She moved closer to him and laid a hand on his leg.
“I don’t hold what Saul is doing against him,” she continued. “I think, though possibly for different reasons, that it’s probably for the best. The difference between Saul and I is that I would not willingly trap you or your team in our fate. There is nothing to be gained by holding you here, other than the possibility of an entertaining battle.”
She sipped her drink, and then smiled. “I have to say, your friend Ronon is a very impressive man.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Sheppard got to his feet. “You’re telling me that we’re all headed into the center of a sun, and you want to talk about Ronon and what a fine specimen of a man he is? We need to be finding a way off this moon, or a way to break into the Star Drive and turn it around. Don’t you even care that you’re about to die?”
Her smile was bland. “It would at least be a novel experience.”
“This is so twisted…” He backed away a step. “I have to get out of here, I have to — ”
“Wait,” Mara said. “I can help you.”
“How?”
“Saul has convinced most of the citizens that you and your people are great warriors and should be conscripted at once and readied for battle.” She gave a wry smile. “It doesn’t hurt his cause that the other choice is the citizens themselves going into battle — most of them haven’t been more than a few paces from a bed or comfortable seat in years.”
“It wouldn’t be much of a battle,” he growled. “The only two of us who could even use your weapons are me and Rodney, and Rodney wouldn’t even know which way up to hold it.”
“Then Ronon cannot — ”
“He doesn’t have the gene, no.”
Mara was silent.
Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Sheppard said, “Okay, I’m going to tell Saul we’ve decided to drink the Cool Aid — that we’ll stay and enjoy the city. It might at least buy us some time… I think he expects defiance.”
“It won’t work,” Mara said. “It’s already been decided, you have no real choice. I believe that I can keep you out of it — at least at the beginning — but there is nothing I can do for the others. If Saul believes that I want you at my side, he will allow me that. He has allowed me many things over the years, though I never gave him what he truly wanted. I can keep you safe, for a time.”
“We need to buy time for everyone,” Sheppard said. “How long have we got before Saul starts this grand entertainment of his? It isn’t that long before all of Admah starts feeling more like a furnace than a city.”
“The first entertainment is set for tomorrow night,” Mara said. “Your people will be taken to the arena in the morning to be prepared and scheduled. There is no time to run them through the standard training. There are other warriors — your people may not be called first — but Saul will want to make this as interesting and unique as possible, so I fear he won’t wait long.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“He won’t listen,” Mara said. She moved still closer. “But I can remove you from the group. I can keep you free — help you — and perhaps together we can find a way out for your people.”
“Why? Why are you helping us?”
She gave an elegant shrug. “If you cannot believe that it is out of compassion, then believe this — the purpose of these last days is to eradicate the terrible tedium of our lives, John Sheppard, and I find that the thrill of finally standing up to the status quo is more intriguing than a final night watching monsters of our own creation destroy men and women — or vice versa.”
“And why should I trust you?”
Mara rose to her feet, very close, and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “The best reason of all,” she said. “Because you have no other choice.” She put a hand to his chest, eyes speculative. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to spend the night here?”
Sheppard drained his glass and shook his head. “Not a chance. My place is with my people.”
Without another word, Mara turned and opened the door. Sheppard followed her into the hall and back toward his quarters, watching the graceful sway of her walk and wishing their visit was something other than it was.
Back in their quarters, everyone was waiting for his return. Their heads jerked up when they heard the door open. Every head, that is, but Rodney’s. He sat folded over his laptop, frowning. He paid no heed to Sheppard when he entered the room, nor did he notice the sudden agitation of the others. He simply read the screen and plucked at the keys as though nothing else in the world mattered.
“What did you find out?” Teyla said.
Sheppard clicked the door shut behind him and stepped a bit closer, clearing his throat and lowering his voice. “It seems that we’re going to be the grand finale in some bizarre gladiatorial game.”
“We have to fight? Those things?” Teyla thrust an angry finger toward the hallway where the walls were lined with posters featuring all manner of mutant combatants.
“That’s Saul’s plan. But wait, it gets worse.”
Rodney glanced up as if startled by Sheppard’s voice. “Worse?”
With a sigh, Sheppard sank down onto a bed. He was tired — he’d not slept for at least twenty-four hours — and the insanity of the situation was getting harder to process. “Saul believes that every single one of us is genetically capable of operating their weapons. He plans to put all of us into the battle.”
“What?” Rodney was on his feet then, frowning and clutching at his laptop. “Are you kidding?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” He gave a bleak smile. “But don’t worry, I set Mara straight. I told her that only you and I carry the gene. We’ll probably be the only ones to fight.”
Rodney stared. “Only ones? But…but…I can’t fight those things.”
“Well, I told her that too but considering the circumstances, you better learn. And fast. The battles begin tomorrow night. They’re coming for us in the morning.”
“But,” Cumby said, “what about the choice? What if we choose to join them, to become citizens and watch the entertainment with the rest?”
“Yeah, turns out that’s not an option” Sheppard said. “They’re not looking for new citizens, they’re looking for a grand finale. And we’re it.”
Rodney sat down hard, staring at some point across the room, his jaw slack. “Even if I can make the weapons work, I can’t fight those things. I can fight computer viruses. I can fight a recalcitrant power system. But I can’t fight monsters. I’ll die.”
“We’re heading into the sun, Rodney. Unless we can get the hell outa here, we’re all going to die.”
“Point taken,” he said. “I’ll get back to work.”
“I wish I had the gene,” Ronon said. “I’d love to fight one of those monsters. I mean, after fighting the Wraith all these years, how bad could it be?”
There was a knock at the door. It was rapid and strong and made Sheppard think of a process server he’d known on Earth. He stepped across the worn carpet and pulled open the door, stepping back so that everyone else could see. Saul stood in the doorway, flanked by two of his guards. He was smiling his usual humorless smile.
“Ah, Colonel Sheppard! You are well, I trust?”
“As well as you could expect from a group of prisoners on a moon plunging into a star.” It was Sheppard’s turn to fold his arms over his chest and scowl. It was a fair impression.
“Well, then,” Saul said and stepped inside. Behind him the two large guards stood very still. Their expressions might have been chiseled from stone. “I know you spent some time with Mara, so I take it that you’ve heard about our final entertainment.”