Diamond

"Oh! Wow!" Rodney gasped and left his mouth gaping open at the end.

"Exactly what I was thinking," John said with a similar expression.

Teyla looked awed, but the massive glittering cave they were being shown did not register in greed. Ronon was staring at the leader of the natives who had led them there to make sure no attack came while the others were distracted.

The native had the intricate clear rocks all about his person, in weapons, sewn into his gown and even in his hair. He looked pleased at the teams' reaction and announced, "This is the smallest shining cave. There are many more in the encircling Ridge of Light."

"More?" Rodney squeaked. He turned to Sheppard, but his mumble still carried to everyone else, "Just one of these rocks and we'd never have to work again."

John quickly hushed him.

The native's smile broadened and Teyla turned to him and said, "This is very beautiful, but we understand that you and your people are suffering a famine?"

The man's face fell. "True. I would give this entire cave for enough food to feed my people."

Rodney looked across at him and narrowed his eyes. John elbowed the scientist in the side to keep him quiet during the negotiations. The strike elicited an indignant grunt, but Rodney's eyes remained wide as he gazed around the cave with an expression akin to lust.

A few hours later, the team were making their way back to the gate through a field.

Rodney was scowling and suddenly snapped, "I can't believe you did that! He was going to trade a bowl of rice for a bowl of priceless diamonds!" McKay turned to Sheppard. "You must've been tempted?"

John pursed his lips and then said evenly, "Yes, but that would've been taking advantage. We don't exactly need diamonds."

Rodney folded his arms tightly over his chest. "Speak for yourself. We could all retire early and buy everything we ever wanted." His voice lost conviction at the end.

Teyla said quietly, "But that is not what you want?"

Rodney sighed and John raised his eyebrows at the other man, silently asking the same question.

They all stopped as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a fist sized clear, intricately cut, dazzling rock he had swiped. He turned it over in his hand and it glinted at him tantalisingly in the sunlight while the others watched him warily. At their unspoken question, he muttered, "It's for scientific analysis back on Atlantis."

The rest of his team did not make any moves to retrieve the diamond or wrestle it away from him. Rodney looked torn between his innate greedy temptation and rationality for several seconds. He furrowed his brow and then reluctantly shifted his eyes from the stone.

He threw it away and grimaced as it landed with a sharp ping. "No. It isn't what I want." He smiled bravely at the others as they started to walk back to the gate again.

Because what Rodney really wanted was ZPMs and technology and mysteries for his intelligence to solve and keep his overactive brain busy. He knew that sitting alone in a diamond prison for the rest of his life would destroy his soul and slowly kill him in a terrible way. He knew that taking even a single rock would set him on that one way path, so he got rid of it before he was drawn in and trapped forever as a slave to his desire for the shiny stones.