Passing of Sins
Chapter Seven
The night was almost completely black, only a guttering torch at the entrance remained, when a figure crept quietly down the stairs and into the arena. It paused at the foot of the stairs, as if it was deciding whether or not to continue, before it pulled the torch out of a bracket on the wall and moved quietly towards the cell.
A slight whisper of sound caught Ronon's attention as he was standing watch and he stood up to move towards the cell door. 'Sheppard?' he hissed.
Teyla stirred at the Satedan's voice and rolled over from where she was laying. 'Ronon?'
Ronon peered into the gloom trying to catch a better glimpse at whoever was walking towards them.
Sensing rather than seeing his tense stance, Teyla stood up and stepped over a sleeping Rodney to stand by Ronon's side. 'What is it?'
'It's Sheppard.' Ronon grinned in the dark.
Teyla peered out, trying to see who was coming towards them. The torch dipped and wavered as the person walked, making it hard to see exactly who was carrying it. Not that he would look like Sheppard, Teyla knew, that body was laying unconscious behind them. But this person seemed smaller than she remembered Akarin being and he walked with a hesitant, almost skipping, step.
Ronon must have reached the same conclusion because he took a step back from the bars. 'Is that Akarin?' he asked Teyla.
Teyla shook her head. 'I do not know.' She, too, stepped back to stand beside Ronon, unsure who was coming towards them.
As the figure approached, Ronon and Teyla could make out more features and the torch revealed that it was a she, not a he.
Teyla stepped forward again. 'Sharra,' she said, recognising the figure.
Sharra looked over her shoulder then stepped up to the bars. 'Teyla.'
'What are you doing here?'
Sharra handed the torch to Ronon and grabbed the bars of the cell with both hands. 'I am so sorry.' She peered back into the dark of the cell, trying to catch a glimpse of Sheppard. 'Is he alright?'
'What do you think?' Ronon growled.
Sharra jumped at the tone of voice. Seeing the reaction, Teyla gestured for Ronon to move back away from the young woman. Grunting, Ronon passed the torch to Teyla and walked further back into the cell and crouched over Rodney, shaking him awake.
'Wha? Huh?' Rodney turned and blearily looked at Ronon. Realising he could see the tall man, he looked towards the light source in Teyla's hand. 'Where did we get that?' he demanded.
Ronon nodded towards the doorway.
'Sheppard?' Rodney scrambled to his feet.
'Sharra.'
'Oh.' Disappointed, Rodney rubbed a hand over his eyes. 'What's she doing here?'
'Go and find out.'
Stumbling slightly, a half-awake Rodney walked towards the two women as Ronon sat down next to Sheppard.
'I wanted to warn you,' he heard Sharra tell Teyla, 'but I was afraid. I thought I would have a chance to tell you about the ceremony when we went to your village,'
Sharra shrugged sadly, 'but we did not go.'
'What can you tell us about the ceremony?' Rodney asked around a large yawn.
'It was the first one I have ever attended,' Sharra explained, 'but one happened when I was only a few seasons old. I remember my mother talking about it when I was younger, when she thought I could not hear.'
'What have the Masters done to John?' Teyla asked.
'They did nothing, the Great Ones did it, they passed the sins of Akarin onto Colonel Sheppard and tomorrow, he will die for what he did.'
'He did nothing!' Rodney snapped.
Teyla shushed him, a little worried that any raised voices might bring guards. 'Sharra,' she said to the young woman, 'Colonel Sheppard has hurt no one here, and you know that. He is a good man and would not kill innocent people. What you have been told is a lie, the Great Ones aren't protectors, they are the Wraith and they will kill you all.'
'I do not know that,' Sharra protested, 'all I know is what I have been told.'
Rodney pressed his face hard against the bars. 'Oh save me from wacky cults. Listen, I don't care what you believe in; I only care about my friend. How can we fix this?'
'Fix?' Sharra looked from Rodney to Teyla. 'What is there to fix? What is done is done.'
'Will you talk to her?' Rodney pushed himself away from the bars in frustration and walked over to Ronon.
'When your mother talked about the other ceremony, what did she say?' Teyla asked Sharra.
'A stranger was found, he came to the village one day to trade and because he was unworthy, he was kept for the ceremony. My mother used to feed him while he was here.' Sharra smiled slightly. 'I think she liked him a little.'
'Told you,' Rodney said from behind Teyla, 'they were never going to let us go.'
'Go on,' Teyla said.
Sharra nodded. 'Something happened, I don't know what. An argument perhaps, mother never said out loud. But Akarin killed a man –'
Rodney interrupted. 'Wait, are we talking about the same Akarin as now? Are you saying he's done this before?'
Sharra nodded. 'I believe so, yes.'
'And they didn't take the hint the first time?' Rodney threw up his hands in disbelief. 'Oh no, let's forgive the murderer and let him do it again. Who cares, we'll just kill some other poor unworthy victim in his place, all is forgiven!'
Teyla glared at him. 'Rodney, be quiet, you'll wake someone.'
From where he was sitting, Ronon asked, 'What happened to the stranger after the ceremony?'
'He was killed the next day,' Sharra said.
'How?' Ronon asked.
Sharra shrugged. 'I do not know, he just was.'
'Wait a minute,' Rodney scrambled to his feet and walked over to Sharra. 'What was Akarin like, before he went nutso and killed his family?'
'Like?' Sharra looked confused. 'He was normal. He worked in the fields, married and had children. He attended the tithes and was worthy.'
'What are you thinking, Rodney?' Teyla asked.
'Did he seem particularly smart, this Akarin?' Rodney asked Sharra.
Sharra shrugged. 'He never talked much to others, kept to himself. People told him what to do and he did it.'
'McKay?' Ronon stood up and walked over to where Rodney was standing.
'I think they reset his brain.'
'What?' Ronon asked.
'Default setting, factory fresh,' Rodney waved a hand, 'he was a blank slate waiting to be retaught everything he needed to know. I bet that's what the Dragon Lady and her minions are doing right now. Everything Akarin was before transferred to Sheppard leaving behind a blank mind. Basic functions are still there, otherwise he wouldn't know how to eat and breathe, everything else: his personality, his memories, quirks, homicidal tendencies all the things that made him, him . . . gone,' Rodney snapped a finger, 'just like that.'
'That's horrifying,' Teyla said.
'I wonder if that was what the Ancients intended or did that Wraith queen fiddle with the programming?'
'But what does it mean for Sheppard?' Ronon wanted to know.
'I have no idea,' Rodney replied. 'But I'm guessing we can't count on him riding to our rescue in Akarin's body now.'
Ronon turned around and leant against the bars looking at Sheppard. 'So he's gone?'
Sighing, Rodney turned to look at his friend also. 'I don't know. If I had my things, my scanner . . .' He trailed off.
'Nothing is certain,' Teyla told the two men. 'We will get John back to Atlantis and fix this.'
'Atlantis?' Sharra asked.
'Whoops,' Rodney muttered to Ronon.
'Sharra,' Teyla reached out and wrapped her hands around the younger woman's as they rested on the bars. 'Help us escape so we can save Colonel Sheppard.'
Sharra looked panicked at the suggestion. 'I cannot, if I help you, I would be deemed unworthy.'
'Join the club,' Rodney muttered.
'Worthy,' Teyla said. 'You talk about being worthy. You told Colonel Sheppard and I that you had recently become of worth, what did you mean?'
Sharra relaxed a little as she felt more comfortable talking about her beliefs. 'When you are of worth, it means you are productive. You have value to the village and the Masters.'
'And those not of worth?'
'Outsiders like yourselves,' Sharra nodded to Teyla and the others, 'as well as the very young, very old and those who disobey the Masters.'
'So even your own people can be unworthy,' Ronon said.
Sharra nodded. 'If you are too old or too young to work and be productive, then you are unworthy of the Great Ones' protection. If you disobey the laws of the Great Ones or are not of the village, then you are unworthy.'
'I'm surprised you haven't used some of your own unworthy in your ceremonies.'
Rodney said.
Sharra shuddered and dropped her gaze, unable to meet Teyla's eye.
'Sharra?' Teyla asked gently.
'My brother,' she said quietly, 'he is only five seasons old. If we had not found you when we did. . .'
Ronon turned and stared at Sharra. 'The hunting party, you weren't looking for food, you were hunting for someone unworthy.'
Sharra nodded as tears fell down her face. 'Yes, forgive me, yes.'
'If you want our forgiveness, then get us out of here. Help us save Sheppard,' Ronon said.
'There is nothing to forgive,' Teyla said, trying to soothe the young woman. 'You were only protecting your family, just as we are trying to do now.'
'If you want to really be worthy,' Rodney told Sharra pointing to his unconscious friend, 'then you be like Sheppard. There is someone truly worthy, this guy goes out and helps complete strangers. He doesn't care about his own life; he would die to save you and your entire village without even thinking twice about it. He volunteered for the ceremony rather than give one of us up, that's the kind of guy John Sheppard is.'
Teyla looked at Rodney in amazement. Ronon grunted his approval and slapped the shorter man on the back, causing him to stagger slightly.
'And if you ever tell him I said that,' Rodney told his two friends, 'I'll deny every word.'
Sharra sniffed. 'I am scared.'
'Being worthy is being afraid but doing the right thing anyway,' Teyla told Sharra.
'I liked him,' Sharra looked over at Sheppard, 'he was nice.'
'He still is,' Rodney said, 'most of the time.'
'All you have to do is open this door,' Ronon said. 'Nothing else, we'll do the rest.'
'What if someone finds you? You might hurt –'
'No,' Teyla interrupted Sharra, 'we will go quietly, no one will know.'
'I don't have a key,' Sharra said.
'Can you find our weapons?' Ronon asked. 'I can get us out with my gun.'
'Really?' Rodney looked at Ronon, surprised.
Ronon shrugged. 'Of course.'
'Sharra?' Teyla looked at the young woman, who was staring intently at the floor.
Sighing deeply, Sharra seemed to reach a decision. Looking up, she held her hand out towards Teyla. 'Give me the torch,' she demanded. 'I will find your weapons, I will help you and prove that I am as worthy as Colonel Sheppard.'
Smiling, Teyla passed the torch through the bars. 'You have nothing to prove, but thank you anyway.'
Sharra's fingers tightened around the torch. She took another deep breath as if to settle her nerves. 'I'll be back as soon as I can.'
She moved away towards the back of the arena where the hidden rooms were. The faint torch light flickered and disappeared from view, leaving everything in complete darkness.
'She'll be okay, right?' Rodney's voice whispered.
'Of course,' Teyla said from his right.
'We'll be out of here soon,' Ronon's voice rumbled in the black.
'We will leave this place and take John back to Atlantis,' Teyla said. 'We will hurt no one, unless they attack us first.'
'Works for me,' agreed Rodney.
Silence came from where Ronon was standing.
'Ronon,' Teyla said, 'we will attack no one first.'
More silence followed, Teyla was about to make her point again when Ronon finally spoke. 'She's coming back.'
'That was quick,' Rodney said. 'That's good right?'
'Unless she was caught,' Ronon pointed out.
Sharra hurried back to the cell, the torch's light fading fast.
Rodney looked at her empty hands. 'Where are the weapons?'
Sharra pulled a handful of keys from out of a pocket. 'I found these instead.'
'Try them,' Teyla instructed as Ronon moved back to pick up Sheppard.
Rodney snatched the dying torch from Sharra's hands. 'Hurry up, then.' He leant against the door and held the torch as close to the lock as he could reach.
Sharra began trying each key in the lock, jiggling it back and forth to see if it would fit.
'Come on, come on,' Rodney pleaded.
Sharra was over halfway through the keys when the torch finally spluttered and died.
'Oh crap.' Rodney's voice seemed to echo in the darkness. There was a click and Rodney suddenly found himself falling face first onto the floor. 'Ow!'
'Hurry, this way,' he heard Sharra say.
'Which way?' he demanded as he stood up and brushed himself down. Only belatedly realising that he was standing outside the cell.
A small hand grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. 'This way.'
'Teyla.' Rodney reached backward towards his friends.
'Go, Rodney,' Teyla's voice came from behind him, followed by a male grunt which Rodney assumed was Ronon hauling up Sheppard's dead weight. 'Talk so we may follow you.'
'What, what will I say?'
'Since when have you been lost for words?' Ronon wondered.
'Tell us about the experiment you were working on before this mission,' Telya instructed.
'Oh, well . . .' Rodney happily started explaining in excruciating detail what he and Zelenka had been working on as he was dragged stumbling through the dark. '. . . and Radek thought it would only be a matter of testing the –'
They rounded a corner and suddenly found themselves in a lit corridor.
'You can shut up now,' Ronon told the scientist as he walked past him with Sheppard slung over one shoulder.
'Thank you, Rodney,' Teyla said as she moved to the front of the group.
'Now what?' Rodney looked about.
'Can we leave the building from here?' Teyla asked Sharra.
The younger woman shook her head. 'The only exit is back through the arena and up the stairs.'
'We still need our weapons.' Ronon said.
'What are we going to do,' Rodney wanted to know, 'search each room until we find them?'
Ronon bent down and placed Sheppard on the ground. Standing up, he pulled a torch from off the wall and opened the nearest door to look inside.
'And what if we find the Dragon Lady and her friends?' Rodney wanted to know as he followed Ronon's example and opened the door on his side of the corridor.
'Hope they attack first,' Ronon said.
Teyla along with Sharra had gone ahead, disappearing around the corridor. She returned quickly, attaching her P90 to her tactical vest. 'We have found our things, this way.'
'What about Sheppard?' Rodney asked Ronon as the taller man moved to follow Teyla.
Ronon hesitated looking back at Sheppard. 'Nobody's around, they would have heard you talking and come running before now. The sooner we're armed, the better we can protect him,' he decided.
Following Ronon around the corner, Rodney almost ran into Sharra. Smiling, she held up the torch Sheppard had given her. 'Look what we found.'
'Great.' Rodney sidestepped Sharra and entered the room were they had spent their first night. Ronon was already sliding knives into hidden sheaths about his person as Teyla finished off assessing their gear.
'It is all here,' she announced.
Rodney pulled out a scanner from his backpack and passed it to Sharra. 'Hold this a minute.' He attached the backpack to his vest and shrugged it on. Ripping open a pocket, he pulled out a ration bar and picked up his P90. 'Ready.'
Ronon looked from the food to the P90. Reaching out, he grabbed the bar and ripped it open, stuffing it into his mouth.
'Hey!' Rodney protested, before clipping his rifle to his vest and pulling out another ration bar from the same pocket.
Sharra was waving the scanner around. 'What do I do with this?'
'Hmm . . .' Rodney chewed the last of his ration bar and held out his hand for the device.
'Rodney.' Teyla indicated they should leave.
'Coming!' He hurried out the room after the other four, fiddling with the scanner as he went. Rounding the corner, he found everyone standing around Sheppard, looking down at him. 'What's wrong?'
Ronon stood over Sheppard, twirling his gun. 'What if he wakes?'
'Wakes?' Rodney walked over. 'We want him to wake up, right?'
Reaching some sort of decision, Ronon pointed his weapon at Sheppard and stunned him.
'Jesus!' Rodney's voice rose in pitch at what he just witnessed. 'What'd you do that for?'
'We can't have John wake up as we are escaping,' Teyla explained, 'we don't know who or what might be in there.'
'So you just shot him?' Rodney asked. 'Did you even consider what stunning him might do on top of what's already happened?'
Ronon shrugged as he slipped his gun back into its holster.
Sharra nervously sidled past the others. 'You need to go, it will be dawn soon. Someone will come to check on you.'
Teyla nodded. 'Yes. Ronon.'
Ronon stooped down and hauled Sheppard up onto a shoulder. 'Lead the way.'
The group hurried out of the back rooms and into the arena.
Rodney checked his scanner as they passed the artefact. 'Wait, wait, wait,' he said, stopping.
'We don't have time for this,' Ronon grumbled at him.
'He did it!' Rodney waved the scanner over the Ancient column. 'He actually did it.'
'Did what?' Teyla stopped and turned back.
'Sheppard,' Rodney laughed a little, 'he deactivated the Ancient artefact.'
Ronon turned back too. 'He broke it?'
Rodney shook his head. 'No just deactivated it.'
Ronon pulled out his gun, checked the setting and blasted the artefact several times. 'It's better broken,' he said.
Rodney looked a little shocked at Ronon's actions. 'Well, that's one way of making sure they'll never use it again.'
'What did you do?' Sharra hurried back to the others.
Teyla gripped her arm and began leading her back towards the stairs. 'Helping your people, now no one will ever be sacrificed for another again.'
'I, but . . .' Sharra tried to find the words to express her horror and dismay at what had just happened.
'It is for the best,' Teyla said softly. 'Think of your brother.'
Swallowing, Sharra could only nod.
~ SGA ~
Light was just beginning to touch the tops of the mountains when the group reached the closed gates of the village. Sharra lead them to a smaller gate set inside the larger one and pulled it open. Ronon ducked almost in half to fit through without bumping Sheppard on the doorway and was quickly followed by Teyla and Rodney.
Teyla turned when she realised that Sharra wasn't following. 'Sharra?'
The younger woman shook her head sadly. 'I must stay here.'
'What?' Rodney turned back at her words. 'Are you mad, when Akara finds out . . .'
Teyla nodded in understanding. 'Your brother,' she said.
Sharra smiled sadly.
'Well, maybe she should go get him then come back with us?' Rodney suggested.
'We don't have time to wait.' Ronon walked back towards the others, shifting Sheppard a little higher on his shoulder into a more comfortable position. 'Hey,' he tossed a radio to Teyla before addressing Sharra. 'Take your brother into the woods and hide,' he said. 'Wait five days then turn the radio on, if we can, we'll come back for you. Otherwise if you don't hear from us, go to another village. Anywhere has to be better than here.'
Teyla showed the young woman how to use the radio.
'You would do that, for me?' Sharra clutched the radio to her chest.
'You helped us,' Ronon said. 'We help you; that's what friends are for.'
Teyla hugged Sharra. 'Thank you.'
Sharra nodded at the words. 'I hope Colonel Sheppard recovers.'
'As do we all.'
Sharra watched the three friends turn away and begin walking up the hill. She watched until they were out of sight then closed the small gate. Looking at the radio in her hand, she sighed and headed for home.
