Disclaimer: I do not own any of the plots, characters, or places from Merlin. I only own the character of Morgan le Fay as depicted here.
This takes place after Season 4 Episode 9 and before Episode 11.
It took Arthur a while to figure out how to turn my iPod on. He nearly dropped it when he did.
"How do I know this isn't magic?" he asked.
I scowled, no longer acting.
"Do you people explain everything you don't understand with magic? You are so narrow minded!"
Taking the iPod out of his hands, I proceed to explain how it worked. It took nearly a half hour of interruptions and multiple retellings before he threw up his hands.
"Alright!" he said. "Enough already! I think I believe you now. The devil himself couldn't come up with a lie like that, much less a human." Then, looking at me with a critical eye, he added. "Or whatever you are."
"I'm an American," I replied.
"I thought you said you were from Iotia," Gaius remarked.
"Yes, yes," I said absentmindedly. "My planet is Iotia. My country is America; my state, Connecticut; my city, Hartford."
Lord Agravaine apparently decided that having a being from an unknown planet arrive uninvited, call your home barbaric, and show-off fancy devices was a little too insulting for his tastes. Obviously, there was only one thing to do: humiliate me in revenge.
"For an ambassador," he started, "you don't seem very…diplomatic."
My lips twitched. Dad called it my Mona Lisa smile.
"I'm not that kind of ambassador. I'm the kind planets send when diplomacy fails. You see," I said, gesturing with my hand as if showing a piece of art, "I make weapons. Planets send me in order to say 'See this girl? She can decimate all of the major cities on your world by pressing a button. She works for us. Now let's talk about that treaty,'" I smile mischievously. "That's how I negotiate."
I enjoyed watching Agravaine's face fall.
"That kind of power," Gaius said, "is too dangerous for this world. No one," here he looked at me very hard, "no one could control power so great."
"Even magic isn't as strong." Arthur added.
It was all too true. A little more somber, I replied, "There was a time when our weapons grew faster than our wisdom. Two of our most powerful countries came to the brink of destroying themselves. They would have taken the rest of the world with them," I remarked. It was odd, I thought, that while I played this role, making up the history of another world, I was predicting the future of theirs.
God has a wonderful sense of irony.
Silence fell over the room, as it usually does after so serious a topic of discussion. The clouds which had hovered over the sun all morning broke and came streaming through the stained glass; creating playful, shifting patterns on the floor. For a moment, we were mesmerized.
Arthur broke the stillness first.
"How do you intend to get back to your planet?"
"Well," I started, "I have no ship and no communications. I'm stuck here," I paused for a moment to let this sink in. "I am thinking that I might travel to Japan. It's on the other side of the world, but they're a little more advanced."
Arthur was thinking. If I had played my cards correctly, he was thinking exactly what I wanted him to think. Every kingdom has enemies; Camelot is no exception. I can create weapons with power beyond comprehension. I never wanted to be a weapons manufacturer; actually I wanted to work for NASA. I study engineering and computer sciences just so I can say I helped put a man on Mars. However, that is quite impossible in this century.
"Stay here for a while," Arthur offered. "Perhaps I can find a place for you."
We both knew what that meant.
"Thank you, Sire," I replied.
I was to become a medieval Tony Stark.
Wonderful.
Arthur's Point of View
She left the room and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I had thought her unearthly from the moment I saw her. However, I didn't mean it quite that literally...
To think that there are other creatures, not of this planet, far more advanced; just watching us, laughing at us, is… well, unsettling to say the least. To hear how powerful their weapons are is more than disturbing. Still, such weapons could be useful; especially in the fight against magic.
"Well," I said, turning to my advisers, "what do you think?"
"She is a spy. Obviously, she was sent by our enemies to learn our secrets and destroy us," my uncle replied hastily.
"Her story is incredible," Gaius added.
"But not unbelievable," Geoffrey declared.
I looked at him in surprise, Uncle laughed, and even Gaius raised an eyebrow in disbelief at his old friend.
"The Syrian Lucian wrote of people who live on the moon and sun. If mere humans can imagine it, surely God can as well and can create them if he wished."
"There is also that device," Gaius added.
"Yes, it was very obnoxious and highly inappropriate for a young lady," Uncle asserted.
"Uncle," I said, "I think we can safely assume that our ideas of propriety are not congruent with the people of Smith's planet."
He sniffed.
"Gentlemen, surely you can guess what I am thinking," I said.
They were silent.
"Sire, the only thing I have to say is be careful," Gaius advised.
"So you have no other objections?" I inquired.
They shook their heads.
"Then I am decided," I declared, and with that I turned my attention inward.
I felt a pang of guilt. This technology seemed so close to sorcery. I silently prayed that, by conspiring with Smith in order to protect Camelot, I was not offending my father with so extreme a method. I tried to think of what he would have done. I frequently found myself doing this, as a guideline. I know I can't be exactly like my father. I don't want to; he was too quick to judge, too swift to condemn. That was his failing. I have yet to discover mine.
Throughout the course of the day, I found several ways to justify my actions. After all, the young lady could provide more than just weapons. Perhaps she could bring other technologies as well, ones that aren't so destructive. That would even out the score. Still, just because one can justify something, doesn't mean that said something is moral and right. Either way, Camelot was about to be outfitted with some of the most powerful weapons in the universe, even more impressive than magic.
Wonderful.