CRYSTALS

By Enola Jones



Rodney looked over the nearly-assembled parts again. He huffed, unable to figure out why it was not functioning properly.

He heard the door open and Ronon's voice rumble, "Looks good."

"Yeah, it looks good, but I can't make it work."

Ronon walked over and scooped up the three small crystals carefully laid to the side. He fitted them into the three small indentations. "Try it now."

Rodney looked at him. He snapped the two parts together and picked the gun up.

"Wait!" Ronon gasped. "Make sure it's set on 'stun'."

Grumbling, Rodney adjusted the setting. He sighted and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Rodney groaned. "Not again!"

"Spin it."

Rodney looked at Ronon. "What?"

"Spin it."

Rodney looked down at the gun in his hand and spun it as he'd seen Ronon do. His eyes widened as a familiar whine sounded. Sighting again, he pulled the trigger.

A blast of energy knocked the target off the wall, and the recoil kicked Rodney's hand to his shoulder.

He turned and looked into Ronon's smirking face. "Okay. Show me."

Ronon nodded and held out his hand. Rodney surrendered the gun, and he laid it back onto the table, opening it again and running a finger down the row of crystals. "Each crystal is a different material."

"And thus, it has different properties," Rodney nodded and touched the blue-green one on the end. "This one?"

"Shrantum. Very powerful. Rechargable by kinetic energy."

"Hence, the spinning of the gun," Rodney nodded. "Next?"

Ronon's finger moved to the clear one in the middle. "Diamond. Focuses the shrantum's energy. See how it's notched? That took forever to do, by the way. That's where the 'stun/kill' switch rests. Part of the crystal's blocked off when it's on 'stun'---"

"So the energy's not so powerful," Rodney nodded. "And the red one?"

"Adjum. Turns the beam red."

Rodney looked up in surprise. "That's all? Why?"

Ronon smirked. "Intimidation."

"Figures," Rodney chuckled.

Ronon snapped the gun together. "Now you can make replicas, since you know all the secrets."

"Not all of them," Rodney protested. "Where did you get it? Why have we never seen another one like it?"

Ronon just looked at him.

After a moment, Rodney's eyes widened and his voice was breathy with wonder. "You made it."

A slow smile spread over Ronon's face.

Rodney began to laugh. "You made -- did you design it, too?"

"When I found the crystals and remembered Melena's telling me what crystal did what. Think about it, McKay – having a gun that never runs out of ammunition, that recharges just by spinning it...."

"That's genius, Ronon! Pure genius!" Rodney tilted his head. "But the way you act most of the time..."

"A soldier's trick. Best if people underestimate your capabilities. Sheppard does it, too." Ronon squeezed Rodney's shoulder. "And so do you."

And Rodney just smiled back at him.

THE END




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