Notes:
1) This chapter contains several violent events that may be triggering for some readers. A part of the events this chapter contains, are not meant to be pleasant. They are awful and the intentions to write those parts in question are meant to be the way they are. Therefore, I'd ask anybody, please make sure you are really willing to continue.
2) After a discussion with readers I decided to change a few sentences to keep one figure more in character. It's only some minor change but nevertheless I'd like to thank Neotoma for her constructive beta on this part.
10. Things That Never Change
Back on Destiny everything was going well and nearly normal again. After Young stayed two more weeks in the infirmary he was able to go back to his quarters, although he was still not completely recovered. TJ checked on him twice a day to make sure everything was fine.
On one of those evenings, after TJ had just left his quarters, somebody knocked on the door. He went over to open it and found Camile Wray accompanied by Matthew Scott.
"Good evening Everett, or is it morning here?" Scott asked straight forward and extended his hand towards the astonished man.
"David?" he asked slowly back.
"You got me! How did you know it was me?"
"Should I tell him?" he smiled at Camile, who gave him a mischievous look. "No, don't, better keep your little secret, it's more mysterious like that, and good evening Colonel Young," she replied. "Can we come in?"
"Of course", Young beckoned both in with a waving movement of his hand into his quarters that was followed by a "please sit down," as he directed them to the sitting area of his room.
"So, that means you won't tell me?" Telford asked again while laughing, which made Young smile, so he looked over to Camile as he revealed his secret.
"Well it wasn't that hard to guess. The number of people who would call me by my given name is small and since it's been a while since you've been here, the assumption suggested itself. Aside from that you have a special way of moving, regardless of which body you visit."
"I should have known that." Telford said. "But when did you start to observe people's behaviour? Ah, forget it, you're right. The last time I was here was about four years ago. The last two months I've been on a diplomatic mission for Stargate Command, and that took more time than I thought it would."
"Yeah, that was the reason why General O'Neill was not present when I needed him." Young replied. "Permissible to say where you've been?"
"Yes and no," Telford said, asking himself why his friend would have needed General O'Neill that much. "It was a secret mission, therefore no. But, the mission was related directly to Destiny, and therefore I'm allowed to share some of the intel."
"I'm anxious to hear about that." Camile was delighted to learn the military was willing to share information with the agent of the IOA and the non-military personal on Destiny, and earned an agreeing nod from Young for it.
"We've been six long weeks on Langara negotiating from one round table talk to the next."
"Is there good news?" Young wanted to know, not completely sure he'd like the result, after he saw Camile's facial expression.
"Yes, I think so. In general I bring good news, though there are limitations."
"And they are?" Young asked.
"It will take more time." Telford commented outright. "At the end of the longest proceedings I've ever taken part in, the Langarians agreed to let us use their Stargate. We are allowed to send personal reinforcements and any needed supplies. In exchange we are to protect them from the Lucian Alliance and give them technical support, as well as full disclosure on all new results your Ancient ship will yield. But before any of that they want to verify the calculations Dr McKay has provided, and it is unknown how long that will take in the end."
"Well, that's more than understandable, I'd say." Camile threw in. "The last two planets from where Destiny was dialled exploded. The population of Langara is huge and therefore they bare a great responsibility. But how does Stargate Command evaluate what to disclose to the Langarians from the secret information Destiny provides in return for their support?"
Telford's expression turned serious. "That is exactly the problem why the negotiations took so long, and frankly I'm still not sure whether the intel about Destiny will end up with the Lucian Alliance and could be held against us in a critical moment."
"But actually, I really don't know what kind of information from this old vessel could be used against us." Young countered.
"It's a matter of principle. Maybe your intel doesn't sound that exciting now, though I have to say your news about the cosmic background radiation caused some excitement. However, nobody knows what kind of scientific results it may contain, but that may change when I'm able to bring onboard some real ancient technology specialists."
"Stargate Command will send their own people here?" Young asked suspiciously, looking at Camile again as he had several times during the whole conversation, noticing that she was becoming more and more uneasy.
"Yes David, you should indeed explain that to us!" She stated sharper than she had intended.
"Why are you so surprised by that?" Telford replied. "Didn't you just get rid of your only real Ancient technology specialist and are you not in urgent need of a replacement? Even if he sabotaged your attempts to leave this rust bucket for a decent existence several times, to get rid of him was maybe too drastic and illegal as well.
Well actually," he then continued, "it was also your own mistake. You've always been too careless and naïve. You let him walk around the ship without a ward, doing whatever he wanted to do."
"I was neither careless nor was I naïve, David." Young objected. "I had everything double checked more than once by my people to find out if it was really possible that Rush had prevented us from going back home!"
"And?" Telford interrupted him curiously.
"We never found anything, and we were never able to prove he ever sabotaged any of those attempts." Young explained calmly. "Furthermore, I'd like to add it wasn't we who got rid of him. There was a dubious charge he was accused of that I could have nullified, but unfortunately I was in a coma at the time. So some of my people overreacted and marooned him on a planet mostly because of his earlier actions. But since then I was able to set the matter right and now we are on our way to that planet to bring him back." Young finished his statement with an uncertain look at Camile.
"Provided that we'll be able to find him to bring him back." Camile completed in a low voice with a side look to Young meeting his eyes shortly.
"Exactly, provided he is still alive and we find him." Young hurried to add.
"Aside from the fact that your crew's actions are questionable, are you yourself that gullible? Everybody knows Rush lied to you from the start and covered his true intentions. The bastard is clever — that's why you were never able to prove his guilt." Telford said shaking his head in disbelief.
"Of course he's clever, and I'd even go so far as to not always trust him without precaution, but what kind of true intentions are you talking about?" Young asked irritated.
"Wasn't it his aim to take over command here? Therefore wasn't it you who tried to get rid of him?" Telford countered, shaking his head again, which looked from Young's point of view surreal, since it didn't fit Scott's natural movements. He ignored that to not make things more complicated than they were already and continued: "it may be possible Rush sometimes caused more trouble than he was worth. And yes, since you seem to know, I tried to get rid of him, hoping Eli Wallace would be able to substitute without a problem. But since then I've changed my opinion. I now indeed believe that we reached a point where we are able to work together, a point where he is just doing his job without other motives. Aside from that I strongly believe we would be fortunate to have more than one technology specialist on board."
"You don't say, Everett." Telford remarked smugly. "But wait, didn't I hear something completely different? Didn't you beat him up so badly that he needed several weeks to recover? And all of that because he was doing – what did you call it? – Other motives?" Telford asked directly.
"That was a misunderstanding." Young calmly replied. "He made a mistake and I overreacted. That was all, and it won't happen again."
"And that's all you have to say about it?" Telford asked.
"Yes, that's all." Camile solemnly spoke instead of Young.
"Very well," Telford answered with a side look to Camile, "anyway that's no concern of mine at the moment, and most likely the problem will nullify itself, regardless."
"That's right David." Young closed that part of the conversation, visibly annoyed by the last part of his friend's remark, but dismissed it. "Okay, so what about the people who will be sent here?"
"We thought a small group: hand-picked technical specialists, and for the military, soldiers and a trained medical officer with experience. Furthermore, supplies to do the needed repairs and as many of the things that you need aside from that. As far as we know, it may be a one way ticket, since I guess you haven't found a way to dial Stargate Command on your own, right?"
"No, we haven't. But to be honest, it doesn't sound that bad, I'd say." Young gave rise to a concern. "Soldiers, technicians, a trained doctor, medical and other equipment, new shoes and clothes and other urgently needed things for daily life would be really useful."
"Of course that's a given," Camile said without hesitation, but added then suspiciously: "Why not more scientific personal instead of more soldiers? We have soldiers, what we really need would be engineers, ancient technology specialists, technology specialists in general and more people to run the infirmary, not only a medical officer but also a medic to support Lieutenant Johansen, and maybe new computers and technical equipment."
"Reliable soldiers are more important than a few more scientists, computer and some technical playthings. Safety is important, don't you think?" Telford meant mockingly towards Camile.
"I doubt that," Camile replied sharply, "but I guess all of this is already determined and you are here to tell us how Stargate Command has decided to help us this time, right?"
"Exactly, that's what I've done. Oh, and before I forget, General O'Neill wants to talk to you personally, Everett. I think it's about Rush," Telford said to Young. Then turning to Wray he said: "I'm sure the IOA wishes to talk to you as their representative in the same matter." He closed the conversation with both of them with a faked kindness, gave them his good bye and left.
After he'd left Young's quarters Camile stayed a while longer to review what they'd talk about.
"To sum up, as far as I see, our situation is as follows," Camile stated. "Stargate Command knows not only about everything Rush did, but also about everything you did as well, Colonel."
"Yes, it looks like." Young commented on her remark. "And to be honest, I wish they didn't know any of it."
"With good reason, I'd say. It is certainly illegal to frame someone for a crime that never happened by military and civilian law, but it is also illegal to maroon that person on a dust-dry planet. Since it could not be predicted that he would survive that out of a pure accident, it is at least a negligent manslaughter, and at worst an attempted murder to get rid of an inconvenient crew-member. Regardless of how you want to see it, it is a crime. And additionally, to beat up a person several times to make him cooperate is as well neither permitted by military nor by civil law, even if he provoked you." Camile declared.
"Do you think I don't know that?" Young scolded.
"Fine. It's good that you are finally willing to accept your mistakes, because regardless of how justified you and some of the others here thought it was, you caused a lot of problems for everybody on this ship by doing that, yourself included.
"You should have restricted Rush from the start, according to the law, but why no, you wanted so desperately to solve this little problem by yourself." Camile ranted herself into rage.
"I got it!" Young griped looking so angry toward her that she calmed down again.
"What a mess!" She said after a while more to herself than to Young and passed her hand over her forehead. "You are aware that Stargate Command will bring Telford and his hand-picked people to replace you as well, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm aware. And the question is what can we possibly do about it?" Young said quietly, feeling depressed now.
"We cannot forego the help from home, that's clear." Camile said in resignation. "The good thing is, we still have time as far as I understood, several weeks, at least.
"That's enough time, so it doesn't need to end badly," he tried to reassure her.
"I hope so." Camile replied, nodded at him and ended the meeting by getting up to leave Colonel Young's quarters.
~/~/~
The last two weeks went well for Rush. He grew accustomed to "hear" people's thoughts around him, and was much better with excluding them and consciously controlling his new ability.
Early in the morning after he'd shared the night with Lísā in the "house of memories," he woke up astonishingly relaxed and felt for the first time since ever, really well rested. Lying on his side he watched Lísā, whilst she slept. As all the people he had met on this planet so far, her skin was much darker than his. Her long black hair framed her face and upper body. It was surely appealing. She was not young anymore, but also not quite his age, he guessed. He couldn't remember the last time when he'd lay in bed, simply enjoying a quiet moment, observing somebody's quiet form in the pale light of the early morning. The way she looked in that moment made him realise that she was striking, and as different from Gloria as he could imagine.
It took nearly another hour until she started to wake up, directly searching for the warm body she'd spend the night with. Despite the fact that he was still lying by her side, he made himself comfortable at the edge of the bed. Displaying this reaction was not a new experience for him. There were times when Gloria expressed her regret that he was often so distant, but this was something he'd always done, since in spite of all the love, affection and familiarity he felt for her he could rarely bare physical closeness for long.
Many people he'd met saw that as a bad habit, a way to avoid people and being a prick in general. They weren't able or willing to understand that to not show feelings openly, not having the constant urge to touch and be touched and therefore always keeping a safe distance, was not the same as not caring or being unable to love. This behaviour has been one of the constants in his life as long as he could remember. It was one of those things no one can change, other than to tone down a thick Glaswegian accent to be better understood by those who are not Scottish. For a long time Gloria was the only one who was able to understand that unconditionally and he hoped Lísā would understand too.
All of a sudden he remembered the moment when Amanda caught him in her simulation, having determined that they love each other as a "simple" parameter. He still didn't understand why the ship's computer would not accept his definition of love in opposition to hers, or why a computer would accept at all such a rigid definition of something so immense as human emotions. But a computer can only work with what it is fed, and in that case the definitions obviously didn't fit.
If he'd been more careful, nothing of what happened would have taken place. But no, he was so focussed on making up for a mistake he had to answer for that he thought this was the one possibility to finally give her what she had been looking for, for so long. Therefore he ignored all precautions, with the result of losing her for good in the end. What was more, he had also sealed the fate of another, Eli's girlfriend. It was clear Eli never forgave him for this stupid mistake, and in hindsight he knew Eli was rightfully angry.
But putting aside those tragic events, he had been aware since he was a teenager that he was different in many ways. While all of the lads his age drooled over girls, thinking about nothing but sex, he was completely uninterested by any of that. And that was even before that horrible encounter with those bloody soldiers at the docks in Glasgow. His father, of all people, feared early on he might be queer for not being interested in girls, which was just more proof for him that he had the most inept son a father could imagine. But he'd also stopped caring for his son at that time, and the only attention he showed his son was the frequent beatings, so his father's interpretation of Rush's behaviour was no surprise, but it hurt strangely, anyway.
At that time for a little bit of peace, he had started to alter his behaviour to please those he was dependent upon, by pretending to care for matters they though were appropriate. It helped for a while, up until the day on the docks, when he came back home badly beaten and bleeding. All his father did was order him to get cleaned up and shut his mouth about what had happen. He even straight out forbade him to go to the police or to visit a doctor despite his condition to spare him the shame. The next day he would scream into his face what a disgrace he was and how much he'd fooled him and that he had finally shown his true face. And so he obeyed. He didn't even say a word when he went back to school a few days later and collapsed, and was taken to a hospital. He could understand the concern of the doctors and hospital staff when they tried to get out of him who assaulted him, but he also knew they didn't have to live with his father afterwards. So he kept his word and endured his father a little while longer, even though he thought his son to be nothing but a creepy nut.
'Things never change,' he thought and even after all this long time, he was still bitter about his father.
And now, he lay beside this woman and stopped thinking about 'how do you change what you are' because it was not possible to fake feelings or behaviours in front of someone who's able to read your every thought, and feel what you feel. He was what he was, and even when he strongly suspected that his inability to have the same romantic feelings and sexual longing other people call love, resulted in the failing of Amanda's simulation. It was neither possible nor preferable to fool the woman in front of him. 'She will understand,' he thought regretfully.
Lísā must have been able to feel what he felt during the past moments, because she first looked at him questioning but then she took his hand tentatively and pressed it gently to show him her approval, though, he could feel she was a little bit disappointed too.
After they'd breakfasted together, they left the mysterious house. And he realised only later he still didn't know its purpose.
~/~/~
Now Rush had been on the farm about a month. His ability to talk to its inhabitants had increased daily, and though these abilities were still limited, his knowledge was now beyond the most basic vocabulary. He sat with a group of girls and a few boys, who had started to sneak in for his lessons at the corner of the big courtyard of the central building that served as a place for teaching. This morning the theme was geometry.
Suddenly he saw a group of men entering the courtyard. He'd never seen them before, but they brought a man along with them that he immediately recognised. It was Ādí, one of his fellows in misery, when he was caught about six weeks ago close to the Stargate. He apologised to the school students, and stood up to greet him. But Tēmá, who'd seen the group as well instantly realised what he was about to do. So she got up too and stopped him by urgently asking him not to approach those men. He couldn't understand why she reacted the way she did and therefore looked at her questioningly first, and then to his former comrade, who'd seen him in that very moment too. Ādí seemed to be pleased and grinned broadly, which could be seen despite the distance. But the moment he started to come over, he was rudely held back by his escort. When Rush saw that, he stopped himself, looking alternately to Tēmá and to Ādí, until she repeated her plea to not call attention to himself, but it was now too late. All three men had seen him already.
So Rush made a few hesitant steps toward the direction of the group while Tēmá kept staying close to his side. He was alarmed as he observed one of the three men pressing Ādí into a crouch, to make sure he was not able to get up again, while the other two began to meet him halfway.
One of the men greeted the girl friendly and asked how she was doing. Tēmá answered with some unease. After they'd exchanged a few words Rush understood he was a close relative. The second man just stood by the first one watching closely. Rush was not able to understand everything but he was able to pick up a few things. The first man's name seems to be Bān, and he was Tēmá's uncle and Lísā's brother.
After they finished the phrases of civility, Bān asked for her strange companion's name, and Tēmá told him his name was Nick, and that he had only been on the farm for a few weeks. She told them that he was their new teacher exclusively for numbers. But Bān's only reaction was a bold smirk and then he started to mock Rush with a torrent of words that didn't sound flattering at all. Then Tēmá said a few more sentences, whose meaning Rush didn't get completely, because they both spoke too quickly, too loudly and overall extremely heatedly, but what he understood was that she tried to defend him.
During the whole dispute Rush looked several times over to Ādí, switching back to Tēmá and Bān and again to Ādí, who could do nothing but watch without being able to help. At some point he started to shake his head as if he tried to make Rush understand not to do something he was about to do soon, something Rush remembered him having done before.
Out of nowhere he was suddenly hit by a huge wave of unfamiliar thoughts, trying to penetrate his brain. This brought back an unpleasant issue of his past that felt like a painful dégà-vu experience, but he was quickly able to find the intruder. It was Bān's silent companion. Rush tried directly to stop him from going further, but the brutal and cold man seemed to catch on to what he was trying to do, according to his broad grin after their eyes met. His thoughts made Rush shiver and made him move back instinctively. At that time Tēmá had stopped the dispute with her uncle, when he pushed her out of the way to step up in front of Rush and bump him provoking with both hands so that he met the ground unskilfully with his bum.
Then everything happened fast. The girl angrily screamed at her uncle so that he gripped her arms to shake her. By then Rush was on his feet again in time to jump at them to make him stop. Without hesitation the big strong fellow let her go to concentrate on Rush again. First he was able to trick him with abilities he'd learned as a boy on the streets of Glasgow. But the benefit of Rush's surprise attack didn't last long. Whilst they rolled on the dusty ground someone took him abruptly by his arms to tear him off the man who already lay under him ready to be finished.
Regardless how much he tried to kick and fight back, it was impossible to get out of the man's iron grip. Breathing heavily and with plentiful rage in his stomach it took a while until he was able to fully recognise his surroundings again. Tēmá stood close by trying again to argue with both men to lay off Rush, which seemed not to be what both were about to do.
Rush, who was still held by the man behind him, with no chance of moving, could do nothing but watch helplessly to what happened in front of him. His eyes followed Tēmá still arguing heatedly with her uncle and walking along side him to the place where their belongings lay on the ground and where the third man waited with Ādí, who patiently sat unmoving on the ground. When Bān arrived by his things he emptied one of the bags, so that a pile of clothes and other indefinable things fell out on the ground. Then he rummaged through the items with Tēmá tailing and talking to him the whole time until he'd found what he was looking for. With a tangled piece of leather in his hand he went straight back to the man who was holding Rush.
As before, Tēmá didn't leave his side, but continued to argue with him desperately to hinder him from going back to Rush. But Tēmá was no obstacle for the strong man, so he simply pushed her out of the way, followed by a bunch of angry words by him. Then he started to unravel the stringed leather strips and only now Rush saw what it really was and for a second he thought somebody had pulled the ground from under him. He remembered it quite well, what was coming now would hurt badly. But before he was able to think further the man behind him had turned him around, removed his shirt, took him by his wrists, and made him kneel down. In his panic he tried fiercely to struggle against the man, but a sudden pain in his wrist made him stop. He was facing the man so that all that he could do now was to shout angry curses and demands to release him. But the only response be got was a series of blows that felt as if they would tear the skin off his back. It was even worse than what he'd experienced before. And a few blows later he was in so much pain and hoarse from screaming that he completely lapsed into agony, unable to realise what was happening around him.
Suddenly the blows stopped and his wrists were released so that he fell to the ground like a wet bag. From a distance he could hear Lísā speaking in a quiet but determined voice to her brother, who opposed her constantly with angry sounding words. Then everything was quiet again and he could feel her crouching on the ground and talking to him softly. Before unconsciousness overcame him, his last thought was only: 'why?'
~/~/~
When Rush came slowly back to his senses, he lay on his bed in the big dormitory. It was hard for him to orientate himself and it took several attempts until he was able to keep his eyes open for more than a short time.
His back burned more than he remembered from the first whipping and he felt something heavy and wet laying on him. The pain was clearly more intense than before and his abused wrist throbbed badly. He felt incredibly thirsty and before he was able to finish the thought somebody put a bowl with water up to his face. When he looked close he saw Tēmá and Lísā sitting on the floor next to his bed, but it was Lísā who gave him the water. He drank uncontrollably and spilled a good part of the liquid so that Lísā took the bowl away with gentle force. His movements were abnormally dreadful and he needed several hours until it was better. During that time he was given a lot to drink and he could feel the terribly warm cloth on his back was being changed with a cool one. Half conscious, he saw that the light coloured cloth changed into some kind of pinkish colour and he realised only after several changes that it was blood.
It must have been late afternoon before he was able to think coherently again. The first thing he asked was why this man had beaten him. All he could remember was that he wanted to stop the guy from further mistreating Tēmá. So Lísā explained to him that one of the men was her brother and that he with his comrades are responsible for bringing in new workmen. As far as he was able to understand, an extensive description of how this part of the society worked followed her short introduction of her brother. As it sounds, it was usual to exchange some of the men on a steady basis between the big farms. He had suspected something like this from his observations, but it was nonetheless good to know for sure. Further she explained that this was done to give the men the opportunity to change the kind of work and the place, as far as they wanted to. But another reason was to make sure the gene pool stayed diverse and prevent any too close blood relationships, especially on far distant and insular farms. Her remarks seemed without question rational, but he wondered not for the first time why people with this kind of society would care about something like that.
'This is actually genetic population policy. Is it possible that this is some kind of a relict from other times?' However, it remained strange.
Eventually she told him that he was quite famous among all traders around their district, though not in a flattering way, and that most of them mocked Dāíl and his young granddaughter Tēmá for buying a bizarre stranger, who not only looked quite alien, but was also weak and didn't appear as if he would be able to do the normal hard work. Therefore the two men who had been able to sell him to those fools, made the deal of their lifetime.
So when her brother and his friends came back home with a new worker, they found exactly that stranger in the courtyard doing women's work, instead of being in the fields where men belong. Her brother was especially angry about such a waste of resources and asked Tēmá, urgently, what the hell she and her grandfather were thinking by doing something that stupid. But then that stranger attacked Bān, so he had to teach him a lesson.
As it looked to Rush it was not common to teach workmen a lesson because as far as he could remember, he hadn't seen traces of mistreatment on anyone. So, it may be just some kind of bad luck, or his usual talent for getting in trouble, which lead to his second punishment. To be honest with himself he had to admit that it was clear the first time he was punished. He'd also been aware that those dealers were by far more careful to not damage their merchandise too much. He was not able to understand this new situation, it just seemed totally unfair to him. Furthermore, he will not be able to do any kind of work for several days, so why would a reasonable person do something that harmful to a man who was supposed to be able to work?
But Lísā had stated further that the men acted in accordance with their legislation, and regardless of how unfair she herself, her daughter or father thought his punishment was, they were not able to do anything about it. They wanted him to know the moment he was able to get up so they could tell him why everything was the way it was.
Rush didn't know what to think about everything he'd just heard and cursed, not for the first time, the circumstances that brought him into this mess. 'I need to change before it is too late!' He thought in dire.
A few days later Rush learned the circumstances of how it happened that Dāíl and his granddaughter Tēmá bought him some weeks ago. All he could think about afterwards was that it must've been a giant cosmic joke. Somehow he anticipated from where these people came from, but he had never foreseen the possibility that his own fate would be entwined in any of what he was told. Under normal conditions he would learn about everything at some time later, but the insults Dāíl's son made against his own father, and towards his niece and punishing Rush that badly, made it now necessary to explain what it was all about.
Therefore Lísā and Dāíl asked Rush to go to the 'House of Memories' in the late afternoon because, as they told him, they owed him an explanation for everything that had happened to him. So he went that afternoon despite his still hurting back to the 'House of Memories.' He immediately recognised the large hall in the centre of the house, but this time no food or beverages where offered. Instead of that the table was filled with slate like tablets, which were used to archive information, and some wooden boxes. Lísā and Dāíl invited him to sit down at the large table to wait for Tēmá, who should appear soon. To Rush's relief, Bān, Lísā's brother, was not part of the meeting.
When Tēmá finally arrived, Dāíl began. He cumbersomely opened one of the boxes to unveil a thin metal-palette that was wrapped in old yellowish, fragile looking tissues. Dāíl handed Rush the object. The material seemed to be copper. The surface had formed verdigris in a few spots and was covered with carved lines, showing a portrait. When Rush looked closely, he stopped a moment and looked at the three people opposite him with large eyes full of astonishment, helplessness and embarrassment all at the same time. It was his face and rendered astonishingly well. When he looked more carefully, he could see the initials A and B in the right corner of the plate. At first he didn't know who that could be, but he guessed it must have been someone from the original Destiny crew, since none of the later people would have known what he looked like. But who would get the preposterous idea to make a portrait of him, of all people? The descendants of the second Destiny worshipped Young and Eli, and founded the country and culture of Tenara, but those people thought of him more like some kind of a demon. Then he remembered something he had thought about a few weeks ago. There was a group that separated themselves from Young and his followers quite early, and as far as he could remember this was instigated by Adam Brody.
'Of course A B is Adam Brody,' he thought. A group of people accompanied Brody and later they built a state of their own. So these people here were indeed the descendants of that group. Vaguely he could recollect that those folks worshipped him and were waiting for him to come back and save them all, though that never happened. It was strange enough that they continued to keep that belief, while he was considered a villain and demonized on the other side of the fence.
'Damn,' he thought looking into the hopeful faces as they watched him the whole time from the other side of the table. 'What am I supposed to say now? It's obvious they know who I am. Tēmá must have recognised me after she'd seen that portrait on this copperplate. That's why she'd asked Dāíl to take me with them. No reason to deny anything, so it seems.' So he affirmed that he was who they thought he was. To his surprise all of them took that quite unperturbed and told him that there was some old prophecy concerning his person that said, one day he would come back to this planet where they were now, and that his fate would be joined with theirs from that moment on.
'The prophesy doesn't originate from Novus, it came into being only here. Would that be possible? Is that even thinkable?
Brody's idea that he would come back to save them all with Destiny again, was reasonable, since no one knew they went back 2000 years in time, but why would such a prediction be revived after such a long time in this place? More importantly, how was it possible that it came true?
With this last thought he froze: 'can it be possible that some kind of higher power was involved in everything? A higher power that could construct such an outcome? No, that would be impossible. Too many uncertainties, and for what reason? No, that doesn't make sense.'
These thoughts made him uncomfortable, so he let Dāíl, Lísā and Tēmá continue their story. What they reported to him inflamed a spark of hope. Perhaps it would not be completely impossible that there was a way to leave this planet and go back to his old life if at least partly. Lísā, who witnessed the pictures that formed in his head showed sympathy for those thoughts, but she also assured him that such an attempt was out of question because of the lack of technology, so he listened now with growing interest to what they had to tell him.
Many hundreds of years ago, as the ancestors of these people started their journey, a cosmic disaster began to emerge. The Futuran scientists acknowledged the situation decades before the Tenarans. Since the only known Stargate was located in Tenara, it excluded use as an emergency door for the Futurans, they had to think of something else. Promptly it was decided that they would build a giant spaceship that could host enough people so that their civilisation would survive. It took a whole generation of combined research and craftsmanship to build the ship that was baptized: "New Hope." It was populated with the most promising families for rebuilding their society on a safe and distant planet far away from their solar system. It was the first of it's kind and meant to be a ship for many generations.
Rush listened with interest to the narrative, but the more he heard the more he thought something was odd.
The ship travelled many years through space until a giant spaceship that produced many small ships out of nothing attacked her. At the end of a dreadful chase the New Hope fell into a huge wormhole. At the other end they were forced to make an emergency landing far away from their original coordinates. The attack and the following forced landing caused the survivors to take precautions to make sure they would never be attacked again. After they had discovered that the planet they were on had its own Stargate, they started to explore other planets in range. That's how they found this planet where they live now.
Their data revealed that it would not be easy to live here, but it had perfect climatic conditions, a rich fauna and flora, though not always edible. More importantly, they found no signs of conscious life. The planet the ship had landed on had an unstable and hostile environment, lacked water and those beings they met there were as hostile as the planet itself.
They had brought with them a database with all the knowledge from both nations of Novus. One day, one of the leaders of the New Hope found hidden deep in this database an old text with the prophesy that they had previously told Rush. This Prophesy did not only announce the return of one Nicholas Rush, it also made these people take on the lifestyle they now kept. To be safe from their persecutors, who were understood to be soulless machines, they choose a simple life without any technology built on metals. This is how a Neolithic culture evolved that also kept the knowledge of an advanced civilisation. The knowledge was passed on from one generation to the next, but it was not used, only preserved.
Rush observed the different objects, which were spread out in front of him, with a mixture of curiosity and astonishment while he summed up what he'd just heard. It was evident the timelines didn't fit with what Rush remembered. As they were: it was not possible the ship was launched too long before the second one, that one that left with the last survivors of the planet. It couldn't be much earlier and for sure not several hundreds of years earlier, since the technology on Novus was not that far advanced to build a spaceship at that time. But the civilisation he met on this planet was certainly older than a few decades. Most likely several hundreds of years, given the enormous adaptation to this planet. Another aspect was the mentioning of those soulless machines, it seemed very likely that these were the same ships they knew as drones that attacked Destiny in the last galaxy. Somehow the New Hope must have incurred into a time shift between entering and coming out of the wormhole. There was no other explanation.
But then there was something more personal he questioned and he wasn't sure how to classify it now that he'd heard the story. So he asked Lísā directly whether she seduced him on purpose, to fufil an old prophecy, or whether there were any feelings aside from that. She was visibly embarrassed when she heard his accusation and assured him that it was not only because she must fulfil a duty, but also she truly was attracted to him and it was a mixture of both. Although he could understand her explanation and knew she was honest, a rest of doubt was left behind.
When his sight wandered again over the various objects, he recognised the box that contained the branding iron and thought back to the moment they branded him. He got an encouraging look from Lísā when she felt him reliving the pain, then he unconsciously ran his fingers over the nearly healed scar on his arm. Aside from the portrait with his face there were a lot of slates with impressions of different landscapes, people and finally also the outlines of the giant ship that must still exist somewhere on the other planet not too far away from here. In another box he found more copper slates that pictured Destiny, other portraits, from which one looked a little bit like Brody, but it didn't look like the Brody he remembered. Finally a modern looking huge building with a text underlying that said it was the library of Futura.
Then he asked another question he considered of importance for his future: who aside from these people in the room was aware of this story? Why this story is obviously hidden from everybody else, and why nobody will most likely know about it anytime soon?
The explanation they gave said that the leaders of all families on the planet, or their representatives, like Dāíl, who was the replacement for his late partner Āná, knew about their history. They said that all of them own a box with the same objects. All were asked to keep this knowledge hidden and to share it only with the inner circle of each family. The reason why it should be kept a secret was explained with the circumstance that their society doesn't support superstition, prophesies and other occult nonsense. They believe these ideas were only used to keep people small and stupid, and to make them fearful, so to be manipulated more easily.
Rush acknowledged especially the last sentence wholeheartedly, but something about the story made him uneasy. He knew too well that keeping secrets also creates chiasms that would never have existed without them.
Overwhelmed and pensive at the same time by all this unexpected information he acquired on this day, he went back to his bed. He lay down unusually tired and dreamt that night about bewildering stories of strange people and spaceships, and also for the first time since he was on this planet, about the ship he felt in a strange way at home on and at the end of all of his efforts.
~/~/~
Not long after Telford's visit Young took the opportunity to inform the crew that they will be provided with replenishments in the form of people and needed supplies in several weeks or months. As was expected the people reacted to the news in a positive way. But he shared other details about the meeting only with Destiny's inner circle.
Young and Wray met with their respective supervisors after Telford's visit, and both were encouraged to bring back Rush, though for slightly different reasons.
At the end of the meeting with General O'Neill, Young had asked for a scientist to be assigned to study Rush's unauthorized actions of dialling the ninth chevron. He wanted to know whether the data he had provided was made of thin air or whether it contained a kernel of truth. To Young's surprise, this investigation had already been made. It was decided to investigate in that direction after certain aspects of Rush's and Young's history on Destiny was officially known.
Also to Young's surprise, it turned out that Rush's arbitrary act saved all of their lives, and did not just condemn them to a senseless and bleak life on an old rust bucket. The results showed that the Stargate at Stargate Command would have most likely exploded and would have not only killed the people on Icarus, but also every living being at the Earth base too, if Riley had dialled Earth, as he was ordered. Rush's explanation that the energy of the explosion would have been more catastrophic the closer they were to Icarus was correct. But it could not be proved whether it would have been possible to dial any gate in a neighbouring galaxy, because for that they would need all the data. Since the planet exploded it was not possible to investigate further, which left that part open to interpretation. However, the result in the end was to Young's taste too Rush-like, as it seemed he was not guilty and was guilty, though less guilty than he'd thought before. But what counted most was that what he did absolutely saved their lives, and that was something he could use for those left on Destiny who still thought only bad about Rush. He knew there were still a few left.
Spending many hours with Camile's counselling, Young was not very surprised to hear General O'Neill's accusations about his joint guilt for the unlucky incidents that caused him to bump heads with his leading scientist more than once, and also that after he'd demonstrated how to deal with such an inconvenient person, he should not be surprised that his crew did the same when he was absent. Young was also relieved that it looked as if Stargate Command was seemingly willing to "ignore" what they had heard, as long as they were able to fix everything that had happened, which was anyway a complete violation of military and civil law on both sides. Aside from that, the meeting went on with more pleasant matters and General O'Neill confirmed that they moved forward with the negotiations on Langara to establish a supply line for Destiny, but it will still take more weeks or maybe even months.
Wray and Young informed each other and their crew of the meetings. It turned out that not only did they both fear that a part of Destiny's crew could be replaced with people more obedient to Stargate Command and the IOA, but also so did Eli and Scott. Neither of them expected that all of the crew were willing to do whatever was necessary to make sure that nobody but the existing crew would be able to make any decisions regarding Destiny. Though at the same time they agreed that help and new supplies were wanted and that they were willing to share whatever they knew about Destiny.
Scott, who Young reprimanded directly after he awoke form his coma for his premature actions, concluded after he'd talked with all parties, including his former and now again girlfriend, that he need to make up for his mistake. Therefore he was first in line for the coming rescue mission. Eli took his part in everything that had lead to the screwed up situation to heart as well, since if he had decided to talk to somebody in time, everything might have come to a different outcome, so he was involved as well.
Three days before Destiny returned to the position from which it was possible to dial the gate again where Rush was marooned two months ago, Young assembled the whole crew for a general meeting.
As everybody else on this day, Brody and Volker accepted Young's invitation and came from a newly opened section of the ship to the gateroom. On their way, all of a sudden Volker dragged Brody aside by his arms and pinned him to the wall to give him an impassioned kiss. For a split second Brody answered the kiss, but the moment Brody realised where they were he withdrew and pushed his friend nonplussed to the side.
"Are you crazy doing this in the middle of a public hallway? Any moment somebody could come around the corner!"
Volker was disappointed and didn't care what anybody might think about them and simply answered: "Does it matter? We aren't soldiers. We can choose any partner we want to, so why should I care?"
"Yes," Brody said embarrassed. "That's right of course, but I don't think we should make our relationship public."
"Everybody knows about you two already!" James called as she came along unnoticed by both, passing them with a twinkle in her eye. Brody was startled by the sudden pop up from the woman and turned beet-red, dissolving completely from the grip of his partner. But the moment he composed himself he commented when James was out of sight: "So much for privacy on this rust bucket!"
"Yeah, looks like we don't need to waste more time thinking about that problem!" Volker replied dryly. "But to be honest, I thought most people knew anyway."
"I still don't want you to be that intimate in public. I don't like it!" Brody said in a huff.
"You weren't that shy this morning in our room!" Volker whispered gazing tellingly at Brody.
"That was behind closed doors." Brody growled still grumpy.
"Never mind, let's go before we get more complements from passer-bys." Volker meant to his lovely but inhibited buddy. Brody's answer to his last comment was a shrug and another low growl, which he took as general approval.
When both of them arrived at the gateroom they found nearly everybody already assembled there. It was rare that Young summoned a full meeting for the crew, but when he did it was always of importance. As usual people grouped together to chat while they were waiting for the meeting to begin. A few minutes later, after the usual latecomers arrived, Young stepped out of the circle of his soldiers and up to the curved staircase that opposed the gate, so that everybody could see him.
"Two months ago," he started, "a crewmember was marooned on a planet not far away from here." Young let his words settle down until he went on with what he wanted to say. "As everybody here knows, Doctor Nicholas Rush has been accused twice of trying to get rid of me. But since your representatives were not able to completely prove his guilt, it was decided to abstain from executing him and instead he was marooned on the next planet to avoid a possible danger for the crew." While he was speaking his view shifted over the attendees to linger on one person once and a while.
"Eventually, when I awoke after a month in a coma I was able to right the matter. Doctor Rush never actually tried to kill me. Some of you may know that he has done questionable things, but you also know he's not a killer, nor has he deliberately harmed anybody here with criminal intent or malicious motives."
He glanced at Eli when he continued: "even if the loss of one of our comrades let us believe this." At the thought of Riley, Young stopped for a short moment, because he'd never got over the loss of this fine young man. He thought back to the moment when he nearly killed Rush for his involvement in that tragedy, and then to the moment he'd nearly done it again.
"I don't want to deny that I first and foremost had massive problems with him. I had seen in him a man who stranded and risked all of our lives here only for some selfish reasons. But, since then I know he – knowingly or not – actually saved us all when he decided to dial the ninth chevron address. I also know that at least a part of the problems we all had with him, could be directly related to my own actions. What I don't want to say with this is that my distrust in him was always without reason, or that he is not to blame at all. I don't ask you to love him," he said with a sign of a smile in his face. "That would be immoderate and the last thing he would want. I'd rather ask you to rethink your own biases and to look at everything with clearness and sobriety." In that moment Young's eyes met shortly to Dunnings', who just looked ashamed at the floor.
"Doctor Nicholas Rush is still a profound expert in the technology of this ship. Even if Mister Wallace here is able to replace him in many aspects, and we – as it looks now – will get personal reinforcement, I'm convinced it is not possible to have too many specialists who are able to handle the ship.
This and the fact that we all know now that he was accused of a crime he never committed, has convinced me to do everything possible to bring him back and to welcome him to this crew again. I am in agreement with Lieutenant Scott, Camile Wray, as a speaker for all non-military personal here and Eli Wallace as the speaker for those who wholeheartedly voted for the former verdict."
After another break Young continued his speech in the same calm manner as before. "I guess everybody here knows that the possibility of finding someone left on an alien planet two months ago alive and well is not very high." Young's gaze stopped at Greer, who happened to look at the ground just then. "But I know, as others of you know too, that he is a fighter, and that he's been able to survive situations with very low odds before." He explained, while meeting eyes with Chloe, who looked right back open and attentive as she often does. "I hope nonetheless that we will be successful. So, lets hope for the best outcome." He closed this part of the speech to talk about more technical details. "At this point I'd like to give all of you the opportunity to take part in the technical aspects of this rescue mission."
That was finally the moment people could join the discussion and the first to take the initiative was Lieutenant Scott. "I have already started talking to several people here last week and we came to a first agreement. For searching we'll put together five groups of four persons. Each team should have two soldiers for protection, one team member should be a specialist for technical questions, and another one should have basic knowledge in the medical sector or related fields or at least a good knowledge of first aid."
"Why only five teams?" Kathleen Miller a white haired microorganisms specialist wanted to know. "Wouldn't it be better to have more groups to cover a larger area?"
"Yes," Scott said. "More groups would be better, but we don't have enough people and more importantly, not enough equipment for more groups. With everything we have, five groups are what we can do."
"Let's talk about radio distances!" Brody threw in, "the radios can do less than 8 miles in open terrain. Do we know how to solve this?"
"Yes, we know," Eli spoke out. "We'll use kinos as bridges. Each group will take four or five kinos and a remote with them. They not only can be used to search the surroundings, but also to enhance the signal. We'll establish a base station at the Stargate that I will operate along with Dr. Morrison."
"Do we know that this will work?" Lisa Park reflected, who stood at Greer's side.
"As far as we know it should work, even though we have never used it at really far distances." Eli assured her.
"I've set up the five groups in consultation with Eli Wallace, Camile Wray and Colonel Young. This means those who are assigned to a group are already informed. Are there any more questions?" Scott asked with a glance to Colonel Young. But since nobody piped up, Colonel Young rose to speak.
"Everybody knows what he or she has to do. In case anyone wants to add anything constructive, don't hesitate to contact me, Lieutenant Scott or Eli Wallace. At the moment I think everything necessary has been said, so you all can go back to whatever you were doing. Don't forget to get some rest within the next three days, because when we arrive at our destination, all of us will have a lot of additional work to do, and I want everybody be as focussed as possible. See you back here in three days! Dismissed."
And with that the crowd started to dissipate in the same groups they assembled before, while still talking about the meeting.
~/~/~
The last visit in the 'House of Memories' was several days ago, and since then Rush, Dāíl, Lísā and Tēmá endeavoured to conceal what they'd shared, so nobody would become suspicious because of their behaviour being in anyway different. From the moment Rush's health made it possible for him to go back to his usual work, he would work one day in the postproduction of the tubers and the next giving lessons to the children. Dāíl and Lísā explained to Bān that this was the most effective way to use this new worker having him work as much as possible and then he could share his special knowledge with the community. On first impression it looked as if he and his comrades accepted the situation as it was, but somehow Rush didn't trust them. He had the feeling that they were not really satisfied and still saw him as some kind of a public nuisance.
Rush was able to handle the first day on the tuber postproduction, but it was not good, but worked out somehow. The next day was good because he could teach. But the day after, he had to stop smashing the tubers around midday, because of circulatory problems, and was sent back to the house. As all people did when working in the fields, he didn't wear clothes since they were too valuable to wear out by doing this kind of work, and because of the warm weather it was not really necessary either. After arriving at the farm six weeks ago, he had began to get used to everything and it didn't bother him anymore. He was terribly tired and his back was still sour from the abuse he had to endure only a week ago. He'd planed to wash himself, put on his clothes, get something to eat and then go to sleep.
Without caring about his surroundings he went straight to the lavatory in the dormitory, crossed it to reach the door on the other side, went in and closed it from the inside. After a few minutes he opened the door again to go back to the washroom, when he suddenly realised that he was not alone anymore. He searched the room carefully with his eyes but couldn't see anybody, though he was sure he felt somebody's presence. So he went to the entrance of the lavatory and opened the door leading into the dormitory.
There they were.
Silent and motionless they lined up in front of the door, obstructing his way, grinning maliciously, all three guys from the courtyard, Bān, Lísā's brother and his friends Hān and Jūn.
He looked at them and wasn't able to ignore the ill will in their thoughts. A dark foreboding made its path into his brain and in a panic he tired to come up with an opportunity to escape. The problem was: there was no opportunity. The washrooms didn't offer another exit and the only way was directly through those three musclemen.
'The windows,' he thought, while his heart started to race.
Before the three were able to move, Rush turned around and slammed the door into their faces. The door would not stop them for too long, that he knew, but it would give him precious seconds to maybe climb up to one of the windows. As fast as he could he assessed the window recesses, but all of them were too high for him to reach. In a wave of panic he ran to the next room, but the situation was not better there. When he turned around again to run back into the first room the three men were already there. They'd also closed the door from the inside. Now he realised he was trapped without any possibility of getting away. All he could do was look at them and think: 'Is this it? Is this the end, just like this?' But he was not willing to give in, not yet, so he tried to calm down and persuade himself. 'Talk to them, appease them, and make clear you're not a danger.'
So he started to talk, trying to be as defensive as he was able to, but his strategy caused the exact opposite of his plan. Instead they urged him from three sides into the corner behind him. Still talking he moved back, step by step, until there was only space for two or three steps left. The moment he realised that he would be cornered within seconds he stopped to think and to talk and then tried to make a run right through them.
He nearly made it but in a fraction of a second one of the men reacted and gripped his wrist to turn him around. To his own horror he could hear the bone of his right arm gave in and break, but he didn't hear his own scream anymore.
It took a few seconds until he revived and was aware of his surroundings again. One of the men, it must be Hān, because Bān and Jūn were standing in front of him, held his arms up so he was dangling like a jointed doll. The two men before him were now suggesting to the man behind him to shake him because they realised that he was conscious again. The moment he started to do so, Rush screamed out loud because the broken forearm shot unbearable pain through him, but when he stopped Bān took his chin and told him that they were now going to drown him. The broken bone made it impossible for him to turn, so the only chance he had was to scream as loudly as possible hoping someone would hear him. This attempt was also thwarted when one of them slapped his bare hand heavy across his mouth. The man succeeded so far and Rush stopped abruptly. Then they dragged him towards the large, angular basins, which were sunken into the floor and filled up to the rim with water. They pressed his head under water until he stopped moving.
With cruel meticulousness they waited until the moment before he was drown and pulled him up by his hair and slammed him to the ground, to recover coughing and spitting water.
But after that they continued again and again, making fun of how he became more and more unstable, evident by the strange pictures he was sending of translucent blue aliens coming out of the darkness to put him in and out of a tank filled with a cold watery liquid.
When he reached a point where he thought about killing himself the next time, they stopped all of a sudden and let go of him gasping and crying on the floor. In the meantime they circled him, nudged him with their feet, called him names and talked about how they would further torture him.
When Rush recovered enough and was able to breathe normally again, the one who was called Jūn took his good arm, pulled him up and dragged him over to the end of the large table in the middle of the room. He lifted him up, pushed him face down on the table. Then he eventually went around the small side of the table to draw both of Rush's arms to the other side.
Just a second later Rush felt one of the other men step behind him to spread his legs, causing the edge of the table to pinch sharply into his thighs. All he wanted to do right now was to get away, to make everything un-happen, and frantically prevent that guy from doing what he was doing. So he tried to struggle against the iron grip on his arms, but that hurt so much that he had to stop the efforts and whined miserably instead. All he could do was to witness the man behind him finishing adjusting his position on the table and lay open his most private parts not only to be seen by those sick bastards, but also to give them access in any way they wanted. The feeling of vulnerability was too strong; the knowledge of being completely at their mercy was too inacceptable that his mind finally was completely overwhelmed by what was about to happen. Eventually he was no longer able to keep a straight thought, and the only word his mind came up to repeat over and over again was: 'No.'
When he heard the familiar sound of someone spitting into their hand and the ugly slimy tone of flesh rubbing over flesh, he lost it irrevocably. He remembered this terrible sickening sound, and even after so many years he couldn't get it out of his head. He knew too well what was to follow. And only a week ago he'd thought things couldn't get worse. How wrong he'd been.
It took an eternity until each of them finished their ghastly business and dragged him off the table, to let him drop to the ground like useless litter. While he lay down there, battered and unable to move a single limb, they circled around him as they'd done before, to applaud each other for the good job they'd done, and how Bān's sister will now lose interest in her new plaything, now that she could see how useless he was after their treatment. Finally Bān knelt down beside him and pulled Rush's hair to lift his head, so that he was forced to look in the other man's face and see the disgust and hate while he had to listen to his hostile last words. When he was finished he let his head abruptly drop, so that it struck the ground because of the loss of support. Eventually the three men left, leaving him badly injured and utterly humiliated.
It took some time until Rush realised that he must have lost consciousness at some point after his torturers went away. When he opened his eyes to see the beautiful light and grain-less wood of the floor, he could feel his arm throbbing horribly and how beneath his lower body and legs blood spread further and further with each beat of his heart. He noticed how it started to get uncomfortably cold after a while. His whole lower body felt dump and full of pain at the same time and he could observe in a strange out of body experience how his brain was no longer able to manage all the unbearable sensory impressions. It was so full and blatantly obvious that everything became blurred and nothing made any sense anymore.
When he thought he would finally drown in a whirl of pain and memories, he saw something: a being wrapped in the most brilliant blue light he could think of. It was so beautiful that he was completely overwhelmed by its sight. First, it hovered a little while in the air, but then it came down and fanned with its dragon-like wings cool and fresh air on him so he was able to breathe calmly again and without feeling the pain anymore. It touched his maltreated mind with gentle sensations and finally gave him the peace he needed to close his eyes redeemed from everything.
~/~/~