Atlantis

"So… want to go let me kill you a few times?"

Carson looked over at McKay, who had come to the infirmary – presumably for an aspirin, although he'd stuck around long after swallowing the tablets, watching as Beckett and his staff did a quick inventory of their supplies.

"War games, you mean?"

McKay nodded.

"You might as well stay in shape, and it'll give me someone to stalk that I actually have a chance of killing."

To Rodney's surprise, Beckett actually seemed to think about it for a minute, but then he shook his head.

"No, thanks. I don't feel like it."

McKay frowned.

"Are you sure? It'll be fun. Maybe we could get Major Sheppard and Teyla to come…"

Carson shook his head again, this time with a slight smile. He knew what McKay was trying to do, and he really appreciated it, but he didn't feel like getting stalked and killed just then, and there was really no way he'd be able to avoid it – he wasn't all that great at the whole stalking through the halls things, just yet, no matter how patient Melony had been trying to teach him.

He sighed, wondering what she was doing just then. It had to be pretty late, there. Maybe she was asleep. He wished she was there with him – or he was with her. He'd play the war games with her, if she'd asked.

"How about a game of chess?" McKay asked, breaking into Carson's brooding. "I'll let you win."

Talk about an offer! Beckett smiled, touched, and shook his head again.

"I'll take a rain check."

"I'm sure she's fine, you know…" Rodney said, softly, showing a side of him that he rarely allowed to show. "She's probably soaking in that hot pool that they were telling us about, hanging out with the Mok and thinking of new ways of torturing us with training scenarios when she gets back."

"If she gets back," Carson said.

"She'll be back," McKay said, confidently, with a little annoyance showing in his expression and his tone. "She wiped out the Goa'uld for God's sake. You don't understand what that took. It's not like she wiped out the Monarch butterfly population of Hoosegow, Indiana or something."

Carson looked at Rodney mournfully, and the astrophysicist felt another flare of annoyance.

"Look. You weren't around for it," he said, pulling Carson away from the main room and into a little side area. "You don't understand. She's a lot more dangerous than you'd ever believe just by watching her around here. The Wraith are the ones that you should feel bad for, because with Talon and her after them – and my help with the technological part – there's no way she's going to fail. It just might take a little bit. And it's not going to help her if you just sit around and worry about her – or mope, which is even worse. All you're going to do is make yourself sick, or drive us crazy." Now come on. We'll go get Sheppard, and Ford, and maybe even Zalinka, and go kill each other."

Carson sighed, but he allowed Rodney to pull him out of his infirmary, feeling a little better than he had been. If McKay thought so highly of her chances, then maybe he shouldn't give up on her just yet… how often was McKay wrong, after all?

OOOOOOOOOOOO

A-43

"You know, we're not really supposed to be here…"

Kale shook his head, looking around the ancient city with interest, but ignoring the plaintiff whining of his companions.

"We're not forbidden, Char. We just never come here. It's not the same thing. The Council said we could explore it."

"I don't like it here," Kellan said from behind Kale.

The Light One reached back and took his twin sister's hand, squeezing it cheerfully. His sister had only recently returned to the main colony of Light Ones, and he'd missed her greatly.

"Don't worry; there's nothing here that can hurt you. I've been here twice, now."

"With Colonel Mitchell," Char confirmed, smiling. "She's the one who-"

"Yes, I know," Kellan interrupted. "I've heard all about her." The teasing was good-natured, though, and she really did wish that she'd had a chance to meet Mitchell – who all the Light Ones had been telling her about – and Elizabeth Weir, who Kale had been waxing about almost nonstop.

There were smiles all around, and the small group of Light Ones continued through the deserted city that their ancestors had once inhabited, looking through the occasional empty building, exploring it as Kale had promised Mitchell that he would, and making their way steadily toward the large building that held the Stargate.

OOOOOOOOOO

The building was one of many. Nondescript and made of sun baked clay bricks like all the ones around it, it was no larger than one of the smaller caves that the Light Ones inhabited up on their mountains, and it was only coincidence that Char stuck his head in it at all, since he was getting tired of looking into one empty building after another, and there was nothing about this one from the outside that told him it would be any different from any of the others.

It was, though.

There were shelves lining the far wall of the building – which was different in itself –but the shelves were covered with some kind of protective substance that was almost see through but not quite, giving the young Light One the chance to see the outline of several bottle-looking things, although he wasn't sure what they were really from that distance.

"Hey, come check this out," he called to his companions as he walked into the room, heading for the far wall.

"What is it?" Kale asked, his tall frame blocking the light from entering the room and casting Char in shadows.

"I don't know. Move."

The Light Ones had exceptional vision, but it was still easier to see when there was plenty of light.

Char moved the protective covering aside, and made a curious noise. The bottles, or whatever they were, were definitely glass of sort – although the Light Ones didn't have many glass blowers in their numbers they had enough that they knew what it was – and a couple of them seemed to be lit up from the inside, practically pulsing with power.

"What do you think it is?" Kellan asked.

Char shrugged.

"It's out of the ordinary, though, and isn't that what Colonel Mitchell asked you to look for?" He asked Kale.

"Yeah. Why don't we contact the Atlanteans and see what they can make of it?"

"Are you certain we should bother them for something like this?"

Since Kale would have jumped at any reason to bother them, he nodded.

"It could be something they find interesting."