A SHOW OF TRUST
PART EIGHT: BELLIGERANT ACTS
Rodney sighed, picking up the small digital voice recorder on the lab table and hitting the record button. Bringing it to his lips, he tapped a pencil on the pad before him as he started to speak.
"Initial scans of the substance called 'Renzite' are complete. It appears to be made of several known elements found on Earth and at least two unknown ones which—"
"McKay!"
Rodney jumped nearly a foot, dropping the small recorder on the lab table and stumbling backwards. The stool he'd been perched on crashed to the ground beside him, and he almost tripped over one of the metal legs, before getting his bearings enough to stand up straight again.
The major stood in the doorway, filled with fury. McKay blinked, surprised at the animosity he felt rolling off the major in waves.
"Major?"
Sheppard walked in and stretched out his hand, palm up. "Give me the Renzite. Now!"
"What?"
"The orange ball. Give it to me. I'm taking it back."
"What?"
"Stop saying 'What!'" Sheppard stopped about a couple of feet from McKay, staring down at the shorter man, his eyes locked on his. "You know what I want. She gave me that ball, and I want it back."
"Oh, but," McKay turned to look at the sphere on the table. He was still a little discombobulated, "but I haven't finished—"
"I don't give a flying...," Sheppard paused, holding back the foul language, "just give it to me. You've had it long enough."
McKay blinked, watching with interest as the light in the orange ball seemed to flare brighter for a moment. What the….?
"MCKAY!" Sheppard slammed a palm-up punch into the scientist's chest, sending Rodney back a step and causing him to cough harshly. When the scientist looked back at the major, his eyes were wide, and he rubbed at his chest where he'd been hit.
"Major," he coughed again, then glared, "what the hell is wrong with you!"
"Give it to me. I won't have you hurting Straein anymore, do you understand? You are going to give it to me, then we are going to go see her…and you're going to apologize for the way you've been treating her."
"Treating her?" Rodney spluttered. "But I've barely seen her!"
"She knows you don't trust her, McKay. And after everything she's been through, that's enough to cause someone like her pain. I won't let you do that to her anymore, understand me? I won't let you hurt her!"
"But, but," Rodney shook his head, "that's ridiculous! I'm not going to hurt her!"
"Damn right you're not. Not while I'm here." Sheppard rested his right hand on the berretta at his side, the possibly unconscious threat not lost on McKay.
This time, Rodney stepped back of his own accord. His expression was still completely dumbfounded. Sheppard followed him aggressively, and, for a second, Rodney actually felt a little afraid of what the major might do.
"Major, calm down!"
"Calm down? I'm not the one flagrantly making an ass of myself! Give me the Renzite."
"I…I can't," McKay shook his head. He glanced again at the orange ball, and was not surprised to see the light inside it was now incredibly bright. He looked back at the major, "And the way you're acting, I think I have good reason not to let you have it."
"The way I'm acting? If you mean my anger, I am angry! I just came from Straein's rooms, and she cried on my shoulder because she's afraid of you, McKay. And with good reason. She knows you don't trust her. She thinks you're going to convince Weir to send her away. And I won't stand for that!" Sheppard's hand gripped the handle of the gun, though he hadn't released the strap yet..
"Well," McKay swallowed thickly, watching the other man's hand but still himself to stand his full height. "She's right! I don't trust her! And I do want to send her away!" He had no trouble with the admission, trying to throw as much strength into his voice as he could muster. "She's doing something to you, can't you see that?"
"Oh please!" The hand lifted from the weapon and stretched itself out again, "The Renzite."
"No!"
"McKay."
"I have good reasons not to trust her, major. There is something wrong with her! And the way people act around her. Until I know she's not a threat—"
"This is bullshit!"
"It's not bullshit!"
"It is! For Christ's sake, McKay! You think there is something wrong with me? Well I think there is something wrong with you! Everyone we come across you see as a threat! How can you not trust that girl? Oh, wait, what am I saying," Sheppard threw his hands in the air, "You don't trust anyone!"
"Of course I do!"
"Name one!"
McKay's eyes shifted, hesitation crossing his face. A smile of victory crossed Sheppard's face.
"Ha!"
McKay's face reddened, his own anger coming to fore. "Well, it's not like I don't have good reason!" he shouted back. "Trust is not easily given—especially when everyone here seems intent on killing themselves!"
Sheppard opened his mouth to retort, when it hit him what McKay just said. His eyes narrowed, causing McKay to take another step back. He kicked at the stool's legs, and he winced a little.
"Hold on," the major said slowly, "did you say everyone here?"
"Yes!" McKay snapped back, still not understanding the import of the question, "What did you think I meant?"
"Out there!" Sheppard pointed generally outside, indicating the walls beyond the city. "Wait," he shook his head, still working it out, "You mean don't trust anyone here at all?"
McKay paused, suddenly understanding what he's being asked, but for some reason, the right words died in his throat. The major's eyes widened.
"You don't even trust me?" Sheppard asked, his voice strained.
McKay flinched, "No, no...of course not...I trust you. I, I, I just..."
"Not quick enough, McKay." The major's tone was disturbingly cold.
"No," McKay held up his hands, waving them about, "no, no. You got that wrong. Of course I trust you! I just…I just don't trust her! Straein. Major, please, you got that wrong!"
"Truth has a funny way of coming out when one isn't paying attention, you know that McKay?"
"Major," Rodney shook his head, "Please, you're twisting what I said."
"I don't think so."
Taking in a sharp breath, McKay glanced again at the orange ball. The light was fading. His eyes narrowed, then flicked back to Sheppard's face, to find it stone cold.
"You're off the team," the major informed him.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"What…why? Major! Please, this is all a mistake!"
"Trust goes both ways, McKay. You can't trust us? Then we can't trust you. How you react in any given situation is a matter of trust, McKay, and you don't trust us. In my book, that makes you a liability to the safety of our mission. In fact, it makes you a danger to the safety of any mission that goes through that gate."
McKay shook his head vehemently, "No, wait. This is screwed up. I am not the one doing this. She's doing this, can't you see that? She's making you hear and think things that—"
"Stop it! She didn't say she didn't trust me, McKay! You did! It's over, understand?"
"Major, no, this is crazy!"
Sheppard frowned, then turned, striding out of the lab. "Goodbye, McKay."
"Major!" McKay stumbled after him, reaching the door of the lab and staring down the corridor after the quickly disappearing man, "Major! Wait!"
But Sheppard was already gone.
McKay leaned heavily against the doorframe, his hand bracing itself on the cool metal. Turning his eyes to the ground, they flitted back and forth, trying to understand what had just happened. Looking back over his shoulder, he found his attention returned to the Renzite. The light was nearly all gone, but it was still there, softly pulsing away within the orange sphere.
The blue eyes narrowed, piercing through the ball, to the person he was now sure was listening in.
"Did you enjoy that?" he asked nastily.
Back in the bedroom they had given her, Straein's eyes opened, and she smiled.
"Yes, Doctor McKay," she responded to the empty room, "I did."
TBC
