CHAPTER NINE
"You persuaded her didn't you." I said more than asked the Ancient in my head.
"Yes. She would not have allowed you to do anything alone otherwise." The Ancient replied.
"Is there any chance that she's going to suddenly 'wake up' from her agreeing state?" I asked feeling a little uncomfortable with the thought of her having persuaded Doctor Weir to do something but also a little relieved that I would have the freedom I needed to get things done.
"No. I have dimmed the knowledge of your presence to all who know you so none of them should worry about you or come to find you for a few weeks at least. Now shouldn't you be preparing this place for your inhabiting it before heading down to the weapons lab?" The Ancient asked, sounding slightly exasperated which reminded me of my mother who was constantly keeping me on track as my mind had the habit of wandering off task at times.
"Right. Is there any chance that you have a washer and dryer for clothes that I can use?" I asked her and was pleasantly surprised to find out that there were such machines they were simply hidden in the walls of my large room. Pulling off the old bedding I threw it into the washer before remembering all of the seeds I had brought along.
"Hey do you guys happen to have a greenhouse here?" I asked her as I began to put away my clothes into the small hidden dresser drawers in the walls.
"Yes, but it is an entire building, not just a small part of one. I can walk you through how to change the temperature and consistency of watering and air flow but you will most likely need to do some things by hand." She told me.
"That would be awesome thank you and as soon as I plant everything and get it set up I promise I'll start work on the weapons and figuring out a way to shield the entire city from the Replicators and the Wraith." I said only realizing what I was saying when I heard myself say it causing me to frown in anger.
"Look lady I don't care who you are or how eager you are to get things done, you don't get to control me or my thoughts. This is my head and my body and just because I'm willing to help you does NOT mean that you get to use me like your puppet!" I said angrily.
"..I am sorry. I did not mean to upset you." She said sounding surprised that I had figured out what she was doing.
"Yeah sure you just didn't think you were going to get caught. Now if we are going to work together you had better not try to do this again or I will find a way to keep you out of my head!" I told her meaning every word.
"I understand. I will not do it again." She replied but I had the sense that I should start trying to figure out how to make sure that she couldn't mentally take over me.
Packing all of the seeds into one of my now empty backpacks I packed an extra pair of clothes just in case as well as two empty notebooks and two pens and two pencils along with two erasers and the other backpack that Daniel Jackson had given me before heading towards the nearest transport.
Getting to the greenhouse building was easy thanks to the transporter taking me ground level so I could sneak my way over to it. After entering the beautiful and surprisingly still intact glass building I made sure everything was set up correctly before planting the seeds, thanking whoever had created the packets that they had information on the plants on the back of the packet so I didn't accidentally cause them to die. Then I headed to the weapons lab, determined to make sure that my brother, sister-in-law and the rest of the people of Atlantis could defend themselves.
Walking into the weapons laboratory I immediately set to work switching between learning the Ancient's language and writing down notes while simultaneously putting together Ancient weapons.
As more and more time passed I got into a rough schedule between sleeping randomly to running up and checking on the plants, building the weapons, writing down highly detailed notes with sketches of the various pieces, learning and now becoming fluent in the Ancient's language as well as building up my minds immunity to the touch of the Ancients.
I know she didn't think I noticed but I could feel her in my head keeping me from thinking about my brother and Tayla. Making me forget about heading towards the mess hall with the others in Atlantis and instead I slept, ate and went to the bathroom all in the weapons lab until I had completed all of the physical weapons and had to head to another laboratory to work on the next thing she wanted completed.
A biological weapon that would target specific DNA traits, something they had been working on to try and neutralize the Wraiths, who they had created I had learned that by reading some Ancient equivalent to diaries.
Heading to the laboratory I passed through a large glass hallway and was amazed to see a huge storm heading my way.
"Hey Atlantis will be safe right?" I asked the Ancient as I paused and stared out at the storm, it was so large that it covered the entire horizon that I could see.
"Atlantis has many fail-safe's in place." The Ancient replied, answering me without really answering me which concerned me but I figured she wouldn't just let me die before I completed everything she wanted me to do so I let it go and continued to the laboratory.