Chapter 4
Teyla staggered back as if she had been hit with a physical force. She felt herself falling backwards, felt the edge of a chair against the backs of her legs, but someone's hands caught her and she reached out for their support.
"Teyla, are you alright?" Carson asked worriedly as he helped her right herself.
Only then, when she had found her feet and she looked through the glass, did she actually realise what she had heard. She turned to Carson beside her. "Did you hear that?" She asked hurriedly.
"Hear what?" Carson asked looking worried for her.
"John. You did not hear him?" She asked.
"He didn't say anything, luv," he replied with a measured tone. "And he's unconscious again now," he added.
Teyla rushed back to the glass to see John's still form. He was no longer curled up on his side instead laid out on his back as Jennifer and a nurse were checking his vitals, worrying over him. Teyla could see that the changes to his appearance were speeding up, almost as she watched she could see blue colouring appearing along his cheek bones and eyebrows.
"Teyla, are you alright?" Carson asked.
She stood back from the glass and suddenly things started to form into a pattern in her mind. The nightmares, the strange feelings she had been having lately, as if something dark was close by…very close…in her bed beside her. She turned from the glass and rushed for the door. She tapped her radio as she waved her hand over the sensor and the doors parted for her.
"Teyla?" Carson called out as he followed her.
"Major Lorne, Mr Woolsey, this is Teyla, I need to speak to you immediately," she stated.
"Teyla?" Carson had caught up with her and his warm hand landed on her arm, so she stopped and turned back to him. "What is it?"
"John told me who did this to him," she told him, and her stomach rolled with the thought of it. Surely she was mistaken, yet…
"He told you? How?" Carson asked.
"I don't know, with a thought maybe, I don't know. He was struggling and staring at me and then his voice just arrived in my head," she said as she tried to process what had happened. "I know it sounds strange, Carson, but it will not hurt to follow through with this."
Carson frowned, but dropped his hand from her arm. "Of course."
Teyla turned and began to hurry down the corridor towards the closest transporter.
"Please tell me if his condition changes," she called over her shoulder.
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He had been watching them as carefully as he could and he saw when the message arrived through the radios. He tensed as he leant carefully towards Torren's highchair, putting those on the next table between him and the closest solider.
Kanaan began to quickly free Torren from his high chair and was surprised by the tiny frown of complaint that crossed his son's face. Torren began grumbling as he was lifted away from his half completed meal. The first cry of annoyance almost made Kanaan panic. He needed to get Torren away and safe, but the boy seemed ready to begin a full tantrum. Kanaan spoke softly to his boy, holding him close and offering some of the food to distract him as Kanaan quickly reached down for the baby bag, but he saw movement across the balcony through the glass. The soldier from before had turned and was looking at him through the glass – Kanaan was out of time.
A hundred thoughts went through his head at this point. He had very few choices, and after assessing them as best he could, he grabbed the baby bag and ran with Torren towards the exit furthest from the soldier.
Torren cried out unhappily at being jostled, his cry high and loud in Kanaan's ear as he looked over his shoulder towards the soldier who was definitely following him. From the man's movement Kanaan knew he would be cautious, after all Kanaan held a baby in his arms. Of course Kanaan would never ever hurt his son, but they did not know that. He could use that.
He ran the short distance to the next corner to see several people step out of a transporter. He ran for it, reaching it in time to stop the doors from closing. He rushed inside and impatiently waited for the doors to close. Down the corridor he saw the soldier appear, stunner raised. Kanaan reached down into the baby bag and pulled out his own weapon, a more deadly Earth weapon, and held it so the soldier could see it clearly as the doors closed.
Kanaan turned and jabbed at the transporter's control screen, hoping it would activate before they shut it down from the control room. Fortunately he felt the flush of movement and a burst of light broadcast his arrival in the new location. He triggered the doors open and hurried forward, pausing in the empty corridor's intersection. They could not have predicted he would chose such a distant point in the city, but the solider would follow through the transporter soon enough. Kanaan held Torren tighter and ran as fast as he could. He needed some time to begin his plan, some space before they found him. Torren cried loudly in his arms, ignoring Kanaan's attempts to soothe him. Torren had always been attuned to the emotions of his parents and Kanaan tried to calm himself to help ease his son. It did not work for the crying continued.
Two turns and Kanaan reached a staircase and hurried up its steps. He reached into one pocket, then another, trying to remember where he had left the communication device. His hand closed around it in the pocket under Torren and he activated it and then turned it off quickly. It would be enough.
He reached the height of the stairs and peered back down the mesh metal staircase floor as he ran out along the airy corridor. No one was running up behind him, it would take them time to reach him – he had some minutes left yet.
The corridor opened up abruptly into a lofty atrium, this one far more massive than the one near the Jumper Bay had been. He paused, and Torren did the same in his crying, both of them staring up at the wondrous colours of sunset shining through the glass ceiling above them and from the wide windows at the end of the atrium. He ran on past the railing that overlooked the two levels below – from here he could see down two floors. With his back to the end windows of the atrium they would not be able to sneak up on him without him seeing them.
He ran on past the railings to the space before the far windows and finally stopped. There was a stone like table set before the window and two wide chairs against the wall. He dragged the chairs to the table, arranging them to create a basic barrier that would stop Torren from crawling away. He crouched down, pausing in the silence of Torren's whimpers, and still heard no sound of anyone approaching. He turned his attention to calming and soothing his son. As he did so he pulled out the play mat and blanket from the baby bag, spreading them out on the floor between the chairs, and he laid Torren down. Torren looked up at the sunset lighting above him and calmed finally into complete silence as he stared up at the display.
Kanaan offered him one of his favourite toys from the bag and the boy took it absently, far too interested in the colours above him. Kanaan sat back on one of the chairs and took a breath. He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out the last container. He opened the top and reached in to carefully, reverently, pull out one vial. He closed the container and returned it to his pocket. He had hoped there would be enough time, but he had little choice now. He looked down at his boy and took a steadying breath.
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Teyla could feel Lorne's eyes on her as she took his offered stunner, and she wrapped her hand tightly around the grip. Then she reached out for one of the spare sidearms. Lorne looked shocked, but Teyla had no time for this. Kanaan had run off with her son and she had no idea what her former lover was capable of doing now. He had been the one to turn off the signal and had attacked John, injecting him with Michael's experimental serum. What had else had he been doing all this time?
She took the sidearm from Lorne, checked the safety and tucked it into the back of her trousers. She turned and saw Ronon watching her. His eyes met hers and she saw much of her own fury in his eyes. Kanaan and Ronon had spent a reasonable amount of time together over the past year and it had pleased her to see them so friendly. Now, she felt that she should apologise somehow to him. He frowned at her as she approached.
"This isn't your fault," he stated.
She fell into step with him as they joined the perimeter around this section of the pier. "Of course it is," she replied. She should have known, she should have listened to her instincts that had told her something was wrong. Though, she would never have thought that this could have been a possibility. She had believed that Kanaan had been restored to himself following Michael's treatments, but it appeared that she had been wrong. She felt a burst of panic to think that there may be others among her people who had presenting a lie to the others. If only she could somehow reach them…warn them. Perhaps when this was over she might be able to convince Mr Woolsey to let her use the Atlantis gate to dial up her people back in Pegasus for even a brief moment in order to warn them. But, that was not important just now – now all that was important was stopping Kanaan and retrieving her son.
"Is he still in the same place?" Lorne asked over her shoulder as they reached the point where Rodney stood with his tablet and life signs detector.
"Yes, they're both still there," Rodney replied, his eyes turning to Teyla. She could see his worry for Torren and his sympathy for her. She nodded to him, but she could not invest in thinking about her emotions any further. All she could focus on right now was anger. She used it to fuel her thoughts and her body as they moved down the corridor.
"What is he likely to do?" Lorne asked her as they moved steadily forward, coordinated with two other teams approaching Kanaan from other directions, and a Jumper hovered over the pier just in case. With the city's outer exits on lockdown all the extra team on the Jumper could do right now was to enter the atrium from the outside balcony if it became necessary. However, Kanaan would see that clearly enough, so it was a backup plan only. But, at least for now the Jumper's crew were able to relay their observations through the tall atrium windows.
Teyla took a breath. "I do not know. The Kanaan I thought I knew would not do this. There is no way for me to predict what he will do," she replied.
"He has nowhere to go," Ronon stated with some satisfaction. "He knows that."
"That could make him very dangerous," Lorne noted as they reached the staircase.
"I can take him down easy," Ronon responded immediately.
"He has Torren though," Rodney pointed out from behind them.
Teyla drew a breath as she suppressed the panic. "I do not believe he will harm Torren," she suggested, but how could she really know that? "He has shown nothing but love and attention to our son," she added and she wasn't sure if it was to convince them or herself.
"Maybe something has happened to him recently?" Lorne suggested as they continued their way up the stairs.
"He has seemed nothing but happy lately," she replied wishing she understood why.
"Maybe something has changed in the last few months, something here on Earth?" Rodney said doubtfully as he puffed from behind them.
"Major Lorne, we are in position," one team reported over the radio.
"Do you have a visual?" Lorne asked, though they were almost to the top of the stairs now.
"Yes, he is sitting looking out of the window at the far end of the atrium just ahead of your entrance position."
"Team Beta are positioned on the second level below the atrium, we have a full view of the exit from his level," another voice reported.
"Everyone, hold your positions," Lorne replied as they reached the top of the stairs.
Teyla lifted her stunner up straight ahead of her as she and Lorne led the group forward and into the light of the atrium.
She saw Kanaan's back as the others had reported. He was seated at the far end but she could not see Torren. Where was her son?
------
"Look at his brain activity," Jennifer remarked.
Carson looked up from his readings to the screen and nodded his agreement. "The Ancient Junk DNA maybe?"
Jennifer nodded. "These levels are close to those we've seen for ascension," she muttered.
Carson glanced down to the computer as the latest blood test results appeared across the screen. "The level of catalysing agent isn't lowering."
Jennifer glanced at the screen with him. "It should have all been used up by now!"
"Unless he's now producing it himself…" Carson pondered.
Jennifer looked up at him. "You think Michael's experiment included something to trigger his body to produce the agent?"
Carson frowned as he tapped the screen to bring up the next screen of results – there was nothing helpful there. "Michael was struggling with ways to keep the hybrid DNA stable, maybe this is part of that experimentation," he suggested.
"Michael wanted Torren because he was a natural stable hybrid of a lesser degree," Jennifer replied.
Carson nodded as he looked up from the screen, through the window to where John lay still except for the occasional twitch. "In a way John is a hybrid as well, as I am, we have Ancient DNA in the form of the natural ATA gene, but what's happening to John implies that there are more genes inherited with it, shut down in the Junk areas of the DNA strands."
Jennifer gestured to the brain activity display. "It may be that the Ancient's abilities were passed on genetically and not simply a case of mediating and working towards ascension through study. We know from that machine that artificially pushed Rodney towards ascension that the DNA plays a large role in that process. Maybe the ability to ascend is still locked away in some of these inactive genes. We know humans can ascend with the help of Ancients, but maybe they passed the ability on to their descendants as well."
Carson nodded as he looked to the display himself. "But, John also has pieces of the Iratus DNA still, despite my past treatment. We have no idea what that will do." He bit his lip, yet again wishing that there were some way he could go back to when he had been treating John for the retrovirus.
"You couldn't have known this would happen, Carson," Jennifer offered. "We're still rather in the dark about how most of the active DNA works, let alone all that's locked away in the Junk DNA. We know most of it is old evolutionary leftovers, but who knows what else is mixed in. Maybe our future evolution is in there as well."
"I should have checked his DNA more thoroughly after he was infected with the retrovirus, but the treatment seemed to have worked, and the screens came back as normal," he muttered.
"Maybe the mutation of his Junk DNA occurred during the treatment process?" Jennifer suggested. "Maybe a side affect of using Iratus stem cells?"
Carson looked back at John as his mind ran through the possibilities. He watched as one of John's arms twitched. A long narrow patch of blue skin ran down the length of John's forearm, thicker towards his elbow, but there were no spines to his body as when he had been infected with the retrovirus. There were other blue patches across his face, and no doubt elsewhere across his body under his clothes, but again the change was still minimal. "The skin changes seemed to have slowed," he said thoughtfully. "He doesn't appear to be in pain anymore."
"His blood work suggests his immune system is settling, which could be a problem as it may mean it is no longer recognising anything wrong with his system."
Carson tilted his head as he ran his eyes back along John's forearm. He vividly remembered when the retrovirus had mutated John so dramatically – remembered the thick scaly skin John had developed. "Maybe, the Iratus DNA was similar to something he already had in his DNA," he pondered out loud. "Maybe old Junk genes humans no longer use are close to Iratus in some way and they mutated easily. Something from far back in our ancestry."
"But, the Iratus is a bug, as Colonel Sheppard put it. Human DNA doesn't code for anything insectoid…"
"If you go back far enough all life on Earth came from the same place, all life started out the same way and diverged into the different forms of life and different species from there," Carson pointed out.
"You're talking about some seriously old DNA," Jennifer replied.
"True, but the Wraith wouldn't have evolved if there wasn't some form of compatibility between Iratus and Human DNA."
Jennifer nodded her agreement. "True, but we're also adding Ancient DNA into the mix here as well. That's DNA from three different galaxies combining!"
"Though, ultimately all life, in at least the Milky Way and Pegasus, was seeded by the Ancients. And we know from those who visited the home galaxy of the Ancients, or whatever they were originally called, that life forms there are pretty much the same."
"This would be a fascinating area of study," Jennifer said and Carson nodded. "To look at the building blocks of life across three galaxies."
"In a way what's happening inside John - those three genetic origins clashing," Carson said.
"The body strives to find balance, for homeostasis. We have to hope that his body finds a way of dealing with the possible conflicts the genes have with each other without killing him in the process."
Abruptly the display screen beside them bleeped violently and they both looked up to see that all of John's brain activity had ceased. Panic and adrenaline pumped into Carson's system as he turned to the isolation room, the shout for a crash cart on his lips, but immediately he understood why the readings had stopped. John was no longer on the bed, the sensors previously monitoring his brain activity left abandoned.
John was abruptly on the other side of the glass from them, staring out at them, his hands pressed up against the glass. Jennifer had gasped beside Carson, the two of them stepping back in shock. John stared at them intently, his expression eerily blank.
Carson activated the intercom to the inside of the room. "John?" He edged forwards towards the glass, the memories of the retrovirus infected John from the past abruptly sharp and too close to what he was seeing now. As he moved closer, Jennifer beside him, he saw that John's eyes looked different, though the way they were fixed on him seemed to suggest intelligence. "John?"
John blinked as they neared and now Carson could see his eyes clearly – the dark central pupils of John's eyes had changed, no longer the normal circles, but now the pupils were cat shaped, Wraith shaped. The first thing Carson thought on that was whether that change had hurt John. His original green irises remained, but they now surrounded catlike pupils that stared out through the glass with that unsettling focus.
"Colonel Sheppard?" Jennifer asked as they moved closer to the window. "Can you understand me?"
John blinked and tilted his head slightly, and then nodded. Carson's tension eased slightly.
"Are you in any pain?" Jennifer asked next.
John looked away from them, towards the opposite glass wall of the isolation room, through which his team had stood before watching over him. John looked to the ceiling and then back to them.
"Teyla?" He asked. His voice sounded strange – the syllables slow and very soft, almost as if it was an effort for him to talk. Again it all reminded Carson a little too much of the retrovirus. But the question from John seemed to suggest his mind was working as it should and that he was worried about what he had told Teyla was good.
"She's gone after Kanaan, John," Carson told him. "She got your message."
John nodded slowly, and blinked equally as slowly. Hopefully his mind was working faster. "Do you know what's happened to you, John?" Carson pressed.
John wasn't looking at him though, he was looking around the isolation room like a man looking for a way out. "John?" Carson asked worriedly.
"Let…me out," John ordered in his soft voice as he turned back to them, his new eyes boring into them through the thin glass. There was a force to his voice that implied violence was on his mind.
Carson and Jennifer shared a quick look. Carson hoped that John's insistence to get out of the isolation room was due to his worry for his team members, for the Kanaan situation, and not that he was feeling trapped and generally violent.
"Colonel, they are handling the situation with Kanaan. The important thing is for us to help you return to yourself. Make you feel better," Jennifer explained slowly, having picked up on the slowness of John's responses as Carson had.
Carson had told Jennifer about the affects of the retrovirus that went beyond the simple reports she would have read. John's transformation back then had been terrifying. His strength and speed had been violent, and he had struggled to control the animal responses he had felt. Only the neural inhibitor had kept him lucid enough, for some of the time, to not hurt anyone too badly. They could not risk letting him out of the isolation room now. Carson wondered how strong the glass was.
"Torren?" John asked slowly, the word arriving abruptly, like he had struggled to speak again.
"Do not worry about them, John," Jennifer. "We need to worry about you right now." John frowned, the new blue shine to his eyebrows and temples making the frown seem darker and sterner. "Tell us how you're feeling," she asked.
A sound rather like a frustrated growl was their only reply as John looked away from the glass, his hands dropping to his sides. Carson noticed that John's fingernails were faintly blue.
"John, we need you to help us, we need to know what's going on," Carson pushed.
John seemed unwilling to let them help him, but that he was up and about was encouraging. It was also a little worrying, for what if the changes were stabilising which would mean that the point of no return would be fast approaching after which his genetic changes may be beyond the point of reversion. Carson tried to explain this to John, but it wasn't clear how much of it was getting through, for John seemed intent on studying the walls and ceiling. His attention finally turned to the Ancient doorway that kept the isolation room properly sealed
"John? Please, do you understand me?" Carson pushed. "We can't let you out, you may hurt someone." That made John pause, his strange eyes turning back to them. Carson pushed his advantage. "We need to understand what is happening to you."
John lifted his hands and Carson watched him look at the blue of his nails and arms. Carson would have expected fear on John's face, for Carson knew how the past retrovirus mutation had haunted him, but John's expression appeared to remain passive. He touched his hands to his face and neck, perhaps seeking out the thick skin and spines from last time.
"This is not the same as before, John," Carson explained to him. "This is something new. You were injected with something we think Michael developed." John's passive expression shifted into something very dark and another low growl could be heard over the radio link. Carson kept going. "It seems that we may have missed some of the retrovirus changes to your DNA from last time, and what you were injected with is reactivating it." John looked down at his hands again. "But, it also appears to be activating other parts of your normally dormant DNA, which are possibly linked to your Ancient gene. We're thinking that perhaps the ATA gene isn't the only change in a carrier's DNA, and these other Ancient genes are being activated as well." John didn't seem to react any further though, his attention shifting from his hands to the glass walls around him again.
"He may not be able to understand us properly, Carson," Jennifer said quietly.
"Yes, but remember his brain activity. The retrovirus before dulled his higher mental abilities, but perhaps the Ancient genes might keep him mentally alert," Carson suggested hopefully.
"Or it could be a confusing mix of the two, which is making it difficult for him to understand us completely," Jennifer added. She stepped up to the glass. "Colonel, we need you to lie back down and put the scanner's band back around your head, then we can see how this is affecting you. We may need to take more blood samples as well."
John looked from her to Carson and back, his slit eyes so strange that Carson had to wonder if Jennifer was right. "John, you need to work with us as long as you can."
John drew in a breath and then turned to look back towards the other window as if someone had suddenly called to him. "Kanaan," he muttered darkly.
"I know you want to help them catch him, but they would want you to be here," Carson reasoned, but John was walking towards the sealed doorway again. He moved slowly, his head moving as if he was listening to something. Carson saw the tension in his body building, as if he was preparing to run. "John?"
"Something…changing," John muttered.
"Yes, you're changing John, but it may be slowing now, or stopped. We need to treat you."
John looked back at them, his head snapping round so quickly that it startled Carson. "Let me out," he stated the aggressive order.
"You know we can not do that, Colonel," Jennifer pointed out.
John narrowed his eyes at them, almost as if he was straining at something, but with a frustrated sounded growl he turned back to the door, moving right up to it, his eyes sliding around the frame.
"He can't get out, right?" Jennifer whispered to Carson worriedly.
Carson shook his head. "It's a sealed room. The Ancients designed it…" A crash from inside the isolation room had them leaning against the glass to see that John had smashed his hand into the blank wall panel by the door. Carson remembered that temper from before. "He can't get out, there's no way," Carson muttered, but doubts began to crowd together – when was anything a sure thing in this city? He watched in horror as the isolation door slid open abruptly.
He heard shouting from the guards on the other side of the door, but as Carson ran around the corner towards them he heard stunners and then cursing. He got to see John's back disappearing through the wide open doors of the lab and the energy of a guard's stunner dissipating ineffectively over his back.
"Colonel Sheppard has escaped from the isolation area," a marine shouted over the radio.
It was all repeating itself again, but at least this time John hadn't attacked anyone yet.
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Teyla inched out into the atrium, her eyes fixed on Kanaan's back, but though he must surely have heard them approach he did not move. She exchanged a look with Lorne and Ronon from where they were leading the two teams fanning out around the atrium, working their way down towards the corner where Kanaan had trapped himself. It was almost as if he was waiting for them.
"Kanaan?" She called.
His head turned slightly and finally he looked over his shoulder towards her. His face was strangely pale and he did not look well. "Kanaan?" She asked, for a moment hoping that it was some virus or something else that had led him to behave like this.
"Hello, Teyla," he replied as he finally turned in his chair to face her, several metres still between them. Her eyes moved from his face to the area around the table, for she thought she heard Torren grumble. Her eyes passed over what looked like an empty syringe on the table.
"What have you done, Kanaan?" She demanded, her heart hammering in her chest. Had he done something to Torren? "Where is Torren?"
Kanaan looked down the floor beyond his chair. "He is here, playing happily," he replied as he bent down and suddenly Torren was in his arms and Teyla held still, as all the others in the atrium did. Teyla's eyes ran over her son and saw nothing that worried her. The little eyes met hers and she saw what looked like childlike confusion and he reached out towards her. The sight pulled at her heart, but she turned her eyes back to Kanaan as she edged slightly closer, but she was still far from them.
"Give Torren to me," she gently ordered.
Kanaan pulled Torren closer him, tucking him into his chest protectively. "He is fine with me, Teyla. I would never hurt him. He is too important." A new shiver of worry went through her to hear that, for she had heard it before from another.
She looked at Kanaan's face again and saw that his skin looked even paler than it had a few minutes ago. "What have you done to yourself, Kanaan?"
"I am becoming stronger once more," Kanaan replied.
"You mean like Michael made you," she guessed, for she had seen him look like this before.
Kanaan nodded. "Of course it is not exactly the same, but it is enough for now."
"Why, Kanaan?" She asked as she moved closer.
He stood up, the movement abrupt. Everyone around the atrium reacted as all the weapons retrained on Kanaan, but with Torren was in his arms they were all especially cautious. Teyla held out her free hand towards him and slowly lowered her stunner. "Just give Torren to me, Kanaan. You would not want him to be hurt."
"I am doing this for Torren, Teyla. For all of our people."
She frowned at him. "How is this helping them, Kanaan?" She asked confused.
"To stop the Wraith. Once the hybridisation is finished there will be no need for them to cull, and we will all be strong enough to stop them if they try."
Teyla knew her mouth had dropped open. "Those are Michael's words, Kanaan, not yours."
Kanaan moved forward, Torren held close to his chest. "Yes, and he is right. There are too many Wraith, Teyla. Through Michael's work we can finally stop the cullings."
"Michael was mad, Kanaan. He was responsible for killing thousands."
"And how many millions have the Wraith killed over the centuries? So many of our own people, your parents, mine, they all fed the Wraith. Now, the Wraith fear that killing humans will hurt them."
Teyla shook her head. "Kanaan, you know that they simply killed off populations that had become immune to their feeding. It made no difference, but to cost so many lives."
Kanaan moved towards her again. "No, Teyla, it did make a difference. It slowed the Wraith's culling and increased the battling between them. It was a horrible choice, but ultimately it will save millions in the future. When the offer of becoming a hybrid is presented to them, the Wraith will take it. They will no longer depend on humans to live. They will have a choice, like with Doctor Keller's treatment, if it had worked."
Teyla looked into Kanaan's eyes and saw that he truly believed what he was saying. "Kanaan, this is madness. Michael is dead and no one will ever become a hybrid again."
Kanaan paused, a little over a metre from her, and Torren waved his arms towards her, asking to be held. "No, Teyla. Michael lives."
Teyla looked up from her son and into Kanaan's eyes. For a moment she wondered if she was in one of her nightmares, for the return of Michael from the dead had been one of her most terrifying of thoughts. "No, Kanaan, he is dead. I saw him fall," she whispered back.
"You saw one of him fall," Kanaan replied.
"No," she whispered.
Kanaan smiled sadly, as if he was sorry to upset her. "He was a copy of Michael, like Doctor Beckett is of his former self."
"No," Teyla repeated. "You can not know that. You were not in the city that day," she added. And suddenly she realised how lucky that circumstance had been. Horror resurfaced with the realisation. "You helped him to invade Atlantis?"
Kanaan looked regretful for a moment. "I had to Teyla. I waited for the right time when a Jumper had left the city, then I visited our people and sent a message to Michael."
"He had planned to kill everyone in Atlantis," Teyla spat out, unable to believe that Kanaan had been involved in the events of that nightmarish day.
"The copies of Michael, they are not always entirely stable, due to the confusion of his DNA."
"Copies! How many are there?" She demanded.
"Enough," Kanaan replied.
"Where are they?" She asked fearfully.
"I do not know exactly. You have met at least two of them," he told her carefully before he stepped forward. "Teyla, please understand I did this to help save us all. Something needed to be done against the Wraith and despite how much they wanted to help, those from Earth are not capable. They have even stolen this city from our home galaxy, leaving everyone back there helpless with no defenders. We need to do something to help ourselves and Michael presented the best option."
Teyla shook her head. "No, Kanaan, this is far from the best option. You have betrayed our people, our son and me."
Kanaan looked pained at her words. "No, Teyla, I did this because I love you and our people. And our son was the way to help them even further."
Another cold realisation hit her at that. All thoughts of her plan to reach for Torren floated away as she looked up at Kanaan through her shock. She tried to speak for a moment, but no words came to her. She was vaguely aware that Ronon had made his way around the atrium and was approaching Kanaan slowly from behind, just passing the table with the empty syringe upon it. But, all she could think of was what Kanaan had said. "You planned this…before Torren…"
Kanaan looked down to Torren who was crying now in quiet unhappy whimpers. She watched in horror as Kanaan held their son closer, his unnaturally pale cheek against their son's head, as he bounced him gently in his arms and the cries lessened. Kanaan looked back up at her. "I have always loved you, you know that. For so many years I have wanted for you to love me in return, since we were children. It was only after we had been together for months that Michael approached me."
Teyla shook her head. "Which explains why I became pregnant despite our precautions."
Kanaan took another step towards her. "I took one ingredient out of your tea, only one, hoping that we could create a child together."
The deep sense of betrayal she had felt before now was swamped by this revelation. "You have tricked me from the beginning."
"No, Teyla! I love you and I love our son. I did this to help make you safe, to create a world in which our family could be safe and strong. I would never hurt you," he insisted.
"You are hurting me," she argued. "You betrayed me, Kanaan, and I should have known."
"Are you so unhappy with our son? Did you not want him?" Kanaan spat. "We made him together out of love, not for Michael, but for us."
She shook her head, "No, Kanaan, you will not use our son against me that way." Horrible facts were all patch-working together – thoughts and wonderings over the last year that she had simply ignored or believed to be her fate and destiny at work. She had been so wrong.
"Our son is special, even if he had no great genetic strength. You would hate me because I wanted us to have a family?"
"You made him for Michael," she said back as she shook her head. "I should have seen it all this time. How did Michael know I was pregnant with your child after our people were taken? Because you had planned it with him. Did he wait till he knew I carried Torren before he took our people?" She could not believe how blind she had been. "And my escape from Michael's ship – Michael let us go, didn't he? He only left one guard on my door and even after it became clear that my team were on board his ship he didn't send guards to find me. He let us leave, with you. He stole our Jumper, but did not wait to capture us when we tried to find it." It was as if she had been blind before and now new knowledge flooded into its place. The past looked upon with new eyes.
Kanaan looked away, his gaze sliding to his shoulder, indicating he was well aware of Ronon's presence behind him. "Michael's copies are rather unstable, some more lucidly in control than others. One in particular was obsessed with keeping you as well as Torren. I tried to convince Michael that the best place for our son was with us, and when the opportunity arose for those of Atlantis to be deceived into thinking Michael dead so that he could continue his work without interruption we took it. He had taken his scans of Torren before the birth and took samples from both of you." He looked back at Teyla moving closer to her. "Once I saw Torren, Teyla, our son." He looked down at Torren in his arms. "I was even more convinced in my decision. We can help save our people."
"And how many died at Michael's hands, Kanaan?" She demanded.
"I wish I could bring them back, but I cannot. Michael's ways, especially that copy that died in this city, were not the best, but the final result is important."
"You are no better than the Wraith, Kanaan," Teyla stated. "You may not have killed our people yourself, but you are responsible."
He barely hid the impact of her words as he looked over his shoulder towards Ronon. "Surely you understand, Ronon? To use any means possible to stop the Wraith. Would you turn down the chance to be as strong as them and to take away their ability to feed on us?"
Ronon sneered along the sight of his weapon and Teyla saw his finger shift on the trigger. It was only Torren's presence in Kanaan's arms that was holding everyone back from stunning Kanaan. If Teyla could get closer she would be able to catch Torren when Ronon stunned Kanaan. She inched closer.
Suddenly the sound of stunner fire vibrated down the atrium and Teyla moved towards Kanaan, but he dodged aside so quickly that she almost lost her footing. As she righted herself she saw the burst of energy ahead of her and saw Ronon collapse to the ground. Confused she looked past him, past the sight of Lorne collapsing under stunner fire, and someone else stepped out of the shadows.
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TBC