Screaming echoed through the building, causing McKay's heart to beat faster and faster in anticipation. The test subject seemed to be transforming into something, because he could hear the voice changing, becoming more like a roar than a scream.
Eventually the agonized roars stopped, and McKay waited with breath held for some indication of what had happened. A rustling sound ensued, followed by a padded thumping sound in regular cadence like clawed feet interacting with stone.
The sound faded out, but a few minutes later, human footsteps approached his cell — Michael.
"What happened?" McKay blurted out nervously.
"You should be congratulated Doctor," Michael said. "This wouldn't have been possible without you. Already, the first batch of soldiers are being programmed."
"Programmed?" McKay asked.
"You didn't think I would let such a powerful creature remain uncontrollable, did you?"
"Look," McKay said, his voice breaking. He tried to remain stoic in these sorts of situations, but he had never felt so utterly alone before. "I don't know if Beckett is still in there somewhere, but please stop this and come home."
Michael laughed, his cold, uncaring tone making McKay shiver. "I cannot let you leave. There is far too much at risk. Besides, you're going to help me create this army."
"It's your army, isn't it?" McKay said. "You won't let this government have control, it's all you."
Michael smirked. "You know me too well Doctor. Yes, they have control for now, but in time, the beasts will do only what I say."
"You said that you needed to study the DNA manipulation device for yourself," McKay said. "Now I've been thinking about that. You want to use it on yourself, don't you?"
"Ahhh," Michael said with silky cadence. "The burden of being clever is knowing the truth. You know that before I died, I thought I had perfected the human-wraith hybrid form to blend a mixture of wraith and human characteristics. Interestingly, your friend, the female has proven that an even more optimized form exists. I want a wraith form who has superior strength and psychic abilities, all with the capacity to feed, but not the need."
"You're going to turn yourself back into a wraith?"
"Yes," Michael said. "My psyche has been restored through years of careful effort and hiding my personality, so too will my body be restored.
"Secretary Kellim isn't stupid," McKay said. "He probably has already guessed that you intend to do all of this."
"Secretary Kellim is blinded by his ambition," Michael said. "He knows of my intention to turn myself back into a wraith. I believe he only entertains me because he thinks he can kill me when he has his army. These people don't realize that the army with which they're surrounding themselves are loyal only to me."
"Two truths and a lie," McKay muttered.
"Michael smirked. "I don't have to lie, just leave out the one detail that makes all the difference."
Michael sorted through a bundle of keys on a chain. "Secretary Kellim tried to have your wraith friend and her team killed against my wishes, but I suspected she would escape. Now all I need to do is find her."
"I thought you had them all in custody?"
Michael took a step toward the bars. "I lied."
For as vast as his knowledge was, in his heart and for most things in life, he felt like a moron.
Michael took out a stunner.
McKay stepped back against the wall. "What are you doing? You still need me!"
"I do not," Michael said. "You are a liability now, and your body is going to be put to better use for me."
McKay felt like he might faint in terror. Michael intended to transform him into one of those creatures. He became dizzy and sweat formed and flowed down his forehead.
"You know, it's ironic," Michael said, pausing before firing. "I never had your friends in custody, but now you will be the one to hunt them down and kill them."
He felt the stunner blast, but didn't even feel himself fall down on the ground.
(0)
"Under no circumstances will I let you steal food!" Aceso said, allowing her voice to take on its natural timbre.
Nonplussed, Isobel took a step toward her. "Something is very wrong, Atlantis should have picked us up by now."
Isobel was correct. They'd missed their check in by five hours already, and now the sky was quickly becoming dark.
"I know I can slip into the village and take some of that preserved meat that we saw," Adams offered.
She felt that she was beginning to lose control of the situation. "Look," the said, rubbing her eyes. She had begun to feel hot, flustered, and weak from the inability to find anything to eat. No animals had made themselves known since last night, and she doubted that rodents would be worth catching anyway.
"These people are incredibly poor," Aceso retorted. "I can't justify taking from them. I know what it's like to be in a situation where your food stores become stolen. I won't put another family through that."
Isobel gave her a side eye. "Your food stores were stolen?"
Aceso couldn't quite understand Isobel's confusion, until she realized that no one here knew of her early years on Irinak. Only Woolsey and Sheppard's team had heard parts of it.
"I spent years indentured to a farming family, and I understand how theft can devastate people, even cause them to starve."
Isobel clammed up at her description, and Adams couldn't think of anything to say.
"I may have a solution," one man said. Aceso recognized him as a biologist assigned to the team to study the wraith's organic technology.
He pointed to the river. "We haven't seen fish, but there are those little crustacean-like creatures living under the stones in the water.
"We already tried catching those," Adams said. "They taste good, but it'd take too long to feed everyone."
"It might be better than nothing," the man said. "I've been watching them, and I think we can make a sort of trap."
"How?" Aceso asked.
"They seem to like hiding under the rocks and logs. We might be able to use one of our backpacks as a trap to lure them into a fake shelter and capture them."
This was a novel idea that none of them had considered. Obviously eating small creatures out of a river wasn't ideal, but it sidestepped the problem of stealing from the village.
"Try it," Aceso said.
The man smiled and poured out the contents of his backpack, taking it down to the river's edge and setting it up like he described.
Aceso pondered the equipment on the ground when she noticed a life signs detector half buried under a pile of empty candy wrappers and a few notebooks.
She picked it up and activated it, scanning the immediate area. She saw only the signs of herself and her group. Expanding the range as far as it went revealed no other people or animals.
As a few of the group lured and caught the creatures another would boil them in a small pot on the fire, and then a few would be distributed one at a time to everyone. It wasn't going to sustain them, but it would stave off hunger for a time.
A more immediate problem had arisen, what they were going to do? If Atlantis could have come to rescue them, they would have already.
They ran the risk of becoming stuck and desperate in their situation if they continued to wait. They needed a plan to actively save themselves. It came to the point where the option that before was unthinkable, became necessary.
Aceso knelt down on the ground for a good long while, working over things in her mind. As much as she thought on the problem, she couldn't find a solution that made her feel positive.
Her own mind a desert for solutions, she sought help.
Aceso stepped over to Adams and knelt beside him as he picked bits of crustacean shell out of his teeth.
"I think we may need to get to the stargate ourselves," Aceso said somberly. "Or at least get closer so we can make a plan to get one of us through."
Adams paused, freezing in the act of picking his teeth. "I was afraid of that," he said. "You may be right though. I don't see long term survival being possible out here."
"Then we should make plans for the journey," Aceso said.
"Hold on though, we're ten kilometers from where we started, and we still have a hundred to go."
"Then it will be a long trip, but what choice do we have?"
Adams scratched the newly formed stubble on his chin. "We don't even know if the stargate is accessible. I mean, there must be a reason Atlantis can't send a jumper through."
She hadn't considered that before. Maybe the Vorash government had prevented anyone from coming through the stargate. If that was the case, then they wouldn't be able to use it anyway, no matter how stealthy they were.
Aceso sat down, trying and failing not to feel too hot.
"Look," Adams said. "We might need to get to the city anyway, if for no other reason than to get food, shelter and water."
Isobel walked closer. "I couldn't help but overhear. We may not have to walk the whole way back. A few kilometers below us, there is a regular schedule of boats that transport people to these outlying villages."
Aceso remembered hearing about those boats when they first negotiated access to the facility. The Vorash government had originally proposed to transport her team themselves, but Woolsey declined in favor of bringing a jumper.
"We steal a boat," Adams said. "We get to the city sooner."
They still faced having to steal something in order to save themselves, and Aceso couldn't get totally comfortable with the idea. She told herself that they wouldn't destroy a boat by stealing it, and the owner may still recover it later. It felt like a weak excuse, but it was all she had.
It disturbed her that her own morality was becoming compromised in this situation. How far would this compromise go? How far would she have to go?
"We should make plans to move tomorrow," Aceso said. Their encampment near the first village along the river seemed safe for now. They had remained there one night and part of the next day just waiting. The longer they waited, the higher their chance of being caught.
"There's something I think I need to clarify with you," Adams said.
She looked at him, her attention fully on him.
"We're all hungry, and you are a wraith. Now I don't pretend to know how anything about how feeding works, but I do need to know how you're doing, and how that might affect everyone else."
She paused as the question caught her off guard. Her human friends didn't know what to expect from her in these circumstances. She considered feeling offended at the implication that she'd even think feed on someone after being a little hungry, but she knew from experience that her natural instincts were still there, buried just under the surface. Adams wasn't wrong to ask.
"I must go without food for a very long period of time before my feelings of hunger for food transition to a wraith-like hunger," Aceso explained quietly, trying to keep this information discreet from the rest of the group. A few looked over at their conversation, but no one dared to eavesdrop.
Adams blinked expectantly.
"I am not at that state yet," Aceso said.
"Will you let me know if you do get to that point?" Adams asked.
Aceso nodded. "Yes, I promise to let you know before then. But even if I do become that hungry, that doesn't mean I would ever hurt any of you."
Adams smiled and nodded. "I figured you wouldn't go straight to eating us, but I need to know how you're feeling, for your own sake as well as for ours. Anything that might impair judgement is of concern to all of us."
"I understand," Aceso said. "And—please be discreet about this."
"Sure," Adams said. "Won't say a word unless I have to."
Aceso wasn't sure why she felt so embarrassed by this. The fact that she still had the capacity to experience the burning wraith-like hunger probably wouldn't surprise anyone, and yet she felt a veiled shame at its existence. It was more comfortable to pretend to her human friends that she didn't know what it felt like, that she only had to eat regular food and never had to think about feeding. The truth was that she had been forced to act on her instincts before, and knew very well what it felt like.
(0)
McKay woke to agony. He remained in a cell somewhere in the same facility, but with thicker bars and a larger door. He tried to sit up, only to discover that his arms and legs wouldn't work very well, feeling like lead. He examined his body, and found that he still looked human, but something had definitely changed.
Sweat formed all over him, and he felt at once too hot and too cold. The slightest touch of his clothing sent him into agony, and he took off his coat.
The cold, damp air stung his skin. Everything hurt, no matter what he did.
He let out a cry. "Help!" he said weakly.
A convulsion overtook him, and he felt something happen to his arms. He brought them to his face, and saw to his horror that they were changing shape, becoming larger, and growing thick fur. His nails became sharper, and vicious looking, while his fingers bent backward in a horrific unnatural fashion.
He couldn't help but scream involuntarily. His entire body felt like it was being ripped apart and put back together again.
His clothes ripped, as his body changed shape. He felt his head and eyes changing chape, becoming larger. His vision changed, and he became confused has his vision seemed to be split and widened in perspective. He could see almost fully around his body instead of just ahead of him.
McKay crawled around his cell, his forelimbs those of an animal, but his rear legs those of a human. His awkward crawling was instinctive, a reaction to the pain.
He let out a cry, but it wasn't his voice that he heard, but something else—a roar.
His head continued to change, the bone dissolving and re-stitching in a new form, forcing his nose and jaw outward into a snout.
The pain was present in every iota of his body.
His tailbone elongated and extended into a tail, which flopped around wildly as he tried and failed to control his limbs against the myriad of changes.
His mind felt off-balance because of the way his eyes seemed to process things. Everything was split-off in a weird way, and he blinked, only to become cognizant that he seemed to have two eyelids on each side of his head.
He blinked all four eyes independently of each other, which confused and fascinated him. He could tell his face was long, with a large nose, and while running his tongue along through his mouth, he could sense teeth that were sharp and canine-like.
Weird. He hadn't even noticed his teeth changing.
His body ached and stung, but eventually all of that stopped. As the pain stopped, the rushing in his ears stopped, leaving only the still silence, and sweet relief from the pain.
The process hadn't lasted very long, maybe a few hours.
He stood up, shakily at first, and became aware that his perspective was actually taller than it was before, his head reaching to the top of the cell door. Moving around in a small circle, he realized he had four legs now, instead of two legs and two arms.
He found a pile of clothes in the corner of the cell and sniffed them. He could sense the fabric, synthetic and new. He could smell a human—himself—but not himself. This smell confused and upset him, so he turned away from it.
He dug his feet into the stone surface of the cell, feeling the pads of his four feet against the wet, cold surface. He stretched his fingers out, feeling the long claws dig into the stone.
It seemed that whatever transformation had occurred, made him a lot larger. He panicked, moving in erratic circles inside the cell and bumping into the walls. His head turned every which way, taking in the smells around the facility.
He could sense a lot of wet stone, rusty steel, smoky, polluted air, and the remnants of human habitation. Every sense was very acute, especially smell.
He could hear something—footsteps in the periphery of the facility. The footfalls came closer, but he could smell the individual already from here.
It was Beckett, who he knew to be Michael.
In a minute Michael appeared in front of the door. "Your transformation occurred nicely," he said soothingly.
Something about Michael set him at ease, making him want to listen intently.
"I imagine you're hungry, correct?"
McKay took stock of his hunger sensations and confirmed that it was so.
Michael took a cut of meat out of a bag and threw it on the floor.
McKay sniffed it suspiciously, but then became overwhelmed by how savory it smelled. He took a bite, then nearly swallowed the whole thing without chewing it.
"Do you want more?" Michael asked.
As McKay worked on getting the savory meat down his throat, he nodded up and down.
"I have a target for you. It is the Atlanteans. I want you to take part in tracking them down and killing them. You may eat the humans if you wish but bring the wraith to me alive."
McKay felt calmed, and also intrigued at the task. Michael's direction sounded soothing, and encouraging.
Michael opened the cell door. "Follow your brothers to the transport. They will take you where you need to go. From there, you must track them down on your own."
McKay stepped forward. He saw five beasts emerge from the cells. He realized in shock that he appeared that way as well.
The creatures like himself were a head and shoulders taller than Michael. They each had four eyes, two on each side of the head. They had long fur, either tan or gray, and canine-like posture with paws. Each claw articulated in feline fashion. McKay wondered what sort of beast these were.
None of the creatures had large ears, but must have compensated for that with a long snout meant for nasal acuity. They had a thick tail with a striped pattern which tapered in diameter as it reached toward the ground. Their hindquarters and shoulders stood at the same height, with their backs having no noticeable slope, and long legs clearly made for sprinting.
The security forces stood back in terror as the procession of creatures filed past, and were loaded into a large transport vehicle.
The door closed, leaving McKay in darkness with the others of his kind, all standing silently, waiting to be unleashed upon the Atlanteans.
(0)