James Swallow: Nightfall

“Then where is Laaro’s dad now?” Sheppard said sharply.

Aaren blinked at the colonel’s tone, but said nothing of it. “The dawn is coming,” he noted, “and Errian will come with it.” The Elder quickened his pace and pointed ahead down the trail. “Come now. We have arrived.”

McKay looked in the direction Aaren was pointing and his mouth dropped open. “Whoa.”

Rising up from the middle of the grasslands was a stand of trees that were broad and wide around the base like giant redwoods reaching skyscraper-high into the air. The trunks exploded outward in vanes of thick branches, each one ending in a fan of lush green and smaller boughs. For a moment, Jennifer thought she saw hordes of glowing fireflies in among the leafy canopy, but then she realized her perspective was off. Keller raised a hand to shield her eyes from the rays of the fast-rising sun and got a better look. The trees were massive, tightly packed and meshing into one another like interlaced fingers; and in between every branch there were platforms and great big woven pods that reminded her of low-hanging fruit. What at first she thought were aerial roots were actually tethers and ropes extending out and down to the ground, leading up to clusters of egg-shaped huts and long, tubular lodges connected by wooden catwalks and byways.

“There’s a whole town in there,” she said. Even as she looked, Keller saw the first white puffs of smoke from chimneys as someone stoked a morning cook fire. There were dirt track roads snaking around the bases of the trees and their hanging gardens, and the Herunni led them on, into the shadow of the woods.

“Who does their decorating, the Ewoks?” said Rodney, incredulous.

“That’s some tree house,” agreed Jennifer. “I had one just like it. Only smaller.”

McKay shook his head. “Not me.” He made a vague gesture in front of his face. “Nosebleeds. And Hay fever.”

Along the road, a man was walking with difficulty toward their group, another younger man helping him to find his way. Keller was wondering who he was when a cry from Laaro answered that question for her. The boy exploded into life and bolted the distance between them, barreling into the figure with such force that he almost knocked him down. Jennifer threw a look in Jaaya’s direction and saw tears on her face, tears of joy.

Aaren nodded smugly. “There, you see. As I said. The Aegis protects.”

“That’s Errian?” Sheppard asked.

Ronon folded his arms, unconvinced, while Teyla watched the reunion. “But did you not just say that this man was abducted ?” The Athosian woman put hard emphasis on the last word; she had been listening grimly to Aaren’s words on the journey from the Stargate, and Jennifer had no doubt that she was dwelling on thoughts of her own people, who had recently been spirited away from her by unknown forces.

“I said he was Taken,” noted the Elder. “And now he is Returned.”

“He doesn’t look…” McKay faltered, trying to find the right word. “Uh… old.”

“Keller?” Colonel Sheppard nodded towards the family group.

He didn’t need to say it out loud. Go take a look . Jennifer skirted around Jaaya and came to Laaro’s side. The boy’s face was lit brilliantly from within, and he was talking a mile a minute, babbling on about his adventure that night, about his search for him, the Stargate, and more.

He saw her coming and grinned even wider “Father, look. This is one of the voyagers. Her name is Jenny-far!”

“Hi,” Keller said, feeling a little self-conscious. “Uh, would you mind if I took a look at you, just to see if you’re okay?”

“I…” Laaro’s father gave a wan nod. “Of course.”

The man who had been helping Errian to walk gave her an up-and-down look. “You are a healer?” He had wavy hair, intense brown eyes and a dark scattering of beard. He reminded Jennifer of a cute Indian geneticist she’d known at medical school.

“That’s right.”

He pursed his lips, considering. “As am I. My name is Kullid. And I assure you that Errian is well.”

Keller accepted this with a nod, but pressed on anyway. “No doubt. But it never hurts to have a second opinion.”

The Atlantis team stood in a loose knot in the shade of the tree-settlement. Teyla looked to the horizon and saw the sun finally emerging from behind a range of distant hills. In the moment’s pause, she had removed her jacket and stowed it in her gear pack, sensing the day’s coming heat on the wind. The air felt good on her arms and the freedom of movement she gained made her feel more comfortable still. Ever since the boy had appeared and spoken of his father in such a frightened manner, Teyla had sensed something amiss on this world. It was nothing preternatural, just a deep-seated instinct that gnawed at her. She looked to Ronon and saw that he felt the same thing as well. Unease. Suspicion, even.

She turned back to find John Sheppard watching her intently. “I know that look,” he said. “Are you getting a…” He trailed off and made a fluttering gesture near his head. “A sense of something?”

“There are no Wraith nearby,” she said flatly. “I would know it.”

“Define ‘nearby’, Teyla,” said McKay.

She eyed the scientist. “Forgive me, Rodney, but my psychic connection to the Wraith does not come with a precise readout.” She failed to keep an edge from her words.

“Just asking…”

Teyla frowned, chiding herself for reacting with irritation to the question; but there was an undeniable tension within her that seemed to be growing worse with each passing week. She sighed. Ever since she and Jennifer had returned from New Athos, ever since her own tribe had vanished like vapor, Teyla found it harder and harder to maintain her focus on the here and now. Every stray moment found her thoughts returning to her lost kindred, her mind conjuring up terrible thoughts of who might have taken them, and for what reason….

And then there was the other concern. Teyla’s hand slipped toward her belly without conscious volition. She looked away and found herself meeting Keller’s gaze as the doctor walked back to the group. A silent communication passed between them.

“So?” Sheppard jerked a thumb at Errian and his family. “How’s Daddio?”

“He’s a bit disoriented and dehydrated. Very fatigued. I’d say he probably hasn’t slept for a couple of days, maybe more. He told me he doesn’t remember where he’s been.”

Ronon grunted. “I’ve had mornings like that. Mostly after too much beer.”

“Amnesia?” Sheppard’s lip curled. “Aaren said the guy had been missing for a couple of weeks. He said all of the ‘Taken’ are gone for at least that long.”

“How many are there?” said Ronon, half to himself.

Keller’s brow furrowed in a frown. “Without doing a full medical work-up, I can’t say much more at this point —”

McKay waggled his finger. “But what about the big question?”

Keller shook her head. “No, Rodney. The answer is no.”

“Errian was not fed upon by a Wraith?” Teyla had to say the words aloud to fix them in her thoughts.

“As far as I can see, the man’s never been anywhere near a Wraith.” Keller replied. “No organic decay like we see in the premature aging they cause, no bone thinning that I could detect and most importantly, no sign of a feeding wound.” She opened her hand and held it up, mirroring the pose the aliens used when they attacked.

“That makes no sense,” Ronon retorted. “Wraith don’t take people, keep them up all night, then send them home with hole in their memory. They’re predators. They only want prey.”

“So Aaren was telling the truth, then,” said Teyla. “But if this Aegis he spoke of drives away the Wraith, then what happened to Errian? Who took him?” She nodded in the direction of Laaro and his parents.