SGA fic: Gaijin 9/40
Dec. 12th, 2008 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sam_gamgeeGaijin, Part 9/40
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
“Okay, look. You’ve got to help me,” Rodney said firmly, as he stopped pacing and sat down next to Kelly. “You should know by now that I wouldn’t do this if I thought that keeping the status quo would be better.”
“I know,” Kelly sighed as he looked around the empty practice cave. “It’s just that you’re going against generations of belief. It’s not going to be easy.”
“I wouldn’t think it would be. But look, I need to know what their attack patterns are like so we can make up a plan.”
“Okay, where do you want me to begin?”
“Wherever you want, but as far back as you can remember would be the best.”
As Kelly gave Rodney the details of a number of attacks, as well as names and ages of people taken and possessions seized. Rodney processed it as quickly as possible, picking up patterns and making assessments. When Kelly finished, Rodney mulled over the information, wishing John was there to help him plan it. But he had seen him get ready for enough missions to have some idea of how to do it. He was able to cross off most ideas due to time constraints or lack of item availability. The one thing he kept coming back to was that this was not be easy.
“I think I’ve got a plan,” Rodney finally said. At Kelly’s expectant look, he continued, “We don’t let it be easy for them.”
Kelly looked at him like he’d grown another head. “We went through all of that for *that*?”
“I know, I know. It sounds stupid, but think about it. Your people haven’t fought back in generations. They’re not expecting you to. They’ll plan on a little roughing up at most to keep us all ‘in line’, but that’ll give us the element of surprise. We’ll obviously take the kids, and anyone else that could be easily harmed, down into the caves to keep them safe and I prefer to have it done as soon as possible,” he said, more to himself than Kelly. Pulling himself back on topic, he continued, “I think if we can find a way to not be overtly forceful but still tell them that we’re not going to take it, we won’t have to use actual brute force. How many people can use staffs?”
“At least a third own staffs,” Kelly replied numbly, looking a bit shell-shocked. “The number goes up to a little over half if you don’t care about their level of proficiency.”
“I think they should all be at the ready, in case if things do get ugly.” He squeezed Kelly’s shoulder. “We’ll make it through this, Kelly-chan.”
“I wish I had your assurance, Rodney-chan.”
“Believe me, most of this is just bravado. I’ve learned, though, that some fears can be great motivators to overcoming other fears.” He stood. “Come on, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Where do we start?” Kelly asked as he also stood.
“Well, we need to get everyone together. I think it’d be easiest to go over the plan that way.”
“We’ll have to do it in the evenings, then. That’s the only time everyone will be back.” Kelly looked skeptical. “Are you sure about this, Rodney-chan?”
“As sure as I can be,” Rodney replied, giving him a grim smile.
“And this fear – you felt this normally on Atlantis?”
“I wouldn’t say *normally*,” Rodney replied, rubbing the back of his neck and wincing slightly. “Routinely, yes.”
“You’re definitely made of sterner stuff than either I am or you give yourself credit for. I don’t think I could do this regularly.”
“Normally I don’t have time to think about it,” Rodney replied as they started walking to the surface. “I’m in the middle of whatever crisis we’re thrown into and once we’re done, I usually collapse into bed exhausted. After that, I’m usually on to whatever’s next. I’ve learned it’s best not to dwell on things.” After a pause, he asked, “So, how do we gather everyone together?”
“We just go around to everyone’s quarters and tell them we need to have a general meeting.”
“Oh, right,” Rodney commented, remembering when others had done that before prior to the tenth month festival. Coming out of the caves, he said, “Okay, let’s get started, because we’ve then got four other boroughs to get to.”
Kelly nodded as he looked around. “It looks like everyone’s back.” Pointing to the right, he said, “I’ll start on this side and you start on that side. We’ll meet in the middle.”
Rodney nodded and they split up. Going into his own quarters, he said to Kirby and Jillian, “We’re having a group meeting in a few minutes.”
“About what?” Jillian asked curiously.
“Oh, just some stuff,” Rodney replied evasively as he put his staff away.
“Is everything okay, Rodney-kun?” Kirby asked, looking concerned as he put the medicines he had been working on aside. Jillian gave the stew a final stir and they both stood.
“Yeah, I think it will be,” Rodney replied, distractedly, as he headed towards the entrance. “I’ve got to go alert everyone else,” he said before ducking out.
Gathering everyone together was easier than Rodney had expected and in a matter of minutes, he and Kelly had everyone in their borough assembled in the common area.
Rodney let out a focused breath as Kelly whispered, “Good luck.”
Rodney gave him a weak smile before going up to the entrance of the caves, which gave him a natural, if slight, rise to stand on so he could look out over everyone. “Okay,” he said loudly, “can I please have everyone’s attention?” When a few dozen pairs of eyes focused on him and a hush fell over the crowd, Rodney continued, “All right then. I’ll keep this as brief as possible.”
“If you can do that, Rodney-kun, it will be a surprising day,” Kirby called and everyone laughed.
“Oh, ha ha,” Rodney replied, knowing it was true that, even though he had gotten much better, he still tended to let his mouth get away from him. “I can do it, Kirby, I just choose not to.” Looking out over the crowd of people he had become familiar with and almost thought of as a new family, he said, “All right, I doubt any of you are going to like what I have to say, so I’m just going to say it. I think you’re all being stupid and moronic to epic proportions for letting the Korsans take your people and your property and not fighting back. And I think that you should do so when they come in a few days’ time.”
There was a collective gasp from the group. “We can’t do that,” someone replied, shocked.
“Why not?” Rodney replied, crossly, folding his arms over his chest defiantly. “Because of your ‘beliefs’?”
A scattered chorus of ‘yes’ answered him.
Rodney rolled his eyes. “Okay, let me get this straight.” He raised a hand to tick off reasons. “You believe that you should be kind and compassionate to others.” Various people nodded. “Okay, fine – great, even. That’s a commendable virtue in anyone.” Raising a second finger, he continued, “The Korsans used to be a part of your little ‘intermarriage’ cabal but got kicked out due to the fact that they didn’t have good hereditary material, plus they were taking advantage in other ways of you, the Morykons, and the Nagdalis.” More people nodded. “Then,” his voice started to rise in pitch and irritation, “why in the *hell* are you helping them to survive? Because that’s what you’re doing, you know. I doubt that your forefathers were intentionally trying to kill them off by not breeding or trading with them, but, seriously, what kind of sense does it make that they tell them, ‘Look, we’re not going to trade or intermarry with you anymore,’ which obviously upsets the Korsans since they’re losing a key part to their survival, and then they just roll over and let them take people and things because they’re angry and bitter? None of you let your children do that.”
“Our ancestors did fight back originally,” Jean protested.
“Then what changed?” Rodney challenged. “Because the Korsans doing it once a cycle after the festival isn’t exactly beating your ancestors down and making them submit due to sheer force. It should’ve given them time to regroup and be ready for the next time, not turn what the Korsans were, and still are, doing into some sort of weird way for you all to ‘atone’ for your sins so the gods will forgive you and stop what was happening. I hate to break it to all of you, but the gods have nothing to do with this. This is completely the fault of a petty, bitter group of people who don’t know how to take rejection gracefully and find a different way of doing things when one avenue closes to them.” Changing tactics at their stony-faced stares, he said, “Haven’t you ever wanted to fight back? Were you ever afraid that a loved one would be taken? Justine – are you afraid that one of your daughters might be taken this time? Or, Kirby – what about Jillian? Or Jillian – what about Kyle? I know how much you love your cousin.” The anger left his voice, to be replaced by a sad desperation. “How can you all stand it? The knowledge that either you or a loved one could be taken away, never to see each other again, and knowing that there might be *something* you could have done to prevent it, but didn’t?”
“But if we try to fight back, they’ll just use force and it’ll make things worse,” one of the women said.
“That is a possibility,” Rodney replied. “But what if you were victorious? What if you were able to kick them out for good? Have you ever thought about that? What would it be like if you and your children didn’t have to worry about them ever again?”
There was some murmuring between everyone and Rodney saw a few hesitant smiles.
“But we don’t know how to fight back,” Jillian said.
“Yes, you do,” Rodney replied indignantly. “What do you think the staff fighting is? A meditative art form? A way to get rid of some excess energy? It was originally intended to be a form of actual fighting. Which means it can be used as a form of defense. You’ve already got the basics, you just have to put some force behind it.”
“How?” Kelly asked.
Rodney rolled his eyes. “You just put more force behind your offense and you don’t let your defensive forms fall weakly. Using your grief at losing a loved one and your anger at the Korsans for taking them is a great way to do it.”
The Laprans still looked doubtful.
“Look,” he said, trying a different tack. “What if I could promise that the world isn’t going to end if we do this? And that there just might be a way to keep the Korsans from coming back?” From the looks in their eyes, Rodney could tell that he had just won over a lot of them.
“How would you do that?” Kirby asked.
“Well, I’d need to know how they got off this planet, for one thing. And I also need to know if they use the same method to get on and off their home planet.”
“They use the same piece of technology all the other tribes use to leave our planet,” Jean said. “But we don’t know if it’s the same thing they use to come here.”
“Is there any way I could get my hands on one?” Rodney asked. “I promise I won’t leave – if that’s what anyone’s worried about. I wouldn’t do that to all of you. But it would really help if I could see how it works.”
“Do you want theirs specifically, or just one in general?” someone asked.
“Well, theirs specifically would be great, but I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“Done,” the person, whom Rodney suddenly remembered was named Kieran, replied. “Is tomorrow soon enough?”
“That should be fine,” Rodney replied. He honestly had no idea if that would give him enough time, but it would have to. “So,” Rodney continued, looking out over the group, “I have at least one person willing to give this a shot with me. What about the rest of you?”
They looked back at him warily as Kirby said, “We need time to consider what you’ve said, Rodney-chan. We hear the truth of your words in our hearts, but for most of us, our heads are telling us to continue on the path that was set out by our ancestors.” There were nods from the rest of the group.
“That’s fair,” Rodney replied. “I do understand your obvious hesitation to throw out numerous generations worth of beliefs. But remember that the Korsans aren’t going to care if you’ve made up your minds or not. If you’re not ready by the time they come, it’ll be business as usual for them. Thank you all for your time.”
Quiet murmurs spread through the group as Rodney strode to the corridor, blatantly not looking to see what people’s reactions were, where Kelly met him.
As they headed to the next borough, Rodney said, “How do you think it went?”
Kelly shrugged. “It’s hard to say. No one’s ever openly gone against our beliefs. I think you definitely hit a nerve, though.” He grinned. “I think you’re what we need.”
“How so?” Rodney asked, looking at him perplexed.
Kelly stopped and looked at him exasperated. “Rodney, seriously. We’ve been going about our business with nothing changing for *generations*, for farther back than anyone here can remember. Hope can only take us so far before it wears too thin. I think that while everyone would love to see the sandstorms stop for good and for things to return to the way they were before the sandstorms started, none of us really believes it’s going to happen. I think that what we do makes us feel better, but I doubt it’s going to make the gods change their minds. I think they’ve grown bored with how we’ve been handling things and until something changes with us, I doubt things are going to change on their end.”
“At least you’re not as dumb as some of your beliefs make you seem,” Rodney commented as he started walking again.
“And what do you believe, Rodney-chan?”
Rodney shrugged as he looked at the floor. “I’ve never really thought about it. I think things are too amazing and awesome for them to have just randomly come into being millions of years ago. But I doubt that there’s any sort of god – or gods – controlling our every action and watching what we’re doing.”
“Then how do you explain people’s motivation for doing things?”
“I’ve never really thought about it,” he said, looking up at Kelly. “I’ve always just assumed it was mostly instinctual – the necessity of food, of the survival of both the being and of the species.”
“And everything hinges on that?”
“I guess so.” Kelly’s questions should have been easy, Rodney’s brain told him. If anyone on either Earth or Atlantis had brought up the subject, Rodney would have immediately shot them down and been done with it, but something about Kelly’s earnestness made Rodney stop and think. “Look,” Rodney stopped a few feet from the entrance to the next borough, “I’ve never thought about it because it never seemed important. There are a number of people where I’m from who believe deeply in a higher power and a divine plan, but that isn’t for me.”
“Fair enough.” He glanced at the entrance to the next borough. “Are you ready to do this?”
“Does it matter?” Rodney asked. “We need to do this. I’m more worried about how they’ll react. If our borough acted the way it did, how are the rest of them going to act?”
“Take a deep breath and let it out slowly, Rodney-chan,” Kelly said, “and focus on why we’re doing this.”
Rodney did as he was told and felt a bit of his nervousness melt away. “Okay, let’s go,” he said as he started moving again.
On the way back to their borough after finishing with the final borough, both Rodney and Kelly let out a deep breath.
“We’re not dead,” Kelly said lightly.
“I think it could have been a close call a few times,” Rodney replied. “But the reactions were basically the same across the board, so I think there’s some hope. We’ll just have to see once things marinate for a while.”
“Marinate?” Kelly asked.
“Sits, gets thought through,” Rodney replied off-handedly.
“Ah.” Kelly glanced around the commons area as they entered. “This is good, right?” he asked quietly.
Rodney did a quick scan and saw that most of the people had disbanded. The ones who were out were in the midst of normal evening activities. “I think so. It looks like they haven’t gotten together and decided to kill us for heresy. Do you guys do that here?” Rodney asked, looking at Kelly skeptically.
“No, not really,” Kelly replied. “But, then again, no one’s ever tried going against our stated beliefs before, either. So, you never know if they’re going to change their mind on that now.”
“Oh, that’s reassuring,” Rodney replied sarcastically as they headed back to his quarters. “I’ll be the Laprans’ first religious rebel and heretic.”
“If you haven’t immediately been ostracized, I have a feeling that things will be fine.”
“Well, we’ll see. Sometimes it takes a while for these things to kick in.”
Kelly shrugged as his stomach growled. “I doubt that’ll happen at this point. Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I need to eat. So I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah, I better go see if Jillian and Kirby saved me any food or if I’m going to starve for who knows how long as penitence.” He gave Kelly a slight wave before ducking into his quarters.
Inside, Kirby was going over some scrolls and Jillian was mending some shirts. The pot was still hanging over the fire and the smell of stew was still strong in the air. They both looked up as he entered and Jillian set aside the shirt and moved to get Rodney a bowl of stew.
“I guess this means I’m not going to be thrown out?” Rodney asked hopefully.
“That’s going to depend on how everything else goes,” Kirby replied. “If this doesn’t go well, we may be forced to.”
“Really?” Rodney asked, surprised, as he sat down and Jillian handed him the steaming bowl before returning to her work.
Kirby shrugged. “I’m not really sure. We’ve never had anything like this happen before. What possessed you to do such a thing?”
Rodney half shrugged as he started eating and between bites, he said, “I couldn’t stand by and let the Korsans continue doing what they’ve been doing to all of you. I care for all of you too much to let that happen if I think I can do something about it.”
“And is this arrogance a trait of your people, or just a personal trait?” Kirby asked, looking at him astutely.
“A little of both, actually,” Rodney replied, not letting himself get worried by Kirby’s line of questioning. “And I’ve gotten my native people out of a number of incidents that were much worse than this, so I feel confident that if everyone would get their collective head out of their collective ass, we can deal with a few bullies and be successful.”
Kirby seemed to consider what Rodney said as Jillian spoke up, “I think Rodney has a good idea, Father. I don’t think the gods are allowing the Korsans to do this as a further measure of our faithfulness. We show it on a daily basis by persevering and thriving against the sandstorms. While our refusal to stoop to their level shouldn’t be commended, couldn’t we also be hindering ourselves by not actively getting rid of something evil that holds us in fear?”
“You have a good point, Jillian,” Kirby replied. “You both have given me a number of things to think about. Now, Rodney, when you’re finished eating, I’d like to start teaching you about the scrolls.”
“I’m done,” Rodney replied, standing. “Let me just clean up first.”
“I’ll get that,” Jillian said, taking the bowl out of his hands. “And don’t protest.”
Rodney opened his mouth, but immediately closed it again to comply. He crossed the room and sat down next to Kirby. “Okay, so what are we looking at?” he asked as he leaned forward to see the scroll that Kirby had laid out on a small table.
“This is part of the family tree for the peoples of Lapras, Nagdali, and Morykos,” Kirby replied as he pointed out the three different sections. “We use it to help us arrange marriages among ourselves and between our peoples.”
“So the other tribes have copies of these as well?” Rodney asked as he looked over the detailed, yet childish, drawings of people that had glyphs next to them. “And I thought that you didn’t have a writing system.”
“They do and we don’t. These symbols were taken from the other tribes so that they’d have a way to understand what was going on within our people. Like this one,” Kirby pointed out a small triangle next to one of the figures. “This means that this woman has an empty stomach like you.”
Rodney scanned the scroll. “This is amazing. How far back does this go?”
“Generations. The scrolls are kept in the small set of quarters adjacent to us.”
“So, how do you decide who to marry?”
“Usually someone will come to myself or my equal among the other tribes and say that they want to find a husband or wife for their daughter or son. We find out what sort of match they’re looking for – whether it be health-wise, personality, which guild they’re a part of, and go from there. And if the resulting match ends up being someone in one of the other tribes, we’ll go there first to that tribe’s healer and see what they think. If they believe it would be a wise match, then an offer is made to the family and then it goes from there.”
Rodney shook his head as he continued to study the scroll. “I think it would take forever to get a handle on how to do this.”
“And, yet, you’ve learned how to work the device that dials the Ring of the Ancestors.”
“That’s different,” Rodney replied with a shrug.
“I think it’s a similar thing dressed up in different ways,” Kirby replied as he carefully rolled up the scroll. “I need to sleep on a few ideas, and you need your rest as well, because who knows what the next few days are going to bring you.”
When Rodney came out of his quarters the next morning, he was surprised to see Kieran waiting for him.
“I have the device for you,” Kieran said, handing over a small black device that was a cube the size of Rodney’s palm with a cord attached to one side. “Good luck.”
“How does it work?” Rodney asked as he started to examine it.
Kieran shrugged. “I’m not really sure. All I know is that it enables people to get off this planet. Ask Kelly – he’s the expert on the Ring of the Ancestors.”
“I will.” Rodney looked up from the device. “Thank you, Kieran, for getting this. Do I want to know how you got it?”
Kieran shrugged. “I told them that we just wanted to do a routine check on it and that you were an outside specialist on Ring technology and wanted a closer look at it. They handed it over.”
“That’s surprising. So, how long do I have?”
Kieran shrugged again. “They want it back before they have to leave. Other than that, they didn’t specify. Look, I’ve got to meet some of the Nagdalis about a trade negotiation. If you need any more help, just ask, okay?”
“No problem,” Rodney replied. “I didn’t mean to hold you up. And thanks again.”
As Kieran left, Rodney sat down outside of his quarters and began studying the device. He could see that it had seams around the edges, but couldn’t figure out a way to get inside. There also didn’t appear to be an on/off switch, though the cord did look like it had the capability to plug in on its free end.
Rodney was about to give up in frustration and get Kelly out of his quarters whether he wanted to or not when the subject of Rodney’s wish came out under his own volition and without any provocation.
“I see you got the device,” Kelly commented, wandering over.
“I did, though I’m about to give up in frustration,” Rodney commented. “I can’t get it to turn on or figure out how to get inside of it.”
“Well, you can’t simply turn it on because it needs to be plugged into the Ring to activate its power source,” Kelly replied as he sat down next to Rodney. “Though, it will enable if it’s opened so that the memory function can be updated.” He reached over and took the device out of Rodney’s hands.
“I thought that this device powered the Gate,” Rodney said, perplexed.
“It does,” Kelly responded. “But you don’t want it to accidentally turn on and burn out the power source, do you?” Not waiting for an answer, he continued, “And this is how you open it.” He held the cube at the corners on a diagonal line and gently pushed his hands together; with a light ‘pop’, the cube opened. Setting the cover aside, Kelly flipped up a small display screen and it turned itself on. “So, what do you want to do with this?”
“Well, I was hoping to get a look at how it worked,” Rodney replied, leaning in and tentatively reaching out to take it out of Kelly’s hands. Kelly easily handed it over. “And I was hoping to disable it from coming back here.” He looked up at Kelly. “Do the Korsans raid the Morykons and the Nagdalis as well?”
“Yes, but to a lesser extent, since we were the first to not allow them to intermarry with us.”
Studying the device, Rodney said, “But the chances are good that if they find out they can’t get to us, they’ll start picking on them more, and from them, the Korsans will find a way back here. So, we should see about putting a block on our address as well as the address of the Nagdalis and the Morykons – one that keeps this device from remembering it when they try to put it back in and also stops the Gate from dialing even if it doesn’t keep it in its memory. I need to get to the Gate to hook this up so I can see how it works.”
“Rodney, I doubt they’d allow you to do that.”
Rodney looked at Kelly sharply. “Don’t be such an idiot. I’m not going anywhere once I get there. I made a promise to help fight against the Korsans and I intend to do that. And part of that fight includes giving this back to them. Besides, you’re coming with me and I’m sure that if anyone has any objections, they’ll listen to you more than me. Plus, there will be a fair number of people around the Gate, right?”
“Yes,” Kelly sighed. “The Locdras are going home today.”
“Good,” Rodney beamed as he stood. “That means that there will be enough people to stop me if I do decide to attempt something, since we know it’ll take them forever to decide how they want to do things. Come on, we better get moving.” He shut the screen on the display and put the casing back in place. At Kelly’s worried look, he said, “Look, I *promise* I won’t do that. Maybe back at the beginning I would’ve considered doing that, but it’s the farthest thing from my mind at this point. I may miss Atlantis, but this is my home now and, believe me, I have enough common sense to know not to screw that up.”
Kelly still sat there, looking at Rodney warily.
Rodney huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Look, I’m going whether you are or not and your ambivalence is wasting precious time.”
“Okay, I’m coming,” Kelly replied darkly. “But I don’t like the situation you’re putting me in.”
“*Me*?” Rodney squeaked indignantly. “I gave you an out!” He started to say something else, but snapped his mouth shut and pinched the bridge of his nose before saying calmly, “We can discuss this later. Right now, we have to get going, so I suggest we both get ready as quickly as possible. I’m assuming we’re going through the tunnel since it’s quicker?”
Rodney and Kelly were soon on their way and spent the journey in silence, though Rodney was slightly surprised to find that the silence was comfortable, even with the argument they’d just had. His hands itched to work on the device. Having a new piece of technology so close was giving him a bigger buzz than the Colombian coffee Simpson had gotten the first time the Daedalus had brought requested personal items. In his desire to survive, Rodney had buried his desire to learn about other cultures’ technology. But now that he had it within his grasp, he wanted it now.
When they reached the Gate, a few of the Locdras were already there, conversing quickly and quietly about the correct order for their people and things to go through the Gate, but they paid Rodney and Kelly no mind.
“So where do we plug this thing in?” Rodney asked.
“Over here,” Kelly replied, taking him to the back of the Gate’s dais on the trapdoor’s side and Rodney immediately saw a similar cord coming out of the back of the Gate. Kelly plugged it in and the cube popped open and the display screen turned on as it opened up.
“Oh, that’s pretty cool,” Rodney said, sitting down on the dais and absently setting the cover aside as he watched the display scrolled through a series of glyphs. It stopped and a cursor started blinking. “Okay, now what?”
“Here,” Kelly said as he sat down next to Rodney. He took the device from Rodney and pulled a stylus out of one side. “The 36 symbols are here.” He drew an air circle around the small keypad. “And these two buttons here are to scroll through stored addresses.” He hit one of the buttons with the stylus and an address popped up. “Here’s ours,” he said, handing the device back over, “but I have no idea how to take it out permanently.”
“Is it stored in here permanently?” Rodney asked.
“No, only until it gets to the bottom of the list. The device can hold ten addresses at a time.”
Rodney nodded and went to work studying the device and randomly tapping buttons. When a stream of Ancient began scrolling across the screen, Rodney let out a satisfied grunt. He hit a few more buttons and the device beeped.
“What did you just do?” Kelly asked.
“I just told the device to not engage a wormhole if this device attempted to dial this Gate. I need to know the addresses for the Nagdalis and Morykons.”
Kelly gave him the addresses and Rodney repeated the process with both of them.
“Now what?” Kelly asked as he shut down the device and unplugged it.
“We hope it works,” Rodney replied as he stood and stretched.
“We *what*?” Kelly asked, shocked.
“Well, it’s not like I’ve done this before,” Rodney replied hotly. Taking a moment to calm himself, Rodney looked at the sun and then at the approaching Locdras, and, changing the subject, said, “We better get going.”
“Okay,” Kelly replied. “How could you not be sure?” he asked after they had entered the tunnel and secured the trap door.
“Given the limited amount of time and knowledge I have, I can’t be 100 percent sure,” Rodney said as they started walking. “But given what I know of other Ancient technology, I can assume and infer certain things about that device.”
Kelly let the subject drop and they traveled the rest of the way in silence.
When they returned, Jillian was playing a solitary game of dice in the commons. “The others are at the roast,” she said, looking up at them.
“I think I’m completely spent,” Kelly replied, sinking down next to her. “I doubt they’ll miss us at this point.”
“A number of people inquired if you’d be willing to demonstrate fighting techniques,” Jillian said to Rodney as he sat down on her other side.
“Okay,” he said absently as he began poking through his bag for some jerky. “It’ll have to be after I’ve gotten some sleep and food – this afternoon, probably.”
Jillian nodded. “Okay, I’ll get the word out when you’re ready. I have food ready if you two want something before you crash.”
“Oh, yes, please,” both men responded and Jillian laughed as the three of them stood and went in to eat.
The next two days passed in a blur for Rodney. He could feel himself switching over to autopilot as he helped the other tribes leave and the Laprans prepare to defend themselves against the Korsans. He was surprised when he realized that he was going at same rate as he did on Atlantis, but without the caffeine.
The training sessions he held to teach the Laprans how to truly use their staff weapons went exceedingly well, even if there was still a lingering apprehension among some at what they were doing and at using their staffs in such a way. But those that showed up proved to be apt pupils and Rodney felt himself relax a tiny bit when they finished, knowing that they weren’t going to be a completely lost cause.
Otherwise, he was a ball of nerves, and paced every chance he got. His mind also raced, drawing up every scenario he could think of based on the data that Kelly had given him, trying to figure out all the possible outcomes and making all of them be as favorable as possible.
“You’re making my eyes cross, Rodney,” Jillian said with an amused chuckle. “Could you please sit down?”
“I can’t,” he replied tensely. “When I don’t have control over a situation, or, at the very least, have something to do during a crisis, it makes me nervous. I don’t know how you people can be so calm about this.”
“We’re used to it, Rodney, remember?”
Rodney sighed. “I know.” They heard a commotion outside and Rodney spun towards the entrance. “It’s started.” Grabbing his staff and heading to the entrance, Rodney said, “I have to go out there.”
“Are you sure that’s a wise decision, Rodney-kun?” Kirby asked. “If they find out that you’re the one behind this, they could make an example of you.”
“Sooner or later, they’re going to get here and they’ll have heard by then anyway,” Rodney replied. “Besides, I better go out there and make sure no one does anything stupid.”
“I doubt anyone will do anything stupid, Rodney-kun,” Kirby replied dryly.
“That depends on your definition of stupid,” Rodney responded before heading out.
On the other side of the curtain, Rodney found half of the adult Laprans and six Korsans in a silent standoff. Looking between them, Rodney wondered whom he should start berating first and for what.
“Oh, good, Rodney-kun,” Jean said lightly. “Maybe you can talk some sense into these people.”
“I think all of you are more than capable of doing that,” Rodney replied, planting one end of his staff in the ground and leaning against it. “Especially considering how they’re nothing more than greedy pigs who have brains the size of walnuts.”
Rodney heard some slight chuckling from the Laprans as the Korsans’ eyes flashed and their nostrils flared.
“You dare insult us, foreigner?” the leader of the Korsans asked, turning to Rodney.
“Sure,” Rodney replied easily, surprised at how calm he felt. “Now, I’m sure it’s been explained to you that we’re not going to take your bullying any more. So, are you going to leave quietly, or do we have to beat some sense into you?”
“I doubt you could,” the leader replied.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rodney saw the Laprans shift in place to grip their staffs tighter, or into a subtly offensive stance. “Oh, I think we could. Because we’re not going to take your bullying any longer. If you’re not smart enough to find ways to survive without stealing or intimidating, you’re not welcome here.”
The Korsans growled and Rodney couldn’t help but roll his eyes and laugh as he said, “Oh, there are so many ways I could mock you right now.”
“Beating you into submission will certainly be pleasurable,” the Korsan leader said as he advanced on Rodney and the others advanced onto the Laprans.
Rodney swung his staff so he was holding it with both hands. “Bring it on, then.”
Rodney’s focus narrowed to the man in front of him and he hoped the other Laprans would follow his lead. The Korsan pulled out the staff that had been strapped to his back. Rodney forced himself to relax as he watched the other man come at him and as he swung wide at Rodney, hoping to hit him in the side, Rodney jabbed the butt of his staff into the man’s solar plexus, winding him and causing him to drop his staff and stagger back a few steps. Rodney quickly and efficiently landed a few more hits on him, bringing him to his knees, and stood behind him, using his staff to hold the man back against his legs.
“Not so easy, was it?” he asked. He looked up and saw that the Laprans had cornered the other Korsans near the entrance to the caves. “Now, we’re going to let you all leave and you’re not going to come back.”
“Or what?” the leader laughed.
Rodney tightened the pressure against the man’s chest and heard his breathing become shallower and more labored. “Do you really want to test that theory, considering that the first time we’ve fought back, we’ve forced you to surrender?”
Hearing a sound, they both looked up and found the other Korsans being herded through the corridor and into their borough by other Laprans. Releasing the leader, Rodney poked him in the back with his staff and said, “Let’s go.”
Rodney helped herd the empty-handed and silent Korsans through the tunnel, all of the Laprans who came with him taking turns at the front and prodding the resentful Korsans along. When they got to the Gate, Rodney hooked up the Laprans’ Gate dialing device and dialed the Korsans’ planet. The Laprans herded the Korsans through and Rodney shut off the Gate.
There was a moment of silence before a whoop went up from the Laprans and Rodney grinned. They had done it.
Continue to Part 10
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
“Okay, look. You’ve got to help me,” Rodney said firmly, as he stopped pacing and sat down next to Kelly. “You should know by now that I wouldn’t do this if I thought that keeping the status quo would be better.”
“I know,” Kelly sighed as he looked around the empty practice cave. “It’s just that you’re going against generations of belief. It’s not going to be easy.”
“I wouldn’t think it would be. But look, I need to know what their attack patterns are like so we can make up a plan.”
“Okay, where do you want me to begin?”
“Wherever you want, but as far back as you can remember would be the best.”
As Kelly gave Rodney the details of a number of attacks, as well as names and ages of people taken and possessions seized. Rodney processed it as quickly as possible, picking up patterns and making assessments. When Kelly finished, Rodney mulled over the information, wishing John was there to help him plan it. But he had seen him get ready for enough missions to have some idea of how to do it. He was able to cross off most ideas due to time constraints or lack of item availability. The one thing he kept coming back to was that this was not be easy.
“I think I’ve got a plan,” Rodney finally said. At Kelly’s expectant look, he continued, “We don’t let it be easy for them.”
Kelly looked at him like he’d grown another head. “We went through all of that for *that*?”
“I know, I know. It sounds stupid, but think about it. Your people haven’t fought back in generations. They’re not expecting you to. They’ll plan on a little roughing up at most to keep us all ‘in line’, but that’ll give us the element of surprise. We’ll obviously take the kids, and anyone else that could be easily harmed, down into the caves to keep them safe and I prefer to have it done as soon as possible,” he said, more to himself than Kelly. Pulling himself back on topic, he continued, “I think if we can find a way to not be overtly forceful but still tell them that we’re not going to take it, we won’t have to use actual brute force. How many people can use staffs?”
“At least a third own staffs,” Kelly replied numbly, looking a bit shell-shocked. “The number goes up to a little over half if you don’t care about their level of proficiency.”
“I think they should all be at the ready, in case if things do get ugly.” He squeezed Kelly’s shoulder. “We’ll make it through this, Kelly-chan.”
“I wish I had your assurance, Rodney-chan.”
“Believe me, most of this is just bravado. I’ve learned, though, that some fears can be great motivators to overcoming other fears.” He stood. “Come on, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Where do we start?” Kelly asked as he also stood.
“Well, we need to get everyone together. I think it’d be easiest to go over the plan that way.”
“We’ll have to do it in the evenings, then. That’s the only time everyone will be back.” Kelly looked skeptical. “Are you sure about this, Rodney-chan?”
“As sure as I can be,” Rodney replied, giving him a grim smile.
“And this fear – you felt this normally on Atlantis?”
“I wouldn’t say *normally*,” Rodney replied, rubbing the back of his neck and wincing slightly. “Routinely, yes.”
“You’re definitely made of sterner stuff than either I am or you give yourself credit for. I don’t think I could do this regularly.”
“Normally I don’t have time to think about it,” Rodney replied as they started walking to the surface. “I’m in the middle of whatever crisis we’re thrown into and once we’re done, I usually collapse into bed exhausted. After that, I’m usually on to whatever’s next. I’ve learned it’s best not to dwell on things.” After a pause, he asked, “So, how do we gather everyone together?”
“We just go around to everyone’s quarters and tell them we need to have a general meeting.”
“Oh, right,” Rodney commented, remembering when others had done that before prior to the tenth month festival. Coming out of the caves, he said, “Okay, let’s get started, because we’ve then got four other boroughs to get to.”
Kelly nodded as he looked around. “It looks like everyone’s back.” Pointing to the right, he said, “I’ll start on this side and you start on that side. We’ll meet in the middle.”
Rodney nodded and they split up. Going into his own quarters, he said to Kirby and Jillian, “We’re having a group meeting in a few minutes.”
“About what?” Jillian asked curiously.
“Oh, just some stuff,” Rodney replied evasively as he put his staff away.
“Is everything okay, Rodney-kun?” Kirby asked, looking concerned as he put the medicines he had been working on aside. Jillian gave the stew a final stir and they both stood.
“Yeah, I think it will be,” Rodney replied, distractedly, as he headed towards the entrance. “I’ve got to go alert everyone else,” he said before ducking out.
Gathering everyone together was easier than Rodney had expected and in a matter of minutes, he and Kelly had everyone in their borough assembled in the common area.
Rodney let out a focused breath as Kelly whispered, “Good luck.”
Rodney gave him a weak smile before going up to the entrance of the caves, which gave him a natural, if slight, rise to stand on so he could look out over everyone. “Okay,” he said loudly, “can I please have everyone’s attention?” When a few dozen pairs of eyes focused on him and a hush fell over the crowd, Rodney continued, “All right then. I’ll keep this as brief as possible.”
“If you can do that, Rodney-kun, it will be a surprising day,” Kirby called and everyone laughed.
“Oh, ha ha,” Rodney replied, knowing it was true that, even though he had gotten much better, he still tended to let his mouth get away from him. “I can do it, Kirby, I just choose not to.” Looking out over the crowd of people he had become familiar with and almost thought of as a new family, he said, “All right, I doubt any of you are going to like what I have to say, so I’m just going to say it. I think you’re all being stupid and moronic to epic proportions for letting the Korsans take your people and your property and not fighting back. And I think that you should do so when they come in a few days’ time.”
There was a collective gasp from the group. “We can’t do that,” someone replied, shocked.
“Why not?” Rodney replied, crossly, folding his arms over his chest defiantly. “Because of your ‘beliefs’?”
A scattered chorus of ‘yes’ answered him.
Rodney rolled his eyes. “Okay, let me get this straight.” He raised a hand to tick off reasons. “You believe that you should be kind and compassionate to others.” Various people nodded. “Okay, fine – great, even. That’s a commendable virtue in anyone.” Raising a second finger, he continued, “The Korsans used to be a part of your little ‘intermarriage’ cabal but got kicked out due to the fact that they didn’t have good hereditary material, plus they were taking advantage in other ways of you, the Morykons, and the Nagdalis.” More people nodded. “Then,” his voice started to rise in pitch and irritation, “why in the *hell* are you helping them to survive? Because that’s what you’re doing, you know. I doubt that your forefathers were intentionally trying to kill them off by not breeding or trading with them, but, seriously, what kind of sense does it make that they tell them, ‘Look, we’re not going to trade or intermarry with you anymore,’ which obviously upsets the Korsans since they’re losing a key part to their survival, and then they just roll over and let them take people and things because they’re angry and bitter? None of you let your children do that.”
“Our ancestors did fight back originally,” Jean protested.
“Then what changed?” Rodney challenged. “Because the Korsans doing it once a cycle after the festival isn’t exactly beating your ancestors down and making them submit due to sheer force. It should’ve given them time to regroup and be ready for the next time, not turn what the Korsans were, and still are, doing into some sort of weird way for you all to ‘atone’ for your sins so the gods will forgive you and stop what was happening. I hate to break it to all of you, but the gods have nothing to do with this. This is completely the fault of a petty, bitter group of people who don’t know how to take rejection gracefully and find a different way of doing things when one avenue closes to them.” Changing tactics at their stony-faced stares, he said, “Haven’t you ever wanted to fight back? Were you ever afraid that a loved one would be taken? Justine – are you afraid that one of your daughters might be taken this time? Or, Kirby – what about Jillian? Or Jillian – what about Kyle? I know how much you love your cousin.” The anger left his voice, to be replaced by a sad desperation. “How can you all stand it? The knowledge that either you or a loved one could be taken away, never to see each other again, and knowing that there might be *something* you could have done to prevent it, but didn’t?”
“But if we try to fight back, they’ll just use force and it’ll make things worse,” one of the women said.
“That is a possibility,” Rodney replied. “But what if you were victorious? What if you were able to kick them out for good? Have you ever thought about that? What would it be like if you and your children didn’t have to worry about them ever again?”
There was some murmuring between everyone and Rodney saw a few hesitant smiles.
“But we don’t know how to fight back,” Jillian said.
“Yes, you do,” Rodney replied indignantly. “What do you think the staff fighting is? A meditative art form? A way to get rid of some excess energy? It was originally intended to be a form of actual fighting. Which means it can be used as a form of defense. You’ve already got the basics, you just have to put some force behind it.”
“How?” Kelly asked.
Rodney rolled his eyes. “You just put more force behind your offense and you don’t let your defensive forms fall weakly. Using your grief at losing a loved one and your anger at the Korsans for taking them is a great way to do it.”
The Laprans still looked doubtful.
“Look,” he said, trying a different tack. “What if I could promise that the world isn’t going to end if we do this? And that there just might be a way to keep the Korsans from coming back?” From the looks in their eyes, Rodney could tell that he had just won over a lot of them.
“How would you do that?” Kirby asked.
“Well, I’d need to know how they got off this planet, for one thing. And I also need to know if they use the same method to get on and off their home planet.”
“They use the same piece of technology all the other tribes use to leave our planet,” Jean said. “But we don’t know if it’s the same thing they use to come here.”
“Is there any way I could get my hands on one?” Rodney asked. “I promise I won’t leave – if that’s what anyone’s worried about. I wouldn’t do that to all of you. But it would really help if I could see how it works.”
“Do you want theirs specifically, or just one in general?” someone asked.
“Well, theirs specifically would be great, but I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“Done,” the person, whom Rodney suddenly remembered was named Kieran, replied. “Is tomorrow soon enough?”
“That should be fine,” Rodney replied. He honestly had no idea if that would give him enough time, but it would have to. “So,” Rodney continued, looking out over the group, “I have at least one person willing to give this a shot with me. What about the rest of you?”
They looked back at him warily as Kirby said, “We need time to consider what you’ve said, Rodney-chan. We hear the truth of your words in our hearts, but for most of us, our heads are telling us to continue on the path that was set out by our ancestors.” There were nods from the rest of the group.
“That’s fair,” Rodney replied. “I do understand your obvious hesitation to throw out numerous generations worth of beliefs. But remember that the Korsans aren’t going to care if you’ve made up your minds or not. If you’re not ready by the time they come, it’ll be business as usual for them. Thank you all for your time.”
Quiet murmurs spread through the group as Rodney strode to the corridor, blatantly not looking to see what people’s reactions were, where Kelly met him.
As they headed to the next borough, Rodney said, “How do you think it went?”
Kelly shrugged. “It’s hard to say. No one’s ever openly gone against our beliefs. I think you definitely hit a nerve, though.” He grinned. “I think you’re what we need.”
“How so?” Rodney asked, looking at him perplexed.
Kelly stopped and looked at him exasperated. “Rodney, seriously. We’ve been going about our business with nothing changing for *generations*, for farther back than anyone here can remember. Hope can only take us so far before it wears too thin. I think that while everyone would love to see the sandstorms stop for good and for things to return to the way they were before the sandstorms started, none of us really believes it’s going to happen. I think that what we do makes us feel better, but I doubt it’s going to make the gods change their minds. I think they’ve grown bored with how we’ve been handling things and until something changes with us, I doubt things are going to change on their end.”
“At least you’re not as dumb as some of your beliefs make you seem,” Rodney commented as he started walking again.
“And what do you believe, Rodney-chan?”
Rodney shrugged as he looked at the floor. “I’ve never really thought about it. I think things are too amazing and awesome for them to have just randomly come into being millions of years ago. But I doubt that there’s any sort of god – or gods – controlling our every action and watching what we’re doing.”
“Then how do you explain people’s motivation for doing things?”
“I’ve never really thought about it,” he said, looking up at Kelly. “I’ve always just assumed it was mostly instinctual – the necessity of food, of the survival of both the being and of the species.”
“And everything hinges on that?”
“I guess so.” Kelly’s questions should have been easy, Rodney’s brain told him. If anyone on either Earth or Atlantis had brought up the subject, Rodney would have immediately shot them down and been done with it, but something about Kelly’s earnestness made Rodney stop and think. “Look,” Rodney stopped a few feet from the entrance to the next borough, “I’ve never thought about it because it never seemed important. There are a number of people where I’m from who believe deeply in a higher power and a divine plan, but that isn’t for me.”
“Fair enough.” He glanced at the entrance to the next borough. “Are you ready to do this?”
“Does it matter?” Rodney asked. “We need to do this. I’m more worried about how they’ll react. If our borough acted the way it did, how are the rest of them going to act?”
“Take a deep breath and let it out slowly, Rodney-chan,” Kelly said, “and focus on why we’re doing this.”
Rodney did as he was told and felt a bit of his nervousness melt away. “Okay, let’s go,” he said as he started moving again.
On the way back to their borough after finishing with the final borough, both Rodney and Kelly let out a deep breath.
“We’re not dead,” Kelly said lightly.
“I think it could have been a close call a few times,” Rodney replied. “But the reactions were basically the same across the board, so I think there’s some hope. We’ll just have to see once things marinate for a while.”
“Marinate?” Kelly asked.
“Sits, gets thought through,” Rodney replied off-handedly.
“Ah.” Kelly glanced around the commons area as they entered. “This is good, right?” he asked quietly.
Rodney did a quick scan and saw that most of the people had disbanded. The ones who were out were in the midst of normal evening activities. “I think so. It looks like they haven’t gotten together and decided to kill us for heresy. Do you guys do that here?” Rodney asked, looking at Kelly skeptically.
“No, not really,” Kelly replied. “But, then again, no one’s ever tried going against our stated beliefs before, either. So, you never know if they’re going to change their mind on that now.”
“Oh, that’s reassuring,” Rodney replied sarcastically as they headed back to his quarters. “I’ll be the Laprans’ first religious rebel and heretic.”
“If you haven’t immediately been ostracized, I have a feeling that things will be fine.”
“Well, we’ll see. Sometimes it takes a while for these things to kick in.”
Kelly shrugged as his stomach growled. “I doubt that’ll happen at this point. Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I need to eat. So I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah, I better go see if Jillian and Kirby saved me any food or if I’m going to starve for who knows how long as penitence.” He gave Kelly a slight wave before ducking into his quarters.
Inside, Kirby was going over some scrolls and Jillian was mending some shirts. The pot was still hanging over the fire and the smell of stew was still strong in the air. They both looked up as he entered and Jillian set aside the shirt and moved to get Rodney a bowl of stew.
“I guess this means I’m not going to be thrown out?” Rodney asked hopefully.
“That’s going to depend on how everything else goes,” Kirby replied. “If this doesn’t go well, we may be forced to.”
“Really?” Rodney asked, surprised, as he sat down and Jillian handed him the steaming bowl before returning to her work.
Kirby shrugged. “I’m not really sure. We’ve never had anything like this happen before. What possessed you to do such a thing?”
Rodney half shrugged as he started eating and between bites, he said, “I couldn’t stand by and let the Korsans continue doing what they’ve been doing to all of you. I care for all of you too much to let that happen if I think I can do something about it.”
“And is this arrogance a trait of your people, or just a personal trait?” Kirby asked, looking at him astutely.
“A little of both, actually,” Rodney replied, not letting himself get worried by Kirby’s line of questioning. “And I’ve gotten my native people out of a number of incidents that were much worse than this, so I feel confident that if everyone would get their collective head out of their collective ass, we can deal with a few bullies and be successful.”
Kirby seemed to consider what Rodney said as Jillian spoke up, “I think Rodney has a good idea, Father. I don’t think the gods are allowing the Korsans to do this as a further measure of our faithfulness. We show it on a daily basis by persevering and thriving against the sandstorms. While our refusal to stoop to their level shouldn’t be commended, couldn’t we also be hindering ourselves by not actively getting rid of something evil that holds us in fear?”
“You have a good point, Jillian,” Kirby replied. “You both have given me a number of things to think about. Now, Rodney, when you’re finished eating, I’d like to start teaching you about the scrolls.”
“I’m done,” Rodney replied, standing. “Let me just clean up first.”
“I’ll get that,” Jillian said, taking the bowl out of his hands. “And don’t protest.”
Rodney opened his mouth, but immediately closed it again to comply. He crossed the room and sat down next to Kirby. “Okay, so what are we looking at?” he asked as he leaned forward to see the scroll that Kirby had laid out on a small table.
“This is part of the family tree for the peoples of Lapras, Nagdali, and Morykos,” Kirby replied as he pointed out the three different sections. “We use it to help us arrange marriages among ourselves and between our peoples.”
“So the other tribes have copies of these as well?” Rodney asked as he looked over the detailed, yet childish, drawings of people that had glyphs next to them. “And I thought that you didn’t have a writing system.”
“They do and we don’t. These symbols were taken from the other tribes so that they’d have a way to understand what was going on within our people. Like this one,” Kirby pointed out a small triangle next to one of the figures. “This means that this woman has an empty stomach like you.”
Rodney scanned the scroll. “This is amazing. How far back does this go?”
“Generations. The scrolls are kept in the small set of quarters adjacent to us.”
“So, how do you decide who to marry?”
“Usually someone will come to myself or my equal among the other tribes and say that they want to find a husband or wife for their daughter or son. We find out what sort of match they’re looking for – whether it be health-wise, personality, which guild they’re a part of, and go from there. And if the resulting match ends up being someone in one of the other tribes, we’ll go there first to that tribe’s healer and see what they think. If they believe it would be a wise match, then an offer is made to the family and then it goes from there.”
Rodney shook his head as he continued to study the scroll. “I think it would take forever to get a handle on how to do this.”
“And, yet, you’ve learned how to work the device that dials the Ring of the Ancestors.”
“That’s different,” Rodney replied with a shrug.
“I think it’s a similar thing dressed up in different ways,” Kirby replied as he carefully rolled up the scroll. “I need to sleep on a few ideas, and you need your rest as well, because who knows what the next few days are going to bring you.”
When Rodney came out of his quarters the next morning, he was surprised to see Kieran waiting for him.
“I have the device for you,” Kieran said, handing over a small black device that was a cube the size of Rodney’s palm with a cord attached to one side. “Good luck.”
“How does it work?” Rodney asked as he started to examine it.
Kieran shrugged. “I’m not really sure. All I know is that it enables people to get off this planet. Ask Kelly – he’s the expert on the Ring of the Ancestors.”
“I will.” Rodney looked up from the device. “Thank you, Kieran, for getting this. Do I want to know how you got it?”
Kieran shrugged. “I told them that we just wanted to do a routine check on it and that you were an outside specialist on Ring technology and wanted a closer look at it. They handed it over.”
“That’s surprising. So, how long do I have?”
Kieran shrugged again. “They want it back before they have to leave. Other than that, they didn’t specify. Look, I’ve got to meet some of the Nagdalis about a trade negotiation. If you need any more help, just ask, okay?”
“No problem,” Rodney replied. “I didn’t mean to hold you up. And thanks again.”
As Kieran left, Rodney sat down outside of his quarters and began studying the device. He could see that it had seams around the edges, but couldn’t figure out a way to get inside. There also didn’t appear to be an on/off switch, though the cord did look like it had the capability to plug in on its free end.
Rodney was about to give up in frustration and get Kelly out of his quarters whether he wanted to or not when the subject of Rodney’s wish came out under his own volition and without any provocation.
“I see you got the device,” Kelly commented, wandering over.
“I did, though I’m about to give up in frustration,” Rodney commented. “I can’t get it to turn on or figure out how to get inside of it.”
“Well, you can’t simply turn it on because it needs to be plugged into the Ring to activate its power source,” Kelly replied as he sat down next to Rodney. “Though, it will enable if it’s opened so that the memory function can be updated.” He reached over and took the device out of Rodney’s hands.
“I thought that this device powered the Gate,” Rodney said, perplexed.
“It does,” Kelly responded. “But you don’t want it to accidentally turn on and burn out the power source, do you?” Not waiting for an answer, he continued, “And this is how you open it.” He held the cube at the corners on a diagonal line and gently pushed his hands together; with a light ‘pop’, the cube opened. Setting the cover aside, Kelly flipped up a small display screen and it turned itself on. “So, what do you want to do with this?”
“Well, I was hoping to get a look at how it worked,” Rodney replied, leaning in and tentatively reaching out to take it out of Kelly’s hands. Kelly easily handed it over. “And I was hoping to disable it from coming back here.” He looked up at Kelly. “Do the Korsans raid the Morykons and the Nagdalis as well?”
“Yes, but to a lesser extent, since we were the first to not allow them to intermarry with us.”
Studying the device, Rodney said, “But the chances are good that if they find out they can’t get to us, they’ll start picking on them more, and from them, the Korsans will find a way back here. So, we should see about putting a block on our address as well as the address of the Nagdalis and the Morykons – one that keeps this device from remembering it when they try to put it back in and also stops the Gate from dialing even if it doesn’t keep it in its memory. I need to get to the Gate to hook this up so I can see how it works.”
“Rodney, I doubt they’d allow you to do that.”
Rodney looked at Kelly sharply. “Don’t be such an idiot. I’m not going anywhere once I get there. I made a promise to help fight against the Korsans and I intend to do that. And part of that fight includes giving this back to them. Besides, you’re coming with me and I’m sure that if anyone has any objections, they’ll listen to you more than me. Plus, there will be a fair number of people around the Gate, right?”
“Yes,” Kelly sighed. “The Locdras are going home today.”
“Good,” Rodney beamed as he stood. “That means that there will be enough people to stop me if I do decide to attempt something, since we know it’ll take them forever to decide how they want to do things. Come on, we better get moving.” He shut the screen on the display and put the casing back in place. At Kelly’s worried look, he said, “Look, I *promise* I won’t do that. Maybe back at the beginning I would’ve considered doing that, but it’s the farthest thing from my mind at this point. I may miss Atlantis, but this is my home now and, believe me, I have enough common sense to know not to screw that up.”
Kelly still sat there, looking at Rodney warily.
Rodney huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Look, I’m going whether you are or not and your ambivalence is wasting precious time.”
“Okay, I’m coming,” Kelly replied darkly. “But I don’t like the situation you’re putting me in.”
“*Me*?” Rodney squeaked indignantly. “I gave you an out!” He started to say something else, but snapped his mouth shut and pinched the bridge of his nose before saying calmly, “We can discuss this later. Right now, we have to get going, so I suggest we both get ready as quickly as possible. I’m assuming we’re going through the tunnel since it’s quicker?”
Rodney and Kelly were soon on their way and spent the journey in silence, though Rodney was slightly surprised to find that the silence was comfortable, even with the argument they’d just had. His hands itched to work on the device. Having a new piece of technology so close was giving him a bigger buzz than the Colombian coffee Simpson had gotten the first time the Daedalus had brought requested personal items. In his desire to survive, Rodney had buried his desire to learn about other cultures’ technology. But now that he had it within his grasp, he wanted it now.
When they reached the Gate, a few of the Locdras were already there, conversing quickly and quietly about the correct order for their people and things to go through the Gate, but they paid Rodney and Kelly no mind.
“So where do we plug this thing in?” Rodney asked.
“Over here,” Kelly replied, taking him to the back of the Gate’s dais on the trapdoor’s side and Rodney immediately saw a similar cord coming out of the back of the Gate. Kelly plugged it in and the cube popped open and the display screen turned on as it opened up.
“Oh, that’s pretty cool,” Rodney said, sitting down on the dais and absently setting the cover aside as he watched the display scrolled through a series of glyphs. It stopped and a cursor started blinking. “Okay, now what?”
“Here,” Kelly said as he sat down next to Rodney. He took the device from Rodney and pulled a stylus out of one side. “The 36 symbols are here.” He drew an air circle around the small keypad. “And these two buttons here are to scroll through stored addresses.” He hit one of the buttons with the stylus and an address popped up. “Here’s ours,” he said, handing the device back over, “but I have no idea how to take it out permanently.”
“Is it stored in here permanently?” Rodney asked.
“No, only until it gets to the bottom of the list. The device can hold ten addresses at a time.”
Rodney nodded and went to work studying the device and randomly tapping buttons. When a stream of Ancient began scrolling across the screen, Rodney let out a satisfied grunt. He hit a few more buttons and the device beeped.
“What did you just do?” Kelly asked.
“I just told the device to not engage a wormhole if this device attempted to dial this Gate. I need to know the addresses for the Nagdalis and Morykons.”
Kelly gave him the addresses and Rodney repeated the process with both of them.
“Now what?” Kelly asked as he shut down the device and unplugged it.
“We hope it works,” Rodney replied as he stood and stretched.
“We *what*?” Kelly asked, shocked.
“Well, it’s not like I’ve done this before,” Rodney replied hotly. Taking a moment to calm himself, Rodney looked at the sun and then at the approaching Locdras, and, changing the subject, said, “We better get going.”
“Okay,” Kelly replied. “How could you not be sure?” he asked after they had entered the tunnel and secured the trap door.
“Given the limited amount of time and knowledge I have, I can’t be 100 percent sure,” Rodney said as they started walking. “But given what I know of other Ancient technology, I can assume and infer certain things about that device.”
Kelly let the subject drop and they traveled the rest of the way in silence.
When they returned, Jillian was playing a solitary game of dice in the commons. “The others are at the roast,” she said, looking up at them.
“I think I’m completely spent,” Kelly replied, sinking down next to her. “I doubt they’ll miss us at this point.”
“A number of people inquired if you’d be willing to demonstrate fighting techniques,” Jillian said to Rodney as he sat down on her other side.
“Okay,” he said absently as he began poking through his bag for some jerky. “It’ll have to be after I’ve gotten some sleep and food – this afternoon, probably.”
Jillian nodded. “Okay, I’ll get the word out when you’re ready. I have food ready if you two want something before you crash.”
“Oh, yes, please,” both men responded and Jillian laughed as the three of them stood and went in to eat.
The next two days passed in a blur for Rodney. He could feel himself switching over to autopilot as he helped the other tribes leave and the Laprans prepare to defend themselves against the Korsans. He was surprised when he realized that he was going at same rate as he did on Atlantis, but without the caffeine.
The training sessions he held to teach the Laprans how to truly use their staff weapons went exceedingly well, even if there was still a lingering apprehension among some at what they were doing and at using their staffs in such a way. But those that showed up proved to be apt pupils and Rodney felt himself relax a tiny bit when they finished, knowing that they weren’t going to be a completely lost cause.
Otherwise, he was a ball of nerves, and paced every chance he got. His mind also raced, drawing up every scenario he could think of based on the data that Kelly had given him, trying to figure out all the possible outcomes and making all of them be as favorable as possible.
“You’re making my eyes cross, Rodney,” Jillian said with an amused chuckle. “Could you please sit down?”
“I can’t,” he replied tensely. “When I don’t have control over a situation, or, at the very least, have something to do during a crisis, it makes me nervous. I don’t know how you people can be so calm about this.”
“We’re used to it, Rodney, remember?”
Rodney sighed. “I know.” They heard a commotion outside and Rodney spun towards the entrance. “It’s started.” Grabbing his staff and heading to the entrance, Rodney said, “I have to go out there.”
“Are you sure that’s a wise decision, Rodney-kun?” Kirby asked. “If they find out that you’re the one behind this, they could make an example of you.”
“Sooner or later, they’re going to get here and they’ll have heard by then anyway,” Rodney replied. “Besides, I better go out there and make sure no one does anything stupid.”
“I doubt anyone will do anything stupid, Rodney-kun,” Kirby replied dryly.
“That depends on your definition of stupid,” Rodney responded before heading out.
On the other side of the curtain, Rodney found half of the adult Laprans and six Korsans in a silent standoff. Looking between them, Rodney wondered whom he should start berating first and for what.
“Oh, good, Rodney-kun,” Jean said lightly. “Maybe you can talk some sense into these people.”
“I think all of you are more than capable of doing that,” Rodney replied, planting one end of his staff in the ground and leaning against it. “Especially considering how they’re nothing more than greedy pigs who have brains the size of walnuts.”
Rodney heard some slight chuckling from the Laprans as the Korsans’ eyes flashed and their nostrils flared.
“You dare insult us, foreigner?” the leader of the Korsans asked, turning to Rodney.
“Sure,” Rodney replied easily, surprised at how calm he felt. “Now, I’m sure it’s been explained to you that we’re not going to take your bullying any more. So, are you going to leave quietly, or do we have to beat some sense into you?”
“I doubt you could,” the leader replied.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rodney saw the Laprans shift in place to grip their staffs tighter, or into a subtly offensive stance. “Oh, I think we could. Because we’re not going to take your bullying any longer. If you’re not smart enough to find ways to survive without stealing or intimidating, you’re not welcome here.”
The Korsans growled and Rodney couldn’t help but roll his eyes and laugh as he said, “Oh, there are so many ways I could mock you right now.”
“Beating you into submission will certainly be pleasurable,” the Korsan leader said as he advanced on Rodney and the others advanced onto the Laprans.
Rodney swung his staff so he was holding it with both hands. “Bring it on, then.”
Rodney’s focus narrowed to the man in front of him and he hoped the other Laprans would follow his lead. The Korsan pulled out the staff that had been strapped to his back. Rodney forced himself to relax as he watched the other man come at him and as he swung wide at Rodney, hoping to hit him in the side, Rodney jabbed the butt of his staff into the man’s solar plexus, winding him and causing him to drop his staff and stagger back a few steps. Rodney quickly and efficiently landed a few more hits on him, bringing him to his knees, and stood behind him, using his staff to hold the man back against his legs.
“Not so easy, was it?” he asked. He looked up and saw that the Laprans had cornered the other Korsans near the entrance to the caves. “Now, we’re going to let you all leave and you’re not going to come back.”
“Or what?” the leader laughed.
Rodney tightened the pressure against the man’s chest and heard his breathing become shallower and more labored. “Do you really want to test that theory, considering that the first time we’ve fought back, we’ve forced you to surrender?”
Hearing a sound, they both looked up and found the other Korsans being herded through the corridor and into their borough by other Laprans. Releasing the leader, Rodney poked him in the back with his staff and said, “Let’s go.”
Rodney helped herd the empty-handed and silent Korsans through the tunnel, all of the Laprans who came with him taking turns at the front and prodding the resentful Korsans along. When they got to the Gate, Rodney hooked up the Laprans’ Gate dialing device and dialed the Korsans’ planet. The Laprans herded the Korsans through and Rodney shut off the Gate.
There was a moment of silence before a whoop went up from the Laprans and Rodney grinned. They had done it.
Continue to Part 10
