Chapter 11
It was dark on Atlantis by the time they returned. Of course Elisabeth Weir wanted a preliminary report on what happened on the planet. Afterwards Rodney, John, Teyla, Ronon and Sitnalta plodded off to the dining room for late-night sandwiches and hot chocolate. By the time they finally went their separate ways to bed, Sitnalta was hardly able to put one foot in front of the other. She just had one thought in mind: bed. Unfortunately she was sticky with sweat and itched from the sand still clinging to her skin.
She nearly fell asleep under the shower. Fortunately she stumbled backwards as she lost her balance, and the cold wall on her back was enough to wake her for another ten minutes. With hair still damp she stumbled into bed, hoping for a good eight hours sleep. Really, of all things human, sleep was one of the things she liked best. Atlantis was never asleep. Yes, for a while she had been slumbering, but for countless millennia before that she had been awake. Aware. But the ability to sleep – to reduce awareness to almost nothing – was almost wondrous. By eight o'clock she was soundly asleep.
Of course this did not last. Atlantis was – after all – a city that never slept. Nor did the inhabitants of the city ever completely come to rest at any one given time. Less than an hour after falling into a nice, dreamless sleep, the city sent a micro-burst through the countless neural interfaces running on every surface of the city. By focussing the neural energy, Atlantis was able to send her daughter a micro-burst of information, no matter where she was in the city.
Awake! The thought burst into her mind. Someone has activated the Burduvi-device!
Atlantis might be equipped with enough technology to virtually run any program instantaneously, but Sitnalta was now human, and though incredibly smart, she was still limited by the biology of the form. Yet she still had within her all the information Atlantis had when she had been created. And one of those bits of information – one that set off alarms in her mind – was the information regarding the Burduvi-device.
Adrenaline rushed through her system. All tiredness fled with the knowledge that one of the most destructive and senseless devices ever built by the Ancients have been activated. Instantly Sitnalta reached out and laid her palm on one of the sensors, thus linking her mind with Atlantis in a way not even those same Ancients had been able to.
How many were exposed?She asked the city.
Two. Both are in the infirmary. Doctor Carson Beckett is examining them.
Sitnalta frowned. The people could still be saved. Yet she knew if she went to Doctor Carson with this information she will probably give away her secret; the secret she had been keeping from the day she had been born. But could she live with herself, knowing people had died because of her? If she had been willing to die in that desert so that Rodney, John, Teyla and Ronon would survive, then she should be willing to be exposed for those who needed her now.
Very well, she answered Atlantis. Ten minutes later she stepped into the infirmary to witness one of the most spectacular rants ever.
"You know, I think I am a pretty easy guy to work for," Rodney was saying. He was dressed only in a dark blue night gown. Obviously he, too, had been awakened by news of the activation of the Burduvi-device. "I am usually too busy doing all the really important stuff to micro-manage all the little things I need you people to be doing. Now, because of that you have a fair amount of freedom. That does not, however, mean you can do whatever the hell you please. There are rules. There are protocols in place, not only to protect the city, but also your sorry little existences." Despite the urgency of the situation, Sitnalta had to smile. His hair was mussed on one side and he looked as tired as she did.
The two scientists he was berating were familiar to her. They were Doctors Houston – a dark haired woman – and Watson – a dark skinned young man. She decided to wait a moment and see how this was going to play out, especially as Houston now tried to interrupt Rodney. But he pointed a finger at the young woman.
"Oh, no cannot. You cannot interrupt me. Okay? I was having a perfectly wonderful dream until I got this call, so you can just stand there and listen." By now he had stopped pacing. "You were sent on a routine cataloguing of one of the abandoned Ancient labs. And you activate some alien device without having the first clue what it was."
"We thought it was..." Watson tried to explain.
"Yes! Well, you thought wrong," Rodney told him.
"Yeah, but just the other week you did the exact same thing," Houston tried once more. "So I don't..."
"But I am me," Rodney interrupted. "If I make a mistake I can fix it. You are you. And when you make mistakes you don't have to fix them. I do."
"The second we realised it was emitting radiation we turned it off." Houston still did not understand that McKay would just go on until she gave in.
"So what," he now told her. Sitnalta smiled. "What, you want a medal? My four year old niece could figure out to turn something off if it is emitting radiation. That does not make you smart, that just makes you a little less stupid."
Up to now Doctor Carson Beckett had been quietly doing his job, but now he interrupted Rodney. Well, he was allowed to, Sitnalta knew. He was Rodney's friend. "Rodney, be nice," he told his friend.
Rodney sighed. "So, are they gonna live?" Then he thought about it for a moment. "More importantly, can I go back to bed?"
Just as Carson was about to answer, Sitnalta stepped forward. It was time to tell these people the truth of what had happened in that lab. She had to admit, Rodney was correct when he said the protocols were there to save their lives. There were a number of devices scattered about the city that could ruin lives.
"No," she said as she stepped out from the shadows. The four people already in the infirmary looked at her. "No, they are not okay. In thirteen to fifteen hours they will both die."
Rodney turned to the two scientists, leaning back and smiling that awful smile of his that preluded danger. "See, right there is what I was talking about," he smirked.
"Wait, you say they will die?" Doctor Carson asked her, more concerned with the news than proving a point.
"Yes," she said, wondering how Teyla would have handled this. She wasn't sure. So she lifted her chin, looked at Carson and tried to explain a little of it. "They activated the Burduvi-device. It emits radiation that passes through the body, collecting minerals. These minerals form a...a lump," she tried, not always sure how to explain the intricacies of the Ancients science. "This lump explodes, using the minerals in the person."
"Are you saying these two will explode?" Carson asked, gaping at her.
"Yes."
"So how do we cure them?" Carson was perhaps one of the best people Sitnalta had ever met. Though her whole existence revolved around Rodney, she was aware of the Doctor's qualities and compassion. She often wished she could be just the slightest bit like him.
"Wait," Rodney interrupted. "I think the first thing I'd like to know is weather the rest of Atlantis had been exposed."
"Die?" Watson asked, finally finding his voice. "But I feel fine!"
"How do you know this?" Houston said. By now everybody was talking at once, confusing her.
Sitnalta put her hands over her ears, trying to shut everyone out. "Stop it!" she yelled. "Listen, I can't think with everyone talking!"
Slowly she looked up. Everyone was staring at her. She lowered her hands, eyeing the four people. When she realised they were quiet, she took a deep breath and tried again. "The lumps form behind the lungs. Right now they are too small to be detected on the scan. But within a few hours they can be removed and be destroyed."
"How many hours?"
She thought about that for a moment. Then she shrugged. "I really do not know. But the lumps form quickly. It takes more time for the lumps to be arranged into something that can explode than for it to form."
"So when we can detect the lump we can remove it?" Carson asked.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "It has to grow first. Monitor it. When growth stops, operate."
Those gathered looked at her. "Are you sure?" Carson asked.
"Yes."
"And all I wanted was a good night's rest!" Rodney exclaimed.
"You can't help us," Houston sneered.
"No," he replied, floundering. "But I can't just leave you." He made a motion with his hand. "But perhaps by observing the process I can offer a scientific perspective on the whole thing."
Sitnalta smiled. He might think them idiots, but in fact she knew Rodney really cared for the well-being of the scientists. Of everything he had told them, the only real truth was that he cared about their existences. "I will get us some coffee," she offered.
