The return to Atlantis could be called mundane, if not for two facts.
First: the number of inhabitants of the city-ship had exactly doubled. After giving detailed instructions to her "deputies," Teyla decided to go with us to the "city of the Ancestors." To get acquainted, so to speak, with the cultural heritage.
Hmm... Asking Emagan directly if her people would wither without a leader, my conscience wouldn't allow it. But, at the same time, she had already done something similar in events known to me. The Athosians managed quite well without her direct presence. And besides, they let her go with us without excessive whining, tearful farewells, and other parting scenes. Even though they knew she wasn't just "visiting." Teyla is something between an Athosian diplomat, an advisor on local cultures and planets, and a Pegasus-style soldier.
Considering that I didn't want to indulge in sentimentality and pity in the future, recruiting Teyla into a "first strike" unit here, on Atlantis, would be imprudent. Because, although she is the leader of her people, she is more of a diplomat in terms of agreements. If the question arises of abandoning a dozen peasants in a moment of danger and saving ourselves, or fighting to the death and falling into the hands of the Wraiths, Teyla will have to be abandoned. After being shot, beforehand.
Just kidding, of course. If she dies, we'll have significant complications in our dealings with the Athosians. But the fact is, this lady and her idealism will cause problems.
Alvar Jensen also followed us. After all, he and Teyla are needed for me to form an intelligence team for the worlds of the Pegasus galaxy.
They are familiar with some local civilizations, and with others, they can introduce us through the "handshake" tactic. It consists of you knowing someone who knows someone else useful, and that person in turn knows someone else... And so on. The main problem is to ensure that these "someones" are truly useful and not dead weight that we will have to defend at every turn.
All the way to the gates, and after them to the "jumper" hangar, Chaya and I were silent. Jensen, although he restrained his enthusiasm, unlike Teyla, would occasionally ask questions about us and the city. Trivial ones, like "I hope you don't have soft mattresses!?" or "And to flush, do I have to call one of you, or can I solve the problem myself?"
Teyla was more interested in whether her unfamiliarity with the Ancestors' technology would harm her living in the city. She asked for a small room and a training facility. Jensen supported her with the latter.
Fine, everyone will get what they want – there are plenty of empty rooms in Atlantis. We just need to solve a few issues.
At first, I thought there would only be one issue. And it was based on the cargo we had in the "jumper's" cargo hold. Fruits, vegetables, meat, greens... Not for five hundred people, of course, but for the four of us, it would last for some time. Not to mention that there were a number of ready-made dishes, including aromatic smoked meat, more like meat chips. Very tasty, by the way. Teyla even said what animal the smoked meat was made from, but I didn't remember. The main thing I understood was that it wasn't rodents, snakes, or birds. Something like pigs or cows...
So, the question itself was related to the identity of the person who would cook all this.
The second one arose during the approach to the gates: "And do we have a place and means to cook?" No, seriously, I somehow didn't wonder if Atlantis had a kitchen, kitchen furniture, plates...
But after Chaya, even emerging from the gates and ascending to the "jumper" hangar, leaving the ship, continued to remain silent, it gave me a third question.
"What's happening?" I asked the girl, holding her back after our guests had gone to place their belongings in the allocated rooms in the residential sector of Atlantis.
The girl looked at me with a hint of pain and hatred.
"Other Ancestors?" she blurted out. "Are there other Ancestors in Pegasus?"
"Yes, and what does that change?" I asked.
"Everything!" she even stomped her foot. "Even if I don't have these memories, I can say for sure that I surely did what I did with the thought that even if you save yourself, you won't be able to work! Because you need help with Ancestor technology!"
Okay, understood. One psychological trauma after another.
"Follow me," I ordered.
Interestingly, she obeyed.
When we returned to the control center, mentally thanking Chaya for creating that translator program, I displayed the readings from one of the sensors on the monitor.
"Do you remember what this is?" I asked, pointing to the dots on the galaxy map. Very few dots, to be honest. Well, why hide it, only one, if we're being honest.
"The latest data from the Lantian combat ship tracking system," Chaya replied mechanically. "It's the 'Aurora.' You ordered the system to be turned off as soon as we decided to cooperate."
"Yes, this and a bunch of other systems that can only cause us trouble," I explained. "But there's no guarantee that the 'Aurora' signal wasn't detected by the Wraiths, who, surprise, surprise, not only fly to planets on 'arrows' but also herd their hives between worlds."
"I don't think they could have," Chaya said. "The ship is far out in space, and not many Wraiths are active. They might have missed this signal. Especially since they don't know for sure if the Lantians are alive. Therefore, they probably haven't been tracking our subspace transmitter frequencies for a long time."
"That would be good," I agreed. "So, you've inquired about the ship's details?"
"Yes, and besides, I looked at the Atlantis log," Chaya replied, as if not hearing me. "It states that the 'Aurora' went on a top-secret reconnaissance mission. Deep into enemy territory. This was in the early years of the war, so it's likely severely damaged in combat, otherwise it would have returned to the city. Other ships like the 'Aurora' were destroyed or captured by the enemy."
So, so, so... Here are the missing puzzle pieces.
"According to my information, the crew might have survived on board the 'Aurora'," I explained. "The ship is heavily damaged, so it's moving towards Atlantis by inertia."
"Ten thousand years?" Chaya raised an eyebrow. "You have some wrong idea about the lifespan of the Ancestors. Even the Lantians didn't have such a long lifespan. Although there was a hypothesis that the Lantians, as a result of a series of mutations and crossbreeding with other races, lost some of their genetic advantages, but there was no proof of this."
Uh-huh... They just didn't know that one Ancient spent millions of years in the ice of Antarctica on Earth. As soon as the Earthlings warmed her up, she immediately came to life.
"Stasis pods," I suggested.
"Nonsense," Chaya shook her head. "The 'Aurora' is a combat ship, not a research one. They didn't install them..."
The girl fell silent. She thought about something for a couple of seconds, then, pushing me away from the console, she changed the system to Lantian and started looking for something.
What exactly I learned a couple of seconds later.
"I apologize," she said. "The 'Aurora' is the lead ship of the first starships of this type. They were built as research ships to explore distant corners of the galaxy and beyond, where there were no stargates. The hyperdrive on it was outdated, and journeys from one end of the galaxy to another could take months, and between galaxies, years. Keeping the crew in hibernation was necessary. The ship is equipped with a stasis system connected to virtual reality."
"Ah...?"
"This was done so that the brains of those in stasis would not suffer from the time of sleep. There were always few Ancestors, so the conditional months of stasis could always be spent usefully."
"For example, could they control the ship from stasis?"
"I'm not sure," Chaya admitted. "It was a very imperfect system, so it was abandoned even before the war with the Wraiths. I can say for sure that they could interact with each other in virtual reality. But to influence the ship... No, I don't think so. It would require much more energy consumption. Orders of magnitude more."
"Is the virtual reality system resistant to hacking?" I asked.
"As much as programming allows, but it's not the most secure system, it's auxiliary," Chaya looked at me suspiciously. "You ask strange questions."
"Based on what I know," the girl seemed to have forgotten her offense and switched her attention to this story. "In events known to me, the ship also responded to Atlantis's call. And it was discovered by Wraiths. They killed a crew member and replaced him to reveal the secrets of the hyperdrive."
"Pointless," Chaya said. "The Wraiths' hyperdrives during the war were similar to those on the 'Aurora'."
"Yes, but not intergalactic..."
"Oh," the girl's eyes lit up. "That's a problem. We need to get to them as soon as possible and neutralize the Wraiths."
"Completely agree," I nodded. "But there are a few problems. The first is the nearest stargates to the ship. They are far from the ship, we can't reach them."
"Have you already checked the maps?" Chaya asked in surprise, switching to the console. A couple of seconds of technological sorcery, and on top of the 'Aurora's' location data, data on planets with stargates appeared. "A problem... But we could fly out from the nearest ones in a shuttle, accelerate to maximum speed, and drift. In a few months," she squinted, "correction, in forty-seven days, we'll reach it. But that's an approximate time, as I can't calculate the 'Aurora's' speed from here. I think it's within five..."
"Leave 'Atlantis' for a month and a half to our new friends?" I clarified.
Chaya grew sad. It seemed that, like a human, she had an innate trait of mad scientists – to dive headfirst into solving a problem, forgetting about other issues.
"Don't forget about stasis," I said. "And the ten thousand years spent in it."
"That's a big problem," Chaya said, her face darkening.
"That's why I didn't tell you until I had at least some kind of plan," I had to clarify my position.
"And what is it?" Chaya asked. "Ask the Ascended for help?"
"Do you really believe that will work?" I chuckled good-naturedly. "We need a ship with a hyperdrive."
"What's the argument about?" the Athosian appeared on the lower level of the gate hall, and... Hmm, I constantly forget to ask Alvar the name of his home planet.
"Come up," I waved my head.
It took a couple of minutes to briefly recount the essence of the problem.
"Living Ancestors?" Teyla's eyes widened. "I believe they must be saved. After all, they know and can do a lot. Their help would be invaluable in the fight against the Wraith!"
"Their bodies are too old to awaken them now," Chaya said. "Despite their improved physiology, they are unlikely to live more than a couple of days, maybe a week."
"Is it really possible to get them back on their feet in that time?" Alvar asked. "This is your technology, there must be a solution."
"Stasis was not designed for people to be in it for millennia," Chaya objected. "I'm afraid we have very big problems."
"And again," I took the floor, "there is a way. Without guarantees, of course, but... Better than having a refrigerator full of slowly dying Ancients."
"Curious," Chaya became interested. "And what did you come up with?"
"About that later," I avoided the dangerous conversation. "First, we need to figure out where to get a starship with a hyperdrive."
"Build one," Jensen suggested. "You have a whole city filled with various Ancient trinkets. Surely there are no suitable parts for ships?"
Chaya and I exchanged glances.
"If only it were that simple," she sighed.
"The last one," Jensen reported, dragging a bag with... well, I'll call it purple potatoes, closer to the door of the food storage. It looks like a carrot, smells like an onion, but if you know how to cook it. "It's a big vegetable storage here, though."
"We built with a reserve," I agreed, glancing at the room, which resembled a small hangar filled with metal containers with... once it was food. Now, just traces of decomposed organic matter. "Teyla promised to help sort things out here."
The room, the size of a football field and as high as a two-story house, was divided into two levels connected by a metal staircase. Shelves occupied the entire space from floor to ceiling, and each shelf had a universal container for storing products. Made of the same polymer as the scanner casings, each container had a built-in climate control system for its contents. Like a significant portion of the devices, such as the scanners, these devices had a built-in power system that recharged wirelessly.
Just think... If the Ancients had turned off all the unnecessary equipment in the city, perhaps the flooding wouldn't have happened. According to Chaya's estimates, if the bunker and its equipment had been inactive for the last ten thousand years, we would have had an extra week in reserve on the old ZPM. And that's just one compartment, damn it!
Thousands of them all over Atlantis.
Chaya was now working on identifying the areas of highest energy consumption and starting to shut down unnecessary sectors of the city. And that means a large part of Atlantis.
In the parts of the city-ship that we don't use, emergency lighting will be enough – a couple of lamps in the corridors, so as not to break your legs in the dark. It would be great to turn them off too, but for that, we would have to go through half of the city's operating system. And, unfortunately, Chaya couldn't handle this nut – she had never seen many of the protocols, even though she was a physicist, and not an ordinary one. Even though she wasn't a Lantian.
The same applied to the life support systems – you can't just turn them off in unused areas of the city. At least Chaya can't. She claims that for now, but...
"So, how many people can live here?" Jensen asked. Of course, he was talking about the city.
"A few thousand," I shrugged. "Atlantis has been rebuilt many times, housing has been densified, new buildings erected to replace old ones. So, if desired, many can settle here."
"At your desire," the former fugitive noted. "I've already noticed that your friend isn't very strong in arguing with you."
"I don't know what you mean by 'friend,' but 'fellow sufferer' is more appropriate here."
"Well, I don't know... Living in such a city, having such weapons, technology – it's more than almost all the inhabitants of the galaxy have," Jensen helped me pour the vegetables into the containers, which had already been cleaned of old deposits, and return them to the shelves. Only two dozen boxes out of several hundred, possibly even thousands... And that's just on the first level. And I'm not even talking about the huge boxes for the most frequently consumed products. We didn't need them now – we didn't even have stocks of such quantities of vegetables or fruits.
And in general, the city's food system is set up quite uniquely. To begin with, there were as many as six such rooms in the city – one in each of the "piers" and in the central spire. There were also an equal number of canteens. Chaya explained that it had always been like this, as long as she could remember – there was no point in gathering the whole city in canteens. It was much simpler and faster to create several smaller canteens.
However, it doesn't matter anymore. I know for sure that there will never be such a large number of inhabitants in the city now and in the future. Because I'm not going to let everyone in. It's simply dangerous to leave anyone at the level of development of the Athosians or others like them with access to the city's technical secrets.
I wouldn't care if they broke something... But what if they turned it on?
We already had to work hard to find the laboratory with the nano-virus that destroys everyone except the carrier of the Ancient Gene. Turning off these scoundrels wasn't easy at all. But give a girl some time, help with advice – and you'll get a disposable EMP generator that disables nanites throughout the entire city.
And there are thousands of such unfinished, not deactivated traps, or rather, experiments, in the city.
"But having this city alone won't solve all the problems," I said.
While Chaya was dealing with the technical part, literally tearing herself apart between the elements of the city that required attention, Teyla was helping to eliminate the consequences of the flooding and the long period of Atlantis being unused.
Yes, she couldn't help much with repairs, but, for example, tidying up the kitchen (and yes, it still has everything necessary, and it's not much different from the equipment and dishes I'm used to), the kitchen storage rooms, throwing out dead plants and planting others in pots – yes, that's easy for her.
Most of the plants died, but some went into hibernation. However, it's not a fact that they will be able to come back to life in improved circumstances. After all, ten thousand years without water and light.
But Chaya found out their origin, and together with Teyla, they flew to the mainland and dug up suitable plants. As it turned out, the plants in Atlantis are not just bushes for beauty. They are special types of genetically modified plants that do not need sunlight. They are more oriented towards heat, which serves for photosynthesis. Atlantis, as it turned out, was preparing for a siege, and therefore developed plants necessary for oxygen production that can ease the life support system's work in the absence of light from the local star. Well... Quite thoughtful.
"I'll bet millions of people across the galaxy would give anything to live in a city underwater and have the ability to block the activation of the gates and not let the Wraith in," Jensen snorted.
There's no point in arguing about that.
Atlantis is equipped with an energy shield to protect the stargate from the materialization of unwanted guests. Immediately after the gate activates and the energy vortex calms down, an energy barrier can be activated around the gate. It is projected at a tiny distance from the event horizon. Thanks to this, the gate's automation can work to materialize an object, but due to the shield, a full "assembly" does not occur. And the uninvited guest disintegrates into atoms, without harm to us.
People, Wraith, weapon fire, bombs, and much more – everything is destroyed without any traces. So yes, this is a significant defense against invasion through the gate. And, considering that we are hidden underwater, which disperses the Wraith's energy charges – at least that's what the Atlantis chronicles say – we don't have to fear orbital bombardment either.
On most other planets in the galaxy, such protection, naturally, was nowhere to be found.
What's curious is that the Ancients, before leaving the city, blocked the gate's operation for any dialing except for one that would involve the Ancients themselves. It is noteworthy that in known events, Anubis used a similar tactic, cutting off a planet of interest from random intelligent beings by requesting a code. Any biological mass was redirected to a random gate address in the galaxy if it did not have the appropriate access code. Convenient.
I was incredibly lucky to have the Ancient Gene – otherwise, my flight for the ZPM wouldn't have happened.
In our case, no one can pass through the Atlantis gate except me and Chaya. And also those who travel with us on the same flight.
The gate does not teleport cargo and passengers in real-time – first, they dematerialize everyone who entered it during a specific operating session, and then they materialize them – in strict order of sequence. Those who entered first will exit first.
At the moment, this security system suited us. However, we must understand and accept the fact that in the Pegasus galaxy, there are also ordinary people who possess the genes of the Ancients. There is a high probability that they might accidentally enter the city. And, as long as this possibility exists, absolute safety cannot be guaranteed.
Chaya is also working on this – I've given her a few ideas, but due to the workload that has fallen on her, she can't do everything at once. But, by the way, this doesn't stop her from thinking about solving one problem (or several) while working on another. And she still manages to chat with Teyla.
Seriously, I saw them having a nice conversation in one of the empty laboratories that Chaya had taken over for her needs. While Teyla was telling her about her people, about the Wraith, about various peoples she knows, Sar was calmly adjusting the charging program for the "jumpers" and remotely connecting to the defense satellite on the borders of the Lantian system.
And she was still communicating with Teyla, asking her questions about her people's past, about Athos, and so on.
I have a suspicion about the reasons for such interest, but I preferred to remain silent for now and observe the Ancient's interest.
The "jumper" charging system indeed needs to be corrected.
The fact is that in their typical large-scale approach to their own comfort, the Ancients equipped Atlantis with wireless charging systems for small ships. Each landing pad in the upper – above the gate hall – and lower, under the central spire, hangars is that very charging pad for the "jumpers."
We have a dozen ships of this type at our disposal, but only half of them will be operational after "cosmetic repairs." The rest need spare parts, which we don't have. But at the same time, the city doesn't care about such conventions; it tries to charge all its ships. And that's a problem because precious energy is lost.
Even though we have the ZPM and the energy reserve in it is huge. However, it is a finite source of energy. And the more unnecessary "consumers" we have activated, the more we lose our power reserves. And in the city's database and in the city itself, it so happened that there are no notes on which planets the ZPM can be found. Moreover, even with the help of the Ancient, it was not possible to figure out how, where, and by what means the ZPM is produced.
Chaya did not belong to the titular race of the Ancients, the Lantians. And, like most assimilated peoples, she only has access to basic Ancient knowledge. And all the secrets... If they exist in Atlantis's database, they are securely encrypted. Our only way to find precious energy is to start exploring planets. As a group of four, without any quality rear support, this is a big problem.
That's why we tried to save on literally everything. Shield power is the main consumer. We could, of course, try to surface and work on the city-ship's cloaking systems based on such technology on the "jumpers." Even though we have specifically "killed" devices, suitable only for dismantling for spare parts. But, again, the question of the city's defense on the surface arises.
The Wraith roaming the galaxy, who possibly know about our arrival in the galaxy, are not the friendliest neighbors. I'm surprised that after Sudaria, no ships-hives have flown to the orbit of Lantea, the homeworld of Atlantis, yet. Just to check if everything is still the same here.
And therefore, it's time to think about the city's defense.
Atlantis, like the outposts and ships of the Ancients, is equipped with attack and defense systems. In the form of three launch bays for self-guided missiles, drones. They can be launched by a mental command given through the Ancient's chair, which is also in the city. And with the ZPM, we can do this.
Ancient Drone.
Similar weapons are also on the "jumpers," but only twelve on each. In total, we have about a hundred of them on damaged and working ships, and we have already removed unnecessary ammunition from those "jumpers" that will not fly anywhere. Along with the necessary spare parts for repairing the others. Chaya ruthlessly dismantled other "jumper" parts suitable for city repairs and integrated them into damaged systems.
For example, we were able to restore control of the lower hangar, the main subspace transmitter, and bring Atlantis's short-range scanners back into service. Small victories achieved during our quartet's five days in the city.
But this did not affect our defense in any way.
The problem was that there were practically no shells in the city. We have more drones on our "jumpers" than in Atlantis's arsenal. And, even if we transfer all of them to the city's defense needs, it will be enough to destroy one, maybe two to five Wraith ships. But, as soon as we do this, all the Wraith in the galaxies will flock to Lantea. Because the dying will undoubtedly tell what destroyed them. They are such animals.
Thus, Atlantis is the very "grand piano" that is large, thunders, and everyone around is delighted with it... But in fact, it's a pain.
Numerous damages to the city do not allow us to use it as a ship for our own purposes. The lack of weapons does not even allow us to think about meeting the enemy face-to-face. The hyperdrive needs spare parts, the sublight engines need repair, the hull needs welding, new wiring, new crystals, which in the Ancients' and their technology-based devices, instead of the usual boards, energy accumulators, relays, and so on.
Not to mention that I never tire of repeating: almost every laboratory in this city contains dangerous, in most cases even deadly technology or experiments. That laboratory for "mechanical Ascension," the activation of which in most cases turns a person into photoplasm or adds limbs, is a prime example.
They say about such moments: "decrepit grandeur." And I am inclined to agree. Atlantis is a hemorrhoid if you don't know how to fix it.
And it is impossible to "cure" the city with the efforts of four people, three of whom in principle do not understand what is happening here and how it functions. We need more technically competent specialists. At least – familiar with the Ancients' technologies at least at the level of understanding general principles, laws of physics, science in general...
The most obvious solution is the command of the "Stargate" project on Earth. There, people have been dealing with the Ancients' technologies for several years and have learned to understand them quite well.
But the situation with Earth is unclear. And, even if we get there, it doesn't mean we can return. And I have no desire to get involved in the problems of the Milky Way either. And the fact that they are Everest-sized there is clear even without special superpowers.
Besides "Aurora" with a crew of Ancients, there is another starship – "Tria." It is outside the galaxy and moving towards the Milky Way. The Ancients are more alive there. And, it would seem, they are the most preferable option. It seems there are a little over a hundred of them... However, to get to them, one must acquire a ship with a hyperdrive. And try to find them in interstellar emptiness. A task.
And now for the worst of the options.
I haven't told Chaya yet, but there are machines created by the Ancients in the galaxy to fight the Wraith, but they didn't live up to expectations, replicators. They look like humans, behave like humans, but... they consist of nano-robots. And they strongly dislike everything related to the Ancients. They consider humans to be mere biomass. The only ones they fear are the Lantians. They will not harm them a priori. But there's a nuance.
Neither I, nor Chaya, let alone Jensen and Teyla – are Lantians. Consequently, it is unlikely that the program of not harming us by the replicators will work.
Frankly, I don't even know if the crews of "Aurora" and "Tria" consist of Lantians at all or also of assimilated peoples? Chaya says that the second option is more likely, since the Lantians did not stoop to open brawls with enemies.
Another extremely dangerous option is cooperation with the Wraith. In the events known to me, this has happened, but... Every time something went wrong. And you can't think of it otherwise.
I don't even want to think about other peoples of the galaxy, like the Jenai. Cooperating with them openly would be foolishness. At least for now.
Perhaps, when we gain strength, then...
"Are you cold?" I was pulled out of my thoughts by a friendly slap on the shoulder from the former fugitive.
"There are thoughts worth considering," I replied vaguely.
"Well, of course," Jensen chuckled. "For example, how to steal the necessary repair minerals from under the Wraith's nose?"
"Including that."
Atlantis can be repaired. But it needs spare parts.
There are no factories in the city, nothing resembling them. But there are small workshops where simple devices can be produced in small volumes. The same crystals, for example. Or hull parts, wiring...
But for this, one must have resources. Simply put – materials from which a part can be made. And, as it happened, the city had a very tiny stock of the necessary ores. And Chaya had already used them to restore several damaged systems. Now new ones are needed.
It just so happened, accidentally or not, that the planets with the necessary resources used by the Ancients are occupied by the Wraith. We flew on reconnaissance to a couple of worlds and returned with nothing. We only confirmed the fact that there are dormant Wraith ships on the planets in question. But the mines... They are completely destroyed. And this is a huge problem.
We need to find a new place to obtain raw materials. And then, most likely, Chaya will no longer have to repair Atlantis by switching power from the main systems to reserve, auxiliary, or emergency ones. And she did this because somewhere the wiring overheated, somewhere the crystals, in some places short circuits... Spare parts are needed, and quite a lot of them.
And even better, we could use an external energy source to power the city, leaving only the power for a number of main functions on the ZPM. For example, the city's shield, the chair, drones...
I knew where to get it, but... The short-range sensors haven't found it yet.
However, there is progress in another direction.
"Mikhail, Alvar," Chaya's voice sounded from above us. Chaya also launched the city's intercom. "I need you in the laboratory."
"We'll be there soon," I replied. Damn, it's unusual to speak like this, into the void. It smells like schizophrenia. Jensen also didn't particularly like this city-wide communication method. He always dreamed of returning to his home planet and looking for more familiar technologies there.
But, for now, we won't go there. Not until Chaya finishes what I asked her to do. I hope this call is what I think it is.
"It seems the girls want to invite us on a date," the fugitive chuckled. After Chaya managed to remove the overgrown Wraith subspace transmitter from his body using the medical bay's technology on Atlantis, Jensen became less tense. And more sympathetic to the Ancient.
"If we don't go, we won't know," I shrugged.
And still, we need normal human communication devices. The voice "from above," echoing through the empty corridors of Atlantis and reflecting off them with a distorted echo, scared me to death.
Especially because I can't do that.
It seems Chaya knows this and is taking the opportunity to get revenge on me for... for something. A woman is a woman, even among the Ancients. Just more inventive.