"Okay but did the Asgard actually say it was Furling technology?" Rodney demanded.
"They didn't know, for sure." Carter clarified.
"Then the theory still works!"
"Slow down solar system boy." John chided. Rodney looked offended but held his peace for a moment. "It's a theory, we need more hard evidence."
Carter sighed and looked past the two men and at what she could see of the city from her office.
"He's right Rodney. Unless you have a concrete plan or something to test it's an interesting theory but it doesn't really change anything right now."
"Well…it might."
John and Sam looked at him expectantly. Rodney picked up his pad and tapped on it for a few seconds then nodded and grunted smugly, "If I'm right and we can duplicate her energy signature we might be able to use that signal to take out a wraith hive ship, maybe multiple."
"They'll adapt to it –"
"Sure but not right away."
"We need to test it before committing resources to something like that." John said.
"Not to mention figuring out the trigger signal and how to deploy it on a larger scale." Carter agreed.
"Details, we can do this." Rodney said his face beaming with confident excitement.
"John?" Carter prompted.
"We need proof of concept, and Beckett should weigh in. If everything checks out it could be a hell of a blow."
"It may only work once en masse." Rodney cautioned.
"So we'll make it count if it's worth trying." John said.
"Okay, let me know what you need." Carter agreed.
"Yeah but how are you." Lorne asked.
She was sitting on a balcony edge while he painted behind her. She dangled her feet and looked out at the pier and the water beyond it.
"Pretty fucked up about it to be honest." She mused. It was easy to talk to Lorne, he didn't seem to judge and thought before he spoke. Watching him paint, not being put on the spot helped too.
"That's fair. Pretty sure I would be too."
"I thought space vampires was about as weird as shit could get. You'd think I'd know better by now."
He laughed and glanced at her. She was silhouetted by the slowly setting summer sun. Her hair was still a touch too short to be fashionable. Her skin, already dark enough to be confused as a permanent tan had darkened further in the summer light of their planet. She looked relaxed and happy.
"So, do you want to talk about it?"
"Oh I don't know, what's there to say really?"
He chuckled again and returned his focus to his work.
After a long comfortable silence had stretched for several minutes she drew her legs up, tucked her knees under chin and wrapped her arms around her shins.
"The thing is, I believe him. Jarod hated being immortal. He had spent his adult life running for his life, he was used to that, good at it. But, he hated killing, every fiber of his being rebelled at it. If he had a chance to have some peace and save Methos? I don't doubt he would take it."
"Didn't Methos do what he did to save Jarod?"
"Gift of the magi." She said softly and squinted out at the vast sea and the dying gold of the sun. She rested her right cheek on her knees and glanced back at Lorne.
"What are you painting?" She asked.
"Ah no topic change, besides, it's secret." He grinned and she snorted at him.
More silence passed and the colors of the sun faded to peach and purple while the sea turned green and shadowed
"Do you think he's still in there?" Lorne asked.
Max was quiet for so long Evan wondered if she hadn't heard him.
"Yeah, I do. If…if he were a normal immortal I'd be sure of it. Our Quickenings…they're not just energy they're…us. You sometimes get memories, even a preference in wines, things like that. Some part of us remains in the quickening. So…yeah. I think he's in there, somewhere, maybe…no, hopefully, not conscious and aware but…there."
Lorne frowned. Her gaze was fixed on the dying sun, he suppressed a shudder at the idea of being reduced to a taste for Bordeaux.
"Alright, I'm done for now, you hungry?" He asked cleaning his brushes.
"Want a hand?" She asked.
"So you can peek? No way." He grinned.
She laughed. "Fine, I'll meet you for chow in say… half an hour?" She suggested. They were far enough out they would need time to walk back and Lorne needed to put away his supplied and wet painting.
"Yeah, that should work, after you." He gestured with one hand while carefully removing the painting from the easel and turning it so she couldn't look at it on her way passed.
"Sneaky Major, very sneaky." She chided.