Chapter 8

That night Ronon slept, and while he slept, he dreamed…

It was all very strange, he felt like he was floating, out of body but not out of mind. He saw himself, Melena, and a six-year-old Rin walking down a tree-lined path heading towards him. He recognized the place; it was a park where they had walked and played with Rin many times.

Rin had a hand in one of each of her parent's hands. She was smiling and laughing as she proudly told her parents about her day.

Suddenly it all changed. Himself and Melena faded away; so did the park and the path. Rin was standing alone in the dark, terrified. Ronon, the ghostlike part that was watching, was horrified. He tried to go to her and comfort her, but found he couldn't move, he couldn't even look away, all he could do was watch.

Then little Rin herself began to change. Her rosy cheeks slimmed and lost their childish look. She began to grow, her blonde hair darkened to a light brown, she got taller and her body became that of a young woman. She hit thirteen and stopped.

All this happened in the blink of an eye. And she was still alone in the dark.

Her eyes were hardened, the look of a warrior who had been through a long battle. She looked tired as well, like she hadn't slept in days. Most of all she looked angry, and she screamed, "I hate you! How could you leave me on my own like this? I hate you!!"

The words hurt more than when the wraith had put the tracking device in his back. He wanted to call out to her; to tell her that he was going to get her but couldn't. But all that came to his mind were simple, pathetic excuses. Not to mention he still couldn't move or speak.

She began to change again, so did the emptiness surrounding her. She became taller and her hair longer. Her skin turned pale and sickly. Her hands lengthened and her nails hardened and became claw-like.

She was a wraith.

The dead space became a laboratory in a Hive-ship, there were scientists all around. Ronon's spirit self returned to his body, but he still couldn't move for he was lashed down to a table.

Wraith-Rin let out an angry, pained hiss, and moved to attack him…

Ronon woke with a start. His bed sheets were clinging to him and he felt like the walls were closing in; it 

felt hot and stuffy, he was having trouble breathing.

He gasped for air for a few seconds and then the dream, as horrifying as it was, began to fade from his mind. All he could remember was that it had been very bad, and it involved Rin. He was still hot, but it had been fairly warm all day and there were no windows in his room. So, to remedy this problem he threw his sheets off and left his room.

He stepped out into the hallway and walked left toward where he knew there was a window with a balcony. Stepping outside the breeze coming off the sea felt good and cooled him instantly. He took a few deep breaths and tried to recall what had happened during the dream, well, night mare, but it simply wouldn't come back to him, although trying to remember it did leave him with an incredibly strong urge to see Rin.

He took a final look at the scenery around him, though he was not what one would call an appreciator of beauty, it was impossible for the gorgeous ocean scene not to take your breath away. The three, massive, full moons hung over the water in a lazy arc, the ocean water lapped contentedly beneath it reflecting the light from the moon flawlessly. Closer to the city it reflected different kinds of light, turning the normally harsh glare of the Atlantian lights to softer tones that sparkled and shimmered, broken only by the dark patches of foam that crested the waves.

With a final breath Ronon turned around and went back inside, but instead of heading straight back to his room he went the opposite direction to the other end of the hall where Rin was sleeping.

Or so he thought, but when he got there he noticed that her lights were still on, she'd been exhausted when he saw her last. She needed to be sleeping! Ronon knocked on her door, preparing to scold her for not taking care of herself, but no one answered his knock. He tried again with the same result, so he simply opened the door, only to find her fast asleep on her bed.

Ronon chuckled softly to himself, she must have been even more tired than he thought; she'd forgotten to turn the light off! Ronon walked over to her bed, kissed her forehead, and gently replaced the light blanket that had fallen slightly askew. Ronon smiled again, the girl had a right to be tired! After being told that the Atlantians probably wouldn't be able to help her people she still managed to keep her spirits up. Then, while sparring, she took down five more guys after Gorman with ease, including John, four other spars she fought and won, but those ones had been more difficult. She still managed to win though do to the fact she was smaller, faster, more agile, and had more energy then the grown men and women who challenged her. He had been so proud! She lost against him though.

With that thought he quietly turned the light off and backed out of her room.

--

Not five minutes after Ronon returned to his room the light in Rin's room was hurriedly turned back on.

--

"What we doin' today?" Rin asked cheerfully, handing Tiis a new ice-pack, he'd gotten a nice shiner during his last spar the night before.

"Well, Rodney asked me to bring him some breakfast so he could keep on working on… Well, whatever it is he's working on." John replied.

"So, I ask again, what are we doing today?" Rin joked.

"Funny. Where's Adara?" John asked, changing the subject.

"Um… Not sure." Rin replied.

"Didn't she say something about meditating with Teyla this morning?" Ronon offered.

"Yeah! That's right." Rin agreed, "She really likes Teyla, but not sure what she sees in all that meditation stuff."

"Amen!" John agreed. Rin gave him a quizzical look. "And that means…?"

"Uh, it's like an agreement. Don't know what it means exactly but hey, it fit." John replied.

"If you don't know what it means how do you know…" the soon-to-be-argument was halted when Teyla walked in, followed closely by Adara, who was looking at a book Teyla had probably given her. "Hey guys! What took you so long?" Rin called.

"Just meditating, you should try it sometime; it's very relaxing." Adara informed her.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Rin replied, Adara rolled her eyes and changed the topic, "So are we doing anything special today?"

"Nope, just taking Rodney breakfast-in-lab." John answered, for the second time that day.

"Well, I'm sure that can wait until Adara and I have had some breakfast first." Teyla interjected, taking a seat at the table. They all played around and the kids were able to meet some more people on the base. It took all of fifteen minutes for Adara to finish her meal. It took Teyla the better part of a half an hour because they had to track down a bottle of ketchup. Apparently her latest craving was for bananas with milk and ketchup. In short everyone else was well and grossed out by the end of the meal.

Finally they gathered Rodney's breakfast and headed to the lab. They arrived to see Rodney staring at a big screen filled with words in the Ancient language and Zelenka typing at a computer. Suddenly, the screen switched to show different words.

"Zelenka, I'm still translating! Can't you watch what you're doing?" Rodney shouted. "Just can't get decent help these days." he muttered.

"Wow, I see how well you inspire confidence in your fellow workers." Rin said sarcastically, announcing their presence. Rodney jumped about ten feet into the air.

"Gees, can we put a bell on you or something?" he exclaimed, Rin just rolled her eyes, "And he can barely be called my 'fellow worker'. More like my assistant." At this Zelenka scowled.

"That's not true and you know it. You're just frustrated because you can't dig up the coordinates." Zelenka stated matter-of-factly.

"Well your not exactly helping."

"Oh, I'm not am I!?"

"Excuse me. Rodney, Radeck, I believe we have your breakfast so if you would perhaps stop your bickering for a moment?" Teyla hinted and held up the tray full of food. It captured both scientist's attention. "That's better."

"What are you trying to find?" Tiis asked curiously.

"Coordinates to the planets where the ancients hid pieces of a crystal and they sure knew what they were doing when they hid it." Rodney replied.

"Can I take a crack at it?" Adara asked.

"Please, I am a professional, you are just a child. If I can't get it, you most certainly can't." Rodney sneered.

Adara sniffed indignantly and Zelenka cut in before she could retort. "Why don't you let her try, it can't hurt anything." Rodney rolled his eyes and motioned for Adara to take computer; then said, "It's in Ancient, so you won't even be able to read it."

Now it was Adara's turn to roll her eyes. She calmly took the computer and began tapping away.

While Rodney stared Rin explained, "Morians are taught to read the ancient language when they are very young. Adara's parents were both technicians working for the government, she learned how to hack when she was 

ten, and she rocks at it." Rin cockily, Rodney still looked skeptical.

"Just don't break anything, okay?"

"Not a problem." Adara smiled, "I've got something."

"No way, what?" Rodney grabbed the laptop. "These are just basic specs. They don't do us much good."

"Maybe not now, but when we get the locations…" Zelenka reminded him.

"Yeah, well it doesn't do us much good right now does it?" Rodney snapped.

"uh… Can you guys let me concentrate please, some of us are working!" Adara rebuked, glaring at everyone in the room.

"What'd I do?" Ronon asked.

"Nothing…Yet. Rodney I'm downloading the specs to your laptop. Do something useful while you wait." Adara instructed, handing him the laptop. Rodney looked indignant at being told what to do by a teenager but took the computer anyway.

"I wanna see!" Rin complained after a minute of trying to look over Rodney's shoulder and failing miserably.
"NO! I'm working, leave me alone!" Rodney snapped, turning away from her.

"Quiet!" Adara reprimanded, finger flying over the keys.

"One look?" Rin whispered, "Please, I swear I won't say anything after that!"

"Fine, just shut up!" Rodney hissed back, handing her his laptop. Rin accepted it with a triumphant smirk on her face. She brought up a picture of the crystal… and froze.

"What's wrong?" Teyla asked, seeing the stunned look on the girl's face.

"Shu-"

"It's okay Adara. We don't need the location." Rin cut of the shush.

"Why not?" Ronon asked.

"It's right here." she held up the laptop with the picture of the crystal. Then, she pulled at a leather cord that was hidden under her shirt. When she tugged it a necklace fell out of her shirt. A thin strip of leather tied around a small crystal, no bigger than an inch.

A small crystal that perfectly matched the picture.

--

Cliff hanger!! I have been gone all summer! Literally. I got back just in time to start Bnad camp and by the time you're done with that you're to tired to do anything but sleep. I'm very sorry. This is going to sound totally backwards but now that schools in I can start to write more often.

R&R!