Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 129

Chapter 129 - Worst Kind of Vacationers 

Spending the day sitting around and watching other people work had been exactly the sort of non-activity Eventus had needed to restore his bodily energy to its more normal levels. 

It had also solidified his decision to invest at least a couple hundred million dollars of his eventual payout into the studio. Because they were pushing the bounds of practicality and realism in exactly the sort of way he suspected would one day pay off with the type of productions he enjoyed.

After production had halted for the night they’d had a nice dinner at one of the themed restaurants before heading back to the Villa to relax. Something that had somehow ended with both of them sitting around the table reading through work related reports.

“What did you finally settle on?” Xiaoyi inquired idly as she glanced up from the sheaf of papers she was reading.

“History research.” Eventus replied, scrolling down the myths and legends his search program had gathered on their various city ships. “Have you ever heard of Penglai?”

Xiaoyi furrowed her brow for a moment before shooting him an odd look. “The mountain from the story of the Eight Immortals?”

“That's the one.” Eventus nodded in conformation. “Penglai was actually one of the twelve city ships. Eight thousand seven hundred and twelve survivors out of a population of roughly one point two million.”

A depressingly low number, though still better than the hundred and three survivors of the city ship Lanka. Which had all but disintegrated during its attempt to open a hyperspace window and escape through the hyperspacial interference being generated by the Wraith blockade surrounding its world.

“There wasn't anything about other city ships in the reports the IOA's reviewed.” Xiaoyi said, frowning in a way that suggested she was moderately annoyed at the oversight.

“Like a lot of things in Atlantis's database, information about other city ships wasn't referenced in a way that makes it easy for your people to find.” Eventus told her. “It's highly likely the expedition just hasn't found anything about the other cities to send back yet.”

Oftentimes the cities hadn't even been referred to by their actual name with people instead using the stargate address of the planet they were currently on. Which, while making travel to them a lot easier, did sometimes cause things to get confusing for outsiders who didn't already know where the cities currently were.

“Would that mean the eight immortals were your people?” Xiaoyi asked in interest.

Eventus gave a non-committal shrug. “The names match up with people on the evacuation list, but that’s not a guarantee given how badly non-digital history tends to distort things.”

And then there was the general problem with a lot of names being so common that connecting one person in specific with it back to a member of his people was basically an impossibility.

“The only person I’m moderately sure about so far from your side of the continent is Shennong. And that's because I met him a couple of times while visiting Penglai, so I know the whole agriculture and tea thing fits his personality perfectly.”

The slightly unnerved look that appeared on Xiaoyi’s face at the name suggested she recognized it. “You knew the first Yan Emperor?”

“He made tea for me a couple times.” Eventus confirmed, smiling fondly at the memory. “We first met while I was helping to clear out an infestation of bio-engineered thornvines that had begun to overrun one of the agricultural testing islands on the moon of Zulea.”

That had been one of those emergencies that was more annoying to deal with than generally dangerous. Though the numerous agricultural scientists whose projects were destroyed by the quick growing vines had been more than a little vocal about it being the end of the world if the invasive plant wasn't completely eradicated.

“Well.” Xiaoyi sighed in exasperation as she focused back on the papers she was reading. “At least it wasn’t the Monkey King.”

“My guess is that he was probably a Harcesis.” Eventus admitted, turning back to his interface pad and bringing up what information it had gathered on the Eight Immortals so he could begin going through it personally. “But I’ll see about asking the Tok’ra if they have any unabridged history files when I eventually meet them.”

They and the Nox were firmly at the top of his list of groups to spend a few weeks trying to contact when he wasn’t so swamped with making sure the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies didn’t burn down.

“They claim they don’t.” Xiaoyi said, not even bothering to look up. “It took several years of requests, but Doctor Jackson finally annoyed them so much they finally told him they couldn’t risk keeping those kinds of records around given the possibility of the System Lords capturing them and using the information to discover the identities of their agents.”

Eventus considered that for a few seconds before acknowledging the point. “I suppose that’s a fair worry. I’ll have to see how well that insistence holds up in the face of blatant bribery though given all the files I’ve read suggest they’ve hit the point of pathological secrecy.”

“Good luck with that.” Xiaoyi muttered, her skeptical tone telling Eventus just how little she thought of his chances. 

Looking up at the Chinese woman, Eventus set his interface down on the table and frowned. “With Egeria gone and no other Queens, they're dying out. I’m almost completely sure my people’s technology can help with that.”

Xiaoyi glanced up to meet his gaze before raising a single sculpted eyebrow in seeming challenge. “It might be able to, but that assumes Egeria’s actually dead and they don’t have any other Queens.

“I’ll give you the point that they might have lied about not having any other Queens.” Eventus acknowledged. “But SG1 was there when Egeria died.”

“They were in the area when Egeria died.” Xiaoyi corrected, the corner of her lips quirking slightly upwards in a smile. “But there were only Tok’ra in the room when she passed, and they were the ones who reported to SG1 that it had occurred.”

The reports hadn’t mentioned that, and all he remembered about Egeria’s death from the show was her host's covered body eventually being carried through the gate by a procession of Tok’ra. Which didn’t really say anything about her actual status given how many different ways there were to make someone appear dead.

“I suppose you have a point with that one too.” Eventus agreed, stretching for a moment before rising to his feat. “Hope you don’t mind if I turn in early tonight, still a bit worn out from last night.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Xiaoyi quipped. “Sleep well.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author’s Notes: That moment when you’re on a vacation where you’re not supposed to be working, have a block of free time, and decide to spend it going over work. A lot of us have probably been there. And Ancients in particular were pretty bad completely disconnecting.