and honor to ensure that the safeguards are in place and that the final Installation is completed. Besides," he smiled teasingly at her, hoping to lift her mood as he had done so many times before, "I won't be alone. Stonin will be with me."
Calina shuddered and wrapped her arms about herself. "He is so cold, Gaius, and I believe he is stronger than the Council thinks."
Gaius frowned. He had not expected such a strong reaction. "He'll be asleep, Cali. That is the way it is done. He won't be a threat."
She stared back at him, the worry remained strong in her gaze. "Please be cautious."
"Of course, I will," he reassured her. "I'll be on Earth before you know it." He smiled into her eyes, offering reassurance on a deeper level.
The darkness of her irises seemed to widen, and there was the muted sound of crashing waves. Was that a chill that blew through the room? He shivered and the roar of waters grew.
"Gaius? Are you all right?" Calina's worried voice seemed to come from a great distance, nearly drowned by the sea sounds.
His vision began to dim as the waters crept in beneath the door, its cold fingers creeping up his legs, soaking the thin material of his trousers. In horror he realized that he was falling and then the waters had him. They closed in over his head and washed him away.
Rodney rolled his eyes as he listened to Carson trying to coax their John Doe to wakefulness. Did the man think that he was talking to a child? Or that his sweet words of assurance would matter to a man who had been out of it for millennia?
Elizabeth stood at the man's other side, looking equally a part of the man's cheering squad. Though Rodney did want him to wake up, he had no intention of baby-talking him into it – a nice stimulant would be the better solution.
"There now, very good, almost got it," Carson cooed as the man's eyes began to flutter.
Rodney tensed half in irritation and half in excitement at the approaching opportunity to speak with the man. Piled atop of all the other things he needed to know, was information about that chair. How it worked would be a great start, followed by who the heck was he and what had he done with all the weapons, and oh, by the way, why had he let someone turn his gene off?
The thought trailed through his mind that the man himself might be a weapon. That Ancients had the ability to manipulate genetic material and to build machines that sensed thoughts – a human weapon wasn't so far fetched was it?
"We can't let him wake up yet," Rodney blurted. If the man was a weapon, would he view them as intruders to Atlantis and therefore a threat?
"Make up your bloody mind, Rodney." Carson glared in his direction.
"Rodney, what's going on?" Elizabeth was more thoughtful.
Rodney took her arm and led her a few steps away from the bedside. "We should restrain him," he told her.
Elizabeth considered him a moment. "When was the last time you slept?" she questioned. Only the obvious genuineness of the question prevented his snapping a response.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "As I've already said, I think there is strong evidence that the outpost is a weapons research facility. What if this man is some kind of living, breathing weapon? How do you think he'll view us? We may look like the Ancients, but it would be obvious to someone who has lived among them that we aren't."
"You don't really think he's dangerous, Rodney? He seems so weak and fragile."
"Appearances can be deceiving. Better safe than sorry. Let's err on the side of caution. Choose any trite phrase you like and let's go with it. Remember, Ford found a body there. The least we should do is keep a security team on him."
Elizabeth nodded, seeing his point. She keyed her radio and called Bates to the infirmary.
The waters tossed him and turned him. Sapping the very life from him. The roaring of the waves grew louder, deafening him. Cold, so very cold.
The inky black faded to gray. The gray morphed into white and he found himself in a room. He knew this room, didn't he? The room certainly knew him, he felt that.
Turning in a slow circle, he took in the consoles, small crystals flashing dutifully atop them, and the doors, currently closed, finally settling on the chair. The area at the back of his ears tingled in reaction, and then he remembered who he was and what he was there to do.
He sent a thought to the chair, switching it to record mode. He, the Caretaker, was performing the last duties before they left the Galaxy for who knew how long. It was an event to be put to memory for whomever the Facility chose as next Caretaker. Gaius had no doubt that it would not be him. The Wraith were too vicious and too many for a return to be safe in his lifetime.
Thinking briefly of his previous short meeting with Calina, and her warning, he started out of the lab. He passed the stasis chambers that had been set up in case a Caretaker or his staff needed to remain for an extended stay.
It seemed odd to pass the empty alcoves with the thought of leaving it all behind. What was to be his purpose on Earth, anyway? There would be no need of a Caretaker, as there would be no place such as this. He wondered that he should not remain and slumber with this Facility until they had need of him again.
He shook the thought aside, as he had every other time since the Council's edict that they all return to Earth. The corridor led him down into the outer tombs, far beneath the upper control lab. With a thought, the door opened and he moved past the bed where Stonin lay.
There was near quiet from his mind, only the low rumble that said the body's systems still functioned. Soon the process would be complete and he would Install the man in one of the chambers which were arranged along a circular column which extended downward and away from the control lab.
Moving beyond the bio-bed, he thought the view window open. Row upon row of stasis chambers were visible descending downward as far as the eye could see. Of the 900 chambers, 536 were occupied, soon to be 537.
It was a high honor to be Caretaker to those who could no longer safely reside in society. Life was of utmost importance to the Lanteans. Alive, but sleeping, was the best and most humanitarian solution for all when on rare occasions incurable, uncontrollable psychoses attacked one of its citizens. Stonin, a repeated murderer, fell solidly in that category. The Facility had recorded and verified his deeds as it had for all of the others who were ensconced there.
A small flicker of something drew him out of his musings. As his mind refocused on the world around him, he caught a reflection in the surface of the view window. Stonin was no longer lying on the bed; he was standing and staring at his back, malevolent intent practically oozing from every pore.
Gaius spun, fear rolling through his mind a split second before he could school it, and then he was firmly in control again.
"Get back on the bed, Stonin," he commanded the tall blonde-haired man. "There is no place for you to go, nothing else for you to do. Your only logical option is to get into the chamber where you can sleep and dream forever."
"No. I'd much rather stay here and chat with you," Stonin replied, his tone and manner deceptively charming. Gaius felt his subtle attempts at influence pricking at the edges of his mind. A deeper worry settled in as he began to realize that Calina was right. This man was much stronger telepathically than the Council had imagined. He thanked the heavens that the process to switch off his gene had been completed.
"I'm afraid that isn't going to be possible," Gaius responded to the man's comment. "This is your new home, now. Mine is elsewhere."
"Then we are at an impasse, dear Caretaker. I cannot let you leave."
With a mental command, Gaius activated the chamber that had been prepared for Stonin. It moved with mechanical ease from the wall and rolled to a stop near the bed. Once Stonin was Installed, the robotic arm would position it in the designated place in the tombs.
"Get into the chamber," he ordered, making his tone authoritative, using some of Stonin's own tricks of mental influence.
"No." Stonin laughed, completely unaffected by Gaius' powers.
Gaius moved forward, knowing that he would have to get closer to exert a stronger mental force. He never saw the heavy metal tool that Stonin had hidden by his side until a moment before it impacted against the side of his skull.
An explosion of light and color flashed inside his mind, sending him tumbling helplessly to the floor. He had the hazy presence of mind to kick the other man away when he dove toward him in an attempt to continue the attack.
Head swimming dizzily, he managed to think the door open so he could escape the little room. The system would not let Stonin leave it once he was gone. Moving clumsily to his feet, he made a run for it.
A cry of pure rage from behind alerted him to the renewed danger just as he cleared the threshold. He tried to speed the door's closing, to trap the other man, but his reactions were far too sluggish.
Stonin slammed into him, knocking him to the corridor floor. Wave after wave of pure murderous insanity pummeled him mentally and physically. With what remained of his strength, he conducted his last duty as Caretaker and switched the Facility to Lockdown.
Only Atlantis would be able to access the gate, and Atlantis would be its only destination either by shuttle or by wormhole. The shuttle pass code would be sent to the city along with the distress call warning that a heinous act had been perpetrated on one of its own. There would be no sustenance of any kind for Stonin – his only alternative to death by starvation and thirst would be to get into the chamber. Gaius, as his last act, made it all so.
When the waters came, drowning him in the cool fingers of death, he went willingly, knowing that he had completed his task with honor.
