Chapter 22: I am not wearing that ... thing!
"What's a Chamberlain?" John whispered to me. We were in the back of a horse drawn cart that presumably was taking us to the Tower.
"In olden England a chamberlain was an officer who managed the household of a king or nobleman," I said. "He doesn't have the ATA gene," I added. "When he held my hand to assist me into the cart I didn't get anything from him."
"Yeah I noticed it too," John murmured close to my ear, "that he wasn't interested in us until after he scanned us with that device."
"Doctor Beckett could sure use one of those," I joked. "He's stuck doing blood tests that take hours to get results from."
"I'll be sure to put it on my wish list if we get out of this," John drawled. "Look, when we get to the Tower I want you to step back and let me do the talking."
"Okay," I agreed easily. John was the experienced officer, he was in charge and in any case he was much better at adlibbing than I was – it was a no brainer.
"Just go along with whatever I say," John instructed as the cart pulled up outside an entrance to the Tower. "Show time."
The Tower may have looked vaguely like Atlantis from the outside but on the inside the resemblance was uncanny. It I didn't know better I'd have said we were standing in the Gateroom of Atlantis itself ... well apart from the gaudy and overabundant decor the place sported.
"This just gets weirder and weirder," I muttered to John.
"I'm gonna try and contact Rodney," John said quietly. He took a few steps away from me and tapped his radio. His conversation was too quiet for me to hear – John was obviously trying to speak softly enough that the two guards surrounding him wouldn't hear.
"McKay said the structure extends far underground and it's exactly like Atlantis," John muttered as he stepped back to my side.
"Are they all okay?" I asked with concern.
"They're fine," John reassured me. "It's us I'm worried about!"
One of the side doors opened at that point and an elderly man came forward, followed by what could only be described as an entourage. This was the Lord Protector? This feeble old man who was clearly almost too weak to walk unaided?
The old man ignored the two of us, walking over to a very familiar looking chair – he sat down and the floor of the dais as well as the back of the chair lit up immediately. This guy clearly had the ATA gene – my initial suspicion that they needed us to power some Ancient device was blown out of the water by that detail.
"You there," the Lord Protector beckoned John over. "Approach."
"Lieutenant Colonel John Shep-" John walked closer and tried to introduce himself in a friendly manner.
"I know who you are. I saw you in the village," the Lord Protector said with a deliberately cryptic air.
"You did?" John asked, surprised.
"I see all that I need to see within my domain," the Lord Protector intoned. He put his hands on the control pads and made an image of the village appear on a holographic screen above his head. Zeroing in on Rodney, Teyla and Ronan he commented "your friends ... they are concerned about you."
"Well, um," John admitted self depreciatingly, "to be perfectly honest, I'm a little concerned about us too. I mean ... we are prisoners, right?" John looked across at me and smiled reassuringly.
"A show of force was necessary for the benefit of the villagers," the Lord Protector stated, taking his hands off the control pads so that the chair rose back to the upright position. "It keeps them from getting ideas. But for the moment I would prefer it if you thought of yourselves as guests."
"Father, I must protest" a young foppish man called out, looking both of us up and down with evident distaste. "This man should be punished. He challenged one of our constables."
"One of our constables?" the Lord Protector asked quietly. Obviously all was not affection and support in the royal family.
"Forgive me," the young man apologised. "One of your constables."
"Lieutenant Colonel," the Lord Protector turned back to John. "It would be my pleasure that you and your lovely companion dine with us this evening."
John looked across at me before nodding somewhat nervously at the Lord Protector.
"Come," Otho appeared beside us. "I will show you to some guest quarters where you can refresh yourselves before we dine."
Otho clearly wanted to place us in separate quarters but John scotched that one instantly.
"Sabina and I will share a room," he stated firmly, pulling me into his side with a strong arm around my shoulders.
"Are you married?" Otho asked. To me it looked like the prospect that we were bothered him a lot more than it should have and that sent alarm bells ringing in my head.
"Newly wedded actually," John lied without a qualm. "You can understand why we wouldn't want to be separated. We're kinda still on our honeymoon." He turned to me with an affectionate smile and added "isn't that right honey?"
Remembering what he'd said about playing along I smiled lovingly in return and said "Yes it is ... darling."
"I see," Otho said. Clearly distracted by unpleasant thoughts, Otho pointed out our quarters and took his leave.
I felt a huge sense of relief that John and I were finally alone in the guest quarters. The walls were covered in gaudy scarlet drapes – the bed was covered in rich fabric almost buried under the weight of too many pillows. There were also candelabras all around the room. Where our Atlantis was an elegant well dressed lady this city was a little girl playing dress up in her mother's clothes and makeup.
John had checked in with Rodney and the others and confirmed that the Tower and its underground were in fact exactly the same as Atlantis. John had reported on our situation, especially the fact that these people weren't Ancients and didn't seem to have command of many devices apart from the control chair. John's team wanted to come and get us out immediately but John ordered then to do nothing but keep a low profile.
"Married huh?" I questioned curiously.
"He was too interested in separating us," John excused. "Any ideas about what's going on here?" John came over to the bed and sat down next to me.
"Yeah," I admitted uneasily. "And if I'm right we are potentially in a really awkward position here."
"Okay, tell me," John said reluctantly.
"The fact that they only took us means they're interested in the gene," I said. "Initially I thought they wanted us to activate some kind of Ancient technology but clearly that's wrong because the Lord Protector and at the very least his children all have the gene. Otho got a lot less friendly once you made it clear we were together," I pointed out. "I think they're looking for breeding stock."
"What!" John exclaimed, with a faintly sickened look on his face.
"They're a small group of nobles who've lived in this city for 10,000 years," I pointed out. "Over that length of time without the introduction of new blood the ATA gene would have become diluted ... perhaps to the point where they have trouble operating the Ancient technology as well as their ancestors did. That would explain why most of the city is inoperative."
"And they want us because ..." John broke off, looking uncomfortable.
"Because you and I both have the gene ... and probably a lot stronger than they've seen in a number of generations. The gene is clearly important because it gives them the means to defend the planet against the Wraith," I pointed out, "but it's also important because it gives the person in the command chair supreme power over everyone else."
"Okay, that makes sense," John admitted.
"That's the simple interpretation," I said reluctantly. "The situation here is probably highly political and it might not be as simple as that. We need to be on our toes and we can't trust anyone."
"That's not a problem," John promised. "I'm always on my toes and I never trust anyone who arrests me."
"Good policy," I teased. Before we could continue our conversation any further a knock sounded beside the drapes that were supposed to act like a door. John raised an eyebrow at me before getting up and pulling the drape aside. A servant stood on the other side, holding a dress in a similar style to that worn by the ladies we'd seen in the gate room. She smiled shyly and gestured towards me. John took the dress and smiled a thank you.
"What is that?" I asked uneasily.
"Apparently your attire isn't appropriate for a lady dining with the royal court," John was highly amused by my horrified expression.
"No way!" I protested. "I am not wearing that ... thing!"
"Oh but you are," John gave no consideration to my discomfort. "We need to get these people to open up to us and the best way to do that is to try to fit in."
"How come you don't have to dress in the local attire?" I complained, staring at the dress sickly.
"Just lucky I guess," John smirked. "It's not that bad."
"I hate dresses," I said darkly. "You are gonna owe me so big after this."
Grumbling the whole time I snatched up the dress and made my way into the adjoining bathroom. The dress was made from a dark red satin with a low neckline edged in gold filigree. The skirt consisted of a large amount of fabric clearly designed to flare out and down to the floor. Reluctantly I freshened myself before stepping into the dress. It fit perfectly ... damn it! I was hoping it would be too big so I wouldn't have to wear it. Deciding I might as well go all in I pinned my hair on top of my head, leaving much of the back as well as a few strands at the front loose. I couldn't do anything about my boots – they hadn't thought to provide me with footwear but the dress was long enough to cover my feet. I stood there looking in the mirror at a person I hardly recognised ... I couldn't remember the last time I'd dressed up to this degree. I was stalling so I wasn't surprised when John banged on the door and yelled for me to hurry it up. Taking a deep breath I turned away from the mirror to present myself to John.
"Well?" I asked after a few seconds with no reaction, looking at the ground rather than at him.
"Sorry - didn't I say something?" John asked distractedly. He looked me up and down again before his eyes came to rest on my very low cut neckline. "You look ... amazing," he admitted, "although I'm not sure if I like every male here being able to see that much of you," he gestured vaguely at my chest.
"This is what all the Stargate teams will be wearing this summer," I joked. "Complete with combat boots of course," I lifted the dress a few inches so he could see I still had my boots on.
"Nice," John laughed, standing close behind me and running a finger down my exposed neck. "When we get out of here we'll have to ask if we can keep the dress," he whispered in a serious, seductive tone, leaning down to breathe hotly on my neck.
"Yes, and I'll wear it every time you wear your dress blues," I countered.
"Seeing you in this dress might just be worth the strangulation," John said, not entirely joking.
"Okay, shall we do this thing?" I stepped away from him and took his arm.