Offer

Elizabeth woke from her bed with a start, catching a scream in her throat. There was a terrible pain over her heart, and she glanced down at her chest to get a better look. Her breath caught again, as she found herself looking down at the faint mark of a Wraith's hand. Even as she watched, the mark dissolved from her body, along with the pain. She sat in her bed for a long time, forcing herself to calm down. Her breathing became easier, and her heartbeat slowed.

She looked around her quarters. It was dark, lit only by a solitary slant of moonlight coming from her narrow window. Her quarters weren't much, just a medium-sized bedroom and a smaller room that she used as a closet. Knowing she would not get any more sleep that night, she slid out from under the covers and grabbed her robe, which she had draped across a nearby chair. She wrapped it around herself and walked out of her quarters.

It always surprised her how quiet the city was at night. When they were under constant threat from the Wraith, the city was always awake and filled with an apprehensive sort of energy. There had been no sign of the Wraith for almost two months, so at night they ran Atlantis with a skeleton crew. There was still plenty of activity at the center of the city, but she was on the outskirts, and several levels up. Suddenly she felt nervous about being so far from the heart of the city, so she found the nearest communicator and punched a button.

"Bridge, this is Weir."

"Bridge," one of the tech's responded.

"Would you run an internal scan for me?"

"Is there anything wrong Dr. Weir?"

"No."

There was a moment of silence, and then a familiar voice came from the other line. "Hello Elizabeth, not sleeping well?"

"Zelenka, why are you up? Is there a problem?"

"Not exactly," he said. "One of my team thought they saw something on the censors. He woke me to check it out."

There was a moment of silence. "And?"

"Well, there was something, but we're almost positive it was just a censor ghost."

"Fine. Good work." She cut the transmission and sighed. "It's just a censor ghost." She whispered to herself, but somehow she didn't feel any better.

She kept walking down the dark corridor, wondering why she had requested a scan. If there were any wraith on Atlantis, especially in her room, she would know it. Either that, or she'd be dead.

She crossed an open door that led onto a balcony and stopped. John was standing there, leaning against the railing and looking out at the ocean. Almost as if he sensed her he turned around. He had clearly been in bed too; he was wearing a plain gray t-shirt and flannel pajama pants. His hair was slightly messier than usual.

"Can't sleep?" she asked, slowly walking across the balcony.

John nodded and looked back at the ocean.

Elizabeth leaned against the railing. "Me neither." She sighed, "I had a strange dream, a nightmare really."

"About a Wraith?"

She turned to find him looking at her, puzzled. "Yes, how did you know?"

"That's what I dreamt of." He said, and then shrugged, "Probably just a coincidence."

"Probably. We're all getting nervous, just waiting around for them to attack us again."

Suddenly John smiled. "So, how was your date last night?"

She shook her head, "It was not a date." But as she said it, she felt herself blush.

"Whatever you say, but a private dinner with Rodney? Sounds like a date to me."

"Rodney is—he's a good man." She looked out at the ocean again.

"It's all right," he said after another moment of silence, "It's been almost a year, we all get lonely out here."

"What is that?" she said, as if she hadn't heard him. She pointed down, where the water met the city. There was a tiny craft, barely visible in the moonlight, beating against the wall in one of the inlets in the city.

John squinted at it. "Let's check it out."

Without another word, they left the balcony and wound their way through the dark corridors. The both stopped at what seemed like an ordinary stretch of wall. John pressed his hand to the wall and it slid away. They stopped and looked at each other. "How did we know this was here?" she asked him, and he had no answer.

Behind the wall was another, windowless corridor. There was a long flight of stairs that they navigated without thinking, almost on instinct. At the base, there was another section of wall that slid away, and then they were out on a catwalk that dropped right into the sea. They ran to the craft and watched it for a moment.

"Is it Wraith?" he said.

"No, it looks Ancient. Some sort of escape pod?"

John reached into the water and grabbed at a groove in the pod. "It's really light." With ease, he hefted it onto the ledge. "It's big enough for two." She said.

"That's odd, you'd think they'd only carry one, any extra weight would drag it in the water." He ran his fingers along its surface. There's a depression here. As his fingers ran over it, it began to glow faintly.

Elizabeth squinted at it. "Some sort of control panel?" She reached for it and the glowing stopped. "Strange." She placed one hand on the top of the pods clear surface, and suddenly felt very comfortable, as if it belonged there. "This seems very familiar."

John looked at her, his usual humor gone. "This is important, isn't it?"

Elizabeth nodded, and John pressed his hand onto the impression.