Chapter 19: Realizations

"You!?" Elizabeth exclaimed in shock as she gazed upon the face of Kolya. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought so too." He answered gleefully looking down at his body. "But clearly I'm not."

"How is that even possible?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised what measures I employed to ensure that I would stay immortal."

It was then that one of the men who had come into the cell with Kolya shot him. The bullet pierced his collar bone and flew out his back, impacting on the wall behind him. Elizabeth then watched in horror as Kolya remained standing and healed himself. Not in the manner of an organic being, but by 'refreshing' himself all at once.

"You're-"

"What you would call a replicator." Kolya answered with a smile. "Yes. You see, before I ambushed Colonel Sheppard the last time, I had stumbled across an old outpost of the ancients. It was badly damaged but one lab was still fully functioning. Within I found the research which was in a language close to my own."

"That's not possible." Elizabeth stated defiantly shaking her head. "The ancients used a different language and-" She sighed and shook her head again. "It's just not possible."

"Oh but it is." Kolya insisted. "You see, there was an ancestor who thought that ascending would be a waste of his time. He wanted to remain on this plane of existence but to do so he would have to remain mortal. Of course, that being impossible he took what research that the others had been doing and found a way to not only take the research that created the Asurans but to transfer his consciousness to it. He survived for almost ten-thousand years, but he constantly had to create a new body for himself and then-"

"And then what?"

"And then nothing." Kolya answered simply. "It seems as though the wraith attacked the outpost at that time and destroyed what was left of it- minus the lab of course. You see this ancestor watched over the fledging human population on his planet and tracked their language development. Over time he began to use it to record his findings and thus, I was able to use them."

"So you're a replicator now." Elizabeth stated, trying to calm her shock. "You can't die."

"Oh I can still die, but my men have been trained on the uses of this machine and will simply recreate this body, but tell me-" Kolya began, smirking. "You never told me what you think of this little trap of mine."

"This little trap as you are so fond of calling it is a disaster." Elizabeth answered stoically, her eyes like steel as she glared at the man who had caused her and her team so much trouble in the past. "There is no way that the Telarian government will let me stay missing for long and-"

"And nothing Dr. Weir." Kolya interrupted laughing maniacally. "They think that you are dead."

"Colonel Sheppard will not believe that."

"Oh Colonel Sheppard isn't in a place to do anything right now." Kolya smirked, taunting her.

"What do you mean?" She asked, the first vestiges of fear beginning to show. "What did you do to him?"

"I did nothing to him really," Kolya answered. "I just implicated him in your murder."

"What?"

Kolya smirked at Elizabeth's reaction and she bit her lower lip. Her shocked exclaimation ended up being more emotional than she would have liked and as she glared at Kolya she could see that he was amused.

"Yes," Kolya stated a bemused look on his face. "Ironic isn't it, after all the times he's saved your life he now believes that he has taken it."

"I don't believe that." Elizabeth stated firmly. "John won't believe that."

"I don't think he has much of a choice, you see when my two men jumped you I myself gave Colonel Sheppard a memory inhibiting drug. It's virtually undetectable and-"

"And nothing." Elizabeth interrupted, straining against the metal clasps that kept her bound by her feet to the floor. "No drug can change what he knows."

"Oh?" Kolya asked, joyfully perplexed that Elizabeth was so determined to convince herself, and him that John was not fooled by his ruse. "And what does he know?"

Elizabeth hesitated before answering. She could tell Kolya many things, but she chose on a single response to statisfy her own racing heart. "He knows that he would never, EVER kill me." Elizabeth answered. "And for that matter, Rodney and Ronan know that too. They will figure out what you've done to me and r-"

"Rescue you?" Kolya interrupted, barely stifling a laugh. "How could they rescue you? Doctor McKay and Ronan think that you are dead and Colonel Sheppard is in prison awaiting his death sentence and-"

"What?!?"

"Oh," Kolya murmured realising that he had forgotten something vital. "I forgot, the punishment for murder here on Telar is death... I suppose that Colonel Sheppard has a mere couple days to live and then..."

Kolya let his sentence trail off and watched with an almost gleeful stare as Elizabeth's eyes widened and her resolve began to crumble.

'I have to get out of here.' Elizabeth thought fearfully to herself. 'I have to get out of here and let John know that I'm alright...' She took a couple of breaths and lowered her eyes to the floor. 'I can't let him die... not thinking that he's...' She couldn't bring herself to think about it because she had to stay strong- she knew that. 'John will find me.' Elizabeth thought determinedly. 'He will find me...'

'He has to find me.'

A/N- Hello beloved readers. Well, Adrift has aired and while I thought that it was an alright episode- I didn't like it. I think that my version's much better. As a result I've updated this next chapter out of my rapidly thinning buffer. Gotta say thank you to my beloved loyal reviewers Jenni, Ginger and lemons for reviewing the last chapter. I'm glad that you all liked the cliffhanger plot twist and I hope you all like how I've explained it. :D So please, take the time to read and review and if I get enough reviews I might update on Friday...