ACT 2 – TRUTH
Chapter 22 – Cryptic
Halling shifted his gaze from the empty broken pieces of #14 drifter out the front view and frowned at the clear worry he was hearing in Nalla's words over the subspace audio link.
"I do not know how to describe it," she relayed the tension obvious in her voice. He could not recall the last time he had heard her sound quite so…confused. It wasn't a description one normally associated with any of Pelydr, and though he knew just being an empath did not make Nalla immune to being unsure about anything, he found it very unsettling. Her and her team were so very far away; two days flight by hyperspace…
"Does it feel at all like a Wraith?" Si asked from the far side of the tactical display table.
"No, it is not Wraith or Human, of only that I am certain," Nalla replied over the link.
Halling met Si' gaze across the table. "Perhaps it is the Skerti then, Nalla?" Halling voiced what they were all thinking.
"It is possible," Nalla responded, "But I cannot be certain," she repeated.
"Can you get a feeling as to how many there may be?" Si asked next, taking the lead in questioning Nalla's detection. Being a Seeker, Si was best placed to know what to ask about such psychic feelings.
Halling glanced along the table, looking towards the empty space to his left where Teyla often stood. She was off rotation currently and there was no need to call her up to Central Station just yet, and surely there were no additional questions she could ask that Si would not think of already.
"No," Nalla replied. "If I had to guess, I would say it is one consciousness, but, in truth," she sighed, "I really cannot be sure."
"Perhaps just one Skerti then?" Si considered, eyebrows raised.
"For all we know, they may have one overriding hive consciousness," Jobrill put in a theory, "and there could be an entire fleet of ships full of Skerti waiting among the asteroids."
"There was nothing in the dissection of the Skerti Queen that suggests their minds work that differently to Wraith or Human," Nalla put in.
"But she did have an entire extra part of her brain seemingly dedicated to psychic communication, Nalla," Si put in, and Halling suspected he could now hear some concern in his voice as well.
"That is true," Nalla conceded. "What does concern me is that, whatever this is I am detecting, there is nothing living registering on sensors in the immediate area. If the sensors are correct, then this consciousness is exceedingly powerful for me to detect it from so far away and through the vacuum of space. I have only ever had that ability with my own people."
"Though," Inifee's voice now joined the conversation. "Our sensors are being significantly hampered by the asteroids around us; what you are detecting may be on the other side of these asteroids and therefore much closer."
"Possibly," Nalla added thoughtfully, "but I do not think it is close by."
"You are getting a sense of distance from it then?" Si asked quickly.
"Perhaps."
"How about which direction?" Si pressed.
There was a pause. "No, I do not think so, but given it is so seemingly strong, that might change once the Transport begins moving." She sighed. "I do not know. It takes a great deal of my concentration to maintain awareness of it and not to do anything that might draw its attention to me."
Halling frowned, worried anew at her obvious concern.
"Is there still no indication that it is aware of you, Nalla?" Si asked, his voice firm and yet kind; it was a gift Si had always had. Despite his near giant height and massively thick layers of muscle, Si was actually a profoundly calm and compassionate male.
"Not that I can detect," Nalla replied.
"But once you start deploying satellites in the field…?" Jobrill pointed out.
Halling frowned at that thought. "Perhaps it would be best for you and your team, Nalla, to hold position and await our arrival?"
"Or exit the asteroid field?" Isen suggested from his position stood to the left of Si at the tactical display table.
"From our current position," Nalla stated, "we are unable to detect how close to the edge of the field we are located. We are already here, it seems foolish for us to just sit and wait for two days for your arrival."
There was some murmuring of other voices near Nalla that the link did not pick up clearly.
"The Technicians here estimate that it is likely that we are just within the outer perimeter of the asteroid field, but we will not be sure until we start moving through the field and start deploying the sensor satellites. We are sending you coordinates that we suggest you use for your target arrival point, rather than this original point. There is no way that the Hunt Fleet could avoid these asteroids at this current location and we would likely lose the entire Fleet."
Halling saw Jobrill tapping on several screens.
"We are receiving the new coordinates now, Nalla," Jobrill reported.
A new star chart appeared centrally on the display table, and Halling leaned a little further over the table to see it. He was surprised at the blinking new target point Nalla and her team were recommending. In terms of the vast distances of hyperspace flight, the adjusted coordinates for arrival would barely reduce the jump, but once there, they would still be considerable distance from Nalla's current position.
"Nalla," Jobrill was the first to voice, "if we drop out of hyperspace at this new target point, we will still be almost an entire day away via sublight."
Two days of hyperspace and one further at sublight was a long time should something happen to Nalla's team.
"From what readings we are detecting, the asteroid field is in motion; slow, but definitely moving. Given how unpredictable such activity can be, the gravitational fields of the larger asteroids, and that we cannot rely on the scan data of this region to date, we are advising extreme caution."
"That puts us potentially three days from assisting you, Nalla," Si emphasised the obvious again. "If you are detected by the alien consciousness…"
"True, but in the time it takes you to reach those coordinates, we can move carefully among the asteroids in this area, deploy our satellites and begin to gain a far better understanding of the field. Then, once you make contact upon arrival from hyperspace, our combined sensor readings may allow you to make a further short hyperspace jump closer to the field's edge and we can coordinate a meet point."
Halling rubbed at his brow. He was starting to feel the effects of having been awake so long following the long night overseeing the investigation into the Traveller ship. Two days in hyperspace would allow them some rest, but it would be a long time to be out of contact with Nalla and her team, especially with the unknown nature of what she was detecting. It felt risky.
"Or you could deploy one or two satellites and then jump into hyperspace and meet us well outside the field," he suggested.
"We are so enclosed here; a jump to hyperspace would be dangerous for us. It is a miracle that we survived arrival in all honesty, Halling," Nalla replied.
"It was close," Inifee's voice added with feeling. That the experienced Pilot had barely managed to save them attested to how close to meeting destruction their drop from hyperspace had truly been.
"We can use the next two days to deploy and start gathering data here," Nalla continued, sounding far more certain in her tone now. "If the consciousness I am aware of does change in any way that is potentially threatening, we could risk a jump away and meet you at the coordinates for the new target arrival point. But we are here now in the field, so it seems foolish to waste the time and opportunity."
Halling had to admit that was true enough. Deploying even a few of the sensor satellites on the Transport could provide invaluable data ready for the Hunt Fleet's arrival.
He just didn't like the prospect of Nalla and her team being out of contact during the Fleet's two day hyperspace flight. Being so far away.
Yet, tactically it made sense.
It was possible, he silently considered, that he was being overly cautious with anything in relation to Nalla. After the recent revelation of Nalla's past feelings towards him, things had not felt as easy or comfortable between them. Or at least on his side. Not wishing her any further harm, as he suspected his past obliviousness had done, he was now possibly worrying more than was normal or appropriate towards her. She was an Elite Warrior and her plan made sense.
"I agree," Jobrill put in, interrupting his inner debate. "If you sense anything threatening, then risk the jump out."
"When we arrive at the new arrival point, it may be that myself and Emmagan might be able to detect the new presence too," Si considered.
Halling looked across the table to see Si watching him.
The plan made sense tactically and so they should follow it.
He nodded and glanced upwards. "Seifer?" He asked their colleague's opinion from where he was listening in from The Valse.
"I agree with Nalla's plan," Seifer replied instantly.
Halling looked round to young Isen next.
"I think it is worth the chance and we may be able to greatly reduce our time to the team once at the new arrival point," Isen stated.
"Very well," Halling agreed, pushing aside his worried feelings. He was an Elite and so was Nalla. "Nalla, just be aware, as we reported from the recent drifter, if you detect any Salvager or Traveller ships, assume they are controlled by the Skerti."
"Understood," Nalla replied. "We are going to deploy the first satellite at our current position in orbit above this large asteroid, and then we will see where else in the field we can find suitable locations for the other satellites."
She sounded more confident now, certain of the plan, but he could still hear the tension and unease in her voice as he watched Jobrill entering the location of the first sensor satellite at Nalla's current coordinates.
"We will depart within minutes, Nalla," he told her. "The second we drop from hyperspace at the coordinates you have advised, we'll be in contact."
"Understood," she replied.
"Stay safe, Nalla," Si added, his tone conveying far more meaning, a warning perhaps from one psychically gifted to another.
"I will," she confirmed. "See you all soon."
00000
John had walked through Janus' magic wall a few times now, but he still paused cautiously outside the apparent solid end wall of the corridor. He double-checked that the lights were still blinking on the 'sub-sonic tone generator' Rodney had attached next to the magic doorway to keep it always 'open'. Rodney had painted a 'lovely' visual image of what would happen to you if the tones stopped while you were halfway through the wall and John wanted absolutely nothing to do with that.
He triple-checked the lights and then, going against all natural instinct, he walked towards the solid-looking wall…and right through it as if it wasn't even there.
Stepping into the lab, John caught himself again turning to look back at the inside of the magic door, but, like all the previous times he'd done this, it just looked like a normal bit of wall. That Janus was a crazy genius.
Successfully through the wall and all in one piece, he turned his attention to the relatively packed lab. There were several teams of experts working on the different consoles and examining some random glass-like objects on the tables, which were presumably Ancient tech of some kind. John wasn't all that sure, mainly because no one else was. He'd spent the majority of his day so far doing his usual duties of checking in with the joint Elite/Atlantis taskforce teams by himself, Skan having been in here helping Jackson and Rodney. John had kept checking his emails, but there hadn't been any report of progress since the lab had been discovered yesterday, so after he'd had a quick lunch, he'd headed here to get a firsthand report.
The place was certainly full of activity, but it wasn't the excited, action-packed kind of vibe that said things were going well in here.
Ahead of him, Elite Skan was stood with one of Rodney's team and the Elite sent 'Ancestor expert' who had arrived with the taskforce teams this morning. John hadn't had a chance to say more than two words to her, and he couldn't quite remember her name, other than it had a 'wee' sound in the middle of it. He'd found that inwardly amusing, but had forgotten the rest of her name immediately afterwards. With so many people visiting six days a week for the task forces, he was losing track of names.
Shifting his gaze off Skan and his expert, he spotted Rodney and Jackson sat off to the right at two of Janus' consoles.
Their body language didn't look positive. Rodney was hunched over his console, frowning and decidedly still. That was never good. When McKay was in the swing of understanding new tech, he was usually really animated and overly excited. Today he looked like he was sitting a test and failing.
And John knew how much Rodney hated failing at anything.
Jackson looked less stressed, his legal pad and a biro in hand, but he wasn't looking anymore enthused than Rodney.
John headed towards them. "Hey," he called, "So, what've we got?" He asked as cheerfully as possible, hoping it might help somehow.
Both the Doctors turned in their chairs towards him, both with a pinched expression that said all the cheer had been wasted.
"Well," Jackson began, "it turned out that finding and getting into the lab was the easy part." Yeah that didn't sound like any fantastically helpful Skerti-related intel was about to drop anytime soon.
"There are levels of encryption on all of the data here," Rodney added, gesturing wearily to the console in front of him, "that even the most paranoid NSA agent wouldn't use. I mean, it is deep," he emphasised.
"Some of them are straight up math ciphers," Jackson chimed back in, "while others are Ancient knowledge puzzles."
To John's left, Skan had wandered over to listen in and John exchanged an Elite-style nod with the guy.
"Until we start deciphering," Rodney added, sounding pretty defeated, "there's no way to find out which bits of encryption might be hiding the Skerti information, and no way to tell what any of this stuff does," he gestured to the closest table that held more of the tall glass possible-tech and various other miscellaneous Ancienty things.
"However," a female voice added from very close behind John and he spun round to find Skan's Ancestor expert called something-wee, smiling as she walked past him heading towards the table Rodney had just pointed out. "We have found something very interesting already on this table." She indicated the tabletop in question as she moved round behind it and waved him towards her.
Well that sounded more like it!
John followed the petite redheaded woman to the far side of the table and watched as she crouched down slightly so that she was peering down at the table surface. "Here," she said softly as she gestured to the top of the table…where there was nothing.
John frowned down at the table. The back of it was lined with tall slim cylinders of glass attached to what looked like a device and to the left there were various small sized things that seemed to have no obvious function, but the 'wee-woman' was indicating the open space on the table.
"Do you see it?" She asked mysteriously.
John tried to make more of an effort, crouching down slightly to match the same height as her, which took more effort for him given their height difference, but all he could see still was empty table surface.
"What am I supposed to be seeing?" He gave in.
"The dust," she replied and one of her hands came into view, hovering above the table and tracing along a line of what looked like fine dust.
He angled his head, dipping down lower so the light caught across the table surface better and suddenly the patterns in the light layer of dust across the table became obvious. Including lines of built up dust and then open bare spaces where there was no dust at all.
"There were several objects on this table, but they've gone," 'wee-woman' stated.
John straightened up a bit, his eye now attuned to what he was looking at. "Several rectangular things here," he pointed out the obvious patches now, "and one big square thing here?"
"Exactly," she replied from his right. "And see here," she dipped again, so he did too, and her brightly painted fingernail hovered above a particular line of dust. "How there is barely any collapse of the wall of the dust where it had built up against whatever used to be on this table?"
John could see exactly what she meant; the line crisp and clear between the dust-coated side and the clear patch, with none of the dust having fallen over into the clear space. Given how much he knew the city had been shaken over the last few years, it implied one conclusion. "Whatever was here disappeared recently," he voiced.
"Yes," she agreed.
John straightened up properly from the table inspection, shifting his attention to where Rodney and Jackson were watching. "Any of your guys move anything off this table?" He checked.
"Haven't touched a thing," Rodney immediately replied, both palms held up and out.
"We checked the initial photos we took of the lab when we first got in here," Jackson replied. "Whatever used to be on that table was already gone when we arrived."
John nodded as he dropped his gaze back to the dust-free patches on the table. To his right, the Ancestor expert shifted closer.
"I read your account of interacting with the Ancestor Janus," she said. "You mentioned that he said he had 'tidied up a few things', if our written translation of your meaning was accurate?" She checked.
"Yeah, that's right," John nodded, remembering that throw away little comment the Ancient had added after the tempting mention of interesting goodies that were hidden here in his lab.
"It's possible," Jackson put in from the console beyond Rodney, "that though Janus directed us here to find out more about the Skerti, that there were other things he didn't want us to have."
"So he confiscated them," John frowned back down at the table. Hopefully Janus hadn't taken anything that would actually have helped them stop the Skerti…like maybe a weapon. Jackson had said he had his doubts about Janus allowing them to find anything like that. Maybe that had turned out to be true.
Though there were plenty of other things left on this table and the others, including what looked like blue egg-shaped things. John picked one up, surprised at the weight of the little object. "All we can focus on then is what Janus did leave us children to play with, so…"
"Um," the 'wee-woman' uttered suddenly from his right, her hands reaching in to the egg in his hand, "perhaps it is best for you not to touch anything in here," she said as her fingers gripped onto the egg, clearly wanting to take it from him.
He tightened his grip on the blue egg and gave her a questioning frown.
"You have the Ancestor-given genetics yes?" She asked with big green eyes and what seemed a very 'teacher' kind of voice. "It would be wise to be cautious what you touch and may inadvertently activate in here."
It was possibly a fair enough point given that probably most things in here were 'experimental', but he could usually tell when Ancient tech activated and the blue egg hadn't done that.
Still, he let her take the egg and watched as she carefully set it back down on the table like it was some sort of delicate antique. "Sorry, what was your name again?" He asked her.
"Tem-we-ya," she replied as she straightened and smiled up at him.
"Tem-we-ya," he repeated, putting an extra emphasis on the 'wee' part, and turned to look back towards Rodney and Jackson. Only the two Doctors were sharing a chuckle about something; possibly at John having had things taken away from him.
He moved back around the table towards them. "So, you two have made no progress whatsoever?"
The sniggering twins' smiles instantly switched into pained winces.
"Well, we're certain it's definitely Janus' secret lab," Jackson offered.
"Yeah, I think that was pretty obvious," John replied. "How many more hidden secret rooms full of contraband research could there be in Atlantis?"
"Probably just the one," Jackson admitted.
John switched his attention to Rodney. "So, how long do you think it's gonna take to start cracking these Ancient puzzles?"
Rodney glared up at him. "You're more than welcome to help us crack this first stream cipher."
"We believe we are close to deciphering one non-mathematical puzzle," Skan added more helpfully.
"Oh?" John asked the Elite, Tem-we-ya moving back to stand at Skan's side.
"Yes," she was the one to reply, "we believe the riddle relates to a planet now within the Alliance named Kix. There was a small Ancestral base located there and we believe the answer to the puzzle is the original ancestral name of that base. We have a list of old locally used names on the planet near there which are believed to have derived from the Ancestral language, so we are working our way through that list."
"Great, sounds promising," John smiled and then gave Rodney a pointed they're-doing-better-than-you look.
"It's going to take time," Rodney stated surprisingly calmly considering the lack of success. "Even if we get through one password or encryption, there's no guarantee what's behind it will have anything to do with the Skerti. Everything seems separated and we have no idea what's in each protected section; we may have to unlock everything just to find the one thing we're after."
"So there's no index is what you're saying?" John interpreted.
"Not so far, no," Rodney shook his head as he shifted his gaze over the console in front of him. John considered Rodney's profile and wondered whether the calmness was actually exhaustion. From what he gathered, Rodney and his team had been working all night documenting the inside of the lab and creating the tone generator to keep the wall open, and they'd been working in here since.
"You guys had a break since we found this place?" he checked.
"Some," Rodney shrugged, his attention now up on the Ancient screen.
John decided to take that at face value that Rodney and Jackson had at least had something close to a break, maybe even some sleep, but he made a mental note to check in on them this evening and make sure they weren't pushing themselves.
"How about lunch? You guys had some of that?" He checked.
"Yes, someone brought us in some food," Jackson was the one to answer.
"Okay good," John nodded.
There wasn't much else to do then except wait for the geniuses, or Elite helpers, to start solving puzzles. Though, the maths problems could be something John could help with; he didn't get much chance nowadays to use his maths skills. He looked round and spotted a free chair, so he grabbed the back of it and wheeled it towards Rodney's right.
"Shove up a bit, McKay," John told him as he bumped the chair in against Rodney's to make some space for him in front of Rodney's console.
"What?" Rodney frowned round, having been peering up at the Ancient screen, but he shifted his chair over a bit.
Some space now available, John sat down, elbow bumping against Rodney's as he settled in. "Let's see that maths cipher then."
"Sure fine," Rodney said with teasing doubt as he triggered something on the console and the screen above them shifted. "Any help welcomed," he added before looking round to Jackson sat at the next console along. "You know, he could have been in Mensa."
John ignored the comment and the possible sounds of snickering.
"I made sure to tell Colonel Carter how you guys make such a good team," he retaliated instead. "I imagine you'll be assigned to more projects together in the future."
The sniggering stopped and there was a heavy silence from the two.
John didn't bother to look round at their faces, he just grinned as he ran his eyes over the screen.
00000
The ancient Hive's Engine Pod was one of the most impressive spaces Long Sleep had visited in his life.
The Hive, so seemingly untouched and unaltered for all these many thousands of years, felt unlike any other Hive he had encountered.
In his role as a Keeper, Long Sleep had seen Hives in many different states, many drastically altered to withstand damage and injury – the most extreme of which had been the doomed Hive the Skerti Queen had poisoned – but also many that had simply been augmented with improvements and structural support for the living vessels.
Such long years in existence, often caught in battles and multiple hyperspace flights, meant that Hives and Cruisers naturally accumulated some damage that even their natural healing abilities could not entirely repair. Scars and healed fracture lines were a natural part of a vessel's structure, and their Keepers then assisted further with grafts, spliced in strengthened flesh and webbing, and all manner of other augmentations required to assist the living ship.
Yet here, from the moment he had walked onto this Hive, he had seen not a single sign of a scar on any section of the ship. That was even more apparent here, in one of the Engine Pods. The main chamber overseeing the Pod's systems was already considerably larger than normal, but as this ancient Hive was so massive, it was perhaps understandable. However, so far he still had seen no sign of any interventions. Engine Pods, by their very nature, were at risk of damage given the powerful forces of hyperspace and sublight flight on the organic flesh of the ship, with fluid pressures and power veins running at the fullest extent of their tolerance points on a frequent basis.
But not here, on this most ancient of Hive seed lines. There were no indications of treatments, augmentations, or even simple repairs to any of the internal structures.
However, that had not stopped the Hive being altered. The size of everything in the Engine Pod alone told Long Sleep that the Hive had undergone considerable adaptations to adjust to its massive size. Everything was far larger than normal in here with more power veins glowing through one wall, larger and thicker conduits, and massively dense sections of webbing all evident; yet, without any sign of intervention. It implied this was simply how a Hive changed as it grew to this massive size.
It was truly fascinating.
Walking under a heavy thick conduit, the walls visibly pulsing with the nutrient fluid within, Long Sleep reached up and gently placed his palm against the thick surface. He had not seen conduits as immense as this. At such size, the conduit should fail, but it had clearly grown stronger walls and there were more webbing supports cradling it. Required to pump massive amounts of nutrient fluids, the Hive had increased the conduit's size and reinforced it to cope with the increased pressures. Such adaptation made perfect sense, but he had never seen such a profound and natural example.
Under his touch, he felt the Hive's basic consciousness recognise him from his previous gentle introductions via the interface line back in his and Mind Song's Chamber. As before, the consciousness of the Hive felt almost eager at the attention, as if starved of interaction. Given how profoundly the vessel had changed its own life-giving structures seemingly without assistance to grow itself so massive, he imagined it had indeed been left to its own devices.
He wondered what the Hive's Keepers actually did with their time.
He lowered his hand and continued on under the conduit, increasing his pace a little to catch up with New Breath. The Young Queen had arrived at his and Mind Song's Chamber a short time ago with news that finally, a day's cycle later, Lost Lineage was allowing them further access to the Hive. Mind Song had been guided to a place where he could undertake his research for anything possibly traced back to the Skerti within the Hive's historical database, while Long Sleep had been invited to accompany New Breath on a tour of the Hive's engines with the Primary Keeper.
The Keeper was currently leading New Breath on a slow tour around this Engine Pod. Like all others on this Hive, his appearance was immaculate; his white hair hung to the exactly the same length as the other Keepers around the large space and the Drones stood on silent guard back at the main entrance into the Engine Pod. Long Sleep glanced back towards the big, spiked-masked Drones with their stunners held tightly to their chests. He was a little surprised they were not still on his heels as they had been on the walk to this Engine Pod, but he guessed the view into the Pod was clear and unobstructed. He could do nothing without the Drones and all the Keepers seeing him.
Not that he intended to do anything except admire the impressive colossal Hive. He shifted his attention up from the Drones to where vast amounts of thick webbing supported power veins and more conduits feeding into the Pod.
Again the webbing was far denser than what was normally seen in an Engine Pod, but it was clearly necessary to support the increased size.
Idly he wondered if the pruning of webbing that was standard for Keepers was a mistake, for there were no signs of that in the dense webbing here. It had been left to grow unhampered, and perhaps that was an improvement. Clearly the Hive knew how to adapt itself, if its Keepers did not.
Turning his attention back to the tour, he and New Breath were now being led past several consoles at which several Keepers were monitoring interface displays. As he walked behind the Keepers, Long Sleep ran his eyes over all the displays, seeing that everything was working perfectly. The fluid conduit pressures were higher than usual and the power veins showed far higher levels than normal, but that was unsurprising given what he had seen. But of the Keepers, they didn't appear to be doing anything other than watching the readings. Perhaps their role was one of simple monitoring rather than intervention and interaction with the Hive.
Idly he mused that it felt as if the Hive itself was the main Keeper here, and all these Warriors simply observers.
As he continued on past more conduits, listening idly to the Primary Keeper's empty descriptive tour for New Breath, Long Sleep ran his eyes over everything as casually and efficiently as possible.
It was very obvious that this Hive had been in no way prepared for resistance to the Skerti radiation, and in that regard New Breath's young stout Hive had an advantage. Though, it was possible that Lost Lineage's proud confidence that her Hive would be able to withstand such radiation was not all that unfounded. In truth, given how inwardly naturally enhanced the Hive had become from growing so large and having to cope without assistance from the Keepers, it was possible that it could resist some of the radiation's effects far better than most Hives.
He was desperately curious to find out, not that he would wish such radiation on any vessel, let alone this impressive Hive.
As he passed under another thick conduit, he again reached up, eager to brush his mind against the Hive once more. As he did, he conveyed his admiration again and felt the Hive respond.
Lowering his eyes from the pleasant interaction, he found the Primary Keeper was staring at him, threat and judgement in his eyes.
Long Sleep lowered his hand from the conduit, suspecting it was the reason for the threatening look.
The Primary Keeper shifted his gaze away back to New Breath, where the Young Queen was examining a display.
Long Sleep glanced away around the control space, continuing his inspection – or rather his 'education' on such an ancient Hive, as apparently Lost Lineage had described it to New Breath. It certainly was profoundly informative.
A shadow shifted off to the right, drawing Long Sleep's attention.
In the entranceway between the main Engine Pod control space and the next Chamber, a figure stood within the deep obscuring shadows, just out of sight.
Then, against Long Sleep's awareness there arrived the faintest short touch of the now familiar mind of the possible captive Warrior held on this Hive. As before, the unknown Warrior's mind felt sharp with intelligence and extreme caution, but this time it also held a clear sense of greeting within the brief brush of his mind.
Long Sleep held still, turning his head away from the direction of the entranceway, but he kept his eyes on the shadowed figure.
The figure shifted within the concealment enough that Long Sleep could see the Warrior nod his head a fraction.
It was him.
Long Sleep nodded his head faintly in response and looked away.
So his theory had been correct; this other Warrior, though seemingly at risk and in need of rescue, was free to move about the Hive. Or was he a Keeper working here in this Engine Pod? Though, if that was true, it seemed a rather fortuitous and suspicious coincidence.
Or had this Warrior come here specifically to see Long Sleep, taking advantage of an opportune moment to make visual contact?
If so, it was indeed important that Long Sleep not draw attention to his interaction with the unknown Warrior, so he simply followed along behind New Breath as the Primary Keeper continued the tour on towards the main hyperspace interface.
In this new area of the control space, New Breath pausing to examine the interface display, Long Sleep glanced casually back towards the side entranceway again.
The Warrior was still there, keeping tightly close to the wall to keep from being seen, but this new angle provided more light across the male.
As Long Sleep had suspected from their mental contact, it was now very obvious that this Warrior was not of Lost Lineage's own batches. Though the details of his face and shoulders were shrouded in the shadows, there was enough light to see that he was not as tall or lean as the Warrior lineage. Instead, he had a wider chest and, as the Warrior glanced away, cautiously checking behind him, enough light now fell over his head to reveal a very strange feature of the Warrior.
His hair was short.
Not bald, as seen in one lineage, this Warrior's white hair was cut into a short style, not even reaching below his ears.
That was obviously unlike any of Lost Lineage's controlled Warriors, but it was also something Long Sleep had never seen before on any Warrior.
The Warrior glanced back, his eyes now catching the light a fraction as he met Long Sleep's gaze across the Chamber.
A flash of warning in the Warrior's half-lit expression and from his mind was now far stronger than the distant contact they had shared thus far. As before, there was the very strong sense that this Warrior wanted to escape this Hive, but also a seemingly honest warning and concern for Long Sleep in turn.
Long Sleep nodded his head the merest fraction to acknowledge what the Warrior was conveying.
A sharp loud threatening hiss from the right instantly drew Long Sleep's attention round to see the Primary Keeper, teeth bared, lunge forward and hiss again, but his threat was directed off towards where the short-haired Warrior had been stood. Long Sleep looked back to the side entranceway, but the Warrior had gone. Chased away by the Primary Keeper.
"Who was that?" New Breath asked helpfully.
"Do not concern yourself, Queen," the Primary Keeper replied, which was a shockingly condescending comment to say to any Queen. "It is simply a sick, infected Warrior."
Interesting.
"Infected with what?" Long Sleep asked.
The Primary Keeper's eyes met his again, with no less threat than the last time.
"Impurity," the Primary Keeper replied with a heavy tone and no small amount of disgust. The Keeper's continuing direct eye contact also made it clear that he included Long Sleep in that description.
Long Sleep held the Keeper's gaze, more than used to the prejudice he and Mind Song had encountered over the years for their mutations.
What was interesting was that the short-haired Warrior was considered something similar. However, Long Sleep wasn't sure if that was due to the simple fact that the other Warrior clearly wasn't of Lost Lineage's Warrior Lineage or was he too carrying a mutation?
Perhaps that explained the short hair?
It was a fascinating development.
"Show me the other Engine Pod," New Breath ordered the Primary Keeper, interrupting the staring match Long Sleep had held with the Keeper.
The Primary Keeper finally looked away, turning to New Breath. "I was ordered to show you only this Engine Pod."
The petite built New Breath narrowed her eyes up at the taller Keeper. "Is that because the other is 'impure'?" She asked.
Long Sleep saw the insult hitting the Primary Keeper, the frown creasing his mottled brow. "Nothing of this Hive is impure, Queen." But his eyes slid back to Long Sleep.
If Mind Song were here, Long Sleep had little doubt that his Batch Brother would have had something to say to that, would have pointed out the complete inaccuracies given that the Keeper had just described one of his own crew as 'impure'. Long Sleep however said nothing, just held the Keeper's threatening gaze.
"I will be sure to inform your Queen that you spent more of your time insulting me and my Warrior than you did showing us anything informative," New Breath stated, anger clear now in her voice and in the sudden expanding weight of her mind.
Behind Long Sleep, he was aware of the sound of the Drones shifting their stance at the main entrance. Adjusting his posture slightly, Long Sleep glanced back to see that the Drones were holding their stunners in a lower position, but they were not pointing them this way…yet.
"I do only what my Great Queen commands, Young Queen," the Primary Keeper replied to New Breath. "Disobeying her is a far greater disrespect."
Long Sleep switched his gaze back towards New Breath, aware that her mind was still hovering wide and strong as she considered her next move. There was little that she could do now, as the Primary Keeper had made it clear he was not going to go against his orders, but no Queen should allow a Warrior to deny her a request.
"Honoured Queen," Long Sleep said into the thick silence of the Chamber, "I do not think seeing the other Engine Pod will assist me. I have seen all I need to and have all the answers we need."
As hoped, he saw the Primary Keeper frown faintly at that concealed meaning.
New Breath's mind withdrew from the Chamber, locking away under her tight control again. Long Sleep saw her smile at the Primary Keeper, the tips of her fangs showing as she leaned towards him.
"I shall remember you," she said ominously.
She then turned on the spot, her gaze briefly meeting Long Sleep's. He lowered his gaze with respect as she passed by him and then he followed her as she led the way across the Chamber towards the exit.
As they crossed the open space, Long Sleep glanced back towards the side entranceway where the short-haired Warrior had stood, but he was nowhere in sight, having been truly chased away.
Before now, Long Sleep had had some concerns as to whether the other 'captive' was in truth a trap of some sort, designed to lure him and Mind Song into doing something that would give Lost Lineage all the excuse she needed to kill them. However, now he had seen the other Warrior and witnessed the Keeper's very real reaction to him, Long Sleep was far more convinced that the short-haired Warrior was indeed in need of escaping off this Hive.
And it certainly would be very interesting to find out exactly why Lost Lineage had kept the short-haired Warrior alive when seemingly anything not of her lineage was deemed 'impure'.
Perhaps Mind Song's theory that the Warrior held some vital knowledge about the Skerti was correct.
0000
TBC