The Barque of Heaven Read online

"There's something inside this one." Jack nudged a sphere with the tip of his gun barrel. It rolled on its unseen axis but retained its place. From deep within the globe, a vaguely familiar symbol glowed a faint blue.

  "Yeah." Daniel moved from one to the next, peering intently into each globe. "They look like the symbols representing some of the Goa'uld." He stared at a bright pink depiction of a sun disk resting between a pair of cow horns. "This-this is the sign of Hathor." He flicked the flashlight away and kept moving underneath the globes.

  "These are the same symbols Dad showed us when he came looking for Seth," Carter said. "Are they all System Lords, do you think?"

  "I am familiar with many of these signs," Teal'c commented. "However, some are unknown to me."

  "Geb, Bastet, Thoth, Isis, Tefnut, Anubis." Daniel counted off the names as he circled around under the globes. "And here's Ra." He paused on the far side of the clearing. "Well, they all seem to be from the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. There are no other cultures represented here. That has to be significant."

  "Didn't Jacob say there were thousands of Goa'uld but only a handful of System Lords?" Jack wandered around the boundary of the globes, looking for the strings that had to be holding them up.

  "Dozens of System Lords."

  "So we've got more balls than System Lords... globes, than System Lords."

  "I believe both statements to be correct, O'Neill." Teal'c gave Jack the eyebrow equivalent of a high five and marched off to do a perimeter check.

  Carter bit back a grin and tried to get a better look inside a globe.

  Daniel continued his examination, now sketching a map of each globe's position and the name it bore.

  "So... what? Quick game of soccer?" Jack needled as he passed.

  "No, I wouldn't recommend it."

  Jack checked his watch again-two hours, seven minutes left. Darkness had fallen heavily on the jungle, hushing the wildlife at least. He stalked around the clearing, the time counting down loudly in his head. Opposite from where they had entered, a path led out through the trees. He prowled down it and twenty meters along came to a junction with another, wider path that looked more than familiar. To the right, the path angled up toward the Stargate, to the left it headed down to the river. He closed his eyes and mentally kicked himself for his lapse. They had walked right past this place and now were scrambling to catch up before they were locked out of the Stargate network for good.

  As O'Neill jogged back into the clearing, Teal'c completed his perimeter check and joined Major Carter in dragging fallen branches away from an old stone pillar, their flashlights illuminating a scrawl of carved glyphs down one side.

  "`Those who are our enemies, those who are our allies - know them by their names and know the might of your God, Ra'," Teal'c translated, eyebrows rising as he pondered the meaning of such a declaration.

  "And what is that supposed to mean?" O'Neill asked.

  "We pick the names of Ra's allies, or enemies, and get the gate address in return?" Major Carter surmised.

  "That is a possibility, Major Carter."

  "Well, which is it? Allies or enemies?" O'Neill bounced on his heels, impatience rising.

  "It could be either," Daniel Jackson said, his face bathed in a faint, green glow from the globe above him.

  "Well, pick one!" O'Neill demanded.

  "Enemies?"

  "Teal' c?"

  "Knowing the enemies of the System Lord with whom one seeks service would be beneficial," Teal'c conceded.

  "Enemies it is. Time's a'wasting, so can we get on with it, please?"

  Daniel looked expectantly at them. "And we do that by, um...." He looked at the globe above him.

  "You know, they remind me of those electrostatic ball things that were all the rage in the Seventies," O'Neill offered. Teal'c failed to comprehend the helpfulness of such a statement.

  Daniel too stared blankly until Major Carter nudged him and said, "Try touching it."

  Gingerly, Daniel reached up and placed his fingertips on the glass above him. "It's warm."

  The golden glow inside brightened briefly, then quickly died away.

  "Try your whole hand." Major Carter suggested.

  Teal'c watched while Daniel Jackson pressed his palm to the globe. Gentle light seeped past Daniel's hand as the glow bathed his face. After a moment he gradually withdrew but the light promptly died once more. He turned to the others, expression uncertain.

  "Perhaps one is required to speak the name of the Goa'uld depicted within, as with the password that unlocks the DHD," Teal'c said.

  "Good idea, Teal'c." Daniel reached up once more and as the glow brightened, he said clearly as he could, "Ra."

  From the ground under the center of the globes a beam of light, the same gold color as that coming from Daniel's globe, shot up through the covering of leaves and grass to illuminate the tree canopy overhead.

  O'Neill danced away, weapon not quite coming up to firing position. "Hello!"

  Daniel cocked his head, pleased with the first sign of success. "So who else do we try?"

  "Okay." O'Neill remarked. "Teal'c, you've got the best working knowledge of the Goa'uld-who do you choose?"

  Teal'c looked at the list Daniel Jackson handed to him, and considered the names of potential Goa'uld enemies of Ra. "This one." He pointed at the list. "This, this and this were all well-known foes of Ra."

  "Well, let's see." Daniel looked up and located the globe bearing the first name. "I guess Apophis would be a good place to start."

  "Quite," Teal'c murmured.

  Daniel slapped his hand on the globe and clearly proclaimed, "Apophis."

  Disappointingly, the globe refused to light up.

  "You're sure he was an actual enemy of Ra's?" asked Major Carter.

  "I am certain. Their battle to each overcome the other had raged for millennia, and is said to have begun when Apophis was a servant to Ra, in the time before Ra left the Tau'ri homeworld."

  Brow creased in thought, Daniel Jackson stared at Teal' c. "Ra was almost completely immersed in the mythology of Ancient Egypt-he lived it. Of course! The rebellion against Ra on Earth happened well before the Greeks moved into Egypt and many of the gods' names were Hellenized." He turned and slapped the globe once more.

  "Apep!"

  The clearing filled with a deep red light as the globe lit up. Impressed, Teal'c followed Daniel Jackson around the circle naming enemies of Ra known to still be active up until a few years ago. Sokar, Heru Ur, Nefertum, and Anhur lit up, bathing the team in a mix of deep reds, orange and purples.

  "What about Anubis, Teal'c? Jacob didn't have him listed among the major System Lords."

  "I have heard only old tales concerning Anubis, Daniel Jackson. He was once a mortal enemy of many of the System Lords, but he was defeated a long time ago. His name remains only in tales told to children."

  "Okay, well, we can consign Anubis, or Anpu, as MIA along with Het-Her and Set. What about Sekhmet? Earth legends told of her as Ra's hand, she was his wrath against his enemies."

  "Tales are still told of the fall of Sekhmet. She allied herself with Apophis against Ra."

  "Really? So we can put her on the enemies list?"

  "Sekhmet was put to death in a manner so protracted and painful that the stories still circulate-two thousand years later. I believe she cannot be counted in this endeavor."

  "Ali."

  Teal'c allowed a small smile as Daniel Jackson reluctantly forbore asking further questions and consulted the list once more.

  "Okay, well, that just leaves um, this one." Daniel walked slowly over to a darkened globe near the center, which Teal'c felt he had been deliberately avoiding.

  He peered over Daniel Jackson's shoulder at the symbol in the globe. How could he not know the emblem of she who had been his master's queen, the one who had sat and held the power of life and death over him as surely as had Apophis? He curled his lip in disdain and reached past Daniel to slap the globe into life.

 
"Amonet." His deep growl echoed around the clearing, picking up an answering mutter from O'Neill's direction.

  Daniel Jackson cleared his throat. "Well. I think we're done, then." He stepped back and they eyed the beautiful light display dubiously. "Nothing's happening."

  The globes glowed cheerily in the dark for another two minutes then winked out together, plunging the clearing into darkness.

  "Oh." Daniel clicked on his light and looked at the others. "Guess that was the wrong choice, then."

  "Perhaps the allies of Ra are the ones requiring illumination, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.

  Daniel consulted his list once again. "Well, there are certainly enough of them here. Who would you choose, Teal'c?"

  Teal'c moved around the circle, considering carefully before placing his hand on one globe.

  "Bastet."

  The globe lit up and a corresponding beam of pale green rose up from the ground. Encouraged, they moved on to the next. "Khonsu."

  "He was originally regarded as the offspring of Amon Ra and Mat," Daniel said, staring up into a sky-blue glow.

  "Seshet."

  "Goddess of scribes and history. I've always been a bit fond of her myself"

  "She was known to be one of the more tolerant Goa'uld," Teal'c said, somewhat surprised as childhood tales of the `gods' resurfaced in his memory, as vivid now as they had been nearly one hundred years ago when he had first heard them, sitting at his mother's feet listening to her nightly tales.

  "What about Sia? He supposedly was a son of Ra."

  "Sia disappeared many years ago during a dispute over territory with Apophis."

  "Next one is Thoth. He was consort of Seshet, so I guess they'd be on the same side?"

  "That name is unfamiliar to me, Daniel Jackson."

  Daniel frowned as the inner light in Thoth's globe refused to come on. "Oh, of course. Djehuti!"

  Djehuti's sphere lit up bathing Daniel's enchanted face in an eerie orange. They continued on, picking out likely allies of Ra. Major Carter slowly paced the circle, searching for the hidden power source of the globes floating above them. Further out, O'Neill prowled in the darkness, constantly on watch.

  With Anher, Tefnut, and Wadjet added to the lit globes, Daniel and Teal'c paused.

  "Oh, and there's Mat; Jacob said she was a favored consort of Ra's." Another purplish glow joined the spectrum. Daniel paused and called to O'Neill on the opposite side of the clearing. "Jack, remember the helmets Ra's guards wore aboard his ship?"

  "Yeahhh-big bird things?"

  "Falcons, yes. Horns guards. Horns was the son of Isis whose consort was Osiris, enemy of Seth, who was an enemy of Ra. So I'm thinking even though they may not be around any more, Ra might still have counted them as allies. Therefore-Jack, fourth one over this way." Daniel Jackson beckoned O'Neill toward him and said "Auset."

  "Who?"

  "Auset is Isis, so," Daniel made flapping motions at him from the other side of the circle until O'Neill smacked the globe and growled out something that sounded more like `Ozzie' but sufficed to activate the globe.

  "And that leaves Osiris." Daniel held his breath, reached above his head and said, "Asar." A warm orange, the color of a rising sun, flooded over him. The final beam of light rose up from the ground and mixed with the others.

  The spotlights seemed to come alive, bending to join together in one dazzling multi-hued column of light that soared above their heads. It hung suspended in the warm, night air for a few minutes then slowly shrank back down. As it reached the ground there was a grinding of stone over stone as the base of each spotlight was covered with a stenciled glyph, each one bearing a different symbol or Stargate coordinate. In the darkness above their heads the beams of light pro jected seven glyphs and two words in Goa'uld script.

  Three loud whoops drowned out Teal'c's murmur of satisfaction, and the team scrambled to record the address symbols and words before they vanished.

  "Got it! Password means `Slicer of Souls'. Nice." Daniel Jackson knelt on the ground and looked up at the others, his fingers tracing the slowly fading light from the point of origin.

  "Nice work, guys," Major Carter said.

  Teal'c inclined his head. "It is gratifying to be able to use one's knowledge of the Goa'uld for a beneficial purpose."

  Daniel got to his feet. "Remind me to ask you about Sekhmet when we get home, Teal'c."

  "I shall indeed, Daniel Jackson."

  "Pack it up kids, we have got to go," O'Neill called to them.

  Somewhat reluctantly, Teal'c followed his teammates as they picked up their packs and left the clearing, the gently fading light bidding them a silent farewell.

  An insect chirped high in the trees above them, a sweet sad sound. There was a moment's silence, then as if a switch had been flipped, a deafening chorus rose throughout the jungle as thousands of the creatures began calling out to each other. Sam winced at the noise. Effectively silenced, SG-1 pushed on up the slope, finally emerging into the Stargate clearing with just ten minutes remaining.

  "Get the gear, Carter, Teal'c." The colonel strode rapidly through the grass.

  "Sir, shouldn't we do something about the, uh, remains?" Sam indicated the Stargate platform. She felt recharged and actually looking forward to the next planet on their agenda.

  "I don't think there's much left to do anything with, Carter. He looks a bit flat to me."

  Sam walked up the steps to the body and realized with rising dismay that all that was left of the unfortunate host and his Goa'uld were his tattered robes. Flesh, muscle, even bone had dissolved into a large, smelly puddle, dripping over the far side of the platform.

  "Oh, erk." She turned away and moved to help uncover their gear, only to find the way barred by an outlandish little person standing not six inches in front of her.

  "Whoa! Where the heck did you come from?" She backtracked, feet slipping in the puddle, and leaped over the side into the midst of the men. The four of them stood in varying degrees of astonishment, weapons slowly coming to bear.

  "Carter?" The colonel's tone was almost accusing, as if she had conjured it out of thin air.

  "Beats me, sir. I turned around and there it was."

  The creature stared down at them from the platform, intense interest clear on its decidedly ugly face. It stood no more than four feet high, stumpy arms clasped over a very wide, very fat belly. Its broad head was distorted by grotesque teeth and enormous ears. Huge feet splayed out at right angles to each other. It wore no clothing over its scaly brown skin and its belly hung so low it was impossible to determine gender, not that anyone would want to try.

  "That is a very unattractive individual," Teal'c announced, political correctness way out the window.

  "Got that right," The colonel muttered, sidling around a few steps for a better line of fire. Sam looked at Daniel, expecting him to kick off his peaceful explorer shtick, but he was still gaping at the intruder.

  "Uh, can we help you?" she tentatively asked.

  Deep green eyes looked down at her, seemed to examine her inside and out before answering. "Much time has passed since one took up the challenge of the Trial of Moons. I had to see with my own eyes those brave souls come to test themselves."

  The little being stumped to the edge of the platform and stared intently at them. "You belong to the same tribe and journey together, yes?" Its rasping voice seemed oddly soothing.

  Sam shared a glance with the colonel, considering just how much intel he wanted to give out, but Daniel got in ahead of them. "Yes, in fact maybe you can help us. We didn't embark on this Trial willingly, we were lured into it. If you can help us find a way home, we'd be very grateful."

  A gap-toothed grin opened up in the leathery face. "You are amusing, young one. That is nice." Its attention shifted to the pile of gear they had begun to uncover. "You may only take with you that which you can carry. Was that not explained to you?"

  "No one else was present when we began the Trial," Teal'c rumbled, frowning deeply
.

  "Can you tell us who you are, how you got here?" Sam chipped in. "Do you live on this planet?"

  "I am Bes, Keeper of the Barque. I wished only to meet you and bid you good fortune in your journey. We shall meet again, if you survive the Trial." With that, the little person made a flicking gesture at the pile of supply boxes and they, along with it, disappeared silently into thin air.

  "No! Dammit." The colonel made an abortive leap toward the already missing gear. "Son of a bitch. Well, that's just great. Did it take everything?"

  Teal'c bent and rummaged underneath the heap of fern branches that had covered their supplies and retrieved two remaining metal boxes.

  "We are left with our ammunition and survival gear, O'Neill."

  The colonel pulled off his cap and raked his fingers through his hair. "Well, it could be worse but I hope we don't end up in Antarctica next."

  Just the thought of that bone-numbing cold sent shivers up Sam's spine. Bad enough being unprotected but if someone were injured....

  "Tell me we've still got the first aid kits."

  "Yes sir, and I've got the supplies we took from the Jaffa."

  "And we've all got our vests and packs," the colonel finished. They carried many of the smaller items vital to survival with them.

  Sam shifted the weight of her pack on her shoulders and looked at the others as the reality of their situation sank home once again. Down along the river all she had thought of was eating, running, playing, sleeping. Nothing had intruded on the desire to enjoy. Not the fact they were stuck far from home, nor the loss-oh, dammit-the loss of the comm unit. She'd been so sure it would have worked. No, they' d just eaten everything in reach, drunk untreated water, swum.... Well, at least they were all comfortable enough with each other not to be embarrassed over that. But barriers had been let down, and who knew what the price would be.

  Now, they had lost most of their support gear. They were left with what they were carrying-and each other. Sam smiled as she followed the others to the DHD. They were fed, rested and ready to go. Most importantly, they were still together and as long as they stayed together, they'd be alright. Baring any further interventions from weird, wrinkly little aliens. Speaking of....