Reminder:
"This is spoken English."
"This is spoken Czech."
This is a thought.

Previously: Radek goes on his first offworld mission because he's on Major Lorne's recon team (since chapter 66). Anna goes to hang out with the Athosians as planned (in chapters 57-58).

Chapter 68. Pigeons and People.

"Alright, Anna, that's enough." Iskaan crashed onto the ground next to her.

Despite the cool breeze, they were both drenched in sweat under the hot sun. Anna hadn't expected the Athosians to turn full on farmers, but they enjoyed a safety and security they hadn't known for generations. The Wraith wouldn't come here. They could plant all the tuttleroot they wanted. So, apparently, that was what they were going to do.

"I'm almost done." She crawled a bit further in the dirt and scooped out a handful.

It had been a long time since she played in the mud. This wasn't playing, and it wasn't exactly enjoyable. The further she got, though, the more she realized how refreshing it was. It was different from the constant brain work on Atlantis. It was good to be outdoors.

"We'll get back to it," Iskaan said. "It's the hottest part of the day. It's time to eat." He put his hand on her shoulder and offered her a cup with the other.

Anna dropped the bit of tuttleroot into her hole and covered it quickly. She had never seen what a tuttleroot plant looked like, but this plot was going to be pretty dense with it. She supposed she'd see in a few months. She turned to Iskaan and took the cup. "Thank you," she sighed, and took a drink.

Iskaan turned to look toward the tents. A group of hunters was heading out, packing up their things for a few weeks' journey. Anna didn't know how far they strayed from the camp. Iskaan told stories of learning to hunt when he was very small, but Anna couldn't imagine a six-year-old Iskaan being taken very far from camp.

Iskaan suddenly stood and offered her a hand up. "They'll wonder after us if we don't come," he said. He smiled when she accepted his help up. They started walking back toward the group gathering outside of one of the tents.

"Elizabeth told us your birthday was recently," Iskaan offered. He smiled and held his hand out to her. She tentatively held out one of her hands and Iskaan dropped something like twine into it.

She looked at the necklace—it looked a whole lot like a necklace, anyway. "Thank you," she said, unraveling it. The pendant was an orange crystal with black rods through it. It might have been glowing, but it was difficult to tell in the sunlight. "It's lovely." She put it around her neck and pulled on the slipknot.

"Legend says that these crystals were grown by the gods and give awesome powers," he said with a playful smile. "If they do, I've never seen it."

Anna looked down and held it in her palm. She frowned at it for a moment, realizing how familiar it looked. "Where did it come from?" she asked.

"They're on a few planets," Iskaan answered. "There are some here."

It looked exactly like a tiny ZPM. A very, very tiny piece of a ZPM. Of course, there was more to a ZPM than a crystal. But the Ancients had to make a ZPMs out of something, didn't they? Where did they get the crystals that they used to make all their technology?

"They're grown?" Anna asked.

"By the gods," he finished, as though to remind her that the legend wasn't exactly reliable. The Athosians apparently didn't believe in gods. Only the Ancestors. "I'm not even sure which gods are supposed to do it. I've never known a rock to grow, but, I guess, if anyone could do it a god could. Why?"

"They… it's pretty," Anna said. She looked around. "You said there are some here. Can I see?"

He shrugged. "Sure. Can we eat first?"

Anna nodded, for the moment embarrassed at getting carried away with the potential discovery of one of the ingredients for a ZPM. "Sorry. Yeah, let's eat."

Ingredients… she needed those, too, but not for a ZPM.

Anna and Iskaan went to join the others. Doctor Beckett and Elizabeth were talking pleasantly with Halling and Teyla. Another man was there, Anna had been introduced to him this morning as Kanaan. He was very quiet, and he was quiet now. He stood to one side and behind Teyla, listening to everything.

Iskaan offered Anna a piece of bread spread with some sort of sauce and a thick slice of meat. They sat together in the grass next to a tent while they ate. Iskaan looked around for a few seconds, apparently looking for something to talk about.

"How is your father?" he asked suddenly.

Anna glanced at him. "Fine," she said, and tried to make it not sound like a question. "Yours?"

Iskaan nodded. "He's with another group for this season." He smiled with no small amount of pride when he said, "I'm heading our trade this season."

Anna figured that had to be a good thing, and smiled, too. Except she wasn't exactly sure what that meant. "Congratulations. Um… do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Anything," he said.

"Um… I've noticed that most kids here only have one parent. Jinto only has Halling, and Panin only has Nella. You only have Rhetto." She looked around for more children, but most of the ones she'd met only seemed to have one adult that they returned to at the end of the day.

Iskaan nodded. "You do, too," he said. "Is that unusual?"

Anna shrugged. "It's not unusual by itself," she said finally. "But it is when it's everyone."

"Oh." Iskaan finished chewing and explained, "Athosians rarely stay with their entire families. We are split into different groups, and it's common for the people of one group to have children with someone from another. It ensures our lineage keeps going if one of the groups is culled. And then they usually find someone in their own village that they like enough to live with. Not always. But sometimes they do."

That made some sense. She supposed that society had to be very different in a universe where people in spaceships came along and wiped out villages every now and again.

"Traders are more unpredictable," Iskaan said. "My mother is from another planet, but I'm not sure which one. I don't remember her at all, but my father tells me that they lived together for a season before and after I was born. Then he paid her and she left."

"Wait, what? He had to buy you?" Anna interrupted.

He laughed at her tone. Anna supposed she shouldn't sound so annoyed. Iskaan didn't seem irritated at having been bought. "No, it takes a long time to carry a child and giving birth isn't easy."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I know that. I've just never… do parents pay for that kind of thing a lot?"

"If the parents aren't together," Iskaan answered. Anna must have looked stunned, because Iskaan laughed. "It's not that strange, Anna. I know other people do it far differently, but there are plenty of people who do the same thing we do."

But Earth didn't do anything like that. And she'd never been to another planet. Not really. "Earth just doesn't really do that."

"How does Earth do it?"

Anna shrugged. "A lot of people… they get married and they hope they're going to stay together forever. When they have children, both parents usually want to raise them. Sometimes they don't, but probably most of the parents do. I only had my mother because… well, it's a long story. But now I only have Radek because she got sick and… she died."

"Oh…" He hesitated. "I guess I thought everyone on your planet lived a long time because they didn't have the Wraith to worry about."

Anna sighed. "So did I…"

They both looked up when Doctor Beckett approached in the grass. "Hello," he called cheerily. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Iskaan gestured to the grass like it was a prime seat. "Please. How are you, Doctor Beckett?"

"Oh, just finished checking up on everyone." Doctor Beckett sighed over his own small meal of bread and meat. "I'm a wee bit worried that Charin works herself too hard, but what can you do?"

"I think everyone worries that," Iskaan said with a grin. "We haven't been able to get her to sit still for as long as I can remember."

"Aye, been getting that impression." Doctor Beckett looked to Anna. "Will you be ready to go soon, dear?"

Anna sighed and looked at Iskaan. "Maybe you can show me the crystals next time."

"Yeah," Iskaan agreed with a shrug. "When are you coming next, Doctor Beckett?"

"Oh, in three or four weeks, I think." Doctor Beckett smiled widely. "Kylinna is due around then and I'd like to give the baby a once over, just to make sure he's healthy. Would you like to come then, Anna?"

Anna looked down at her hands. "It depends on what day," she said quietly.

"Oh, got some plans?" Doctor Beckett asked.

Anna nodded. "Radek's birthday is in February."

Doctor Beckett looked a little surprised, like he forgot that people actually had birthdays, even though Anna's was only last week. "Oh, lovely. I didn't know that. I should probably… say happy birthday on that day."

Anna laughed. "So should I."

#

"I'm a little confused…" Elizabeth said quietly. She surveyed the mess in the 'gate room with relative calm. Radek admired that, but wished she would just start yelling and get it over with. "How did you go to propose a trade agreement and end up coming back with… pigeons?"

"I have no idea, ma'am," Major Lorne said. "Tamlen is still coming to negotiate, but… I guess these guys are a gift?" Major Lorne leaned down to look at one of the cages.

A pair of white utility pigeons beheld him with uncertainty from within their enclosure fashioned primarily of twigs tied together with twine.

"There's over a dozen birds here, Major. What are we supposed to do with them?" Elizabeth asked.

"There's actually twenty-one," Radek said.

Elizabeth shot him a glare. "That makes it much better. Thank you, Radek."

Radek was surprised by her sarcastic answer, but tried not to pay too much attention to it. The fact was, they had nowhere to keep the birds, nothing to feed them, and no one to take care of them even if they did have suitable dovecotes and feed.

"We should keep them long enough for Tamlen to get here," Major Lorne said. "Wouldn't want to seem rude and get rid of the gifts so soon." He shrugged and stood from looking at the pigeons. "We can let them go on another planet, through the Stargate."

"What?" Radek managed to tone down from shouting in time. "No, no, no, no, Major, these birds are domesticated. They'd never survive if we just tossed them through the 'gate."

"They aren't likely to survive here, either," Elizabeth pointed out. "We can't give them to the Athosians. Most of them are nomadic for a good portion of the year, and they limit their livestock to those that can keep up with them on foot. We don't have anything to feed them or anywhere they could possibly scavenge for food, so what else do you expect us to do with them?"

Radek didn't know why he cared about the pigeons. For all he cared, they could be on the menu for tomorrow night. That would be a waste of some perfectly good breeding pigeons. Twenty pigeons on tomorrow's menu could easily turn into forty next month and more. Plenty of Atlantis team members missed their pets on Earth. Sure, these "pets" would eventually be eaten, but maybe they could be convinced to pick up a new hobby?

"Caring for pigeons is good for thinking… quiet and the pigeons don't argue. Good for community…" What was he thinking? Everyone was staring at him like he'd proposed sending the pigeons through to the Genii as a peace offering.

"I'm sure we could feed them and…" he said finally. He didn't know the benefits, though. "There is nothing better than fresh squab?" He knew his tone wasn't helping his case, and he wasn't even sure why he wanted to keep them so badly. He wasn't sure that, even if they kept them, anyone would want to learn how to slaughter, clean, and feather them. Radek certainly wasn't doing that.

"But where are we going to keep them?" Elizabeth asked again. "Who will take care of them?"

"I don't know. Give me time. It may be worth it."

Reed, watching from a few paces away, shook his head with a small smile. "Precious."

Elizabeth sighed, folding her arms. "Alright. You have two days to figure out what to do with them." She looked at Major Lorne and tried to smile. "Alright, so I suppose the mission was a success otherwise."

Major Lorne nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

She turned to walk back up to the control room. Major Lorne followed her. Reed and Coughlin stayed behind on the 'gate floor to contemplate the pigeons with Radek.

Coughlin didn't seem at all amused by the situation. "What are you planning to do with them?"

All sorts of things. Pigeon eggs could be eaten like chicken eggs and were larger than quail eggs. Pigeon droppings were good for fertilizer. Pigeons didn't seem to mind their young disappearing from nests to be someone's meal… No, that only bothered Radek.

"I suppose we'll find out," Radek answered finally. He checked to make sure Elizabeth wasn't watching and opened a cage. The pigeon was obviously unconcerned with being handled, and viewed its new surroundings with a placidity rarely seen on Atlantis. Maybe they could learn a few things from these birds before they ate them.

Reed suddenly reached out and pet the pigeon on the head with his finger.

"Don't get too attached," Coughlin warned. "You might eat him tomorrow."

"I'm not getting attached," Reed snapped. "Just feeling it."

Radek watched Reed with a half-smile. Reed seemed to have lost all his good humor and interest in the pigeon. He shifted uncomfortably, adjusting his vest, and finally announced he was going to hit the showers. Coughlin went with him, leaving Radek alone with the pigeons.

"You don't want to be eaten, do you?" he asked the pigeon. The pigeon didn't actually seem to care one way or another, but he said anyway, "No. You're not for eating."

He put the pigeon back in the cage and looked at how many of them there were. He once had over thirty pigeons, and an excellent record of pigeons coming back after a race, even if winning a race was a rarity. He hadn't lost a pigeon in years. He was sad to tell his sister to sell off the last of his birds when he was on Earth—his favorite five kept more for sentimental reasons than for intention of racing again—and was relieved when she said she actually liked keeping them. Since it seemed likely he would return before the end of a pigeon's lifespan, he could have them back, but she said she might sue for visitation rights. Pigeons were wonderful animals… better than humans in more ways than one.

He was surprised by how much he wanted to keep these.

Feed was actually the least of his problems. The botany crew was tireless in their research, collecting hundreds of thousands of seeds for future growing and research and… well, Radek imagined there was precious little interesting a botanist could do other than sit around watching the plants grow. Watching seeds sprout was probably the most interesting things they did.

And, fortunately, Doctor Brown was as much an animal enthusiast as she was a plant-lover.

He used to walk past the botany lab every day on his way to the lab. His quarters were closer to the central tower last year and, he figured, it was more important to get a decent walk in before sitting and staring at a screen for eight hours straight. Sometimes the botanists put out baskets of flowers for the scientists to decorate their desks with, or, as Doctor Brown put it, "give a little life to the sterile lab environment."

She had no idea.

Radek turned into the botany lab. The towering ceilings allowed for even mature palm trees to grow back against the wall, light flowing in from slanted windows above. He'd never ventured too far in here… but he couldn't imagine botanists being territorial about their space.

He followed the quiet murmur of voices through the aisles of shrubs, lilies, grains, and tray upon tray of rainbows of moss. He turned a corner, and immediately retreated.

Alright, maybe botanists had a few more interesting things to do than watch the sprouts grow.

Wait just a second. Was that Rodney?

Radek cleared his throat and called, "Doctor Brown, are you here?"

"Uh—um, yes."

Radek waited a few seconds before turning the corner.

Rodney leaned casually on a nearby palm tree, and waved when he saw Radek. "Zelenka—uh, what are you doing here?" He was blissfully unaware of a light smudge of Doctor Brown's lipstick on his face.

"Looking for Doctor Brown." Radek looked between the two. He grinned and offered a retreat to the door. "If I'm interrupting, I can—"

"Oh, no, you're fine," Doctor Brown said. She regained her composure and stood a bit straighter. She smiled brightly and looked around for something plant-related to do. She finally seized on a tray of moss and spritzed it with a spray bottle. "What can I do for you?"

"Major Lorne's team just—"

"Oh, your first mission," Rodney said. "That was today, wasn't it?" He barely gave Radek enough time to nod before asking, "And how did that go?"

Radek shrugged. Judging by Elizabeth's reaction to twenty pigeons, not great. She could have seen it as Atlantis getting twenty new team members, all very polite and not asking for much. But she didn't see it that way.

Radek didn't know how much of his time should be spent playing pigeon advocate.

"Fine, I suppose. Better, actually, because we were given a gift of twenty-one pigeons and I hoped Doctor Brown could tell me if botany could contribute to their diet." He decided not to mention that Elizabeth was going to be a hard sell on keeping them…

Especially since Doctor Brown looked much more excited than perhaps even pigeons warranted. "I have just the thing!" She waved for Radek to follow her much deeper into the labyrinth of plant life than he'd ever gone before.

Rodney followed, his hands in his pockets. Radek was dying to hand him a napkin or something, but the lipstick wasn't that noticeable. Well… on Rodney, it was.

Doctor Brown turned down a row labeled Pegasus soybeans, Pegasus peanut 1, Pegasus peanut 2, Pegasus grain 1, and Pegasus raspberry tree. Radek wondered where in the world they were going until Doctor Brown hurried up a half-flight of steps that led outdoors to one of the expansive plazas. Most of them lay unused, the equivalent of a concrete slab on Earth.

Atlantis's botanists had turned this one into an Eden.

It was an organized forest, complete with dirt beneath their feet. Creeping plants contributed to ground cover. Trees reached up the side of the tower. Beyond a couple of trees to their right, a miniature grassland with wildflowers waved in the breeze.

"Do you think this will be enough for your pigeons?" Doctor Brown asked. She walked through the trees, touching the tree trunks and leaves as she went. And she just kept going. Radek knew the Atlantis plazas were enormous, but never this large.

"I think so." Radek looked around. There ought to have been plenty of space for all of them. They might have to build a loft, but that was the easy thing. "I had no idea this was here."

Rodney sniffed in disdain. "I guess it pays to get out of the lab once in a while, doesn't it?"

"Anna comes here sometimes to read." Doctor Brown leaned to one side and pointed at a concrete bench under a tree. Probably the perfect place to read. "We've been busy building this place for the past, oh, six months? We still aren't done, but there are a variety of Pegasus plants, insects, and even a couple of birds and lizards. The corn meal for the bread with dinner two weeks ago came from here." Doctor Brown looked extremely pleased with that.

"We might be raising the scrambled eggs we had for breakfast here, too," Radek said.

Doctor Brown grinned. Rodney followed them around while they picked a location to build the dovecote. He didn't look nearly as pleased as Doctor Brown obviously was. He also was in desperate need of a napkin.

A/N: Everyone ready for school to start again (if it hasn't already)? I'm not. It's started, and I'm not ready...

Next time: It's okay, I'm ready for anything. Almost. Not really.