A/N:
Sorry it's a short one today guys. This week has been... A week. And because of that I mainly took it off of writing. But I wanted to be sure I posted something. So here you go.
Much Love,
J.R.
Recap:
"I hadn't even allowed myself to think beyond liking him until he asked me to. And that's the god's honest truth Rodney."
Chapter 16 The Story Part 2
Time-lapse
Laughter reached Ronon as he walked down the hallway. He recognized Sophie's laughter. And was that McKay's?
Tightening his arm around Torren's back while Luka held onto his belt, Ronon walked just a bit faster. Amazingly, Luka kept talking despite the increase. The little boy was almost running but was able to break down his latest find in genetics based on the work of the Asgard scientists. It sounded like he thought he might be able to modify the procedure that was used to recreate the Furlings. It seemed the only reason they hadn't tried it was that the strongest in tact Asgard DNA was in the new Furling genetic code. And since the Furlings were officially "dead" they couldn't even try.
"But if mom lets me I might be able to wash out all but the Asgard genes and build an Asgard from scratch. But that would mean a very limited gene pool." He admitted, looking at the floor, a puzzled frown clouding his features.
"I thought you said that all of the five races in the Milky way were one originally," Ronon answered. "Couldn't you switch out some of the other genes and fill in the gaps with something like Humans or Ancients? I know there's the Ancients gene database. Just go heavy on the Asgard genes and they should come out more Asgard than anything else." It wouldn't be that simple, he knew. But Luka looked up at him like he just had just figured out the foundations of life, the universes, and everything in them.
"You are really very smart," the little boy asserted after a moment of looking at him. "It wouldn't be nearly as simple as that sounds, to splice the genes. But..." And then he began singing quietly to himself. Warbling a bit, it sounded like he was creating lyrics from genetic sequences. And skipping instead of walking. But every once in a while, the lyrics would apparently hit a "chorus" and the little boy would pause in his skipping and dance along with his made-up lyrics.
Ronon was sure he would never get used to Luka. But at least he would never get bored.
"Mom! Guess what!" Luka called, bouncing through the door only to skid to a silent stop when he caught sight of Dr McKay.
"What baby?" She asked, her eyes glimmering with recent laughter.
Luka circled the pair to the far side of his mother's bed before climbing up next to her. Watching McKay all the while as if he was something dangerous. Less than a wraith but still something to be wary of.
"Something to do with genetic codes and the Asgard," Ronon answered when Luka remained silent, settling Torren against his chest when he took the seat next to Rodney. "He had an idea of working backward like the Vanir did, but then building from the base of the Asgard genes, kind of like what they did with the Furlings. Making sure not to repeat their mistake of a small gene pool by splicing in other races. Or something like that. He lost me at… Re… Recom..."
"Recombinant DNA." Luca supplied, not at all offended that Ronon hadn't been able to keep up with the technical side of things. He had listened and that was the important bit.
Rodney leaned back, thoughtfully lacing his fingers over his stomach. "Hm." He grunted, his eyelids lowering in that almost sleepy look he got when he was pondering a new problem. As long as the problem wasn't life and death related. "I'd have to see the Furling DNA to know..."
"No." Sophie interrupted. Looking as if he wanted to argue, Rodney was stopped when Sophie's eyebrow raised. "If you look at it, using Atlantis tech or even Earth tech, you know as well as I do that there is a record of it. That record has backups which have backups. There is no getting rid of those records. At the moment, our DNA just shows up with the ATA gene. Not high enough to raise any interest out of the normal." She sighed. "But you go doing an in-depth look and all kinds of red flags will be waving in the breeze."
The tiny vein in Rodney's forehead that throbbed every time he didn't get his way began throbbing.
"You can ask any member of my family and, I guarantee you, they will say the same." She told him. "You could look at my brother's on file records, which have DNA profiles. Even mine. But if you do, people are gonna want to know why. Which puts my family in danger."
"Which I will have a problem with," Ronon added, quietly rocking the small boy in his arms. He didn't look up from the tiny face but pulled a silly face, making both the tiny boy and Luka giggle instead of focusing on the quiet argument that swirled around them.
Recalling what the problem was because he was a very intelligent man, Rodney nodded. "What about the skeletons recovered from the planet that Maybourne trapped General O'Neill on? Wouldn't they along with the Ancient database produce enough usable genetic code?"
"If you wanted a Furling Asgard cross, perhaps." Sophie agreed. "But you want Asgard with enough, for lack of a better term, "neutral" strands to fill in the gaps. Furlings aren't neutral. I'm not even sure why Luka was considering it."
"Not really." The little boy admitted, pushing his rapidly growing hair back from his face. "Want the genetic research in the database to recreate the process. Only wanted Furling DNA to compare the process and make sure I don't miss anything and have viable bodies to transfer consciousness' into."
"That always sounds so creepy." Sophie shuddered.