The Barque of Heaven Page 4

  GATE ONE

  Hour of Trembling

  aniel exited the wormhole as he had entered it: headfirst and at high speed. He hit the stone platform, rolled, overbalanced on the edge and bumped and slid down a dozen steps. Dazed, ears ringing from the battle still raging on another planet, he got his hands and knees under him, the pack on his back hanging heavily to one side.

  He looked around wildly, aiming for more targets, but the Eyes of Ra had not followed and there were no people in sight, not even Sam. Frantically he looked for her. There, on the opposite side of the steps, by the corner of the platform, a still, pale hand was just visible on the ground.

  "Sam!" Daniel scrambled toward her, hoarsely coughing smoke from his lungs

  Sam lay sprawled on her side, propped up by her pack. She was conscious, blinking dazedly, her breath catching in little coughs. Her face, hair, hands and clothing were singed and smoke-blackened.

  "Sam? Can you hear me?" He thumped to his knees beside her.

  "Urgh." She coughed again and tried to focus on him.

  A slurp and a clank above their heads heralded the arrival of the MALP. It barely cleared the wormhole before seizing to a halt, black smoke still billowing from the fried batteries. Directly behind it, the FRED churned through under its own power. It clipped the track of the MALP as it passed; one tread left the stone platform and gravity took hold, pulling the MALP down to crash in a heap not a meter from Sam's boots.

  Afraid the thing might explode again, Daniel flung him self over Sam. Moments later, Jack and Teal'c shot out of the Stargate in a hail of debris and dove for cover. After agonizingly slow seconds the vortex swept away into nothingness, leaving them shaken, panting and searching this new planet for danger.

  Before Jack could call out to them, Daniel raised his head. "Are you okay?"

  "Fine, Daniel." Jack moved down the steps. "What about you? Where's Carter?"

  Sam managed a faint "I'm good, sir."

  "The MALP exploded in her face," Daniel turned back to Sam. "Easy. Don't move. Let me check you." Gently, he felt her limbs and torso. There were no breaks, no open wounds or suspicious swellings. He was relieved to find no bums under the smoke stains. "Did you hit your head?"

  "Bit," she mumbled.

  He ran his fingers though her hair, finding a cut on the base of her skull. She hissed in pain.

  "Ouch, sorry." Daniel dug out the small first aid kit from his vest. "It's not bleeding too much. Any headache, dizziness, nausea? Did you pass out?"

  "No," Sam croaked. "Just"-she coughed-"got the wind knocked out of me. Ow." She batted a hand at him as he wiped the cut with disinfectant.

  Daniel felt his hands shake as adrenalin drained out of him. Despite Sam's protests, he dressed the wound neatly.

  Teal'c appeared at Jack's side, having completed a circuit of the Stargate area. "We appear to be secure here, O'Neill," he reported. "The supplies on the FRED have suffered no harm, however the MALP is significantly damaged."

  Jack looked at the machine, lying on its side, wisps of smoke curling up from it. "Better it than one of us. Okay, let's see if we can dial out of here. Carter, take five." He cut off her abortive attempt to stand as Daniel repacked the first aid kit.

  This new destination certainly appeared different from the previous planet. It was a high alpine meadow, where thick green grass and clusters of delicate flowers bent under a cool breeze. Spindly trees-brilliantly colored in warm autumnal tones-were dotted all over, and in the distance mountain peaks circled high around them. A line of small stone columns, over a dozen of them, stretched away from the Stargate, ending where the slope disappeared downhill.

  Jack watched as Teal'c punched in the address for Earth on the DHD but, as before, the chevrons on the Stargate lit up and the wormhole refused to engage.

  "Well, crap."

  Jack stalked back to the platform, leaving Teal'c to try several more addresses.

  Carter was on her feet, pale and squinting through what looked to be a hell of a headache, as she let Daniel gently wipe the soot from her face.

  "DHD's not responding," Jack said. "How are you doing, Carter?"

  "Got a head like the morning after graduation, sir. Just waiting for the pills to kick in, then I'll be good to go." She gingerly slid her sunglasses on.

  "Rest up while you can, Major. Daniel, why don't you come exploring with me?"

  "Sam, are you sure you're okay?" Daniel guided her down to sit in the shade of the platform. "Can I get you anything?"

  "I'll be fine here, Daniel. Thank you." She caught his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

  "Keep your radio open, Carter."

  "O'Neill, there is another device attached to this Stargate."

  Jack looked up at Teal'c, who was prowling around the Stargate while Daniel set Carter up with water, food and first aid kit. "Same as before, T?"

  "It is very similar, with the addition of a countdown in time as the Goa'uld measure it."

  Jack was up the steps in a flash. Teal'c pointed out the numbers clicking down above the depiction of an empty night sky.

  "How long?"

  "Eleven hours, six minutes."

  "And then what? More of those flying things trying to blow us to pieces? We don't have enough ammo to hold them off in a prolonged fight."

  "It is a possibility. Perhaps if we are able to leave this world before the countdown ends, we will avoid a repeat of what has just occurred on P3R-779."

  "Sounds like a plan, I. Okay boys, spread out. Let's see if we can find a way off this rock."

  Jack headed right, Teal'c left, and Daniel was drawn to the row of stone pillars, which, after a short hunt, proved to be the only man-made structures in the meadow. He stopped in front of the first one, immediately captured by the Goa'uld script carved from top to bottom and covering the surface completely. He circled the pillar; reading, translating, absorbing.

  "Oh."

  Swiftly he moved on to the second, then the third, muttering the odd word to himself.

  "Agai. "

  "Tekem. "

  After reading the fourth stone chapter, cold dread was congealing in his stomach. "Oh, boy." He tilted his head toward the radio on his shoulder and clicked the call button. "Guys, you'd better listen to this."

  "Right here, Daniel," Jack's voice breathed in his ear, making him start. "Sorry," he said, almost managing to look guilty. "What'cha got?"

  Daniel glared at him and led the way back to the first column where he paused, gathering his thoughts which were straying wildly through the fields of conjecture.

  "These are ben-bens," he began.

  "Not obelisks?" Jack butted in as Teal'c returned to join them.

  "No. Obelisks are taller, like Cleopatra's Needle. Ben-bens are more often used to record messages, historic events or, as in this case, instructions. This first one is mainly just praising Ra for his wonderfulness." Daniel flapped a dismissive hand at it and moved to the second ben-ben, Teal'c and Jack trailing. He keyed the radio again so that Sam could hear.

  "This is where it gets interesting. It commands those who have come to give their devotion, their lives, their souls if you will, to Ra, to tremble in fear at the task now before them.

  `Vow, we know that P3R-779 was the starting point for some kind of trial. From what this says, anyone wishing to enter the highest levels of service to Ra must embark upon a journey of `great and hazardous ordeals' and if found worthy at the end-by which I'm taking it to mean they're still alive-they will be rewarded with a place of service to Ra, to `journey forever at his feet in the Barque of Heaven'."

  Jack looked extremely skeptical, but Teal'c was intrigued, intently reading the carvings himself.

  "Who in their right mind would sign up for something like that?" Jack demanded.

  "Most probably they would have been Goa'uld of low birth seeking to further their rank by attaining a trusted position within the House of Ra," Teal'c answered. "Ra was the supreme leader of the System Lords for ma
ny thousands of years, O'Neill. Even holding a minor clerical position within his domain would confer much higher status upon an ambitious Goa'uld than would the same position with any other System Lord."

  Jack gave an exaggerated shudder. "Power hungry Goa'uld. Why does that not surprise me?"

  "Does it say where this journey leads to, Daniel?" Sam's voice crackled over the channel.

  "Well, they don't give specific details." Daniel moved on to the third ben-ben. "Ah, it says here, `you will journey through thirteen gateways and on each world will you prove yourself worthy of servitude to Ra'."

  "Thirteen?" Jack was outraged. "Forget it. Just skip ahead to the part that says how we get out of here."

  "Jack, I don't think it's that easy. Um, it says that `by passing through the Temple of Departures, the supplicant has shown his acceptance of the conditions of the Trial.' That has to be the temple on MR-779. Once the first step on the journey has been taken, the Trial must be completed. Failure to leave each planet in the allotted time will result in the supplicant being banished to `forever contemplate his dishonor'."

  "And I'm betting that thing on the Stargate has something to do with all this?" frowned Jack.

  Daniel crouched down by the base of the ben-ben and recited, "By first moonset after arrival must the supplicant depart or be forever lost to those who knew his name'."

  "The device attached to the Stargate must measure the time before moonset," Teal'c said.

  "Carter, can you get up there and give us a reading?"

  "Already on it, sir. " There was a short pause, then, It's showing twenty-five point seven marks. "

  Teal'c did a quick calculation. "Ten hours, eighteen minutes."

  Jack set the stopwatch on his chronometer. "Okay, so if we don't go through the 'gate on time-what happens? Can we stay here, rig up something to get it working? Are we going to get attacked by those flying things again?"

  Daniel moved on to the next ben-ben, the script revealing more and more about the depth of trouble they were in.

  "Okay, there's a lot about the glory awaiting the successful supplicant-basking in the splendor that is Ra-ah, here we go. `Those bearing the seed of the god's possession shall be confined to the Trial of Moons until welcomed into Ra's embrace; only then shall they be allowed to walk the path of servitude amongst the stars. The supplicant who does not journey to the next planet within the Trial before moonset will be condemned to eternal confinement on the planet of their failure. The unworthy shall never again leave the Trial of Moons, or they shall perish by the Mark of the God that swims within their blood'."

  "`Mark of the God'. " Sam's unease carried over the radio. "Then those first hits we took, they weren't targeting us, they were implanting something in us. "

  Jack's gut curdled into a cold lump of anger. "So that means...?"

  "The devices injected into our bodies must stay within a certain proximity to the Stargate and must not be taken through the Stargate after moonset, otherwise the elements within will combine into an explosive compound, in the manner of the device implanted in Cassandra Fraiser." Teal'c's deep voice filled the stunned silence. "I have seen similar methods used to confine prisoners to penal outposts. The results of any attempted escape were always fatal."

  "So that rules out leaving here by ship, always assuming we could contact the Tok'ra, " Carter said.

  "Indeed it does."

  "But, we'll be alright if we go through the Stargates of the Trial, providing we 'gate out before moonset. The markers will be deactivated at the end," Daniel said.

  "Thirteen 'gates, Daniel. Anything could happen. Besides, Ra is dead, so he won't be waiting at the end to flip the offswitch." Jack paced angrily in a tight circle.

  "Well, maybe that's automated too. Everything we've encountered so far has been. And who knows, maybe these things have a time delay. Stay too long and you blow up anyway." Daniel subconsciously scratched the closed wound on his thigh, then caught himself and shoved his hands in his pockets.

  Jack pulled a face at him. "There's a cheery thought. What else do we need to know?"

  Daniel shuffled around two more of the ben-bens before pausing to stare up at the crown of the final pillar. "`Only to the worthy will one's destination be revealed. By the name of the Herald will the Gateway be cast open'."

  "That's it?"

  "That's all there is, Jack. I assume that means the address to the next planet is hidden somewhere around here." Daniel retraced the inscriptions with his fingertips. "By the name of the Herald'," he mused. "Teal'c, Sam, is it possible the Stargate is controlled by a spoken password?"

  "I have not encountered such a mechanism, Daniel Jackson."

  "I doubt it, Daniel. " Carter sounded strained and a little breathless over the radio.

  "Carter, you're supposed to be resting," Jack sighed.

  I am, sir I'm just having a look at the DHD. "

  Jack flung out his hands in a silent plea to the universe in general and strolled a short distance into the meadow. He glared up at the mountains in the distance, towering toward the sky in unforgiving majesty, all bare, jagged rock and snow covered crests. Daniel's theory was compelling and if Jack decided to hold the team here to search for a way home, they may not have too long before the elements turned against them. Judging by the riot of flowers in their meadow here, this part of the planet was nearing the end of its warm season. Any extended stay could find them trapped in a fierce winter they were ill-equipped to survive. Hell, even their kit was summerweight desert camos.

  "There's another device in the DHD, " Carter's voice came over their radios, amplified across the grass. "Same as the one on P3R-779, but it has an extra attachment. It looks like an audio pickup -the readout is oscillating to the sound of my voice. "

  Daniel turned to gaze at Sam by the DHD. "Do you think it could control the activation of the Stargate?"

  "We'd need to test it to make certain, but it could do that, Daniel. "

  "So we need an address and a password to activate the 'gate, and even if we do find them the only planet we can travel to is the next one in the Trial?" Jack scowled at the far-off panorama, then turned to look at his team scattered amongst the leavings of a long-dead alien.

  "Looks that way, sir. "

  "This whole thing was a setup from the get-go," Jack stated, his anger forced him into motion and he strode back through the grass. "Tok'ra chick shows up with a previously unknown 'gate address, promises weapons galore and hey, we have to go right now because she has something really important to do later, and gee, what a shame, `General Carter is out on assignment' and can't be contacted. Then what's-her-name is delayed at the last moment, promises to catch up, and wonder of wonders, that's the last we see of her."

  "But sir the Tok'ra have dealt openly with us so far. Do you really think they would intentionally lead us into a trap?"

  "No disrespect to your dad, Carter, but we still don't know a whole lot about them. Who's to say they don't have hidden agenda or double agents in their ranks?"

  "But why would they go to such lengths to get rid of us?" asked Daniel, still closely inspecting the information on the ben-bens. "The Tok'ra have always seemed to be pretty dismissive of us."

  "Why indeed?" echoed Jack. He returned to the boys and led them back to where Carter sat by the DHD.

  "Perhaps the underlying motive is the bounties offered for our capture," Teal'c said. "Aris Boch appeared to consider them sufficient reason to detain us, and he fully intended to trade us to the Goa'uld."

  "But, then surely someone would have been waiting to take us prisoner on MR-779. All they've really achieved is isolating us," Carter said.

  "It could be they were unaware they would not be able to dial in to P3R-779 once the sun had set."

  Jack let out a frustrated snort. "Now that does sound like the Tok'ra intel we're used to. Okay, let's find the address and this password we need. I want to keep our options open-this doesn't look like a good place for an extended stay. Carter, hav
e a look at the MALP, see what you can scavenge off it."

  "Yes, sir."

  Daniel watched Jack and Teal'c move out through the meadow, finding nothing but trees, flowers and steep grassy slopes dropping away on all sides. He touched the inscriptions again, reveling for a moment in their ageless beauty and wondering, as always, about the craftsmen who had plied their tools so skillfully and with such art. For long moments he stood at the end of the line of ben-bens, staring hard, absorbing the mathematically precise line of them marching out from the dead center of the Stargate-as if pointing the way....

  He turned on his heel and strode rapidly toward the end of the meadow where the hill dipped sharply downwards. As the gradient steepened dramatically, Daniel sat on the grass, cautiously inching ahead. Heels digging into the earth and legs beginning to shake from the strain, he was rewarded with the sight of a narrow ledge cut into the underlying rock. He straightened his legs, hoping not to slide any further, and spoke into the radio.

  "Guys, I think I've found something."

  "Daniel? Where are you?"

  "Down the slope, straight on from the ben-bens," he replied breathlessly. "Be careful, it's pretty steep." Gravity took hold of him and he began to slide slowly, yet inexorably toward a gaping expanse of nothingness.

  "Daniel! Hold on!" Behind him, he heard Jack shuck his pack and weapon and start down the hill, feet skidding on the lush grass.

  "Jack, it's okay," Daniel said, his voice betraying the tension building in him. He looked over his shoulder toward Jack, but this only served to displace his center of gravity and speed up his slide.

  "There's a...."

  His boots hit thin air.

  "Oh, boy."

  His rump left the ground and he was falling, hands convulsively clutching clumps of dirt and grass.

  "Daniel!" Jack was shouting frantically now. "Teal'c!"

  "Ooof"

  Daniel landed on his butt, scraping hands and arms on the rocks as he dropped six feet down to the narrow, rocky ledge. Gingerly he got to his knees, and keeping his back to the chasm, clawed his way upright, just managing to peer up over the edge to the hillside above.