A/N: Well, the opening scene has been Jossed now... and I can't tell you how glad I am of that! I didn't think the Foglios would go the heavy-duty tragic route, but it was worryingly within the realm of canon possibility until this week's pages. Still, I'm keeping this story within the AU I've established on the GG side, so certain details won't square with ongoing canon developments.

Also, the remainder of the fic is back from beta, and I'm currently planning to post a chapter a day to the end.

Chapter 2
Wakey, Wakey

Agatha groaned as she felt herself finally, slowly waking up. She was on a bed, which was an improvement over waking up on a lab bench Tuesday morning with Moloch von Zinzer carefully prodding her with a meat fork and early morning sunlight streaming in through the hole she'd accidentally blasted through the wall, a tower, and one of the mountains beyond the town. And it felt like someone had given her a bath and washed her hair while she was asleep, which was another improvement, and the cuts and bumps and bruises she'd received during the fight for the castle and the siege itself no longer pained her. But her mouth was dry and her head was buzzing. Something was pinching the back of her right hand, too, and something else small and hard was... er... stuck in an embarrassing location. She couldn't quite remember where she was, although she felt perfectly safe, and the head of the bed seemed to be raised slightly, which was odd.

"Castle?" she murmured into her pillow.

That is not my name, child.

She frowned. That hadn't been Castle Heterodyne's voice, either; it was quieter, gentler, and feminine, and she hadn't exactly heard it so much as felt it in her mind. But neither was it her mother's voice, though the other consciousness that had been forced into her head was still present and pushing against the restraints of Uncle Barry's locket. Who are you? she thought back, rolling over carefully.

Of course, you do not remember—you have not been fully conscious during our previous talks. You may call me Lantea. I am the artificial intelligence of the city of Atlantis.

She sat up in shock. "WHAT?!"

"Oh, hey," Krosp said with his mouth full. "'Bout time you woke up."

"What do you mean, I wasn't—how—Atlantis?!"

Violetta looked at her warily. "Are you talking to the city again?"

Agatha returned the wary look. "You can't hear it?"

As Violetta shook her head, Lantea stated, Not all humans have the ability to interact with me on this level, Agatha. But you are not hearing things. There are others to whom I speak. John Sheppard is one of them.

"That's... Col. Sheppard, the man in black? I'm starting to remember now."

Yes. Like you, John possesses a... trait, let us say, inherited from the race that built me, the first to evolve through the form humans now have. They called themselves Alterans before they became Lanteans. Now the humans of Earth call them Ancients.

"Humans... of... Earth." Agatha put her left hand to her aching head and glanced down at herself, slightly surprised to find she was clad only in a loose white nightshirt done up with snaps at the left shoulder.

"Apparently," said Violetta, handing Agatha her glasses, "we're on another planet in another galaxy in another universe in another century. You've been asleep for three days; that's why the intravenous liquids and the... uh... catheter," she added, blushing slightly. "And they've been keeping us in isolation until they're sure you're okay. Well, they've been keeping you in isolation, but Herr Woolsey said Krosp and I could stay with you."

"And a good thing, too," Krosp added, finally leaving his tray and coming over to Agatha's bed. "You've been talking in your sleep and building death rays. They've recorded everything you've said and confiscated everything you've built—but at least they've kept bringing you things to build with. Otherwise I think you'd have repurposed all the clanks in here by now."

"Oh." Now that she could see properly, Agatha took a look around at the copper walls—beautiful, but very different from Europan décor—and strange medical equipment in the room. There were chairs and cots for Violetta and Krosp, with a table between the chairs where Krosp had been eating, and Violetta had evidently been granted access to the library, because there was a book on the table. A look upward showed that the room had a glass dome for a ceiling, and Col. Sheppard and the very tan man with the strangely braided hair and the death ray (that she remembered very well, despite not remembering his name) were outside it looking down at her, along with a beautiful dark-skinned woman. Agatha waved to them, and all three of them smiled and waved back.

"The tall man is called Ronon Dex," Violetta informed her, "and the lady is Teyla Emmagan. They're native here—to this galaxy, I mean. Everyone's really friendly; they're just... cautious."

Agatha nodded. "That's understandable." Then she felt of the locket, just to make sure she wasn't imagining that it was still there.

"No incidents," Violetta answered the question she wasn't asking.

Agatha sighed in relief. "Good."

"But I think one of the doctors has questions. They ran a lot of tests on you the first day, just to make sure you really were only exhausted."

Agatha nodded slowly. "Maybe they can help."

Violetta shrugged. "Can't hurt to ask."

"Where's the wasp eater?"

"In one of the biology labs, since they've got better facilities for housing it than letting it run loose in here. But Dr. Zelenka—he's Bohemian—he's been making sure the sparks take care of it and don't experiment on it. He said they did some of the same tests they ran on you, with a clank that gathers information with only a beam of light, but nothing else."

"Good. I need to thank him for that. And that... Tweedle person?"

Krosp chuckled and jumped up on the bed. "He's in the dungeon. We won't have to worry about him for quite a while."

"The bad news," Violetta added more soberly, "is that all the knives he was carrying were poisoned, which means the one he threw at Tarvek probably was, too. And the chemists not only analyzed the poison but have a thinking engine that can simulate what it does."

Agatha steeled herself. "And?"

"Instant paralysis. Painful death. And the entire body liquefies within thirty minutes."

"Sweet lightning."

"Dr. Zelenka asked me about it, but it's not any of the poisons I know, which means it's probably Tweedle's own invention. There may not be a cure, even if we can treat Tarvek right away."

Agatha very nearly said something very unladylike. "Between that and whatever the baron did to Gil... you know, I wonder if we shouldn't try to get back an hour or two before we left so we can save them."

"If it's even possible to get back. I've wondered that myself."

"What do you mean, if it's possible? We made the trip once; we should be able to go back."

"Theoretically! Look, Dr. Zelenka and Dr. McKay are still trying to work out what went wrong to bring us here in the first place. You'll have to get all the spark stuff from them. But apparently it's going to be really tricky to recreate the same path back across space and time and dimensions all at once."

"Really tricky," Agatha replied, Spark and determination in her voice, "does not mean impossible. They may be sparks, but I am the Heterodyne. If they can't figure it out, I will."

Krosp and Violetta exchanged a nervous glance.

I shall miss you when you leave, Agatha, said Lantea quietly. I already like you. But do not stay only for my account—I know your responsibilities and your heart lie elsewhere, and even if you stayed here all your life, you would leave me eventually. That is the way of things.

Agatha smiled sadly. "Maybe I can find a way to come back sometime, hey?"

Maybe. But that must be your choice.

Just then, the door opened, and a blonde lady with a cheerful smile walked in. The cut of her yellow-trimmed grey jacket and trousers and her blue blouse was strange, and they had an unusual style of fastener, but Agatha supposed that was to be expected in the future. There was a patch on the lady's right sleeve that looked like it said ATLANTIS above a sigil Agatha couldn't decipher, and on her right sleeve was an unfamiliar flag—American, perhaps?

"Good morning, Lady Heterodyne!" the lady chirped in English, though not with an English accent. "I'm Dr. Jennifer Keller; I'm the chief medical officer here in Atlantis."

"Pleased to meet you, Frau Doktor," Agatha replied in the same language and thanked God that both Lilith, her foster mother, and Dr. Beetle, her former mentor, had insisted that she learn it to near-native fluency. Her diction might be formal, but at least she could communicate.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well, thank you. Much better rested, though I could do with some tea."

"Not coffee," Krosp warned. "Not unless you want her rebuilding half the city into something you'll never recognize."

"That happened once," Agatha objected, "and I rebuilt only the coffee engine in the one shop."

"And then had to un-improve it after the first cup sent von Mekkhan into orbit."

"Well, how was I to know perfect coffee could have that effect on anyone?"

"Right, no coffee," said Dr. Keller, fighting a smile. "Although we might have you see if you can get better results out of tava beans. Once in a while, a supply shipment from Earth gets delayed, and we have to use those instead of coffee beans. Everyone hates it—frankly, they're better in soup."

Agatha chuckled. "Perhaps simply increasing the efficiency of your coffee engines would suffice, so that your supplies will last longer."

"It's a thought. Mind if I look you over? Krosp warned us you might sleep for several days, but we didn't think he meant straight through. I just want to make sure everything's all right before I release you."

At Violetta's slight nod, Agatha nodded more obviously. "Would you excuse us?" she asked both Violetta and Krosp in Romanian.

"Of course," Violetta replied in the same language and herded Krosp out the door, which closed behind them.

Dr. Keller smiled brightly at Agatha before placing a sensor on one of Agatha's fingers and moving to one of the medical clanks. "So! Let's start with some basics, just to check your cognitive function. Name?"

"Agatha Heterodyne."

"Date of birth?"

"Er, well, I am eighteen years old. We usually celebrate my birthday on December 4,* but—it is a long story that I have only just learned, but the short version is, I was born in enemy territory, and my uncle did not stop to look for records when he rescued me."

Dr. Keller nodded slowly. "Do you know what year it is?"

"When we left Mechanicsburg, it was 1892. Violetta tells me we are now in another century, but we had not yet discussed what year it is in fact."

Dr. Keller nodded more quickly this time. "That squares with what she said. Just so you know, it's November 11, 2013."

"It is—" Agatha put a hand to her head. "Fulger dulce.** We have jumped 121 years, and I do not want to know how many miles."

"Let's just say it's a couple million light-years back to Earth."

Overwhelmed, Agatha flopped back on the bed. "And that does not even account for the change in universe. All in a single instant." She paused. "I wonder how the portal should have worked, and why it went so terribly wrong."

Dr. Keller smiled kindly and moved an arm of the clank over Agatha's bed. "Well, I'm sure you'd be welcome to go through the library to learn more of the basics of wormhole technology. In fact, Dr. McKay might appreciate it if you can get up to speed on how the Stargates work before he figures out the answer to your second question, so he won't have to explain all the background."

Agatha brightened at that. "May I? I will want to block, if not destroy, the portal in the Red Cathedral to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, but the technology itself could have definite uses. My friend Zeetha is from a country called Skifander that is far from Europa," she went on as the clank shone a beam of light and swept over the bed from head to foot, "but we have not yet worked out exactly where it is. If we can find the coordinates, a portal like your—what did you call it? Stargate?"

Dr. Keller nodded. "Right."

"Might be just the thing to make it easier for her to travel home and come back to Mechanicsburg to visit. Ooh!" Agatha added as her Spark kicked in, and Dr. Keller prepared the clank for a second pass. "If I put the portal in Castle Heterodyne, I might not even need a way to block it! The castle has a thinking engine like Lantea and is very good at dealing with intruders, and then there are the nyar spiders, the spiderroaches, the ghostmaker mice, the bloodbats—never mind the Jägers..."

Dr. Keller interrupted with a laugh. "Looks like your brain's working just fine. What's a Jäger?"

"Jägermonster. They..." Agatha paused and grimaced. "They are hard to describe and even harder to explain. They were men once, soldiers in my ancestors' army, who chose to swear the Jägertroth and to drink the Jägerbräu, which was first brewed centuries ago by Vlad the Blasphemous. Very few survived the transformation. Those who lived are forever loyal to the House of Heterodyne and are... well, at minimum, they are very strong and very hard to kill. They age, but they will not die of age." She paused again. "I do not think my father and uncle liked them much, but they have been very kind to me and protected me as much as they could."

"Did you grow up around them?"

"No, not at all. Uncle Barry kept me hidden as long as he could, and he hardly told me anything about myself, not even my real last name. Then eleven years ago, he left me in Beetleburg with friends. Growing up, I knew them as Adam and Lilith Clay. It was only a few months ago that I found out they were really Punch and Judy, the Heterodyne Boys' constructs."

Dr. Keller came over to ease the intravenous needle out of Agatha's right hand. "Construct?"

"Er..." Agatha rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand, trying to think how to explain. She'd thought everyone knew about constructs. "They are... stitched together, from parts of corpses."

"Like Frankenstein's monster?"

"Ah, well, technically Dr. Frankenstein's construct was not—"

Dr. Keller shook her head. "Forget it. I'm with you now."

"But constructs are not all monsters," Agatha insisted. "Adam was a blacksmith, and Lilith gave piano lessons. I could not have asked for better parents."

Dr. Keller looked abashed and bandaged Agatha's hand. "I didn't mean to offend you, sorry."

"Well, it is a common enough view even in my own world. In the Heterodyne Boys books and shows, Punch and Judy are very stupid; my parents hated that. I did not find out why until it was too late."

"But they kept you away from the Jägers, too?"

Agatha nodded. "Yes. By then, the Jägers were working for Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, who used to travel with the Heterodyne Boys and has built an empire just to keep the peace. I still do not know why Uncle Barry did not want Baron Wulfenbach to find me—not that he was necessarily wrong. I have not had good dealings with the baron since we met. It was just my luck that he came to Beetleburg the day my locket was stolen," she added bitterly.

Dr. Keller frowned and pointed to Agatha's throat. "This locket?"

Agatha nodded. "Uncle Barry put a device in it that suppressed my Spark and kept me from breaking through. A few months ago, two soldiers attacked me and stole it from me—and the man who stole it died. His brother came back to confront me, and I suppose he had it with him. That must be how the baron found it when he captured us and took us back to Castle Wulfenbach. Von Zinzer had broken the clockwork somehow, but the baron fixed it after I escaped from him. Anyway, that was the day I first met a Jäger; several had come into town with the baron."

"But if your family made the Jägers, why didn't your dad and your uncle like them?"

Agatha sighed heavily. "Now I know I am in another universe, if you have not heard stories of the Heterodynes. For many centuries, my ancestors were the terror of Europa. My grandmother raised my father and uncle to be heroes, and Bill and Barry Heterodyne became as loved as our forefathers had been hated." She shook her head. "Then my father fell in love with a villain's daughter, Lucrezia Mongfish, and hoped marriage would redeem her. So of course my mother turned out to be an even worse monster than the Heterodynes."

"How so?"

"She was The Other. She tried to take over Europa with her slaver wasps—they burrow into a person's brain and make them obey her commands. She gave birth to me among her servants, the Geisterdamen, and... well, I... I think she and my father may have killed each other." Agatha sighed again. "And then last week, one of her past lovers captured me and forced a copy of her consciousness into my mind. When the baron caught up to me, he had my locket with him. My mother was in control and took it from him, but when she put it on, I woke up. It keeps her suppressed, but if it comes off, she takes over again."

Dr. Keller let out a low whistle. "Well, Dr. Beckett wants to talk to you about that, so I'll pass on what you've just told me. We picked up some anomalous brain activity that he thought looked like mind control. He'll probably want to run some more tests to be sure, but there was a somewhat similar incident here a few years back, so we may have a way to get that other consciousness out of your head."

"Oh, that would be marvelous. I hope you can."

"All right, hold still for juuust a moment." Dr. Keller reached under the sheet and gently removed the catheter tube. "So who's Gil?"

Agatha blushed. "Nobody," she lied.

Dr. Keller raised an eyebrow and disposed of the catheter and her gloves in a bin marked Biohazard. "Nobody, huh? That's not what it sounded like. You were having some pretty good dreams about him."

Agatha's blush deepened. "No, nothing like—it is not—"

"I'm sorry. That's not what I meant." Dr. Keller put a hand on Agatha's shoulder. "Because you'd been kidnapped, one of the first things I checked was whether you'd been raped. It was clear you're still a virgin."

"Oh. Um. Thank you."

"Especially since you tried to hit me for touching you," Dr. Keller added with a wry smile.

Agatha couldn't suppress a slightly hysterical giggle. "Forgive me."

Dr. Keller shrugged. "That's all right; Lady Mondarev held you down. No harm done. So who is he?"

Agatha took a deep breath and tried to will her blush away. "Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. He is the baron's son, and... I am somewhat in love with him."

"Only somewhat?"

"Well, the last time I saw him, something was wrong with him. Tarvek thinks the baron did something to him. And... then there is Tarvek."

"Oh, the old love triangle."

Agatha nodded and really wished she could stop blushing.

"Yeah, I know how that goes. Happened to me, too."

Agatha blinked. "Really?"

Dr. Keller nodded. "Yeah, Dr. McKay and Ronon. Went on for a couple of months before I realized Ronon was being really annoyingly overprotective and told him I wasn't interested. Which was true, although I wasn't completely in love with Rodney yet. But then Ronon found out how well Sgt. Banks can fight—she's a kickboxer—and... well, if they don't get married pretty soon, I'll be very surprised."

Agatha chuckled. "And you and Dr. McKay?"

Dr. Keller shrugged again. "Maybe. When Col. Sheppard gets promoted next month, his team will stop going offworld, so... once Rodney has more time to devote to his actual research, maybe he'll be ready to take the plunge in the next year or two. Or y'know, maybe he'll decide he'd rather be married to his work after all. I guess we'll see."

"Offworld?"

"Yeah, we travel to other planets through the Stargate network, sometimes to explore, sometimes to trade and keep up relations with the other worlds in the Coalition. Col. Sheppard, Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla are our lead team. But Stargate Command, back on Earth, wants Col. Sheppard to focus on the administration side of the base once he's promoted. Although honestly?" Dr. Keller added, lowering her voice and leaning forward as if sharing a confidence. "I think Col. Carter's just trying to give Col. Sheppard cover for marrying Teyla. Because of the fraternization regs, they can't officially be a couple as long as she's under his command. Col. Carter's been in the same boat for almost twenty years, although with Gen. O'Neill retiring, that's probably going to change soon. But I think she doesn't want John and Teyla to have to wait that long."

Agatha blinked at the unfamiliar names and gossip, then chuckled ruefully. "I see I still have much to learn about this place."

"Ah, sorry. I forgot you don't know who half these people are. But! Everything looks good health-wise, so if you want to get dressed—your clothes are over here," Dr. Keller added, pointing to a counter behind the bed. Nearby, someone had thoughtfully set up a changing cubicle with a top that would shield Agatha from the sight of anyone looking down through the ceiling. "Go ahead and get changed, and I'll be happy to release you."

"Thank you, Frau Doktor," Agatha replied and got up, collected her clothes and found they'd been washed, then ducked into the cubicle and dressed quickly. It really was a relief to have a decent number of layers between herself and the outside world; she'd had far more than her fair share of embarrassment while breaking through, when she would sleepwalk into labs on Castle Wulfenbach wearing nothing but her chemise and drawers. She hoped she hadn't said or done anything too humiliating while she'd been sleepwalking here.

The door opened while she was still putting on her boots, and she heard Dr. Keller talking quietly with another woman. So she stamped slightly harder than necessary to make sure her heels fitted into the heels of her boots properly and remind the ladies of her presence, then emerged from the cubicle with her most diplomatic smile firmly in place.

Dr. Keller, it turned out, was talking with the dark-skinned woman, Frau... Emmagen. Frau Emmagen's hair was light brown, almost blonde, and Agatha could see her clothing better now; her jacket and trousers were similar to Dr. Keller's but were trimmed in maroon, which suggested it was some kind of uniform. But unlike Dr. Keller, Frau Emmagen wore a low-cut maroon-and-black bodice that fit corset-tight with no blouse or chemise under it.

"Ah, here she is!" Dr. Keller said. "Lady Heterodyne, this is Teyla Emmagen of Athos."

"How do you do?" Agatha said to Frau Emmagen as she walked over to the other ladies.

"Pleased to meet you," Frau Emmagen returned with a genuine smile, the crispness of her diction hinting that she, too, was not a native speaker of English. "I'm glad to see you recovered from your exhaustion."

"Thank you."

"May I escort you to your quarters, and then perhaps give you a tour of the city?"

"I would be honored."

Frau Emmagen's smile brightened. "Very well. Come with me, then. We'll see you later, Jennifer," she added to Dr. Keller before ushering Agatha out into the hall, where Violetta and Krosp were waiting for them.

Atlantis, it turned out, was full of astonishing technology, from the doors that opened at Agatha's mental command to the spaces that looked like closets or lifts but could transport three humans and a cat across the city instantly. Such a convenience was necessary because the city appeared to be even bigger than Mechanicsburg. The bright, spacious quarters Agatha was to share with Violetta and Krosp had a wonderful view of both the city and the ocean on which it rested like a snowflake-shaped island. But the city was also a ship capable of submersion or of space flight, and Frau Emmagan had first-hand tales of seeing it do both in one day!

As they toured, Frau Emmagan, who quickly insisted that the travelers call her Teyla, explained the history of the city and of the Ancients, who seemed to have been essentially an entire race of sparks. Agatha found herself returning what stories she knew of similar sparks in Europa, along with some of the sillier experiments like the Calming Pie developed by one of the members of the circus with which she'd traveled for a few months. Teyla also explained what she could about deoxyribonucleic acid, the substance responsible for genetic inheritance; Agatha was familiar with the concept of genetics, but no one in Europa had yet found the precise mechanism. Among the traits encoded in DNA was the Ancient Technology Activation gene, which both Agatha and Violetta appeared to have. But Teyla's other reason for explaining DNA was to introduce the history of the Wraith, vampire-like bug-men that fed on humans and had driven the Ancients out of the Pegasus Galaxy ten thousand years ago. The Wraith had then lorded over the humans of the galaxy until, nine years earlier, the expedition from Earth had arrived and reawakened the slumbering city. And Teyla was one of the rare few descendants of humans who had been genetically engineered with a bit of Wraith DNA, which her people called the Gift because it allowed them to sense the Wraith's approach. Teyla herself, however, had learned to use the Gift to tap into the Wraith's telepathic network and even, on a few occasions, take control of a Wraith queen.

"Not to worry, though," she hastened to add when she saw the shocked looks on Agatha's and Violetta's faces. "Even if I wanted to do that to a human, I wouldn't be able to. It works only on Wraith."

"That is still a very dangerous power to possess," Agatha noted, uncomfortably reminded of the gradual process by which she learned first-hand that her command voice could control her mother's monsters.

"Indeed it is," Teyla agreed, "which is why I have used it only a handful of times, and that only in great need. And since we have fought the Wraith long enough to all but eliminate them as a threat, I have had no cause to use my Gift in such a way for several years."

Back home, that would have been the precise moment an alert sounded that the Wraith were about to attack. But apparently such rules did not apply here.

"I should warn you, however," Teyla continued. "There is a Wraith living here in Atlantis."

Agatha blinked. "Truly? Why? Are they not your enemies?"

"They are, but this particular Wraith has chosen to ally with us many times in the past. Finally, the time came when allowing him to leave was far more of a security risk than allowing him to stay. Dr. Keller and Dr. Beckett found a way to eliminate his need to feed on humans, and although he is officially a prisoner and is guarded at all times, he has given us valuable assistance and has leave to move about the city at his will. We call him Todd."

"Hm." Agatha caught herself before her expression of surprise could turn into heterodyning.

"He had better not try anything with my lady," Violetta growled. "If he does, either she will kill him or I will."

Teyla smiled and shook her head. "I'm sure he's no danger to you. But most newcomers to Atlantis find his presence... unsettling. And he may become curious about you, not least because he seems to now regard Atlantis as his ship and all of us as his pets."

"I see," Agatha said neutrally. "Thank you."

"But speaking of fighting, Agatha, Violetta tells me you've been receiving warrior training."

Agatha nodded. "Yes, from my friend Zeetha. We are kolee-dok-zumil—she says it is a difficult concept to translate, but it is partly teacher and student, partly cause and effect, partly grindstone and knife."

"Perhaps while you're here, you both would care to come and spar with me in the gym. I'm sure I teach differently, but I could introduce you to the Athosian art of fighting with banto rods."

Agatha's eyebrows shot up, but then she realized it might actually be a good idea. "Thank you. At least this way Zeetha cannot chide me for not keeping up with my training."

Teyla laughed gently.

Then Agatha's stomach grumbled, and she chuckled. "Before we spar, though, I need to eat."

"Of course. Let me show you where the mess hall is."

They arrived at the mess hall just as a man Agatha vaguely recognized was coming out of it. His uniform was the same as Teyla's, apart from the flag patch that matched Dr. Keller's. Teyla greeted him as "Mr. Woolsey," which rang a slight bell, and he smiled and shook Agatha's hand.

"I'm glad to see you so well recovered," he told her.

"Thank you," she replied. "I really do feel much better now that I have slept."

"And I see Teyla's been giving you the grand tour."

"Yes. She is a beautiful city. Thank you for allowing us to stay until we find a way home."

"Oh, you're very welcome. Having spoken with Prince Martellus, I find it very easy to believe that he abducted you, although we're still trying to get him to confess to a motive. His story keeps changing every time he's questioned."

"That is not surprising," Violetta groused. "Tweedle never was a very good liar. He may even think he was doing it for my lady's own good, but it is a safe bet that that was never his only real motivation."

Herr Woolsey hummed thoughtfully. "We'll be trying a different approach this afternoon. That may render better results. Well, don't let me keep you," he continued more brightly, gesturing toward the interior of the mess hall, which reminded Agatha somewhat of the dining halls at TPU. He then started to turn away, then stopped. "Oh! Teyla, can you spare a moment? We have some administrative business to discuss."

Ha, so the red on the uniform must stand for administration and yellow for medicine! Agatha had also seen blue and black on the jackets of people they had passed on their tour, but she supposed she'd find out what those colors meant later on.

"Of course," said Teyla. "Agatha, I'll be in the gym most of the afternoon, but if you'd rather not spar today, I'd be happy for you to come to my quarters for tea."

"Both ideas sound lovely," Agatha replied. "Thank you."

Teyla smiled. "I'll see you later, then."

As she left with Herr Woolsey, Violetta said quietly in Romanian, "You do realize she's been interrogating you."

"Of course," Agatha replied in the same language and led the way into the mess hall. "But we have more to gain from honesty than from secrecy. Dr. Keller thinks they have a way to remove Mother, and we do need their help to find a way back. I seriously doubt they'll help us if they don't trust us." She paused to look around, discovered that the food was being served from a long buffet on one side of the hall, and started toward it. "Plus, if they do trust us, maybe they'll allow me access to a lab."

"They'd better," Krosp noted. "I've seen what happens when you get bored."

Agatha looked down at him with her best innocent expression. "Why, Krosp, whatever do you mean?"

"A merry-go-round that can level a town? Ring any bells?"

"I doubt I have any need to build such things here. Unlike the circus, Atlantis already has very impressive defenses."

Violetta giggled. So did Lantea.

The cooks were just bringing out lunch, so the travelers were able to fill their trays with piping hot food—including still-warm cake, which Agatha decided to eat first—and found a table outside on a balcony with a beautiful view of the ocean. The weather was surprisingly balmy; perhaps this part of the planet didn't have harsh winters, or perhaps its seasons differed from Earth's altogether. She had never been to the seaside before, though, at least that she could remember, and found her attention drifting away from the conversation toward the water and the distant mainland that stretched like a dark smudge along the faraway horizon.

"May I join you?"

The strangely distorted English-speaking male voice jolted Agatha out of her reverie, and she looked up at... well, someone who looked rather like a Jäger. His long white hair was unkempt but not dirty, and he had a small patch of thin beard on his chin, but the black leather greatcoat he wore gave him a distinguished air nonetheless. The hands that gripped his tray had claws instead of nails, and his teeth were sharp, but neither they nor his yellow reptilian eyes were inconsistent with the Jägers she knew. His shiny greenish skin and the vent-like slits on his cheeks were less common, and he had a marking or tattoo around his left eye that almost looked like a starburst. But really, he didn't strike her as being any more dangerous than anyone she'd met in Mechanicsburg.

"Please do," Agatha replied in the same language and gestured to the empty chair beside Krosp.

The newcomer bowed his head slightly and sat down. "Thank you. I take it that you are Lady Heterodyne?"

"I am. But forgive me—I did not think there were any Jägers in Atlantis."

He blinked. "I am Wraith."

Agatha's eyes widened. "OH!" Suddenly the presence of the two men with rifles who were standing against the wall watching their table made sense. "I had heard... but I had pictured something very different. You are called Todd, yes?"

"That is what Col. Sheppard named me. My kind do not give names. Although some days I wonder whether it is still my kind," he added, looking pensively at the palm of his right hand. "I... have been altered, as you have no doubt learned."

"Yes, I had heard that. But change is better than death, is it not?"

He looked up at her again, frowning slightly. "Do you not fear me, Agatha Heterodyne?"

She looked him in the eye. "Should I?"

They stared at each other for a long moment, and somehow Agatha felt like she was engaging in some kind of battle of wills. She didn't understand why, but she really wasn't afraid, and she wasn't about to back down when Teyla had said Todd probably meant her no harm.

Then abruptly he blinked, smiled, and bowed his head slightly. "Perhaps not."

The sudden sense of triumph was as dizzying as champagne, but Agatha managed to keep from leaping out of her seat with a wild yell. After all, this wasn't Mechanicsburg. Todd's guards shifted uneasily in her peripheral vision anyway.

"But I am curious," Todd continued as he picked up his fork. "What are these Jägers that you mistook me for?"

Agatha explained in slightly more detail than she'd given Dr. Keller, and Krosp chimed in with some observations as well. Todd asked some probing questions that gave away the fact that he was a scientist himself, and soon Agatha was asking him all sorts of questions about the Stargates, the differences between the technologies developed by the various Pegasus races, and more. He admitted to being many thousands of years old, and she found herself fascinated by his observations, even though she knew they were biased in favor of his own kind. She almost didn't notice the lunch crowd that grew and dispersed as they talked or Violetta gathering everyone's trays to return.

Finally, however, one of the guards cleared his throat and approached the table. "'Scuse me, ma'am," he said. "Dr. Beckett's just radioed that he'd like to meet with you in the isolation room as soon as possible."

"Is something wrong?" Agatha asked as the four of them pushed back from the table.

"No idea, ma'am, sorry. He just said it has to do with your locket."

"Ah, all right. Thank you for the interesting conversation, Todd," she added.

He rose and bowed to her as she stood. "The pleasure was mine, Lady Heterodyne. I hope we may speak again soon."

"I would like that, thank you."

The guards gave Agatha directions back to the isolation room, and she thanked them and took her leave. But somehow she could sense Todd watching her as she led Krosp and Violetta away.

"That went surprisingly well," Violetta murmured in Romanian. "But he's still dangerous, my lady."

Agatha shot her a sidelong look. "So are we."

"I like him," Krosp proclaimed. "I think I've finally found a kindred spirit in this place."

"Saints preserve us," Agatha teased. "Come on, let's go see what Dr. Beckett's figured out about removing Mother."

.

* To the best of my knowledge, Agatha's exact birth date has never been given in canon, so I've given her my own.

** "Sweet lightning" in Romanian.