Day Nine Hundred Ninety-Seven

The official reply from Atlantis is short: they expect to arrive the next day, at precisely ten o'clock in the morning. Fortunately the missive has a Lantean time stamp with which to calculate the difference. Unfortunately the time difference will put their arrival at the most blistering hot part of the day.

John commandeers Laith to assist in retrieving the Patern and sends him off to Zadiyeh. They were still adamant that John is their primary negotiator, but they all wanted to be present for the event, curious about the nusquam coming to Dominat.

He's got a little time; it's only midday, and John takes the time to stop in the baths at Ayse and to advise Zuhair of the arrival time. Clean but jittery, John goes to pick up Qahira, Maisa, Fatih and Yusrah, who's ushered into the second pilot seat by a smirking Maisa. Thankfully, his passengers are solemn and quiet, because John doesn't think his nerves could take any conversation.

It's late when they arrive back in N'vellesem, and John gratefully turns them over to Anbur and then retreats to his home. For the first time since his return to Dominat, John tosses and turns, getting precious little sleep. He just doesn't have any idea of what to expect, and his regard for Elizabeth and her calm demeanor during tough negotiations hitches upward a notch.

 

Day Nine Hundred Ninety-Eight

John gives up on sleep and arrives early in the morning to find the Patern once again arranged in Anbur's office, discussing the latest gossip and chattering away like any group of old friends.

He shouldn't be angry at the easy, casual way that they've dismissed the negative aspects of the deal, but the horrendous possibility of the worst case scenario is eating at John from the inside out, and he'd like to feel that he isn't the only one that's worried about it.

Briefly, he wonders if he has time to nip over Fakih's for a few quick drinks, but instead he paces in the hallway, his palms clammy, and his pulse hammering in his throat.

The worst part is he doesn't have any idea of who will accompany O'Neill and Woolsey. Both sides were playing their cards close to their chest, and he doesn't have an opportunity to look for a tell. General O'Neill he could probably handle, but he doesn't know Woolsey at all.

The hours drag by, and John finds that he's lurking nearer and nearer to the control room. The white pavilion in the courtyard is shimmering in the heat, and the 'gate wavers like a mirage.

When the 'gate begins to spin, and John sees Diwan take off from the control like a shot to warn the Patern, he walks out to the end of the safe zone and waits.

The council arrives and stands behind him in a row just as the event horizon forms and settles in the orbis. John glances once at Anbur for reassurance, before the treaty party arrives. He shakes himself out of the automatic parade rest; instead clasping his hands together in front of him, resisting the urge to wipe his hands dry on his pale suit.

John starts breathing again when Rodney is first through the gate, with a small dufflebag hanging off of his shoulder. He moves off the platform and heads towards John as O'Neill, flanked by Sam Carter and Daniel Jackson, arrives. They're dressed in standard desert BDUs and carrying heavy backpacks. Immediately behind them are Elizabeth and a balding man in a dark suit. This must be Woolsey, he thinks, noticing that he's the only one carrying an actual valise. Four Marines are last to step onto the platform, before the wormhole snaps closed. John recognizes Williams and Rice, and the other two, with the Union Jack on their uniform, are vaguely familiar, though only from his short visit on Atlantis. John briefly touches Rodney's shoulder as he steps forward to shake hands with O'Neill first, "Welcome to N'vellesem, General."

"Sheppard. This here is Richard Woolsey, IOA, and I guess you already know everyone else." O'Neill's grasp is firm, and there's no censure in his eyes so John relaxes minutely.

"Yes, sir. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Woolsey." John gets a feeling of wariness from Woolsey, though he has a pleasant demeanor and a firm grasp. He greets Daniel and Carter with a brief smile and a handshake and nods to Elizabeth and Rodney, who are standing a few feet away; they don't need to be introduced to the Council.

John turns towards the Patern arranged behind him. "This is the Council of the Patern, the ruling body of Dominat." He introduces everyone individually to the council. Anbur and Zuhair greet them in perfect English and offer to shake hands. Yusrah and Tazim are slightly less fluent, and John translates for Fatih, Maisa and Qahira. John watches as Anbur approaches the four Marines and welcomes them to Dominat, and asks their names. They're surprised, but polite and pleasant as they introduce themselves. Kwisarkton and Rhodes are the two he hadn't known by name. John smiles and nods at them, before turning back to the diplomatic envoy.

It takes a few minutes to get through all of the introductions and Woolsey's scalp is already beginning to sweat. John suggests, "Why don't we get out of the sun?" O'Neill tips his head forward, and John leads the group to the control room.

John's not embarrassed by the makeshift gate room, but he's painfully aware of how the small room, with its cobbled together DHD and minimal communications panel, compares to Atlantis' spacious departure lounge, or even the dull, utilitarian gate room at the SGC.

Rather than make them trek in the hot sun to the Quarter, John delays by allowing Anbur to take over with a short tour of the Ludahsediat, ending in the main lounge. The four marines station themselves around the room, and though their arms are resting on their P90's they appear to be relaxed and alert.

Anbur waves the rest of the envoy to the couches and chairs, "Please, make yourselves comfortable, feel free to investigate." He sends a student off to have refreshments brought in and scolds the students passing through when they linger and gawk. "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to welcome you to Dominat."

John drapes himself over a chair next to Rodney after everyone is seated. "Tonight we can show you around and possibly go find the site after it cools off a little, and then tomorrow we can get down to business if necessary."

"I am very anxious to see this marvel, very exciting, yes? Dr. Jackson, John has said that you are learning to speak our language?"

The Patern are eager to engage their visitors; Zuhair and Yusrah aid Maisa, Qahira and Fatih in translating the stilted conversations, and Anbur is presiding over it all like a proud parent.

His input doesn't seem to be immediately necessary, so John leans toward Rodney. "Hey, good to see you," he says in a low voice.

Rodney lightly socks John on the shoulder. "That's for not telling me sooner; what did you think I was going to do—turn you in?"

John shoots Rodney a dark, sarcastic look. "I told you as soon as I was sure."

"Fine, fine, yes, keep all the facts to yourself. If I'd known what the problem was, I could've figured it out sooner, and I wouldn't have nearly had a heart attack when they finally dragged you off."

"Yeah, sorry. So how are things on Atlantis?"

"Tense. Shen's really pissed that she wasn't included on the guest list."

"I probably would've sent her back if she'd come. What's Woolsey like?"

"Hard ass but not entirely stupid. He's a bureaucrat, what do you want me to say?"

"I'm a little out of my depth, here, that's all."

"All they can do is say no, Sheppard, and they aren't going to."

"That's what I'm counting on."

"Oh, here. I brought you a present." Rodney digs into his bag and hands John a PDA.

"Great, thanks! I was going to ask if you could get me one."

"I put some pictures of the kid on there for you. I'll figure out some way to hook the charger up to the control room or something."

"Nah, I'm about to figure out how to wire up the naquadah generator at the house," John says in a distracted way, as he fiddles with the hand held.

Rodney's eyebrows go up in surprise. "The house?"

John looks up and grins. "Oh, yeah. I got my own place now."

"That was fast. Where is it?"

"'Bout fifteen minutes from here, on the southeast side. I'm sure we can sneak in a tour tonight."

Rodney's eye light up when the refreshments arrive. "Oh, yes. Of course." He dives in like he hasn't eaten in the four weeks he's been gone.

They graze over the tray of various tidbits that have been arranged on the low table. There's fresh, warm khabez and spicy cheese; thin, sweet yoghurt for dipping; small mounds of shredded meslat, fragrant with bazin and kalah; and a tiny dish of allmas nuts and a tall, thin teapot made of chased glass.

It's fairly typical; Anbur's not going all out to impress their guests, but rather putting out what they have as if to say, 'this is who we are'.

John thinks about the irony of how out of place they look, that it was once him, lounging uncomfortably in the same room with the blue lamps and the filigreed brass screens. Now he's at home, and his former countrymen are the strangers. He pours a glass of tea and sips it as he watches them.

Daniel's brushing up on his Ancient with Yusrah and Maisa, his tea glass precariously hanging from his fingertips as he leans forward. Anbur looks perfectly delighted at how fast Daniel is taking it in.

O'Neill is watching Daniel in action with a smirk, as if he's storing up the experience. John realizes with a jerk of familiarity that this is, or was, O'Neill's version of normality: off-world with his team, and watching as Daniel engaged the natives. That used to be him and Teyla, but it's something that will never happen again.

Elizabeth looks slightly uncomfortable with her hands wrapped around her tea as if she's warming them, and she's not really engaging in the conversation. Fatih has a sour look in his face, but that's par for the course for him.

Tazim is excitedly chatting with Carter, who's grinning widely at his version of flirting. Woolsey is just watching like John, and when their eyes meet, John nods.

Rodney's catching up with Zuhair, inquiring about Ayse and showing him pictures of Rania and Atlantis. The look on Zuhair's face is priceless, a wild cross between envy and awe, and sadness that his daughter has moved beyond his reach.

They remain there until late afternoon when the worst of the heat has passed, and dusk is approaching. John brings the conversation around to business. "It's probably cool enough to get you settled and give you a tour."

O'Neill jumps up, eager to move things along. "Lead on, Sheppard."

"Yes, sir." John pauses, and tips his head towards the Marines advancing on the door, "I should warn you that we will definitely attract a crowd, but it's nothing to be concerned about. They'll just be curious." John resists the impulse to shutter his expression as O'Neill searches his face.

Finding whatever he was looking for, O'Neill turns to the Marines, "At ease, gentlemen."

Anbur confers briefly with the other Patern and then turns to John, "We will stay; you have no need of our advice in this matter."

John nods at him with a smile and turns to Woolsey. "Mr. Woolsey, you'll want a head-cover. We can get you something if you need it. Sun block if you have it, all of you. We spent a lot of time with sunburns."

"I have one." Woolsey dredges around in his valise and comes up with a boonie which he pulls down tight on his head.

John gives them a moment to get situated and then heads out onto the shaded porch. There's a crowd all right; probably every person in N'vellesem is gathered in front of the Ludahsediat, packed in the front courtyard or milling about in the street beyond. It never ceases to amaze John, how quickly rumors and news travels by word of mouth.

He takes point and wades unconcerned into the crowd that easily makes way as they make slow but orderly progress through the town. He plays tour guide, pointing out landmarks and answering questions.

As they arrive at the Main Street sign, John stops and turns to O'Neill. "These two streets are what we called the Quarter, and it extends all the way to the city's wall. That," he points to the conference center on the corner, "is where we'll meet in the evenings when it's cooler. You've got plenty of room to spread out—Elizabeth, would you take care of getting everyone arranged?"

Elizabeth looks vaguely unhappy at returning to the scene of the lowest point in her career, but she agrees, "Of course, John."

"Nothing's changed—we just cleaned up a little. I'll wait here while you drop your things off, and then we'll go find the site."

They peel off to inspect their lodgings, while John patiently answers the questions about the nusquam from the cluster of people that had followed them from the Ludahsediat.

A few minutes later John looks behind him and sees O'Neill standing there just watching. O'Neill makes a rolling gesture with his hand, and he turns back to his people. It makes him a little uncomfortable, knowing that he's being watched and possibly judged, but John knows that he would do the same thing if he were in O'Neill's place.

It's only a matter of moments, before the rest of the nusquam rejoin O'Neill, and John deftly brings his conversation to an end. He comes up short when he does a quick head count and asks, "Where's Daniel and Elizabeth?"

O'Neill points his thumb over his shoulder. "They're going to stay; Daniel said something about talking or exploring, or something. I left Williams and Rice with them."

John considers telling him that the guards aren't necessary, but shrugs. "That's fine; we'll be able to take one 'jumper." He turns and leads them back through the city and out of the massive gates to where the 'jumpers are parked.

John looks over the assembly, and considers the seating arrangements as he opens the hatch. "Rodney, I'm assuming that you have some idea of where we're going?"

"It's near the south Pole, somewhere in the green zone on the other side of the planet. I've got the Alteran's coordinates for it, and I can upload them into the 'jumper."

That puts Rodney behind the pilot's seat. "Okay. General, why don't you take second seat?" John points to the fourth seat in the front, "Colonel, you'll probably want to sit there."

That leaves Woolsey in the back with Kwisarkton and Rhodes, the two marines still attached to their party, but it can't be helped; John's not going to put O'Neill in the back, and Carter will want to confer with McKay.

Night falls rapidly as John powers up the jumper, runs through a quick preflight, and initiates the HUD while he waits for Rodney to feed in the coordinates. "How's it going back there, McKay?"

Rodney doesn't look up from his data tablet, "Just a moment, Colonel."

John chuckles and leans back in his chair with his hands locked behind his head. Rodney is a man of habit. "Sure, take your time." He glances at O'Neill when the HUD flashes up a new screen with their destination pinpointed in red.

He takes off, streaking towards the sky. It doesn't take any concentration to control the makhuqat'an, so John leans back slightly and glances at O'Neill again. He knows that there's a conversation due between them, but John's uncertain what he would say if he were to start it, or if O'Neill would care to have an audience.

There's a tension in the air that John can't quite pin down. Carter and McKay are comfortable together, that's familiar, and O'Neill doesn't feel too worried; maybe it's Woolsey's wariness floating in the background. The murmured technical discussion between Carter and McKay fills in the silence as they speed towards the site of the ZPM plant.

~*~

John slows down as he approaches the red dot on the HUD. "I don't see anything, McKay." He circles the area, but the entrance isn't visible.

"No, otherwise it would have been found by scans or visual flyovers. We're right on top of it, Sheppard."

O'Neill and Carter watch the exchange with matching bemused expressions, as if they're at a tennis match. Woolsey and the Marines are leaning forward from the benches in the back, trying to see what is going on.

He parks the 'jumper so that the forward lights point towards the face of a small cliff. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to go look for it." John considers asking Woolsey to stay in the 'jumper, but his attitude suggests that he's there as an observer, so if he wants in on the exploration, that's fine by him.

Everyone trails out after McKay, who's already walking up and down the face of the cliff with his hand held scanner. "Ah, here we are." Rodney runs his hands down and across a small area and pries off a cover that's disguised as part of the rock face. He pokes at the revealed control panel, but steps aside when he fails to open it. "Sheppard?"

John reaches for the control panel, and the door creaks aside in a shower of sound of sand and dirt. He stands to the side, and waves in Kwisarkton and Rhodes. They're here; they might as well do their job.

John allows McKay and Carter to go in first when the marines call out, "Clear." The lights come on weakly when McKay enters the room and more brightly when John and O'Neill walk in with Woolsey trailing behind them. Kwisarkton stations herself at the door as they enter.

They're standing on a platform hanging over an abyss so wide and deep that John can almost imagine that there's mist forming in the far distance. The only visible feature on the platform is a single, slender pedestal in the center, and a few feet beyond that, the edge, bordered with stanchions and a thin wire, glowing faintly blue, is strung between them.

He joins everyone at the railing, but the lights over the platform aren't strong enough to pierce the utter darkness beyond. Rhodes has a flash light out, but it's too puny to pierce the darkness. "Well, I gotta say, this isn't what I was expecting," John says.

O'Neill and Carter share a glance, and they shrug as Carter explains, "We've seen a few places that aren't too dissimilar, but yes—this is pretty fantastic."

Rodney peers cautiously over the edge once and immediately moves back. "I'm going to go see what I can get out of that console."

McKay crawls underneath the pedestal as Carter fires up the laptop and simultaneously hands him the leads. Woolsey is in the middle of the room, uncertain of where to stand. O'Neill is walking the perimeter of the platform and Rhodes follows O'Neill.

John is edging in to see what's on the console and peering closely over Carter's shoulder, when she turns her head and grins in his face. "Hi."

He backs up a little, "Oh, sorry."

Carter waves him back in, "No, it's fine, c'mon. We'll probably need your help anyway. Try initializing the control panel."

John puts his hand on the control panel. He hasn't even issued a mental command as the platform dissolves around him and then resolves into a room that could be any one of the labs on Atlantis, except now the control pedestal is a few feet in front of him.

A disembodied voice asks in an archaic form of Ancient, "State your name and business."

"John Sheppard. We've come to investigate the zero point module factory."

"What is your authorization?" The voice is flat and business-like, without inflection or emotion.

John shrugs slightly and goes for broke. "I am the Quaralyn."

"Verify identity."

Oh, great. Figuring it's the only thing in the room, he steps forward and initializes the control console, just as he had the other one, back where ever McKay is.

"Identity confirmed. Welcome, John Sheppard."

He shakes his head, wondering how it had verified his identity, as the room dissolves again, leaving him standing at the control panel with everyone staring at him. "Huh. That was interesting."

Rodney leans over him, "What happened, are you alright? You just zoned out! What did you do?"

John shoots Rodney a dark look. "I didn't do anything, Rodney." He stares at the control panel. "For a second I thought I had been beamed away, but…"

Kwisarkton interrupts John with a shout, "Sir! There's a door that wasn't here a minute ago." Rodney and Carter move as one towards the door.

O'Neill gives Sheppard a curious look. "Looks like you did something."

Carter calls out over her shoulder, "Doesn't appear to have any control mechanism. We can't open it from here."

John looks down at the pedestal, considering it for a moment before placing his hand on it and asking for permission to enter. The door glides open silently, lights coming on in the room beyond it.

Rodney goes back for the laptop while everyone tries to edge into the room. John and O'Neill easily walk in, leaving Carter, Woolsey and Rhodes standing at the door.

O'Neill turns around, "Carter, what are you waiting for?"

"I can't, sir. There's a force field." Carter puts her hand up and pushes on thin air, but she can't move her hand into the room.

"Security?"

"Very likely."

"Rhodes, take Kwisarkton's position," O'Neill orders the marine.

"Yes sir." Rhodes disappears from the door, leaving Carter and Woolsey standing there watching from the outside.

"Excuse me, ATA enabled coming through." Rodney pushes through the force field easily, Kwisarkton following him in, while Carter glares at his back. "Well, let's see what we have here."

The walls are lined with twenty horizontal stasis pods, and there's a set of controls and a screen over each one. O'Neill and Kwisarkton explore the room thoroughly, pacing up and down the length of it.

John asks, "What do you suppose these are for?" as Rodney plugs the laptop into the pod closest to the door.

"Whatever they are, they're ATA controlled," he says, putting his hand on it and initializing the panel.

The screen flashes on, and data in Ancient begins to scroll across the screen. It's moving fast, but repeats twice more, before flashing on a single screen. "Sheppard, check the translation on this. Says it's ready. I think they're virtual reality pods."

John leans over Rodney's laptop and squints, as he studies the display. "I suppose you could translate it that way."

"What else would it mean?"

"I don't know. It's not really a phrase that I've run across before, but it could also mean literally, 'enter alternate space'."

"There's only one way to find out." Rodney hands John the laptop and begins to heave himself into the pod.

O'Neill barks out, "Hey!"

Rodney stops and looks at O'Neill. "I'm the best qualified to investigate whatever is going on here."

"Yes, and no one else can get you out if something goes wrong. We'll go." O'Neill nods at John and Kwisarkton.

"Fine, be my guest," Rodney grouches as he hops off the pod table. "But they're keyed to your ATA; you'll each have to initialize your own pod."

Woolsey speaks up for the first time. "Is that wise, sending the both of you at the same time? What if there's an accident? I don't want to have to return to Earth and tell the President that I lost the two main negotiators."

"Woolsey, no offense, but if this is the way in, we're never going to get a ZPM if we don't go. You want one, right?"

"Yes of course, but both of you?"

"I don't think either of us is going to let the other go alone. We'll be fine."

John reaches out to initialize the next pod, and chuckles, "Don't worry, Rodney. We'll bring you back a souvenir."

"Yes, please, mock my pain."

O'Neill touches a pod control and rolls his eyes as he watches Kwisarkton gingerly reach out for her control panel, but it doesn't initialize. "Try another one, Corporal." She tries several more, but none respond to her.

"Remove all your weapons and give them to me," Carter suggests. They watch as Kwisarkton disarms, and hands the weapons out the door.

When the pod initializes for her, John gives Carter the thumbs up. "Good call."

Carter grins. "Ten years in the field, Sheppard."

John rolls his eyes, but it does sting a little; his chance to build up that kind of field career had been cut short—though in the Pegasus galaxy, it's unlikely that he would've had that long. He situates himself in the stasis pod, and looks to the left to see O'Neill and Kwisarkton in position. "Okay, Rodney, now what?"

He points to a key on the pad above him. "That one's labeled enter and the one next to it is exit. I'll pull you out in ten minutes."

"Works for me." John reaches up and pushes the button, and everything around him dissolves in a flash of light.

~*~

When his retinas recover, John finds himself alone in the room, the hatch to the pod already open. He gets out and walks around the room waiting for a minute or two, but O'Neill and Kwisarkton don't appear in their pods.

John stares at the empty pod beds for a moment, before investigating. He's still wearing the same clothes that he had on, and the room is identical to the one he just left. He walks out the door, and the platform is the same, sans control pedestal, but the dark, cavernous space is now brightly lit.

He walks to the edge and looks over. As far as he can see into the hazy distance, the floor of the cavern is filled with monstrously huge pieces of equipment, tall enough for the tops of them to be at eye level. The platform here has an additional feature to the side, another platform with a freestanding door frame containing a mesh gate, but he can't see anything supporting it when he leans over to look.

Deciding that it's probably been five minutes, John climbs back into the hatch and presses the exit button, squeezing his eyes tightly closed.

When he reappears in the departure chamber, the hatch reopens automatically and Rodney is hunched over his keyboard typing furiously and O'Neill and Kwisarkton are standing next to his pod. "Hi. What happened to you guys?"

"Decided we'd better wait and see. You disappeared."

"Sheppard, this is incredible, you were right. That's not virtual reality, that's a subspace generator! Where did you go, what happened?"

John climbs out and sits on the end of the pod. "It looks just like this on the other side, but that," he points toward the door, "is where the factory is. It's just as huge, but there are all kinds of machines and things down there, I think there's an elevator of some sort, too."

"How do you feel, any side effects?"

"Nope. I feel fine."

"Like that's a surprise," Rodney mutters. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Carter, Woolsey—get comfortable, we'll be back."

Woolsey looks concerned and Carter looks like someone just ran over her dog as the four of them climb back into the subspace pods to go investigate the factory.

~*~

They crawl out of their pods, and they look over the edge at the awe-inspiring size of the cavern and equipment. "It makes perfect sense to use a subspace pocket—any industrial accident won't destroy the planet," Rodney says.

"Let's go check it out." John eagerly opens the mesh gate, and O'Neill, McKay and Kwisarkton join him. He closes the gate, and the platform begins to silently, slowly descend to the factory floor.

The machines seem even larger from this perspective and looking up is akin to standing in the canyons of New York City. The main control room is underneath the platform, and is many times the size of Atlantis' gate room, filled with dark display screens and arrays of control panels. John, O'Neill and Kwisarkton leave Rodney puttering around the control room downloading data, while they break up and explore the catacombs of rooms behind it. Living quarters, common rooms and other rooms of indeterminate use, all empty and clean, not a speck of dust anywhere.

They meet back in the control room and then spend several hours wandering around the factory floor, Rodney going into ever increasing paroxysms of ecstatic joy as he runs from block to block, checking the status panels and read outs on the various machines, trying to determine what they might do without actually turning anything on.

O'Neill stands with his hands in his pocket, looking vaguely bored. "So, McKay. Bottom line it for me."

"Obviously, it can't be operated by only twenty people, the pods are probably like a subway; Sheppard's pod reset to 'ready' once he was gone. As far as I can tell, we'll need to have at least a hundred ATA capable people in here."

"There's definitely room for that many back there." John tips his head back towards the control room.

"Yes, right. Fortunately, the process itself looks mostly automated, so we can probably train anyone with a modicum of sense to operate them."

O'Neill asks, "How long do you think it'll take to get it up and running?"

"Depends on whether or not we can find enough scientists and engineers with the gene for discovery and implementation. We don't even know how long it will take to build a ZPM—it could be decades."

"I guess that puts Beckett's ATA research back on the front burner," John drawls.

O'Neill claps John on the shoulder. "Looks like we'll need to start those negotiations."

"Yeah." John's feeling slightly dazed; all of this had been here the whole time they'd been grubbing around, eking out a minimal living like semi-medieval peasants.

Rodney insists, "I'll need a couple of days. I want to get more people in here to investigate and to put together the report on it. Maybe even a week."

"No problem, McKay, whatever you want." The fact that the entire factory is presumably contained against industrial accidents is a huge weight off of his shoulders, and while initiating a shift change might be a pain in the ass, it does prevent the SGC from just taking what they want. John makes a note to find out how strong the ATA has to be in order to initiate the entrance.

There aren't any visible controls on the elevator; so it's activated by either ATA or pressure sensors. Rodney's face is a study in maniacal glee, and he babbles in nearly incomprehensible techno geek the entire way up into the subspace pods and he's still talking even as the hatch on his pod opens up.

Carter and Woolsey get up off the floor where they'd been sitting, and start to talk at the same time, "How was it?" "We were starting to get worried." Carter turns her head slightly and rolls her eyes, but Woolsey is smiling like a kid in a candy store.

"Carter, it's fantastic, truly incredible. The subspace bubble acts like a clean room, and it looks like we could turn it on tomorrow..."

John just tunes him out as they exit the room, wondering about the logistics of transporting that many people to and from the site, or if they'll choose to come by ship and beam down. John mentally adds an upgrade to Rodney's experimental satellite as a possibility. They'll have to move the 'gate as well. It was fine for low traffic, but not to have literally hundreds and hundreds of people traipsing through the Ludahsediat.

O'Neill is answering Woolsey's rapid fire questions as they drift out of the anteroom after McKay and Carter. John glances back to make sure he's alone before he touches the control pedestal and reinitiates the security field.

The other place reforms around him, and the voice greets him. "Welcome, John Sheppard."

"I have a few questions, can you answer them?"

"Please state your query."

"Who has access to this place?"

The voice begins to drone off a list of names, probably long dead Ancients.

"No, sorry. Let me rephrase the question. What is the qualification for authorization?"

"Genetic pattern recognition is the basis for qualification."

"Is it possible to change the basis?"

"No. The nature of the facility requires this genetic pattern."

John thinks about it for a few minutes. "Status on power levels."

"Power is holding at the optimum level for full operation."

"Projected power use at current levels?"

"Alternate space at current consumption will remain stable for two thousand seven hundred seventy one revolutions of this planet around the native star."

All right, at least it wasn't going to run out of power, anytime soon. He'd have to come back later; he had too many questions, and the rest of the group was probably wondering what he was doing. "Thanks. Exit?"

Reality reforms around John, and sure enough, O'Neill is standing there watching him. "Just wanted to see if I could turn out the lights."

O'Neill tips his head to the side slightly and asks, "And?"

"Not necessary. There seems to be plenty of power."

"Good to know. Anything else?"

John's still slightly paranoid about the whole enterprise, and he resists the urge to treat O'Neill as if he's still a commanding officer. Eventually, there will have to be full disclosure of what John's found, but it's late, and he still doesn't have all of the answers. "Not really. We should go."

Their return to N'vellesem is relaxed in comparison to the outbound flight. McKay and Carter are flinging around ten dollar words, and O'Neill is slouched in his chair. John thinks that he's just shy of putting his feet up on the console. "General, I was thinking we could go ahead and start our talks and get the preliminaries out of the way, while they get their report together."

O'Neill spins his seat around so he's facing the back. "Hey, Woolsey!"

Mr. Woolsey carefully stands up and clutches at the bulkhead, unsteady on his feet. "General?"

"You got any objections to getting this show on the road, while they," he waves his hand at McKay and Carter, "get their act together?"

"I'd like to go back to Atlantis and report to the President and the IOA, but I don't see any reason to delay any further."

"Well, Sheppard, it sounds like that's the plan."

 

Day Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine

The next day is quiet. John gives a full accounting of their discoveries to the Council, and though they listen carefully, and they're politely amazed, they don't really have any context for what the discovery fully means—not for Dominat, Earth or Atlantis.

Zuhair offers to start the conference with a formal state dinner in Ayse, and John tentatively agrees, he'll have to catch O'Neill and Woolsey when they return from Atlantis; they left in the early morning to report to Earth.

John is waiting for them when they return. He's surprised when Shaaziya follows them out of the event horizon, holding Rania's hand. He smiles and nods at her, as he greets O'Neill and Woolsey. "Welcome back. Everything go okay?"

O'Neill is smiling broadly, and it makes him look years younger. "Pretty good."

Woolsey scoffs as he shakes John's hand. "It was a very productive meeting. The President is quite excited, as you might imagine."

"I can just imagine." At least the President and the IOA understand the momentous value of yesterday's discovery. "Patern Zuhair's issued an invitation for a dinner in Ayse tonight, if that's all right?"

"Fine by me. Woolsey?"

"Yes, of course. This should be interesting," Woolsey says with a bright smile.

John gives Woolsey a narrow look, trying to decide if he's being facetious. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it."

"No, no offense, meant Mr. Sheppard, it's just that I don't get to go off world very often. I'm looking forward to it."

"None taken," John replies graciously. "We'll meet at the Ludahsediat around dusk."

O'Neill claps a hand to Sheppard's back as he brushes past him. "We'll see you then."

John wonders if he's really prepared to run with the big dogs as he kisses Shaaziya on the cheek and ruffles Rania's hair, grinning at her. "Hi, this is a surprise."

"When I heard the news, I knew that I would not see my husband again for weeks. General O'Neill was kind enough to override Director Shen's prohibition."

John's insulted and annoyed that Shen would hold Rodney's family hostage, and that Rodney hadn't mentioned it, though they hadn't really had a private moment for Rodney to pour out his grievances. "Well, you're here now," he says as he escorts her to the exit, an idea forming in the back of his mind.

~*~

McKay and Carter are still holed up in the conference room when John goes to drag them out. A naquadah generator is humming away in the corner, and converters, cables and power cords are strung across the table to a small bank of networked laptops. It's obvious that neither one of them has slept, and John briefly wonders if he should have given them more warning.

He leans in the doorway and drawls, "Pack it up, guys. Zuhair's invited everyone to Ayse for dinner. Shaaziya and Rania are here, Rodney."

"Really?" Rodney gives John a torn look, but begins to shut down the laptops. John plans to chat with Rodney later.

Carter stands up and stretches. "God, I'm starving."

John teases her, "Did McKay keep you chained up in here all night?"

"Please, that is so unfair. Carter could've quit any time she wanted to."

"Not a chance, McKay. It's bad enough that I was left standing in the ante-room, no way am I going to let you hoard this, too."

John shakes his head. "How much longer are you two going to need?"

"At least another day, for even the most preliminary report."

John really wants to go back and get some answers, like, how did the AI or computer, or whatever it was, know who he was? But it had been impossible to extricate himself from the Council. "That works for me, take your time. Oh, Carter, there's mineral baths there, so if you want to indulge, we'll have some time to check them out if we leave soon."

~*~

The excursion to Ayse serves several purposes in John's mind. One, it's an opportunity to socialize, though the tension of two opposing forces still hums in the background. Two, as the first salvo in the negotiations, it will emphasize the cultural underpinnings and dire technological needs of Dominat. Reading reports is fine, but there's nothing like actually experiencing it firsthand. Three, it's almost like a media event. The people of N'vellesem are curious, but their adoration of the Quaralyn is far more subdued in comparison to the Qaroptimat.

The Arch of Quaralyn reveals the strength of John's ATA, and the nearly abject obeisance of both the servants and the people in the street underscores the true nature of John's position, especially to Mr. Woolsey.

John's not so far gone that he believes; he has a position and the power to go with it, but all it really means is that he has a chance to make things better, and as recent events have forcibly reminded him, he's nothing without the people and the planet.

Zuhair, unlike Anbur, goes all out for the dinner; ekal flows freely, and huge platters of exotic food are served, one after the other. On all previous visits, meals had been served casually, family style, in the lounge. This particular dinner is served in the formal environs of the Hall of Judgment. John ignores the fact that Elizabeth's near brush with the place still makes him feel slightly queasy.

Conversation is all over the place, though every one skirts around the subject of the ZPM factory and the negotiations over it. Mostly, it's stories prompted by questions about Earth or Atlantis, and they stay gathered around the long table until late.

When the evening is finally drawing to a close, John counts it as a success.

John escorts the visitors to the Quarter and makes sure that they are all in their houses before taking a slightly circuitous route back out to the makhuqat'an. He only feels slightly guilty about going back without Rodney, but he figures that McKay will get all the time he wants at the site later. It's just that he'd like to be able to do this without anyone breathing over his shoulder, like O'Neill, for instance. John thinks he has the advantage, and he damn well wants to keep it that way.

He parks the 'jumper a few hundred feet away and cloaks it, and then enters the anteroom and immediately goes to the control console and activates it.

"Welcome John Sheppard."

"I've got a few more questions."

"State your request."

John spends a few frustrating hours figuring out how to ask the right questions and comes up with a few hard facts. That the room with the voice is another security feature—a virtual reality; that the voice is only a verbal interface to the computer at the complex, and that he can bypass it, if necessary; that the gene is definitely required for entry and operation, and that the restrictions placed on the Avaxqaral aren't just some native, quasi-religious, political agenda, it's actually tied into the system at the site, and it behaves as a prescreening process—sorting out those with the gene and not, and maintaining a list of pre-qualified individuals.

He locks the place down tight with a mental command after bypassing the voice-activated system and keys it to reopen by his command only. Paranoia has always served him well, and John doesn't see any reason to change that.

 

Day One Thousand

Dawn's light is just beginning to creep over the horizon when John makes it back to N'vellesem. He stops at the house and changes before sitting down and looking over his list as he transfers the handwritten notes into the PDA and rearranging his priorities, again. John fully expects the conference to start in earnest that evening, and he wants to be as prepared as possible.

John thinks he understands O'Neill. They have a lot in common, military pilot, a certain disregard for convention when it suits them, but obviously O'Neill is smarter than John—he never faced a court martial.

Carter and Jackson are a somewhat familiar to him personally, and their roles are more obvious. Carter's the hard science advisor, possibly here to keep McKay on track; and Jackson is the friendly face, meant to disarm and distract.

Woolsey is the real unknown factor. The truth is, John's crap at diplomatic stuff, and he just isn't sure of what to make of him. 'Not entirely stupid', as Rodney put it, but that could mean anything from almost brilliant to merely crafty. Woolsey had done all right at the dinner, playing the diplomatic guest role to the hilt.

However, all of this is conjecture—all John can do is sit down with them face to face, with his list, and see what happens.

~*~

The door the to Rodney's house in the Quarter is open, so John calls out a hello as he walks in. He's taken aback when O'Neill is in the living room, playing with Rania. "General."

Rania spots John and nearly leaps out of O'Neill's arms as she hollers, "Uncle John!" jumping down and running to him. He picks her up and holds her high above his head, kicking and giggling. "Hello, sweetheart!" He tucks her onto his lap and sits in the chair across from O'Neill.

"Sheppard. Come on in, no need to stand on ceremony, apparently," O'Neill says dryly.

"No, sir." Rania begins to dig around his collar, and John catches her hand. "No, kiddo, it's not there anymore." He glances at O'Neill, who's watching with unabashed curiosity.

"Where's Shaaziya?" John asks.

O'Neill nods towards the bedroom. "Napping."

"Ah."

The awkward silence stretches between them, John's not exactly sure what to say to O'Neill, who's still watching him.

O'Neill breaks the impasse. "I think I owe you an apology."

That surprises John. "You do?"

"Twice, actually. For urging you to join the expedition in the first place, and then for backing Liz up on your promotion."

That gives John a little swell of relief, that his promotion hadn't been universally rammed down the collective throats of Command. "Not necessary, sir. I agreed to go in the first place, and I really wanted to go back—the rest was sheer, dumb, bad luck."

"For what it's worth, I agreed with her. You seem to be adjusting here pretty well, though."

John shrugs slightly. "No choice, really. I'm stuck here, and I figure that I might as well make the best of it. Same as on Atlantis."

"I dunno. I didn't adjust so well when I was stranded, once."

Once again, John regrets being thrown in at the last minute and never really having the chance to study all of the mission reports from the SGC—there were literally hundreds of thousands of them. "What happened?"

"Gate got buried in lava with me on the wrong side. Spent a little more than three months waiting to be rescued. I'd just about given up, before they found a way to get through the gate."

Three months wouldn't have made any difference to John, they'd have no idea that McKay's Holy Grail was buried here, and Rodney would be single and child free, but Elizabeth would still be in charge on Atlantis. "Yeah." He's rescued from thinking about what might have been by Shaaziya entering the room. She looks tired, though Rodney had said that she was past the stage of sleeping constantly.

"John, what a pleasant surprise."

Thank God, now it won't look quite so secretive; he really hadn't planned on having this conversation with an audience. "Shaaziya, I'd like to have you at the meeting table, can you arrange for someone to watch Rania?" Unlike the other times he's used the tactic in the past, it feels vaguely unsettling to use it on front of O'Neill, but it can't be helped.

"Yes, but why?"

"I'll explain later, okay?"

Shaaziya bows slightly, "Of course."

John glances at the angle of shadows on the floor, puts Rania down and stands up. "It's getting late, and I still have a few things to arrange, sorry I can't stay longer."

Shaaziya looks slightly crestfallen. "It is no matter. I will see you later?"

"Of course." John nods at O'Neill. "General," he says as he makes a quick exit.

John stops at the conference House to make sure that he doesn't need to disentangle the hardware, but McKay and Carter had packed up thoroughly. He checks the kitchen, but no one is there yet. He's halfway to the Ludahsediat when he meets Laila with a trail of students behind her, bearing trays, and pots and sacks. "Oh, good. I was just coming to find you."

"Do not worry, Quaralyn, all will be in readiness."

"Okay, thank you."

John hurries to the house. Tonight will be all about making a statement. He shaves twice for good measure, and runs his hands through his hair; it's already long enough that the impossible cowlicks are weighted down. He chooses the new scarlet robe, and as he's slipping into the sandals, he wishes for the first time that he had a full-length mirror to check the effect.

He slips the PDA into his pocket and heads to the Ludahsediat to meet the Patern, wishing he'd had more time to chat with Shaaziya, and his nascent plan to make her Dominat's official charge d'affaire on Atlantis. She's as well educated as they come on Dominat, has already proven herself an able liaison and capable of learning quickly. That she's also a stab at Shen is just gravy.

'Take that, Shen, and I hope you choke on it', he thinks darkly.

~*~

John leads the procession of Patern to the Conference House, and O'Neill and Woolsey are waiting outside with Daniel and Elizabeth standing beside them. Shaaziya is there, just to the other side of the door. John gestures towards the open door, "After you."

They settle down at the table, John at the center of one side, with Shaaziya to his left and Anbur to his right. O'Neill sits across from him, with Woolsey on one side and Daniel to the other. Elizabeth chooses a seat at the end, near Fatih, Maisa and Qahira. Yusrah, Tazim and Zuhair fill in the empty spots closest to John.

Anbur begins with a short prayer in Ancient, pausing after each line so that Elizabeth can translate. John recites it along with the rest of the Council, watching O'Neill and Woolsey. Their heads are bowed in respect, and Daniel's doing his best to keep up with the invocation.

When Anbur finishes, John starts the negotiations.

 

Further Disclaimers: SG1 characters belong to Double Secret Productions, Gekko Film Corp. and Kawoosh! Productions.

<< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >>

| East/West Index Page | dossier's story page | Site Map O'Doom | Home | email dossier |