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  “An accurate census is difficult to gauge,” admitted Koe, “but we estimate that there are more than sixty million souls, spread out over roughly one hundred vessels of various sizes.”

  “The population of a major city,” she noted. “That’s—” Carter’s words were drowned out by a rumble of breaking stone and the thin, high scream of a child. Sam and the healer spun in time to see part of the riverbank slide into the dark green waters in a cloud of dust; one of the game-players, a fair-haired boy who couldn’t have been more than eleven years old went with it, vanishing under the surface.

  “The verge gave way!” Koe snapped.

  Sam reacted without conscious thought, tearing at the clips on her gear vest and shrugging it off. The boy scrambled briefly to the surface of the fast-flowing canal and then went under again in a cloud of bubbles. She thrust her weapon and her equipment into Koe’s hands and vaulted over the side of the bridge, her fatigue cap flying from her head. The other man shouted something after her, but Carter was already dropping towards the water.

  They took the road out of the township and Daniel tried his best to take in as much as he could with his video camera. The images on the fold-out viewfinder screen seemed flat and sparse; they couldn’t compare to the actual sight of the countryside arching away into the sky. “It’s like, no matter where you stand, you’re at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.”

  “What is that?” asked Suj.

  “A place on Earth, the planet where we come from. A huge gorge created by millions of years of geological motion and erosion.” He made a this-big gesture with his hands.

  Suj nodded. “I’ve seen such things on sorties from the flotilla. I prefer a more controlled landscape for my home.”

  “I guess.” On the road, Jackson had questioned the Pack historian ceaselessly, drawing out as much as he could about the nature of their culture. As far as he could determine at this stage, they were an unusual merging of rootless nomadic society with a collective tribal mindset. Parts of their ethos resembled those of the Tuareg or the Apache, and others the traditions of the Romany of Eastern Europe. “So tell me more about Vix and the others. You said he’s a good leader?”

  She nodded again. “Vix has been our pathfinder for several terms, and each time his stewardship is reconsidered he has been elected once more by his peers.”

  “So you’re a democracy, then?”

  “Perhaps not as you would define it,” she admitted. “Challengers are free to oppose the Pack’s seniors if they feel they could do better. If the peers can be swayed, then Vix would be forced to step down. It would be true to say that many roles are hotly contested.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Daniel, “and let me guess. Your man Ryn back there, he’s interested in taking that seat for himself, right?”

  “Ryn is not ‘my man’, as you call him, Doctor Jackson. He has followers just as Vix has his.”

  “Call me Daniel, please.” He halted as the road forked. One branch led away toward another township, while the other turned toward the farmlands. Jackson aimed the camera in that direction and frowned as the view came into focus. There seemed to be a strange shimmering between them and the fields, like a wall of heat-haze. “What’s that?” He started toward it.

  “Perhaps we ought to head back,” suggested Suj. “I have a library of records in the settlement. I could show you images from the earliest days of the Wanderer…”

  “In a second.” Daniel’s interest was piqued. From a distance, the farmlands had all seemed oddly uniform to him, as if they were too perfectly cut, like the manicured lawns of a golf course; but now he was noticing differences in them. Something that his grandfather had told him as a boy came to the front of his thoughts. Learn to read the land, Daniel. Half of archaeology is knowing where to dig. “I just want to take a look over here.”

  Suj’s hand shot out and grabbed his elbow. “No,” she said, and now her voice was firm and serious. “I think it would be best if we go back.”

  Daniel shook off her grip. “Fine. You go first, I’ll catch up with you.” Without warning, he broke into a jog and split away from her. He had to get a closer look; the curvature of the colony interior had masked it at first, but now he was sure. The fields looked wrong, and Jackson was going to find out why.

  Carter hit the murky water feet-first and felt the shock of the cold cut through her like electricity. The canal was deeper than she had expected, black with churned sediment. The swift current pressed into her and dragged the major down; it was a side-effect of the Coriolis force, the spin that produced the Wanderer’s gravity.

  She pushed against it and turned, casting about for the boy. In the dimness Sam saw a flailing shape and swam towards it, hands knifing through the water. Air pressed against her chest as she metered her breathing to stay under as long as she could. Closer now, and she recognized the pure terror of raw panic on the boy’s face. Breaths chugged out of his mouth in great plumes of bubbles, and the frantic terror of drowning was stark in his eyes.

  Sam ignored the pounding behind her ribcage and caught the boy as he tumbled past her, grabbing at his arm and his torso. By reflex the child thrashed against her, lashing out, but she was ready for it. Carter’s water survival training came back to her with perfect, detached clarity; granted, this wasn’t the same as surviving a post-ejection landing in offshore waters, but drowning was still drowning, no matter if it took place in the Atlantic or in a paddling pool. The harsh undercurrent turned and dragged at them both as Sam gathered the boy close to her and held him tightly. She felt her boots bounce off something buried in the riverbed muck, and in her chest there was a ball of acid as her lungs tried to drag in oxygen that wasn’t there. Carter kicked hard, and the pair of them rose with what seemed like agonizing slowness until finally they burst through into the daylight.

  Together they gulped in lungfuls of air and Sam pushed to turn them toward the banks of the river. She blinked water from her eyes to see Koe and a couple of other men from the township scrambling hip deep in the current. Strong arms took the boy from her and then guided her to safety.

  She was cross-legged on the path that followed the canal when she shook off the adrenaline rush. Her fatigues felt like they were made of lead, heavy with the water. Unsteadily, Sam got up and walked to where Koe was hunched over the boy’s slumped form. She could hear a familiar noise; a metallic buzzing. The boy was coughing, bringing up water and thin bile. “Is he…”

  Koe threw her a look over his shoulder and Sam instantly fell silent. The sound was coming from the device in his hand, a brass disc that fitted around his palm projecting a warm orange glow over the boy’s heaving chest. “That’s a Goa’uld healing device!” Carter’s hand darted to the Beretta automatic holstered at her hip. “How can you use it?”

  “No, Major, please!” Koe pleaded. “Please, I will explain… But I must save this child first!”

  Sam nodded, fingering the pistol. “Do it, then.” In truth, she had her doubts about whether the gun would fire readily after the dunking she had just given it, but she didn’t want to dive for the pile of her gear where her P90 and vest lay a few feet away.

  After a few moments, Koe let the boy sit up. The youngster’s tear-streaked face was pale and drawn, his breathing was ragged— but at least he was breathing. Koe gestured to one of the other men. “Take him home. Make sure he’s fed and put to bed.” The healer stood up slowly and opened his hands to Carter, revealing the device. “You understand how this object works?”

  “The Goa’uld tag those things with a genetic marker,” Sam replied warily. “Only someone with a symbiote can use them.” She hesitated. That wasn’t strictly correct. “Or someone who had a symbiote in them.”

  “Yes. The parasites key their technology to their gene code… But we discovered a way around that.” Koe replaced the device in a pocket. “Some of our scientists created a process to duplicate that marker artificially. It does not work for all, but if the patching takes, one can use Goa�
�uld devices as easily as turning on a lamp.” He managed a wan smile and revealed a small scar on his wrist. “I think it is fitting that we can put their machines to better uses.”

  Carter’s gun didn’t waver. “I’ve seen Goa’uld hide their true nature before today. How do I know you’re not doing the same thing?”

  Koe nodded at the P90. “If the Pack desired your deaths, we have had more than enough chances to kill you already.” He picked up her gear and offered it to her. “Are we not trying to build trust between our peoples, Major Carter?”

  After a moment, Sam frowned and holstered her pistol. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that we’ve had a lot of bad experiences in the past. It makes you think the worst of people.”

  Koe chuckled and nodded to the canal. “You risked your life without hesitation for that boy, for one of us, even though we have only just met. I find myself, Major, thinking the very best of you.” He beckoned her. “Come. We should return to Vix’s home. I will arrange for fresh clothes to be provided.”

  “Daniel!” shouted Suj. “Doctor Jackson, I must insist you stop!”

  She seemed pretty annoyed, but that only served to stimulate his interest further. He jogged down the sloping road and saw several things at once. Along the line of the strange haze there were tall rods of white metal extending into the air— he was reminded immediately of street lights— and the mirage-like shimmering appeared to hang between them in a curtain. “Or a fence,” he said aloud. Off to the sides he saw slow-moving machines not much bigger than a motorcycle, ambling along the line of the rods on six robotic legs. Now and then they paused and shot a fan of green laser light from an aperture on their bodies, like a snake flicking out its tongue to taste the air.

  But the haze-wall drew his attention. Through it he saw the amber expanse of crops, moving in gentle waves in the wind; only there wasn’t any wind right now. The whole sight seemed off somehow. Daniel stepped right up the flickering fence and reached out to touch it. His fingertips tingled. “What is this?”

  “A barrier,” insisted Suj. “Nothing for you to be concerned with.”

  “What are you keeping out?” He asked. “Or should I be asking what you’re keeping in?”

  “Doctor, please! It’s nothing dangerous, nothing for you to be concerned about.”

  “Oh,” Daniel threw her a smile. “Then it’ll be okay for me to take a look.” Before she could stop him, Jackson stepped into the haze and felt a tickle across his skin. Suj cried out and tried to grab him again, but it was too late. He was through.

  What he saw in there made Daniel stop dead. The historian came after him, fuming. “Are all of your people so disruptive?”

  “Most of us, yeah…” His attention was captured by the sight of the fields. From the other side of the shimmering fence they seemed bountiful with grain and acres of crops; but from inside it was a very different story. Instead of rows of stalks in rich bloom, there was nothing but ploughed lines of dead, rust-colored earth. Here and there, Daniel saw a few pathetic sprigs of greenery, but these were limp, blackened things that seemed diseased. He dropped to a crouch to examine the earth. It was powdery and lifeless. “What happened here?”

  Suj sagged and sat down heavily. “Why didn’t you just listen? This isn’t any of your business.” He waited, and after a moment she sighed. “We call it the blight. It is a disease of plant life. All our best efforts to find a way to protect our crops from it have failed.”

  Daniel pointed at the metal rods. “But what’s with the screen? What is it, some kind of hologram?”

  She nodded. “It is important to keep information about the spread of the blight contained. Much of the Pack’s food staples are grown on the Wanderer. There would be panic if our people thought that was in jeopardy.”

  “And is it?” He came closer. “How far has this blight spread?”

  “Far enough,” Suj said ruefully. She got up and took his hand. “Now you have seen, will you please come back with me? And I must have your promise you will not speak of this. Vix would be furious to learn that a planetborne has learned of the blight.” She led him back through the image-fence. One of the machines approached and ran its beam over them. “The tenders ensure no blight microbes spread beyond the contained areas,” explained the woman.

  As they made their way back to the township, Daniel frowned. “Suj, listen. I’m sorry if I put you in an awkward situation, but we might be able to help. On Earth, we’ve made great strides in agricultural science, and we know other races with other technologies. We might be able to help you stop this.”

  She gave him a wary look. “You think so?”

  “We can try, can’t we?”

  Jack looked up as the guy with the robes— what was his name, Koy? Cole? Koe?— entered the meeting hall with a slightly bedraggled Sam Carter in tow. He blinked. The major wore a kind of dress-jacket thing that reminded O’Neill of an Indian sari crossed with Arab robes. Somewhat incongruously, she had her webbing vest on over the top. Teal’c raised an eyebrow, which with him was practically a shout of exclamation. “Carter,” said Jack, trying to keep a smirk out of his voice, “that’s a new look for you.”

  Sam fumed quietly. “I took a dip in the canal, sir.”

  Koe laughed. “She did much more than that. Major Carter rescued a youth from drowning. She saved his life.”

  Vix accepted this with a nod. “Koe, see that the child’s family provides her with reimbursement for her actions.”

  Carter shook her head. “There’s no need for that.”

  “There is,” said Ryn firmly. “This is the Pack way. Just as you will compensate us for our intervention on the planet, Major Carter will be compensated for her deeds, in trade or in favor.”

  “My mom always used to tell me that virtue is it’s own reward,” noted Jack.

  “How generous,” sniffed Ryn. “If your people give with no expectation of remuneration, then you must be wealthy indeed.”

  Carter held up a hand. “Sir, I don’t want to make an issue of this…” She fingered the garments she was wearing. “How about… You dry out my uniform and I keep these clothes, and we’ll call it quits?”

  Koe nodded. “A very reasonable exchange.”

  Jack’s smirk finally emerged. “Hey, what do you know? That looked like an agreement to me. We’re off to a great start.”

  “Then we should continue,” said Vix, taking another draught from his drink. “We’ve heard many stories of the Tau’ri and their exploits. Sokar, Hathor, Apophis, and many other System Lords are dead at your hands. I have heard tell that you obliterated entire worlds and made parley with the Asgard.”

  “Yeah,” Jack smiled. “We like to keep busy.”

  “Then it would not be unreasonable for us to ask for some measure of your strength in payment for your rescue.”

  “If indeed your prowess is as great as we hear,” added Ryn. “I would be disappointed to learn that these stories have no basis in truth.”

  “The Tau’ri are staunch enemies of the Goa’uld,” Teal’c said firmly. O’Neill could sense the annoyance under the big guy’s words. “Of that, you may have no doubts. I have stood with them and fought the false gods for seven years.”

  Ryn caught the implication at once. “And we have not? Is that what you are thinking, Jaffa? Do you consider us cowards for fleeing the wrath of the System Lords?”

  “I have said no such thing.”

  Carter flashed him a look and Jack clapped his hands together; he had to defuse the moment before Ryn tried to pick a fight with Teal’c, something he knew would end very badly for everyone. “So, then. Let’s talk trade. What are you guys in the market for? Toaster ovens? An X-box?”

  The door to Vix’s chambers opened once more, this time to admit Jackson and the woman from the shuttle, Suj. Immediately, O’Neill sensed something between the two of them that made his danger sense flare. He raised an eyebrow in an expression that said Do we have a problem?

  “
I think I can answer that, Jack,” said the younger man, and he glanced at Suj. “I saw something interesting out in the fields.”

  A nerve jumped in Ryn’s jaw. “You let a stranger see the crops?” He gave the woman an acid stare.

  Suj nodded. “Don’t blame her,” Daniel broke in. “It’s my fault.”

  Jack felt the conversation getting away from him. “Crops?”

  “The farmlands outside the township,” supplied Carter. “We saw them from the hillside.”

  The Pack leader was silent for a long moment, and then Vix set O’Neill with a heavy gaze, as if he had made an important decision. “In truth, Colonel, we did not come to Golla IX in search of salvage. We came looking for food. There is a crisis building aboard the Wanderer, and it threatens to tip our people into a spiral of famine from which we may never escape.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  General Hammond threw a glance at Sergeant Harriman as he strode into the control center. Walter’s spectacles caught the reflected glimmer of the open wormhole in the gate-room beyond. “Receiving SG-1’s IDC, sir,” he reported.

  “About time,” Hammond said, half to himself. “Open the iris.”

  Harriman placed his palm on the security reader, and in the gate-room the massive leaves of titanium alloy rumbled open. Five figures emerged from the shimmering vertical pool and the general’s eyes narrowed. “Alert Doctor Warner. We may have a visitor for him to take a look at.”

  Hammond made his way down. It was a point of personal pride with him that any new off-world arrivals should be welcomed by the ranking officer at Stargate Command, and if SG-1 had brought someone with them, he had little doubt they were worth a few moments of his time. To be truthful, it was one of the things that George Hammond liked the most about his job. It wasn’t often he got the call to venture to alien worlds, so whenever someone from one of those worlds came here, he made sure he’d get to meet them.