The Saints of Atlantis 22
Carson Beckett looked on with some amusement as the McManus twins walked in to the infirmary and once more peered into the Ancient baby machine. When the Daedalus had last left Earth Gretchen McManus was eight months along and still pregnant with twins. It was just over nine months now that their wife had conceived and they had received no news in any of the weekly data bursts. So their coming down to look at Teyla’s twin daughters and Alikei’s son had become a bit of a habitual thing, almost as if as long as the three babies here in Atlantis were fine, so too were the two babies and mother that they were worried about back on Earth.
“Just because the two of you were early, doesn’t mean that your sons will be,” Carson spoke up, letting the two men know he was here.
“Most twins are born on the early side,” Conner reminded the doctor.
“Aye, but not all, and you have to remember this as well; if Gretchen is on bed rest, who’s looking after young Jacob?” Carson nodded at their confused look. “I know yer family is close lads, but most likely it’s yer mam looking after your lady and yer boys. Seeing as how there is no way in either galaxy you could convince me that your oldest boy isn’t a delightful little scamp, that means when your mam does get a break, its nap time for Gran.”
Conner looked at Murphy. “She’s gonna kill us you know,” he pointed out. “Leaving her with all that work.”
“Aye,” Murphy said. “I guess we’d better count our blessings that Ma hasn’t sent us word.”
Conner smiled ruefully at his brother, before turning to Carson. “Well now Doc, what are you working on this fine day?”
“I’m working on my retrovirus,” Carson told them. “If I can get it right, it will completely eradicate the Iratus bug DNA in the Wraith, or at the very least suppress it enough that they can live as humans.”
“That’s fucked up,” was Murphy’s opinion.
“Why would anyone want to do something so stupid?” Conner asked.
“This way they won’t have to eat humans,” Carson tried to explain. “The hunger for life energy that they get from the Iratus bug doesn’t kick in until puberty. They are no different from any human child before that. They eat the same things we do.”
“Doc, they don’t have to eat humans now,” Conner pointed out.
“The sick fucks do it because they chose to,” Murphy said gently. He patted Carson on the shoulder.
“Besides, you’ve got your thinking a bit backwards Doc,” Conner said as gently as his brother. Neither of them wanted to hurt the gentle doctor. “Wraith aren’t humans who had Iratus DNA added in during their evolution. They are Iratus bugs who added in human DNA. It makes a huge difference.”
“Don’t make the same mistake the Ancients did and try to manipulate reality to your liking. We do understand where you’re coming from. You’re a compassionate man who doesn’t want to be a part of genocide, but this isn’t the way to do it,” Murphy begged him to understand.
“We’ve tried to make humans inedible to the Wraith. It doesn’t work,” Carson admitted.
“This won’t either,” Murphy said firmly. “I don’t know if you follow any religion, but come down to the chapel. At the very least, it’s a peaceful place that has nothing to do with war and we’ll try to explain what we mean.”
Carson snorted. “It’s a damned tower full of weapons! How can it possibly be anything else?”
The twins smiled. “Come and see,” they said.
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
“Alright everybody, once more through the ‘gate for ZMPs, trade agreements, and friendly locals,” Colonel Sheppard said cheerfully as he walked into the locker room where the off world teams kept their personal gear. He was pushing a cart with the general issue supplies every team went off world with, along with the special items that only their team carried.
“Only if we get lucky Colonel, and since when has that happened,” Rodney said pessimistically.
“The odds have to go in our favor sometime Rodney,” Sheppard said, determined not to let Rodney get him down. The scientist was only moody because Atlantis’ cat, Her Highness Miss Fluffy Pants, (and if John ever found out who it was that named her that Ronon was going to have himself a new sparring partner, ie toy) had decided that Radek’s, not Rodney’s, gadgets and gizmos were the next best thing to catnip. “Ok, epi-pens for everybody, extra ration bars made from the finest Pegasus ingredients,” John started passing out the gear.
Rodney hid a small smile on his face, knowing that his team was looking out for him. He really didn’t have a lot of medical issues, but the ones he did have were all potentially lethal. It was good to see someone take them seriously for a change, instead of the joke that most people treated them as. It was like no one ever seemed to put together the fact that he couldn’t lie to save his life with the fact that he said that some things could kill him, everyone but Carson and his team that is. Even the twins had learned how to administer the epi-pen injections in case he had a severe allergic reaction. In turn he looked out for them as best as he could as well, given that their jobs were all highly dangerous.
Teyla watched, amused as the twins packed their packs for this mission. They sat on a bench with their packs between them, facing each other, and both men were packing both packs. It didn’t seem to matter who had grabbed what item, or which pack it was supposed to go into, they never seemed to make a mistake. All four hands swiftly added things to both packs, sometimes running into each other, which necessitated a short slapping session apparently, but no serious arguments. She hoped that her daughters, while hopefully not having the brothers’ fear of separation, would also have this sort of bond. She had been told it was likely, as well as the likelihood of their personalities being extremely different. In five months time she would know what it was like to have two children as different as night and day, to use the Colonel’s expression, while looking exactly the same.
Ronon had gotten used to the McManus brothers over the last seven months. Their synchronicity thing was still freaky, and they could still use it to get the better of him, but he’d come to understand that it was simply because they were twins. That in itself was something that was still hard for him to wrap his mind around. Still, it was something that he was studying so that he would be able to help Teyla with her daughters. Not only were the little girls twins, but they had been made from the seed of a twin who was a mila poppaaem. There was a chance the girls would be called to be shepherds when they were grown, a chance that was even greater than usual considering that every McManus by blood had been called when they’d come to Atlantis. The girls would need every advantage he could give them, especially as they would be the age mates of his own child.
Conner took his and Murphy’s epi-pens, securing them in their pocket on the left and right sides of their respective packs. Murphy took the extra ration bars from Sheppard. Conner hadn’t understood the reasoning behind those until his second trip off world with ART-1. There was a very common vegetable that grew on many worlds that Rodney was lethally allergic to. When that was served, those extra ration bars made all the difference, not to mention the times that he knew ART-1 had been overdue or missing for days at a time. They hadn’t had one of those trips through the ‘gate yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.
Murphy checked his brother’s pack, making sure that Conner had everything he’d need for this mission. So far their missions had been a cake walk, well a cake walk by ART-1 standards. There had been one bar brawl that had been caused by a misunderstanding. Teyla had managed to fix that, although if anyone else tried to buy his brother, even for a night, he was still going to kick some serious ass. It was one thing for Teyla and her friend to ask to trade for a sperm donation. It was something else altogether for a man to try to buy Conner’s services for his wife for fuck’s sake! He wasn’t going to think about the teasing he’d received over not being the one who’d been asked for.
Their second mission had been marred by McKay’s freaking out over some sort of vegetable. That one had sort of fixed itself when the son of the head guy had thrown the vegetable at Rodney and his arm had swelled up like a balloon from the squishy vegetable’s juice. The man had to be allergic to damn near everything in the universe. That had actually helped the mission because the head guy had been so horrified about his calling them liars when they’d been being honest about Rodney’s medical condition that he’d given them everything they wanted without the normal haggling.
“Suit up boys and girls, we’ve got a bunch of sick people to feed,” Sheppard said. The Genii had more survivors than they’d hoped for, although all of them would need years of careful watching for cancers. The good news was that all of the translating Conner and Murphy had done had ensured that those who were not too far gone would recover given enough time. Even better news was that all of the survivors had some type of technical training, so they would be able to help out around the city once they’d recovered a little more. The bad news however was that Romeo had been right. Most of the Genii were not able to conceive without medical intervention, and those who could would only be able to produce children with birth defects. The Ancients’ baby machines had been found just in time.
“The Yalcorna should be more than happy to trade with us,” Teyla said. “Their world has many different crops that need little cultivation. If we offer to provide help with their current harvest, they usually offer part of the harvest in return.” She shrugged into her jacket and pack, letting Ronon check to see if any adjustments were needed. John and Rodney always checked each other, and Conner and Murphy seemed to take it for granted that they would check each others’ gear.
“What’s the likely ratio?” Sheppard asked as they walked into the control room. They wouldn’t be taking the jumpers for this trip.
“Almost everything our people harvest,” Teyla said with a smug smile. “The Yalcorna are a generous people. It is understood that visitors will provide whatever they can as payment and harvest as far as possible from the stargate, but that is not a hardship. Many worlds have been saved from starvation due to cullings by the Yalcorna. They are as neutral a people as is possible here in Pegasus.”
“Why hasn’t someone like Cowen taken them over then?” McKay asked. He passed by the control room’s DHD and sighed. Her Highness was sleeping right on top of it. “The next time the Daedalus is cleared for bringing in a cat, I want to be here, not off world because I absolutely refuse to have to suffer through this again!”
“Because Rodney, only the Yalcorna know how to process the crops so that they are not lethal,” Teyla explained. “All of the plants carry a type of toxin and the Yalcorna guard the secrets of removing that toxin zealously.” She gently petted the sleeping cat. The small feline fascinated her. She’d never seen such an animal before. The other animals that Colonel Caldwell had brought were at least somewhat similar to those she had known all her life, although she did not think she could call the calf a not-bartaf, as they called a bartaf a not-beef.
Snickering at McKay’s peevishness, Murphy went through his own ritual of checking his tablet before leaving Atlantis. There was still nothing in his email that couldn’t wait until they got back, and when they did it would be right after another check in with the SGC, which meant email from home. He sent a quick prayer heavenward for his wife and children.