Chapter 58: John said to tell you over his dead body.
Time crawled on the Hive ship, day after day spent sitting around in my cell with nothing to do. If Michael had deliberately set out to torture me he couldn't have come up with a better way ... under normal circumstances I would have been tearing my hair out but with the added pressure thinking about what was going on back in Atlantis brought it had me feeling close to the edge every second of every day.
My sessions with Michael had gotten a lot more disturbing too – that was the only time everything sped up, in the minutes before the next session was due to begin. I hated the lab with a vengeance – the Wraith decor, the machines surrounding the examination table, and the table itself. I really, really hated that table, being strapped down every time with metal clamps at wrists and ankles. It reminded me too much of Walker's ranch ... and it worried me that as the days went by images from then and now were becoming confused inside my mind.
"How's Teyla?" I began the latest session the way I did all of them.
"Her child is well ... it will not be long before he arrives," Michael's answers were always about the baby despite my poor attempts to remind him that Teyla was important too ... every time I asked her directly how she was doing she would always reassure me that she was fine.
"Have you ever delivered a baby before?" that was a new question that had him glancing directly at me intently. "It's just that there can be complications sometimes ... you need to be prepared."
"I have taken every precaution necessary," Michael assured me smugly ... I'd gotten pretty good at tuning in to the fringes of his thoughts without him noticing and he let something slip then. He had a place set up somewhere ... I saw grey buildings and a room full of equipment before his thoughts turned to focus on me. "Shall we begin?"
He had developed a technique for hooking his test subjects into the neural network both so that he could control them during the transformation process but also so that he could directly test the specific characteristics he was after. I wasn't a test subject ... yet, but using that technique on me seemed to be how he was targeting specific genetic aspects ... the ones he wanted for his hybrids. In essence I think he was trawling through my entire genetic code looking for things he could add ... with the aid of his altered neural network.
Mentally it was beyond uncomfortable ... the flashes of sound and vision he used to confuse while he did his work. I had tried to find a way around all that when he'd first hooked me up but quickly realised I wouldn't be able to, not easily anyway. Given enough time I could probably come up with a way to counteract his neural noise but I hadn't gotten there yet.
The worst thing was that switching the machine off and unhooking me didn't switch it off in my head. Back in my cell sometimes it would be hours before I could calm my thoughts enough to hold a controlled conversation with Teyla. After three or fours days I had a constant headache pounding behind my eyes that also made it difficult to sleep.
The session ended like all the others, Michael switching everything off, glaring at me in frustration like I was deliberately stopping him from finding what he wanted. He'd storm out of the lab and a hybrid would turn up immediately after to take me back to my cell. My cell that was always guarded because Michael knew I could open the door any time I wanted and he didn't trust that his threats to Teyla's health would be enough to keep me from exercising that.
This time I struggled hard to get everything back under control so I could tell Teyla what I found.
"It was not as bad today?" she asked hopefully after I'd made the connection. I knew she was worried because every day it took me longer and longer to check in with her.
"About the same," I replied dismissively. She didn't need to hear the specifics of what Michael was doing to me. "I must have found it easier to shut it all off because I found something out today. Michael has what looked like a maternity ward set up on a planet somewhere. I don't know when but eventually that's where we'll be going."
"Does that help us?" Teyla queried.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "It means maybe we'll have an opportunity to get away ... assuming the planet has a Stargate and it will because Michael's too paranoid for it not to. We haven't been off this ship in nearly two weeks and I was beginning to worry Michael was waiting until you had the baby here before doing anything. So it's something."
"It is," Teyla agreed, trying to be positive.
"Listen, I need you to agree to something," I began, letting her feel my concern for her and her son. "If we get to the stage where you think you're close to going into labour you have to let me know. I want you to agree that if that happens you'll give up on Kanaan and the others ... only for the moment ... and let me get you out of here the way I intended when we first arrived."
"What about your guards?" Teyla knew things would be more difficult now.
"I'll think of something if I know I have your agreement," I insisted.
"I will agree to this but only if you agree to something in return," Teyla proposed. "On the planet, if you get a chance to get to the Stargate you'll take it whether I am with you or not. You will go back to Atlantis and bring back help."
"Teyla," I protested emotionally. "I don't think I can leave you behind like that ... what if I didn't make it back in time?"
"It is the only way I will agree to leave Kanaan and the others here on the ship," Teyla insisted. "Are we in agreement?"
Doing the mental equivalent of a frustrated growl I eventually gave in. "Deal."
oOo
The next day Michael was even grimmer than usual and I couldn't resist digging at him over it.
"Something not going to plan?" I asked hopefully. When he remained silent I persisted. "Come on, this place is beyond boring – the least you could do is provide a little entertainment."
"Quiet," Michael ordered grimly. I tapped his thoughts quickly, picked up a hint of what had him so steamed up.
Just like the day before, once back in my cell I got on to Teyla as quickly as I could.
"He's angry," I told her almost happily. "Something happened and he had to change course and it's really got him worked up. I think we might be going to that planet I told you about yesterday a little earlier than he intended."
"And this is good?" Teyla asked.
"This is very good," I confirmed. "If means we'll be in the one place for longer because he won't bother moving us again before you deliver. That means more time to get out under our own steam through the Stargate or for John and the others to catch up with us!"
"I will try harder with Kanaan," Teyla promised.
oOo
"Michael says the baby will arrive soon," Teyla reported later that day. "There was an alarm of some kind and he left me with Kanaan. He is scared that if he helps me Michael will kill him and the others but ... I believe if it comes down to a choice between harming our child and risking Michael's wrath he will help us."
"That's good enough for me," I got up decisively. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
"I am not in my cell," Teyla put a spanner in the works with that one. "I am in the lab Michael uses to check on the baby's progress."
"Any idea where that is?" I asked hopefully.
"I am afraid not," Teyla replied unhappily. "Only that it is not on the same level and that we passed many doors on our way here."
"Okay," I readjusted my plans and added in a trip to auxiliary controls. "Just hang in there Teyla."
Closing the connection I paced back and forth thinking about my options. I had two guards outside to get around before I could get to Teyla. When the idea occurred to me I decided just to go with it.
SCREAM!
I clutched at my head dramatically and screamed like there was no tomorrow, until my throat felt raw. Interspersing that with moans and producing some pretty credible tears I threw myself into the pretence completely, hardly paying attention to see if it was working yet.
When the webbing over the door retracted I didn't react, just kept screaming and clutching at my head like I was in extreme agony. It wasn't that hard to be convincing ... all I had to do was tap into my memory of Walker's serum and I was there.
"Stop!" one of my hybrid guards grabbed at my arm and tried to pull it away from my face.
I let instinct take over ... his weapon was in my hand less than a second later and I used it without hesitation. He went down with a loud groan, drawing the other guard into the room. He got off a shot that grazed my arm but my aim was true. One shot had him stumbling forward and the next stretched out on the floor.
"I can't believe that worked!" I said aloud, surprised that using such a tired cliché to trick the guards had actually been so effective. Clearly the Wraith would have to start watching Earth TV to get a handle on all our defensive techniques!
Running from the room I headed in the same direction I had last time, the closest place to check the systems and see where Teyla was.
I was halfway there when the ship's motion changed ... we were out of hyperspace. Realising that time might be shorter than I'd been counting on I dispensed with the stealthy way I'd been checking corners and just ran. Lucky for me there weren't any guards and I made it to the console a few minutes later.
As before there wasn't a map with a flashing path leading to the lab where Teyla was being held. Michael had four different labs on the ship – I knew where the one he'd used for me was and one was too far from Teyla's cell to be likely so I ruled both of them out. That just left two possibilities, either of which could be the right one. Wishing Rodney and his enhanced laptop were there to narrow that down to one I looked at each, trying to see something that would help me decide.
There wasn't, so choosing one at random I ran out of the room again.
This time I had to take more time than I liked to check the way before me – I was travelling down unfamiliar corridors now and had no sense of whether guards would be posted along the way. The schematics did have that kind of information but memorising all positions for both locations with the massive headache I was still sporting was a bit beyond my current capabilities.
I had to change course twice and hide in an empty room to avoid guards but eventually I made it to the first lab. There were no guards and I knew immediately it wasn't the right one.
"How're you doing Teyla?" I stopped for a minute to make contact.
"I am ...," I heard the pain in her voice, waited with her through the contraction.
"You're in labour," I felt that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach ... we'd run out of time. "Hang on ... just ... hang on. I'm on my way." Clearly I had no idea how to comfort a pregnant woman in labour on a scary alien ship.
Feeling a huge sense of urgency now I changed direction and headed for the second lab location I'd gotten off the control console. I was thrown against the wall when the first hit shook the ship. We were under attack! "Please let that be one of ours," I prayed in a low tone.
Straightening with a push off the wall I kept running. More shots impacted against the ships shields ... the fact that Michael wasn't sending the ship straight back into hyperspace had me ever hopeful the damage was severe enough to have us disabled. Of course they could fix the ship pretty quickly but with any luck we'd be stuck there just long enough for me to get Teyla and then get away.
I was only halfway there when Teyla made contact with me.
"Sabina!" her voice was excited and joyful and for a moment I thought she'd had the baby already, until she spoke again, sending me a mental picture to go along with the words. "John is here! John, Rodney and Ronon."
"John's here?" I could hardly believe it, that flash of John in Teyla's lab, face pale and worried. "With you?"
"Yes!" Teyla's happy tone shifted into the painful one as the next contraction hit.
"Don't wait for me," I told her firmly. "Tell them to get you off the ship. I'll head for the Dart Bay ... I can take a Dart and be right behind you."
"John said to tell you over his dead body," Teyla replied after a short pause.
"You can't have that baby here," I insisted. "We need –,"
"Rodney says the Wraith hyperdrive is almost repaired," Teyla interrupted. "Stand by."
I kept moving towards her position, not willing to change course for the Dart Bay until I'd heard back from her. I wished I could speak to John directly but this wasn't an Ancient ship I could tap into and without a radio there was nothing I could do ... despite how badly I wished otherwise. Knowing John was close by was a distraction ... to the hold I had on my emotions, to the resolve I needed to keep going even though I wanted to just sit in a corner somewhere and wait for John to come and get me. Being patient was easier when I'd known he was far away ... now that he was so close it was almost impossible.
God, I couldn't wait to see him!
A few moments later Teyla spoke again.
"John and Ronon have gone to destroy the drive," she reported. "Rodney will help me with the baby. John insisted you stay in your current position. He will come to you when they are done."
"There's no time for that!" I shot back, thinking quickly before deciding on my next course of action. "Wait a few minutes and then get Rodney to radio John that I've gone to the Dart Bay."
"Sabina," Teyla put a warning in her tone but I ignored it, convinced that my way was right.
"Please Teyla, just do it," I requested intently. "Unless you want me there with you instead?"
"I would like nothing more," Teyla got out through another contraction, "but I do not believe you can get here fast enough. The baby is coming."
I wanted to stay with her but the focus she needed for childbirth was too great for her to keep up the mental link ... without her willingly sitting there at the other end of the connection the risk of the other Wraith getting wind of our conversation was too great for me to force it by myself.
Making the Dart Bay my next objective I deliberately took a path that would lead me right past the lab where Michael had been investigating my DNA. There was something else I had to do first.
The place was deserted ... Michael would have diverted his forces between the Darts and repairs. Running full speed down the corridor, into the transporter and then down the next corridor I skidded to a halt just inside the doorway.
Raising the weapon I'd appropriated I was all set to destroy his machines, his computers and every scrap of information he'd stolen from me along with it.
If not for the glowing appearance of a familiar face.
Diamantia.
"What?" I frowned in confusion, dropping the arm I had holding the weapon without thinking.
"You cannot destroy Michael's work," Diamantia begged urgently. "Everything I have worked for, thousands of years of struggle and effort will be for nothing if you do."
"He'll use what he got from me to improve his hybrids!" I pointed out grimly, raising my weapon again.
"Yes," Diamantia agreed, "and it doing so will engineer his own demise.
"What are you talking about?" I demanded impatiently.
"You were one of a number of babies the Lanteans engineered to have the Wraith gene," Diamantia explained. "But once I chose you and removed you from the city, brought you here, I altered your DNA again. It was just a subtle adjustment required to create a genetic time bomb ... Michael will not find it. He will incorporate it into the design for his hybrids thinking to strengthen them but it will backfire on him. He will not be able to control them ... genetic transformations will degrade ... links between individual sequences will break. If he lives long enough it will be to watch his own facade dissolve away, reducing him to nothing."
"I'm a time bomb?" I asked in dismay.
"Only to Michael and those he would seek to create in his own image," Diamantia insisted. "In the path of time I originally lived through there was no one to oppose Michael ... he sought to be as God, imprinting his twisted view of life onto everything. By the time he was done there was little of humanity left behind. Our people lived in hiding ... my life's goal beyond Ascension was the study of genetics along with every scrap of history about Michael's work. I knew I had to create a weapon subtle enough to defeat him before he even knew it existed."
"Me," I acknowledged.
"The beauty of it was that you did not need to be anything but yourself," Diamantia said with a smile. "Your compassion for your friends, your strong will, the way you would put their safety first. I counted on them forcing you to reveal yourself to Michael. I knew he would not be able to resist the allure of your genetic uniqueness. And so the information required to bring about his end is now contained in that device." She gestured towards the machines in the lab imperiously. "Be assured Sabina ... he will not be able to use what he learns from you for anything else."
"Okay," I dropped my arm again. "This is the end of it? There isn't some other hidden secret agenda that's gonna come out and bite me in the future?"
"You know the truth of your origins," Diamantia replied compassionately. "I am sorry for the pain I caused your parents and you but believe me when I say there was no other way ... I spent many, many thousands of years developing this plan."
"I guess I can understand," I allowed reluctantly. "Even though I hate the fact you used me against my will."
"But there have been benefits to you being here in this time," Diamantia looked at me with a sly, almost teasing smile.
"Is that the trade off?" I smiled in return. "John and the happily ever after?"
"Perhaps it was meant to be," Diamantia replied. "Perhaps something guided me to choose you."
"That's a nice thought," I agreed, amused by the idea.
Diamantia frowned suddenly, looking at me with concern. "You must hurry now ... the others are already on their way to the Dart Bay."
"Okay," I turned but her final words held me in place for a moment.
"I will not see you again Sabina," she said gently. "Thank you for what you have done ... for what you are. I wish you well."
"You too," I replied in a low tone.
Author's Note:
Next Up? The Other Side of the Story Chapter 20