CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Arriving back at the bio lab finally I was happy to see that no one had touched anything, not even to remove the now bloodless Wraith body even though I'm sure most of the others probably knew where it was now. Taking another sip of the coffee I saw something move in the bottom of the cup. Curious I tilted the cup again and as soon as the thing began to move I used my telekinesis to pull it out of my coffee feeling my eyebrow's raise as I looked over the small ingestible tracker.

"I wonder whose idea this was?" I muttered as I placed it on the corner of the counter before going to the emergency showers to scrub up so I could begin to work without contaminating anything with salt water which I could still feel crusted on my skin. It was after my shower that I realized the only thing I had been wearing was a flimsy hospital gown and I wasn't going to try and put it on again so instead I pulled on an old but clean uniform that someone had left in the Ancient version of a locker room cubby.

Walking back into the lab, in a moment of an 'I'll show you for trying to track me' attitude, I had all of the computers in the lab change back to the Lantean language before I began to work on typing out the formulas and sending them through the pre-programed simulations. I became so focused on my work that I completely forgot about the world around me including the half finished cup of coffee that I had left on the counter beside the tracker as I showered.

I had just finished putting in the last completed formula and was going to start writing out the unfinished formula so I could try and complete them when Ronan, Rodney and John's extremely loud voices accosted me pulling me out of the zone.

"Are you really okay? Maybe you should have Doctor Beckett look you over again?" Rodney said.

"I shouldn't have let those guys distract me last night. I should have stayed with you." Ronan said, sounding angry at himself.

"Randy are you really okay? You've been acting a bit off ever since we came to the Pegasus Galaxy." John asked, sounding a bit worried.

All of their voices just seemed to echo and get louder and louder and finally I had enough and turned towards them shouting,

"QUIET! All of your shouting is unnecessary and hurting my head!" I hollered rubbing my throbbing temples in an attempt to try and soothe the feeling of pressure that was building in my head making it feel like it was going to explode.

"Why are her eyes golden? They were blue before." Ronan asked loudly.

"I'd better call Doctor Beckett down here." Rodney said very loudly.

"Randy no one was even talking before you hollered. Are you sure you're okay?" John's voice asked from what sounded like a great-distance but had a faint echo to it.

"What do you mean no one was talking? All three of you were just hollering at me." I said now alternating between pinching the bridge of my nose and rubbing my temples.

"What did we all say?" John's echoing voice asked.

"Seriously? Rodney wants to get Doctor Beckett down here, Ronan's saying my eyes are glowing gold and you are wondering if I was okay and saying I've been acting weird since we got to the Pegasus Galaxy which granted I have but not on purpose!" I replied feeling annoyed and slightly offended that he thought I was lying.

"Randy I think you're telepathically reading our minds right now." John's echoing voice said, causing my eyes to fly towards him.

"WHAT?" Rodney, Ronan and I all asked in unison.

A sharp pain raced through my mind causing me to wince and close my eyes gripping the sides of my head in a futile attempt to stop the pain.

"Randy-" John said and that's the last thing I heard as what sounded like multiple distorted voices began to slam into my head, each voice had echoes some were speaking in other languages a couple I understood and a few I didn't but I couldn't handle the pain and pressure anymore and drew myself into as tight of a ball as I could I transported as far away from the main control tower but still in the city of Atlantis.

I don't know how long I was hunched over trying to shove all the voices out of my head when a memory from Yanva popped into my head and I remembered that the Ancients were somewhat of a telepathic race. So somewhere in Yanva's memories was the key to blocking out the voices and putting up some mental barriers, stronger then the ones I had used against her thanks to my now mutated DNA. Breathing slowly and deeply I attempted to calm myself, still wincing at the piercing mental pain I searched for the memory and after finding it I slowly began to build up my mental barriers. Pushing all the voices out of my head it was slow going and the last three voices were that of John Rodney and Ronan, all who were very worried about me.

Pausing for a minute I decided now would be the perfect time to test out telepathic communication so I thought of a message and mentally pushed it out towards the three of them, not wanting to invade the privacy of their minds but wanting them to know I was okay, just getting a handle on my new power. The relief I felt in their mental voices let me know that they had got my message just as I transported back to the bio lab where I had told them to meet me before gently but firmly pushing their voices out of my head as well.