Passing of Sins

Chapter Four

The next morning, it turned out that Sheppard and Teyla didn't need to go all the way back to the clearing where Sharra and Forric had found them. Which was a relief as John still hadn't worked out how to lose the small hunting party that was to escort them back before they hit the Puddle Jumper. The last thing he wanted to explain to them was the wonders of flying and Ancient technology, especially since he still wasn't convinced they were going to end up as friends, let alone trading partners.

As they were leaving the stairs and exiting the building they'd spent the night in, Sheppard's radio crackled to life.

' –nel Sheppard, please come in,.' Chuck's weary voice could be faintly heard.

John pulled out his radio from a vest pocket and spoke into it. 'Sheppard here.'

'Oh thank god! I'll get Doctor Weir.'

Sheppard wasn't sure if the relief in Chuck's voice was for the confirmation that they were still alive or because he could finally stop broadcasting the same message over and over again.

Sheppard nodded to Teyla and then looked in the direction of where Sharra and another man were standing. He assumed they were some of the party that was to escort them into the woods. Teyla acknowledged that Sheppard wanted her to distract them as he talked with Atlantis. He walked away a few steps for privacy and waited.

'John?' Elizabeth's voice rang out.

Sheppard dialled down the volume slightly before replying. 'I know we broke curfew, but I have a good excuse.'

'Oh, really?'

Okay she didn't sound too pissed.

'Rodney found an energy signature. We traced it back to a village and were invited to stay the night. It seems that it was too dangerous to travel back to the Jumper in the dark, but Teyla and I were just about to go back and contact you when you got there first. Don't suppose you've only just starting trying to find us?'

'Oh no, we've only been working on contacting you for a few hours.'

Sheppard winced a little at the unspoken accusation. He knew she worried whenever Atlantis lost contact with a team and his seemed in the habit of doing it more than most.

'An energy source you said. Like a ZPM?'

'It's some sort of artefact, Rodney doesn't really know what it does or what it runs on; the locals aren't exactly the friendliest we've ever met. He's taken a few scans but he seems to think it's on some sort of standby at the moment.'

Silence from Elizabeth as she mulled over his report, then, 'So do I presume you have some sort of plan?'

Sheppard grinned a little. 'So we're not grounded?'

'Why do I get the impression that even if I did ground you, you'd just wait until my back was turned and climb out your bedroom window to do what you wanted anyway?'

'Elizabeth, you sound like you've had some experience in these things.'

'Never mind about me. You obviously want to find out more about this artefact.'

'Well the locals said something about a ceremony they plan on performing soon. We got the impression it might involve the Ancient device.'

'Hmm.'

Sheppard could almost hear Elizabeth's mind working overtime as she considered his plan and all its potential outcomes. How might this impact Atlantis? They've been here before with the gift of Ancient technology dangled in front of them only to have it snatched back at the last second. Was it worth the effort; was it worth trying to ally themselves with these people?

Sheppard had as sudden idea. 'Did I mention their leader doesn't seem all that impressed with me? She thought Teyla was in charge.'

Elizabeth laughed quietly. 'They seem very intelligent. I want regular reports from now on or I'll send Lorne to drag your grounded butt home, clear?'

Sheppard nodded. 'Crystal.'

'Apart from this device, do you see any potential with these people?'

'Hard to say, they play things pretty close to the vest. Hopefully, after this ceremony, we might know more.'

Elizabeth sighed. 'Be careful, and contact me again in eighteen hours, otherwise. . .'

'Yeah, yeah, I know grounded for a week.'

'At least. Atlantis out.'

~ SGA ~

Sheppard tucked his radio back into a pocket and walked over to Teyla.

'What was that?' Sharra asked about the radio.

'Hmm?' Sheppard acted like he didn't know what she was talking about.

Sharra pointed at Sheppard's vest. 'That thing, the black thing that was in your hand.'

Sheppard smiled ruefully, Sharra had sharp eyes. He pulled out the radio and handed it over to her. 'It's just a radio, a way of communicating with our people.'

Sharra turned the device around in her hand. 'So why did you need to go back to your village today?'

'Well –' That was the problem with lies; they tended to accumulate and trip you up when you least expected it.

'We were not sure if it would work this far away from our people.' Teyla explained.

Sheppard nodded his gratitude at Teyla's quick thinking.

'Do you still need to go back to your village?' Sharra asked, handing the radio back to the Colonel.

Sheppard shook his head as he secured the radio back in his vest. 'Not any more, no.'

'Oh,' Sharra looked disappointed. She turned to the other man with her. 'Please tell Forric and the others we will not be leaving today.'

The man grunted an acknowledgement and left.

'Guess that gives you the day off.' Sheppard said.

'Oh no,' Sharra shook her head. 'I am old enough to have worth now. I have duties to attend to.' She turned to move away before changing her mind and turning back. 'What about you, what will you do?'

'Do?' Sheppard looked to Teyla before shrugging. 'I dunno, hang around here for a few days, maybe. Learn more about your people. I hear there is a ceremony coming up soon; maybe we'll stick around for that.'

'The ceremony?' Sharra looked very surprised. 'You are staying?'

'Yeah, why?' Sheppard picked up on Sharra's mood, she didn't seem exactly happy at the thought. 'What's it about?'

'I could not say; I was never old enough to attend before. This is to be my first year.'

'Well, maybe we could sit together,' Sheppard said with a smile.

Sharra smiled a little sadly, suddenly looking older than her years. 'Perhaps.' She took a deep breath and stood up very straight. 'It was an honour to have met someone from another village. You will tell the others I said that, even the one who talks all the time, Rodney McKay?'

Sheppard laughed a little at Sharra's description of Rodney. 'Sure.'

Teyla nodded also. 'It was an honour to have met you too, Sharra.'

Looking like she was almost holding back tears, Sharra sniffed and impulsively hugged both Sheppard and Teyla before running away.

'These people just keep getting weirder and weirder,' Sheppard said out loud.

'Maybe it is just you?' Teyla told him, jokingly.

'Maybe.' Sheppard nodded back at the building they had only recently exited. 'Better get back and relieve Ronon of his babysitting duties.'

~ SGA ~

'Are you telling me you didn't hear it this time?'

Sheppard could hear Rodney arguing with Ronon before they even finished walking down the stairs. Ronon's rumbling indistinct reply echoed back towards them as Sheppard and Teyla walked into the cavernous room.

The mismatched pair was standing over to one side of the arena as Rodney was taking snap shots of a wall.

'I didn't pick you as a shutterbug, McKay,' Sheppard said as he walked towards them.

'What?' Rodney turned about and stared at Teyla and Sheppard. 'You forget something?'

'Elizabeth contacted us via radio.' Teyla explained. 'We had no need to return to the Jumper.'

'Oh.' Rodney fidgeted with the small camera he was holding. 'That's good, I guess. So, are we staying?'

'Elizabeth has given us the green light, for now,' Sheppard replied. 'As long as we keep in regular contact and don't get into trouble.'

Ronon crossed his arms. 'First part shouldn't be too hard. You don't need me watching him anymore?'

'Hey, I'm right here you know,' Rodney protested as Sheppard shook his head.

'Good, he hasn't shut up all morning and I was thinking about stunning him just for some peace and quiet.' Ronon gave a wolfish grin at his friends before walking over to the stone steps and sitting down on them.

'Still right here!' Rodney defiantly took a blurry photo of Ronon.

'What's with the happy snaps?' Sheppard asked.

'Oh!' Rodney rocked back and forth on his heels smugly. 'I took your advice from last night.'

'You did?' Sheppard tried to think what he could have possibly have said that inspired this. 'What was that again?'

'Tourist!' Rodney exclaimed as he began scrolling through the photos he had already taken. 'You said to play tourist. So this morning, I thought what better way to document our stay than. . .' He held out the camera.

Teyla took the camera and held it up so both she and Sheppard could see what was displayed. On the small screen was a photo of a less than amused looking Ronon standing in front of the Ancient artefact.

'Very clever, Rodney,' Teyla said.

Sheppard pointed out, 'Except you can't really see the artefact.'

'Keep looking,' Rodney said.

Teyla scrolled forward to reveal more photos. In each successive one, Ronon seemed to disappear to one side as Rodney's pictures concentrated more and more on the device. Until the third to last photo showed a close up of the Ancient device and only the tip of Ronon's elbow showing that he was still there.

'And,' Rodney patted his pants pocket, 'still taking scans. Nothing new as far as I can tell, but you never know.'

Teyla handed Rodney back his camera. 'Will this help identify the artefact?' she asked.

Rodney shrugged. 'Once we get back to Atlantis, I should be able to compare these to the database and see if I can find a match.'

'Until then,' Sheppard added. 'We'll ask around and see what happens at the ceremony.'

'And after?' Teyla wondered.

'Go home and take the rest of the week off.'

'What are you doing?' Akara's voice rang out.

Turning, the three watched as Akara walked towards them.

'Dragon Lady at three o'clock,' Rodney muttered.

'Hi,' Sheppard smiled at the Master. 'Just taking in the sights of your beautiful village.'

'Did you not need to return to your own village for instructions?' Akara wondered.

'Well we were.' Sheppard felt Ronon's presence at his shoulder. The Satedan had silently approached in case of trouble. 'But then they contacted us instead.'

Akara frowned. 'There are more of you here?'

Oh, what the hell? The chance of Sharra keeping the radio secret was pretty slim.

'We used a communications device to contact them. Wasn't sure if it would work over these distances,' Sheppard glanced at Teyla thankful yet again for her quick explanation earlier, 'but it did. So I talked to my boss and let her know we were okay, she said "hi" by the way.'

'She?'

'Yeah, guess we're not all that different after all.' Sheppard tried out his 'aw shucks' smile on Akara to little effect.

Akara sniffed. 'Perhaps, perhaps not.'

Man, this woman could play hardball, what was her problem?

'You know a radio could be handy for your hunting parties. It lets you keep in touch in case of problems,' Sheppard pointed out. 'Just something to consider.'

'I'm sure it could,' Akara replied. 'Although I wonder why you seem so eager to want to help us.'

'Help you?' Sheppard asked. 'Isn't that what friends do?'

'Friends, yes, but we are not friends yet.'

'But perhaps we can be,' Teyla said. 'Friends that help each other.'

'Perhaps,' Akara seemed to be reluctantly opening up to the suggestion of trading and friendship nodded at the concept, 'perhaps.'

A low painful moan drifted out across the arena. It seemed to be emanating from the region of the rooms they had so recently left.

'That!' Rodney exclaimed at Ronon. 'See, I told you I heard something.' He turned to Sheppard and Teyla. 'You heard that too, right?'

'Yeah.' Sheppard felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as another groan ratcheted up into a wailing scream before petering off again. 'What the hell was that?'

'That?' Akara had the grace to look a little embarrassed. 'That is nothing.'

Ronon hand hovered over his holstered gun. 'Doesn't sound like nothing to me.'

Sheppard looked around his team to see them all tense and alert. Teyla glanced in his direction before reaching out to gently pat Rodney on the arm, causing him to jump at the touch. Seems Sheppard wasn't the only one to be startled by the unexpected noise.

Akara sighed. 'It is a villager;' she explained. 'He is not well.'

'Is it contagious?' Rodney wondered as he nervously fiddled with the camera. 'Because we were staying here last night, if it's contagious I think we have a right to know.'

'You know we have medicines and doctors back home,' Sheppard began to suggest.

Akara held up a hand to stall Sheppard's words. 'He is not contagious, do not worry. We have everything in hand.'

'No offense, but it doesn't sound much in hand to me.'

'Me neither,' Ronon said.

'I'll third that,' Rodney added.

'Perhaps this is one instance where we can help you,' Teyla said to Akara.

Akara shook her head. 'There is no need, we will conduct the ceremony tonight and he will be cured.'

'Just like that, huh?' Sheppard asked.

Akara nodded. 'As you say, just like that.'

Rodney looked thoughtfully at the artefact. 'Ceremony, huh?' he muttered.

'Now I have duties to attend,' Akara bowed her head slightly at Teyla and then almost as an afterthought at Sheppard. 'You will dine with me tonight before the ceremony?'

'We're still invited?' Sheppard asked.

'Of course, you are our guests.'

'Wouldn't miss it.' Sheppard watched as Akara walked away. 'Thoughts?' he asked everyone.

'It must be some sort of healing device,' Rodney said excitedly.

'Then why haven't the villagers used it already?' Teyla said.

'How should I know?' Rodney shrugged. 'Maybe they're superstitious and only use it on a full moon or something.'

'Yeah, that must be it,' Ronon said.

Rodney sighed, 'Look, I'll know more when we attend this ceremony. Until then it's all speculation.'

'Until then,' Sheppard said, 'we have time on our hands and nothing to do.'

Rodney held up the camera. 'We could still play tourist.'

Teyla nodded in agreement. 'Get to know more about these people.'

'Check out the defensive perimeter and escape routes,' Ronon added.

Sheppard nodded at the suggestions. 'Sort out Plan B just in case.'

'And Plan B is again?' Rodney asked.

'Get the hell out of Dodge and back to the Jumper,' Sheppard explained as they began walking towards the staircase. 'Same Plan B we always have.'

'Ah, Plan B,' Rodney said, smiling, 'my favourite plan.'

'Thought that was our only plan,' Ronon joked.

'Some days it is,' Sheppard acknowledged that statement with a smile. 'So until we need Plan B I suggest we go out and enjoy the rest of the day, Colonel's orders.'

'Works for me, as long as I don't have to spend all of it with McKay.' Ronon walked to the base of the stairs. 'Coming?'

Teyla smiled in amusement at Rodney's yelp of protest and followed the Satedan up the stairs.

'Why does he always do that?' Rodney complained.

Sheppard walked next to Rodney as they followed behind the rest of his team. 'Maybe you intimidate him.'

'Really?'

'No, not really.'

Rodney was silent for a few minutes. 'Hey have you wondered why no one has commented on our weapons. They just let us walk around their village armed and no one says a thing.'

Sheppard didn't want to admit to Rodney that he had thought the same thing. 'Maybe they're not that impressed by our weapons.'

'Not impressed, have you seen what they have? How could they not be impressed? All they have are bows and machetes.'

'Exactly, to them, long metal sticks just aren't all that impressive. They haven't seen what we can do with them,' Sheppard said.

'That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.'

'Really,' Sheppard and Rodney disappeared up the stairs, their voices echoing back. 'Even more stupid than blowing up a solar system by accident?'

'You'll never let me forget that will you?'

~ SGA ~

Later that evening Sheppard, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon sat in last night's dining room waiting for Akara.

'She's late,' Rodney stated for the third time as he drummed his fingers on the table top.

'She is busy,' Teyla corrected him, 'I'm sure she has many things to do before the ceremony.'

'Busy, late, whatever. The least she could have done was send us some food, I'm starving.'

'I'm surprised.' Ronon sat at the head of the table, flipping and catching one of his many knives.

'Relax, Rodney,' Sheppard said. 'I'm sure they won't start the ceremony without us, we're practically guests of honour.'

Rodney's drumming stopped. 'We don't have to dress up or anything, do we? Wear some stupid feathered headdress? I look ridiculous in feathers, they make me sneeze.'

'Well that's a shame,' Sheppard leant forwards and rested his forearms on the table, 'I was planning on a fancy dress party back at Atlantis. I wanted us all to dress up as the Village People. You were going to be the Indian Chief, now . . .'

'What?' Before Rodney could gather his thoughts to work out whether or not Sheppard was being serious, the door opened and Otha walked in.

'Excuse me,' the Master said as two other men walked in behind him carrying trays of food. 'Akara gives her apologies. She wanted to be here for evening tithe but something has come up and she cannot attend.'

'That's alright,' Sheppard said as plates and bowls were distributed around the table. 'I'm sure ceremonies can be hard to organise at short notice.'

'Indeed.' Otha seemed pleased that Sheppard understood.

'Does Akara require any assistance?' Teyla asked before picking up a spoon and dipping it into her food.

'Oh no,' Otha shook his head. 'It is a minor thing that will be sorted out shortly.'

Ronon and Rodney were already eating as Sheppard broke a bread roll apart. 'How is the sick villager?'

'Sleeping,' Otha said. 'I confess it will be good to see him better.'

'What exactly is wrong with him?' Sheppard asked, sipping on the broth in his bowl.

Otha smiled. 'All will be explained at the ceremony.'

'Yeah about that. . . ' Sheppard looked up as a dull thud could be heard across the table. 'What's wrong with Rodney?' he asked seeing the stocky doctor take a header into his food bowl.

For that matter what was wrong with him, he seemed sluggish. Something wasn't right, why was Teyla slumped over the table? Why couldn't he seem to be able to move his arms?

'What?' he tried to say but the words couldn't escape his mouth.

The last thing he heard as the world turned black was the sound of Ronon's gun charging.