The Barque of Heaven Page 13

  "Hey, I'm not knocking the idea. Extend your reach, use all resources possible. But if that idea doesn't pan out, then what?"

  Daniel was silent for a long time. There were other ideas lurking in his mind, plans that were drastic, dangerous, frightening even. Plans that Jack certainly would not approve of.

  "I don't know, Jack. I'll think of something," he finally hedged. "I miss them." The whispered words slipped out unintentionally, were caught and born away by the breeze.

  Jack reached out, briefly touching the back of Daniel's head. In silent, watchful companionship they waited for the other half of their team to return.

  Teal'c stood guard as Major Carter crouched by the sphinx's hindquarters, carefully making her way around the statue, searching every inch of the carved stone for any sign of a symbol depicting a mouth as Daniel had described. After completing two circuits, she shook her head in frustration.

  "I don't get it, Teal'c. There's nothing here. I hate to say it, but I think Daniel's got this one wrong."

  He arched an eyebrow at her in surprise. "Perhaps a deliberate obfuscation has occurred."

  She sighed. "Of course they'd try to conceal it. The Goa'uld trapped here wouldn't want anyone else getting out ahead of them. So, if you were a Goa'uld where would you put the keys to the 'gate?"

  Teal'c considered for a moment. "Near the heart of that which guards my secrets."

  Major Carter moved around to the front of the sphinx, and quickly felt all over the statue's chest, searching for any patch of the stone that looked to have been disturbed. "Hope. Not there."

  Teal'c studied the proud face of the sphinx. "Was there not a secret passage discovered on the back of the head of the Great Sphinx of Egypt, Major Carter?"

  "Uh, wrong person to ask, Teal'c. But, it's worth a look."

  Standing, she reached up to feel around the statue's head, down its nape, between the shoulder blades. "Here, there's a patch of stone rougher than the rest."

  She traced the edge of the patch, and they could just make out a faint remnant of the mouth symbol that someone had painstakingly scratched away. A firm push caused the stone to retract and in its place a small panel of glasslike substance was revealed. Major Carter tapped the panel with the butt of her knife. "Vow what?"

  "Perhaps a trigger is required to activate this device."

  "The riddle?"

  "It is likely." Teal'c traded places with the major and leaned over the statue. Clearly, he recited the passages of the riddle in the lilting Goa'uld dialect. There was a brief pause, then the panel glowed with a string of symbols.

  "Oh, that's just creepy." She quickly copied the symbols on the panel, which lay in the exact place where, on a human, a symbiote would enter the body of its host.

  "Indeed," Teal'c echoed her sentiment.

  "We've got a 'gate address. I'm presuming the other symbols are the password?" She held her notebook out for Teal'c's inspection.

  "Sabes- `glowing'. It would seem so, Major Carter."

  Teal'c thumbed his radio and swiftly shared both address and password with O'Neill. Major Carter tucked the notebook into her vest and primed her weapon. Trading a glance with Teal'c, she indicated her readiness.

  "I think we're done here."

  Alert and tense, they started back to the Stargate at a fast walk, a shared sense of unease growing in both of them until they were loping across the broken ground in a steady jog. Constant scouting of every gully and wash they crossed revealed no sign of the stranded Goa'uld, and Teal'c found himself more and more on edge. Clouds still sailed across the sky, throwing shadows into weird shapes; soon every bush was the illusion of someone lying in wait. Attack was imminent; he could feel it as sure as the blood pumping through his veins. Major Carter appeared to feel it too, anticipation speaking in her every movement.

  When the attack finally came, he faced it with a surge of relief. That strange screaming weapon lanced at them from the right, missing by scant inches. In a wordless, synchronized maneuver, they threw themselves into the slight cover of a clump of rocks, return fire spitting from their weapons and drowning out a warning bellow from O'Neill over the radio. Movement to the rear brought Teal'c spinning around, his staffblasts sideswiping then cutting down the figure racing toward them.

  Major Carter kept firing at the Goa'uld wielding the odd weapon, her lip curled in frustration as he came closer and closer, bullets spanging off what they now saw was a personal shield. She broke off, conservation of ammunition more important than a show of force.

  The Goa'uld apparently saw this as an admission of defeat and leaped up onto a boulder to stare down at them, his haughty expression not diminished by the rags he wore.

  "Bow down to your God, slave and accept the gift of eternal life that is our blessing!" he yelled in a cracking falsetto.

  "Give me strength." Major Carter slipped a grenade from her vest, primed it and muttered softly, "Fire in the hole."

  Teal'c tensed, body poised to move.

  She flung the grenade up and over, the action a blur against a sudden shaft of moonlight, and flattened down as the explosion showered them with dirt and rocks. Teal'c popped up, knife arcing through the air to strike the Goa'uld who, knocked off his perch by the blast, was still rolling on the ground. The knife impaled the ribbon device on his hand and the shield dropped. Teal'c finished him off with an efficient burst of fire.

  Then they were up and running. Major Carter paused only to retrieve the knife and they headed flat-out for the Stargate. Coming closer they could see Daniel Jackson and O'Neill crouched by the DHD, weapons drawn to cover their approach. And someone else, advancing stealthily in the shadows of the broken ground.

  "O'Neill, seven o'clock!" was all Teal'c could shout before the Goa'uld leapt out of cover and onto the colonel.

  Jack went down under the wild force of the attack, his head impacting the DHD pedestal with stunning force. Daniel let out an inarticulate yell and lunged at the Goa'uld. They grappled over Jack's body. Punching, grasping for any kind of leverage, Daniel dragged the man off Jack. Still too close to his prone friend to risk firing, he clubbed the Goa'uld's head with his zat-to little effect. An elbow in the chest threw Daniel backward to land painfully in the dust, but immediately he scrambled back up to snatch at the Goa'uld's tattered robes, desperately pulling him away from Jack.

  Jack collected himself with a disoriented shake of his head and saw the Goa'uld looming up before him. Instinct took over. He pulled his heels up and solidly booted the man in the gut, sending him flying back to land in a tangle on top of Daniel. Jack threw himself after the Goa'uld, grabbed one leg and hauled him off his friend, who squirmed and rolled away in the opposite direction, hands scrabbling in the dust for his zat.

  It was like trying to land a marlin with his bare hands. The Goa'uld heaved and kicked in Jack's grasp, free leg and arms flailing wildly as Jack tried to bring his weapon to bear without letting go. In his peripheral vision he saw Daniel come to his knees, zat primed and aimed but unwilling to fire while Jack was attached to the Goa'uld.

  "On three," Jack croaked, yanking hard on the Goa'uld and laying him flat again.

  "One," Daniel panted. "Two."

  There was an inhuman shriek from the Goa'uld, mingled with another-human-cry of agony as a fountain of blood and torn tissue erupted from the host's neck. The parasite propelled itself through the air in a macabre glitter of death, straight toward Daniel's shocked face. With reflexes that made Jack proud, Daniel fired the zat and threw himself to one side, the weapon spitting shot after shot of blue light. Jack had to dive for cover himself under zat fire arcing in sheets through the air as Daniel wildly scuttled away.

  An angry squeal signaled a hit. The Goa'uld thumped to the ground right next to Daniel's leg. He rolled further back, then crawled painfully to his knees, aimed the zat and obliterated the creature from existence.

  Panting for breath, Daniel looked at Jack, somewhat astonished they were both unharmed.

  "Ni
ce shootin', Tex." Jack clambered to his feet, stepped over the now-dead host and offered a hand to haul Daniel to his feet, feeling his own reaction mirrored by the tremors in Daniel's hand.

  "O'Neill!" Teal'c's hail over the radio was echoed by his real voice, he and Carter only two hundred meters away now.

  "We're good, T. Let's get the hell off this rock. Carter, dial us up." While she moved to the DHD, Jack started a slow threesixty, wearily ready for the next attack.

  The Stargate surged to life as the team came together. With little breath left for conversation, everyone grabbed the supply boxes and began heaving them through the wormhole until, without warning, the box holding their sleeping bags and tents exploded, sending them ducking to the ground under a cloud of feathers.

  Carter unleashed a round of bullets as Jack heaved the box he was still holding through the Stargate. "Daniel, go!"

  A slurp in the event horizon told him Daniel was safely through. Cautiously, they backed up to the Stargate. Teal'c sent several blasts in the direction of a suspect shadow as Carter bent to get a better grip on the final box, only to have it torn from her hands by a shot from that shrieking weapon. The lid sprang open and scattered the contents down the steps of the platform.

  "Dammit, no!" She made an abortive move after the precious comm unit as it rolled, smoking and charred, into the dirt.

  "Carter forget it!" Jack clamped a hand on her arm and shoved her into the wormhole.

  The Goa'uld showed herself, breaking from cover and desperately running toward them, and Teal'c took her down with a well-placed staff-shot. Still anticipating attack, he and Jack stepped backward into the wormhole and let the Stargate whisk them away to safety.

  Before the ripples of their passage had settled on the surface of the event horizon, a dusty, slight figure emerged from concealment at the platform's base and slipped silently into the wormhole.

  The Stargate snapped off, leaving a cloud of dust and gun smoke to drift slowly away.

  GATE FIVE

  Obscurer of the Way

  arm, loamy scents wrapped around Daniel's senses as he stepped out of the wormhole. Dizzyingly rich smells from a hundred different exotic flowers went right up his nose. He sneezed magnificently and nudged the boxes to one side out of the path of the next traveler. Zat still firmly in hand, he cast around for signs of any threat, but saw only luscious jungle crowded around the Stargate platform.

  Sam stormed out of the Stargate, finger still on the trigger of her MP5, anger and frustration clear on her face. She stopped next to Daniel and yanked the cap off her head, slapping it against her leg and releasing a cloud of dust.

  "Sam?"

  "We lost our toolbox, Daniel. The comm unit...." She broke off as Teal'c and Jack emerged from the Stargate.

  "Everyone alright?" Jack asked. He slowed but kept walking, moving down the eight steps and onto the thick grass surrounding the Stargate. Teal'c followed him, already looking intently at their new situation.

  "Yes, Sir." Sam picked up the MRE box and moved to the steps.

  "Yeah, I-oh. Hello...." Daniel looked back at the Stargate as the wormhole disengaged, surprised beyond words to see a young man emerge seconds before it vanished. Daniel took two steps backwards, turned and jumped off the side of the platform, staggering as his injured legs gave under him.

  The man made no move toward them and continued to stand next to the Stargate. Heedless of the four weapons pointing at him, he gazed around, drinking in the sight of this new planet with obvious delight.

  Quietly, the team spread out, weapons trained on the intruder. Teal'c planted himself in front of Daniel, knowing his injured legs would hamper a speedy retreat.

  "He's a Goa'uld, sir," muttered Sam.

  Jack's response was to bring his gun up and steady the sight squarely on the man's forehead. Finally seeming to notice their presence, the man looked down at them, his young face still smiling. His clothes were mismatched and ragged, hanging loosely over his bony frame.

  "He doesn't seem threatening," Daniel said, shuffling a couple of steps to see around Teal'c. Teal'c merely moved in front of him again and adjusted his aim.

  "One hundred and forty seven years We have been trapped on that benighted world," the Goa'uld whispered in awe. "We are free... free." He beamed at SG-1, willing them to share his happiness.

  Jack gently brushed his finger against the MP5's trigger. "We won't let you take one of us as a host, so I suggest you walk away from here right now."

  The Goa'uld turned, his limp red hair catching in the breeze, and looked at Jack. "There is no need. We are well in Our host. The curse was a lie. A lie." He looked down at his body, patting it appreciatively.

  "We shall return home. Yes. Yes, to Our own world where...." He broke off his monologue with a sudden grimace. "What is this?"

  His hands clutched his chest and he doubled over with a keening moan of pain.

  "No! It cannot be so. We are-We are immortal." He shuddered and fell to his knees. Gripped by bone-jarring spasms, he looked up at the four people before him and reached out plaintively to them.

  "Help Us...."

  The team stared back at him, mesmerized with horror as his skin appeared to dissolve before their eyes. Gaping red patches opened on his face, hands and chest; the skin melted away into huge open wounds, exposing the muscles, veins and bones beneath.

  "Back away. Now," Teal'c said. He grabbed Daniel's arm and shepherded him away from the writhing man on the platform.

  "This is what the nanocytes do?" Daniel stared at the man in dismay. "He left the planet after his deadline passed. Oh, jeez."

  "You think he'll explode?" Sam asked, walking backward, unable to tear her eyes from the gruesome sight. The man was disintegrating. The pained, forlorn keening followed them as they left the Goa'uld and his host to their deaths.

  Jack muttered something unintelligible under his breath, changed direction and walked several paces back towards the Stargate.

  "Jack?" Daniel called after him.

  Jack halted, brought his gun up and let off a single, wellaimed shot. The man jerked slightly then toppled to one side into the spreading pool of his body fluids. The echo of his last cry seemed to hang heavily in the warm air.

  Somberly, the team moved away from the clearing, stopping only to test the DHD. With thirteen and a half hours until moonset, Jack led them onto a wide path. It sloped gradually downhill and within moments, the Stargate and the body of the unfortunate Goa'uld were lost to view. Keeping pace with Daniel's slightly slower limp, they walked in silence for ten minutes. As the track behind disappeared around another bend, Jack halted. Ahead, the path wound away into the trees; everything was peaceful, green and bursting with life. The ground bore no trace of human footprints, but the thick foliage could be hiding any number or kind of nasty surprises.

  With the echo of the Goa'uld's death screams ringing in his ears, he turned to his teammates. "Ten minute break. We'll find a better position for a full meal later. How is everyone doing for water?" His own canteens were less than a quarter full.

  "Running low, sir." Carter broke out a stash of powerbars and passed them around.

  "Me too," Daniel added as he took a measured sip. His eyes met Jack's over the raised canteen, a glance of concern Jack accepted and returned with a brisk nod. Neither of them wanted to talk about what they had just witnessed, or the implications for their own survival.

  SG-1 applied themselves to replenishing their energy, warily watching the surrounding forest. After ten minutes of undisturbed peace, Jack found himself much more at ease, the gruesome scene at the Stargate fading rapidly. Teal'c paced a few meters down the path, head cocked, listening intently.

  "I believe I hear running water, O'Neill." Teal'c pointed off to where the track vanished into the trees. "Some distance away, but it could be a substantial creek or river."

  "Then that's our first target. We'll fill the canteens then get looking for the address out of here." Jack looked at Carter and
Daniel, saw the weariness on their faces that mirrored his own. "And hopefully, we'll have time for some kind of rest. Lead on, Teal'c."

  They pushed their way through dense ferns, shaded from a warm sun by the towering canopy of enormous trees, the trunks of some more than twenty feet in diameter. Above their heads, dozens of different species of birds twittered, sang and shrieked in a raucous musical cacophony. Bright flashes of feathered bodies could be glimpsed now and then before being swallowed by the foliage.

  "This place is amazing," Carter said, bending by a small plant with dark, furry leaves. She added both leaves and stem to her rapidly growing collection. "We have to work out some way of charting these planets and bring a team back. We could be walking through a whole pharmacy of undiscovered medicines here."

  "Be nice if we could figure out a way off these planets first," Jack grumbled from the rear. His boot slid off a lichen-covered rock and he staggered back a couple of paces. He scowled at it and trudged tiredly after his team, their pale-colored uniforms standing out starkly against the greenery.

  "T, you got any idea where you're going?"

  "Toward the river, O'Neill, as we have already discussed." Teal'c's voice floated back.

  "Well, I know that. Never mind." Jack glared at his feet, his head aching from the crack on the DHD a world away. There was an odd ringing in his ears and he was feeling generally out of sorts. Put it down to job stress, he thought. One minute stuck in the mud, the next we're in Jurassic Park. A clump of bright green flowers hung from a vine at the side of the path, the scent of its rich nectar wrapping around his nose and making his mouth water. Suddenly assailed by a childhood memory of laughing with his best friend as they stole the neighbor's honeysuckle flowers and slurped the nectar from them, he plucked the clump and without another thought sucked the nectar from the large cup-shaped blossoms one by one, leaving a trail of discarded petals in his wake.

  The river finally came into view, a stretch of clear water running swiftly over a bed of shiny, round, green stones. Its soft burbling called to them, alluring after the hot dust of the previous planet. Jack stood on the bank and gradually zoned out, almost hypnotized by the sparkling water.