Untainted

She really wasn't sure about this. She'd spent an hour alone just watching 'Fran' as she spoke with McKay and Zelenka and made calculations to make sure her own purpose was perfect.

Purpose. Humans liked to think they had a purpose in life, a reason to live, but Fran really truly did. To die and kill. Sam really wasn't comfortable with it, but it would work, would stop the replicators of this galaxy in one attack. The longer this woman existed, the more she learnt about life from the people around her, and she was untainted by the thoughts and ideals of the replicators and Asurans.

Stood in the doorway of McKay's lab, watching From work alone on one of the laptops, with four guards standing outside, and after she'd told them to leave the room, she wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with her.

She didn't get the chance to change her mind though, to back out of the door, because Fran turned to look at another work station and saw Sam watching her. She smiled, stopping and turning to face her.

"Hello."

"Hi." Sam stepped into the room letting the door close behind her. "I'm Colonel Carter."

"You're in charge of this city," Fran said, her voice light, untainted again by accent or culture.

"Yes." Sam couldn't say any more, she just looked the replicator over and wished McKay had been able to create the silver block. Or that she had been given the chance to work with the Ancient device. "I wanted to meet you."

"You've never seen something like me before?"

"No, I've met a couple of human form replicators."

"What are they like?" Fran asked. Her first reaction was to spit out _dead_, and she composed herself, noting that she didn't consider herself one of them. She had to wonder who or what she considered herself to be.

"They're the bad guys."

"I realised this." Sam folded her arms, protecting herself absent-mindedly.

"They're single minded and resourceful. They take what they can from everything. If they're not stopped they will take over this galaxy and it still won't be enough. It's a like a hunger, their drive is...terrifying." The word slipped from her, she hadn't meant to reveal so much, even if it seemed like so little.

"They scare you?"

"They did," she admitted.

"Are there any good replicators?" Sam hesitated before she answered. What to tell her, no? That she was the only one, if she carried through with the plan.

"I thought...once maybe." She dropped her arms and dipped her head, all the while Fran watching her curiously, carefully, with complete concentration on every word.

Fifth had had potential. She had always wondered if he could've been the once, the help they had needed to stop the replicators instead of taking over like he had. She wondered, if she hadn't betrayed him, if together they could've stopped the replicators earlier than they did, than she did. If perhaps their destruction on the Asgard would've been lessened. She wondered if the Asgard could've lived on.

She blamed herself for the downfall of an entire species.

Of course she still liked to hope that there was some good buried deep in the replicated version of herself. Even though she had been on the verge of destroying the galaxy, had killed Daniel and had tortured Sam. Because Sam had good inside of her.

"What happened?"

"I've had bad experiences with human form replicators," she said, "just like everyone else." Not quite the truth, most hadn't gone exactly what she had been through, and she wondered if Fran could tell, and how quickly she could learn about body language. She stepped forward and Sam tensed up slightly.

"You are scared of me?"

Fran learnt quicker than Sam thought. And would've liked.

"Apprehensive," she said, trying not to react further when the replicator moved across the room towards her.

"I will do as I was built for," Fran said. "Do some good for your race."

"By destroying your own." Sam really needed to shut up, she knew that, she shouldn't be giving their only hope a reason to refuse to sacrifice herself but couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"I am a creation of Rodney," she said, "built for a single purpose and nothing more. I do not possess all the abilities of a human form replicator. He turned off most of my coding."

"It's what he left on that concerns me."

It terrified her, not that she'd be admitting it any time soon. She couldn't help tense up again when Fran shifted a little, heading back to a work station.

"You don't trust me."

"No."

"I understand." Sam didn't believe her, didn't know how she could possibly understand. Shehad known there were replicatiors in the Pegasus galaxy, known she would have to fight them but she had hoped she wouldn't have to be this close to one again.

She really didn't want to be this close to one but Fran was moving again and reaching out to her.

She had always hated how real human form replicators felt. She held her breath, trying not to flinch as Fran ran her hand over Sam's exposed arm, her skin soft and unreal. Untouched. Sam's hand hadn't been that soft since she was a child and she would never be able to afford enough hand cream for them to be that soft again. When her hand moved further up her arm, Fran's eyes, watching her skin, Sam snapped her arm away when she leant forward to kiss her.

"What are you doing?"

"Your skin is different to Rodney's. Softer. Your lips look softer too" Sam didn't want to know how or why Fran knew how soft McKay's lips were. "You don't trust me."

"No, I..." she paused, knowing she probably shouldn't admit that she could never trust a replicator, regardless of it's form. "I think you're enjoying your existence a little too much, enjoying being alive too much."

"I will do as I was built for, I want you to trust me," Fran said, "Rodney trusts me."

"I'm sure he does," Sam said, "but I'm in charge and I am not a person you want to cross." She tried to keep the venom out of the voice, but it was hard, because Fran was still standing close to her, her arm reaching out again and touching her lightly with her fingertips and all she could see was silver, sharp, long and pulling information from her mind, and it hurt, it hurt.

She jumped away, taking a deep breath.

"I understand," Fran said, her voice sad, head down. Sam didn't feel bad though, for snapping, or reacting so badly. She didn't feel anything, except a headache starting."I will do what I was created for."

"You better," and with that, she left the room, praying this wasn't a mistake.


End file.
