Sheppard's eyebrows turned up slightly where they met in the center, the few lines peculiar to his worried and thoughtful expression more permanently established than they had been seven years ago. He ran a hand through his gray-streaked, dark hair. "Did you want our opinions of Ritha, or both them and our observations?"

"I meant both," Woosley said, placing his tablet upright. The reflections to his left in the polished wooden table rippled dark and gold as Ronan and Teyla settled themselves into chairs.

"McKay still hasn't quite solved the mystery of that specimen," Woolsey said. "However, he sliced and decontaminated this." A small chunk of grayish stone rested in his palm, and he handed it over.

Sheppard turned it around in his fingers for a moment. "Well, it's a rock."

"I'm glad you've deduced as much," Woolsey said.

Smiling, Sheppard took a closer look at it. "Well, it's a little more porous than I would have expected."

Teyla looked interested. "May I?"

"Sure."

Ronan watched as Teyla accepted the stone and held it up to her eyes. "It's lighter than I expected, too. What did Rodney say about it?"

Woolsey set aside a stylus. "He's sure that's how the plants or whatever they are can take root. There are bacterial colonies in multiple pores." Woolsey tapped his tablet. "And he's never seen anything like them."

Teyla looked up. "Our Rodney doesn't know?"

"Well," Sheppard said. "Learn something new every planet."

"We need to discuss Ritha Guider," Woolsey said. "I did a background check on her the last time she brought up concerns about the new retrovirus. That occurred a year ago. Before I get into the details, I'd like your input. Ritha was Keller's shadow most notably starting in 2009, after we returned to earth." He looked around at everyone.

"You're talking like we're getting ready for memorial services," Sheppard said.

"No, I am reminiscing about subtleties. Things that may be part of a bigger picture I wasn't seeing before."

Thumbing the stone, Teyla rested her arms on the table. "Naturally not all members of the city are known well to everyone, most often only those with whom they work. But Ritha kept to herself a great deal and does not appear to have maintained a circle of her own. Or even had much of one for that matter."

"How do you know this?"

"She approached me on multiple occasions and usually with questions about the Wraith-kin and our Gift. But after the retrovirus was introduced into the galaxy, she fell silent on the subject. I have not seen much of her since. And unusually enough, after I defeated Queen Death…she did not question me. I expected her to, she was always so interested in anything having to do with the wraith."

"She certainly doesn't appear to have made many friends," Woolsey said, hands clasped on the table.

"Ritha was in and out of the picture," Sheppard added. "She showed her colors a lot more when Keller began studying Michael's experiments."

At that moment, the door opened, and Dr. Beckett entered. "Sorry. Did I miss anything?"

"We were just beginning," Woolsey said as the doctor went to sit beside Teyla.

Sheppard leaned back in his chair, his right arm resting on the table. "Ronan and I are somewhat acquainted with her," he said. "She knew we saw things she never got to. I never indulged her much when it came to information about the wraith but she kind of had a way of turning up at times." A small smile playing about his features. "Figured she could ask Beckett if she wanted answers. But she knew I'd been fed on before."

"Huh." Ronan peered out from under his mane of hair. "She knew how to pry."

Woolsey looked at him.

"Long time ago she'd started following me around," Ronan said. "After Atlantis was back on earth. Always wanting to know more about my time as a runner; asked how…" Ronan paused. "How the tracking devices were installed. What it felt like. Things like that."

"Annoyed the heck out of you," Sheppard smirked.

Ronan tilted his head and shrugged a little. "Wasn't bad." He looked at Woolsey. "She knows her stuff."

"I found her intriguing," Teyla said. "I believe she knows more about me than I do of her. Her main interest in the past few years according to Dr. Keller was the retrovirus. It was all she talked about. She was young enough when she started here." Teyla paused. "Eleven years ago. I believe that at first she struck many people with the idea that she was merely a knowledgeable teenager rather than a fully mature adult."

"Aye, somewhat at first," Beckett agreed.

"She's what, thirty-two this year," Sheppard said.

Beckett looked around. "This is a bit of an unusual discussion if you don't mind my saying so. What's happened? Besides AR-6 going missing."

"I like details," Woolsey said. "Ritha was no ordinary member of your staff."

"It's true. And we didn't know that right away. Ritha came to me a few days after I flew the city back to earth and we'd blasted that ruddy hive," Beckett said. "She seemed unaffected by the attack and brought up a load of data she'd put together to share with me and Dr. Keller. You remember that I'm sure. Later, as Keller tackled the problem of the retrovirus, Ritha made herself all the more available. I hardly saw her take any rest. She wasn't lazy. Once the project took a promising turn, she seemed to become all the more passionate. She always wanted to watch Keller undergoing the feeding process."

Sheppard grimaced a little.

"Ritha took notes on literally everything," Beckett said, his blue eyes full of earnest. "And you know what, she was real fascinated with Todd. Never afraid when he first came and not at all afraid when he entered the lab three years back."

"She would be if she had the life sucked out of her," Sheppard said.

"Well she never experienced it," Beckett said. "I never heard her speaking of wanting to, if you get my drift."

"At least she had some sense," Sheppard said.

"No fears about Todd. She respected him."

Woolsey's eyes, staring through his dark rimmed glasses, never left the doctor.

"Not surprising. He's a wraith," Sheppard said.

Woolsey toyed with a stylus. "Did she speak often of him?"

"Oh, here and there. Wanted to know one thing most of all. Was he going to return someday. But it was never a direct question. She conversed with Todd regularly while he was here, but she didn't put as many questions to him as I would have expected. She had a perfect opportunity to speak to a wraith, not to mention one that was working to develop a groundbreaking solution to a major issue, but she never questioned him much on the subjects she's so obsessed with. At least, not that I know of. But I once heard her asking him about the basic operations of organic technology. Not what we know already. Deeper. She wanted the molecular particles in her very hands. He was pretty thorough with his answers. Gave a whole treatise on the matter."

"Course he did. A chance to put the wonders of his own world on a pedestal," Sheppard said, smirking a little.

"Anyhow, Ritha's knowledge of the wraith is vast, we all know it. She persisted in working on her own splintering theories no matter how far we moved into the territory of the retrovirus. She didn't reveal much of it to me or to Keller. The one thing on her mind that showed up right before the retrovirus' implementation was 'supposing someone could undo its effects and we'd be in the same trouble as before'. There was nothing I could do to convince her that we had plenty of fail-safes and that the experiments had yielded perfect results. She'd seen them herself. Well, she mentioned her fears to Todd. But he reassured her that it was all going to work itself out. And you know what? She disapproved. Gave him a look that plainly conveyed her doubts."

Sheppard winced a little. "Naturally, he took all the credit for the work. But I can't complain about her caution."

"A caution that I believe had nothing at all to do with Todd's past reputation," Woolsey said.

"You remember how he took to re-naming us all?" Beckett went on after a moment. "Todd never used Ritha's actual name when speaking to or referring to her. Same with Keller and even Ronan for a time. When I asked the meaning of the various names in wraith, Todd said to me, "After all, I am Guide in your dialect. Sheppard has called me Todd for a reason having something to do with my natural coloring and I accept his decision. Does it not make sense that you all bear names that the wraith can understand?'" Beckett paused. "I insisted he continue referring to me as Beckett, and he went along with it although he mentioned that should I ever prefer it, Forrtoz was my name."

Teyla looked at Sheppard. "And you were Guide."

"Big surprise," Ronan grunted.

Sheppard gave Woolsey with a pointed look.

"I've forgotten mine. Two years is a long time," Woolsey said, as everyone suppressed grins. Todd had misinterpreted Woolsey's name in the Taur'i to mean facial hair, and since Todd had found it so ironically humorous that Woolsey possessed a bald head in addition to being without a shred of a beard, he had thought "Poiil" or "haired one" was an appropriate designation and the Commander had been silently pestered about it ever since.

"Strange it wasn't what he called me," Ronan joked.

Sheppard smirked. "No, you were Cuuros, the "runner."

"Huh," Ronan said. "Too bad I couldn't have named him in return."

"I probably shouldn't ask what you came up with."

"Probably not."

"Did Ritha ever question Todd's alter-name for her?" Woolsey asked.

Beckett shook his head. "She didn't have to. Ritha knows the basics of the dialect. But she always called him Guide. Todd was a name of the past. She never used it again, at least, not that I ever heard." He sighed. "After he left, she spoke of him in passing, but over time, she grew silent on the subject of our ally and took to her studies with a greater passion than ever before."

"Did you ever have any cause for concern when she went on about the virus?" Woolsey asked. "I know I asked you this before, but I want the others to hear it."

Beckett shrugged a little. "Here and there, at first; I feared she would someday quite literally obtain an Iratus bug, but she never went so far as to try. She's got that lovely set of jaw embedded in that glass drop, she picked it up on her travels. I have no idea from where."

"I've seen it," Sheppard said. "I didn't tell her I thought it was disgusting."

"Same," Ronan said.

Beckett smiled a little. "After the retrovirus took effect, she stopped mentioning her concerns, really."

"Until one day last year," Woolsey said, giving Teyla a significant look. "She joined us unexpectedly and out of the blue asked my permission to expose her studies regarding the possible overriding of the retrovirus."

"What was your reaction?" Beckett said.

"I didn't give her much leeway or attention. The galaxy was still reeling from what Queen Death accomplished. Dr. Keller working with the wraith is not far away and I contacted her. In addition to updating me on Ritha's help with the virus coding, she told me Ritha probably was still a little grudging about not having enough to do with the actual success, although she couldn't confirm it. But I still ran a check on Ritha."

"She's stubborn," Ronan grunted.

"Oh very," Beckett said. "There's nothing that stops her. Except a bit of a problem with low self-esteem when things go badly. But she snaps out of it soon enough."

"I missed something when she came to me again," Woolsey said.

"Everything she's amassed as data was registered," Beckett said. "I checked."

Woolsey was silent a moment. "I am not sure she gave you everything. I believe very strongly that she has hidden something that we don't know about...and should know about."

"Why would she do that?" Teyla asked, as everyone exchanged glances. "She could not be a traitor? Perhaps she didn't feel she would be believed if she revealed something of importance."

Woolsey's eyes dropped. "I don't know. She may not have been a wraith worshiper but…"

Sheppard winced a little. "You don't think she would want that? There'd be no point trying it now anyway..."

"She may have been a sympathizer."

Ronan raised his eyebrows. "She's just a die-hard fan."

"I would like to believe that. I want Guider's quarters investigated," Woolsey said. "Beckett, if you wouldn't mind initiating a search. Teyla can assist you. You know what to look for."

Teyla looked at the doctor and then back at Woolsey. "Yes, sir."

Sheppard watched them stand and hurry from the briefing room.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Ronan said. "Guess I never saw her as a threat."

"We didn't exactly humor her," Sheppard said, leaning back in his chair.

"Remember, we don't know anything yet about her intentions," Woolsey said.

"I think it's safe to say the wraith are behind everything that happened on the planet," Sheppard said.

Ronan sighed. "It's weird. We get radio silence for a year plus. Now this."

"What did you make of the video?" Woolsey said.

"Well, we know what the wraith can do to our minds," Sheppard said. "Long distance included. Maybe I was...hallucinating."

"If in fact one was impersonating Melbrick," Woolsey said, "why didn't the MALP show us a wraith? Well perhaps he, or she, could have been hiding alongside."

"Takes a pretty strong wraith to accomplish mind-control like that," Ronan said.

"What's their purpose?" Sheppard muttered. "We still don't know much about the planet. Why wasn't Ritha immediately captured along with the rest of the team; it sure as heck looked like she was alone for at least a day. She spent the night not far from the DHD, and probably made her way back to the site of the attack in the morning. We know she couldn't dial. Ritha wouldn't have stayed alone without the team, that's how I figure she camped out after the attack."

"McKay's analysis of the samples of blood on the DHD revealed it was Darok's," Woolsey said. "Found on five of the seven glyphs required to dial Atlantis. This was AR-6's first mission to P6L-266."

"Should have known the wraith would step out of line the minute we got comfy with them," Sheppard said. "I don't know why I bought the fake Melbrick's story. Every time something seems to be going well, we find out it's a joke."

"Too good to be true," Ronan smirked. "But are we sure it's the wraith?"

"Wouldn't have thought you'd question that," Sheppard said.

"Could be a rogue band of any type of aliens," Ronan guessed. "They just had staff weapons."

"Might be the case. But you said it smelled like wraith."

Woolsey looked at them. "I believe it is time we went to Todd with our information."

In past years, the three men present in the briefing room would have been extremely cautious about soliciting the help of the wraith, but he was no longer a threat, and in fact, he had reported only weeks prior the success of the retrovirus in another sector of the galaxy. However, Sheppard added, "Think he already knows about any unusual activity?"

"It's possible that he does. And he may be waiting for us to come to him," Woolsey said. "At least we could find out if he expected this all along. On the other hand, he isn't starving, so why would he ignore this?"

"Yeah, especially since he pretty much saved us from Coldamber."

"I think we can count on his help," Woolsey agreed. "Maybe he knows nothing in the first place. Or perhaps can give us information. Either way, he'll have more answers than we do at present. I will make the arrangements to have him come to Atlantis. If he is willing."

"I don't see why he'd refuse," Sheppard said sarcastically.

"And he should be intrigued by what you found on the planet."

"Request permission to return to the planet as soon as possible," Sheppard said, getting to his feet.

"After we meet with Todd," Woolsey said, "we will know our next best move."

Sheppard and Ronan exchanged glances as they got to their feet, and Woolsey preceded them out the door.
...

"W-w-wait, what do you mean it's moving?" McKay spun around in his desk chair.

Zelenka held up a hand. "Don't freak, I just thought it was about to make some progress." Light reflected off his glasses as he squinted. "It's stopped oozing. Finally."

McKay got up from his chair and stalked over to the transparent cylinder that housed the specimen of green biology he'd taken from the planet. "What did it do?" His face appeared magnified and stretched horizontally as he peered through at it, then at Zelenka.

"Well actually, I was kidding. Sort of."

Straightening, McKay cocked his head and folded his arms. "Let me guess, it developed eyes and gave you the stare of death? Unlike what I am giving you right now?"

"Look," Zelenka said, stepping toward a computer screen and pointing a stylus to his tablet. "The heightened agitation, largest spike I've seen so far; the slime isn't drying up. Far as I can tell it's similar to an exoskeleton material but with a fluid component that doesn't evaporate or congeal solidly. The main body is heating up. It contains the same trace elements as a hive pathogen and behaves in exactly the same way except it isn't agitated at a set rate, it's pulsing irregularly. Like it's trying to grow and can't complete the cycle. Something's holding it back right as the cells want to divide."

"Yes, the presence of H2O levels is very low," McKay said. "Anything else I don't already know?" Heaving a sigh, he tapped his stylus against his hand as he hurried around to the computer monitors showing data on the specimen. There were no signs of radioactivity, but the wavelengths that indicated energy levels were fluctuating far more than they had previously. "It's producing its own energy, as was established half an hour ago. What did you do to it?"

"Nothing," Zelenka said. "For real." His hair, a bit ruffled around the edges, was sharply backlit against the glow. "I was about to run a test, introduce a low level of energy to see if it would eat it up and start producing some growth. From..."

"From what?"

"Well, just in case it's storing some kind of a backup regenerator."

"Ok look, who's the scientist and who's the help?" McKay said, pointing to himself. Sweat shone on his forehead. "That thing…is a piece of something that communicated with me somehow and I'm still trying to understand how a bio-metallic pathogen can accomplish that without being in physical contact with intelligent life forms and without any known connection to a brain system."

"It would make sense it's a piece of whatever actual brain is functioning," Zelenka said. "Part of a larger network, the source might very well be in the heart of that mountain, or it's drawing power from somewhere else. Do you have any idea yet what it was saying to you?"

McKay wiped his hands slowly down his face. "Ok, it was a similar experience to when Queen Death had me turned into that wraith creature. The connection I felt with the other wraith minds. The only loose translation I can give is here." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the blank note board.

Zelenka's eyebrows shot upward. "Not quite a distress call."

It's from the wraith. I'm sure of it." McKay looked into the cylinder again. "I can feel it. Almost like…it really wants to...say something."

"I admit I'm curious," Zelenka said, looking a mite uncomfortable. "Oh by the way, whatever it is, it's dying."

"Yes, I am aware," McKay said, his fingers now zooming over the keyboard. "We only have so much time before we'll need to examine it in its own habitat."

"If one of the AR-6 team touched that rune, they might have set something off," Zelenka said.

McKay looked up. "Ritha has the Ancient gene."

"What if it was her? Could that have something to do with its behavior?"

"Given the sort of person she is, I highly doubt she would have come into physical contact with it, as obsessed and intrigued as she is by anything wraith-related."

"What if she was forced? Mind controlled? Ronan had to pull you away."

"Ok, look, there's no way to be sure right now what happened to Ritha or the rest of the team," McKay said.

"Do you think it could detect the presence of the Ancient gene? It seemed to like you."

"I'm so thrilled it selected me as a viable link to hearing its creepy whisper that will haunt me for the rest of my life," McKay said.

"That bad? Seems you'd be used to this kind of thing by now."

"Well, I don't go around filling Teyla's mind with a display of whispering vocal strains."

"I never would have thought, you actually tried it," Zelenka said, heading for another station.

"Wrong again, Sheppard once caught me concentrating, right in sync with Teyla's face screwing up for a sneeze from some virus she'd caught; his assumption was, naturally, totally erroneous," McKay said. "I was busy working out a simple solution to how much cheese I should have on one pizza without overdoing the calories."

"Oh that takes effort. You sure you didn't get her to sneeze with mind control?" Zelenka said, wisely taking refuge behind his station and scribbling studiously on his tablet.

"Oh for crying out loud, if I did, think I'd still be able to think straight? Actually, never mind, don't give me the speech on "McKay's screwed up."

"Um, actually I was about to say I think I've got an idea," Zelenka said, his fingers hovering over his tablet.

"AN idea," McKay said. "Great. Genius. Let's hear it." He returned to his desk chair and folded his arms.

"We send a minor electrical shock through it and record any reactions."

"Already done that."

"Then I'm out of ideas."

"No, you're afraid to tell me what you really have in mind for fear I will shoot it down." McKay snatched at another piece of rock and placed it beneath a microscope.

"All right. Well, given the circumstances, I say we return to the planet, and see if you can get it to communicate with you again. Maybe you can ask it for some details on its origins."

McKay looked up slowly. "Zelenka. Did you stop to consider that an entity might actually be residing inside that mountain's spilled, green guts?"

"Well, we should find out because after three hours of analyzation I still have no idea how this stuff works. I think it needs some kind of being to keep it alive."

McKay raised his head again. "Whatever's in these pores is definitely a problem. The bacteria look like tiny insects."

Zelenka's eyes were wide. "Any resemblance to the Iratus?"

"I hate to inform you that you are correct," McKay said.

"Well," Zelenka said, gesturing with his stylus before continuing to scribble, "I've heard that one before."

"Heard what?"

"That I'm right. We need to return to the planet immediately. I don't see how we can get much further here."

"Think I don't know that, it's what I've wanted ever since before we left!" McKay said, standing up to grab his sweatshirt and throw it over one arm. "You stay put, try to find out if the bacteria respond to the growth treatment. I'm off to fill Woolsey in." He picked up his tablet and stalked out the door.
...

The commander gave his uniform top a small tug as he faced the transmission screen.

Sheppard looked sideways at him. "I just hope he can identify what's growing on that mountain."

"That would be ideal," Woolsey said.

Sheppard sighed. "This could be so much bigger than it appears. Can't wait for Beckett's update. And McKay's. He ought to have something by now."

"I think we could use the assistance of a wraith sooner rather than later," Woolsey said. "We put too much sacrifice into that retrovirus for us to sit back and wonder before taking action. The galaxy has been at peace for well over a year. I have no intention of endangering it again by brushing off barely perceptible causes for concern."

"Mm, let's see how he buys our story," Sheppard said daringly. "At the very least, the prospect of seeing Atlantis again, from the inside, might be a starter point to get him over here."

"I highly doubt we'll have to convince him the treaty may be under some kind of attack," Woolsey said.

"Nope," Sheppard said.

Grayish lines ran up the screen for a few seconds before the wraith's face suddenly appeared, framed by long strands of whitish hair. The dark, vertical pupils of his eyes were sharp and keen. "Commander Woolsey. Johhhn Sheppaaarrd." Todd's deep voice was composed of multiple tones, some in harmony with the main tone, some slightly discordant. "I had not expected you to make contact so soon after our last exchange of information. How is your little science project faring?"

"Didn't think you'd missed out on the action," Sheppard said sarcastically. "At least your ships aren't tearing themselves apart and human populations are maintained for a change."

"I thought you might have some idea of why we are contacting you," Woolsey said conversationally.

Todd's eyes moved to Woolsey's face. "You certainly didn't contact me to solicit congratulations. It may come as somewhat of a surprise to you, but I, in fact, have no idea what is happening at your end of the galaxy."

Woolsey's lips compressed into a narrow line. "We have reason to believe that ill-intentioned wraith are operating in the sector we currently occupy."

There was a pause. Todd's green eyes widened slightly. "Can you elaborate?"

"How much do you know about recent, deadly attacks on humans?"

"I have heard of no such activity for some time," Todd said.

"How can we be sure of that?" the colonel said.

"I have no reason to lie, Sheppard."

"I'd rather discuss the particulars on Atlantis if you are willing," Woolsey said. "One of our recent off-world communications was compromised in a most unusual and unexplained fashion and we still don't know what's going on. But we have evidence that a band of wraith may be involved in the disappearance of one of my teams."

Todd slowly tilted his head to one side. "Were they culled?"

Woolsey froze. "We…we don't know. It's possible."

"Ahhhh," the wraith breathed gently. "You know the risks, sending your people to uncharted planets is just as perilous now as it was before the retrovirus set down its first roots. It has only been a couple of years. There are bound to be wraith on the loose who still have not been affected. But if there are wraith involved in an attack on your people, they most certainly have violated the treaty."

"I would like to continue this discussion in person only," Woolsey said. "And there is something else we discovered that you may or may not be able to identify."

"I see. What could be so unusual that you believe you need my help to identify it?"

"We would appreciate your cooperation," Woolsey said, refusing to give further hints. "You can rest assured that you will not be without compensation of some kind."

"And if I refuse?"

"Well, let's just say that if you don't show up," Sheppard said, "you might find yourself facing the very same enemies that we are in the end. Probably just take a little longer."

"You can understand after what you have informed me of that I do not wish to reveal my location over this transmission," Todd said. "And I assume the same goes for yourselves."

"Of course," Woolsey said. "Shall we meet halfway?"

"Very well. I admit I may be…somewhat curious." A tiny smirk flitted over Todd's features.

The coordinates to the meeting point were exchanged.

The wraith looked the commanders in the eyes, the tips of his teeth showing through his parted lips. "I look forward to this."

"As do we," Woolsey said in all seriousness.

Todd nodded slightly and the screen went blank.