Makers of Roads

Makers of Roads

The Beginning

Authors Note: I do not own Stargate SG-1. I didn't create "the Ancients." I did create most of these charaters (with the exception of "Orlin"), so please get my permission before using or reproducing them in any way.

Note: 1 cycle = 57 and 1/2 seconds. 10,000 cycles = approx. 3 hours. (It has to do with the amount of time it takes for this particular planet to rotate on its axis.)

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Makers of Roads: The Begininng

I once lived in an age of farce. It was a lonely time. A dead time. A time in which everyone lived in their own private story, and no one cared enough to make you family. I lived for seventeen years in this bastardization of drawn breath, and then I died...almost. The event that granted me near eternal life cost me all I loved - everything in my private story. I am going to tell you that story, because it was the only thing standing between me and infinite understanding.

 

Every day for twelve years I woke up at the pleasant chime of my computer. One of those integrated wall units. I was proud of the status that allowed me possession of such a high tech trinket. My fancy toy would recognize my voice in a crowd from ten meters away and do precisely what I ordered, even if I ordered it to hack the High Council data base and send me the latest top secret medical reports from the Plague Planet. Such quality came with an unfortunate price.

I'm a slave to my own people.

That thought had plagued my waking, every morning since I had aged five standard years. My life had been pledged to The High Academy that day. I had not owned a minute of my time for twelve years. I was pondering my "enslaved" self in a large oval mirror with silver filagree while my perfectly heated shower automatically warmed to my presence, bathing me in steam, when I was forced to concede.

Well, maybe a few moments. Here and there.

I cracked myself up. When I was done giggling I stepped into the shower and attempted to lather myself into a more serious tone of thought. There were many galactic disasters that my peers and I were going to be called on to relieve, and more than a few were going to lead to failures.

My failures.

That woke me up more than the hot water. I immediately began to play the needs of the day over in my head.

There's the diplomatic mission to the Alpha Twins, damage control on a couple planets fallen to the plague....

"Dar," I called, using my pet name for the computer. "display a list of upcoming missions for - "

Dar interrupted me with a mellow chime that let me know there was someone waiting to enter my rooms.

"Display." A live feed of the front door step projected onto the shower screen.

"Visitor identified. Mare E'hana. Security level confirmed, level black. Presence allowed."

I rolled my eyes at the computer's very official description of my friend and class partner. "Let her in, Dar."

"Bright, good moooorning." Mare's typical sing-song greeting always managed to drag a smile out of me.

"Almost ready, Mare," I said, only fibbing slightly.

"No you're not." She knew me too well. I was wondering how long it would take her to come in and shove me toward the closet, as she always did in attempts to make my dressing routine more efficient. Half a second later the shadow of her short mop of darkest brown hair came dancing across the shower screen.

"Ok. What's going on?" She stepped back and regarded me through the screen with her muscled arms propped on her hips.

"What?"

"You're running later than usual."

"I'm not always late," I replied, refusing to believe I had created such a bad habit for myself.

"Now you're dodging. Tell me the dream."

"It really is annoying, sometimes, how well you know me." I popped my head out and gave her the evil eye. "Or are you doing a bit more than guessing?"

She widened her eyes to portray her shock at my inference. "No forced read, honest." She laid her hand over her chest with the index finger at the base of her neck. "But you're not exactly burying your feelings right now."