"You believe them?" General Hammond asked Major Carter after Alexander had explained their situation to him. "Is what they're saying possible?"
"We've seen consciousness transfer before, sir. Daniel nearly died when multiple consciousnesses were downloaded into his brain and he was more then double these kids physical age at the time. Not to mention, we had access to a technician who understood the technology that caused it and was able to reverse it. They don't have the technology that caused it and it's been more then three years since it happened. Reversing it is probably impossible without it, especially at this point."
"And their claim of being descended from the Ancients?"
"Alterans, sir." Daniel said. "They consider themselves Alterans. We call the Ascended the Ancients. That's a name we gave them. He said we could call them Lantians as well, since both he and Corda were born and raised in Atlantis. They met when they were both a little more then 50 years old. Apparently, their people evolved a very long life span."
"Which makes sense, their civilization was more then 50 million years old." Major Carter put in. "Or at least they were in this galaxy for more then 50 million years and one million in the galaxy they went to after leaving here."
"I can't quite comprehend those kinds of numbers, Major. And I was already aware that the Nox and Asgard are just as old."
"I know, it is hard to wrap your head around."
"Now what happens?" Daniel asked.
"Now we confirm whether or not they have this genetic key and then we see about getting their help to reverse engineer more of their people's technology. I want to talk to them again. Major, while I'm doing that, could you help with repairs to the Prometheus?"
"Yes, sir. I'll go right now."
"Thank you. Dr. Jackson, please come with me." As they returned to the room where Alexander, Corda and Johnathan were waiting.
"Captain Alexander, I was wondering, do you have medical facilities aboard your ship or technology that could help with injuries?"
"You can call me Alexander. Technically the surname would be Harris, that was the surname of the young man I became a part of. We never used surnames, just place names. Aside from developing scanning equipment to help diagnose injuries and healing stasis pods for extensive injuries, we never really developed healing technologies. We had no need to."
"Why not?" Daniel asked.
Alexander raised his hand and let the healing glow shine. "Because every Alteran has the ability to heal to some extent. So why develop technology we didn't need?"
"Jack healed Bra'tec, sir." Daniel said. "Our pilot turned out to be one of Anubis' agents and stabbed Bra'tec. Aiyana could heal too."
"Aiyana?" Corda asked.
"A young woman we found in a sort of suspended hibernation state. She turned out to have a disease and transmitted it to several people, some of whom died. She tried to heal as many as she could, but succumbed to it herself." General Hammond told them.
"That's why the plague was so devastating for our people. They kept healing each other and didn't allow antibodies to form. Eventually the sick outnumbered the healthy and people began to die. Nearly 90% of our galaxy wide population died." Alexander told them.
"I was wondering if you'd be willing to help us with our injured." General Hammond said. "I was hoping that you had some medical technology that would help, but given that you can heal."
"We would be happy to help, General." Corda said. "It is meant to be used."
After both of them had healed several people they returned to find General Hammond and Daniel Jackson, along with Johnathan examining the outpost's computer system.
"Everyone has been healed, General." Alexander told him. "Anything else we can help with?"
"I'm trying to figure out why Jack called this place Terra Atlantis, if Atlantis isn't here." Daniel told them.
"Because it was here a million years ago. Before we took it to the new galaxy we went to."
Silence followed this statement and then Daniel tentatively said. "You took a city to another galaxy?"
"We took a city ship to another galaxy. Atlantis was 30 million years old and had a stardrive. As long as the shield was active, we could fly the whole city."
"Wow."
"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction when I found out that in order to fly the Altimah, he had to interface his mind with it." Johnathan said. "Alteran tech requires two components, the genetic key and a mental interface. Corda said we could develop technology ourselves that would allow us to control our technology mentally, we have the capacity. It's just not something that ever occured to us. Everything we've reversed engineered so far, we built without that component."
"You were flying that little ship of yours with your mind?!" General Hammond was clearly astonished.
"And shooting down the enemy ships at the same time. The human brain processes faster then a computer and responds faster as well. And faster then it can transmit to the hand to respond." Alexander said with a smile.
"Wow."
"That 'bout sums it up, doesn't it?" Johnathan was grinning.
The General shook his head to clear it and said. "We need to confirm the presence of this gene, so we can test for it in others. We need all the people we can find who can use the technology to help us understand it. And if only we had a way of getting to Atlantis."
"Well, we'd like to go to Atlantis too. It was our home." Alexander said. "And we have a means of getting there. We just aren't sure if the Wraith are still around."
"The Wraith?"
"The enemy we were fighting. Some human societies had taken to calling them the Wraith. They feed on humans. Humans are definitely their preferred choice. They're kind of like vampires, only instead of draining a person's blood, they drain them of almost everything and leave a withered husk behind."