The Barque of Heaven Read online

  "How long have we got?"

  "Twelve hours twenty-seven minutes, O'Neill." He extended a hand to Major Carter, assisting her to straighten up without sliding off into the water.

  "Okay. We can't stay here. We'll need to salvage what gear we can, get some food and I think we could all do with some rest after our little encounters back there." O'Neill glared at the water splashing cheerfully around his boots. "And I really need to pee."

  "The roof over there looks intact, Jack." Daniel indicated a U-shaped pitched roof surrounding the top of a fat obelisk, some hundred meters away. The water lapped lazily at its eaves with all the motion of a land-locked lake: no visible swell or currents.

  Teal'c peered into the murky water below them. "Before we depart, I shall determine the depth at which the FRED lies." He handed the staff to Daniel Jackson, carefully shrugged out of his pack and passed it to Major Carter. He slid back into the water, drew in several deep breaths and upended. Powerful strokes pulled him down. Unerringly, his sense of direction led him on the path the FRED had taken, until a dark shape resolved into one of the containers strapped to the back of the machine. Teal'c groped along the length of the drowned vehicle, counting containers and testing the bindings over them. Satisfied all was secure, he pushed off and rose to the surface.

  "The boxes are all still intact. The vehicle lies only three meters below. We should be able to salvage as much as we can carry." Teal'c pulled himself back up onto the ring and Major Carter helped him gear-up.

  "Thanks, T." O'Neill clapped his hands together, his enthusiastic look unconvincing. "Okay, everyone up for this?"

  A shrug, a nod and an inclining eyebrow were not exactly the ebullient responses he had been hoping for, but Jack was happy to take what he could get. "We'll do this slowly. Keep together. If you feel yourself getting a cramp, or anything, yell out and drop your gear. Watch out for undercurrents and snags, particularly around the buildings." Jack looked intently at his team, then nodded. "Let's go."

  One by one they slipped into the water. From surface level the building seemed a lot further away. Like ducks in a row, Jack led his team through the cold water. He and Carter had their already soaked MP5s strapped to the top of their packs, Teal'c's staff was likewise secured. Their packs, clothing and boots caused a serious amount of drag, but their steady breaststroke kept them moving slowly toward their goal.

  Just like Basic.

  Jack paused at the halfway point, treading water while he turned to check on the others. Carter stroked steadily up to him, spouting out little jets of water with each exhalation. She nodded and churned past, not losing her momentum. Daniel, a few feet behind her, ploughed strongly on, his training in this very maneuver serving him well. Jack sent him on with a tilt of his head and waited for Teal'c to come abreast. The Jaffa cruised through the water like a submarine running on the surface, smoothly powering along with barely a ripple left behind. Jack grinned and paced alongside him, mind flashing back to the skeptical look on the Academy swim instructor's face when he'd shown up with Teal'c and Daniel. Daniel had proved to be a strong swimmer and, after a few pointers on technique, Teal'c had taken to the water like the proverbial fish-out-distancing them all by the end of training.

  Jack spat out a splash of saltwater and slowed as they neared the slim haven of the rooftops. He led them to the low eaves of the roof that hung only inches above the water's surface, where they rested for a few minutes, lungs heaving and muscles burning.

  "Carter, you first."

  With a shove from behind by the three men, she hauled herself up onto the terracotta roof tiles. One by one they released their packs and passed them up, then pushed, pulled and scrabbled to join her.

  "Oy." Jack flopped bonelessly onto the warm tiles. They all stretched out, flat on their backs, streaming water and quite spent.

  "We need to find the address and password," Daniel said after a while.

  "Well, I hope they left it somewhere obvious, or we're really up a... lake without a paddle," Jack grumbled.

  "There appear to be carvings on the obelisk." Teal'c was sitting up, looking annoyingly undaunted.

  "Food and rest break first," Jack ordered, rolling to his feet and pulling Carter, who had been on the verge of dozing off, to her feet.

  They spread out along the ridge of one wing of the roof, stripped down to their skivvies, the warm afternoon sun reinvigorating their bodies. Clothes, boots, and all manner of gear from their packs were scattered over the tiles to dry. They broke down and cleaned their weapons; Teal'c's staff and the zats proved their superior alien design to be unaffected by the dunking. MREs were broken out, heated and devoured, while the far side of the roof was declared the latrine and duly christened by Jack.

  Jack turned away from another survey of the drowned buildings surrounding them. The lonely peaked roofs and bare tree limbs were desolate in the unnatural quiet. But for the lapping of small waves against the building and the soft rustle of wind over the water, there was no sound to be heard.

  "What's all this?" He nudged several piles of rolled cloth and small glass vials spilling out of Carter's pack.

  "Teal'c and I helped ourselves to the medical supplies while we were waiting in the tent, sir," she replied.

  "Nice."

  "That reminds me, thanks for coming to the rescue, guys," Daniel spoke up.

  "Any time, Daniel." Carter smiled at him.

  Jack shook his head, still amazed at how Daniel had bamboozled the guy into letting them go. Perhaps there really was a deity that guarded the path of loquacious archaeologists. Might pay to light a candle for it, just in case. "Waste of a good ambush," he groused. "I might have known you'd talk your way out of trouble."

  "Well, it seemed worth a try." Daniel squinted at Jack with a little grin.

  "Words are a most formidable weapon, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said softly. "You wield them with the skill of a master warrior."

  Daniel's grin widened. "Thank you, Teal'c."

  "Carter, how's that cut doing?" Jack asked.

  She put aside the BDUs she was in the process of sewing up and looked down at the thin red stripe along her hip. "It's fine, sir, just stings a bit. Actually, I think a dip or two in the salt water here will help it heal."

  "Okay. Let's get moving. Teal'c, you feel like some diving to get our gear?"

  "I do, O'Neill."

  "Alright. Carter, you help Teal'c with the salvage while Daniel and I look for the 'gate address."

  Fed and somewhat refreshed, Teal'c and Sam slipped into the water and swam back to the Stargate. Sam clambered up onto the inner ring and began securing a number of pack straps and short ropes to the pillar support underneath her.

  Armed with his knife, Teal'c took several deep breaths and submerged. Sam watched anxiously as his bare feet disap peared. For almost two minutes the water lapped undisturbed, then Teal'c resurfaced a couple of meters out, blinking water from his eyes and inhaling deeply. She knelt up on the Stargate and extended her hand, pulling him over to her.

  "Teal'c? How did it go?"

  "Extremely well, Major Carter. I have our rations." He brought up his right arm and the long container holding three day's supply of MREs came into view.

  "Oh, great." She grabbed one of the ties and secured the box, leaving it to hang half-submerged from the supporting pillar. "Horrible as they are, they beat foraging for food." She looked at him uncertainly. "I feel like a lemon sitting up here while you do all the work. Are you sure you don't want some help?"

  "I will be more at ease knowing you are up here protecting our equipment. It would not do to have it sink once again."

  Sam gave him a rueful grin. "True. Good hunting."

  Teal'c inclined his head and disappeared under the surface once more, sleek and powerful as a seal.

  Sam shifted on the inner track of the Stargate. Not the most comfortable place to sit, though the afternoon sun was pleasantly warming and a gentle zephyr rippled the water around her. Looking up into th
e sky, she realized what she had been missing-birds. There were no birds wheeling through the air, none diving after fish, if indeed there were fish. The absence of wildlife made this lost city even more desolate and alien.

  Gazing around, she counted only seven structures visible above the water. Most had the same terracotta roof tiles as their resting place. Looking over to their temporary base, she saw Daniel and the colonel perched on an eave above the roof's inner courtyard, obviously discussing the obelisk in the center. They stood up and moved a little further along the roof. Daniel turned her way, saw her watching, and waved. She waved back. Daniel eased himself carefully into the water, followed by the colonel. Together they swam to the obelisk and began to investigate.

  Sam kept a wary eye on them, turning back as Teal'c brought more and more containers up to the surface. Survival gear, spare clothing, ropes, scientific equipment-she fervently hoped that one in particular had remained water-tight as it held the salvaged communications unit from the MALP.

  Next up was the ammo case, its weight threatening to challenge even Teal'c's massive strength. Sam got up on her knees and leaned precariously over the water. She grabbed a handle, looped two ties through it and secured it to the pillar.

  Teal'c took a few minutes to rest, then returned to his task. The silence of the place seemed to swallow Sam. She found herself humming just to fill the emptiness. Sitting there on the Stargate in her underwear, warm air ruffling her half-dry hair, the splashes and voices of her teammates close by-it was just another day in the life of a galactic explorer.

  Jack followed Daniel carefully through the water, alert for undercurrents or weird alien octopi ready to suck them down to a soggy grave. The surface remained mostly calm, if slightly choppy. The obelisk was a huge, squat affair, rising only three meters above the roof, but four times the girth of the obelisks in the garden courtyard on MR-779. Each side was heavily carved with Goa'uld script and the side facing out of the courtyard toward the Stargate sported a large sun-disk symbol of Ra.

  Daniel pushed away from the obelisk, floating on his back to get a better view of the carvings at the top. With his glasses-retrieved from the pocket Jack had stashed them in-firmly secured around his neck with the cord from Jack's sunglasses, he read the lines of script down to where they disappeared under the water. That side covered, he paddled around to the next side to read, then the third and fourth, with Jack gliding behind him through the cold water.

  Shivering in the shadow of the obelisk, Daniel led the way back into the sun before sharing what he had learnt.

  "There's no address or any passage resembling a password in sight, Jack. But," he pointed a dripping finger at the Eye of Ra symbol, "up there is one of those Ra-is-wonderful lines so I think we're in the right place."

  "There are carvings under the water-line."

  "Yes. Ra may have flooded this place on purpose."

  "Sweet. Can you work them out by touch?"

  Daniel nodded. "The glyphs all follow the same structure, so it won't be like trying to read someone's handwriting. I should be able to make them out. The difficult part will be the address. If I miss part of a symbol it'll be invalid."

  Jack grimaced at the thought of being stuck on this watery nowhere for any length of time. "We've got some lightsticks on the FRED, but I don't know how much use they'll be in this silty stuff."

  "Well, maybe hold those in reserve for a final check. I'll find what we need first, transcribe it and see if it fits."

  "If you're going under, I want you on a tether," Jack said. "There's no knowing what kind of snags are down there."

  He swam to the roof and retrieved a long roll of thin cord he'd had in his pack, then splashed back to Daniel. Reaching around Daniel's waist, he deftly secured the line.

  "One yank," he said. "Any reason. If you're in trouble, just one yank on the line and I'll pull you up. Okay?"

  "Yes." He pulled his glasses off and handed them to Jack who strung them around his own neck. Daniel paddled back to the obelisk, hands reaching out to trace the carvings where they were swallowed by the lapping wavelets. He looked up, positioned himself under the Eye of Ra-the most likely place to find the address -then took several slow, deep breaths and sank under the water, fingers playing over the stone before him.

  Visibility was limited. Daniel could make out the shadowy shape of the obelisk but any detail on the stone was impossible to discern. The salt water, though less potent than Earth's oceans, stung his eyes. He ran his hands down the carvings, following the declarations about the munificence of Ra that ran down from the Eye.

  Starving lungs forced him to the surface. Daniel kept his eyes centered on the carvings in front of him, marking his place to prevent himself drifting. Jack hovered close by, ready to assist.

  Down he went, again and again, fingers finding and reading the familiar Braille of hieroglyphs. The signs, so little changed from their Ancient Egyptian roots, were as visible under his fingertips as if he were gazing at them in bright sunlight; the viper, flowering reed, water ripple, bread loaf, bolt, foot... on they went, revealing their long hidden secrets. And there, words formed in a different pattern-no grandiose praise, but a name.

  Daniel clawed his way into the air for the sixth time, spraying water out of his mouth, lungs heaving, eyes trying to blink away bright oxygen-deprivation spots.

  "Daniel?" Jack was next to him, one hand on his arm anchoring him.

  "Found... a name," he said between wheezes of air.

  "Knew you would. Don't rush it, we've got time enough."

  Daniel closed his eyes briefly, concentrating on breathing. When his head started to spin from too much oxygen, he submerged once more, the rough scrape of stone under his fingers leading him unerringly back to the name. Opening his eyes, he peered at the symbols, barely able to make them out, but needing visual confirmation. The name was short but unmistakable; set at the end of the other carvings, the stone below and to either side lay disturbingly blank.

  A tug on his waist brought him back to the surface, mind and body moving sluggishly as the cool temperature of the water began to leech his strength.

  "Got it, Jack," he sputtered. "Got the password-Ashebu."

  "Attaboy." Jack patted him on the shoulder. "C'mon, ten minutes rest out of the water."

  Noting the passage on the obelisk above the name, Daniel allowed Jack to usher him back to the roof. He accepted a boost up onto the warm tiles, where he flopped, limp as a landed fish, soaking in the welcome gift of the sun.

  Teal'c floated, ten feet down, one hand anchored against the slight pull of the current, the other gripping his knife as he sawed through the swollen ropes holding down a container full of tents and sleeping bags. The rope finally parted and a miniavalanche of boxes slid to the floor of the lake. He released another small exhalation of air. Deep within its womb his larval Goa'uld thrashed its displeasure at being forced to sustain his system for such an extended time. Teal'c ignored it, pleased the evil inside him was being of use to his team.

  He took hold of the box's handle-his broken thumb almost healed now-and pushed off, rising effortlessly to the surface. Towing it to Major Carter, he steadied it while she secured it to the supports. He let go and it hung just below the surface with the other recovered containers.

  "How are you holding up, Teal'c?"

  He looked up at the major. "I am quite well, thank you, Major Carter. There are four smaller boxes yet to be retrieved. I regret however, I will not be able to salvage the water tank."

  Major Carter nodded. "No, thirty gallons, we'd never carry it. We'll just have to forage for fresh water on the next couple of planets. At least we've got enough purifying tablets in our supplies to last months. We'll survive."

  "Indeed we will."

  Teal'c rested for a few moments more, the ripple of wind over the water the only sound to be heard.

  Jack squelched up next to Daniel and sat appreciatively on the tiles, listening to Daniel's breathing. Over on the Stargate he c
ould see Carter and Teal'c, likewise taking a break. A good stack of salvaged gear already bobbed near them.

  He let his gaze drift over the eerie remnants of the city. Nothing stirred apart from the water lapping against rooftops. The sun was well on its descent to night-time; by his reckoning only one or two hours of daylight remained.

  Daniel, battling not to fall asleep, finally rolled over and crawled up the roof to his pack. He pulled out his notebook, kept reasonably dry in its plastic baggie, and carefully recorded the name he had found. After digging out a power bar and canteen, he slid back down the roof to Jack and shared the food and water in silence.

  Sitting with eyes closed, face turned into the sun, Jack could almost hear Daniel thinking.

  "Jack, do you think we'll find a way out of this?"

  Jack tilted his head at Daniel, seeing worry in his usually optimistic friend. "Sure we will. What, you don't think we can beat the Goa'uld at some game they set up hundreds, thousands of years ago?"

  "Well, the fact it has been running for uncounted years must be an indication of how difficult it is. We have no way of knowing what's coming next. The previous planet...."

  "We'll handle whatever they throw at us, Daniel. Just remember, we stick together and we can take on all comers. It's what we do." He stared at Daniel intently, seeing his words sink in. "C'mon, let's get this done."

  Jack rose to his feet, this time securing Daniel's tether to his own waist. They slid back into the water, the cold a shock against their warmed skin. Daniel once again submerged beside the obelisk and Jack resumed counting off the seconds, eyes tracking Daniel's air trail. He was down over ninety seconds and Jack was on the verge of dragging him up when Daniel shot to the surface, a meter away from where he went down.

  The look on his face spoke volumes.

  "What?"

  "It's blank -to either side andunderneath the name- there's nothing else carved on the obelisk."

  Before Jack could marshal a response, Daniel was gone again; upending, white shorts flashing in the sun before powerful kicks from his legs drove him deep into the water. Jack glided after him, following the tether stretched taught between them. Daniel finally surfaced at the far corner of the obelisk, swam back to the center and dived again. Another minute dragged by before he came up once more, at the other corner, anxiety creasing his salt-irritated eyes.