A/N: For some odd reason, after writing this chapter I had a craving for Spam for about three days ... :)

VI: On Survival, Spam, and Little Voices

Elizabeth walked with us and the second we left the infirmary I saw Ronon leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and his perpetual faint smirk lighting his face. He straightened up and just fell into step next to me, but his attention was focused on Shadow. Shadow returned the scrutiny. He didn't say anything until we'd gone halfway down the hall. "I was supposed to be sparring with Cadman this morning, but she was too distracted," Ronon said, his deep voice not reflecting the amusement that was there in his face. "She kept giggling and saying something that sounded like 'naked Colonel'. After the third time I knocked her off her feet she excused herself to go take a shower. Don't know why – she hadn't worked up a sweat at all." He glanced down at me, then at Shadow. "Do you know what she was talking about?" He kept a better deadpan than Lorne, but I could just see he knew damn well what Cadman had been talking about.

I heard Elizabeth cough and I glanced behind me. "See what I mean?"

"Who is Cadman?" Shadow asked.

"Tripped over the plant," I growled and heard Elizabeth cough again.

"Oh," Shadow replied, then grinned briefly. We were at the lift and Elizabeth excused herself. As the doors closed and we continued down the hall, Shadow glanced past me at Ronon. "You are the warrior that came to my world before," he said.

Ronon nodded. "And you are the new Guardian," he rumbled back.

"I am." The corner of Shadow's mouth quirked up a fraction. "Xelu and Kelu wish you would return for a visit. They enjoyed your company last time."

So, those must be the twins, I thought. And judging from the slow smile that lit Ronon's face as I glanced at him, my guess was correct. "They were very energetic."

Shadow chuffed. "Yes, they keep me busy."

My eyebrows shot up and I turned my head towards Shadow. His ears actually turned red and he lowered his head, but it didn't hide the wicked grin. "Well, I did ask you if things were functional," I said and shook my head. "But, damn …." Make me feel old, I thought as we got to the transporter. Ronon joined us, and he was smirking as he sized up the kid in a new light. Jeez. "Pace yourself, kid." I touched the screen and a second later we were exiting the transporter in a tower over on the west pier. A short walk later we were outside and Shadow couldn't contain himself. He ran over to the edge of the pier while Ronon and I followed at a leisurely pace.

When we finally joined him, Shadow was crouched down on the balls of his feet and staring intently at the waves nearly thirty feet below. The sea was pretty calm today – the spray from the waves hitting the pier was barely reaching us. He swiveled on his feet and looked up at me. "Do you swim here?"

"Naw – it's a little too exposed out here." I gestured back towards the city. "Some people do swim in the bays, but there's a completely sheltered area under the main tower that they use. I prefer the surf off the mainland, myself – water's a little warmer."

"Could we go there?" he asked.

"I could probably arrange that," I said. "You up to another Jumper flight?"

Shadow thought about it for a moment before he nodded. He swiveled back around, sat, and we spent a quiet few minutes just watching the waves. Shadow yawned again before he said, "I like the sound, but it's going to put me to sleep." He got to his feet and shook his head. "I usually sleep this time of day."

I realized his schedule must really be off because of these past few days. "You want to go back inside? I can show you the guest quarters."

First he nodded, then he shook his head. "I want to see more of the city – sleep can wait." We started walking back to the tower. "Perhaps I can try some of that coffee the loud one spoke of."

Ronon snorted. "Must be McKay," he rumbled. I nodded. You know, I think I might start referring to him as that, too. "Would you like to spar later?" Ronon asked Shadow.

"Spar?"

"Fighting practice," I said as we stepped back into the tower.

Shadow lifted his eyebrow in understanding. Then he frowned. "No, I don't fight."

Ronon laughed, but when Shadow remained frowning he said, "You're joking, right?" At Shadow's head shake he just stared at him. "But your people have weapons. Surely you practice with them."

"We do, but we use them to hunt. And I know how to use a bow and blow gun, but I prefer to use my teeth and claws for that task."

"But you have enemies, do you not? The giant birds, the big cat …."

"I can defend myself if the need arises, yes," Shadow replied. "But that is different than fighting. There used to be warfare among my people, but that was well over seven hundred years ago. They devote their energy now to just staying alive in the jungle – they do not need to waste their energy learning how to kill each other." Shadow's voice had lowered, and even though his face remained calm I could see the anger simmering just beneath the surface.

"Then how do you keep the Wraith from destroying your people if you don't fight?" The concept obviously had Ronon buffaloed.

"The Temple protects us," Shadow said. "And since our numbers have remained small since the great city fell, the Wraith take few when they come. I believe it is too much work for so little a return for them, especially since there are richer worlds for them to plunder." The corner of his mouth rose in an ironic smirk.

We stopped in front of the transporter and Ronon wasn't going to let it go. "But the Temple can't protect your people forever. What if it fails? How will you survive then? Hide?" he sneered.

"There is a good chance the Nixtahuec will be long gone before that happens," Shadow said quietly. "And different peoples have different definitions of 'survival'."

That stopped Ronon short. His definition of survival for seven years was to kill or be killed. He had absolutely no choice in the matter as the Wraith hunted him for sport, and that definitely colored his perception of the universe. Even after a more than a year with us I could tell he still struggled with the idea of being able to live without constantly looking over his shoulder. It was really evident in the way he ate his meals - all hunched over the food like he was expecting someone to steal it away and sitting on the edge of his chair like he needed to bolt at a moment's notice. He started to open his mouth but I held up a hand and shook my head faintly. Ronon held his hands to his dreds for a second like he was trying to keep the top of his head from exploding, then lowered them with a disgusted sigh. When we stepped into the transporter he crossed his arms and kept looking at Shadow and shaking his head.

I zapped us back to the main tower and Ronon headed back to the gym. As we headed down the hall Shadow glanced over his shoulder. "He thinks I'm weak because I don't fight."

"No he doesn't," I said.

"He does – I can see it in his eyes."

"Eh, don't let it bother you."

Shadow shrugged. "It doesn't. But I doubt he can kill an Ixlatecutl with his teeth."

"No, but I bet he'd try." And sadly enough, I could picture it without any problem whatsoever.

We stopped by Katie's lab before lunch with the intention of a brief tour. They were unpacking the samples from his world when we arrived, and he helped with organizing them. At one point he even had me snipping stems and getting clippings settled in our small hydroponics lab with the rest of the botanists. I got a lot of smiles from the other scientists, and truth be told, I kind of had fun. Shadow was obviously in his element, and by the time we left he had charmed them all out of their socks. We were over an hour late for our lunch with Elizabeth, but knowing how wrapped up she got into her work she probably didn't even notice.

Sure enough, when we showed up at her door she said, "Is it that time all ready?"

"Yup," I said. We stepped into her office and Shadow immediately started checking out the masks on the wall.

"Those were gifts from the people on ML9-642," Elizabeth said. She closed the lid to her laptop, but not before I caught a glimpse of cards. She saw my raised eyebrows and grinned sheepishly.

"I like them," Shadow replied. Then he was distracted by the figurines on her desk. He picked one up, smiled faintly as he set it back down, then was checking out the carved wooden round-box Teyla had given her awhile back.

Elizabeth watched him with an amused glint in her eyes. He was like a little kid – everything he looked at he had to touch. At least he wasn't sniffing things. I'm not so sure I could handle that. "So, Shadow, are you ready to try our food?" she asked as she pushed away from her desk and stood up.

"I'm looking forward to trying coffee," he said and grinned. Now that we were in the brighter lights of Elizabeth's office I could see some hellacious circles under his eyes. I bet mine were a match.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to get him hooked on that?" she said to me, one eyebrow raised.

I waved that off. "Eh, he should be fine. He has a fruit on his world that packs a meaner punch than anything Starbuck's could make any day."

Elizabeth nodded in understanding. Then she glanced sideways at Shadow. "Is that what Rodney ate?"

Shadow and I both nodded. "He ate three – we seldom eat more than half of one," Shadow replied. "Two can keep one of my people awake for as many days." Well, that explains why I was still wide awake, I thought.

"Well, Rodney has built up quite the tolerance to caffeine. I'm sure he'll crash sooner than that."

"Especially if he accepts any pudding from Carson," I muttered as we left the office. At Elizabeth's raised eyebrow I replied, "He threatened to lace some with Valium. I'd like to see that."

Elizabeth didn't seem to keen on the idea of our CMO lacing somebody's food with a sedative. But then it was Rodney we were talking about, and she lost her frown and nodded thoughtfully.

Our trek through the 'Gate Room wasn't nearly as eventful as before. We still got a few stares, but now that Shadow wasn't nearly naked they seemed more subtle. The walk down the hall was uneventful, but heads were still popping out of doorways as if Atlantis was suddenly infested with a bunch of really big wall dwelling alien gophers. There was a brief moment of silence when we stepped into the mess, but it quickly disappeared as conversation returned to a normal level. And it was without a doubt we were the topic, because all eyes kept flitting to us. Jesus, it was like high school all over again, without the zits and braces.

I grimaced as I turned my back to them and picked up a tray and handed it to Shadow. "Okay, kid, there's a trick to our food," I said as I stocked his tray with silverware before I grabbed one for myself. "If it has Spam in it, it's probably safe. The stuff has a thousand and one uses and almost always edible. Deep fried stuff is good, steamed, eh, not so much." I grabbed a couple turkey sandwiches and set those on our trays. "If it's swimming in a lot of gravy, watch out - it's probably there to disguise this week's serving of 'near deer' and they couldn't think of any other way to prepare it." That got a scowl from the woman behind the hot table and a raised eyebrow from Shadow. "I'll explain later." I had her dish Shadow up some mashed potatoes – they're usually safe - and a sample of the Spam casserole with green beans. It smelled pretty good today, so I got a helping, too. "And most importantly, try to avoid anything with the word 'surprise' in it. That usually means the cooks had leftovers and are experimenting. The results at times can be very, very frightening." I got another scowl. "Oh, you know it's true – don't deny it," I said with a grin. She rolled her eyes and reluctantly nodded.

"You forgot something very essential," Elizabeth said as she got her usual salad and fruit cup. "Ranch dressing can make anything edible."

"And ketchup or Tobasco," I added. Elizabeth grimaced. "Hey, it's a guy thing."

Shadow was listening intently and I wasn't sure, but he looked a little scared. He lifted his tray and dubiously sniffed the Spam casserole.

"Here, this is very good," Elizabeth said and set a fruit cup on his tray. "I think you'll like it."

"And here is the best part of our food," I said as we got to the end of the line. "Dessert!" They had the usual assortment of Jello and pudding cups, as well as lemon bars and angel food cake with whipped cream. I grabbed one of each. We didn't have room on our trays for drinks so I decided to come back.

"I don't know if I can eat all of this," Shadow said as we walked over to a table.

"Don't worry about it – try it, what you don't like, don't eat it. If Rodney shows up later, he can finish it for you." I set my tray down and Shadow sat across from me. Elizabeth set hers next to mine. "I'll be right back." I went and got a couple bottles of water, a couple different fruit juices, and two cups of coffee. I stuck a handful of sugars and creamers in my pocket, and on my way back to the table got a lot of funny looks.

When I got back to the table Elizabeth was showing Shadow how to use a fork. He still hadn't tried anything yet – he was still sniffing things and at one point poked his mashed potatoes with a finger. I set the coffee down then unloaded the bottled drinks. I pushed one of the tin cups towards him. "I drink my coffee black, um, plain. Some people like cream or sugar in theirs." I emptied my pocket and showed him which was which.

Shadow picked up the cup and took a sniff before a hesitant sip. He made a great face – nose wrinkled and mouth slightly open. "It's bitter." Then we started experimenting, and by the time he got it to a point he liked he had dumped two sugars and five creamers in it. "I think I will stick with tinu – this takes too much preparation before it is drinkable."

To each his own, I thought as I took a sip of my coffee. "Well, dig in." I picked up my sandwich and after a bite really missed the cold Jubjub I had for breakfast.

The kid tried his sandwich as well, and after a few hesitant chews nodded. "This tastes like Ixlatecutl," he said around a bite. He ate half then decided to try the Spam casserole. He held his fork for a moment and watched Elizabeth as she used hers, then speared a piece of Spam. He sniffed it again before sticking it in his mouth. He looked so serious as he chewed I had to glance over at Elizabeth. She was hiding her own grin behind her water at the moment. "What animal does this meat come from?" Shadow asked after he swallowed.

"Um, I'm not really sure," I said. "I think it's pork." I glanced at Elizabeth.

"Don't ask me – I've never looked that closely at the label."

"I'm pretty sure it's pork."

"Don't your people hunt it?"

"Um, no." I suddenly had an image of stalking the elusive Spam through a forest, complete with an Australian narrator, and almost choked. "Most of our food is raised on farms and ranches, then sent away to be processed and packaged and sent to grocery stores, and …." Shadow was looking kind of lost. I glanced at Elizabeth. "Help me out here."

"We have a section of our society that specializes in providing food – either growing it or raising the animals. Then another group processes and prepares it for sale to the rest of the people. Our numbers are simply just too large for each family to provide for itself, like your people do."

Shadow frowned as he cocked his head and got an inward look, like he was trying to remember something. Then his eyebrows rose. "Ah, I understand now. When Mixtahuaxutec - the city - was at height it had to have food imported from outlying areas to support the population. The people then bought it at the market."

"Exactly," I said and gave Elizabeth a thankful smile. When I turned back Shadow was nodding as he enthusiastically shoveled it in. Guess he likes Spam. He was a little more civilized about it that Ronon was, but not by much. At least he was using the fork. The mashed potatoes followed a moment later, and when he finished those off he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Then he licked his hand in such a cat-like motion it made Elizabeth and me both freeze. Shadow noticed us and paused, his eyebrows raised. "We, ah, use napkins for that," Elizabeth said and somewhat sheepishly and wiped her own mouth.

Shadow offered a faint crooked smile and picked his napkin up. He wiped his hand off, then his face.

"Well, Ronon doesn't," I said. "Even after all this time. And there's a few of the Marines I'm not so sure about." I had a faint crooked smile as I popped the last of my sandwich in my mouth. I tried a bite of the casserole. "Oh, hey – they did do a good job on it this time," I said around a mouthful. I reached for my water, and I saw Shadow watching me as I opened the bottle. Then he did the same with his water.

Shadow was hunched over, elbows on the table and chewing the last of his sandwich, when he suddenly went completely still and his eyes dilated a fraction. His head swiveled slowly as he tracked someone walking behind me. Then the corner of his mouth twitched up as well as one eyebrow and he lifted his chin and nodded at whoever it was. I had to turn around to see who he was hitting on – I knew that was exactly what he was doing – and saw one of the newer scientists to come to Atlantis. She had long, dark wavy hair and dark eyes that were huge at the moment. Oh yeah, I'd noticed her before, too, and I caught myself before I did the same thing Shadow did just a second ago. She flushed crimson and hurried off with her tray. When I turned back around I saw Shadow was still watching her until she sat. He turned back to his food with a little grin on his face. Then I heard Elizabeth clear her throat, and when I glanced at her she rolled her eyes, but a little amused smirk showed a second later. Okay, that was, um, embarrassing.

We pretty much ate the rest of our lunch in silence after that. The kid wound up polishing off everything except the lemon bar and the Jello, and I took care of those, and when he got to the angel food cake he looked like he'd died and gone to heaven. I even went back and snagged a couple more pieces, and as he devoured the second piece that little fur ripple went down his neck. "I'm not sure which I like more," he said as he wiped up the last of the whipped cream with a finger. "This or the cake. They are both wonderful." He licked his finger, and as his eyes half closed I saw that third eyelid again. That freaked me out a little bit. He looked at Elizabeth. "What exactly is 'angel food', and is it difficult to procure? Because I would like to trade, if it is available."

Elizabeth barely held in a laugh. "I'm sorry - it isn't an actual food," she said and smiled. "It's more of a description, because the cake is so light and airy." When he started to look crestfallen she did let out a little chuckle.

"I'm sure if I talked to our cooks we can get you a cake or two to take back home," I said.

"And the …." He gestured to the barely visible smear on his plate.

"Whipped cream? Sure. We could probably arrange that."

Shadow grinned happily.

Elizabeth left us after we all dropped off our trays. She had Shadow promise to come see her before he left to discuss trading arrangements for fresh produce and meat. Man, once the people here get a taste of Jubjub, they're going to shun any near deer in the future. I made arrangements to take a Jumper out first thing in the morning and we went wandering down to the labs. At first I didn't want to take him into Rodney's main lab, but when we heard the shouting I figured we would be a good diversion for the rest of the staff. We stood in the doorway for a few minutes and watched as Rodney, red faced, stomped around and ranted about the deplorable condition the lab was in after only being gone one day, and the half dozen lab techs were all at their stations, heads down. I glanced around and honestly couldn't tell any difference from my previous visits.

Shadow leaned close to me. "He reminds me of a small primate back on my world," he said. "Even the coloring is similar. Very territorial beast – makes a lot of noise when you cross its boundary and scares away the game. When it gets to that state of agitation, it usually starts pelting my hunters with fecal matter." I snorted and thanked God Rodney didn't do that. Especially now while under the influence of too much tinu. Shadow continued. "We use them for blow gun practice at that point. We don't eat them – the meat is too stringy and tough. Not in the least bit edible."

I think Miko heard Shadow, because she turned around and blinked at us. Her usually huge eyes behind her glasses got even wider and her mouth opened into a startled 'o'. I bet she thought that was me speaking. Rodney whipped around. "Huh, I should have known. Have they started issuing the heavy-duty rebreathers yet? I haven't heard any quarantine alarms." Now that he was turned around I noticed he looked like hell. He was pale, but he wasn't sweating, and he had a gleam in his eyes that was slightly more manic than normal.

"Jeez, McKay, you look like shit," I said.

Rodney grimaced. "Please, do not say that word in my presence right now. I had to take the heavy duty stuff, and needless to say, a part of my body was about ready to secede from rest before it finally kicked in. Then Carson had the audacity to try to slip me something in some pudding. Can you believe that? What a sad, sorry waste of some perfectly good pudding." Then he suddenly stopped, and one hand came up and rather twitchily pointed at Shadow. "Wait, wait, wait – did you just compare me to a, a monkey?"

Shadow grinned and nodded. "A xuc." The way he said it made it sound like he was trying to clear something nasty from the back of his throat, and for a brief panicky second I imagined him going into a full body spasm and horking up a hairball. But he didn't, halle-fucking-lujah, and by now everyone had turned around and was staring at him in open wonder.

"You should have eaten the pudding," I said.

Rodney jutted out his jaw. "I am perfectly fine. Just a little – tense." From behind him I could see Miko and some of the others shaking their heads and had to struggle not to snort. Then in the next instant he giggled and said, "I heard Cadman tripped over a planter. Is that true?" We nodded. "Damn, I missed it. Oh well, I can hack into the security server later and get a copy."

"Um, Rodney – you said that last part out loud, and it bothers me," I said seriously. "Did you mean to?"

"Um, no," Rodney said, eyes huge.

I sighed. Then I narrowed my eyes. "Did Carson clear you for duty?"

"Yes," he answered abruptly and I just knew Carson hadn't.

"All right, you're coming with us," I said. When he just settled back and jut his jaw out, I glanced at Shadow. "Help me out here, kid." We both descended on Rodney and each grabbed him by the upper arm. "God damn, McKay, you haven't even showered yet."

Shadow wrinkled his nose as we marched him to the door. "You smell like a xuc." He leaned forward enough so he could see me. "Did I mention the xuc nest in the tinu trees? That explains their attitude …."

"Oh, har har," Rodney said as he broke free from our grasp. "I see a juvenile sense of humor is something that can't be genetically corrected." We were in the hall by now, and when he turned to go back into the lab we had the way blocked.

"Oh, no you don't. Off duty," I said and pointed down the hall.

Rodney straightened his shirt. "My computer is still in there." There was a shuffling from inside the lab and a second later a hand shot out of the door holding his computer. Rodney took it and glared back into the lab. "I'll remember this, Johannsen."

"I'm sure you will," I muttered and made shooing motions down the hall. "Go. My eyes are burning."

Shadow sneezed, and when Rodney glared at him he just shrugged as he rubbed his nose. Rodney rolled his eyes and started stomping down the hall. We stayed right with him, and before we rounded the corner I glanced back and saw everyone from the lab was wandering out into the hallway and staring at Shadow. I gave them a quick wave and cheesy little grin.

"So, have you two been leaving a trail of swooning women and chaos in your wake?" Rodney said with a smirk.

I frowned and shook my head.

"Huh, sticking to the back halls and deserted sections of the city, I take it?"

"Actually, we've been to the west pier, the botany labs, and the cafeteria," I said as we stepped into the transporter. "You missed Spam casserole."

Rodney glanced at his watch. "Damn!"

"And angel food cake with whipped cream," Shadow added wistfully. He glanced at me. "Will there be more later?"

"I'm pretty sure," I said.

Rodney was looking at Shadow. "Did you get to try the pudding? Because the pudding cups are really good – especially when they're not tampered with by glorified veterinarians, that is." At Shadow's nod Rodney grinned crookedly. "Hmm. I could really go for some pudding right now. Oooo, some of that chocolate with the fudge layer on top." As we left the transporter and escorted Rodney to his room he kept going on about pudding. "Now the layered puddings are good, too – chocolate/vanilla, chocolate/butterscotch, the chocolate/chocolate kind of defeated the purpose, however. The trick to eating those is to get an even distribution of the layers on your spoon so the flavors create a wonderful kaleidoscope of taste in your mouth. Then there are some people with hair gel addictions who insist on eating them a layer at a time, which is so totally not the point. If you're going to do that then quit wasting time and just get the individual flavors."

I just rolled my eyes and Shadow had his eyebrows crooked worriedly as he watched Rodney babble out of the corner of his eyes. Yeah, if you're not used to it I bet it is rather alarming to witness, especially when he's wired.

"I can't believe I missed the Spam casserole," Rodney continued without a break from the subject of pudding. "Now the cooks have several variations. The best is with the green beans, the broccoli – eh, not so much. And avoid the concoction with spinach at all costs. Then there was the travesty with the lima beans, and let's just say after I was through with them they will never consider that combination ever again. It, it, it, it was just sick and wrong. Oooo, the Spam stew is amazing – maybe they'll serve that while you're here - and Spam and scalloped potatoes. And if there are leftovers of that they make Spam chowder." Rodney sighed. And in the next instant he was grimacing. "Remember when they tried Spam scampi?" he said and looked at me.

My stomach did a slow roll at the memory. "It was hard to forget."

Rodney nodded. "The smell stayed in the city for days and they never would give me the name of the freak who came up with that one. And let me tell you, he would have stayed ionized for a year. Fried Spam sandwiches with deli mustard are good, so is Spam and macaroni and cheese. Huh, I wonder if they could make Spam ravioli? Don't you think that would be good? It sounds good."

We had reached the door to his quarters and the second the door opened I pushed him in. "Go shower, Spameril." I closed the door on his protest and looked at my watch. I sauntered to the other side of the hall, eyes still on my watch, and leaned against the wall. I could see Shadow watching me out of the corner of my eye and I just waved at him to join me. Forty-seven seconds and a new record later Rodney's door opened and he had taken two steps down the hall before he registered us standing there. I crossed my arms.

"I was just, um, checking, ah …. Crap." He turned around and went back into his quarters.

I sighed heavily. "He normally doesn't require this much supervision," I said apologetically to Shadow. "How much longer do you think it'll be before he crashes?"

Shadow leaned against the wall, too. "His scent is still pretty heavy with tinu. It could be hours yet."

"Crap." I still wasn't very tired yet from just the one, but I was starting to get that slightly floating, disjointed feeling you get with cold medicine. I scrubbed my face hard then ran my hand back through my hair. "Well, get comfortable – I think we'll have to drag him along with us just to keep him out of trouble."

Shadow yawned as he slid down the wall and sat, his arms on his upraised knees. "I think I will close my eyes while we wait." He put his forehead on his arms, and I swear within four breaths he was sound asleep. Damn, kind of gives a new meaning to cat nap.

Not quite twenty minutes later Rodney came back out, a half eaten Powerbar in his hand. He hadn't shaved, but at least I couldn't smell him from ten feet away. He blinked and said, "You still here?"

Shadow's head snapped up and he blinked a few times before he yawned.

"Yeah." And as much as I really hated to say the next part, "Want to join us?"

Rodney grimaced crookedly. "Wow, can you contain that enthusiasm there? It could be catching. Don't want Carson coming after us with tainted pudding, now, do we?" He shoved half of the remainder of his Powerbar in his mouth.

I sneered at him. "I figured you wouldn't mind. After all, you do know the city better than anyone." That's it, stroke the ol' ego.

Rodney gave is head that twitchy, waggle/nod. "Well, yes, I do."

Shadow stood and stretched, hands in the small of his back, and we both heard a few faint pops and snaps. "I am curious about how your city handles its water supply," he said to Rodney. "Especially since the ocean outside is obviously salty."

"Well, I can show you that," Rodney said and sounded a little surprised. "We can access that system from the Chair Room."

"Chair room?" Shadow asked.

"Yes." Rodney frowned. "That's right – your lab didn't have one. Come on – you'll like this. It gives access to the every system in the city with just a thought."

As we started down the hall I seriously wondered if showing Shadow how to gain access to the entire city was a good thing. Then I just wrote that off as the paranoid head of security part of my brain putting in its two-cents worth. Besides, I seriously doubt Rodney would put Shadow in the chair. I mean, he can activate the thing – it takes him a moment, but he can bring things up. He can't make it sing and dance like I can, but still – he wouldn't put him in the thing, would he? We do have protocols. I was about to say something to Rodney when Shadow's next words distracted me.

"I can do that with the Temple," he said.

Rodney stopped dead in his tracks. "You, you can? Where?"

"Down in control," Shadow replied. He stopped, too, and turned to face us. "I'm the first to have access since the Ancients deserted the place." He delivered the words plainly, but I caught a glimpse of fang again. "It makes monitoring the 'Gate much easier. Before we used to have a watcher, but now the second it activates, I know." He tapped his temple. "Up here."

"You … you interface directly with the lab?" Rodney asked. He appeared equal parts fascinated and ill, and I don't think it was from side effects of the tinu.

The revelation just made me feel … ill. And a tiny bit pissed. "When you said you had direct access, you weren't kidding," I said quietly.

"And the other Guardians, they didn't," Rodney said, one hand flapping up near his temple.

Shadow shook his head. "I suspect the information download at the end of the cloning process caused an anomaly due to the – what did Dr. Beckett call it?" His eyebrows raised briefly. "The ATA gene. I didn't know what was happening at first – shortly after I … woke I would get very ill with terrible headaches because of this constant 'noise' in my head. It wasn't until I was in the control room one day and accidentally activated the master display that the noise began to abate. No, abate isn't the correct word." He frowned as he thought for a moment. "Organize? Unify? No – structuralize. It took some time to become used to it, and now it is just …." He frowned again. "Background noise." He shrugged and offered a slightly sheepish grin. "I am enjoying the quiet at the moment."

"Can you, um, 'hear' anything from Atlantis?" I asked curiously.

Shadow cocked his head and his eyes got far away. Then his eyebrows furrowed. "No. But there is a … presence."

"Oh, that is just so wild," Rodney said as he glanced around nervously.

"When your people came through the 'Gate the other day, I knew." Shadow took in a deep breath. "I could also feel it when they accessed the lab, and since I had no idea who it was, or if the villagers were safe, I forced my hunters back early from our search."

That gave me a little twinge of guilt.

"Out of curiosity, have you mentioned any of this to Carson?" Rodney asked.

Shadow shook his head. "That is why I had him run so many scans – I was hoping your equipment might be able to pick up a physical reason for my … link. I even compared brain activity between myself and Dr. Beckett, but didn't detect anything out of the ordinary."

"Huh, now that bit of information I don't find entirely too unsurprising," Rodney muttered and popped the last of his Powerbar in his mouth. He started down the hall and chewed as he thought. We fell into step next to him, and by the time we hit the lift he said, "I don't know about actually putting you in the Chair – don't want the city to suddenly decide to directly interface with you and make your brains leak out of your ears from the overload."

"That would be bad," I muttered.

"But we can put the Colonel in the chair; then that would be okay."

I thought nothing of the comment, until I saw Rodney's smirk. "Hey!" We stepped into the lift. "And you call me an asshole."

On the way to the Chair Room Rodney insisted on a detour to the cafeteria. He was too late for any leftover casserole, but he did snag a couple peanut butter and banana sandwiches and the rest of the chocolate pudding cups. He even managed to get another piece of angel food cake for Shadow, and the kid helped him carry his booty.

We got to the room after a walking feeding frenzy that was awesome to behold, and shortly after I parked my butt in the chair I discovered something more effective than a white noise machine and a full body massage for putting someone out like a light – geek technobabble on the variances between desalination of seawater and the extraction of sulfur dioxide from volcanic leach water. Or something to that effect - after the third time I nodded off and was nearly flung from the chair as it disengaged I excused myself. The tinu was wearing off and I was crashing hard, and sitting still was just not helping matters. Shadow appeared a little panicked at the prospect of being left alone with Rodney, but I assured him the easiest way to keep him out of trouble was to point at some random reading or chart or graph and say, "Oh, hey, that's interesting," and the man would be occupied for hours. That didn't seem to help Shadow's state of mind. As a matter of fact I saw his eyes dilate a bit and his breathing speed up. I thought about taking him out into the hall and showing him a sleeper hold for emergencies, but decided that was probably not a good idea - we actually did need all of Rodney's brain cells whole and functioning.

"If he gets too out of hand, just say you have an appointment with Elizabeth to discuss trade issues. That should shut him down."

Shadow smiled faintly, and I wasn't sure if it was the prospect of talking to Elizabeth or shutting Rodney up.

"And if you do go talk to her, make sure Carson knows he's running around unsupervised. Okay?"

"I will," Shadow replied. We were by the door and he glanced at Rodney. "Since he has eaten, the smell of tinu is starting to weaken. Hopefully he will be coming down soon."

"Good," I said and stifled a yawn that damn near made me drool. "Remember, the key is 'distraction'. Come get me for dinner." I patted Shadow on the shoulder and wandered off. He should be okay. I hope.

I made arrangements with Carpenter to borrow his surf board in the morning and a detour by the armory to see if we had any spare wetsuits for Shadow to use before I finally made it to my own quarters. I didn't even bother taking my radio headpiece off – I just flopped down on my back and after a few tinu-induced bed spins I was out.