“Yeah, I heard. It’s a great plan except for one thing — I already told you that only two of us are genetically capable of using your weapons. Those two are myself and Rodney. If you put the others in that arena with those creatures you’ll be sending them to their deaths — and, more importantly for you, it’ll be very, very quick and very, very boring.”
“Why should I believe you? You have no reason to tell either myself or Mara the truth.”
“I see,” Sheppard said, looking at his feet and frowning. Either Mara had shared their conversation with Saul, or he had had a bug planted in her quarters. “On the other hand, I have no reason to tell you a lie. If I was going to send one of my men into the arena, do you think I’d choose Rodney? I thought you were after a fight. If you are, you’ll have to be starting with me.”
Teyla stepped forward, placing herself between Sheppard and Saul. “What you’re doing is barbaric! Forcing people to fight and die for your entertainment? Not to mention the creation of those…creatures. Do you think you are gods? Do you care nothing for the sanctity of life?”
“I care very much, young lady. I also care about honor and dignity. That is why I’ve devised this plan — this final ‘Entertainment.’ My people deserve a proper farewell…a wake to be remembered.”
She tilted her chin in defiance. “Remembered by who?”
There was silence. Sheppard took Teyla’s arm and pulled her away from Saul.
“No, I get it,” he said. “Go out with a bang. I mean, if I have to go out, I guess fighting a dragon, or a Woard, would be the way to do it. A final battle against all the odds. A last chance at victory and glory.”
Saul’s gaze moved to him, calculating and suspicious.
“Take me,” Sheppard said. “There might even be a time to let me practice with those Ancient weapons of yours.”
“I must say, Colonel, you surprise me,” Saul’s cynical expression belied his mild words. “I marked you as a brave man, but this is not what I expected. Maybe you understand us a little better than I believed that you did. Very well, it will be as you wish.”
He turned to Ronon and the others.
“The rest of you can wait here. I’ll send someone for each of you when it is your turn.”
He nodded curtly and marched out of the room. The guards seized Sheppard’s arms and turned him toward the door.
“Colonel Sheppard!” Teyla called, starting toward him.
“Don’t,” he warned, meeting and holding her gaze. “It’s okay. It’s better this way.”
She subsided, casting a worried look at Ronon. The Runner just gave Sheppard a slight nod. He understood — Ronon always understood how the game was played. “Good luck.”
Sheppard winked. “Won’t need it.”
And then he was through the door and he heard it close behind him with finality.
Now it was time to see whose side Mara was really on.
Chapter Nineteen
When the door had closed and Sheppard was gone, Teyla was unable to contain herself. “Why would he just go with them? He said we should stay together and he didn’t even put up a fight.” Her fists were clenched and her eyes sparked with anger.
Ronon shook his head. “Something’s going on. Sheppard wouldn’t just leave us behind.”
“He shouldn’t have let them separate us,” Teyla said. “We need to get off this moon and back to Atlantis, and now before we can do that we must also find John.”
Suddenly, Rodney shot up from his seat on the bed. He looked like a parent about to get irritated with bickering children. “I don’t see what you’re so upset about. I mean, you saw the wink, right? Sheppard winked. And a wink means a plan. That’s why he went with them. He has a plan.”
“What plan?” Cumby objected. “What plan, Rodney?”
“How should I know? I don’t have a little Sheppard decoder tucked in behind my ear. I just know the wink.”
“He’s right,” Ronon said. “It doesn’t feel right, because we don’t know everything that’s going on. But if he let them take him that easy, Sheppard has a plan.”
Teyla shot him a doubtful look and sat down. “What do we do in the meantime? Simply sit here and wait for them to take us to our deaths? I do not wish to stay in this room like a sitting duck.”
“Sitting duck?” Ronon said. “Not me. They’re welcome to try and take me anytime they like.”
“Oh swell,” Rodney sighed. “I’m stuck on the far side of a broken Stargate holed up with Sitting Duck and Crouching Tiger.”
Teyla frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Before he could answer there was another knock at the door. He exchanged a wary glance with Cumby as Teyla and Ronon stood to meet whoever — or whatever — came through it. Ronon pulled the door open with a jerk and Saul stood just outside, flanked by his two burly guards.
“Where is Colonel Sheppard?” Teyla said, chin raised in defiance.
“Colonel Sheppard is fine. No need to worry.” Saul stepped forward, into the room and Teyla backed up a step. “It’s the rest of you I’d be worried about. Colonel Sheppard has friends.”
“No need to worry about us.” Rodney cleared his throat. “We’re just peachy, thanks.”
“Our time here runs short,” Saul said.
“Has anyone ever told you that you talk like the villain in a really bad science fiction movie?” Rodney replied. “I suppose by ‘Our time here runs short,’ you mean that whole crashing into the sun thing? Yes. I can see how that would put a crimp in your plans. Maybe you should postpone your little ‘entertainment’ and work on your real problem?”
“But crashing into the sun is our plan,” Saul said. “It’s a grand and glorious end to our civilization.”
“Really?” Rodney didn’t bother to veil his disdain. “And this is everyone’s plan? You took a vote? Because I’d be willing to bet that it wasn’t something the good citizens of Admah came up with over tea and crumpets. What did you do, threaten to throw everyone who didn’t agree with you into your arena?”
“On the contrary, Dr. McKay. My people and I are in complete agreement on this. Boredom is a horrible thing. Its power grows as the centuries pass. When you can no longer grow as a civilization, when you’re stagnant, when life offers no more inspiration or challenge, it’s time to end the pain.”
“Funny, nobody here looks like they’re in pain. They all seem exceptionally happy, as a matter of fact. Except for that whole impending doom thing.” Rodney stabbed a finger at one of the guards. “He doesn’t look like he’s in pain. Are you unhappy? Does your job as hired muscle no longer fulfill you? And you — did you vote for this suicide by sunburn plan? I’d bet not.”
Saul grew ever redder in the face and the guards, whose sole focus was on the sputtering Rodney, didn’t notice as Ronon and Teyla slipped along the wall, toward the door. Suddenly, Rodney wheeled on Saul, his face crimson and his eyes blazing.
“And what you’re doing isn’t glorious or honorable. It’s mass murder! You’ve been sending innocent people to their deaths for decades and now that you’re bored, you’ve decided to kill them all in one last blaze of glory? How is that honorable? How is that glorious? It’s got to be the most idiotic plan I’ve ever heard.”
“Stop them!”
Ronon and Teyla were only a few feet from the door when Saul cried out his order. The guards spun at his command and sprang to block their way. They grabbed the fugitives by both arms and hauled them backward, away from the door.
Ronon spun and drove back into the wall, crushing the guard who held him into the wall beside the door. Without hesitation he turned and slammed his fist up in a short, hard shot to the guard’s jaw. The man was stunned and Ronon pressed his advantage, swinging a second shot from his hip.