I was having a wonderful dream.
It was pleasant and terrifying all at once.
Pleasant because I felt rested, and I was lying in a bed in a cabin on Atlantis. A light breeze through the open window caressed my face and ruffled my hair. Turning my head, instead of the grim darkness usually seen through the window, I could see the sky, clouds... and sunlight. Although, within the context of what happens outside the Solar System, it probably ought to be called something else.
But I didn't care.
The dream was also pleasant because I wasn't alone in the bed.
And that was precisely the strange part of my dream.
Turning my head, I could see a dark-haired stranger lying on her side with her back to me. Her slightly tanned back was flawless, and her chestnut hair descended whimsically to the middle, falling onto the snow-white sheets.
I touched her, wanting to understand who she was, but the stranger didn't react. She continued to sleep, smiling sweetly in her sleep. Strangely, I couldn't distinguish her features at all.
Yet she seemed familiar for some reason. And I felt no threat from her.
That was enough.
Leaning back on the pillow, I stared at the ceiling, peering into the dimmed light. Funny. If it's daytime outside, who needed to turn on the overhead lighting at all? Me, probably. This is my room, after all... or is it!?
That's when I started to feel anxious.
Glancing around, I came to the conclusion that the room was absolutely not mine. Yes, the interior was familiar, similar, but it was practically standard for every room in Atlantis. It could just as easily have been one of the hundreds of cabins in that residential tower complex we used.
Looking closer at the details, I realized that despite the external resemblance, it was by no means my cabin. That was now perfectly obvious. Things were not in their places; there were several additional devices on the bedside table; the hydration column wasn't against the wall, but near the entrance...
I found my clothes nearby. They lay in a heap in a chair, along with my weapon, scanner, and some other things I carried with me.
This is troubling. Because I don't do that. The back of a chair was invented specifically so you could hang a jacket and trousers on it!
All of this makes me worried.
Even more than the stranger's disappearance from my bed.
Even more than the disappearance of daylight.
With a jolt, I sat up in bed, looking around.
The dimmed overhead light cast shadows on the surroundings, but I felt uncomfortable regardless. Especially when I heard the splash of water behind one of the decorative partitions.
Now there was no doubt—this was not my room. My shower is located next to the hydration column. And melodious sounds in a strange language don't usually drift out of my shower!
The moment I thought it might be a good idea to clear out of here, or at least use my weapon, both the voice and the sound of water ceased. And I... I was at a loss.
The next moment, the door panel disappeared into the wall, revealing a view of a standard shower. Very similar to mine, but the shelves under and around the mirror were stocked with something looking very much like small-arms ammunition and...
Only then did it hit me that shower doors don't open by themselves. No miracle occurred this time, either.
In the middle of the doorway stood a humanoid, wrapped from head to toe in some gray rags. Something like a turban on the head... very familiar, like something from a past life...
Except for the face.
Pale, cold-looking skin with a bluish-green tint, dark, deep-set eyes, very characteristic folds on the cheekbones...
Everything inside tightened into a hard knot of helplessness as the creature noticed me and raised its right hand to shoulder level.
"Well, hello..."
The alien's voice hit my ears the very moment I slid out from under the blanket and lunged for my weapon. Simultaneously, I shouted a warning for anyone who might hear:
"Wraith in the city!"
* * *
"Well, I never!" the Wraith shrieked. "I've seen a lot, but this...!"
"Hands up!" I shouted, aiming my pulse weapon at the life-sucker. "Slowly, damn it!"
"Um..." the creature clearly hadn't expected such agility from me and hesitated. All the worse for it! "Listen, I..."
"On your knees!" I ordered, gesturing slightly downward with the weapon. "Hands behind your head. And start explaining how you got into the city!"
"Are you completely out of your...?"
"Shut up! Do exactly as I ordered before I blow your head off!"
"Okay, okay!" the Wraith raised its hands, placed them behind its head, resting them on the nape. And slowly, without taking its eyes off me, it knelt down. "You need to calm down...!"
"I'm as calm as a boa constrictor! Now you, start talking! How did you get into the city!?" I repeated my question.
"Through the gate," the Wraith said with emphasis. "Like everyone else!"
"Nonsense! We have protection on the gate! Try again!"
While talking to the intruder, I searched for an inconspicuous geometric pattern on the wall. If you press and turn it, an alarm will sound in the city. But I just couldn't find it in this gloom...
"Misha, this isn't funny anymore!" the Wraith shouted in a suspiciously familiar voice.
"Try laughing when I blow your head off! Once again, how did you get into the city!? How many of you are there? What are you planning!?"
"I shudder to think what will happen to the rest," the Wraith muttered. Why did she have such a familiar voice!?
Wait! She!?
Looking closer at the intruder's figure, I realized that all the primary sexual characteristics of a female were, in fact, present.
"A Queen?" I was stunned. "How the hell did you get through the shield into the city, you bitch!? And what the hell is going on here!?"
The only Queen who could have reached Atlantis was Queen Death, sleeping in her ship at the bottom of the Lantean ocean. Но she couldn't penetrate the shields!
Something is happening here... something completely incomprehensible.
"Misha, enough!" the Queen shouted. "If you think you can act like this after everything, you're mistaken! I apologized for the generator! I just took precautions just in case! But that doesn't give you the right..."
Generator!? What generator? In my memory, there were only two or three generators and...
Oh, bloody hell!
All the generators I could think of right now were connected to one person.
"Chaya!?" Stunned by what was happening, even the strength in my hands vanished, and the weapon lowered. "Is that you!?"
"And who else would be in this room!?" the Proculus woman answered sharply, taking her hands from behind her head. "I hope I'm allowed to stand up now!?"
"Yes, of course..." I was embarrassed. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me, but... why do you look like a Wraith!?"
The girl tilted her head as if examining me from a new angle.
"Put the weapon down, come closer, and repeat that again," she requested, taking a step forward.
"I'd rather not," I admitted, figuring that if she lunged around the bed, I'd better cut across the mattress... The bed! Right! That's the fastest way to escape from here! "What's going on here anyway!? Why do you have... that... on your face!?"
"'That'?" Chaya repeated in surprise, touching herself. "This is a face mask for removing skin particles and makeup... Wait! Did you think I was a Wraith because of it?"
Truly—a beauty without makeup is a terrifying thing.
I actually flinched, imagining what might have happened if things hadn't cleared up in time.
"What's happening?" I muttered. "And why am I in this room? And, for that matter, what cabin is this!?"
"This is my cabin," Chaya answered in an uncompromising tone. "You stumbled in here about five hours ago."
"What the hell for?"
"How should I know!?" the girl threw up her hands. "You were in an incoherent state, muttering something about how it was time for me to answer for my sins, that you were fed up with all these secrets, and that jokes weren't my thing but you'd teach me a couple of tricks..."
I flinched.
"I don't even want to know what I wanted to teach you."
"And I'm going to have to find a way to forget it," the Proculus woman shook her head. "Because I'm certainly not going to put the 'removing a t-shirt over the shoulder and kicking off underwear' method into practice."
M-o-o-o-o-o-ther...
Looking down, I realized I was actually standing there bare-chested. And not just bare-chested.
Grabbing my jacket, I pressed it to my lower abdomen.
"That's awkward," I gave a guilty smile.
"And what are you trying to do now?" Chaya inquired. I wonder, is that just how the mask settled, or is she actually standing there with a raised eyebrow?
"This is called shame," I explained.
"We called those genitals," Sar replied after a thought. "I thought it was the same in your language... However, I won't interfere in a foreign culture."
"I appreciate that," I thanked her. "Can you... turn away?"
"Why?" the Proculus woman was surprised.
"I need to get dressed."
"So get dressed."
"I can't when you're looking. Personal space and all that... And it's not proper for a girl to look at a colleague's genitals."
"That's roughly what I told you last night when you decided you were going to sleep in my bed because your room was too far to walk to," Chaya huffed.
"But it's just a little further down the hall," I frowned.
"That's exactly what I told you," Sar said reproachfully.
"And what did I do?"
"You showed how well you could undress while a match burns."
"Where... did I get a match?"
"You brought a candle with you. I think from Teyla's cabin."
"And...?"
"And you lit it, set it on the hydration column," Chaya demonstrated the wax drips on the device. "And started undressing."
Oh, for mercury's sake... I haven't been this ashamed since graduation, when my stomach rejected a mixture of bootleg alcohol and chips. And that girl's dress was hideous. No, I apologized to Marina afterward, of course, but...
"I am very sorry. I don't know what came over me..."
"Well, I do," Chaya extended an index finger and poked an object standing against the wall. "You brought this with you. Said it drinks like water, and you've already downed about eight jugs, and I owe a penalty because separating from the collective is a sin. And besides, I was in the wrong, so..."
She trailed off meaningfully. As for me, I stared with a crooked gaze at a three-liter clay bottle-jug. I'd bet my life it contained the very Athosian wine Teyla had mentioned before... I wish I knew what happened after we went to her room and before this whole mess in Sar's bedroom with the Wraith performance began.
Covering my eyes with my hand, I saved myself from the Ancient's disapproving gaze for at least a couple of minutes. And it wouldn't have been so bad, but...
When I looked at the rumpled sheet on the bed, remembering that even tossing and turning in my sleep I hadn't managed to mess it up like that, everything inside froze again.
Looking at Chaya, then at the bed, then back at Chaya...
The girl, peeling the mask that had nearly cost her her life from her face, removed the gray towel turban from her head and wiped the moisture from her face. Looking at her, I wanted to scream in rage at myself. How could I have taken a simple bathrobe for Wraith clothing!?
"Just say it," the girl, finished with her face, began dabbing her damp hair, standing before another panel in the wall. I didn't even have the strength to be outraged when the false panel slid aside, revealing a mirror. Great! The rooms have mirrors too. Full-length ones!
And I only found out about the shower a couple of weeks ago!
Just brilliant!
"Simple apologies won't be enough for what happened," I said, looking at the bed again. "But... if you can forgive me... I would be very grateful."
"Fine," Chaya said with suspicious ease. "Deliver three tons of sand from Lantea-2 to me, and consider yourself forgiven."
Three tons... and that's when the internal volume of a Jumper only allows for lifting a ton at most. Fifteen hours one way, fifteen hours the other, plus shoveling all that into containers...
"Fair enough," I said, overcoming my internal indignation. "One more question... don't take me the wrong way, I'm not some kind of pig... I liked everything, it's just... you're wonderful and everything was top-notch... but there are memory issues and..."
"Nothing happened," Chaya sighed, turning to me. Bloody hell, she has a hairbrush too! With a hairdryer function! And I'm combing my locks with my fingers or the bone comb Teyla gave me!? Maybe there's an electric razor in the rooms too? Because I'm not in the mood to trim my stubble with a razor-sharp combat knife from Ermen anymore! "So, you can stop worrying."
"Thank you, a weight has been lifted from my soul," I said with relief. Seeing the girl looking at me questioningly and with a grievance, I raised my hands warningly. "No, I don't mean to insult you or anything like that. You are a lovely girl in every way and have a heart of gold, and your jokes are actually explosive. But I have a rule—no romances with colleagues or subordinates. it interferes with work and all that..."
Chaya gave me a long, searching look. And it suspiciously traveled over me from bottom to top.
Lowering my eyes, I covered myself with my hands.
"I don't think there's anything there I haven't seen," the girl smirked, returning to her task.
"Did anyone ever tell you that mocking people who've made fools of themselves isn't cool?" I asked, searching for my clothes.
"One would have to try very hard to make a fool of oneself during intimacy," Chaya noted. "Such a thing suggests either a partner's inexperience or excessive arousal. Но even so, statistically..."
"Lord God, can you show even a grain of sympathy!" I pleaded, remembering that the term has an anatomical meaning as well. "I was drunk and I apologized!"
"And does that somehow prevent me from reminding you of this night for the rest of your life?" Chaya inquired innocently.
"I think I understand now why the other Ascended didn't like you," I muttered, discovering my socks. Great, at least there's nothing suspiciously biological on them.
As I pulled them on, I realized Chaya was silent. Unusual for her at a moment like this. I thought she wouldn't miss a chance to needle me or something...
Casting a quick glance at the girl, I noticed she had literally frozen before the mirror. Her face held an expression that's hard to describe in words... something between panic, fear, disappointment, and universal sadness. Oops, looks like I hit a sore spot for the former Ascended. Though, how would she know what happened on the higher planes of existence?
Seeing me looking, the Proculus woman returned to brushing her hair as if nothing had happened. Well, and I won the "Find the white t-shirt on the white sheet" nomination. On the third try. Only a little left...
"Look on the desk," Sar said in a mentoring tone, staring straight ahead. In the mirror, obviously.
That's where I found the missing part of my underwear set. Rumpled but clean, they lay atop several sheets of paper. Looking closer, I saw they were some vaguely familiar blueprints. And yes, it wasn't paper, but rather tracing paper. Incredibly convenient when creating drawings based on an object's cross-section. But... what does this thing, looking like a star, remind me of?
I dressed in total silence on both our parts. Chaya dried her hair, and I tidied myself up. Mostly. My head was still a mess and... I don't know why, but the hangover was only now hitting me.
'Need to figure out what kind of wine that is and why it hits the brain so hard as soon as possible,' I thought, stuffing my equipment into my pockets.
"Would you help me?" the Ancient asked.
In her hands she held her necklace. Nothing special—just a cord threaded through shiny stones and a rounded shell in the center.
"Yes, of course," taking the jewelry, I felt it was quite heavy. Well now, it had seemed like ordinary hollow costume jewelry. "It'll be easier if you turn around..."
Without another word, Chaya turned her back to me and moved her hair aside. Before my eyes appeared skin the color of milk chocolate. Touching it as I put on the necklace, I felt as if I were touching velvet... very delicate. But at the same time, it seemed incredibly firm.
And she also smelled of an incredible bouquet of aromatic herbs. Interesting, I don't recall the girl using perfume before. Or is it that kind of shampoo? If it's the latter, I want some too! I'm tired of washing with something like laundry soap that smells like tar!
On the second try, I managed to handle the clasp. Chaya must have very well-developed spatial orientation and nimble fingers if she's able to do this herself.
"Thank you," Chaya said softly, turning to me. "If you've found all your things, I'd like to be alone. I need to work on something."
"Yes, of course," I nodded, heading for the exit. Waving my hand over the panel, I turned back just as the doors opened.
"And what is that thing in your drawings?" I asked as Chaya sat down at that very desk. Hm, she didn't even try to burn it after my... hm, clothing item had been there.
"An old project of mine," she smiled with just her lips. "An interesting idea, but there were a number of critical errors that made it impossible to implement."
"I hope you won't be building that thing in our city?" I asked, figuring that the phrase "a number of critical errors" could mean a supernova explosion, the destruction of a star system, a space-time rupture, and god knows what else. Ancients didn't usually do things by halves when it came to their mistakes.
"No," Chaya assured me. "I'm just reconstructing the technology and blueprints from memory. It helps to distract from the daily routine."
"You know, there are other ways to reboot the brain..."
"I know," she said coldly. "But I'm afraid if I drink as much Athosian moonshine as you did yesterday, my kicking underwear across the room will pale in comparison to what I'd pull."
I started feeling quite unwell.
"Wait," I was embarrassed. "Moonshine? Teyla said it was wine..."
"No offense to the Athosians, but there is a difference between the processes of distillation and fermentation," Chaya said. "You didn't think a hunter-gatherer society knew about fermentation?"
"I hoped so," I grimaced. "Because a still is somehow more complex to come up with than crushing berries with your feet and forgetting about them for a while."
"And they also have high-tech lighters, yet they use torches and bone needles," Chaya said.
Well... a still is essentially a legacy of another, more developed civilization.
"Just for the record... how unbridled are you when intoxicated?" I decided to clarify in advance. You know, just in case, for the future.
"Believe me, it's better not to see it," the Proculus woman became serious.
"For example... a planet exploding?" I specified.
"Or the death of all life on it," Chaya shrugged. "Or a superweapon that destroys organic matter within a galaxy. Or I'll figure out how to use black holes for instantaneous travel. Or I'll kill all the Ascended..."
"Remind me never to pour you a drink," I said, swallowing a lump in my parched throat. I have a gut feeling she's not joking. This time, certainly not.
"I'll write several warning programs," Chaya said. "They will activate Atlantis's self-destruct mode every time I am in a state of intoxication."
"I think we'll just stick to your self-discipline," I cleared my throat.
"I think that's a fine option too," Chaya smiled. "And now, could you please leave? I'd like to be alone."
"Of course," I took a step back and stepped out of her cabin. "Of course."
I waved the girl goodbye, but she had already returned to the blueprints as soon as I was outside her home.
She's strange.
And why are her blueprints so familiar?