The return to Atlantis could have been called routine, if not for two facts.
First: the number of inhabitants in the city-ship had exactly doubled. After giving her "deputies" detailed instructions, Teyla decided to set off with us to the "City of the Ancestors." To immerse herself, so to speak, in the cultural heritage.
Hm... my conscience wouldn't quite allow me to ask Emmagan directly if her people would keel over without their leader. But then again, she had already done something similar in the events I knew. The Athosians managed perfectly well without her direct presence. And besides, they let her go with us without extra whining, tearful goodbyes, or other scenes of parting. Despite knowing she wasn't just "visiting." Teyla was something between a diplomat for the Athosians, an advisor on local cultures and planets, and a G.I. Jane of the Pegasus variety.
Given that I didn't want to deal with snot and tears, nor pity and compassion in the future, recruiting Teyla into a sort of "prime team" here on Atlantis might have been unwise. For while she is the leader of her people, she is more of a diplomat in terms of agreements. If the question arose whether to abandon a dozen peasants in a moment of danger and save ourselves, or take a fatal stand and fall into the Wraith's clutches, Teyla would have to be abandoned. After shooting her first, of course.
I'm joking, naturally. If she died, we'd have serious complications in our dealings with the Athosians. Но факт: эта дама и её идеализм принесут проблемы.
Alvar Jensen also followed us. Like it or not, I needed him and Teyla to form a reconnaissance team for the worlds of the Pegasus Galaxy.
They were familiar with some of the local civilizations; others they could introduce us to through a "handshake" tactic. It consists of knowing someone who knows someone else useful, who in turn knows yet another... and so on. The main problem is ensuring these "someones" are actually useful and not just dead weight that has to be defended at every turn.
Chaya and I were silent all the way to the gate, and thereafter to the Jumper hangar. Jensen, while restraining his enthusiasm more than Teyla, still occasionally asked questions about us and the city. Trivial things, like "I hope your mattresses aren't soft!?" or "Will I have to call one of you to flush, or can I handle the problem myself?"
Teyla was more interested in whether her lack of familiarity with Ancient technology would hinder her living in the city. She requested a small room and a place for training. Jensen supported her on the latter.
Fine, everyone will have everything—Atlantis is full of empty rooms. I just needed to resolve a few issues.
At first, I thought there would be only one question. It was based on the cargo we had in the Jumper's hold. Fruit, vegetables, meat, herbs... Not for five hundred people, obviously, but enough for the four of us for a while. Not to mention a number of prepared dishes, including aromatic smoked meat that looked more like meat chips. Very tasty, by the way. Teyla even mentioned what animal the smoked meat was made from, but I didn't remember. The main thing I understood was that it wasn't rodents, snakes, or birds. Some kind of equivalent of either pigs or cows...
So, the question itself was about who would be cooking all this good stuff.
A second was born during the approach to the gate: "Do we have a place and something to cook on?" No, seriously, I hadn't really wondered if Atlantis had a kitchen, kitchen furniture, plates...
And when Chaya continued to remain silent even after emerging from the gate, ascending to the Jumper hangar, and leaving the ship, it gave rise to a third question in my mind.
"What's going on?" I asked the girl, holding her back after our guests had gone to place their things in the rooms assigned to them in the residential sector of Atlantis.
she looked at me with a shade of pain and hatred.
"Other Ancients?" she blurted out. "Are there other Ancients in Pegasus?"
"Yes, and what does that change?" I asked.
"Everything!" she practically stomped her foot. "Even if I don't have these memories, I can tell you for sure that I probably did what I did thinking that even if you saved yourself, you wouldn't be able to work! Because you need help handling Ancient technology!"
Right, I see. One psychological trauma after another.
"Follow me," I ordered.
Interestingly, she obeyed.
When we returned to the control center, I—mentally thanking Chaya for creating that translation program—brought up the readings from one sensor on the monitor.
"Do you remember what this is?" I asked, pointing to the dots on the galactic map. A very small number of dots, frankly. Well, why hide it—just one, to be honest.
"The latest data from the Lantean warship tracking system," Chaya replied automatically. "It's the Aurora. You ordered the system turned off as soon as we decided to cooperate."
"Yes, that one and a bunch of other systems that could only cause us trouble," I explained. "But there's no guarantee the Wraith haven't detected the Aurora's signal; and surprise, surprise, they don't just fly Darts to planets, they move their Hives between worlds too."
"I do not think they would have succeeded," Chaya said. "The ship is deep in space, and not that many Wraith are awake. They could have missed the signal. Especially since they do not know for certain if any Lanteans are alive. Therefore, they likely haven't tracked our subspace transmitter frequencies in a long time."
"That would be good," I agreed. "I take it you looked into the details of the ship?"
"Yes, and besides, I checked the Atlantis logs," Chaya replied, as if she hadn't heard me. "It states the Aurora set out on a top-secret mission for reconnaissance. Deep into enemy territory. That was in the early years of the war, so it is likely seriously damaged in battle, otherwise it would have returned to the city. Other ships of the same type as the Aurora were destroyed or captured by the enemy."
Wait, wait, wait... and here are the missing pieces of the puzzle.
"According to my information, the crew might have survived on board the Aurora," I explained. "The ship is heavily damaged, so it's drifting toward Atlantis by inertia."
"Ten thousand years?" Chaya arched an eyebrow. "You have a somewhat incorrect perception of the Ancient lifespan. Even the Lanteans' lifespan was not so advanced. Although there was a hypothesis that the Lanteans lost several genetic advantages as a result of mutations and interbreeding with other races, there was no proof."
Aha... it's just that they didn't know about the one Ancient who spent millions of years in the ice of Antarctica on Earth. Once the Earthlings warmed her up, she came back to life immediately.
"Stasis pods," I prompted.
"Nonsense," Chaya shook her head. "The Aurora is a warship, not a research vessel. They didn't install..."
The girl fell silent. She thought about something for a few seconds, then, nudging me away from the console, switched the system to Lantean and began searching for something.
I found out exactly what after a couple of seconds.
"I apologize," she said. "The Aurora is the lead ship of the first starships of this type. They were built as research vessels for studying remote corners of the galaxy and beyond, where there were no Stargates. Its hyperdrive was an older model, and travel from one end of the galaxy to the other could take months, and years between galaxies. Preserving the crew in a state of hibernation was necessary. There is a stasis system on board, connected to a virtual reality."
"And...?"
"This was done so that the brains of those in stasis would not suffer from the time spent asleep. The Ancients were always few in number, so the occasional months in stasis could always be spent productively."
"For example, could they control the ship from stasis?"
"I am not sure," Chaya admitted. "It was a very imperfect system, so it was abandoned even before the war with the Wraith began. I can say for certain that they could interact with each other in virtual reality. But to influence the ship... no, I do not think so. That would have required much more energy consumption. Orders of magnitude more."
"Is the virtual reality system resistant to hacking?" I asked.
"As much as programming allows, but it is not the most secure system; it is an auxiliary one," Chaya looked at me with suspicion. "You ask strange questions."
"Based on what I know," the girl seemed to have forgotten her offense and turned her attention to this story. "In the events I know, the ship also responded to Atlantis's call. And the Wraith discovered it. They killed a crew member and replaced him with one of their own to uncover the secrets of the hyperdrive."
"Pointless," Chaya said. "Wraith hyperdrives during the war were analogous to those on the Aurora."
"Yes, but not intergalactic ones..."
"Oh," the girl flared up. "That is a problem. We must reach them as soon as possible and neutralize the Wraith."
"Fully agree," I nodded. "But there are a few problems. The first is the nearest Stargate to the ship. They're far from the ship, unreachable."
"You've already checked with the maps?" Chaya wondered, switching to the console. A few seconds of high-tech wizardry, and data on planets with Stargates appeared over the location data for the Aurora. "A problem... but we could fly out from the nearest one in a shuttle, accelerate to maximum speed, and drift. In a few months," she narrowed her eyes, "correction, in forty-seven days, we would reach it. But that is an approximate time, as I cannot calculate the Aurora's speed from here. I think it is within five..."
"Are we going to leave Atlantis to our new friends for a month and a half?" I clarified.
Chaya grew sad. It seemed that as a human, she had the innate trait of mad scientists—diving into solving a problem head-first, forgetting about everything else.
"Don't forget about the stasis," I said. "And the ten thousand years spent in it."
"That is a major problem," Chaya darkened.
"That's why I didn't tell you until I'd come up with at least some kind of plan," I had to clarify my position.
"And what does it consist of?" Chaya asked. "Asking the Ascended for help?"
"Do you really think that would work?" I smirked kindly. "We need a ship with a hyperdrive."
"What's the argument about?" Teyla and... hm, I always forget to ask Alvar the name of his home planet, appeared on the lower level of the Gate Room.
"Come up," I tilted my head.
It took a couple of minutes to briefly recount the essence of the problem.
"Living Ancestors?" Teyla's eyes rounded. "I believe they must be saved. For they know and can do much. Their help would be invaluable in the fight against the Wraith!"
"Their bodies are too old to awaken them now," Chaya said. "Despite their enhanced physiology, they would likely live no longer than a few days, maybe a week."
"In that time, is it really possible to get them back on their feet?" Jensen asked. "It's your technology; there must be a solution."
"Stasis was not designed for people to remain in it for millennia," Chaya countered. "I fear we have very major problems."
"And again," I took the floor, "there is a way. No guarantee, of course, but... better than having a fridge full of slowly dying Ancients."
"Curious," Chaya grew interested. "And what have you planned?"
"More on that later," I dodged the dangerous conversation. "First, we need to figure out where to get a starship with a hyperdrive."
"Build one," Jensen suggested. "You have an entire city full of various Ancient thingamajigs. Surely there are suitable parts for ships?"
Chaya and I exchanged a glance.
"If only it were that simple," she sighed.
* * *
"The last one," Jensen reported, dragging a sack of... well, I'll call it purple potatoes closer to the door of the food storage. Actually, it looks like a carrot and smells like an onion, but if you know how to cook it... "This is quite a large vegetable storehouse."
"Built with a surplus," I agreed, glancing at the room, which looked more like a small hangar filled with metal containers of... what used to be food. Now—just traces of decomposed organic matter. "Teyla promised to help with putting things in order here."
The room, the size of a football field and as high as a two-story house, was divided into two levels connected by a metal staircase. Shelves occupied all the space from floor to ceiling, and on each shelf was a universal container for food storage. Made of the same polymer as the scanner housings, each container had a built-in air conditioning system for its contents. Like most of the instruments, such as the scanners, these devices had built-in power systems that recharged wirelessly.
To think... if the Ancients had turned off all the unnecessary equipment in the city, maybe the flooding wouldn't have happened. By Chaya's estimates, had the bunker and its equipment been inactive for the last ten thousand years, we'd have had an extra week of power on the old ZPM. And that's just one compartment, damn it!
There are thousands of them all over Atlantis.
Chaya was currently working on calculating the areas of highest energy consumption and beginning to shut down sectors of the city we didn't need. Which meant most of Atlantis.
In those parts of the city-ship we weren't using, simple emergency lighting would suffice—a couple of lamps in the corridors so as not to break your legs in the dark. It would be even better to turn those off too, but that would require overhauling half of the city's operating system. And unfortunately, that was a nut Chaya couldn't crack—she hadn't even seen many of the protocols, despite being a physicist, and not a minor one at that. Even if she wasn't Lantean.
The same applied to life support systems—one couldn't simply turn them off in unused areas of the city. At least Chaya couldn't. She claimed "for now," but...
"So how many people can live here?" Jensen asked. He was talking about the city, of course.
"Several thousand," I shrugged. "Atlantis was rebuilt many times, the buildings were compacted, new buildings were erected in place of the old. So, if desired, many could settle here."
"If *you* desire," the former Runner noted. "I've already noticed your friend isn't very strong in an argument with you."
"I don't know what you mean by 'friend,' but 'companion in misfortune' is more fitting here."
"I don't know... living in a city like this, having such weapons and technology—it's more than almost all the inhabitants of the galaxy have," Jensen helped me pour the vegetables into containers already cleared of old deposits and return them to the shelves. Just two dozen crates out of several hundred, possibly even thousands... and that's only on the first level. And I'm not even talking about the huge crates for the most frequently used products. We had no need for them right now—we didn't even have supplies for that amount of vegetables or fruit.
Actually, the food system for the inhabitants in the city was organized quite uniquely. To begin with, there were as many as six rooms like this in the city—one in each of the "piers" and in the central spire. There was also a matching number of dining halls. Chaya explained it had always been that way, as long as she could remember—there was no point in gathering the entire city in one dining hall. It was much easier and faster to have several smaller ones.
In any case, it didn't matter now. I knew for sure that neither now nor later would there ever be such a large number of residents in the city. Because I wasn't going to let just anyone in. It was simply dangerous to leave someone at the development level of the Athosians or others like them near the city's possible technical secrets.
To hell with it if they broke something... but what if they turned it on?
We'd already had to work hard to find the lab with the nanovirus that kills everyone except a carrier of the ATA Gene. Turning those bastards off wasn't easy either. But give the girl a little time, help her with some advice—and you'll get a one-time EMP generator that disables nanites across the entire territory of the city.
And there are thousands of such incomplete, non-inert traps—experiments—in the city.
"But just possessing this city won't solve all the problems," I said.
While Chaya dealt with the technical side, literally tearing herself apart between elements of the city requiring attention, Teyla was helping to eliminate the consequences of the flooding and the long period of Atlantis being unused.
Yes, she couldn't help much with repairs, but, say, putting the kitchen in order (and yes, it does have everything necessary, and even differs little from the equipment and dishes I'm used to), the kitchen storehouses, throwing out the dead plants and planting others in pots—that, yes, she could do easily.
Most of the plants had died, but some had gone into a state of hibernation. Though it wasn't certain they could return to life in improved circumstances. After all, ten thousand years without water or light.
But Chaya found their origin, flew to the mainland with Teyla, and dug up suitable plants. As it turned out, the plants in Atlantis weren't just bushes for beauty. They are special types of genetically modified plants that do not need sunlight. They are more oriented toward heat, which serves for photosynthesis. Atlantis, as it turned out, had prepared for a siege and therefore developed plants needed for oxygen production that could ease the work of the life support system in the absence of light from the local star. Well... quite well thought out.
"I'd bet millions of people across the galaxy would give everything to live in a city underwater with the ability to block gate activation and keep the Wraith out," Jensen snorted.
There was no point in even arguing there.
Atlantis is equipped with an energy shield to protect the Stargate from the materialization of unwanted guests. Immediately after the gate activates and the energy vortex settles, an energy barrier can be turned on around the gate. It is projected at a tiny distance from the event horizon. Thanks to this, the gate's automation can work to materialize an object, but because of the shield, a complete "assembly" does not occur. And the uninvited guest dissolves into atoms, without harm to us.
People, Wraith, weapon fire, bombs, and much more—everything is destroyed without a trace. So yes, it's a significant defense against invasion through the gate. And, considering we're hidden under water, which dissipates Wraith energy blasts—at least that's what's recorded in the Atlantis chronicles—we don't have to fear bombardment from orbit either.
On most other planets in the galaxy, there was naturally no such defense.
Interestingly, the Ancients, before leaving the city, blocked the gate's operation for any dialing except that in which the Ancients themselves participated. It's noteworthy that in the events I knew, Anubis used a similar tactic, cutting off a planet of interest from accidental visits by sentient beings by requiring a code. Any biological mass was sent to a random gate address in the galaxy if it didn't have the appropriate access code. Convenient.
I was damn lucky I had the Ancient Gene—otherwise my flight for the ZPM wouldn't have happened.
In our case, no one but Chaya and me can pass through the Atlantis gate. As well as those traveling with us on the same trip.
The gate does not teleport cargo and passengers in real time—first it dematerializes everyone who entered it during a specific session, and then materializes them in strict order. First in, first out.
At the moment, this security system suited us. However, one must understand and accept the fact that there are simple people in the Pegasus Galaxy who possess Ancient genes. There is a high probability that they might accidentally enter the city. And as long as such a probability exists, one cannot speak of absolute security.
Chaya is working on this too—I suggested a few thoughts to her, but because of the volume of work dropped on her head, the girl can't do everything at once. But, by the way, that doesn't stop her from thinking about a solution to one problem (or several at once) while working on another. At the same time, she even manages to chat with Teyla.
Seriously, I saw them myself, chatting nicely in one of the empty labs Chaya had taken for her needs. While Teyla told her about her people, the Wraith, and the various peoples she knew, Sar was calmly working on adjusting the Jumper charging program and remotely connecting to the defense satellite on the borders of the Lantean system.
All while also interacting with Teyla, asking her questions about her people's past, about Athos, and so on.
I have a suspicion about the reasons for such interest, but I preferred to keep quiet for now and observe the Ancient's curiosity.
The Jumper charging system really does need to be fixed.
The thing is, in their typical large-scale approach to their own comfort, the Ancients equipped Atlantis with systems for charging small ships wirelessly. Each landing pad in the upper hangar—above the Gate Room—and the lower hangar—under the central spire—is one of those pads for charging Jumpers.
We have a dozen ships of this type at our disposal, but only half of them will be operational after "cosmetic repairs." For the rest, we need parts we don't possess. But at the same time, the city doesn't care about such trivialities; it seeks to charge all its ships. And that's a problem, as precious energy is lost.
True, we have a ZPM and the energy reserve in it is enormous. However, it's a finite energy source. And the more unnecessary "consumers" we have activated, the more power we lose. And in the city's database and in the city itself, it turns out there are no notes on which planets ZPMs can be found. Furthermore, even with the Ancient's help, it wasn't possible to find out how, where, and by what means ZPMs are produced.
Chaya did not belong to the titular Ancient race, the Lanteans. And like most of the affiliated peoples, only basic Ancient knowledge was available to her. And all the secrets... if they are in the Atlantis database, they are securely encrypted. Our only way to find precious energy is to start studying planets. For the four of us, with no high-quality backup, that's a major problem.
That's why we were trying to save on literally everything. Powering the shield is the main consumer. We could, of course, try to surface and work on city-ship cloaking systems based on the technology in the Jumpers. It's a good thing we have some truly "totaled" units fit only for stripping for parts. Но, опять же, встает вопрос с защитой города на поверхности.
The Wraith roaming the galaxy, who might know of our arrival, aren't the friendliest neighbors. I'm surprised that after Sudaria, several Hive ships haven't already arrived in orbit around Lantea, Atlantis's home planet. Just to check if everything's still the same.
So it's high time to think about the city's defense.
Atlantis, like outposts and Ancient ships, is equipped with offensive and defensive systems. In the form of three launch shafts for self-guided missiles, drones. They can be launched with a mental command given through the Ancient chair, which the city also has. And with the ZPM, we can do that.
Ancient drone.
Similar weapons are on the Jumpers, but each has only twelve. In total, on the damaged and working ships, we have about a hundred, and we've already removed unnecessary ammunition from those Jumpers that won't be flying anywhere. Along with the parts we need to fix the others. Other Jumper parts suitable for city repairs were ruthlessly stripped and integrated into damaged systems by Chaya.
For example, we just managed to restore control of the lower hangar, the main subspace transmitter, and brought Atlantis's short-range scanners back online. Small victories achieved in our four's five days in the city.
But it didn't affect our defense at all.
The problem was that there were practically no projectiles in the city. We have more drones on the Jumpers than in Atlantis's arsenal. And even if we hand them all over for the city's defense, it will be enough to destroy one, maybe two to five Wraith ships. But as soon as we do, all the Wraith in the galaxy will flock to Lantea. For the dying will surely tell of what destroyed them. Such are the animals they are.
Thus, Atlantis is that very "grand piano" that is big, makes noise, everyone around is delighted by it... but in fact, it's a pain.
Numerous damages to the city don't allow us to use it as a ship for our own purposes. The lack of weapons doesn't even let us think about meeting the enemy face to face. The hyperdrive needs parts, the sublights need repair, the hull needs welding, new wiring, new crystals—which Ancient and Ancient-based devices have instead of the usual circuit boards, energy storage units, relays, and so on.
Not to mention what I never tire of repeating: almost every lab in this city contains a dangerous, in most cases even lethal, technology or experiment. That "mechanical Ascension" lab, the activation of which in most cases turns a human into photoplasma or adds limbs, is a direct example.
People say of such moments: "decaying grandeur." And I'm inclined to agree. Atlantis is a headache if you don't know how to fix it.
And "healing" the city with the strength of four people, three of whom essentially don't understand what's going on or how it functions, is impossible. More technically savvy specialists are needed. At the very least—those familiar with Ancient technologies on the level of understanding general principles, laws of physics, science in whole...
The most obvious solution is the Stargate Project command on Earth. People there have been dealing with Ancient technologies for several years and have learned to understand them quite well.
But the situation with Earth is unclear. And even if we get there, it doesn't mean we'll be able to return. And I'm not eager to get involved in the Milky Way's problems too. That they're the size of Everest there is clear even without special superpowers.
Besides the Aurora with its crew of Ancients, there's another starship—the Tria. It's outside the galaxy and moving toward the Milky Way. The Ancients there are more alive. And, it would seem, they are the most preferable option. It seems there are just over a hundred of them... However, to reach them, we must acquire a ship with a hyperdrive. And try to find them in the interstellar void. Quite a task.
Now for the worst of the options.
I haven't told Chaya yet, but there are machines in the galaxy created by the Ancients to fight the Wraith but which didn't live up to hopes: the Replicators. They look like humans, act like humans, but... consist of nanorobots. And they really don't like anything connected with the Ancients. They consider humans to be just biomass. The only ones they fear are the Lanteans. They won't harm them a priori. But there's a nuance.
Neither I, nor Chaya, nor certainly Jensen or Teyla, are Lanteans. Consequently, it's unlikely the program for the Replicators not harming us will work.
To be honest, I don't even know if the crews of the Aurora and Tria consist of Lanteans at all or of assimilated peoples? Chaya says the second option is more likely, as the Lanteans didn't stoop to open brawling with enemies.
Another extremely dangerous option is cooperation with the Wraith. In the events I know, this happened, but... every time some kind of mess resulted. And you wouldn't think otherwise.
I don't even want to think about the other peoples of the galaxy, like the Genii. Cooperating with them openly would be foolishness. At least for now.
Perhaps when we gain strength...
"Are you cold or what?" a friendly slap on the shoulder from the former Runner pulled me out of my thoughts.
"There are thoughts that are worth considering," I replied vaguely.
"I'll bet," Jensen smirked. "Like how to steal the minerals you need for repairs from under the Wraith's noses?"
"Among other things."
Atlantis can be repaired. But parts are needed.
There are no factories in the city, nothing like them. But there are small workshops in which simple devices can be produced in small volumes. The same crystals, for example. Or hull plating parts, wiring...
But for this, resources are necessary. Simply put—materials from which the part can be made. And as it happened, the city had a very tiny supply of the ores we needed. And Chaya had already used them to restore several damaged systems. Now new ones are needed.
It's just that, coincidentally or not, the planets with the resources we need that were used by the Ancients are under Wraith occupation. We flew on reconnaissance to a couple of worlds and returned with nothing. We only confirmed the fact that there are hibernating Wraith ships on the desired planets. As for the mines... they are completely destroyed. And that's a huge problem.
We need to find a new place to obtain raw materials. And then, most likely, Chaya will no longer have to repair Atlantis by switching power from main systems to backup, auxiliary, or emergency ones. And she did this because the wiring had overheated somewhere, crystals elsewhere, short circuits in some places... Parts are needed, and a significant number of them.
Even better, we need an external energy source to power the city, leaving only the power for a number of main functions to the ZPM. For example, the city shield, the chair, the drones...
I knew where it could be obtained, but... so far, the short-range sensors haven't been able to find what's needed.
But there's progress in another direction.
"Mikhail, Alvar," a voice rang out over our heads. Chaya had also activated the city's intercom. "I need you in the laboratory."
"We'll be right there," I replied. Damn, it's unusual to speak like that, into the void. Smells like schizophrenia. Jensen didn't particularly like this method of communication throughout the city either. He kept dreaming of returning to his home planet and looking for more of the technology he was used to.
But for now, we won't go there. Not until Chaya finishes what I asked her. I hope this call is what I think it is.
"Looks like the girls want to invite us on a date," the Runner smirked. After Chaya had managed to remove the overgrown Wraith subspace transmitter from his body on Atlantis using the medical bay's technology, Jensen had become less tense. And more sympathetic to the Ancient.
"If we don't go, we won't find out," I shrugged.
Still, we need normal human communication devices. The "voice from above" echoing through the empty corridors of Atlantis and reflecting off them in a distorted echo scared the crap out of me.
Mainly because I can't do that.
I think Chaya knows this and is taking the opportunity to get revenge on me for... for something. A woman is a woman even among the Ancients. Just more inventive.