Chapter Four

Teyla comes around the curve in the hall and sees Radek scanning the area just in front of the opened doorway into the hologram room her friends and Lieutenant Kenmore had been seemingly sucked into only ten minutes ago.  The reaction to the abductions had been swift and all encompassing.  The various science teams analyzing many other things throughout the city had been called off of their own projects and put to work on only this, Radek had been put in charge of them all.  Kanaan had used his earpiece to contact Teyla once word had gone throughout the city that over half of the members of the Expedition’s flagship team had been taken.  Teyla had answered his call quickly, but even she willingly admits that her tone and word choice had been both short and gruff with him.  She has still not gotten over their argument from this morning…and she is not willing to ‘cool down’ from it anytime soon.

Radek is wielding the same t-shaped rod scanning device he had when the explosive tumor in Doctor Harriet Hewston had blown up a hallway of the city on the Expedition’s first implemented “Sunday” off.

“Have you discovered anything yet,” she asks.

“No,” Radek answers, “It is as Rodney said before he disappeared.  I am getting no readings whatsoever.  Whatever it is that took them, it has left no traces behind it.”

“Perhaps the city’s sensors would be able to detect something?”

“I tried those first.  Even on their most sensitive setting they still show nothing.  That is why I came down here personally with this, but…”

As he trails off, Teyla nods disappointedly but understandingly.

“Inform us if and when you discover something.”

Radek nods at her and Teyla turns and walks away again.  She doubts very highly now that she will ‘cool down’ any sooner than even she had expected to.

The fan like doors of Atlantis’ briefing room open and Teyla walks in, her Earth-made beige suede sneakers making no sound on the smooth marble floor, on Richard Woolsey, Ronon Dex, and Doctor Jennifer Keller already seated and waiting there at the massive mahogany conference table that takes up most of the small rounded room.  Apparently she has walked in on their already occurring discussion.  They look up at her entrance through the fanning doors, pausing their conversation as Teyla quickly takes her usual seat, the second seat on the right.

Woolsey, at the head of the table, keeps his eyes on her, “Has he found out anything yet?”

“No, but he will inform us as soon as he has anything.”

Woolsey nods then turns to look at everyone.  Far fewer than were normally present at this table when it was usually used.  He doesn’t like that.

“So we still have nothing.  No idea, no clue what that was or what’s happened to our people.”

Teyla reluctantly nods, agreeing with him.  Resting her bare forearms on the cold surface of the wood table and bringing her hands together in front of her on them.  She fights the urge to shiver at the sudden chill, her sleeveless iridescent purple, frayed-edged, ruffled silk paneled and bluish grey smoothed animal hide paneled vest with lace up sides with light grey laces and antiqued brass closures, that numerous female members of the Expedition had told her could be found more commonly on Earth on purses, providing no cover whatsoever.

Woolsey lets out a frustrated sigh, the first in front of others in his whole time in Atlantis, let alone as its leader.

“Maybe not nothing,” Jennifer suddenly pipes up from her third seat on the left side.

The others look at her.

“You know what that anomaly was,” Woolsey asks shocked.  Why hadn’t she said anything before?  After all one of the taken is her boyfriend.  Her loved one.

“No,” she tells him, “but I did notice something about what happened.”

“What?”

Jennifer slips the file out from underneath her hands, where she had been keeping it, and slides it over to Woolsey.  He reaches out and takes it, he had been thinking that it was probably some report on a patient or some other part of her work that she had felt was too important even in this crisis to let out of her sight or reach.  Richard opens up the file.  As he examines its pages…

“The people it took all have Ancient DNA,” she informs them all of basically what Richard’s reading is boiled down to.

Woolsey takes out the individual 8×10 glossy photos of Lorne, Sheppard, Kenmore, and Rodney and holds them beside the file papers underneath the set of 8×10 matte photos showing diagrams of the missing personnel’s DNA helixes as Jennifer goes on.

“With the exception of Rodney, they all have Ancient DNA naturally.  In fact they are the most Ancient Touch Activation adeptive people the Expedition has.”

“Not Rodney,” Ronon, right beside her on her right, can’t help but re-iterate her previous point.

Jennifer turns to him, “But even with his Ancient genes being only partially activated by Carson’s gene therapy, Rodney is still very capable with ATA.  He can even pilot the jumpers, granted not very well, but he can still do it.  Whatever it was that took them, I think it decided to take only the Ancient gene possessing people within its reach.”

“But it didn’t immediately take Rodney,” Ronon can’t help but point out the obvious again.

“That’s what makes me think it was deciding who it wanted.”

Ronon takes a moment, looking like he’s considering the information seriously.  It is possible…at least she has both proof and truth to back up what she’s saying.  It does seem unlikely, but it’s not like someone targeting the Ancient DNA possessing members of their Expedition hasn’t happened before.  The last time it did, Ronon felt offended for not being included on the target list, his not having any Ancient DNA at all regardless.

Jennifer keeps making her case to the rest of the extremely small gathering, “And Teyla, you were right there.  Right in front of the door with another soldier.  And it still didn’t take either you or the soldier.  I think it’s fair to point out that both you and the soldier don’t have Ancient DNA,” Jennifer turns her chair to face Woolsey, “It sucked in Lieutenant Kenmore.  It sucked in Major Lorne and Colonel Sheppard.  Then it waited and sucked in Rodney.  Then, it just went away.”

They all consider the information.  She does have a point, they all can definitely concede that.  Teyla remembers being with Ronon looking for Major Lorne and John and Rodney in the village of another planet and a woman coming up to them and handing them Genii made photos of their missing friends.  Then Expedition leader Doctor Elizabeth Weir had pointed out that the Genii had put out a bounty on only Ancient Gene possessing members of their Expedition that were known to be active in the field.  And Richard Woolsey knows that having a definitive point when pleading a case is the hallmark of swinging a jury’s opinion towards your favor…

“Well, at least it’s something,” Richard appraises, “You’ll have to get more and frankly better evidence than this, Doctor Keller, before I state that that was what happened.”

Jennifer nods, drawing the folds of her long, white lab coat further over her chest.  She had been expecting that.  Not exactly everybody jumping out of their chairs and exclaiming ‘You got it!’, but at least she was being given at least some hint of leeway on researching this further.

“Only she could see it,” Teyla suddenly says.

They all look at her now.

“What, Teyla?”

She turns to Richard, “The first time the anomaly was seen, Lieutenant Kenmore and I were in the kitchen.  She swore she saw it then.  That was the intruder she was reporting.  Then when she was heading for the Command Center, she stopped by the hologram room and looked at it as though she sensed something was there.  Then John and Evan came and they mentioned seeing the anomaly as well.  As did Rodney.”

“But they all were in totally different areas of the city,” Jennifer says.

Teyla looks Woolsey dead on, her expression telling him that there might be more merit to Jennifer’s suspicion than he might be thinking.  He takes a moment to read her eyes and make his own judgment call.

“Doctor Keller, I want you and Ronon to investigate this further.  Keep Teyla, Doctor Zelenka, and I apprised of what you uncover.  Let’s get our people back.”

They all nod and Woolsey gets up from the table.