Subject to Interpretation - Part Four

[jadesfire]

Click For Full Size

Teyla's blood ran cold, and she stayed as still as she could as Ester slowly crossed the room towards her.

"You're pregnant."

Clenching her jaw, Teyla didn't answer, just held Ester's eye in a long, cold stare.

"I mean, I can still extract DNA, carry out the experiment as planned, but-" Ester waved a hand vaguely, not even flinching when another thud echoed through the room, louder this time. "If you'd told me, I could have-" She broke off again, shaking her head. "This machine can also be programmed for gene therapy. If you'd told me, I could have suppressed the Wraith DNA, in you and the child. It would be completely human."

The words rang oddly in Teyla's ears. She had never regarded herself as anything but human, the things the Wraith had done to her forefathers making no difference to who she was. Ester was still speaking, saying something about wanting to help, to lift the burden from her, but all Teyla could hear was her father's voice, telling her that it was a gift for the good of her people. And that was what she would tell her child when it was born.

"I am human, and so is my child," she said fiercely, cutting Ester off mid-sentence. "I would change nothing, for either of us."

Shaking her head sadly, Ester said, "It's too late now, anyway. The machine is programmed and ready to go."

"What will it do to me? To my child?" Teyla's voice was not as steady as she would have liked, and what was supposed to be an angry question came out as more of a whisper.

"Honestly? I don't know. It will take your DNA, Wraith and human, and recombine them to make the new organisms. It is possible that the cocoon will also feed that back to you, but I don't know how. The unpredictability was one of the reasons the Ancients stopped the experiments." Leaning forwards a little, Ester frowned a little. "I've done all I can to safeguard you from any feedback. But," she hesitated, "I didn't know about the baby. I'm sorry. This is bigger than just us. If we can find a viable, non-sentient food source for the Wraith-"

"Doctor Almunia."

They both looked up as a voice filled the room. John.

"I'm going to assume you can hear me, and that you're just ignoring me. That's not a good idea. We're going to get this door open eventually, but it's going to be much better for you if you open it first." He paused, obviously waiting for an answer. "Doctor Almunia? Teyla?"

"We have to hurry." Ester lifted her hand, as though to touch Teyla's cheek, curling her fingers when Teyla flinched away. "You're going to be fine, I promise. Once the cycle's started, I'll let the others in and explain it all to them." She smiled, the barest twitch of her lips. "We're going to save the galaxy."

Teyla was struggling in earnest by the time the other woman reached the console again, and she gasped as something cold pressed against the back of her neck, stinging briefly like the bite of an insect. A wave of dizziness washed over her and she fought for control, trying to get her wrist free.

"That's the first stage complete," Ester said, although her voice seemed to be coming from a long way off. "The computer is comparing the DNA sequences now. This shouldn't take long."

Still dizzy, and half-sick with helplessness, Teyla closed her eyes. That tingle was still at the back of her mind, bringing with it a familiar sense of dread. As before, she tried to focus on that, use it to pull her back to herself, but instead, she found herself drawn in further, mind going fuzzy as she reached out. It was the sensation she'd had when flying the Wraith ship, as though it had put its tendrils into her mind, so that she couldn't tell where it ended and she began.

Instinctively, she pushed against it, and felt it respond. The surge of hope helped her to push again, trying to take more control. They might be in an Ancestral city, but this technology was Wraith, and that gave Teyla an advantage she hadn't realized she had.

Letting her body go limp, held up only by the cocoon, she sent her mind further into the machine, trying to find the right systems and processes. Vaguely, she was aware of Ester making a surprised sound, of the door thudding again, but mostly she was aware of the machine sinking into her consciousness. It responded to her thoughts, and she could almost see the program running, combining the DNA in a sequence too long for her to properly comprehend. Whatever it was doing, it had nearly finished. She had to stop it.

Still not entirely sure what she was doing, Teyla pressed her mind against the core of the program, the very heart of the machine. For a moment, it seemed to push back, as though questioning what she was doing. Across the room, Teyla heard Ester shouting, then rapid footsteps. She needed to stop this, now. Gathering her strength, she bore down on the central core, feeling it give beneath her mind. There was a blinding flash of light, then everything went dark.

The world came back in a rush. Teyla found that she was still hanging in the now inert cocoon, almost on her knees. She pulled her arm free, falling the rest of the way to the floor and looking up in time to see Ester coming towards her, face a mask of fury. With a jolt, Teyla saw the gun and the stunner, still on the console next to her, and she tried to scramble to her feet, fighting limbs that felt like they'd been filled with lead. Then there was a flurry of movement on the other side of the room and Rodney - Rodney? - was there, yanking at the crystals and throwing himself to the side as the doors opened.

Ronon was through before they'd slid completely apart, his gun raised and tracking to Ester.

"Don't move," he said, but Ester's body was blocking his view of the console. And the weapons.

"Ronon!" Teyla's shout wasn't as loud as she would have liked, but it was enough. As Ester lunged for the console, Ronon shot her.

As her body fell, twitching, to the floor, there was a long moment of silence, broken by John's hoarse, "Everyone okay?"

"It's about time," Rodney complained, his voice shaky. "We nearly had to rescue ourselves for a minute there."

Accepting Ronon's help to get back to her feet, Teyla let herself lean against him, closing her eyes as his solid warmth seeped into her. Then someone was on her other side, a hand on her elbow, and she turned, looking up at John.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his face that blank mask of worry that she knew too well.

"I am fine," she said, not resisting when Ronon began to half-carry her out of the room. As they reached the doorway, she looked back at Ester, still lying on the floor in front of the torn and dead cocoon. For a moment, she honestly didn't know whether or not she was glad that Ronon's gun had been set to stun.

---

To her irritation, Teyla's hands were still shaking hours later, as she sat on one of the last crates in the computer lab. John had already ferried the others back to the Stargate by Jumper, and she could see the small vessel through the window, making the return trip for her, Rodney, Ronon and the last of the supplies.

She was trying to will her shaking fingers steady when John came into the room, his own hands stuffed into his pockets.

"We all set, then?" he asked, looking around.

"I think so." Rodney's voice was unnaturally hushed. "There's just the box Teyla's using as an armchair and a few computers to go."

"Great. You and Ronon want to take them down to the Jumper?"

"You want me to do the carrying? I'm the one who was stunned just a few hours ago."

"You're fine, aren't you? Like you said, ten thousand year old weaponry doesn't have much of a kick any more."

"It kicked hard enough."

Getting to her feet, Teyla stepped aside as Ronon came over for the box. "Come on, McKay," he said, lifting it easily, and Rodney only hesitated for a moment, scooping up his bags of computers and trailing out of the room with only a sidelong, nervous look at Teyla.

She leaned back against the wall, still aware of the shaking in her hands, the deep unsettled feeling that seemed to go bone-deep.

"You okay?" John stopped a few feet away, hands still in his pockets and a sympathetic frown creasing his forehead.

Teyla nodded. "I think so. The...experiment...had not proceeded very far."

"Thanks to you." Shifting awkwardly, John said, "Look, I'm recommending to Colonel Carter that the Daedalus come wipe this place out on its next supply run. We need help against the Wraith, but not this kind of help, you know?"

"Thank you." It was little enough comfort to know that the research could not be duplicated, but it would do. She took a deep breath, trying to let it cleanse her. "What will happen to Ester?"

"She's going to be sent back to Earth. They can't put her through the normal channels because of the whole state secret thing, but they'll deal with her." The unspoken I'll make sure of it was written on his face, and that was enough for Teyla.

She accepted the offer of his arm as they slowly made their way down to the Jumper. "She truly believed she was helping the galaxy."

John shrugged eloquently. "She sure had a funny way of going about it. Her and the Ancients."

"They too were trying to serve a higher cause." Teyla sighed. "And if it had not been for them, the Wraith would not have had the technology to manipulate DNA, I would not possess the Wraith gene, and I would not have been able to free myself from the machine." She shook her head. "Everything seems to come full circle."

"If you want to look at it that way, I guess," John said, although his tone made it clear what he thought of the idea.

"There is always more than one perspective on these things." As hard as it was for her, as frightened as she had been, Teyla was left more with a deep sense of sadness for Ester than any true anger. The two of them, the whole Atlantis expedition, seemed so small and brief against the ten thousand years of history that they had inherited, and they were still fighting the same war that the Ancients had started so long ago. The best they could do was try not to repeat the same mistakes. "All our actions, and all those of the Ancestors, make sense to us at the time. Who knows if people in ten thousand years' time will interpret them in the same way, and agree with our point of view."

"We may find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

Despite herself, Teyla smiled. "You know, John, Rodney has made us all sit through those films several times."

"Yeah, I know." He looked down at her, grinning. "Lot of wisdom in them though."

She raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"That there is no try?" he said, lifting his eyes as though in deep thought. "That tauntauns smell worse on the inside than they do on the outside? That you shouldn't kiss brilliant, beautiful women in case they turn out to be your twin sister?"

This time, Teyla let herself laugh, the sound echoing through the corridors, and driving back some of the shadows. Then they were out in the sunlight, bright and searing, and she lifted her face to it, closing her eyes. When they had come through the Ancestral Ring, she had thought that this place looked like Atlantis, another wonder of the Ancestors. Now, gazing up at the broken windows and fallen towers, she felt only a deep sadness at all they had failed to do.

"Come on," John said, leading her up the ramp of the Jumper. "Let's go home."

Comments

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I'm SO glad the atmosphere worked - it was written in such a rush that I was worried that got lost. But it was clear in my head so I'm delighted it came over right.

Once I got John's motivations sorted out, the scene just seemed to come together - the whole thing between them is so awkward, I really wanted that in there.

Heh, Teyla's wisdom is actually cut from an old Big Bang draft. Recycling: Better for the environment and story-telling ;) But yes, in her voice it doesn't sound trite at all, although Star Wars is definitely more John's level :D

Thanks so much for all the encouragement and help - wouldn't have made it without you guys!

[apropos of nothing - I now have an SGA 'big stick' icon! *G*]