HALF-BREED: CH. 15- REVELATION

CHAPTER 15: REVELATION

SUMMARY:  Dr. Elizabeth Weir gives Autumn an informal tour of Atlantis.  Autumn confides in Dr. Kate Heightmeyer.

Autumn and Dr. Kate Heightmeyer were nearing the end of their meal in the dining hall when Autumn asked her about Atlantis.

“So how long has the 'expedition' as I heard someone call it, been here it Atlantis? Who are all these people here? Not all of them are military.”

“There is a strong military presence, of course, but there are also many scientists and computer technicians,” answered Kate. “We also have some civilians who have specific knowledge to offer, along with a handful of people that were rescued from their planet when the Wraith attacked it. I believe you have already met one of them – an Athosian named Teyla Emmagan.”

“Oh yes, I remember her,” Autumn replied. “She seemed nice. She brought me to that party last night so that I could have some food. I don't think she liked the security guard either.”

“The military people have been trained to say little and say it well and their main purpose is to keep the city secure and to aid in combat when it's needed.”

“I get the impression that you don't like them either.”

“It's not a matter of whether I like them or not. They don't get involved with the personal business of the non-military people here. I just find them frustrating to deal with sometimes.”

“So I guess they are going to be following me around while I am here then.”

Kate gave her an understanding look.

“I am not too fond of that myself but as you learned earlier, we are new to this place as well and they are here to protect us from anyone – human or alien – who wish to do us harm.”

As they were talking, Dr. Elizabeth Weir walked up to the table.

“Hello Kate...” she said, then nodded her head at Autumn. “...Autumn. I see you are settling in OK?”

“Yes,” answered Autumn. “Kate has been giving me the inside story on your floating city.”

“Oh, has she?” Weir grinned and glanced at Kate, glad to see that she had gained some of Autumn's trust. “I imagine it would be a short one since there is still so much of this city we haven't explored yet.”

“It's ironic you said that, Elizabeth,” Kate noted. “I was going to come to you and ask you if it would be OK to give Autumn a tour of Atlantis.”

“Yes, I think that would be alright,” she responded. “In fact, I would like to take her myself since I am the one who wanted to come here in the first place.”

Kate looked at Autumn.

“Would you like to see some of the city, Autumn? You and Elizabeth could get to know each other a little better and she is really the expert on the...geography here.”

Autumn still wasn't sure if she could trust Weir but perhaps this walk around Atlantis could determine if it was safe to confide in her and what the new Lanteans intentions toward her might be. She was hoping it would not be something nefarious.

“Sure, I would like that,” Autumn replied.

“Great! Well, I have a little time to spare right now if you'd like to do it sooner rather than later,” revealed Weir.

Autumn looked at Kate who smiled and nodded her approval.

“I think that is a very good proposition,” Kate remarked. “You should go. After your tour we can meet up again and continue our conversation.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” agreed Autumn. She stood up and looked at Weir. “After you.”

“I think you will like this first thing I want to show you,” Weir professed as they were walking in a corridor. “I believe you may find it educational.”

She took Autumn to a big round room with intricate beige and brown Mission-style walls. There was an octagon-shaped platform in the middle with a control console in front of the side of the platform facing the door they entered through.

“What IS this place?” Autumn queried as she looked around.

“I call it the Hologram Room.”

“Hologram? What's that?”

“They don't have things like this on the world you come from?”

Autumn just shrugged and nodded her head in a “no.”

“A hologram is an advanced type of photography that allows an image to be recorded in three dimensions. It can be used to optically store and retrieve information.”

“Oh...is that what it's called? We had something like that on the hive ship.”

Weir wanted to press for more details but figured it would be best not to ask her too many questions just yet. Instead, Weir stood in front of the console, waved her hand over it and the top of it lit up with a blue glow. Suddenly, there was a holographic image of a woman dressed in a long white robe who began speaking. A 3D holographic map of the galaxy came to life on the ceiling above the ghostly woman's head and she began to talk.

“A group of scientists and explorers called the Ancients left their original world when a cultural split divided their civilization. A small group called the Ancients left in a ship to find another galaxy to live in. They arrived in the Milky Way and took up residence on a planet they called Terra. They seeded many worlds with human life and created Stargates to cultivate interstellar travel and to form alliances with other races. When a plague broke out in the Milky Way, the Ancients sought refuge in another galaxy called Pegasus in the hope of spreading new life in a galaxy where there appeared to be none. Here the Ancients created their own settlement on a planet they called Lantea in a city they named Atlantis, and created more new life and stargates on other worlds where the populations grew and prospered, exchanging knowledge and friendship. In time, a thousand worlds bore the fruit of life in this form.”

“Then one day our people stepped foot upon a dark world where a terrible enemy slept. Never before had we encountered beings with powers that rivaled our own. In our over-confidence, we were unprepared and outnumbered. The enemy fed upon defenseless human worlds like a great scourge until finally only Atlantis remained. This city's great shield was powerful enough to withstand their terrible weapons but here we were besieged for many years. In an effort to save the last of our kind, we submerged our great city into the ocean. The Atlantis Stargate was the one and only link back to Earth from this galaxy at the time, and those who remained used it to return to that world that was once home – the world you now call Earth. There, the last survivors of Atlantis lived out the remainder of their lives while the City of Atlantis was left to slumber, in the hope that our kind would one day return.”

“Don't tell me...that 'terrible enemy' was the Wraith, wasn't it?” Autumn postulated.

“Yes. The Wraith have wiped out entire worlds.”

“Because humans are their only sustenance. Just like humans farm land and grow food to sustain themselves, the Wraith feed on them to survive. So what we have here is basically survival of the fittest and the Ancients apparently lost that battle,” Autumn recited matter-of-factly.

Weir wanted to ask her why she kept referring to humans as though she herself was not human even though half of her had human DNA. But she didn't want to jeopardize any progress that Dr. Heightmeyer made with Autumn in less than 24 hours so she quickly changed the subject. Kate might be able to broach the subject with Autumn at a later time but for now, her main concern was keeping Autumn calm and non-combative until they knew more about her.

“Come, let me show you the rest of the city,” Weir suggested, motioning towards the door.

At the conclusion of the “tour,” Weir took Autumn to Dr. Heightmeyer's quarters and makeshift office.

“Your city is very nice. Let's hope the Wraith don't find it,” Autumn remarked with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice and acrimony on her face. It gave Weir a chill so she quickly excused herself and walked away.

“Please...come on in, Autumn,” Kate said. “I was just about to have some tea. Would you like a cup as well?”

“Sure,” Autumn replied as she sat down on a white vinyl chair next to the window. “Wow, that's a nice view out there!”

“Yes, it is,” Kate answered, setting the cup of tea down on the table in front of Autumn while taking a seat on the opposite side. “Sometimes when I feel stressed or agitated I sit here and look out the window and the sight of the water and the beautiful blue sky gives me a pensive feeling of peace. What about you? What do you like to do when you feel tense?”

“I liked practicing the combat skills my Commander taught me because it required a lot of concentration so it would shift my focus away from what I was tense about. It would make me forget about whatever I was feeling anxious about.”

“That's a great way to maintain peace of mind and continued good health. We have a workout room here and some of the others often go there for the same reason,” Kate revealed.

“Yes, Dr. Weir showed it to me. I was pleasantly surprised that there's a place here where I can continue to do my workouts in. She said I could even train with someone else who wants to hone their own combat skills.”

“So what sort of things tend to upset you?”

“Oh just stupid things like an argument with the Commander or a mistake when I'm making myself new clothing. There wasn't a very big selection of things for me to wear there so I had to make them myself.”

“That's a great skill to have. I don't even know how to sew!” Kate confessed.

“Oh, it's not that hard. I could teach you if you want.”

“I would like that.” Kate saw her opportunity to shift the conversation back to the Commander and pounced on it. “Did your Commander like the clothing you made? Did you make some for him as well?”

Autumn was sipping her tea and almost spit it out when she started laughing.

“He preferred me WITHOUT clothes...if you what I mean.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Kate replied with a knowing wink. “So he probably didn't really care what your clothes looked like then, huh?”

“Not really. As long as I obeyed him, he didn't really care what I was wearing or doing.”

“Obeyed? Did he have rules you had to follow?”

“Yes but there were really only a few he was strict about – don't talk back, complete whatever tasks he assigned me, mend his clothes for him, and do whatever he asked of me without an argument.”

“That sounds like the same thing most parents ask of their children. You must've looked up to him as a father figure.”

“I never really thought about that but now that you mention it, yes, I guess he was sort of like a substitute father since I never met my real dad and don't know where he OR my mom is, or if they are even still alive....”

Autumn's eyes started tearing up. Kate realized she finally struck a nerve into the core of what made Autumn tick – and the thing that the Commander most likely exploited to keep her in line. She gave Autumn a sympathetic look then handed her a tissue.

“I'm sorry, Autumn. We don't have to talk about any of this if you don't want to.”

“No, it's OK. I imagine all of you are as curious about me as I am of you. But there's not much to tell, really. Life on the hive ship was pretty routine. There wasn't much for me to do. I spent most of my time with the Commander. He didn't like me straying too far away from him.”

“Was he worried you would run away or something? I mean, the hive ship was your home so there was probably nowhere for you to go, right?”

“Yes, like I said, life was routine but I LIKED being with him...and he liked being with ME. I used to joke that I was addicted to him but he took it as a compliment. And he joked that he was addicted to....ah.....the worship.”

“Worship? You mean like praying?”

“No. What we call....sex or making love...they call it 'worship.'”

“Hmmm...worship. I think I like that even better. It sounds more....pleasant.”

“Oh, our worship sessions were VERY pleasant,” Autumn noted, a tell-tale grin on her face. “I don't want to get too graphic so I'll just say that he was a highly-skilled lover and I became an expert on how to please him.”

“So you made each other happy then?”

“Very happy. Even the pain was worth all the pleasure he gave me.”

Autumn smiled and gazed out the window, a look of fond remembrance on her face. It was then that Kate realized Weir's educated guess about “Stockholm Syndrome” was not only correct, but that it was the worst case of it she'd ever seen in all her years as a psychologist. She was going to have to navigate her way through it with caution and patience because Autumn's Wraith Commander had done such a well-planned and thorough job of manipulating her mind with thought disruption, behavior modification and forced coercion, that even without him being physically present in her life, she was still very much under his control.

Disclaimer: The Wraith, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Teyla Emmagen, Dr. Kate Heightmeyer & Stargate Atlantis are owned by MGM. Autumn Noxx is an original character that belongs to me.